E N G L 
of the Gauls ; and they ufed copper and iron plates or 
rinses, weighed by a certain (landard, as the circulating ^ 
medium for money. Their toiVns were a confufed group 
of huts, placed at a ftnall didance from one apother, ge¬ 
nerally in the middle of a wood, to which all the avenues 
were guarded by mounds of earth, or with trees. The 
people were in a date of barbarifm, much refembling the 
Gauls and Germanic tribes on the continent. The ufe of 
clothes was but little regarded : the common inhabitants 
covered themfelves with the fkins of beafts ; and this'ra- 
tlier to avoid giving offence to drangers, who came to 
trade with them for corn, tin, and hides, than to defend 
their bodies from the rigour of the feafons. It was then 
a cudom among the Britons to paint their bodies with 
the juice of woad, of a light azure blue; which was 
fometimes done for ornament, and fo me times with a view 
to terrify their enemies. They diaved the beard, all except 
the upper lip, and wore long hair. The arms, both of the 
man and woman, who frequently fought by her hu(band’s 
fide, were a fword, a lance, and a fliield. Bread-plales and 
helmets they looked upon rather to be: incumbrances, and 
therefore made but little ufe oT them. They ufually 
fought in chariots, fome of which were armed with feythes 
at the wheels, and which, being driven furioufly among 
the thicked of the enemy, mowed down multitudes at 
once. In the rage of war they were fierce and cruel, and 
extremely blood-thirdy. When driven to didrefs, they 
could fivbfift on the hardeft fare ; and would eat even the 
bark and roots of trees. The foil them and middle na¬ 
tions were faid to be fomewhat more civilized ; and the 
Cantii, or inhabitants of Kent, more fo than any of the 
red ; they appeared to polfefs loftier fentiments, and to 
have had more experience of men and manners. 
The general charaCteriftic attributed to the Britons, in 
this barbarous and uncultivated age, feemsto have been, 
that, though fierce' in the field, and terrible to an enemy, 
they were neverthelefs gentle in their domedic capacity, 
and took pride in aCts of magnanimity and friendfhip. 
Among their own tribes, hofpitality was indulged with 
the mod unbounded freedom. The entertainer, when 
his humble fare was exhauded, carried his gued to the 
honfe of'his next neighbour. Invitations were not waited 
for ; nor was it of confequence to be invited. A recep¬ 
tion equally warm was at all times certain. On thefe occa- 
fions, giving way to the movements of the heart, they 
delighted in prefents; but they neither thought them¬ 
felves entitled to a return for what they gave, nor laid 
under an obligation for what they received. They yielded 
to the impulfe of padion, and the pleafure they felt was 
their recompenfe. Their gifts were directed by no view 
of an immediate or didant advantage ; their generodty 
was no traffic of intered, and proceeded front no motive 
of defign. When fupplied to their defire with intoxicat¬ 
ing liquors, they were no le'fs invincible in vice than in 
valour; yet they applied feduloudy to public affairs, and 
debated concerning peace and war. Every one confidered 
himfelf interefted in the well-being of his particular tribe. 
They marched, on all weighty occalions, to thealfembly 
of their prince or leader, where a freedom of fpeech, en¬ 
tire and unlimited, was allowed them. The age, the 
eloquence, the rank, and the honours acquired in war, 
were the qualities which procured attention to the fpeak- 
er; and the people were influenced by perfuafion, not 
by authority. A murmur, coarfe and rude, expreffed 
their dilfent; whilft the tinkling of their armour was the 
mark of their applaufe. Such is to this day the common 
date of favage nations. 
