Page:Chronicles of the Picts, chronicles of the Scots, and other early memorials of Scottish history.djvu/185

 PREFACE. clxxvii kingdom upon a firmer basis, by interweaving the statements of these previous chronicles into one harmonious whole, and interpolating matter of his own invention where it became necessary, in order to compact the somewhat discordant materials into one consistent narrative. The leading feature of his scheme of history is the combination of the two series of chronicles into one consistent system. He adopts the view of the one set of chronicles, that the Scottish kings of Dalriada were the immediate predecessors of Kenneth Mac Alpin ; but not content with extending them over the century which really intervened between the kingdom of the Scots of Dalriada and that of Ken- neth Mac Alpin, by the interpolation of supposititi- ous kings, he likewise extends them a century further back, by a similar process of interpolation, so as to make the kingdom commence under Fergus Mac Erch, in the year 403, instead of the subsequent century ; but while he adopts the one series of chronicles in this respect, he likewise gives effect to the scheme of the other, by placing an older Scottish kingdom of Scotland, v/hich commenced under Fergus, son of Ferthard, 443 years before the Chris- tian era. Instead, however, of terminating this older kingdom with the commencement of the long line of Pictish monarchs, he continues it to the year 360, when he supposes this older settlement of Scots to have terminated, and the Scottish people to have been expelled out of the country, — a part going to