566 



BRIT A I N. 



New in- 

 roads of 

 the Picts 

 *jiJ Scots. 



fintair. W ;'s r.cc-ompariied into Gaul by myriads of Britons ; 

 */ but his cnterprize miscarried, and his discomfited 

 soklii-rs, after having made good their retreat to Ar- 

 morica, settled there, through despair of ever regain- 

 ing their native land. Theodosius finally triumphed 

 over all his competitors, and, by sending his vicar 

 Chrysantus with an army into Britain, secured it 

 from the ravages of the north. 



After the death of this great man, an inundation 

 of barbarians poured in upon all tides of the western 

 empire, and, among these, the Picts and Scots fell 

 upon Southern Britain. Stilico, the guardian of the 

 young Emperor Honorius, sent over forces, who re- 

 pulsed the barbarians in victories which are celebra- 

 ted by the poet Claudian. But, as the Roman em- 

 pire was now hastening to dissolution, its weakness, 

 like a mortal disease in the body, was chiefly felt at 

 the extremities. The Roman legions in Britain mu- 

 tinied, and, with equal levity and insolence, set up 

 successively and dethroned several usurpers. The 

 distresses of Honorius obliging him to recal his 

 troops, the island was left defenceless to the northern 

 hordes. Honorius even gave up all claims to the 

 allegiance of the Britons, and exhorted them to de- 

 fend themselves. For a short time the few Roman 

 veterans, who had settled and still lingered in the 

 lands which belonged to thm, gave example and as- 

 sistance to the natives ; but, as these gradually dis- 

 posed of their estates, and retired to the continent, 

 tl>e multitude became an easy prey. Honorius, upon 

 a favourable turn of his fortunes, sent twice over the 

 aid of a Roman legion, which was sufficient to drive 

 the northern tribes beyond their friths. Gallio of 

 Ravenna, one of the last ornaments of Roman his- 

 tory, commanded the last detachment which Rome 

 ever sent to our island. After repelling the savages, 

 he convened the chiefs of the islanders, and told them 

 with frankness, that, since the empire could afford 

 them no future assistance, they must themselves as- 

 sume courage to defend all that was dear to them. 

 The repairing Severus's wall, the erection of useful 

 forts, and supplying them with military weapons and 

 engines, these were the last good offices which the 

 Britons received from their protectors, before they 

 took their final departure, at the distance of 475 

 years from the landing of Julius Cassar. 



But the Britons, as incapable of exerting self-de- 

 fence as of enjoying liberty, reaped no advantage 

 from these bequests. So little had they profited by 

 the instructions of the Romans, that they knew not 

 how to retrieve each others fatigue by the change of 

 sentinels upon their ramparts. " They fell asleep, 

 (says Gildas), upon their posts, and were dragged off 

 the battlements by the hooks of the barbarians. The 

 Scots and Picts broke over their walls like wolves 

 into a sheep-fold, retired with their booty, and re- 

 turned every succeeding year. Instead of resisting 

 them, the British states, divided among petty tyrants, 

 turned their feeble arms against each other, till a fa- 

 mine, which was succeeded by a pestilence, threaten- 

 ed depopulation to the whole southern part of the 

 A. D. 446. island. In 446, the fame of JEtius, the Roman 

 prefect in Gaul, afforded a forlorn hope of assistance 

 from the Roman arms. jEtius was addressed in a 



Ro- 



jnans leave 

 Britain. 



letter, entitled, the Groans of the Britons to the 

 thrice appointed ^Etius. " The barbarians," (said 

 they,) " drive us into the sea, and the sea drives us 

 b;ick upon the swords of the barbarians." ^Etius 

 might pity the suppliants, but could spare them no 

 assistance, employed as he was in opposing Attila 

 king of the Huns. 



Despairing of all power to resist their northern 

 invaders, the Britons applied, (it is said) for assistance 

 to the Saxons, a people inhabiting that peninsula, 

 called the Cimbric Chersonesus, which is bounded 

 by the Elbe on the south, by the German ocean on 

 the west, and by the Bakic sea on the north and 

 east. The tribes of this nation had been hitherto 

 known to the Britons only by visits of depredation 

 to their coasts. It is said by the Saxon historians, 

 that the states of the island were convened, and that 

 by the advice of Vortigern, prince of the Silures, the 

 fatal resolution was adopted, of offering dieir country 

 and their liberties to the Saxons, if they would de- 

 fend them against the Picts and Scots. That the 

 spirit of the Britons was sufficiently humble to 

 apply to the Romans in the terms that have been de- 

 scribed, may easily be conceived : they knew the 

 value of Roman protection, and the Romans were 

 a civilized people; but that they besought the Saxons, 

 a pagan race, known to them only by their ferocity, 

 to accept of their liberties and properties, and that 

 they laid themselves at once at their incr-cy, in be- 

 seeching them for their aid, is a tiling so improba- 

 ble, that the partial authority of the Saxon authors 

 is insufficient to confirm it. It is at variance with 

 human nature, and with that immediate resistance 

 to the Saxons, which the Britons immediately made 

 when they began to seize upon their possessions. 

 We may therefore suppose the first visit of the 

 Saxons to have been accidental, or, if they came in- 

 vited, that it was only by a small portion of the na- 

 tives who took them into their pay. The Saxon 

 ships, which we cannot suppose to have conveyed 

 more than a few hundred men, arrived on the Bri- 

 tish coast in 149. The leaders of the troops were 

 Hengist and Horsa, the fabled descendants of Wo- 

 den. By their aid the Picts and Scots were defeated ; 

 but the Saxons, glad to settle in the fertile fields of 

 a delightful island, in exchange for the bleak shores 

 of the Baltic, invited over Iresh reinforcements of 

 their countrymen, and, from the auxiliaries, became 

 the masters of the natives. The Britons exerting, 

 when it was too late, a valour that had been dor- 

 mant, or wasted itself in civil war, opposed their 

 new tyrants occasionally with success. In one of 

 their battles with the Saxons, the chieftain Horsa 

 fell. His brother, Hengist, in spite of all his vic- 

 tories, so much boasted by the Saxon annalists, does 

 not appear to have penetrated beyond Kent. By 

 degrees, however, the Saxon power reduced the na- 

 tives either to entire submission, or drove those who 

 retained independence to the mountains of Wales, of 

 Cornwall, and Cumberland. This was effected a 

 considerable time before the reign of Kiug Robert.* 



The proper history of Britain as one kingdom, 

 does not commence till the beginning of the seven- 



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* For the history of England till the union of the crowns, see ENGLAND. 



