The History of Scotland

Preface

. $~(\W$^'J "ve '" an a&e °f h' ll(Jt °f great Histories. llftwnWfl Various modern Histories of Scotland lie on j-iailiLai the table of the present writer. They are weighty Avorks in the scales, weighing from eleven to sixteen pounds avoirdupois. This History is not a weighty work, and on that circumstance the writer founds his hope that it may not be unwelcome to those of his countrymen who find it needful to consider time and price. The religious element in Scottish History, from the Reformation to the Revolution, is well-nigh everything. It is hard to understand how any man not sympathizing with the refigion of Scotland could write her history fairly. But some of our ablest historians have altogether lacked that sympathy ; and the consequence is that their descriptions of our religious struggles cannot be read without indignation.

Scotland, to borrow the language of Defoe, " has been represented to the Avorld in so many monstrous shapes, and dressed up in so many devils' coats and fools' coats," that her own sons do not know their mother. There is a foolish, sentimental generation, Avhose only ideas of Scottish History are taken from novels, songs,

PREFACE.

. and ballads. It is impossible to speak the truth about that bloody House which fell at the Revolution, and its minions, without giving offence to such persons. It is equally impossible to speak the truth about the great contendings of our glorious forefathers for their religious freedom, without offending the enemies of our Scottish Presbyterianism. The writer merely begs leave to repeat an anecdote of the greatest of Scottish historians, given by James Melville in his Diary: — "That September, in time of vacance, my uncle Mr. Andrew, Mr. Thomas Buchanan, and I, hearing that Mr. George Buchanan was weak, and his Histor}' under the press, passed over to Edinburgh to visit him and see the work. We went from him to the printer's work-house, whom we found at the end of the seventeenth book of his Chronicle, at a place which we thought very hard for the time, which might be an occasion of staying tbe whole work — anent the burial of Davie.

Therefore, staying the printer from proceeding, we came .to Mr. George. Mr. Thomas, his cousin, shows him of the hardness of that part of his story, that the King would be offended with it, and it might stay all the work. ' Tell me, man,' says he, ' if I have told the truth?' 'Yes,' says Mr. Thomas, 'sir, I think so.' 'I will bide his feud and all his kin's, then.' " Wishing to avoid what might have seemed an affecta tion of learning, the writer has refrained from loading his pages with references to authorities. He has not, however, ploughed with any man's heifer, but has gone to the sources of our history for himself. J. M. CONTENTS. Chapter I'-ige I. UNWRITTEN HISTORY, AND HOW TO READ IT, '... ... 0 H. UNWRITTEN HISTORY — ITS SECOND PAGE ... ... .. 10 III. THE COMINO OF THE ROMANS, ... ... ... ... 21 IV.

THE PEOPLE OF THE WOODS, ... ... ... ... 26 V. THE ROMANS IN CALEDONIA, ... ... ... ... 30 VI. HOW THE SCOTS CAME INTO SCOTLAND, ... ... ... 35 VII. THE DAT-STAR RISINO ON THE FORESTS, ... ... ... 38 VIII. A KINGDOM ON THE ANVIL, ... ... ... ... 43 IX. OREAT-HEAD AND HIS TIMES, ... ... ... ... *S X. LORD AND VASSAL, ... ... ... ... ... 56 XI. THE SORE SAINT, ... ... ... ... ... 61 XII. THE BURGHS, ... ... ... .. ... ... 72 XIII. THE LION AND THE LION HEART, ... ... ... ... 79 XIV. THE WIZARD, ... ... ... ... ... ... 86 XV. THE TAMER OF THE RAVENS, ... ... ... ... "0 XVI. PEACE AND PLENTY, ... ... ... ... ... 98 XVII. THE MAID OF NORWAY, ... ... ... •■■ ••■ 105 XVIII. WILLIAM WALLACE, ... .. ■■■ ■■• HI XIX. DARKENINO DOWN, ... ... ... ... ... 122 XX. ROBERT THE BRUCE, ... ... ... ... ... 129 XXI.

