134 Essay Introductory to the Archeeology of the West of England. 



forth the Britons iuto the western and north-western provinces, eradicated 

 what remains of their language or customs the Romans had left in the plain 

 country, and finally possessed themselves of all the central and southern 

 parts of England^ which they erected into the seven kingdoms of the 

 heptarchy. 



Thus except by the Britons of Wales and Cornwall, and the unconquered 

 nations of the north, was the Anglo-Saxon government obeyed in Britain j 

 harsh and tyrannical at first, it became milder as the dangers of revolt 

 diminished, and ruled over a population chiefly of Anglo-Saxon descent. 



But continued peace and prosperity, by rendering the Anglo-Saxons 

 more civilised and less warlike, exposed them in their turn to invasion. 



A barbarian tribe, inhabiting the peninsula of Jutland, the shores of 

 Scandinavia, and the islauds of the Baltic, pirates from their situation, like 

 the Saxons of yore, and styled " Sea Kings," began to extend the sphere 

 of their depredations, and under the appellation of Danes or north men, 

 ravaged the shores of Gaul and Britain. 



Their descents npon Britain were numerous and successful ; the east, 

 north, and western coasts lay open to their attacks, and they succeeded at 

 last in overthrowing the power of the Saxons, and reducing their authority 

 to a condition from which even the glorious reign of Alfred afforded only a 

 temporary respite. Traces of these struggles are readily to be detected in 

 the western parts of the island, and especially near Chippenham and along 

 the shores of the Bristol Channel. We shall have occasion subsequently 

 to refer to them in detail. 



Shortly after the death of Alfred, the Anglo-Saxon monarchy fell to the 

 ground, and the celebrated Danish chieftain, Canute, took his seat upon the 

 vacant throne of England. By his posterity it was occupied until the 

 failure of the male line, when the Saxon dynasty was restored in the per- 

 son of Edward the Confessor, in 1042. A few years, however, during the 

 reign of his successor, Harold, brought that dynasty a second time to its 

 close, and established, a. d. 1066, a new and hardier race of conquerors 

 permanently on the throne. 



The above sketch, almost necessarily imperfect, could not conveniently 

 have been omitted, since when treating of the language and topographical 

 remains of the successive inhabitants of Britain, it will be necessary fre- 

 quently to refer to the order and time of their several invasions and occu- 

 pations of the island. 



In the next part of this essay we shall take up the languages, of which 

 traces are to be found in Britain. 



(To be Continued.) 



