CASTERS AND CHESTERS. 803 



and present, throughout the whole length and breadth 

 of Britain. On the contrary, many more might easily 

 be added, such as Eibbel ceaster, now Eibchester ; Berne 

 ceaster, now Bicester ; and Blaedbyrig ceaster, now 

 simply Bladbury. In Northumberland alone there are 

 a large number of instances which I might have quoted, 

 such as Eutchester, Halton Chesters, and Little Chesters 

 on the Eoman Wall, together with Hetchester, Holy 

 Chesters, and Eochester elsewhere the county con- 

 taining no less than four places of the last name. 

 Indeed, one can track the Eoman roads across England 

 by the Chesters which accompany their route. But 

 enough instances have probably been adduced to exemplify 

 fully the general principles at issue. I think it will be 

 clear that the English conquerors did not usually change 

 the names of Eoman or Welsh towns, but simply 

 mispronounced them about as much as we habitually 

 mispronounce I^langollen or Llandudno. Sometimes 

 they called the place by its Eomanised title alone, with 

 the addition of Ceaster ; sometimes they employed the 

 servile British form ; sometimes they even invented an 

 English alternative ; but in no case can it be shown that 

 they at once disused the original name, and introduced 

 a totally new one of their own manufacture, In this, 

 as in all other matters, the continuity between Eomano- 

 British and English times is far greater than it is 

 generally represented to be. The English invasion was 

 a cruel and a desolating one, no doubt ; but it could not 

 and it did not sweep away wholly the old order of things, 

 or blot out all the past annals of Britain, so as to 

 prepare a tabula rasa on which Mr. Green might begin 



