Britain is derived from the Phoenician word, "Baratanac," which means, "The Land of Tin.* "

The Britons lived in the winter in caves and holes dug in the earth. Their summer dwellings were made of a kind of rough basket-work, the only handicraft in which they excelled. There was quite a fashion for British baskets at one time in Rome; and one can easily imagine that such would naturally be the first invention of a people surrounded by forests, and with plenty of idle time on their hands. Their very boats, or coracles, as they were called, were made of basket-work, covered with hides to make them water-tight; and in these light and fragile vessels, they actually used to make voyages to Ireland, and even sometimes to France, then called Gaul. They wore but little clothing; and, as they had no manufactures, this was made of the skins of beasts. They had their bodies tattooed all over, like the New Zealanders and American Indians, and then rubbed with a blue dye, made from a plant called woad, which, making its way beneath the skin in the tattooed parts, could never be washed off. It must have had a frightful appearance to see men covered

* Geological Sketches, by Maria Hack.

all over with blue figures of animals, plants, &c., to say nothing of the pain the operation occasioned.

The little children were taught early to hunt, and to endure great hardships. It is true they had no French or Latin grammars, or hard sums to puzzle their brains; but, I think you will agree with me, that the children of our days are better off. For arms they had bows and arrows, the first weapon of all nations; shields made of wicker - work, covered with skins; and clubs. Afterwards, when they had made some beginnings in the arts and manufactures, they had war-chariots, to the wheels of which were fixed weapons something like scythes, which inflicted dreadful wounds on their enemies when they drove in amongst them.

But now I come to the worst part of all; their religion. Their priests, called Druids, exercised the most perfect mastery over the ignorant people. They worshipped the sun and moon, fire and water; and offered up to them human sacrifices. These were chiefly prisoners taken in battle, who were enclosed in wicker images and burnt alive. You will shudder to think of such cruelty, my dear children, and your young hearts will swell with thankfulness that we live in happier times. It seems that all heathen

nations have offered sacrifices to their false gods; and this is surely some shadowing of the truth, some indistinct idea, that men have sinned, and that the blood of a victim is necessary to appease an offended God; as the Jewish sacrifices of bulls, goats, lambs, and doves, were a type or emblem of "the sacrifice of the death of Christ," who freely shed his innocent blood as an atonement for our guilt; " and having offered one sacrifice for sin, hath for ever sat down at the right hand of God." (Heb. x. 12.) Since then, our blessed Lord has "loosed our bonds: let our language be, "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord." (Ps. cxvi. 17.)

"Believing, we rejoice

To see the curse remove;

We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice,
And sing his bleeding love."

Very different from the simple faith of the Gospel, was the gloomy superstition of the Druids. "To them all disputes were referred, by them all grievances redressed; while he who dared to refuse submission, was subjected to the most tremendous punishment : he was cut off from all intercourse with his fellow

creatures, and driven forth to perish like a beast of prey, unassisted, and alone.”* Now don't you think we are much better off, with our good clergymen to preach to us of a merciful Saviour, visit the sick, and the afflicted, and teach the young?

The Druids themselves lived in the deepest parts of the forests, under the shade of oaks, which they believed sacred. The mistletoe was peculiarly held in veneration by them; and it is perhaps some lingering superstition derived from them, which makes people decorate their houses with it at Christmas. Their temples (if such they could be called,) were circles of enormous, roughly hewn stones, piled upon each other; as at Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, where is to be seen the most perfect remnant of Druid architecture of this kind. Its ancient British name, Cor Gawr, means the Great Cathedral, and within these uncouth enclosures, were held the fearful mysteries of their dreadful religion; while the agonizing screams of the imprisoned victims cried to heaven for vengeance on their inhuman murderers. Well might David say, "The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty." (Ps. lxxiv. 20.)

* Family History of England. By the Rev. R. Gleig.

I will spare you any further account of such awful idolatry, my dear children, and would not indeed have entered upon it at all, but that I wished to show you how great is the privilege we now enjoy, of dwelling beneath the purer dispensation of the Gospel. Now we will go on to the first step which God caused to be taken for the improvement of our country. I dare say you have heard of the warlike Romans, who, from being at first the inhabitants of a little mud-built town, became the conquerors of the greatest part of the then known world.

At the time of which I have been writing, namely, about fifty-five years before the birth of our Lord, the Roman armies were led by the most celebrated of all their generals, Julius Cæsar, who was then prefect, or governor, of Gaul, and afterwards emperor of Rome. He had led his soldiers from the south to the north of Gaul (or France), until he came to that part where it is nearest to England, which you will find on the map is where Calais now stands. From hence he saw the white cliffs of Old England, and doubtless wondered what sort of country it might be. Of the savage inhabitants he had already heard, and took it into his head to cross the sea, and pay them a warlike visit.