£i/ William Long, Esq. 103 



the idea — in his opinion, a most happy one — that the Belg£B, having 

 taken this (the southern) part of the country from the Celts as far 

 as Wansdyke, raised this monument of Stonehenge in rival magni- 

 ficence to that of Abury. According to Stukeley, the Belg£B, as 

 they gradually expelled the British tribes who preceded them, con- 

 structed successive lines of defence — Combe Bank, Bokerly Ditch, 

 the ditch immediately north of Old Sarum, and Wansditch. Warton 

 supposes that there were not less than seven of these ditches. Dr. Guest 

 considers that as such lines of defence would require an organized body 

 of men to guard them, and the maintenance of such a force would be 

 beyond the means of races only imperfectly civilized, the proper 

 character of these ditches is that of boundary lines ; and that the 

 number of them has been exaggerated not only by Warton, but 

 even by Stukeley. " It may be asked," he says, '' what right have 

 we to assume that the Belgse overspread the south of Britain, in 

 successive waves of conquest, such as are pre-supposed in the hypo- 

 thesis we are considering ? The only ground for such a hypothesis 

 that I am aware of, is contained in Caesar's statement, ' Maritima 

 pars ab iis (incolitur) qui prsedae, ac belli causa Ex Belgio transierunt, 

 qui omnes fei'c iis nominibus civitatum adpellantur quibus orti ex 

 civitatibus eo pervenerunt, et bello inlato ibi remanserunt atque agros 

 colere caeperunt.' (B.G. i., 4.) It may perhaps be inferred from 

 this passage, that there was a succession of predatory inroads, some 

 of which were followed by Belgic settlements ; and when in the 

 district which we know to have been colonized by the Belgse, we find 

 successive lines of boundary evidently made by a people inhabiting 

 the sea-board, to separate themselves from the tribes of the interior, 

 it may, I think be admitted that the hypothesis advanced by Stukeley 

 and accepted by Warton, is, to say the least, not an unreasonable 

 one. If we attemjit to trace the progress of Belgic conquest by the 

 light of Welsh tradition, we shall be disappointed. The all but 

 silence of the Triads, with respect to a people who fill such a place 

 in history, is one of the most puzzling circumstances connected with 

 these mysterious records. The Triad, which mentions the three 

 refuge-seeking tribes, tells us the first of these tribes came from 

 Galedin, and had lauds allotted to them in the Isle of Wight. Welsh 