THE KINDLING OF THE BEAOON, ... ... ... ... 135 XXII. WAGER OF BATTLE, ... ... ... ... ... H9 XXIII. A SIEGE IN BOW AND ARROW DAYS, ... ... ... 1-56 XXIV. A RAID INTO ENGLAND, ... ... ... ... ... 161 XXV. THE SCOTS IN IRELAND, ... ... ... ... ... 167 XXVI. DEATH OF THE BRUOE, ... ... ... .. ... VJ CONTENTS. Coupler 180 XXVII. DAVID II., 186 XXVIII. PARLIAMENT, ... 190 XXIX. THE HOUSE OF STEWART, 199 XXX. THE FALSE UNCLE, 203 XXXI. THE POET KING, 216 XXXII. JAMES OF THE FIERY FACE, 228 XXXIII. JAMES III., 234 XXXIV. JAMES OF THE IRON BELT, 241 XXXV. DARK FLODDEN, 2-lsi XXXVI. SCOTTISH LIFE IN THE OLDEN TIME, XXXVII. THE MICKLE AIL, ... ••■ ••• ••• ■■■ XXXVIII. THE CHARTULARIE3, ... ... ••■ ••• — 260 XXXIX. THE KING OF THE COMMONS, ... ... ••• •• 207 XL. THE KINS AT THE PARTING OF THE WATS, ... ... ... 276 XLI.

ENGLISH MARGARET, ... ... ••■ ■•• — 285 XLII. THE BROKEN TREATY, ... ... •■- ■•- •■■ 289 XLIII. THE CASTLE OF ST. ANDREWS, ... ... ••• •■• 301 XLIV. THE HOUR AND THE MAN, ... ... •■• ■■■ E12 XLV. THE WAR OF THE CONGREGATION, ... ... ... ... 321 XLVI. THE FIRST OENERAL ASSEMBLY, ... ... ... -•• 331 XLVII. INTOLERANCE OF THE REFORMERS, ... ... ... 339 XLTIII. WHO DESTROYED THE ABBEYS ? ... ... ... ... 343 XLIX. MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, ... ... ... ... ... 349 L. DARNLEY, ... ... ... ... ... .. 360 LI. BEHIND THE ARRAS, ... ... ... ... ... 867 LII. THE MYSTERY OF BLOOD, ... ... ... ... ... 376 LUI. TO EUNDRENNAN, ... ... ... ... ... 383 LIV. THE SILVER CASKET, ... ... ... ... ... 394 LV. MARY IN ENGLAND, ... ... ... ... ... 400 LVI. A PIRATE'S GRAVE, ... ... ... ... ... 408 LVII, THE GOOD REGENT, ... ... ... .. ... 414 LVIII.

THE DOUGLAS WARS, ... ... ... ... ... 426 LIX. JAMES THE REEVE, ... ... ... ... ... 439 LX. IN BAD HANDS, ... ... ... ... ... ... 450 LXI. JAMES THE SIXTH, ... ... ... ... ... 462 LXII. GOWRIE, ... ... ... ... ... ... 430 LX1II. GEORGE BU0HAKAN, ... ... ... ... CONTENTS. VII Cliapler , ,g, I.XIV. TWO KINGS IN SCOTLAND, ... ... ... ... 4t)-J LXV. THE HAMMER OF THE WITCHES, ... ... ... ... 600 LXVI. GOLD-FINDING IN SCOTLAND ... ... ... ... 500 LXVII. JAMES SIXTH AND FIRST, ... ... ... ... .117 LXVIII. BEYOND HER LINE, ... ... ... ... ... 6,11 LXIX. THE COVENANT, ... ... ... ... .. ... .WO LXX. DUNSE LAW, ... ... ... ... ... ... 010 LXXI. THE SOLEMN LEAGUE, ... ... ... 550 LXXII. THE WAT TO WHITEHALL, .. ... ... ... 5(13 LXXIII. THE DEVIL'S MIST, ... ... ... ... ... 572 LXXIV. THE UNCROWNED KING, ... ... ... ... . . 581 LXXV.

THE RESTORATION, ... ... ... ... ... 580 LXXVI. THE FOUR HUNDRED, ... ... ... ... I ... 502 LXXV1I. PENTLAND, ... ... ... ... ... ... 608 LXXVIII. THE HIGHLAND HOST, .. ... ... ... ... 605 LXXIX. AT BAY, ... ... ... ... ... ... 614 LXXX. THE KILLING TIME, ... ... ... ... ... 620 LXXXI. THE BEGINNING OF THE END, ... ... ... ... 020 LXXXII. THE LAST OF THE MARTYRS, ... ... ... ... 633 LXXXIII. THE FALL OF THE BLOODY HOUSE, ... ... ' ... ... 038 LXXXIV. THE UNION, ... ... ... ... ... HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Chapter I. Unwritten History, And How To Read It

It cannot be discovered in Avhat age of the world Scotchavier land first became a scene of human habitation. There is '' nothing in all history, no written record of any kind, to O""'*1""1 ° . . . . J inliatiit yield us any information concerning the onginaf possessors ants. of our native land. Even tradition has forgotten them. They lived and died, generation after generation, and they are as nameless and unrecorded as the leaves which grew and withered in their forests. The thickest night of ancient time has covered them. But the history of these remote forefathers of ours, though it was never written, may be read. A curious history it is ; and the way in which the materials of it have been gathered and put together is a fine example of the triumphs of patient thought. Tbe historian of other periods finds his materials in books, in written records and documents.

