The comic history of England ... With twenty coloured etchings, and two hundred woodcuts. By John Leech

Preface

. In commencing this work, the object of the Author was, as he stated in the Prospectus, to blend amusement with instruction, by serving up, in as palatable a shape as he could, the facts of English History. He pledged himself not to sacrifice the substance to the seasoning; and though he has certainly been a little free in the use of his sauce, he hopes that he has not produced a mere hash on the present occasion. His object has been to furnish something which may be allowed to take its place as a standing dish at the library table, and which, though light, may not be found devoid of nutriment. That food is certainly not the most whejlesome which is the heaviest and the least digestible. Though the original design of this History was only to place facts in on amusing light, without a sacrifice of fidelity, it is humbly presumed that truth has rather gained than lost by the mode of treatment that has been adopted.

Persons and things, events and characters, have been deprived of their false colouring, by the plain and matter-of-fact spirit in which they have been approached by the writer of the " Comic History of England." He has never scrupled to take. the liberty of tearing off the masks and fancy dresses <of all who have hitherto been presented in disguise to the VI PEEFACE. notice of posterity. Motives are treated in these pages as unceremoniously as men ; and as the human disposition was much the same in former times as it is in the present day, it has been judged by the rules of common sense, which are alike at every period. Some, who have been accustomed to look at History as a pageant, may think it a desecration to present it in a homely shape, divested of its gorgeous accessories. Such persons as these will doubtless feel offended at finding the romance of history irreverently demolished, for the sake of mere reality.

They will — perhaps honestly though erroneously — accuse the author of a contempt for what is great and good ; but the truth is, he has so much real respect for the great and good, that he is desirous of preventing the little and bad from continuing to claim admiration upon false pretences. CONTENTS.

Book I. Pagk

Chap. I. The Britons — the Romans — Invasion by Julius Cæsar . . 1 II. Invasion by the Romans under Claudius — Caractacus — Boadicea — Agricola — Galgacus — Sevei us — Vortigem calls in the Saxons 7 III. The Saxons— The Heptarchy 12 IV. The Union of the Heptarchy under Egbert .... 1G V. The Danes— Alfred 20 VI. From King Edward the Elder to the Norman Conquest . . 27 VII. Edmund Ironsides — Canute — Harold Harefoot — Hardicanute — Edward the Confessor— Harold— The Battle of Hastings . 40

Book II. The Period Fbom The Noeman Cohquest To The Death Of

KING JOHN. Chap. I. William the Conqueror 56 II. William Rufus 68 III. Henry the First, surnamcd Beauclerc . . . . . .76 IV. Stephen 81 V. Henry the Second, surnamed Plantagenet 84 VI. Richard the First, surnamed Cceur de Lion . . . . 93 VII. John, surnamed Sansterre, or Lackland .... CONTENTS. BOOK in. THE PERIOD FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY THE THIRD TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF RICHARD THE SECOND, A.D. 1216 — 1399. PAGE Chap. I. Henry the Third, surnamed of Winchester 119 II. Edward the First, surnamed LoDgshanks .... 133 III. Edward the Second, surnamed of Caernarvon .... 150 IV. Edward the Third 159 V. Richard the Second, surnamed of Bordeaux .... 190 VI. On the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the People . . 207

Book IV. The Period From The Accession Of Henry The Fourth To

THE END OF THE REIGN OF RICHARD THE THIRD, A.D. 1399 — 1485. CHAP. I. Henry the Fourth, surnamed Bolinghroke 213 II. Henry the Fifth, surnamed of Monmouth .... 230 III. Henry the Sixth, surnamed of Windsor 253 IV. Henry the Sixth, surnamed of Windsor — (concluded*) . . 265 V. Edward the Fourth 289 VI. Edward the Fifth 298 VII. Richard the Third 305 VIII. National Industry 323 IX. Of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the People . . 326

