318 A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 



In the reign of Henry VIII. there 

 was found at Ambrefbury, in Wiltfhire, 

 a table of metal, which appeared to be 

 tin and lead mixed, infcribed with many 

 letters, but in fo ftrange a character 

 that neither Sir Thomas Eliot, nor 

 Mr. Lily, the Schoolmafter of St. Paul's, 

 could read it, and it was therefore neg- 

 lecled. Had it been preferved it might 

 probably have led to fome difcovery. 



Before the arrival of the Romans, 

 the Welfh, or Britifh language, appears 

 to have been the only one ufed through- 

 out the whole of thefe Iflands ; but after 

 the expulfion of the Britifh, by the 

 Saxons, it fled with them into the moun- 

 tains. It feems to have continued in 

 ufe in the Highlands of Scotland, 

 Wales, Ireland, and Cornwall, for feve- 

 ral centuries fubfequent to this period, 

 where defended by mountain barriers, 

 it's brave pofleflbrs could not be affailed 



without 