The materials for the history of this period have been found on waste moors and in deep mosses, in caves and on hills, under ancient burial-mounds and cairns, by the margin of rivers, and on the bed of drained lochs. chapter Here, for instance, is an ancient boat, found a few years '• since on the south bank of the Clyde, when excavations were being made for the purpose of enlarging the harbour of Glasgow. It is of oak, not planked or built, but hewn out of the trunk of a single tree. The hollow has been made with fire, as the marks still show. This boat is one of nine or ten discovered in the neighbourhood of the Clyde at Glasgow. Many similar ones have been found in other parts of Scotland. Within one of those discovered at Glasgow there lay an axe-head of stone. SCONE AXES AND HAMMERS. Now, that fire-hollowed boat and stone axe tell their story as plainly as a printed book.

The savage on the shores of the Pacific cuts a groove in the bark round the root of the tree of which he intends to form his canoe. Into this groove he puts burning embers till it is charred to some depth. Next he deepens the groove by hewing out the charred wood with his stone hatchet. Then he applies the fire again, and so on until, by the alternate use of fire and axe, the tree is brought to the ground. By the same process it is hollowed out and shaped into a canoe. The ancient boat-maker of the Clyde had used exactly such a method of forming his little vessel. He too had been destitute of any better tool than an axe of flint or hard stone. With this rude instrument, and the aid of fire, he slowly and laboriously wrought the trunk of a tree into the form of a boat. The stone axe, Tools.

AND HOW TO READ IT. 11 brought to light aster untold ages, bears mute but exchaptkr pressive witness that its owner was a savage. f_ The axe with which the ancient Briton hollowed his weapon* canoe served him also as a weapon in battle. Under a large cairn, or heap of stones piled over a tomb, on a moor in the south of Scotland, a stone coffin of very CIST CONTAINING A SKELETON. rude workmanship was found. It contained the skeleton of a man of uncommon size. One of the arms had been almost severed from the shoulder. A fragment of very hard stone was sticking in the severed bone. That blow had been struck with a stone axe. When the victor, after the fight, looked at his bloody weapon, he 6aw that a splinter had broken from its edge. Thou sands of years passed, the cairn of the dead was opened, and that splinter was found in the bone of the once mighty arm which the axe had all but hewn away.

What a curious tale to be told by a single splinter of stone ! On yonder lea field the ploughman turns over the grassy sward. At the furrow's end, as he breathes his horses for a minute, and looks at his work, his eye is caught by some object sticking in the upturned mould. He picks it up. It is a barbed arrow-head, neatly chipped out of yellow flint. How came it there ? It is no elf-arrow, shot by the fairies. It was once, when chapter tied to a reed with a sinew or a strip of skin, an arrow ■■ in the quiver of an ancient British savage. When that lea land was a forest, the rude hunter roaming there shot at a deer, but missed his game, and lost his arrow. V FLINT AKR0W-I1KADB. There are spots where the flint arrow-heads have been found in such numbers as to show that the barbarian tribes had met there in battle.

Spear-heads, too, and knives of flint have been dug up from time to time in various parts. The ancient race who employed such weapons must have existed before the use of iron or any other metal was known. That period when the rude inhabitants of our island were ignorant of metals, and formed their tools and weapons of stone, is called the Stone Period. Dwellings. Many of the dwellings of that ancient people have. been discovered, and yield us curious glimpses of their home life. Some of them are mere pits in the earth, which had probably been roofed over with sticks and turf. Others are under-ground structures, built with great stones, which overlap each other untd the space is sufficiently narrowed to be covered in with a single block. A solitary opening served for door, chimney, and window, if, indeed, any ray of daylight could penetrate into the dark abode.

