A History of England, political, military, and social, from the earliest times to the present

Front matter

A. HISTORY OF ENGLAND POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND SOCIAL, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT. BY BENSON J. LOSSING, ATJTHOB OP "PICTORIAL FIELD-BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION AND WAR OF 1812," "HISTORY OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR," "HISTORY OF THE UNITED states," "life of washington," etc., etc., etc. NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, ASSOCIATION BUILDING. 1871. Entered according to Act of Congrese, in the year 1S71, BY G. P. PUTNAM & SONS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. THE HEW TORE FCINT1NO COMPANY, 305, 307, 30y, 211, and 213 East Twelfth Street PEE FAC E. In the work of preparing this volume, I claim no larger share of merit than that which justly belongs to a careful compiler of facts from the best and most recent sources of information. I have given, within as small a space as a clear presentation would allow, a narrative of the most important events in the history of the civil and military transactions of England, from the time of its occu pation by the ancient Britons and Gauls until now ; also, an account of the progress of the people in the organization of government, the establishment of laws, the practical assertion of popular liberty, the practice of useful occupations, which give strength and beauty to so ciety and the State ; the modes of dress, living, and recreations ; and the cultivation of science, literature, and the fine arts ; by all of which the reader may comprehend the growth and philosophy of that civilization and power which distinguish the British Empire to-day.

This volume is specially intended for the use of students of the History of England in families and schools. It is divided into eras, which mark important changes in the civil, political, and social con dition of the country ; and is subdivided into convenient chapters and sections, in a manner to combine the advantages of a text-book with those of an attractive story of the life of a great nation. For the purpose of assisting the reader and the student in obtaining a clear understanding of the unity of events, remote and near, which make up the History of England, a running concordance is in troduced in the form of marginal references, by which the relations of a fact noticed in any portion of the work to another fact already

Preface

. IV mentioned is indicated, and the nature of that relation may be in stantly observed. This will be found eminently useful, not only as forming a continuous chain of connection, but as a means for saving a great amount of time that might be spent in searching for such connection. B. J. L. The Ridge, Doveb Plains, N. Y., August, 1871. CONTENTS

BOOK L

Introduction

.

PAGE Ciiaptek L Tlie British Islands and their Inhabitants 1 book n. The Roman Invasion and Rule. [From B.C. 55 to a.d. 410.] I. Civil and Military Transactions 7 IL Geographical and Political Divisions 20 ILL Society before the Saxon Invasion 24 BOOK LU. The Saxon Era. [Prom the 5th to the 11th Century. L The Early Invaders from the North 27 IL The Rise and History of the Heptarchy. [Prom the 5th to the 9th Century.] III. Reign of Egbert [a.d. 800 to 837] 40 IV. Reign of Ethelwulf [a.d. 837 to 858] 43 V. Reign of Ethelbald and Ethelbert [A.D. 858 to 866].. . . 44 VI. Reign of Ethelred [A.D. 866 to 871] 45 VIL Reign of Alfred [a. d. 871 to 901] 46 VIII. Reign of Edward the Elder [A. D. 901 to 925] 50 IX. Reign of Athelstan [a.d. 925 to 940] 52 X. Reign of Edmund the PiTBt [ A. D. 940 to 946] 54 XL Reign of Edred [a.d. 946 to 955] 55 XIL Reign of Edwy [A.D. 955 to 958] 57 XIII.

Reign of Edgar [A.D. 958 to 975] 58 XIV. Reign of Edward the Second [A.D. 975 to 979] 60 XV. Reign of Ethelred the Second [a.d. 979 to 1016] VI CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter XVI. Reign of Edmund Ironsides [a.d. 1016] 07 XVII Reign of Canute [A.D. 1016 to 1035] 68 XVIII. Reign of Harold the First [a. d. 1035 to 1040] 71 XIX. Reign of Harthacanute [a.d. 1040 to 1042] 72 XX. Reign of Edward the Confessor [a.d. 1042 to 1066]. . . 73 XXI. Reign of Harold the Second [ A. D. 1066] 78 XXII. Society during the Saxon Era 85 BOOK rv. The Norman Rule. [From a.d. 1060 to 1154.] L Reign of William the First [A. D. 1006 to 1087] 95 II. Reign of William the Second [A.D. 1087 to 1100] 105 III. Reign of Henry the First [A.D. 1100 to 1135] 116 IV. Reign of Stephen [A.D. 1135 to 1154] . 125

BOOK V.