Book V. From The Accession Of Henry The Seventh To The End

OF THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. CHAP. I. Henry the Seventh 330 II. Henry the Eighth 345 III. Henry the Eighth — (continued) 359 IV. Henry the Eighth— (continued) 373 V. Henry the Eighth — (concluded) 391 VI. Edward the Sixth 411 VII. Mary 418 VIII. Elizabeth 431 IX. Elizabeth — (continued) 438 X. Elizabeth— (concluded) CONTENTS. IX

Book VI. From The Period Of The Accession Of James The First

TO THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES THE SECOND. PAGI Chap. I. James the First 455 II. James the First — (concluded) 470 III. Charles the First 484 IV. Charles the First — (continued) 495 V. Charles the First— (concluded) 503 VI. The Commonwealth 513 VII. Richard Cromwell 531 VIII. On the National Industry and the Literature, Manners, Customs, and Condition of the People 533

Book VII. The Period From The Restoration Of Charles The Second To

THE REVOLUTION. Chap. I. Charles the Second 538 II. Charles the Second — (continued) 550 III. Charles the Second — (concluded) 559 IV. James the Second 571 V. Literature, Science, Fine Arts, Manners, Customs, and Condition of the People 579

Book VIII. The Period From The Revolution To The Accession Of George

THE THIRD. CHAP. I. William and Mary 583 II. William the Third 592 III. Anne 600 IV. George the First 609 V. George the Second 621 VI. George the Second — (concluded) 629 VII. On the Constitution, Government and Laws, National Industry, Literature, Science, Fine Arts, Manners. Customs, and Condition of the People ILLUSTRATIONS. _ .,, , _ , PAGE Druidical Remains 1 Time Bowling out the Druids 2 Cæsar looking for the Pearls for which Britain was formerly celebrated . 4 Cæsar receiving Intelligence of the Destruction of his Fleet ... 5 Ancient Armed Briton G Portrait of Julius Agricola 8 The Emperor Severus leads his Army against the Northern Barbarians . 9 Rowena and Vortigem '. 13 Ida quitting bis Kingdom 15 Initial I 16 " Non Angli sed Angeli forent si fuisscnt Christiani " . . . .17 Battle between the Mercians and Egbert. — Cotton MS. .... 19 Au Illuminated Letter .......... 20 Guthrum pays an Evening Visit to Alfred 23 Initial 0 27 Edmund and Leof 29 Coronation of Ethelred the Unready 32 Settling the Bill 35 A Dane securing his Booty . . . . . . . . . .36 Soldier of the Period .

". . . " 37 Thurkill's little Account 38 Ethelred despatching a Letter by his Son 40 " Flee, English I dead is Edmund I ' 41 Canute performing on his favourite Instrument 44 Canute reproving his Courtiers 46 A frightful Example. Death of Hardicanute 48 Unpleasant Position of King Harold 50 The Landing of William the Conqueror 54 William refusing his Daughter to Edwin 59 The Bishop of Durham 64 William departing for France 66 Initial W 68 Odo dismissed from Rochester Castle 69 Robert Curt-hose trying to get a Bill discounted 72 Reading the Dream 73 Flight of Sir Walter Tyrrel. Horse of the Period ILLUSTRATIONS. XII PAGR The Great Seal of Henry the First 76 The Effects of Extravagance 78 King Stephen in Prison 82 A Clerical Weathercock 83 Initial H 84 Henry the Second dismissing the Foreign Barons ..... 86 Gilbert a Becket.

Thomas a Becket 88 Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamond ........ 90 Initial R 93 Blondel, the Minstrel, undei the walls of Richard's Prison ... 99 Bertram! de Gourdon before Richard 102 Arrival of Richard's Legacy at Rouen 103 Initial J 104 Prince Arthur requires his Grandmother to surrender . . . . 106 King John threatens to cut off the Noses of the Bishops .... 108 The Bishop of Beauvais capturing Salisbury . . . . . .

