BRITAIN. 



.5G1 



on tlie branches of the oak, was gathered by thorn 

 ' with every circumituioc <>i -^f-il s>!rrnni;y. The 

 priestly spoils ami propi-r v u r left n the < ntre 

 of tlicir const-crated woods ' from tin 1 ap- 



proach of the people by no i;n T !, (> it thrir super- 

 stition. In the midst of these proves, they also sa 

 crificcd their prisoners and victims; and, from the 

 course of the blood around tin- alt trs, foretoM the 

 course of future events. They W'-re the la-.v ma 1 . 

 the physicians, the poets, and philosophers, of their 

 country. They taught their disciples the dortrme of 

 transmigration, and inculcated the duly of despi 

 death in defence of their native country. Britain 

 was regarded by the Gauls themselves as the great 

 sanctuary of Druidism. 



Though the insular situation of Britain had early 

 made its shores the resort of foreigners, yet the na- 

 tives, as they were found by the Romans, had de- 

 rived but little civilization from foreigners. Their 

 clothing was harsh, untanm-d skins; the naked parts 

 of their body were coloured, for the sake of orna- 

 ment, with the smearings of an azure herb. Agri- 

 culture had, indeed, been introduced by the Be'i^ic 

 Gauls ; but the general f >od was milk, and the flesh 

 of their herds ; for, even to those poor savages, 

 superstition had forbid the use of fish, and several 

 kinds of animal food. Their towns were a confused 

 parcel of huts, covered with turf, boughs, or skins ; 

 and were placed without order or distinction of 

 streets, in the midst of some wood or morass, the 

 avenues to which were defended with ramparts of 

 earth and felled trees. They were large, and tall in 

 their persons. " The Britons," says Strabo, " ex- 

 cel the Gauls in stature, of which I had ocular de- 

 monstration ; for I saw some young Britons at 

 Rome, who were half a foot taller than the tallest 

 men." The same author, however, who speaks of 

 the size of those Britons whom he had seen, de- 

 scribes their shapes and features as clum -y, and says, 

 that they did not stand firm on tluii legs. Though 

 savages in point of art and industry, the ancient 

 Britons are respectfully spoken of by several Roman 

 historians, with regard to intellectual and moral cha- 

 racter. Tacitus says, they possessed a quicker ap- 

 prehension than the Gauls ; and Diodorus Siculus 

 prefers their honesty to that of the Romans. A 

 custom very abhorrent to natural morality is indeed 

 recorded of them, that they possessed wives in com- 

 mon to societies of 10 or 12 persons ; but the sup- 

 position of such a custom might be easily assumed 

 by .1 Roman stranger, from the very innocence of 

 barbarians sleeping promiscuously in huts ; although 

 the chastity of the sexes might be as purely kept 

 up, as in states of society, where they are divided by 

 greater ceremony. 



Though the Phoenician and other merchants were 

 probably early acquainted with the mainland * of 

 Britain, yet their exports must have been inconsider- 

 able before the Roman conquest, compared with the 

 articles which were exported after that era. The 

 exports, in the flourishing times of Roman trade, 



to h.ive b:-rn copper, tin, lime, chalk, pearl), Brtata* 

 for the tvauty of which our is! iml u.i <[, ~~~ v - 



, cattle, hi i, cheeses, dogs, and slaves, 



with the solitary manufacture of baskets f. Some 

 of the niont useful baser metals seem njt to h 

 hi-i-n tound in liiitain b'-f.>re Caeaar's time, at he ir.- 

 fonns us that their brass was imported ; and their 

 skill in manufacturing those metals which they had, 

 inn ;t hau- been, at the same period, very rude, v. 

 we lind that their ornamental trinket! w re supplied 

 by strangers Their martial habits, howev r, v. 

 not likely to leave them ignorant of the ift . 



of the armourer. Besides small targets and swoi 

 which, as well as their spears, were supplied with a 

 noisy rattle, intended to strike terror, they used in 

 battle, chariots, with iron scythes projecting from 

 the axle. But .hough they managed these chariot) 

 wth expertness, and could sometimes break win 

 the Roman line with them, they were of little use, 

 upon the whole, against disciplined troops, and were 

 heard ot no more after the Romans had gained a 

 footing in the island. The Britons shaved all their 

 beard except the upper lip, which, like the Gaul' , 

 they suffered to grow to great length. The fulness 

 and beauty of the hair of the head was displayed as a 

 mark of dignified birth. 



Such were the inhabitants of this island, when Britain ii.- 

 Rome, in the plenitude of her republican glory, de- V f 

 tcrmined to add it to her empire, about 55 years be- ni '^ n , ' 

 fore the Christian era. With no better pretext for A. 

 hostility, than a rumour, that these islanders had 

 lent some assistance to the Gauls, Cscsar dispatch- 

 ed Caius Volusenus with a galley, to gain intelli- 

 gence about the shores, and the natives, whilst In- 

 collected a fleet upon the sea coasts about Calais and 

 Boulogne. The Britons, learning his design, sent 

 ambassadors, offering submission. Ccesar dismissed 

 them, after a kind reception, with Comiu , w!n,ni he 

 constituted king of the Atrebatians ; and whom he 

 instructed to gain as strong a party as possible 

 mong the British states; and announced to the I 1 

 tons, that he would soon visit their island in person. 

 The Britons, seeing no hope in negotiation, imprison^ 

 ed Comius, and raised an army lor their defence. 

 On the return of Volusenus, Caesar embarked the 

 infantry of two legions at a port, supposed to h. 

 been Calais, on board eighty transports, and ordered 

 the cavalry of those legions to embark at anotlur, 

 eight miles distant, on board 18 transports. He 

 sailed in person with the infantry transports, about 

 one in the morning of the 2(>th August .5.5, A. C. 

 and anchored off the coast of Britain, near Dover, 

 about ten the same day. Perceiving, however, that 

 the lofty cliffs were covered with a British ariny, he- 

 weighed anchor again at three in the afternoon, and, 

 sailing eight miles farther, stopped at a plain and 

 open shore, probably at or near Deal. At tirst 

 the playing of the engines on board the gallics, 

 which Caesar sent to flank the opposing Britons, dis- 

 concerted their barbarous troops ; but still the Ro- 

 mans were backward to encounter both the waves. 



* We have no direct evidence of foreign merchants visiting the mainland of Britain before Cffisar's time, but only the 

 : . adjacent islands. 



f Barbara de Piais v.ni kucautla JBritannis. MABTIIL. 

 VOL. IV. PART II. 4 B 