Near by these dwellings, enclosures, surrounded with an earthen mound, are to be traced. These, no doubt, were folds for the flocks. AND HOW TO READ IT. 13 CHAFTEl! I Religion Circular hollows are also to be seen, where, in all pro bability, stood the slight huts, made of turf and branches, in which the natives dwelt during summer, while the neighbouring under-ground abodes gave them shelter from the frosts and snows of winter. These singular dwellings are usually found in groups or villages, indi cating that in these far-off times, as well as now, man was a social animal, and loved the fellowship of his kind. When the floor of one of these pit dwellings is dug up, ashes, charred wood, and the bones of animals are found. These, no doubt, are the bones of the animals which had been used as food.

The bones of horses are found among those of oxen, deer, and sheep; so that horse-flesh had been an article of diet as well as beef and mutton. Domestic utensils are sometimes found, — rudely-shaped stone basins, stone mortars for grinding or bruising corn, rounded pieces of slate, being perhaps the plates from which the savage ate his smoking steak of horse or deer. Tbe rude people had their love of ornament and their little vanities too. They wore necklaces of stone beads, or the teeth of animals, or of cockle-shells rubbed down until they were reduced nearly to rings. The modern lady has her jewelled shawl-pin; the wife of the ancient Briton fastened her robe of skin with a pin of horn. Had this ancient race any idea of religion and a future state ? We shall see. Here is an earthen mound, heaped over the grave of some chief.

When dug into, it is found to contain a rude stone coffin. In the coffin with the skeleton are flint arrow-heads, a spear-head also of flint, and perhaps the stone head of a battle-axe, the wooden portions of these weapons having long since mouldered away. Now we know that the savage expects to go after death to the happy hunting-grounds, and to follow again the war-path. His implements of CHAPTI.R I war and the chase are therefore buried with him, that he may start up fully equipped in the new state of being. His favourite horse or dog, and perhaps his favourite attendants, are laid beside his grave, that at his rising he may appear in a manner fitting his rank. The contents of the burial-mound unmistakably proclaim that our forefathers in these long-forgotten ages had the same rude idea of a future state which the Red Indian still has.

Many of these burial-mounds have been opened in different parts of Scotland. Their contents are very similar. Sometimes a heap of flint flakes, for making a new supply of arrows when his quiver should be empty, is found along with the warrior's bones. Sometimes his drinking-cup, of unshapely sun-dried clay, and a bowl of the same material, which had probably contained food, lie beside him, as loving hands had put them for his use on his long journey. Sometimes a number of rude clay urns, filled with calcined human bones, had been placed beside the warrior's coffin, and then the sepulchral mound heaped high over all. This conveys a dark hint that his favourite retainers had been slaughtered and sent to attend him in the spirit land. During this ancient period Scotland was covered with vast forests, as the trunks of great trees found buried in our mosses sufficiently testify.

The inhabitants must have be3n thinly scattered along the skirts of the mighty range of forest. They must have occupied the coast and river valleys, retreating to the heights or the dark recesses of the forest when beaten or out-numbered by the war-party of some neighbouring tribe. Geology has proved, from the frequent discovery of their remains, that wild horses, wolves, bears a kind of tiger — more power ful than that of India — the huge native bull, the elk, and the rein-deer ranged the woods. The beaver built its coffer-dams in the streams. On these inhabitants of AND HOW TO READ IT. 15 the forest the ancient Briton waged war with bow and chapter sling, with lance and trap. Their skins furnished him r' with clothing. Their flesh, together with wild fruits Food. and berries, shell-fish gathered along the shore at ebb of tide, the scanty produce of his corn-patch, and the milk of his flock, supplied him with food.

Such, as seen in these moonlight glimpses, was the life led by the inhabitants of Scotland in that far-off time when, in the land destined to be the birth-place of the steam-engine, there existed no better tool than could be made of flint or stone. These dim but authentic glimpses show us, indeed, only a race of savages ; but these savages were our ancestry, and their blood mingles in our veins.

Chapter II Chapter II

UNWRITTEN" HISTORY — ITS SECOND PAGE. In all probability this ancient race occupied the Scottish soil, with unchanging habits and with little or no pro gress, for many centuries. At length, however, the ele ments of a great change were introduced : the savage tribes became acquainted with the use of metals. The introduction of metals is the first great stage in the history of civilization. Armed with an axe of metal, instead of the old axe of stone, the savage can go into the forest and cut down trees at will. He can split them, and hew them into planks. He needs not now to pile up overlapping blocks of stone to roof in his dark, under-ground abode. He can make a far more con venient dwelling of rough, axe-hewn boards. He needs not now to hollow out a log-canoe, for his new tools have given him the power of building boats of plank.

