THE 



POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA; 



ENGLAND. 



ENGLAND, including WALES ; the southern and 

 larger portion of the island of Great Britain, is 

 situated between 50 and 55 45' N. lat. and 1 

 50" E. and 5 40' W. longitude. It is bounded by 

 St George's channel on the west, the German ocean 

 on the east, the English channel on the south, and 

 Scotland on the north. Its figure is triangular, the 

 base of 'the triangle being formed by a line drawn 

 from the South Foreland in Kent to the Land's End 

 in Cornwall ; the eastern side, by a line drawn from 

 Berwick to the South Foreland ; and the western 

 side, by another line commencing at Berwick and 

 terminating at the Land's End. The dimensions of 

 the triangle thus formed, are : base, 340 miles ; 

 eastern side, 345 miles ; western side, 425 miles. 

 North of the Humber, the average breadth does not 

 amount to one-third of the average breadth south 

 from that point. The superficial area of England 

 and Wales has been estimated at 37,784,400 acres, 

 of which about 10,000,000 are uncultivated. 



Sketch of the Civil History of England. With- 

 out entering particularly into the arguments which 

 make it probable that England was originally 

 peopled by the Gauls, from the opposite shore, it 

 may be remarked, that, from the Romans, we have 

 received the first historical account of the actual 

 state of the country. When Caesar was prompted 

 to invade this island, he found the natives numer- 

 ous, and expert in all the arts of barbaric war. 

 Although the climate is not remarkable for heat, 

 they went almost naked ; they painted their bodies 

 a blue colour, decorating them with figures of various 

 objects, particularly or the stars, of the sun and 

 moon. Their towns were little superior to the 

 kraals of the Hottentots. Their fortifications, like 

 those of New Zealand, were formed of palisadoes, 

 or of trees, piled upon each other. They had horses, 

 and even used them in battle ; but they mounted 

 not upon their backs, they yoked them to what the 

 Romans called chariots, probably a rude kind of 

 carriages ; and by driving headlong upon their 

 assailants, they endeavoured to compensate for their 

 want of discipline, and the regular arts of war. 



Caesar landed on the coast of England several 

 times, but could not be said to have effected a per- 

 manent conquest. Britain, indeed, presented little 

 to interest the man, whose ambition grasped at the 

 sovereignty of the Roman empire. The attempt 

 which Caesar left unfinished, was renewed by Clau- 

 dius, and his success was greater, notwitlistanding 

 the noble resistance made by Caractacus, and Boa- 

 dicea. See the article Britain. 



Agricola, the general of Domitian, finished what 



Claudius had begun. He extended his conquests to 

 the northern part of the island ; his fleet circumnavi- 

 gated the whole. To secure his conquests he erected 

 a fortification, stretching between the Forth and the 

 Clyde, and of which the remains are yet visible. 

 Adrian abandoned this fortified frontier, and retiring 

 a considerable way, formed another rampart between 

 the Eden and the Tyne. In place of a rampart, 

 Severus afterwards substituted a wall, which with- 

 stood the attacks of the northern Britons, till the 

 successful invasion of the Roman dominions by the 

 surrounding nations forced them to withdraw their 

 legions from Britain, .for the purpose of defending 

 the more important parts of the empire. This hap- 

 pened about the beginning of the fifth century. 



The South Britons were now free, but their long 

 subjection to the Romans had unfitted them for the 

 enjoyment of freedom. They could not now with- 

 stand the attacks of their ferocious northern neigh- 

 bours. The Roman wall, no longer defended by 

 Roman discipline and courage, proved a feeble bar- 

 rier. The Scots and Picts, from the north, quickly 

 passed it, and drove the terrified Britons to the south- 

 ern extremities of the island. In this situation they 

 could devise no other means of defence, than to in- 

 vite the Romans to resume that superiority over 

 them, which they had formerly possessed. The 

 Romans, unable to repel the invasions of the north- 

 ern tribes from the vicinity of Rome itself, little re- 

 garded the petitions of their former subjects. 



The Scots and Picts, satisfied with the plunder 

 which they had obtained, returned homewards ; but, 

 when the Britons, supposing that they were now to 

 live hi peace, ventured to leave their lurking-places, 

 they were informed of the appioach of another 

 army, more numerous than that which had just 

 ravaged their country. Less able to defend them- 

 selves than' formerly, they thought only of courting 

 the aid of some more powerful people. The Saxons, 

 a nation inhabiting the northern parts of Germany, 

 were, at that time, famous for their .bra very, and the 

 boldness of then- piratical expeditions. By gifts and 

 promises, the Britons hoped that they might induce 

 the Saxons to undertake their defence ; an experi- 

 ment of which the consequences showed them the 

 danger. The Saxons, inured to warlike expeditions, 

 willingly accepted the invitation. Their own coun- 

 try was not the most fertile, and could scarcely sup 

 port the number of inhabitants which it contained ; 

 they hoped, Uiat, in Britain they might acquire new 

 settlements, more fertile than those which they wert 

 to abandon ; and they doubted not of their being 

 able to defend them. 



