56 History of the Engtish Landed Interest. 



rendered the Briton so easy a prey to the Roman eagles ; 

 wliich operated again when "those swarmes of duskish vermin, 

 to wit, a number of hideous Highland Scots and Picts," ^ 

 flocked over the whole country and exhausted it of victuals ; 

 which gave the victory to these very Saxons whom we are 

 now discussing, when they turned to rend their host King 

 Vortigern, and wrest the land from his cohesionless grasp. 



We have already pointed out that we are completely in the 

 dark as to the comparative stage of civilisation to which these 

 particular tribes of the Teutonic family had arrived at the 

 time of their invasion. 



Csesar and Tacitus or Von Maurer cannot help us here. The 

 evidences at our disposal are too scant, archaeological data too 

 untrustworthy, and conclusions too vague to admit of much 

 certainty. This, of course, equally applies to the stage or 

 stages of civilisation attained in Britain. Even supposing 

 that our inference of the assumption of seignorial rights by the 

 native tax-collector be correct, what part did he play in the 

 ensuing struggle ? He would not, it is true, have been subject 

 to the opprobrium of his fellows or the loss of self-respect 

 which the reXcovr}^ of Jewish history, owing to his mercenary 

 and unpatriotic spirit, invariably incurred. But, on the other 

 hand, landlordism might still be distasteful to the old tribal 

 instincts of many aboriginal Britons. Nor would the common 

 danger weld together into one solid defence the heterogeneous 

 communities which were scattered over the country. The 

 tribes would rest content with watching their mountain passes, 

 the monarchical peoples would keep guard solely over their own 

 frontiers, and the seaboard would be left to whatever substi- 

 tute the local British had thought fit to appoint for the Comes 

 Litoris Saxonici of the Roman coast defence. But even the 

 few data which we possess for the history of the struggle are 

 liable to mislead ; when, for example, the strategy of the in- 

 vaders would necessitate a marching and countermarching 

 which might easily be confused with nomadic instincts, and on 

 the other hand, the settling down of each band of invaders 

 into a kind of separate and tribal community might arise from 

 ' Camden, Britannia. 