The Plantagenets. [From a.d. 1154 to 1485.] I. Reign of Henry the Second [A.D. 1154 to 1189] 130 IL Reign of Richard the First [a.d. 1189 to 1199] 144 HI. Reign of John [A.D. 1199 to 121G] 154 IV. Society daring the Norman and Early Plantagcnet Period 162 V. Reign of Henry the Third [A.D. 1216 to 1272] 171 VI. Reign of Edward the First [a.d. 1272 to 1307] 182 VII. Reign of Edward the Second [a. d. 1307 to 1327] 190 VIII. Reign of Edward the Third [A.D. 1327 to 1377] 205 IX. Reign of Richard the Second [a.d. 1377 to 1399] 217 X. Society from the year 1201 to the year 1400 228 XL Reign of Henry the Fourth [a.d. 1399 to 1413] 237 XLL Reign of Henry the Fifth [a.d. 1413 to 1422] 245 XIII. Reign of Henry the Sixth [a.d. 1432 to 1401] 253 XIV. Reign of Edward the Fourth [a.d. 1464 to 1483] 264 XV.

Reign of Edward the Fifth [a.d.14831 271 XVI. Reign of Richard the Third [a.d. 1483 to 1485] 277 XVII. The Plantagenets. Scotland [a.d. 1154 to 1485] 2S3 XVHI. Society during the rule of tho later Plantagenets. 28S

BOOK VI.

The Tudors. [From 1485 to 1003. ] I. Rci;n of Henry the Seventh [A.D. 1485 to 1509] 295 IL Reign of Henry the Eighth [a.d. 1509 to 1547] 308 III. Reign of Edward the Sixth [A.D. 1547 to 1553] 329 IV. Reign of Mary [A.D. 1553 to 155S] 33S CONTENTS. VII PAGE Chapter V. Reign of Elizabeth [a.d. 1558 to 1603] a53 VI. Society in the time of the Tudors 377

BOOK VII.

The Stuarts. [From 1603 to 1049.] I. Reign of James the First [a.d. 1603 to 1625] 388 II. Reign of Charles the First [a.d. 1625 to 1649] 400

BOOK VIIL

The Commonwealth. [From 1649 to 1600.] I. The Republic [a.d. 1649 to 1653] 428 II. The Protectorate [a.d. 1653 to 1660] , 437 LIL Society during the first half of the Seventeenth Century 444

BOOK IX.

The Restored Stuarts. [From 1660 to 1714.] I. Reign of Charles the Second [a. d. 1660 to 1685] 456 II. Reign of James the Second [a.d. 1685 to 1689] 469 III. Reign of William and Mary [A.D. 1689 to 1694] 480 IV. Reign of William the Third [a.d. 1694 to 1702] 4S7 V. Reign of Anne [a.d. 1702 to 1714] 490 VL Society during the later rule of the Stuarts 49S

BOOK X.

The House of Brunswick. [From a.d. 1714 to the present time.] I. Reign of George the First [a.d. 1714 to 1727] 510 IL Reign of George the Second [a.d. 1727 to 1760] 516 ILL Reign of George the Third [a.d. 1760 to 1820] 533 IV. Reign of George the Fourth [A.D. 1820 to 1830] 560 V. Society during the reigns of the Four Georges 565 VI. Reign of William the Fourth [a.d. 1830 to 1837] 582 VII. Reign of Victoria [a.d. 1837] 590 VIIL The Present Condition of Great Britain 611 IX. Natural Features and Remarkable Events 618

Appendix

I. Royal Families and Principal Cotemporary European Sovereigns.. 629 II. Chronology of Events in the History of England Aenl'ork (r F '.Putnam « Sons. HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

Book I. Introduction

.

Chapter I. The British Islands And The Inhabitants

§ 1. The mists of fable puzzle inquirers after the original population of the British Islands. History and tradition tell us that they were inhabited a thousand years before the Christian era, or almost thirty centuries ago. § 2. Scholars now generally agree in opinion that the earlier settlers of the islands were Celts, a part of the great Indo-Euro pean family who migrated from Central Asia in pre-historic times, and whose language was close akin to the Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, and German. S 3. The British Islands are two in number, and are called re spectively Great Britain and Ireland. They lie in the North Atlantic Ocean, between the 49th and the 61st degrees of north latitude, and the 2d of east and the 11th of west longitude from Greenwich, England. On the west is the open ocean between them and North America ; on the east is the German Ocean or North Sea • and to the south and south-east lies France, which in some places is but twenty miles distant.

