Inclytus hic Hæres magni requiescit Oenii,
Consessus tantum mente modoque patrem.
Servilem talis Cultum contempsit Agelli
Et petiit Terras per Freta longa novas.
[Footnote i: Public Advertiser. May 25th 1787. Sir Thomas Herbert's Translation, though faithful, is not literal.
But, in my opinion, neither He nor Dr. Johnson enter into the real meaning of the Poet.]
It hath been said by some Writers that these Lines were found cut upon a stone in Mexico, but this is said without Foundation. It is much more probable that they were written, on the above occasion, by Sir Meredyth ab Rhys, who flourished about 300 Years after Madog's Voyages. However it is certain that they were written, at least, 15 Years before Columbus first sailed on his American Voyage; when no European Nation had any idea of a Western Continent. Of consequence, the Story was not invented to be the Foundation of a Dispute between the Britons and the Spaniards about the Discovery of the New World.
Another Writer who alludes to Madog's Voyage is the Author of a Book entitled "a brief Description of the whole World." Edit. 5th. London Printed, for John Marriott, 1620.
"I am not ignorant that some who make too much of vain Shews, and of the British Antiquities, have given out to the World, and written some things to that purpose, that Arthur some time King of Britain had both Knowledge of those parts (the New World) and some Dominion in them; for they find (as some report) that King Arthur had under his Government many Islands and great Countries towards the North and West, which one of some special Note hath interpreted to signify America, and the Northern parts thereof, and thereupon have gone about to entitle the Queen of England (Elizabeth) to be the Soveraigne of these Provinces by right of Descent from King Arthur. But the Wisdom of our State has been such as to neglect that Opinion, imagining it to be grounded upon fabulous Foundations, as many 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. Hagæ 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 Americæ Septentrionalis obtinuisse. Nec aliter statuet quisquis hanc Navigationem cum Situ Terrarum, vel obiter, contulerit. Nam post Hiberniam nullæ navigantibus occurrunt terræ nisi Bermudæ ab omni ævo incultæ, 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: Vastissimæ illæ Terræ sunt, et nostro quoque ævo post sex Secula maligne habitantur. Præterea Tractus ille ad quem Madac appulit desertus esse potuit; cum tamen alia Loca et interiores partes barbaros Chichimecas haberent, quibus permixti Cambri et intermissa illa Navigatione, Linguam Moresque patrios exuerint. In hac vehementer me confirmant Indigenarum Traditiones. Nam Virginiani et Guahutemallæ antiquis Temporibus Madocum quendam velut Heroem coluerunt. De Viginianis Martyr, Dec. VII. C. 3. De Guahutemallis, Dec. VIII C. 5. Habemus Matec Zungam et Mat Ingam, qui cur Madoc Camber esse nequeat quem in eos partes delatum domestica evincunt Monumenta, ratio nulla reddi potest. Ad antiquitatem, quinque illa Secula sussiciunt quousque altissima Americanorum Memoria, nec sere ultra, adscendit.[k]
[Footnote k: Hornius, ubi Supra. Lib. III. Chap. 2. p. 134, &c.]