whereas the red dragon signifies the British people, which shall be oppressed by the white dragon. His mountains shall be brought low as the valleys, and the rivers of the valleys shall flow with blood; his religious worship shall be destroyed, and his churches lie in ruins ; when at length the oppressed shall prevail, and shall resist the cruelty of the strangers ; for the boar of Cornwall shall afford succour, and shall tread their necks under his feet ; the isles of the ocean shall be subdued by his might, and he ehall possess the forests of the Gauls; the house of Romulus shall tremble at his rage, and his end shall be doubtful ; his praise shall be sounded among the nations, and many shall obtain their bread by narrating his exploits,"* SEC, kc. Return of Aurellus into Britain. Having uttered this prophecy to the admiration of all present, the king requested him to tell him what he knew respecting his own fate, to which Merlin replied, " Flee, if thou canst, the fire of the sons of Constantine ; for they will conquer the Saxon people, and shut thee up in the town of Genorium, and burn thee. The faces of the Saxons shall be red with blood, and having slain Hengist, Aurelius Ambrosius shall be crowned king." The very next day Aurelius Ambrosius landed with his brother TJterpendragon, and a vast multitude of warriors. The dispersed Britons flocked together unto him, and, in a convocation of the clergy, made him their king. He first devoted himself with all his ability to the restoration of the churches from their ruins. He was munificent in his gifts, exact in the observance of his religious duties, singularly modest, a lie he detested beyond everything, he was formidable on foot, and more so on horseback, and endued with all the qualities of a commander. With such virtues his fame had spread among the nations. How king Vortigern perished by fire. In the year of grace 466, the Britons exhorted king Aurelius to lead them against the Saxons; but he held them back, wishing first to attack Vortigern. Accordingly he led * For the remainder of this long prophecy see Geoffrey of Monmouth (Bohn's Ant. Lib.) pp. 196—206.