It is believed that the two countries were once connected. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. [Book I. 2 Geographical Divisions. Great Britain and Ireland. § 4. Great Britain, the larger of the two islands, contains in its southern part, England; in its western, Wales ; and in its northern, Scotland. The English Channel on the south, and the German Ocean on the east, divide it from France and Germany ; and the Irish Sea, of which a narrow part is called St. George's Channel, separates it on the west from the smaller island, Ireland. § 5. England and Wales form together a tract of country of triangular shape, which is separated from Scotland on the north by the rivers Tweed and Solway, and the Cheviot hills, and on the south, east, and west sides it is washed by the sea. Its extent, from Berwick on the Tweed in the north, to the North Foreland in Kent on the south, is 355 miles ; from Spurn Point in Yorkshire on the east, to Holyhead in Wales on the west, is 210 miles; and from the North Foreland in the east, to the Land's End in Corn wall on the west, is 320 miles.

It contains 58,320 square miles. § 6. Scotland, like England and Wales, is washed on three sides by the sea. On the fourth or southern side it joins England. Its extent, from Cape Wrath in Sutherland in the north, to the Mull of Galloway opposite Ireland in the south, is 280 miles ; from east to west, between Aberdeen-shire and Ross-shire, its width is 150 miles, but in Sutherland, which reaches from coast to coast, it is only 40. It contains 31,324 square miles. § 7. Ireland lies to the westward of Great Britain, from which in one place it is but 15 miles distant ; in other parts the two countries are from 60 to 120 miles apart. Its extent, from Fair Head in the north-east, to Mizen Head in the south-west, is 300 miles ; from Carnsore Point in the east, to Srnerwick Head in the west, is 170 miles; whilst from Dublin in the east, to Galway in the west, the distance is only 120 miles.

The island contains 32,513 square miles. § 8. These countries are now all divided into districts called counties, or shires, of which England has 40, Wales 12, Scotland 33, and Ireland 32. But formerly they were arranged in a very different way ; there were Roman provinces, British, Saxon, and Irish kingdoms, and British-Norseman principalities. § 9. In the waters around the British Islands are several smaller ones, single or in groups, which were known to the Romans and Saxons. The chief of these are, Sheppey, at the mouth of the Thames ; the Isle of Wight, off Hampshire ; the Scilly Isles, off Cornwall ; Anglesey, off the coast us Wales ; Man, in the Irish

INTRODUCTION.

. British Islands. Great Britain visiten Dy Foreign Navigators. Sea ; and the Hebrides and Orkneys, off the west and north coast of Scotland. These are their modem names, and differ but little from the Saxon ones. But the Romans called Sheppey, Toliatis; Wight, Vectis ; Seilly, Cassiterides ; Anglesey and Man, both Mona ; and the Hebrides and Orkneys, Ebudes and Orcades. § 10. The British Islands, as we have observed, were known at a very early period. History tells us that at least five hundred years before Christ, Phœnician navigators, in the service of the merchants of the old Syrian seaports of Tyre and Sidon, visited what is now the coast of Cornwall, in the south-west part of England, and the adjacent Seilly Islands. There they procured tin for the manufacture of bronze, a metal used by the ancients for many purposes for which we employ iron and steel. § 11.

The Britons, as the older inhabitants were called, dug the tin from mines, or washed it from the sands of streams, and cast it into ingots for the traders. These traders called the region the tin-land, or tin-islands ; and it is supposed that the name of Bri tannia, by which the Greeks and Romans knew the country, is de rived from the compound Celtic word, Bruit-tan — bruit, tin, and tan, land, as in the same language Hindos-tan is Hindoo-land. § 12. Leland appears to have been known to the same navigators and others from the ancient Greek colony on the site of Mar seilles, in France ; and there are in history glimpses of an older and higher civilization there than in the island of Great Britain. § 13. The Syrian merchants, and those of Carthage who were their successors in making distant trading voyages, tried to conceal from others all knowledge of the mineral wealth of Britannia.

