CONTENTS. 16 35 IV. From Alfred to the Norman Conquest V. William the Conqueror-from 1066 to VI. William Rufus-from 1087 to 1100 VII. Henry the first-from 1100 to 1135 VIII. Stephen-from 1135 to 1154. IX. Henry the second-from 1154 to 1189 76 84 89 97 101 105 111 XII. Henry the third-from 1216 to 1272 XIII. Edward the first-from 1272 to 1307 XIV. Edward the second-from 1307 to 1327. XV. Edward the third-from 1327 to 1377 XVI. Richard the second-from 1377 to 1399. XVII. Henry the fourth-from 1399 to 1413 XVIII. Henry the fifth-from 1413 to 1422 XXII. Henry the seventh-from 1485 to 1509. XXIII. Henry the eighth-from 1509 to 1547 209 221 232 251 Charles the first-from 1625 to 1649 267 283 XXX. The Commonwealth-from 1649 to 1660 296 AUNT ANNE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. THE EARLY BRITONS-THE DRUIDS-THE ROMANS. I AM afraid Aunt Anne will scarcely be believed, when she tells her little friends how different was the appearance of our beautiful and dear England, in the times she is about to describe, from what it now is. There were then no roads, no coaches, no steamers on the noble rivers, or magnificent ships keeping the mastery over the sea; no railroads on which to whirl people from one end of the country to the other in a few hours; no churches with their happy-sounding bells to call the young and old to worship under their solemn roofs; no kind clergymen to preach of a merciful Redeemer, and to establish schools, where little people like themselves are taught to know and love him; no entertaining books to instruct them; and, worse than all, no blessed Bible B to be a "lamp unto their feet, and a light unto their path." Look at your neat and simple dress, and the comfortable furniture of your quiet nursery, or schoolroom; look at your indulgent nurse or governess; look even at your dear mother's gentle face, and think how ever ready she is to pour into your young hearts useful knowledge and heavenly truth; and how happily she listens to your pretty hymns and innocent prattle; while, dear grandmamma puts on her spectacles to examine some tasteful effort of needlework, offered by her darling little fair-haired grandchild. Not one of these now common blessings then existed. It is true that there were mothers and grandmothers, and I suppose they too dearly loved their little treasures; but not as they now do-trusting that their children shall be "heirs of immortality through Christ;" " and hymns there were none; for He, whose praises are sung in them, was unknown in England, which lay buried in the darkest heathenism. And books, and work, and spectacles, were things undreamt of. I allude to the earliest time of which we have any authentic account of our beloved country, which, now awakened from her sleep of paganism, shines brightly with the light of the Gospel, and sends out yearly many zealous men to communicate the rich blessing, the "good tidings," to other lands, still wrapped in the darkness of ignorance from which she has been so mercifully delivered. Our history begins about half a century before the birth of our Saviour. At that time, England was a wild, uncultivated country, covered with thick forests, and abounding with unwholesome marshes. The rich soil was left unimproved, and the forests over-run with wolves-suffered to increase without any attempt on the part of the inhabitants to destroy them. The southern parts of the island alone, showed some signs of improvement, derived from a slight intercourse with foreign nations, which sent ships to trade with them. Very early indeed, tin was sought in Cornwall by the Romans, which the ignorant Britons exchanged for ornaments and trinkets of small value-as the Esquimaux and other savage nations now exchange their valuable merchandize for beads, looking-glasses, &c. There was a tin traffic carried on with the Cornish coast even by the Phoenicians, of whom you read in the Bible, the earliest merchants of whom we have any account; and it is supposed that the very name of |