Ill John in a Passion 112 Tail Piece 118 Initial H 119 The Earl of Chester interposing between Henry the Third and Hubert de Burgh 122 Marriage of his most Gracious Majesty Henry the Third and Eleanor of Provence 127 Initial E ............ 133 Edward and the Count of Chalons ........ 137 Earl de Warenne producing his title to the Commissioners . . . 139 King Edward introducing his Son as Prince of Wales, to his newly acquired Subjects . . . . . . . . . .141 Portrait of William Wallace, from an old Wood Block . . . . 144 Tax Collecting in the reign of Edward the First 147 Initial E 150 Edward the Second and his Favourite, Piers Gaveston . . . .152 Parley between Piers Gaveston and the Earl of Pembroke . . . 154 Edward the Second resigning his Crown ....... 159 Thomas of Rokeby receiving the honour of Knighthood . . . . 161 Edward pawning the Crown with the Archbishop of Treves . . . 160 Edward's arrival at the Tower ......... 169 Fancy Portrait of Inspector Baliol 170 Madame de Montfort astonishing the French Fleet . . . . 172 Assassination of Artaveldt the Brewer 174 Edward the Third on the morning of the Battle of Cressy ... 1 75 Edward the Third at the Battle of Cressy . . . . . . .177 Origin of the Order of the Garter 1 84 Edward the Black Prince conducting his Prisoner ..... 187 Initial I 190 Fancy Portrait of the Champion of England 101 Richard thinks it high time he managed his own affairs . . . lye Henry of Bolinghroke and the Duke of York transacting business . .

ILLUSTRATIONS. XIII PAGE Richard the Second conducted a Prisoner to Chester .... 202 A Practical Joke. Deposition of Richard the Second .... 205 Initial B 207 Anglo-Saxon Husbandman 209 Fox-hunting Bishop of the Period 211 Initial T 213 Entrance of Dymock, the Champion, at the Coronation Banquet . . 218 Mr. Owen Glendower armed by his trusty clerk 222 Unseemly conduct of Henry, Prince of Wales ...... 229 Lord Mayor of the Period arresting a suspicious Twelfth-Night Character . 233 Henry the Fifth sends a Friend to the Dauphin 238 Henry inspecting his Troops before the Battle of Agincourt . . .241 English Soldier securing Prisoner at the Battle of Agincourt . . . 244 The Duke of Burgundy introducing Queen Isabella and bis Daughter to Henry the Fifth 247 Initial H 253 Initial B 265 Joan at the Walls of Paris 267 Joan trying it on . . . . 270 The King of Sicily and his Household 276 Banishment of Suffolk 279 Quarrel between Somerset and York ....... 284 Margaret of Anjou and her Child meeting the benevolent Rubber . . 287 Initial E 289 Edward the Fourth meeting Elizabeth Woodville 291 Field of Battle (in a fog) near Barnet 293 Duke of Gloucester, disguised as a Policeman, discovering Lady Anne . 294 Cannon and Canuoa-ball of the Period 297 Initial H ■ 298 The Bishop of Ely presenting a Pottle of Strawberries to the Duke of Gloucester 300 Arrest of Lord Hastings and Lord Stanley 301 The Citizens offering the Crown to Richard 304 Initial R l 305 The Duke of Gloucester goes into mourning for his little Nephews . 307 Henry Tudor, Esq 309 Richard the Third and his celebrated charger, White Surrey . . 315 Coronation of Henry the Seventh on the Field of Battle .... 320 " Would York like to go with his Uncle Dick ?

