BRITAIN. 
416 
nous, and in compafs its three Tides are found to contain, 
allowing for the windings of the coaft, about 1800 miles. 
The Toutli tide, extending from the North Foreland in 
Kent to the Land’s End in Cornwall, contains about 300 
miles; the weft; tide, from the Land’s End, to the moft 
northern point of Scotland, about 800; and the eaft fide 
about 700., If Great Britain be confidered as a perfect 
triangle, formed by three right lines, the length of ijts 
three (ides put together, wotdd amount to about 1500 
mdes, The fertility and pleafantnefs of Britain gave oc- 
cafion to imagine that thele were the Fortunate Iflands, 
deferibed by the poets, where the face of nature fmiled 
with a perpetual ipring. It was in former times the gra¬ 
nary of the weftern empire, for hence was every year tranf- 
potted an immenle quantity of corn, for the fupply of the 
army on the frontiers of Germany. The fouthern parts of 
Britain were peopled, according to Ccefar, by the Gauls. 
Tacitus is of the fame opinion : if we confider all cir- 
cumftances, fays he, it is probable that Gaul firlt peopled 
Britain, which lies fo near it. This opinion, which is fol¬ 
lowed by moft of the ancient as well as the modern wri¬ 
ters, is chiefly founded on the agreement obferved by the 
Roman writers between the two nations in their cuftoms, 
manners, language, religion, government, way of fighting, 
&c. Befides, as the Gauls fent colonies into Italy, Spain, 
Germany, Thrace, and Afia, it is but reafonable to con¬ 
clude, that they did the fame with refpedt to Britain, 
which lay fo near them, that they could dilcern it from 
the continent, and was no lefs plentiful than the other 
countries where they fettled. 
The Romans confidered Britain as a diftindt world, Et 
penitus ioto divifos orbe Britannos, Virg. Eel. i. 67. They di¬ 
vided it into two parts, Romana, and Barbara, of different 
extent at different times, according to the progrefs of their 
conquefls. Britannia Romana was divided into Superior ; 
anfwering to Wales, and Inferior , comprehending the reft 
of it: iikewife into Britannia prima, fecunda ; Valentia ; 
Maxima Cxfarienfis, and Flavia Cxfarienfis ; but the limits 
of thefe are not known. The rivers noticed by them are, 
Tamejis, Thames; Sabrina, the Severn; Abus, the Hum¬ 
ber, compofed of the Oufe, Trent, and other branches; 
Vedra, the Were or Tees, rather the former; Tina, the 
Tyne; Ituna, the Eden, running into the Aijluarium Itunce, 
the Solway frith ; Tuaejis, or TueJIs, the Tweed; Bcdotria, 
or Bodaia, the Forth ; Glota, the Clyde; Taus, the Tay; 
Dcvana, the Dee, &c. The only mountain or elevated 
land mentioned by the Romans, is Mons Grampius, the 
Grampian mountain, called alfo Crofs-benn, or the crofs 
mountain, which beginning near the mouth of the Dee, 
not far from Aberdeen, runs weftward to Cowal In Argyle- 
ftiire, almoft the whole breadth of the ifland. The chief 
ftates mentioned by them were, Cantii, inhabiting Kent; 
Trinobantes, Middlefex ; Be fee, or Rrgni, Hampfliire, Wilt- 
fhire, and Somerfetlhire; Durotriges, Dorfetlhire; Damnonii , 
Devonfhire and Cornwall; Atrebates , Berkfhire ; Silures, 
South Wales; Ordovices, North Wales ; lceni, Effex, Suf¬ 
folk, Norfolk, &c. i?Hga«t«,Yorkfliire; and feveral others. 
Britannia Barbara, called alfo Caledonia , was never fub- 
dued by the Romans, who did not penetrate farther than 
the monies Grampii, It was inhabited by the Caledonians 
and Picls, fo called, becaufe they painted their bodies. 