He can now increase the size of his little vessel, and thus make farther and bolder ventures out to sea. The trees nearest his village fall first to his axe, but year by year he cuts his way deeper into the forest. The clearings extend, and the soil, which will be corn land by-and-by, is laid open. He can now form a variety of tools suited to a variety of purposes. New wants are created with the increased facility of meeting them. In a word, with the introduction of metal among a savage race, station ary till then, the march of improvement has begun. The discovery of copper, silver, and gold, naturally takes place before tbe discovery of iron. The smelting of iron is an art far too difficult for the savage to master chapter till he has been long familiar with the working of the _L_ softer and easier metals.

Accordingly, we find that the earliest metallic implements used by our forefathers were not of iron, but of bronze. Copper and tin are soft metals ; but if a portion of tin is mixed with copper, the result is bronze, a metal harder than either of the two of which it is composed. Tools and weapons made of this metal are a great advance upon those made of stone or flint. Bronze, however, is but a poor substitute for iron or steel, and we may be very sure that the people Avho made use of bronze tools knew nothing of iron. That period during which the ancient inhabitants of Bronte this country, ignorant as yet of iron, made use of bronze tools and weapons, is called the Bronze Period. It is probable that the natives of our island received from strangers their first acquaintance Avith the metals.

The ships of Tyre and Carthage are known to have visited the coast of Cornwall for supplies of tin many centuries before the Christian era. From these foreigners the natives may have learned the art of working in metals. In whatever way they got their first lesson, the rude islanders were no bad scholars. BROSZE SPEAR-HEADS. Suppose we were permitted to borrow from the British Mctnis. Museum in London, and the Antiquarian Museum iu Edinburgh, certain articles belonging to the Bronze Period. We arrange them upon a long table. Here, on the left, UNWRITTEN HISTORY—

CHAPTER II.

Cairn. is a bronze axe-head. It is a very humble affair — very rude in form, rough on the surface, and full of air-holes. The mould in which it was cast has evidently been a mere hollow in sand. The axe is little more than an oblong piece of yellow bronze. The savage who moulded it was trying his apprentice hand as a founder. But pass along the table towards the right. Each article, as we have laid them out, is more workman-like than the one before it , The axe-heads become first shapely, and then handsome. Patterns, at first very simple, but grow ing gradually more elaborate, are wrought upon them. There are bronze daggers and spear-heads of forms truly elegant. Here is a bronze sword, shaped like a mj'rtle BRONZE SWORD FOUND AT ARTHUR'S SEAT, EDINBURGH. leaf; a more gracefully fashioned weapon a soldier never wore upon his thigh.

What length of time it may have taken ,our rude forefathers to reach this degree of skill we can scarce even guess. But there, on that table, is the history of their progress in the art of working metals. Let us again suppose ourselves present at the opening of an ancient British tomb. It is under a cairn heaped on the top of a hill which overlooks a wide tract of moorland. Tbe stone coffin is very short — not over four feet in length. From the position of the bones the body has evidently been placed in a sitting or folded posture. There are cups or bowls of potter}^ one or more. There is a bronze sword, but it has been broken in two before it was laid beside its owner in his long rest. And what is that which glitters among the warrior's dust? It is an ornament of gold — a bracelet or a collar — which he had worn.

The skeleton of a dog is found beside the coffin ; for the warrior knew hunting craft by lake and wood, and loved to pursue his game with hound and bow. ITS SECOND PAGE. 19 So they laid his four-footed favourite, which had licked chapter his hand and followed his halloo, in his long home beside "' him. Now, observe the cup or bowl, which has contained rrog-ress. drink or food — friendship's last gift to the dead. This cup is very different from the unshapely, hand-made and sun-dried pottery of the Stone Period. It has been rounded on a wheel. It is made of fine baked clay, and is neatly ornamented with a simple pattern. There has been progress, then, in the mechanical arts since the ruder and older time. Let the broken sword next tell its story. The last honour paid to the buried warrior was to break his sword and lay it beside him, ere his com panions in arms piled over him the memorial cairn.

