silence and desolation. No curling smoke was seen 

 among the trees, the watch-dog's bark had ceased, there 

 were no flocks for him to guard, and only blackened 

 ruins told of what had been. Gradually, however, a 

 better state of things arose ; the Saxons contrasted their 

 past condition, their rude huts on the far off shore, their 

 precarious mode of life, with the elegances, and the per- 

 fection in the arts and sciences which they observed in 

 the homes which they had won. They learned to adopt 

 the habits and the manners of the Romanized Britons, 

 and to repair the desolations which they had wrought. 

 Kingdoms were established, and though war occasionally 

 prevailed among the chieftains, there were many who 

 appreciated the blessings, and the security of peace. 



Next came the Danes, men of stern countenances and 

 ruddy hair. War-chiefs, accustomed to a life of rapine 

 they knew no pity ; and what the Saxon would have 

 spared, when first he trod the shores of Britain, they 

 ruthlessly overthrew. The forest and vale country 

 around the solitary yew, was grievously infested with 

 them. They took shelter in the hollows with which this 

 part of England abounded, and it was difficult to dis- 

 possess them. Those hollows or little glens were so 

 deep and narrow, that the rays of the sun frequently did 

 not enliven them for months together ; yet still some of 

 the most accessible were brought into cultivation, and 

 rewarded the industrious husbandman with plentiful 

 crops of corn and grass. Others remained in their 



