VOL. XXX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 355 



SO convenient for a secure settlement: or for such a use as the Romans might 

 have occasion to make of it. We are informed by Caesar, that the maritime 

 parts of Britain, speaking of what he saw, which was the south-east, were 

 inhabited by people from Belgium ; and that they called their settlements by 

 the name of the places from whence they came. It was the opinion of Tacitus 

 also, that those who inhabited next to Gaul came from Gaul. And Bede says, 

 the tradition in his time was, that the southern part of the isle was peopled 

 from Bretaign. In the third and seventh books of Caesar's Commentaries, 

 mention is made of the Andes, a city and a people belonging to it among the 

 Celtae, inhabiting on the sea-coast. Time varying the names of things, near 

 2(X) years after Caesar, Ptolomy calls the city Anderidum ; and near 250 years 

 after him, when the Notitia Imperii, now extant, was in use, the Classis Ande- 

 retianorum is registered, and the residence of their admiral fixed at Paris. 

 From whence it is to be inferred, that though the capital of the Andes might 

 have been Angers near the Loire, yet their country had on the north the British 

 channel, and on the east the Seine, for its bounds. The British coast about 

 East Bourne is the nearest of any to the mouth of the Seine; therefore, 

 according to the usage before Caesar's time, the name of Anderida there is 

 readily accounted for. Moreover, this place seems most naturally seated for 

 giving an appellation to the great wood, to which it adjoined; for, as itself is 

 on the shore, so also the Sylva Anderida here came very near the shore, and a 

 large part of it might be seen from the sea before it. 



Excepting the want of a navigable river, the spot of ground where this old 

 town stood, yields to none in the county for importance and pleasure: for here, 

 like a wedge, ends the firm soil of the Downs; nature has shaped it like an 

 equilateral triangle, having each side half a mile in length : towards the sea, on 

 the southern side, it is fenced by a low cliff, of 12, 15, and in some places 

 20 feet high. On the northern side is a morass, with a large rivulet of very 

 good water. Between the west side and the Downs lies a small valley, by which 

 advantage there was formerly a harbour, capable of holding a small fleet: the 

 banks on each side of it are an evidence it was sunk by industry; but by weeds 

 and gravel from the sea, and by mold annually added, as is observable in vallies, it 

 is now so raised, that it is never flowed but at high spring tides, when a strong 

 wind forces the waves into it. 



As the situation described rendered this place strong, so it is very pleasant 

 also: for the ground is high enough for a good prospect of the low lands 

 adjoining, and the country towards Battle; besides, it has a commanding view 

 over that bay, which is between Beachy Head and Hastings. If the use made 

 of it by the Romans was to guard the coast, there was this advantage belonging 



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