things are, that are asserted of King Arthur.  Only this doth convey some Shew with it, that, now some Hundred Years, there was a Knight of Wales who with Shipping, and some pretty Company did go to discover these parts, whereof, as there is some record of reasonable Credit amongst the Monuments of Wales, so there is nothing which giveth pregnant Shew thereunto, that in the late Navigations of some of our Menta Norumbega, and some other northern parts of America they found some tokens of Civility and Christian Religion; but especially they do meet with some Words of the Welsh Language, as that a Bird with a white Head should be called Penguinn, and other such like; yet because we have now invincible certainty thereof, and if any thing were done, it was only in the Northern and worse part, and the Intercourse between Wales and those parts in the space of 700 Years, was not continued, but quite silenced, we may go forward with that opinion that these Western Indies were no way known to former ages.”

From this Extract we learn that in the Days of Queen Elizabeth a Tradition prevailed, that at some former Period, Britons went to America.  But that this happened in the Days of King Arthur, and that he had knowledge of Foreign Countries, or any Dominion in them, is altogether in-incredible.  The Knight of Wales, mentioned by our Author certainly was Prince Madog; but his Emigration is placed too early by about 400 years; for all Writers agree, that if he sailed at all, it was in 1169, or 1170.  The above Book was written during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, who ascended the Throne in 1558; and consequently the interval between Madog’s Voyages, and Elizabeth’s Accession, was only about 400 Years.  However, the Tradition generally prevailed, and was supported by one of Special Note, in that Reign, when Dr. Powel published the History of Caradoc, together with Humphry Llwyd’s and his own Additions.

The next Account of Prince Madog’s Adventures, I have met with is in Hornius De Originibus Americanis.  Hagae Comitis, 1652.  What he hath advanced is much the same, and contains little more, as he himself says, than Extracts from Llwyd, Hakluyt, and Powel.  His Observations on the Subject are the following.

Ex his concludit omnillo Madocum cum Suis Cambris aliquam partem Americae Septentrionalis obtinuisse.  Nec aliter statuet quisquis hanc Navigationem cum Situ Terrarum, vel obiter, contulerit.  Nam post Hiberniam nullae navigantibus occurrunt terrae nisi Bermudae ab omni aevo incultae, et postea ingens America.  Cumque Zephyrum versus Cursum direxerit Madocus, dubium non est in ipsam devenerit Virginiam vel novam Angliam, ibique suos exposuerit.  Nec obstat quod tradunt incultam suisse, et Hominibus vacuam Regionem:  Vastissimae illae Terrae sunt, et nostro quoque aevo post sex Secula maligne habitantur.  Praeterea Tractus ille ad quem Madac appulit desertus esse potuit; cum tamen alia Loca et interiores partes barbaros