HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND 



IRELAND. 



BRITAIN BEFORE THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 



LTHOUGH it was to the ambition of the 

 Romans that the British Islands owed their 

 troduction within the pale of authentic history, 

 ere is yet reason to believe that they were known 

 ore or less vaguely to other nations before the 

 e of Julius Caesar. When Hecataeus speaks of 

 large island off the coast of Gaul inhabited by 

 sacred race of Hyperboreans, there can be little 

 oubt that it is the island subsequently known as 

 ritannia that he refers to, and it is a moot-point 

 hether Britain or Iceland is the Ultima Thule of 

 e ancients. The Phoenicians, the chief traders 

 f the ancient world, were the first to make any 

 ;e of the knowledge that the British Islands 

 isted, if they did not discover them. The tin 

 s of Spain beginning to fail, certain Phoenician 

 dventurers from Cadiz were induced to explore 

 e south-western coasts of Britain, and found 

 hat they wanted in a group of ten islands, called, 

 account of their chief product, Cassiterides or 

 e Tin Islands, the Scilly Isles of modern history. 

 o carefully did the Phoenicians, for the purposes 

 trade, conceal their discovery, that Herodotus, 

 out five centuries before the birth of Christ, 

 iknowledged that he had been unable to ascer- 

 in the geographical position of the Cassiterides. 

 Itimately, however, they were re-discovered by 

 the Carthaginians, the Grecian colonists of Mar- 

 seilles, and others ; and at the time of the Roman 

 invasion, the inhabitants of Britain exported, to 

 a considerable extent, not only tin, but hides, 

 ad, and even iron, receiving in exchange such 

 icles as salt, earthenware, and brass. 

 The ancient British tribes, whom the Romans 

 countered when they crossed the English Chan- 

 1, belonged, no doubt, to the Aryan race, which 

 me into Europe from the east, and to the Celtic 

 ranch of it. The probability is, that they were orig- 

 inally immigrants from Gaul and Belgium, although 

 it is possible that the south-western portions of 

 the island were colonised, as suggested by the his- 

 torian Tacitus, from Spain. There is also a strong 

 probability, from the weapons and tools found in 

 British tombs, that the Celtic tribes conquered 

 and extirpated or absorbed another and still more 

 ancient savage people. These tribes were about 

 forty in number, according to the most ancient 

 accounts, and divided into two important sections, 

 the Gael in the north, and the Cymri in the south 

 and south-west. Each tribe had its chief or king, 

 who lived in a wooden hut, defended by boughs 

 of trees, while his subjects dwelt in poorer huts 

 or in caves. They had little knowledge of 

 agriculture, and lived very much as the North 

 American Indians do, upon animals caught in 

 hunting and upon fruits. The exigences of cli- 

 mate had made them singularly patient of fatigue 

 and privation, but had also made them sanguinary, 

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vindictive, and rapacious. They stained their 

 bodies blue with the plant woad, to render them 

 formidable in battle ; and they used in warfare 

 both cavalry and chariots. 



The religion of the British tribes is known as 

 Druidism. There is no evidence that they wor- 

 shipped images, although they are said to have 

 had both principal gods and local deities or genii ; 

 but the great objects of their veneration were the 

 oak and the mistletoe. The bulwark of this reli- 

 gious system was the priests or Druids, who knew 

 and administered the laws, had a high reputation 

 for learning, and were the most powerful class in 

 the island. By their persuasion, human sacrifices 

 were frequently offered up to the gods, these being 

 captives, or, more commonly, malefactors. The 

 island of Anglesea (Mona) was considered the 

 sacred centre of the Druidical system. 



CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS. 



It was the sword and the pen of Caius Julius 

 Caesar that first made Britain something more 

 than a myth to the rest of the world. In the year 

 55 B.C. this great commander, statesman, and his- 

 torian found himself on the north coast of Gaul 

 (now France), which he had traversed in triumph 

 from the foot of the Alps to the mouth of the 

 Rhine. From thence he descried the white cliffs 

 of the island, separated from Gaul by what is now 

 known as the English Channel. Desirous to add 

 to his own knowledge, and ambitious to conquer a 

 new province for Rome, he took advantage of the 

 pretext that the Britons had given assistance to a 

 Gallic tribe (the Veneti), with whom he had been 

 engaged in hostilities ; and, sailing from Portus 

 Itius, he invaded Britain, landing near Deal The 

 Britons offered a gallant resistance, doing much 

 execution with their javelins ; but the discipline of 

 the Roman legions prevailed, and they effected a 

 footing on the island. They did nothing more, 

 however ; and after staying twenty days, Caesar, 

 fearing the approach of winter, returned to Gaul. 

 Next year (54 B.C.), he landed again with a force 

 of five legions, defeated the Britons, under Cassi- 

 vellaunus, in several engagements, and conquered 

 a large portion of what now forms the counties 

 of Middlesex and Essex. The Britons sued for 

 peace, and obtained it on condition of paying an 

 annual tribute. This promke was disregarded by 

 the Britons ; Caesar, being fully employed else- 

 where, was unable to punish the neglect, and his 

 conquests produced little or no effect upon Britain. 



For about a hundred years after the second 

 invasion of Caesar, Britain enjoyed peace. In 

 the year 43 A.D. however, when the Emperor 

 Claudius was reigning at Rome, another large 

 army, commanded, first, by Aulus Plautius, and 

 subsequently by Claudius himself, invaded the 

 island, and subdued several tribes. A British 



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