Note 227 — BOOK XII.
Reading edition
This advice might be thought judicious, if we could be persuaded of the authenticity of Geoffrey's cherished discovery, but there are lamentable defects, of a grave character, attending upon this British volume.
1. It was first made known six hundred years after the events which it relates.
2. No MS. copy is now in existence, nor any record of its ever having been multiplied by transcription.
3. It relates stories utterly at variance with acknowledged history.
4. It abounds in miraculous stories, which, like leaven, ferment and corrupt the whole mass.
5. It labours under great suspicion from the mendacious character of the people, whose credit it was written to support.
With these remarks we leave the work to the consideration of the reader, who may compare it, if he likes, with the Chronicles of Gildas and Nennius, which form the next portions of this volume.