work which contains the history of Britain, during its conquest by the Saxons, we may possibly find the germs of facts unnoticed elsewhere.
This view does not militate against the veracity of Geoffrey, who professes to have translated from an original in the British language, but whether any manuscript copy of this original now exists, is a point which has not been satisfactorily ascertained. In 1811, the Rev. Peter Roberts published the Chronicle of the Kings of Britain, translated from Welsh manuscripts, and being in substance almost identically the same as Geoffrey's History of the Britons,—but it is most likely that these Welsh MSS., which are all comparatively modern, are themselves re-translations from the Latin of Geoffrey.
If no other arguments could be adduced to prove the utter incredibility of the earlier parts of this history, the following Chronological Table would furnish quite sufficient arguments to establish it, by the extraordinary anachronisms which it contains. For instance, between the reigns of Brutus and Leil, is an interval of 156 years; and yet Geoffrey makes the capture of the ark contemporary with the reign of Brutus, and the building of Solomon's temple with that of Leil. Now the interval between those two events cannot by any possibility be extended beyond eighty years. It is, moreover, impossible to bring the chronology of the British kings themselves into harmony with the dates before Christ, as there is no mention made of the exact interval between the taking of Troy and Brutus's landing in Britain.
Geoffrey inscribes his work to Robert, earl of Gloucester, son of Henry the Second.
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY.
 | A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
Latinus
_____|_____
| |
Aeneas=Lavinia (---)
| |
Ascanius |
| |
Sylvius=(Niece of Lavinia) 1.3
|
|
Pandrasus |
| |
Ignoge=1 Brutus at the age of 15 kills his father. (1.3)
| Reigns twenty-four years. (2.1)
| At this time Eli governed Israel, and the ark
| was taken by