" 322 " Ya-ah I Macker — el I " William of Trumpiugton, the Abbot of St. Alban's 325 Initial N 326 Initial T 330 Henry the Seventh taking a Chop with the Archbishop of Canterbury . 331 A Young Pretender 333 Perkin Warbeck and his Army 338 Henry the Seventh and Perkin Warbeck's Wife 339 Perkin Warbeck Reading his Confession ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Initial H . . . .345 Henry the Eighth and Catherine of Aragon ...... 347 Henry's Tent 349 Henry pardoning the young Couple 353 Initial A 359 Politeness of Francis to Henry 360 The Duke of Buckingham suspects that he is watched .... 362 The citizens of Bruges supplying Wolsey's Suite with Provisions . . 365 Henry practising previous to challenging Francis ..... 366 Election of Pope.

Getting to the top of the pole 369 Cardinal Wolsey at Boulogne ......... 374 Henry answering " Hear I " at the Trial of Queen Catherine . . . 379 Cardinal Campeggio and Mr. Sampson. — " I can hear nothing now, Mr. Sampson." 381 Wolsey surrendering the Great Seal 383 Initial T 391 Birth of the Princess Elizabeth 392 Henry is determined not to be bullied 395 Henry making love to Jane Seymour ........ 397 Delight of Henry at having a Son and Heir 401 Henry wooing Catherine Parr ......... 407 Shilling of Henry the Eighth 410 Initial A 411 English Archer of the Period, from such a rare old Print . . . 412 The Duke of Northumberland offers to fight any one of them . . .417 Sir Thomas AVyatt surrendering to Sir Maurice Berkeley . . . 425 Philip and Mary ............ 426 Philip (of England and Spain) bears of his Wife's Death . . . 429 Initial T 431 Honest Jack Tars of the Period ....... 434 Lord Darnley 43g Mary's Elopement 440 Lord Burleigh 442 Initial T .......... 455 James the First on bis way to England ..... . 457 Flight of Rookwood 4g7 Guy Fawkes before and after the Torture 4gg Initial T 470 King James disposing of Baronetcies. . 471^ Bacon. ye great Moral Philosopher.

From a remarkably scarce Print . 476 King James rescued from the New River _ 477 His Gracious Majesty Charles the First borrowing Money . . 487 Felton admits that he killed the Duke 490 The Member for Huntingdon 401 InitialT '.'•'.'.'. 495 Something like argument 497 Charles the First does not know which way to turn . . . 500 Trained Band, Soldier of the Period ILLUSTRATIONS. XV PAGE The Barebones Parliament 519 Arrest of Wildman . 524 One of the Protector's Tea Parties 526 One, Two, Three, and Under 529 Cromwell playing at Leip-frog with his Children 530 Initial C 531 The Balance of Power 536 Charles the Second 538 Charles driving the Mail 550 Charles is informed of a Plot against his precious life .... 553 T. Oates, Esq 554 Noble Lord. — "I believe I'm engaged to your La'ship for the next dance." ............ 556 Arrest of Lord Howard of Escrick . 563 Judge Jeffreys 566 The Merry Monarch 570 Initial T— Titus Oates in the Tillory 571 Great Seal of William and Mary 583 Awkward Mistake 585 Initial W .592 Captain Fisher doesn't think he can do it at the price .... 594 William the Third out Hunting 697 Initial T 600 Discovering of the Laws of Gravitation by Isaac Newton .... 603 Anne going to open Parliament 607 Initial I 609 George the First putting on a clean collar 611 The Blue Bonnets coming over the Border FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE The Landing of Julius Cæsar ...... (Frontispiece) William the Conqueror inspecting the Volunteers previous to the Invasion of England ........... 51 Terrific Combat between Richard Cceur de Lion and Saladin ... 95 King John signing Magna Charta 113 Edward's Aim in the hands of his Medical Advisers 135 Queen Philippa interceding with Edward the Third for the Six Burgesses of Calais 181 Coronation of Henry the Fourth (from the best authorities) . . . 215 Embarkation of Henry the Fifth at Southampton, A.D. 1415 . . 235 Marriage of Henry the Sixth and Margaret of Anjou 273 The Battle of Bosworth Field : a Scene in the great Drama of History 317 Henry the Eighth meeting Francis the First 355 Henry the Eighth and his Queen "Out a-Maying" 377 Henry the Eighth Monk-hunting 399 Queen Elizabeth and Sir Walter Raleigh 443 Discovery of Guido Fawkes by Suffolk and Monteagle . . . 463 " Take away that Bauble."

