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As the Northmen had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also prevalent in Ireland.
See Nouveau Dictionaire Historique, Ou Histoire abregee, &c. par une Sociate' de gens de Letres 6mo. "For when it is demonstrated that Madog, a Prince of Cambria, with some of his Nation, discovered and inhabited some Lands in the West, and that his Name and Memory are still retained among them, scarcely any doubt remains."
But not to insist upon this Circumstance; if the Country Madog discovered was Madeira, or any of the Western Islands, he must have found them uninhabited, and entirely uncultivated, covered with Wood, and without any Traces of Human Beings; for as the Doctor himself says, this was the state of the Madeiras when discovered by the Portuguese in 1519. Robertson. ubi supra. Vol. I. p. 64.
"Madog wyf, mwyedie Wedd Jawn Genau, Owen Gwynedd, Ni fynnwn Dir', f y awydd oedd, Nid Da mawr ond y Moroedd." These Lines were communicated to our Author he says by the celebrated William Camden.
When we compare circumstances together, we shall be led, with Hakluyt, to conclude that Madog landed on some part of New England, Virginia, &c. and that in process of time the Colony extended itself Southward to Mexico, and other places; and that those Foreign Ancestors of the Mexican Chiefs, of whom the Spanish Writers often speak in their accounts of Cortez's Adventures, were Ancient Britons.
Madog was of a Princely Family: it may therefore be reasonably thought that he and his Companions had one or more Copies among them. The Jewish Customs mentioned by Mr. Beatty seem to establish the opinion, that some of the Original Inhabitants of the New Continent, were Jews, Carthaginians, or Phoenicians, among who those Customs prevailed.
He found a pleasant and fertile region, where his settlement was established. Leaving one hundred and twenty persons, he returned to Wales, prepared ten ships, prevailed on a large company, some of whom were Irish, to join him, and sailed again to America. Nothing more was ever heard in Wales of Prince Madog or his settlement.
If the Country on which Madog landed was uninhabited, how could he have found the Customs and Manners of the People different from those of Europe? What the Doctor hath said, after Lord Lyttelton, concerning the Literature and Naval skill of the ancient Britons, hath been already animadverted upon. To add more on those particulars, is unnecessary.
In that year, Maelgwn, son of Rhys, sold Aberteivi, the key of all Wales, for a trifling value, to the English, for fear of and out of hatred to his brother Gruffudd. The same year, Madog, son of Gruffudd Maelor, founded the monastery of Llanegwestl, near the old cross, in Yale.
The space of time between the landing of Prince Madog, and Columbus, above 300 Years, was sufficiently long to disseminate such Notions and practices through a very great part of America. In short, the account given by Llwyd and Powel hath all the marks of strict Truth. If it be an Invention without any Foundation, it is a very singular one, the like to which is hardly to be met with.
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