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The principal Roman antiquities, besides tumuli, roads, and intrenchments, are remains of walls, houses, pavements, baths, hypocausts or stoves, urns, altars, statues, stones with inscriptions, coins, medals, and various small articles of use

or ornament.

The Roman roads in Britain were constructed by the soldiers with great art and labour, and so durable that they yet remain. Roman Intrenchments may still be seen. They show the spot where once was a Pretorium or Roman Camp. When these camps were permanently fixed to a certain place, they were carefully surrounded by Intrenchments, and were called Roman Stations.

When the Romans took possession of a town, or planted a colony in it, they generally took still greater care of themselves, and surrounded it with walls. These are so extremely hard and thick, that it is even now almost impossible to destroy them. Their first colony in Britain. was Camulodunum, now Colchester, and there is their wall now standing, though not so high as it once was. When it was wished to make a gap in it some years ago, it was necessary to blow it up with gunpowder. The most astonishing wall, built by the Romans in Britain, was that of Severus, which was continued from one side of Scotland to the other.

Of their houses, or villas, there are few remains to be seen; but in digging, and in ploughing, their beautiful floors, called tessellated pavements, are often discovered. They are made of a vast number of very small bricks, of different colours, which are placed in ornamental figures, somewhat like the arrangement of cloth which we call patch-work, or the more elegant ornamental work of Mosaic. So fond were the Romans of this kind of ornament, that large sacks of these tessera often formed part of the baggage of their armies.

The sepulchres of the Romans were vaults, built for their dead, distinct from their tumuli. In these are found, sometimes, skeletons; in others, ashes, contained in urns:

What are the principal Roman antiquities in England?
What are the military antiquities?

Are there any Roman houses in Britain?

Are there any Roman remains of the dead besides tumuli?.

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The urns are, most of them, beautifully made of very fine clay, and covered with a lid.

Altars, statues, and stones with inscriptions, are very scarce in England; but enough have been found to show that the Romans had leisure, and considered themselves settled. Of their coins great numbers have been found of brass, copper, lead, silver, and gold. Wherever history tells us there was a Roman station, there are often discovered quantities of their money and medals, which were usually stamped with heads, or figures, in remembrance of important public events.

Respecting these, it has been said by Mr. Addison, that, "As soon as an emperor had done any thing remarkable, it was immediately stamped upon a coin, and became current through his dominions. It was a pretty contrivance to spread abroad the virtues of an emperor, and make his actions circulate. A fresh coin was a kind of gazette, that published the latest news of the empire."

The ancient Britons, as has been mentioned, were divided into tribes, and were governed by their own chiefs. These petty sovereigns, it appears, thought it expedient in any great emergency, such as invasion, like that of the Romans, or in the Pictish ravages of the northern border, to choose one of their number to lead their united armies, and to preside in their councils. This supreme chief was the Pendragon, and his function resembled that of the Roman Dictator.

Arthur, prince of the Silures, the son of Uther, was made Pendragon when the Saxons usurped the sovereignty of Britain. Arthur's history, as it has come down to us, is partly true and partly false. In fact, he resisted the Saxons, and often prevailed against them, but Mordred, a powerful Pictish chief, went over to the Saxons, and by his treacherous assistance, they defeated Arthur in the battle of Camlan. In another engagement, Mordred killed Prince Arthur.

The more doubtful part of Arthur's history, are certain

What small and curious Roman antiquities still exist in England? What in some sort served for a gazette in the Roman empire? What was a British Pendragon?

What is the probable history of Prince Arthur?

wonderful achievements which are related in legends and ballads; among these are many stories of the Knights of the Round Table, who were friends of Arthur, and were, represented to assemble sometimes at festivals held at a Round Table, from which their appellation was taken.

After the death of Arthur, the bards sung that Merlin, an enchanter, preserved and re-animated his dead body, and conveyed him to Fairyland. It became the common belief of the Welsh, that King Arthur would re-appear, would expel the Saxon conquerors of Britain, and reign again in the land. This fiction is often alluded to in English poetry.

CHAP. II.

During the occupation of Britain by the Romans, the natives lost much of their original hardihood. Their country was improved by cultivation, and their fruitful fields, and more numerous cattle, tempted their predatory neighbours, but as they had long found defenders in their Roman masters, they were become incapable of defending their property.

