54 
York their head quarters, had put by their swords and 
were practising the arts of peace. About this period, then, 
we have little or no cause for surmising that any rupture 
occurred calculated to drive a large body of people to the 
necessity of seeking a lengthened refuge in mountain 
fastnesses. There was a dark cloud, however, gathering in 
the north and full soon it burst. In the year 360, hordes of 
Picts and Scots crossed the Roman barrier, and descended 
upon the civilized provinces. The already weakened 
Roman forces gave way before them, and the whole 
country, as far as London, became one scene of devastation. 
The barbarians were driven back only to renew their 
attacks with more certain success. Tyrants sprung up, and 
were as quickly put down ; and the end of Roman Britain 
followed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us, that in the 
year 418 the Romans collected all their treasures, and some 
' they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able to 
' find them, and some they carried with them into Gaul. 
1 Then came the fearful times chronicled by Gildas. De- 
1 prived of the Roman legions, deprived of the bravest of her 
' sons, Britain is no longer able to resist the ruthless attacks 
i of the northern invaders, who once more pour over the 
' barrier, and in the words of Goldsmith, ' having then 
' ' opened to themselves a passage, they ravaged the whole 
' ( country with impunity ; while the Britons sought preca- 
' ' rious shelter in their woods and mountains. ' If we want 
' confirmatory evidence of the historian's words, is it not 
' furnished by these records, disentombed from the solitary 
' recesses of the mountains ? Do they not tell a tale of a 
' persecuted band fleeing from some common danger, as truly 
' as if we could summon living evidence from beneath that 
' green mound where the old Britons' bones lie mouldering 
' with the parent earth ? And is our setting down these 
f relics as pertaining to the dark days that closed the fourth 
