may have given them the name Baratanac, whence Britain, as fome authors will have it; but this will be doubted in another place. Be that as it will, the firft Britons, that landed in England, came from the ifles of Elifba, without all manner of doubt; to strengthen which opinion, I shall offer the following reason, which I cannot help thinking is of great weight: viz. if the Phenicians had first discovered and inhabited this ifland, then the Phænician tongue would have prevailed here; whereas, it is well known the Gomerian, otherwife called Celtic, and ancient British language, was the only tongue that was spoken by those whom I have mentioned to be the first who came from the isles of Elisha, and landed in the Southweft parts of this ifland; and of all the Celts and Galls, which were spread over the South-western parts of Europe afterwards; now it is well known, that the Phoenician tongue never made any progrefs in Europe at all; but made its way chiefly into Arabia and Africa, and extended itself all along the coafts of Barbary, lofing itself in the inland parts of thofe regions, and splitting into many dialects, which is the fate of all languages in general, in process of time.

I HAVE now briefly traced the Gomerians by the authority of Holy Writ, which is the very foundation of their history, and the general confent of the moft authentic writers, from Armenia into feveral neighbouring parts, into the isles of Elisha, and from thence through all the South-western kingdoms of Europe, under various denominations, to the utmost migrations of their brethren, and that in as concise a manner as poffible; fomething more

will be faid of them, when we come to speak of their language, and other particular matters; let us now see what became of the brothers of Gomer, Magog, Mefbech and Tubal; whom we shall shew to be the fathers of the Scythians, who, together with the defcendants of Gomer, will appear in the fequel to have been called, in general, the Pelafgians, before they went under the name of Celts, Scythians, &c.

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CHAP. HE

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The progrefs of the Magogians, or offspring of Magog, with thofe of his brothers, Mefhech and Tubal.

I

T is to be obferved, that authors have brought great confufion into the hiftories of the two brothers, Gomer and Magog, and their defcendants, in their feveral tranfactions and migrations, through the long tracts of country, into which their respective colonies were forced to pass; which might have been easily avoided, if they had followed them as a diftinct people from each other, as the Scriptures do, during the first ages of the world after the flood, for feveral centuries.

THEN their further progresses would have been easily discerned, and their often mixing with each other in various countries of Europe, between the Northern and Southern parts, would be well understood: for as the Go

merians

merians were, in general, more happy in their climates, and every other natural advantage, than the iffue of Magog; so it is most certain, that the Scythians, whofe dwellings were altogether north, and north-weft, fent their overflowing offsprings fouthward, from time to time, from every part of the northern quarters, as Ezekiel has it, to which they were driven by one another, or voluntarily took poffeffion of, according to their feveral neceffities.

If we confider who thefe Scythians were, and from whom descended, we shall be the more clear in our intelligence of them as we purfue them through their northern quarters. And although what we purpose is but a very brief account of them, not at all meddling with their policy, government, kings, nor wars; yet it is hoped that we shall prove their just distinction from the Gomerians, by undoubted authority.

Jofephus, and moft of the fathers, as well as many modern authors after these, declare that the Celts and Galls are the immediate defcendants of Gomer, and the Scythians the offspring of Magog, his brother. The The names, characters and fucceffions, though altered much in process of time, were never obliterated in Gomer's line, though often confused by several authors; for they are feen even now in Europe, amidst the many revolutions of monarchies round about them, retaining the ancient traces of their proper names and identical language in several places; which will appear ftill more evident, before this little work is finished. And as to the Scythians, they are no less remarkably diftinct from the Gomerians in their own proper line. Jofephus and the ancient fathers had

I 2

the

the best authority to follow, in their fentiments upon it; and that is the teftimony I now follow; which is what the prophet Exeziel declares, in mentioning the several nations who traded to Tyrus. It is he that has laid down, as I have mentioned it before, the true fituation of the defcendants of both brothers; than which nothing can be more fatisfactory, especially when connected, and viewed, with Mofes's account, in the tenth and eleventh chapters of Genefis; for, without those judgments denounced by this prophet againft Magog, and Tyrus, there could be no foundation for any account of them at all, to be continued, from the short mention of them made by Mofes ; and those curious pieces of ancient history, relating to the origin of the inhabitants of all Europe, would be utterly loft; for Mofes confines himself to the line of Shem in particular, after a very short account of Japhet, touching by the way upon the defcendants of Ham, the Canaanites, whenever he had occafion to inform us of God's judgments in carrying on his divine purposes, and in bringing about the great work of our redemption. Whereas, this prophet has refcued from oblivion a fufficient notice of Japhet's iffue, that the fulfilling of Noah's prophetic bleffing, in the enlargement of his eldest fon's most numerous progeny, might never be forgotten; and alfo, that it might be another standing testimony of the truth of the Mofaic history.

E

We must remember here, what I hinted before, that our prophet has joined Mefbech and Tubal, as fubjects to their brother Magog; he is faid to be their chief prince, and as these three went off together, they produced a very

3

speedy

speedy as well as great increase. They may be traced by feveral ancient and fignificant monuments in their first fettlements, in the North-western parts of Afia Minor, in the neighbourhood of their brother Gomer; from whence they quickly spread through all the Scythias, Muscovy and Tartary; for they bore the name of Mogli, which was the common appellation for the Muscovites and Tartars. These sons of Meshech and Tubal were they who traded to Tyrus in flaves, which they carried by land to Greece, the islands of Elisha, and by fea from thence to that famous city; and these are they, who, when they migrated fouthward, and made incurfions into the Gomerian nations, forcing themselves upon, and mixing with them, were called by very ancient Greek authors, with great propriety, Celto-Scythians, which name prevailed to all the inhabitants of the Northern countries afterwards for a long time. And these three brothers left many remarkable tokens of their names in feveral of those parts through which they passed. The great Bochart is full of fuch traces, among which are the following: as, the Gogarenes from Magog; and the provinces of Mongog, and Congigo, and several others, with many cities and other places in Ruffia and Tartary.

BESIDES these ftrong connotatives of the traces of this people, if we were to examine their manners and customs, as well as the fierce and warlike difpofitions of Magog, as hinted by the prophet, furely no people upon the earth are so likely as the Scythians to answer such chaAnd to this time, the Cofacks, Calmucks, and numberless tribes in the feveral nations of Tartary and

racters.

Ruffia,