Cromwell dissolving the Long Parliament . 517 The Royal Oak. The Penderell Family have no idea where Charles is I ! ! 541 Evening Party — Time of Charles the Second ..... 557 The Battle of the Boyne , 589 Georgey Porgey the First going out for a ride in his State Coachy Toachy THE Comic History of England.

Book I Chaptee The Fiest The Britons

— THE ROMANS — INVASION BY JULIUS CÆSAR. T has always been the good fortune of the antiquarian who has busied himself upon the sub ject of our ancestors, that the total darkness by which they are overshadowed, renders it impossible to detect the blunderings of the antiquarian himself, who has thus been allowed to grope about the dim twilight of the past, and entangle him self among its cobwebs, without any light being thrown upon his errors. But while the antiquarians have experienced no obstruction from others, they have managed to come into collision among themselves, and have knocked their heads together with con siderable violence in the process of what they call exploring the dark ages of our early history. We are not unwilling to take a walk amid the monuments of antiquity, which we should be sorry to run against or tumble over for want of proper light ; and we shall therefore only venture so far as we can have the assistance of the bull's-eye of truth, rejecting altogether the allurements of the Will o' the Wisp of mere probability. It is not because former historians have gone head over heels into the gulf B [

BOOK I.

2 COMIC HISTORY OP ENGLAND. of conjecture, that we are to turn a desperate somersault after them.* The best materials for getting at the early history of a country are its coins, its architecture, and its manners. The Britons, however, had not yet converted the Britannia metal — for which their valour always made them conspicuous — into coins, while their architecture, to judge from the Druidical remains, was of the wicket style, con sisting of two or three stones stuck upright in the earth, with another stone laid at the top of them ; after the fashion with which all lovers of the game of cricket are of course familiar. As this is the only architectural assistance we are likely to obtain, we decline entering upon the subject through such a gate ; or, to use an expression analogous to the pastime to which we have referred, we refuse to take our innings at such a wicket.

We need hardly add, that in looking Time Bowling out the Druids. to the manners of our ancestors for enlightenment, we look utterly in vain, for there is no Druidical Chesterfield to afford us any in formation upon the etiquette of that distant period. There is every reason to believe that our forefathers lived in an exceedingly rude state ; and it is therefore perhaps as well that their manners — or rather their want of manners — should be buried in oblivion. It was formerly very generally believed that the first population of this country descended from Æneas, the performer of the most filial act of pick-a-back that ever was known ; and that the earliest * Some historians tell us that the most conclusive evidence of things that have happened is to be found in the reports of the Times. This source of information is however, closed against us, for the Times, unfortunately, had no reporters when these isles were first inhabited.

ChAp. i ] 3 ORIGIN OP THE ANCIENT BRITONS. Britons were sprung from his grandson — one Brutus, who, preserving the family peculiarity, came into this island on the shoulders of the people.* Hollinshed, that greatest of antiquarian gobeinouches , has not only taken in the story we have just told, but has added a few of his own ingenious embellishments. He tells us that Brutus fell in with the posterity of the giant Albion, who was put to death by Hercules, whose buildings at Lambeth are the only existing proofs of his having ever resided in this country. Considering it unprofitable to dwell any longer on those points, about which all writers are at loggerheads, we come at once to that upon which they are all agreed, which is, that the first inhabitants were a tribe of Celtæ from the Continent : that, in fact, the earliest Englishmen were all Frenchmen ; and that, however bitter and galling the fact may be, it is to Gaul that we owe our origin.

