CHAP, xiv.] ROMAN BRITAIN. 489 



and of Somerset, the jet of Yorkshire, 1 and the coal of 

 Northumberland. 2 



The influence of Borne penetrated into every part of 

 the country south of the Highlands, and the Eoman 

 villas, with their tesselated pavements, baths, columns, 

 and statues, originally designed for the sunny skies of 

 Italy, rose under the inclement skies of Northumberland, 

 Lancashire, and Wales, and were very numerous in the 

 southern districts. Latin was the official language, 

 occupying the same relation to the British tongue that 

 French held till recently in Eussia, and Britain was a 

 province in the same sense as Gaul and Spain, and 

 became Christian like the rest of the empire by the 

 edict of the Emperor Constantine. 3 



The Eomans have also left their mark in the animals 

 and plants which they naturalised in Britain. The 

 fallow deer of southern Europe was introduced into 

 the forests, the pheasant into the woodlands, and the 

 hornless sheep, the goose, and the domestic fowl, 4 were 

 added to the animals used for the table. The last two 

 were, however, known before the days of Caesar; but 

 from some superstitious feeling were not eaten. The 

 elm, now so common, may be inferred not to have 

 existed in Britain before the Historic period, from its 

 not occurring in the forests buried under peat or sub- 

 merged beneath the sea, and was probably naturalised by 

 the Eomans. 



1 Solinus, c. 22. Priscianus, Perieg. v. 202. Isidorus, xiv. c. 6. Bseda, 

 Hist. Eccles. i. 1. 



2 Cinders occur in the refuse-heaps of the Roman garrisons on the 

 Roman Wall. See Bruce, The Eoman Wall. 



3 Sozomen, i. c. 6. 



4 It is abundant in most Romano-British refuse-heaps. 