Scot/', the Scots, are only mentioned by later writers, after 
the time of Theodofius ; and generally fuppofed to have 
come from Ireland: but by fame they are reckoned to be 
a colony of Saxons. Tacitus imagines the Caledonians, 
from their fize and colour of their hair, to have been of 
German extraction. The Silures, or Wei ft), for limilar 
reafons, are believed to have Come from Spain. The chief 
iflands round Britain noticed by the Romans, are, Cedis, 
Wight ; Cajfterides, fuppofed to be the Stilly iflands, fo 
called," from their producing tin, by the Phoenicians and 
Greeks, who gave this name like.wife to promontorium Bole - 
rium, Land’s-end, and Darnnonium or Ocrinum, the Lizard- 
point, as alfo to a part of Cornwall; Mona , Angloiey, the 
feat of the Druids, a pel Mona or Monatda, Man; Ebudx, or 
Ebudes, called alfo by.a more modern name Hebrides, the 
weftern illes of Scotland ; 0 rcades, the Orkneys, oppofite to 
the promontory Orcas; Dungfby-head: alfo the Shetland 
iflands, fuppofed to be the Ultima Thule of the ancients, 
which they imagined the moft remote part of the earth to¬ 
wards the north. Sir James Foulis, in a paper publifhed 
in the Tranfadtions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland 
for 1792, has fatisfadlorily fhewn that the Romans, from 
firft to laft, named tills ifland Britannia, Caledonia, Pibli ; 
and that they gave thefe names,'not to one peculiar part 
of the ifland or people, but to the inhabitants and coun¬ 
try on the bank ofbme Thames, as well as to thofe beyond 
the Grampian mountain. Their manners, cuftoms, reli¬ 
gion, form of government, &c. are deferibed not only by 
Caefar in his Commentaries, but by others, and perhaps 
more fully, who wrote after the "Romans were become 
mailers of the ifland. The country was, according to 
Caefar, well peopled, and flocked with chttle. Their houfes 
were not unlike thofe of the Gauls. They ufed copper or 
iron plates, weighed by a certain ftandard, inftead of mo¬ 
ney. If they bred domeftic fowls, hens, or geele, it was 
for their diverflon, being ftridlly forbidden by their reli¬ 
gion to eat them. Of all the Britons, thofe who inhabited 
Cantium, or Kent, were the moft civilized, not differing 
much in their manners from the Gauls. The more inland 
people, for the moft part, lowed no corn, their ufual food 
being'milk and game, with which their woods and plains 
were well ftored". The ufe of clothes was fcarceiy known 
in the ifland. Only the inhabitants of the fouthern coaft 
covered their nakednefs with the fkins of wild beafts, care- 
lefsly thrown over them, not fo much to defend them- 
felves againll the cold, as to avoid giving offence to the 
ftrangers, who came to trade with them. . All the Britons, 
painted their bodies with the juice of vvoad, of a Iky co¬ 
lour, and wore long hair, but Ihaved the reft of their bo¬ 
dies, except their upper lip. One cuftom prevailed among 
them, which feemed deteftable to other nations, which was 
for ten or twelve men, brothers or friends, to have wives 
in common. They abftained from all manner of fifh, tho* 
the Teas that furrounded their ifland, and their rivers, were 
plentifully ftored with them. Their towns, or rather vil¬ 
lages, were a confufed parcel of huts, placed at a fmall 
diftance from each other, and, generally (peaking, in the 
middle of a wood, whereof the avenues were defended 
with (light ramparts of earth, or with the trees that were 
cut down to clear the groflnd. 
Their trade was very inconfiderable, notwithftanding 
the convenient fituation of their ifland for carrying on an 
extenfive commerce. Their veflels were very fmall, with 
their keels and ribs made of (light timber, interwoven with 
wicker, and covered with hides, which fhevvs that they 
undertook no long voyages, nay, in all likelihood, they 
never ventured to fea beyond the coafts of Gaul. Their 
chief traffic was with the Phoenician merchants, who after 
the difeovery of the ifland, which happened, probably, 
before the Trojan war, yearly exported great quantities 
of tin, which they fold to the Greeks, and other diftant 
nations. The care and diredtion of all religious matters 
were, by the Britoiis as well as the Gauls, committed to 
the Druids, whole authority was great, not only in reli¬ 
gious but in civil affairs. They were held, both by the 
Britons and Gauls, in fuch veneration, that their authority ' 
was almoft ablolute. To them belonged the care of pri¬ 
vate and public lacrifices, the interpretation of religion, 
the beftowing of rewards, or inflidlingof punifhments, the 
decid ing of controverfies, let the difference be of what na¬ 
ture foever; and whoever refufed to obey their decree, 
whether lord or vaffal, was excluded from the facrifices, 
which was accounted the greateft punilhment that could 
be in.fi idled. The -fame form of government prevailed in 
Britain as in Gaul; that is, the whole country was divi¬ 
ded into feveral fmall ftates, with a head over each, dig¬ 
nified by authors with the name of king. Of thefe heads, 
or kings, Caefar mentions four in the fmall compafs of 
Kent. Whether thefe ftates were hereditary or eledtive, 
1 we 
