BOOK XI. The Indian deities invite thofe of Tyre and Syria to co-operate with them; prophefying darkly the invasion of their empire by the Croisaders; they excuse themselves, equally averse to the Gauls and to all the nations of Europe. A final conflict; and a complete victory in every element by the Phenicians over Gallus and Iberus, and by the protecting, over the malignant fpirits. The victors land in Albion, fince called Britain, on the coast of Hama, now Hampshire; a defcription of the triumph, entertainments, and sports. BOOK XII. The nuptials of Britan and Albione, or, allegorically, of Royalty and Liberty united in the constitution of England. The attending Druid, appearing in his own form and in all his fplendour, predicts the glories of the country, and its difafters; but animates, GG 2 rather than alarms, the hero and nymph, whom he confoles, whenever he afflicts them; he recommends the government of the Indians by their own laws. He then flies, his object being attained, to the celeftial regions; they apply themselves to the regulation of their domain and the happiness of their subjects. The discovery of the BRITISH ISLES by the Tyrians, is mentioned by Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny; and proved as well by the Phænician monuments found in IRELAND, as by the affinity between the Irish and Punic languages. NEWTON places this event about the Eight-hundred-eighty-third year before CHRIST, and in the twenty-first after the taking of TROY BOOK I. GENIUS, or Spirit, or tutelary Power Grateful her sons have mark'd; if e'er thou ledst Her glitt❜ring ranks unmatch'd o'er hostile fields, Oh! fill this glowing bosom, whilst I sing What Chief, what Sage, what Hero, train'd by thee To wisdom, first on this delightful isle Struck his advent'rous prow? That sacred form Now were his light-oar'd galleys tempest-tost From Book VII. As Tibetian mountains rise Stupendous, measureless, ridge beyond ridge, Till sight is dimm'd, thought maz'd; the traveller Perplex'd, and worn with toil each hour renew❜d, Dire series, press'd; one slain, the next more fierce, Relax'd not, but still cloth'd its edge with death, Appendix. B. A PREFATORY DISCOURSE ΤΟ AN ESSAY ON THE HISTORY OF THE TURKS. THERE is no people in Europe, which has raised the terror, and excited the curiofity of the Chriftian world more than the Turks; nor any, I believe, of whose true genius and manners we have fo imperfect a notion; for though a great number of travellers, and among them feveral excellent men, have from time to time published their observations on various parts of the Turkish empire, yet few of them, as it evidently appears, understood the languages that are fpoken in it, without which their knowledge could not fail of being very fuperficial and precarious. |