5

198 THE HISTORY
I shou'd not forget here, that, upon the discovery
of Thule by Pytheas, one Antonius Diogenes
ivrote a romance in twenty four books, which he
intitul'd the Incredibilities of Thule; where he laid
his scene, and whereof Photius has given some
account *. I have dwelt the longer upon these
ilands, because they did not onely, like the other
parts of Britain, abouad with Druids, who have
there left
various memorials of themselves: but
also because the last footing they had in the
world was here, which makes it little less than
essential to my subject. Nor was it in the lie of
Md.n alone, that a peculier government was set
up by their procurement or approbation ;
as you
have read in my second letter of their disciple, the
admirable legislature Manannan. There was likewise
another government of their erection, singular
enough, in the Hebudesf; where better provision
was made against the changing of an elective
into a hereditary monarchy, and against all other
exorbitances of the prince, than ever I read in any
author antient cr modern. Solinus, speaking of
these ilands, " there is one king," says he ;]:,
" over
* T«» uTre; eiuJint ttTrirow X»y«i »,i. In Bibliotlieca, cod. 166.
+ Another name for the Western lies, cqniTalent to the He.
bridti : if they were not originally the same, having perhaps by
the mistake of transcribers been written for each other ; nothing
being easier, thaa to confound ui with ri, or ri with ui, as an.
tiently written.
+ Rex unus est unirersis : nam quotquot sunt, omnes angusta
iHt«rla?iedi»id«i>tdr. Rex nihil snum habt?t, omnia unirei so-