Blair Collection > Critical dissertations on the origin, antiquities, language, government, manners, and religion, of the antient Caledonians, their posterity the Picts, and the British and Irish Scots

Antiquities of Nations. g
Though the Tiiidcto.^ian archives have funk
in oblivion, time out of miiid, yet the antiquities
of Spain have been preferved in the v/rrks of au-
thors truly antient, and have bet- r. p h if vd Crra
thefe by a new ^dTo/i/j. This faith. lIci.q — ^;
enlightened hiftorian found, by v-hat hf ^,-:
unqueftionable evidence, that Jab?!, the ^r
Japhet, and grandfonof Noah, ought to be placed
at the head of the Spanifh royal li: e. Fe alfo
afferts, that the right of this gra-dfon of the pa-
triarch, to the empire of Celtiberia, was fou- ded
on a donation of his grandfather, when he divided
the world among his pofterity.
I T is idle to take any further notice of the
many curious anecdotes which this hiftorian, if he
deferves that name, has extracfled from fiditious
records. But one cannot help being furprized how
Mariana, one of the beft hiftorians of modern
times, fhould have given into the abfiirdity of this
ill informed and credulous author. The very firll
fentence of Mariana's hiftory acquaints us, that
Jubal was undoubtedly the perfon who introduced
its firft inhabitants into Spain. In the next fen-
tence we are told, that all men of great learning
and extenfive enquiry, were of this opinion. He
proceeds then to inform us, that Jubal, after hav-
ing fettled many colonies, and built populous ci-
ties, applied himfelf to the arts of government,
and ruled over his extenfive empire with great
moderation and juftice *.
Francio, an imaginary Trojan prince, the fon
of the celebrated Hedor, v/as once thought the
founder of the French empire. An origin derived
from fo illuftrious a fource, could not^fail to ele-
* Mariana, Lib. i.
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