They failed ; and in time, not only traders but settlers came from the neighboring coasts of Gaul (now France), and the Netherlands, to possess themselves of other riches in various parts of Great Britain, such as fertile soil, abundance of cattle, spacious and sheltered harbors, and pearls in the rivers. § 14. Upon the coasts and along the banks of rivers these later Celtic emigrants soon established themselves, either with or with out the consent of the earlier inhabitants. In time they became so numerous and powerful that they pushed the ancient Britons back into the interior, when the social degeneration which they had experienced since their emigration from Asia, went on with accelerated pace, in isolation, until they ceased lo be agriculturists and workers in metals. [Book L HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 4 Gaulish Settlers.

Condition of the Britons. § 15. They became, in time, almost as barbarous as were the Indians of our coasts . when Europeans found them ; and nothing distinguished them from the wild hunter state of our aborigines but the fact that they were shepherds and herdsmen, and possess*! accumulated wealth in cattle, sheep, and horses. Their dothinjj was made of the skins of beasts. They painted their half-naked bodies so as to be frightful to enemies. They shaved their beards, but let their mustaches and hair grow in wild profusion. Their weapons were hatchets of stone, and bows, and arrows with flint heads. Caves were their dwellings in winter, and temporary wig wams of wicker-work sheltered them in summer. § 16. As herdsmen they were compelled to wander in search of game for food, and forage for their animals.

To protect their wealth they made enclosures of felled trees, forming a sort of abatis, with a ditch outside ; for, divided into hostile tribes, they were continually at war with each other. These strong enclosures were their fortified towns. They were usually built in a forest on the borders of a stream, and were large enough to shelter a whole tribe, with the horses and cattle. They had many of these. The city of London, the town of St. Alban's, and many other modern cities and villages, occupy the sites of these capitals of the ancient semi-barbarian princes of Great Britain. § 17. Very different was the condition of the Gaulish settlers and traders. They had orderly governments of kings, and nobles, and priests, as in Gaul ; they dwelt in circular houses, resembling those of their mother country ; were well clothed, often in garments of black cloth, which reached to their feet ; wore long beards, and walked gravely with staves in their hands.

They had a gold coinage, many specimens of which yet remain ; and they wore rings of gold and other ornaments. They also made pot tery, which they sometimes ornamented in style like that made by other semi-barbarous people. They made light boats of skins for fishing on the rivers, such as the Welsh, the descendants of these ancient inhabitants, yet use, and call coracles. They assi duously cultivated the soil, and also traded with the opposite shores of France and perhaps Spain ; and they were renowned for their fondness for, and courtesy to, strangers. | 18. But what for a long time chiefly distinguished them from the native Britons was, that they were skilful in the art of war. They had weapons of iron and bronze, and war chariots, and

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 Religion of the Britons. Druidism. fleets of ships ; and they were in the habit of taking part in the wars of Gaul. Indeed Divitiacus, a king of the north and east of Gaul, who lived about sixty years before the birth of Christ, is said to have reckoned Great Britain as part of his dominions. §. 19. The religion of the ancient Britons was the same as that of the Gaulish or Gallic intruders. It was Druidism, the prevalent theology of the Celtic race in Europe, and supposed to be iden tical, in corrupted form, with that of the ancient Persians, which Zoroaster reformed, and whose devotees are known as fire worshippers. They acknowledged one God, omnipotent, in visible, and without form ; the creator, preserver, and ruler of the universe, and the final judge. Among the Druids a sort of pantheism had been ingrafted upon that pure Deism of the Per sians, and there was a tendency to the worship of the symbol rather than the thing symbolized, as the sun and the powers of nature.

They professed to reform morals, to secure peace, and to encourage goodness. They assumed to be conversant with the secrets of nature concerning the origin of worlds ; the movements of the stars ; the nature of planets ; and the essence, power, and mode of action of the Supreme Deity, and of the inferior gods such as Egyptians and Greeks worshipped. Yet, like the most benighted pagans, they indulged in human sacrifices on great religious festivals or state occasions. Captives taken in war, criminals, and even children, were, by direction of the Druid priests, cast into huge human figures of wicker-work, in the making of which the ancient Britons were expert, and burnt to death on such public occasions. § 20. The Druid priests, who dressed in a peculiar and costly manner, and were maintained at the public expense, were the acknowledged and reverenced teachers of the people.

Their dwellings and their colleges were in forests of oak trees, which. with the mistletoe that grew upon them, wete held to be sacred. They also exercised highest judicial functions, and from their decision there was no appeal. As priests, judges, teachers, philoso phers, and soothsayers — holding all knowledge and all power — they attained to almost absolute rule over the ignorant multitude. That rule was beneficent, for they taught the principles of a higher civilization than prevailed among the degenerate people, and prepared the soil for the planting of Christianity in Great Britain in after years. [Book I. HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Government of the Britons. Pursuits of the People. § 21. The government of the early Britons, especially after their admixture with the Gauls on the coast, appears to have been monarchical in form.' The executive power, under the Druid priests, was ■ lodged in the chief of a tribe.