Tbe warrior of the Stone Period was buried with axe, lance, and bow, in barbarian anticipation of warfare beyond the grave ; but the warrior of the Bronze Period was laid in his narrow bed with his broken sword, in token of war fare accomplished and of expected rest. This speaks in no obscure language of some better and higher ideas which this ancient race had acquired. The weighty gold ornaments buried with the honoured dead show that the old Briton was no stranger to the glittering metal. Nor is it difficult to account for his possession of it. Scotland, like Spain and some other countries where none is now found, once possessed native gold in considerable quantities, and the keen eye of the hunter caught the little nuggets or the shining dust among the gravel and sand swept down by the mountain streams.

The collar of twisted gold speaks a wonderful advance upon the time when the savage strutted in a necklace of teeth or shells. Thus the tombs of the Bronze Period tell their story — a story of progress, however feeble and slow. These old tombs yield their testimony to other curious facts. The swords found in them invariably have their hilts much too UNWRITTEN HISTORY. CHAPTER ii small for the hand of a modern Scotchman of ordinary size. The owners of them must have been small-handed men, and no doubt small-footed too. At this ancient period the rudiments of trade had come into existence, for small rings of bronze and of gold, which undoubtedly were used as money, have frequently been found. Ring money of copper is regularly made in Birmingham for the African traders at this day. The people of the Bronze Period had begun to practise the arts of the spinner and the weaver, for small fragments of knitted or woven stuff have been found in their tombs.

The chief and the matron could therefore wear garments more in keeping with their beautiful gold ornaments than mere coats of skins. The Briton of even that old period had be°-un to be something more than a naked savage. Such, then, is unwritten history ; and thus from their graves do we gather some knowledge of what our fore fathers were in those remote periods before the written history of our country begins. CHAPTEX III 55 B C. Ciesar.

Chapter III. The Coming Of The Romans

Here we come to the period of written history. At this point we cease to read the history of our country from the graves of its old inhabitants, and begin to read it in books. In the fifty-fifth year before the birth of Christ our island received a never-to-be-forgotten visit. It was then that the Romans made their first landing on our shores. Their leader was a man of fair and pale com plexion, old-looking before his time from the debaucheries of Rome, and subject to epileptic fits. Such was the famous Julius Cæsar. Luckily for us, he could not only fight his enemies, but describe them as well. It was the afternoon of a September day, and the forest leaves were already touched with the first tints of autumn, when Cæsar's fleet of eighty ships drew up off the shore of Kent. The natives lined the beach with horse, foot, and chariots, and stood prepared to defend their island home.

The Roman soldiers, clad as they were in heavy plate armour of brass, and afraid of being struck down before they could gain firm footing, hesitated to leap into the water. Cæsar opened on the Bri tons a heavy discharge of stones and darts from the engines used in sieges, which his galleys had on board. This made the enemy give back a little. Still the soldiers hesitated to leap from the ships. Then the standard bearer of the tenth legion, crying " Leap, comrades, unless you wish to see your standard taken by the enemy," sprang overboard, and began to carry forward CnAPTER III. 80 a.d. Agricola. Roman ravages. the standard. Roused by his example, the whole twelve thousand soldiers dashed at once into the sea. The Bri tons met them in the water. A fierce and deadly struggle took place, and much brave blood reddened the waves.

Gradually the Romans fought their way to land. They formed and charged, and the terrible rush of their disci plined battalions swept the Britons before them. This was the beginning of the Roman invasion of Bri tain. It was nearly a century and a half after this, how ever, before they invaded Scotland. Up to the eightieth year after Christ, while nearly the whole of England had been reduced to the condition of a Roman province, the Romans possessed no land north of the Solway Firth. In that year Agricola, governor of the province, led an army across the Border, and began to hew his way into the Caledonian forests. The wary general advanced slowly, and secured his ground as he advanced, by building forts in commanding situations. The native tribes struggled bravely against the formidable invader, but having little union or combination among themselves, they were taken singly, and overcome in detail.

The Romans carried on their operations with merciless vigour. Tacitus, Agric ola's son-in-law, who writes an account of his life, tells us that it was his policy to overcome the Britons by the terror of his ravages. We understand what that means. Yonder, for example, in a forest clearing, is a native village, fenced with its ditch and stockade of posts. It has children playing, cattle feeding, and patches of grow ing corn. The women sing the quern song as they grind the meal for the evening repast in the quern or hand mill. Some of the men are doing a little smith-work or bit of homely carpentry ; others are away hunting. Suddenly at the edge of the forest there is a gleam as of the sun's rays on polished metal. A body of armed men, sheathed in brass, issue from the wood, and sweep across the clearing, their burnished mail flashing as they go.