Bath during British Independence. 23 



justice. Aquae was the capital of a territory of its own, and 

 the public business of this district was administered by 

 municipal officers, who were elected from time to time, ac- 

 cording to the Roman method of governing the provinces. 

 .^^^ And here it seems natural to enquire what 

 British manner of people these Britons were, who at 



Popiiiation. jjjg withdrawal of the Roman power remained 

 behind as masters of this city and territory? What was 

 their religion, their language ? What were their habits, 

 prospects, capabilities ? 



Perhaps it may be convenient to deal with the latter and 

 more general question first. They were the trading, purvey- 

 ing, labouring classes, who in the Roman world had got 

 separated from the military caste, and who were called by 

 the soldiery pagani, burghers, townsfolk. These had for 

 generations ministered to the wants of an aristocracy of 

 warriors ; and now that their habitual and ancestral superiors 

 were gone, they were left to shape a world as they could, 

 to discover a modus vivendi among themselves, to carry on 

 the administration of town and country, and to provide 

 means of defence in case of attack. In the latter respect 

 they must have been poorly off ; perhaps there is no kind of 

 population less capable of self-defence than one that for 

 generations has lived under the shadow of a military or- 

 ganization in which it has borne no part. There would have 

 naturally remained behind a certain number of old officers 

 and soldiers, whose time of service was past, who had 

 formed local connections, and with these would rest the sole 

 available knowledge of military affairs. There is no difficulty 

 in understanding the general helplessness which appeared 

 when the land was overrun by barbarians from the north. 



As to their religion, we cannot doubt that Christianity 