Among the more northerly tribes, inhabiting Caledonia (Scotland) and adjacent islands, the king possessed no property, but had the free use of that of all his subjects. This regulation was to prevent his doing acts of injustice for the sake of possessions. He was not allowed to have a wife of his own, but the wives of all his subjects were at his disposal. So, not knowing his own children, he could not be tempted to encroach upon the rights of his subjects in the aggrandizement of his own family. Such was the plan of Plato, in his " Republic," for guarding against the same evils. § 22. Agriculture and the arts were almost wholly unknown. The inhabitants lived upon the milk and flesh of their flocks and herds, and the winnings of the chase. They did not sow the land nor eat of the abundance of fishes in the waters ; neither of the flesh of the hare, the goose, or the domestic fowl, which they raised for amusement.

Even the Gaulic inhabitants of the coast, when the Roman legions came, were ignorant of the use of the flail and fan in the proper preparation of their grain for the flour ing-mortar. But, in time, the intercourse between the dwellers by the sea and those inland caused a modification of barbarism all over the island. The more ancient inhabitants began to cultivate the soil ; to make coarse cloth from wool ; and they became expert in the manufacture of war-chariots, and in their use with swift horses, as in the days of the Hebrew kings. § 23. Such were the inhabitants of Great Britain when the Romans landed on its shores, in the pleasant summer-time, fifty five years before the birth of Christ. They found the island thickly populated

BOOK IL THE ROMAN INVASION AND RULE.

CHAPTER I. CTVIL AND MILITARY TRANSACTIONS.

§ 1. At midnight, between the 24th and 25th of August, in the year 55 before Christ, Julius Caius Cæsar set sail for Great Britain from Portus Itius or Witsand, near Gessoriacum (now Boulogne), on the coast of Gaul, with two Roman legions, or about ten thou sand men, all veterans, borne in eighty ships. These were accom panied by several long war-galleys that carried catapulta, or simple engines which, by the force of springs, hurled huge darts and heavy stones. Cavalry were ordered to follow in other vessels, but were detained by adverse winds. § 2. Cæsar was then about forty-five years of age, and bore the honors of conqueror and governor of Gaul. His father was of prætorian rank ; his mother was of the eminent Cotta family, and he was related to several powerful men of rank and station.

He was tall, slim, physically weak, and subject to epileptic fits ; but his mind was a marvel of power, by which he made himself " the foremost man of all this world." § 3. He married at the age of seventeen years ; and at the same time, or soon afterward, he entered warmly into politics as a member of the democratic party. His life, from that time, was marked by many vicissitudes. He was bold and ambitious, and was always more intent upon securing his own aggrandizement than in serving his country. He held highest offices of trust and emolument ; and finally, when in debt to the amount of several million dollars, he was appointed governor of Cisalpine Gaul. In the course of Invasion of Britain by Romans. Preparations for it by both Parties. eight years, after a series of the most sanguinary struggles, he reduced the whole of Gaul to a Roman province. § 4.

As the Gauls had received aid from Great Britain, Cæsar made :hat fact a pretext for invading the island, whose shores, on a clear day, he had dimly seen. His real motive for the enterprise was the gathering of pearls and other riches said to abound there, and to gain personal renown by the conquest of a mysterious coun try among the waves. § 5. Traders told the Britons that the conqueror of Gaul was about to visit them in wrath. They sent ambassadors over the Channel to promise him their obedience to his will. This was to delay Ms coming until the islanders might gather in sufficient numbers to oppose his landing. He sent back with the ambassadors, Commius, a Gaul, whom he had lately made king of a territory, and who was well and favorably known to the Britons. He was instructed to visit as many of the tribes as possible, inspire them with good feelings, and announce his speedy coming.