We ought perhaps to mention that Cæsar thinks our sea-ports were peopled by Belgic invaders, from Brussels, thus causing a sprinkling of Brussels sprouts among the native productions of England. The name of our country — Britannia — has also been the subject of ingenious speculation among the antiquarians. To sum up all their conjectures into one of our own, we think they have succeeded in dissolving the word Britannia into Brit, or Brick, and tan, which would seem to imply that the natives always behaved like bricks in tanning their enemies. The suggestion that the syllable tan, means tin, and that Britannia is synonymous with tin land, appears to be rather a modern notion, for it is only in later ages that Britannia has become emphatically the land of tin, or the country for making money.

The first inhabitants of the island lived by pasture, and not by trade. They as yet knew nothing of the till, but supported themselves by tillage. Their dress was picturesque rather than elegant. A book of truly British fashions would be a great curiosity in the present day, and we regret that we have no Petit Courier des Druides, or Celtic Belle Assemblce, to furnish figurines of the costume of the period. Skins, however, were much worn, for morning as well as for evening dress; and it is probable that even at that early age ingenuity may have been exercised to suggest new patterns for cow cloaks and other varieties of the then prevailing articles of the wardrobe. The Druids, who were the priests, exercised great ascendancy over the people, and often claimed the spoils of war, together with other property, under the plea of offering up the proceeds as a sacrifice to the divinities.

These treasures, however, were never accounted for ; and it is now too late for the historians to file, as it were, a bill in equity to inquire what has become of them. Cæsar, who might have been so called from his readiness to seize * The story of Brutus and the Trojans has been told in such a variety of ways, that it is difficult to make either head or tail of it. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that Brutus found Britain deserted, except by a few giants — from which it is to be presumed that Brutus landed at Greenwich about the time of the fair. Perhaps the introduction of troy-weight into our arithmetic may be traced to the immigra tion of the Trojans, who were very likely to adopt the measures — and why not the weights — with which they had been familiar. B— COMIC HISTORY OP ENGLAND. [book I. upon everything, now turned his eyes and directed his arms upon Britain.

According to some he was tempted by the expectation of finding pearls, which he hoped to get out of the oysters, and he there fore broke in upon the natives with considerable energy. Whatever Cæsar looking for the Pearls for which Britain was formerly celebrated. may have been Cæsar's motives the fact is pretty well ascertained, that at about ten o'clock one fine morning in August — some say a quarter past — he reached the British coast with 12,000 infantry, packed in eighty vessels. He had left behind him the whole of his cavalry — the Roman horse-marines — who were detained by contrary winds on the other side of the sea, and though anxious to be in communication with their leader, they never could get into the right channel. At about three in the afternoon, Cæsar having taken an early dinner, began to disembark his forces at a spot called to this day the Sandwich Flats, from the people having been such fiats as to allow the enemy to effect a landing.

While the Roman soldiers were standing shilly-shallying at the side of their vessels, a standard bearer of the tenth legion, or, as we should call him, an ensign in the tenth, jumped into the water, which was nearly up to his knees, and addressing a claptrap to his comrades as he stood in the sea, completely turned the tide in Cæsar's favour. After a severe shindy on the shingles, the Britons withdrew, leaving the Romans masters of the beach, where Cæsar erected a marquee for the accommodation of his cohorts. The natives sought and obtained peace, which had no sooner been concluded, than the Roman horse-marines were seen CHAP. I.] 5 INVASION BY JULIUS CÆSAR. riding across the Channel. A tempest, however, arising, the horses were terrified, and the waves beginning to mount, added so much to the confusion, that the Roman cavalry were compelled to back to the point they started from.

