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"fame, the Gothic being spoken by the Getes and Massa

getes, in Scythia, Thrace, Pontus, &c. as Grotius, and "after him Sheringham have fhewn; nay, Bufbequius "affures us, that in his time, the Gothic language was still fpoken, though with fome variation in the dialect, by "the Tartars of Precop; and Jofephus Barbarus, a noble

man of Venice, who lived among them, that they not "only spoke the ancient Gothic language, but called them"felves Goths, and their country Gothia. Scaliger adds, "that the Chriftian Tartars of Precop still have the Scrip"ture written in the fame characters that were invented

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by Wolphilas, the first bishop of the Goths: and they "read it in the very language they spoke in the time of "Ovid. This is agreeable to what we read in Lucian "and Procopius, of whom the former tells us, that the language of the Alans, who were, without all doubt, a "Gothic nation, was common to all the Scythians; and “the latter, that the Sauromata and Melancleni, by most "writers called Getes, were Gothic nations, and spoke the language of the Goths.'

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WHEN the Getes, or Goths, paffed into Scandinavia, which, from the place of their first settlement, near the Paulus Maotis, was not a very long paffage, compared to others of the fons of Gomer, by land; they overfpread all Sweden, Denmark, the islands of the Baltic, by a very rapid progress, as well as the Cherfonefus and all the neighbouring parts. And it was from hence fome of the firft inhabitants of Ireland came, and from thence went into Scotland.

THESE

THESE people called all thefe iflands, in the moft ancient Gothic language, Wetallaheedh, which is derived of the old Magogian or Irish language, at this time fignifying the fame thing, in a compound fenfe; although the Irish and Welch have a fimple word for an island, common to both; in the Welch, ynys; Cornish, ennis; Armor. enesen, and in Irish, innfhe; and hence infula. Whereas, the compound word, Wetallaheedh, means water or moisture surrounding land, or land wetted or moistened all round. Tallamb, in Irish, signifying the earth, whence the Latin tellus.

I MUST here make one distinction concerning an opi-nion of Grotius and Sheringham, who affert, that the Cimbrians were the felf fame people with the Getes, or Goths; but I have. before fhewed, that the Cimbrians were the Cimmerians or Commerians, the offspring of Gomer, to which I refer the reader. It cannot indeed be. denied, that colonies of both Scythians and Gomerians often met and became one people; and that they spoke the fame language. This might well lead thefe authors to fuppofe them one people; they were fo originally, as having defcended from one common father, Japhet; but though the whole iflue of Japhet were first called Pelafgians in general, yet they appear to have been all along. confidered, both in Scripture, and among the earliest as well as modern authors, under the two general appellations, Gomerians, or Celts, and Scythians, till their various: colonies had acquired other names, by their fubdivifions. into kingdoms, ftates and tribes. And these were the leading names by which their brethren, and their iffue,

were generally called, except fuch whose names are before said to have been given to certain countries, mountains, feas, &c. and indeed not only the Scripture, but pagan authors make them a diftinct people; which is taken notice of in the Acta Berolinenfia, p. 5. Schy"tharum nomine hoc loco perantiquos Euxini Maris ac"colas intelligimus, quocunque nomine venerint. Cim"merios illic Homerus collocavit, hos a Scythis Herodotus "diftinxit." i. e. We understand here by the name of Scythians the most ancient inhabitants of the Euxine Sea, by whatsoever name they were called. Homer places the Cimmerians there, and Herodotus diftinguishes thefe from the Scythians.

HAVING fufficiently proved, that the Getes came into Scandinavia, we must follow them into the ifles of the Baltic and those of Britain and Ireland, where they arrived very early after the flood.

THE Gothic records bring them to the Cherfonefus, and all the neighbouring parts from Scandinavia, under their king, Eric, who was cotemporary with Serug, Abram's great grandfather. This is thought improbable by some writers, who think that so large a country as Scandinavia could hardly be peopled, at that time, so much as to fend away colonies to other countries; and this opinion is well worth confidering, becaufe I conceive no manner of difficulty or improbability in the matter; and have both authority and very probable reasons to fupport my diffent from that notion; I shall therefore endeavour to give such proofs as I think will support what my opinion of this

matter is.

IN the first place, all the Gothic chronicles affert this migration under their leader, king Eric, from Scandinavia, into thofe iflands and countries; and although there are great disagreements between the Northern historians in several other refpects, yet in this both Swedes and Danes punctually agree; the latter ingenuously owning that their nation was firft peopled from Scandinavia by the Goths, and that from them they were originally descended; that Dan, the fon of Humelus, a Gothic king, first planted them, and that they were called Dani from him. Several other authors fay, that the Danes were the defcendants of the Oftrogoths, dwelling in Scanzia, otherwife Scandia or Scandinavia. See Freculphus and Jornandes. This is to be understood of the first migration; for afterwards there were feveral others, well afcertained by authors, wherein they over-run and ruined the Vandals, Ulmerugians and other nations, which before sprung from themselves, and were fubdivifions of their own former colonies. And the Goths, in the mean time, continuing to increase, became so numerous after these North-western ifles and countries were peopling and changing their names, that they were called Oftrogoths and Vifigoths; the former, of which, in process of time, invaded Italy, and the latter made irruptions into Spain; where they fettled, and in both places mixed among the offspring of the Gomerians and Iberians that first planted them from the ifles of Elifba, or ancient Greece, and spoke the fame language, understanding each other without much hesitation. But the chief difficulty with fome authors is, that Eric. fhould be as early as Serug's time

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in Scandinavia, making his migration to the places mentioned; let us therefore fee whether it be likely to have happened at that time, and this will beft appear by considering a little the chronology of Serug. This patriarch. is said by Moses to have been born in the 163d year of the flood, and lived 230 years, which, added to 163, makes 393, which was the year of his death. Now, I think; it: is as probable, in every regard, that Eric and his followers fhould have migrated from a very numerous and populous country, however extenfive, no farther off from the firft. fettlements of Magog's iffue than Scandinavia, at any time in the fourth century of the flood, as that the fecond monarch should have began his reign in China in the same century, that is, in the 350th of the flood; efpecially, too, if we confider how much more remote China was. from Armenia, where the Arch fettled, than from the North-west of the Euxine Sea to Scandinavia; about which time Eric was faid to have led his people from thence into the iflands of the Baltic.

AGAIN, mankind was fo numerous in the 131ft year of the flood, that Afbur, the son of Shem, or Nimrod, went off from Shinar and built cities, as I have mentioned it before, and founded the Affyrian monarchy. In the 160th, Mifraim, the fon of Ham, lead a colony into Egypt, and founded that monarchy; Beon fucceeds Salatis in Egypt in 283; and Aphathnas fucceeds Beon in 327: during which reigns, feveral overflowings of their fubjects fpread themselves into very remote places in Africa, especially all along the Barbary coafts, as well as to Ethiopia, Abyfynia and elsewhere, from Egypt.

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