Brutus, guided now, as he thought, by divine direction, sped his course towards the west, and, arriving at a place on the Tyrrhene sea, found there the descendants of certain Trojans who, with Antenor, came into Italy, of whom Corineus was the chief.  These joined company, and the ships pursued their way till they arrived at the mouth of the river Loire, in France, where the expedition landed, with a view to a settlement, but were so rudely assaulted by the inhabitants that they put to sea again, and arrived at a part of the coast of Britain, now called Devonshire, where Brutus felt convinced that he had found the promised end of his voyage, landed his colony, and took possession.

The island, not yet Britain, but Albion, was in a manner desert and inhospitable, occupied only by a remnant of the giant race whose excessive force and tyranny had destroyed the others.  The Trojans encountered these and extirpated them, Corineus, in particular, signalizing himself by his exploits against them; from whom Cornwall takes its name, for that region fell to his lot, and there the hugest giants dwelt, lurking in rocks and caves, till Corineus rid the land of them.

Brutus built his capital city, and called it Trojanova (New Troy), changed in time to Trinovantus, now London;

[Footnote: 
    “For noble Britons sprong from Trojans bold,
    And Troynovant was built of old Troy’s ashes cold” Spenser,

    Book iii, Canto ix., 38.]

and, having governed the isle twenty-four years, died, leaving three sons, Locrine, Albanact and Camber.  Locrine had the middle part, Camber the west, called Cambria from him, and Albanact Albania, now Scotland.  Locrine was married to Guendolen, the daughter of Corineus, but having seen a fair maid named Estrildis, who had been brought captive from Germany, he became enamoured of her, and had by her a daughter, whose name was Sabra.  This matter was kept secret while Corineus lived, but after his death Locrine divorced Guendolen, and made Estrildis his queen.  Guendolen, all in rage, departed to Cornwall, where Madan, her son, lived, who had been brought up by Corineus, his grandfather.  Gathering an army of her father’s friends and subjects, she gave battle to her husband’s forces and Locrine was slain.  Guendolen caused her rival, Estrildis, with her daughter Sabra, to be thrown into the river, from which cause the river thenceforth bore the maiden’s name, which by length of time is now changed into Sabrina or Severn.  Milton alludes to this in his address to the rivers,—­

    “Severn swift, guilty of maiden’s death";—­

and in his “Comus” tells the story with a slight variation, thus: 

    “There is a gentle nymph not far from hence,
    That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream;
    Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure: 
    Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,
    That had the sceptre from