The same storm gave a severe blow to the camp of Cæsar, on the beach, dashing his galleys and transports against the rocks which they were sure to split upon. Daunted by these disasters, the invaders, after a few breezes with the Britons, took advantage of a favourable gale to return to Gaul, and thus for a time the dispute appeared to have blown over. Cæsar's thoughts, however, still continued to run in one, namely, the British, Channel. In the spring of the ensuing year, he rigged out 800 ships, into which he contrived to cram 32,000 men, and with this force he was permitted to land a second time by those horrid flats at Sandwich. The Britons for some time made an obstinate resistance in their chariots, but they ultimately took a fly across the country, and retreated with great rapidity.

Cæsar had scarcely sat down to breakfast the next morning when he heard that a tempest had wrecked all his vessels. At this intelligence he burst into tears, and scam- Cæsar receiving Intelligence of the Destruction of his Fleet. pered off to the sea coast, with all his legions in full cry, hurrying after him. The news of the disaster turned out to be no exaggeration, for there were no penny-a-liners in those days ; and, having carried his ships a good way inland, where they remained like fish out of water, he set [

BOOK I. COMIC HISTORY OP ENGLAND.

out once more in pursuit of the enemy. The Britons had, however, made the most of their time, and had found a leader in the person of Cassivelaunus, alias Caswallon, a quarrelsome old Celt, who had so frequently thrashed his neighbours, that he was thought the most likely person to succeed in thrashing the Romans. This gallant individual was successful in a few rough off handed engagements ; but when it came to the fancy work, where tactics were required, the disci plined Eoman troops were more than a match for him. His soldiers hav ing been driven back to their woods, he drove himself back in his chariot to the neighbourhood of Chertsey, where he had a few acres of ground, which he called a Kingdom. He then stuck some wooden posts in the middle of the Thames, as an impediment to Cæsar, who, in the plenitude of his vaulting ambition, laid his hands on the posts and vaulted over them.

The army of Cassivelaunus being now disbanded, his establishment was reduced to 4000 chariots, which he kept up for the purpose of harassing the Eomans. As each chariot required at least a pair of horses, his 4000 vehicles, and the enormous stud they entailed, must have been rather more harassing to Cassivelaunus himself than to the enemy. This extremely extravagant Celt, who had long been the object of the jealousy of his neighbours, was now threatened by their treachery. The chief of the Trinobantes, who lived in Middlesex, and were perhaps the earliest Middlesex magistrates, sent ambassadors to Cæsar, promising submission. They also showed him the way to the contemptible cluster of houses which Cassivelaunus dignified with the name of his capital. It was surrounded with a ditch, and a rampart made chiefly of mud, the article in which military engineering seemed to have stuck at that early period.

Cassivelaunus was driven by Cæsar from his abode, constructed of clay and felled trees, and so precipitate was the flight of the Briton, that he had only time to pack up a few necessary articles, leaving everything else to fall into the hands of the enemy. The Boman General, being tired of his British cimpaign, was glad to listen to the overtures of Cassivelaunus ; but these overtures consisted of promissory notes, which W jre never realised. The Celt undertook to transmit an annual tribute to Cæsar, who never got a penny of the money ; and the hostages he had carried with him to Gaul became a positive burden to him, for they were never taken out of pawn by their countrymen. It is believed that they were ultimately got rid of at a sale of unredeemed pledges, where they were put up in lots of half a dozen, and knocked down as slaves to the highest bidder.

Before quitting the subject of Cæsar's invasion, it may be interesting to the Ancient Armed Briton. reader to know something of the weapons with which the early Britons attempted to defend themselves. Their swords were made CHAP. II.] 7 INVASION BY THE EMPEROR CLAUDIUS. of copper, and generally bent with the first blow, which must have greatly straitened their aggressive resources, for the swords thus followed their own bent, instead of carrying out the intentions of the persons using them. This provoking pliancy of the material must often have made the soldier as ill-tempered as his own weapon. The Britons carried also a dirk, and a spear, the latter of which they threw at the foe, as an effectual means of pitching into him. A sort of reaping-hook was attached to their chariot wheels, and was often very useful in reaping the laurels of victory.