The Britons imprisoned Commius, defied Cæsar, and prepared for a vigorous defence. § 6. Meanwhile Cæsar had sent Caius Volusenus in a galley to explore the coast and collect facts concerning the harbors ; but the bold aspect of the Britons, many of whom were made hideous by staining their half-naked bodies blue with woad, so daunted the voyager that he returned in the course of five days. Then Cæsar sailed from the coast of Gaul. § 7 The Roman fleet entered Dover Bay at ten o'clock [Aug. 25, B.C. 55] ; but it was judged too dangerous to attempt a landing, because the cliffs were swarming with armed men. Therefore the invaders moved on until they had passed the South Foreland, and reached an open sandy shore, now known as Deal Beach. There the contest with the Britons commenced. § 8. When the Romans attempted to land, they found they were engaged in a most desperate service.

The Britons had followed them along the shore, and as their army was composed mostly of horsemen and charioteers, they had for a long time the advantage. The Romans, encumbered with armor, were obliged to quit their ships at some distance from the shore, and wade through the shallow water ; and while thus struggling, the Britons rushed into the sea and drove them headlong into pools and holes, where many of them perished. The men soon became disheartened, and hesitated Chapter I.] ROMANS IN ENGLAND. 9 Landing of the Romans. Conflicts. Romans in peril. to leave their vessels, when Cæsar ordered the ships of war to dis charge their darts and stones. The Britons were obliged to give way before this kind of attack, which was to them .both new and terrible. § 9. Still the legionaries did not move until the standard-bearer of the Tenth Legion, invoking the gods with a loud voice, threw himself into the sea.

They then felt obliged to follow him, lest their standard, a silver eagle, should be taken, and which would have been an indelible disgrace. They landed in great confusion, and as the Britons returned fiercely to the charge, they were in imminent danger of perishing. Cæsar^again employed his war ships. He also sent all his boats, filled with soldiers, to aid them ; and at last, after a very hard struggle, the Romans gained the firm land, and threw up an intrenchment for their protection on the height of Walmer. They did not venture to pursue the Britons, for the night was close at hand, and they had no horse men. § 10. The Romans remained in their camp for three days, anx iously expecting the ships from Gaul, with the cavalry and most of their provisions and baggage. The Britons, however, who knew from their friends in Gaul the great power of their invaders, sent ambassadors to Cæsar on the fourth day to treat of peace.

With them came Commius, whom they had imprisoned, and they begged that the act might be excused on account of their igno rance. Cæsar pardoned them, and promised them peace on condi tion of their sending hostages, and agreeing to submit to his commands. § 11. Scarcely was this peace concluded, when the expected ships from Gaul came in sight ; but before their men and stores could be landed a storm arose, and they were driven away, some to the coast of Cornwall, where they wTere in danger of being wrecked, and others to the port they had sailed from. The same storm also destroyed many of the ships that Cæsar had with him, and the in vaders were filled with consternation. Their desperate condition induced the Britons to break the peace they had concluded ; for they thought that if they could succeed in destroying the whole body of Romans, whether lay sword or by famine, they would not again be invaded. § 12.

Accordingly they collected their forces, and falling on the Seventh Legion, which, unarmed, had moved a short distance 1* IL A severe Battle. Mode of Fighting. Withdrawal of the Romans. from the camp to gather in the standing corn, they surrounded it with chariots and horses, and nearly succeeded in cutting it off. Cæsar was obliged to go himself to its assistance ; and he could scarcely secure its retreat to the camp, as his men were dismayed at the Britons' mode of fighting. § 13. The Britons had many horsemen ; but their chief strength was in their charioteers, who displayed at once the speed of horse and the firmness of foot. The chariots were drawn by small but very swift horses ; and these were so well trained that they could be turned or stopped when at full speed, even on the hillsides ; and the warriors, who carried swords, spears, and darts, were most active and courageous.

As they came on they threw their darts ; and when, by driving furiously about, they had broken their enemies' ranks, they leapt on the ground and fought hand to hand. Their chariots, with drivers, kept near them, as a retreat if they were too hardly pressed ; and the charioteers showed wonderful skill in running along the pole, or standing on the yoke, and still continuing the combat. § 14. Rather encouraged than daunted by this battle in the open field, the Britons soon after attempted to storm the Roman camp ; but this was beyond their power. The legions were mas ter's of the art of fortification, so they remained secure behind their intrenchmeuts until the assailants were disheartened, and then Cæsar drew out his forces, and after a fierce battle defeated them. § 15. Soon after this, the Britons renewed their offers of peace, which Cæsar gladly accepted ; and having repaired his damaged ships with the timber and iron from some of the wrecks, he crowded his men into them, and sailed for Gaul a little after midnight, about the 20th of September, having been in the island but about three weeks, and never having ventured out of sight of the shore.