In their religion they were grofs, like almoft all the 
kingdoms of the earth, in that dark and didant age which 
preceded about fifty-five years the birth of Ohrid. They 
believed in a plurality of‘fubordinate gods ; but confided 
in one Supreme Being, as the author and ruler of the 
whole. Their groves or druidical temples were appro¬ 
priated to the ufes of devotion ; and, in the awful re- 
fpeCt infpired by (Hence in the deep recedes of their 
Vol. VI. No. 370. 
a n n. 537 
woods, they felt, or pretended to feel, and to acknow¬ 
ledge, the power of their deities, and of the Supreme 
Being. They confidered the oak as the emblem of tlie 
Almighty ; and accordingly chapletsof it were worn by 
the prieds and people in their religious ceremonies ; the 
altars were drewed with its leaves, and encircled with 
its branches. The fruit of it, or rather its parafitical oit- 
fpring, the mifletoe, was thought to contain a divine vir¬ 
tue, and to be the peculiar gift of heaven. It was there¬ 
fore fought for on the fixth day of the moop with the 
greated earneftnefs and anxiety, and when found, was 
hailed with raptures of joy, and carefully laid up in their 
facred repofitories. It was then confecrated by the prieds, 
and adminidered as a fovereign fpecific in almod every 
difeafe to which the natives were fubjeCt. They were 
much addicted to augury and divination; and were fond 
of drawing prognodics from the running of waters, the 
flight of birds, and the neighing of horfes. Their priefts 
had greater authority than their kings or chieftains, and 
they were governed in all their great undertakings, whe¬ 
ther of-war or of peace, of flight or of battle, by the im- 
pulfes orfuppofed dictates of their divinities, as revealed 
or explained to them by their miniders and bards, the 
difpenfers of the druidical doCtrines. See Bard* vol.ii. 
p. 716, and the article Druids, p. 87, of this volume. 
The more common office of m3giflrate, if fuch it might 
be called in thofe rude times, was ufually filled by tlie 
leader of a tribe, who, with the body of his officers ami 
followers, condituted a court, which heard accufations 
and determined concerning crimes. Traitors and deferters 
were hung on trees. Cowardice, and the crime againffc 
nature, were confidered as of equal atrocity; and the per- 
fons convicted of them were choaked in mires and fwamps 
by the preffure of hurdles. A corporal puniftiment, and 
compenfations in corn and cattle; were the atonements of 
fmaller delinquencies. 
The remoter and more fequeffered tribes, who dwelt 
principally in caves and forefts, were not however fo ci¬ 
vilized, nor fo religioufly inclined. To the mod favage 
fiercenefs, they united an unconquerable fpirit. They 
'clothed themfelves with the fkins of beads, fed chiefly 
on herbage, and flept on the earth. Tlveir chief depend¬ 
ence was on their arrows, and their women accompanied 
them to the ch^ce, and partook of the prey. A cover¬ 
ing, inwrought with boughs, was all the (belter which 
defended their infants from the rigour of feafons, or the 
ferocity of animals. This predatory life, the fierce inha¬ 
bitants of the caves and mountains of Wales, preferred to 
the fatigue of cultivating the earth, or building lints ; 
to the agitations of hope and fear attendant on a care of 
their own fortunes, and on a connection with thofe of 
Others. Unapprehenfive of any danger from men, and 
awed by no terror of the gods, they had reached a date 
which is nearly unattainable to the utmod human endea¬ 
vours—that of being entirely without a wiffi. 
Amongd all the nations and tribes of Britain, courage, 
intrepidity, and fuperior prowefs, were the qualifications 
which entitled to the office and jurifdiCtion of a chief; 
and the general of an army was to command lefs by au¬ 
thority than from example/ He drew refpeCt and obfer- 
vation by his activity, his addrefs, and the fplendour of 
his exploits. Even the hopes and ambition of the fimple 
individual were made to depend on his perfonal exertion 
and courage. Yet, with all this.attention to merit, and 
with all their rigidnefs of character, they were prone to 
deceive and to circumvent. They accounted it merito¬ 
rious to {teal upon their enemies in the darkeft nights; 
they blackened their fhields, and painted their bodies, to 
appear more terrible ; and, to give ground, or run away, 
and unexpectedly to face about and return to the charge, 
was a common and an admired feat of their prudence. It 
is alfo remarkable, that, though attentive to jnftice, with 
a punctilious exaCtnefs, within the bounds of their parti¬ 
cular nations, they defpifed it with regard to other ltates 
and communities; and hence that continual fource of dif- 
6 X fenfion 