The ravages of the Scots and Picts not only impoverished but discouraged the Britons; and, in fear that they should not reap the harvest, they neglected their fields.' In consequence of this neglect they suffered famine and disease. In their distress they called upon the Romans to return and protect them.

A letter which was addressed by them at this time to the governor of Gaul is still extant. It is the following: "To Etius, thrice Consul. The groans of the Britons. The Barbarians drive us to the sea. The sea throws us back on the swords of the Barbarians: so we have nothing left but the wretched choice of being either drowned or butchered."

What is the poetic history of Arthur?

What was the popular belief of the Welsh in respect to Prince Arthur? What effect had the protection afforded to the Britons by the Romans upon their character ?

What was the condition of the Britons after the departure of the Romans?

The Romans were not in a condition to relieve the Britons, and they next had recourse to a nation at that period becoming powerful in Europe. The Saxons were a people dwelling in the northern part of Germany, and may be called a tribe of the Northmen. These were properly the people of Scandinavia-the inhabitants of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. The dwellers on the south side of the Baltic resembled the Northmen in many particulars. The Northmen were never subject to Rome. From time immemorial they had been free and independent tribes, roaming over their own fields or deserts, without fear of, or subjection to foreign enemies. They were the first natives of Europe who began to explore the open sea for subsistence, and when their vessels had penetrated to the inlets of Gaul, of Spain, and of Britain, the mild climate and cultivated soil of those countries allured their rapacity. A. D. 448. Vortigern, a British prince, advised his countrymen to entreat aid of the Saxons, who, on their part, gladly promised to assist them against their enemies. In compliance with the request of the Britons, there presently arrived three ships, under the conduct of Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, who landed their troops, and being joined by the Britons, marched against the Scots, who had reached Stamford, where they were met by the Saxons, and were defeated, and driven back.

A. D. 460.

The Saxons soon saw the value and agree ableness of the country they had been inited to defend, and began to covet the possession of it for themselves. They were, in fact, a nation of pirates, and, without regarding the wickedness and cruelty of such conduct, they sent for more of their countrymen, and fell upon the unfortunate Britons, and defeated them in many battles. In one of these Horsa was killed, and Hengist then took possession of Kent, and made himself king of it. After this success of the Saxons under Hengist, swarms

Who were the Northmen?

What is the History of the Northmen?'

Under what circumstances did the Saxons first appear in Britain? When did the Saxons first attempt hostilities against the Britons? Who took possession of Britain, and how did they divide their con-quest?

of them kept pouring in from time to time, and by degrees got possession of almost all South Britain; and as each of their chiefs took possession of what he conquered, there thus at last arose seven different kingdoms, which are commonly called the Saxon Heptarchy-Kent, contained Kent and part of Sussex.-Sussex, Surrey and part of Sussex.-Wessex, included the coast from Sussex to the Land's End.-East Saxony, or Essex.-East Anglia, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire.-Mercia, the midland part of the island.-Northumberland, from Mercia to the borders of Scotland.

It was now that Britain began to be called, from one of the Saxon tribes, Angle-land, and from thence England. Of the native Britons but few were left. Numbers had been slaughtered by the perfidious Saxons. Some fled to Gaul, where they settled in the north-western corner of that country, which has since, from them, been called Bretagne, or Brittany. The rest took refuge in the western side of the island, from the Land's End to the Frith of Clyde, which is, for the most part, hilly and mountainous. The present inhabitants of Wales, and of a part of Cornwall, are descended from these ancient Britons. Scotland was then inhabited by the Scots and Picts. So that Britain must, at that time, have contained at least ten different

states.

After the battle of Stamford, there is no account to be met with of the Scots or Picts, till the year 503, when there is some record of a king Fergus, who united the whole of the northern part of the island into one kingdom, and is the first king of Scotland we hear of. From the year 600 after Christ, to the year 800, there was little but fighting and disputing amongst the seven Saxon kings.

During this time one of the kings of Wessex conquered Cornwall; and then the Britons had nothing remaining to them but Cambria, now called Wales, which they kept possession of till the year 1300, when it was conquered by Edward I. king of England.

What became of the native Britons?

What was the condition of Scotland A. D. 503?

Who retreated to Wales, and who afterwards conquered Wales?

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