Revolution in English History

Front matter

as REVOLUTIONS IN ENGLISH HISTORY. VOL. I. HOURS WITH THE MYSTICS. By ROBERT ALFRED VAUGHAN. 2 vols. 14s. Second Edition. LONGMANS, GREEN. AND CO. MEMOIR ROBERT ALFRED VAUGHAN. By ROBERT VAUGHAN, D.D. Second Edition. Revised and enlarged, with a finely engraved Portrait. IIACMILLAN AND CO. REVOLUTIONS IN ENGLISH HISTORY BY ROBERT VAUGHAN, D.D. VOL. I. REVOLUTIONS OF RACE. NEW AND REVISED EDITION. LONDON : LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1865. v . i Fj 'At <•'' tra tslatit ■ i ■ -. ■ - LOS DO?" PRINTED BY SPOTIISWOODE AND CO. HEW-STRKET SQtM.DE

Preface

TO THE FIRST EDITION. — ♦ — IN this work the reader will not find everything he would expect to find in a publication bearing the title of a History of England. But it is intended that these pages shall include so much of the past as will suffice to give full presentation and prominence to the great changes in the history of this country, showing whence they have come, what they have been, and whither they have tended. My narrative, accordingly, while not described as a History of England, is designed to serve the purpose for which all such histories have been professedly written. English history embraces much in common with the history of Europe, together with much that has been characteristic, of itself; and it is reasonable that English men should be more interested in what has been special to their country, than in details which might have had their place in the history of any one among a large family of states.

The question to which this work is designed to present an answer is — What is it that has made England to be England? My object vol. I. a PREEACE TO THE VI is to conduct the reader to satisfactory conclusions in relation to this question by a road much more direct and simple than is compatible with the laws to which the historian usually conforms himself when writing the general history of a nation. Our busy age needs some assistance of this nature. But while the spirit of our times is sufficiently disposed to appreciate directness and compression in authorship, it is, I am aware, by no means disposed to accept superficiality in the place of thoroughness. I do not affect to be un acquainted with what modern writers have published on English history; but it is only due to myself to state, that on no point of im portance in relation to my object have I allowed myself to be dependent on such authorities.

In many instances, when I have contented myself with citing a modern author, it has not been until after an ex amination of the sources adduced in support of his statements. It has been my earnest wish that this work should be the result throughout of a fair mea sure of independent research and of independent thought. The sense in which I use the term ' Revolution ' scarcely needs explanation. The word is meant to comprehend the great phases of change in our history, due place being assigned to the causes in regard to each of them. Down to the close of the fourteenth century, change among vis comes mainly from the conflicts of race. Under the Tudors, the great principle of revolution is religion. Under the Stuarts, that principle gives place considerably to the principles of FIRST EDITION.

VII government. The first question to be settled was the question of race; the next concerned the national faith; and the next, the future of the English Con stitution. Many causes contributed to the strength of these leading causes of action; but through their respective periods these are felt to be leading causes, and the effects which flow from them are all more or less impressed by them. In the progress of Great Britain since 1688, no single cause has acquired the prominence of the causes above mentioned. In taking up such a theme as the Revolutions in English History, it is probable that no two writers would be agreed as to the best method of dealing with it — or as to the principle that should determine the selection of material, and where to stop. On these points, and on many beside, I have to throw myself on the candour of the reader.

The course I have taken has been chosen after the best thought I could bestow on the subject. In the further prosecution of my object, I hope to avail myself freely of the rich material in the State Paper Office, still in manuscript, and which, thanks to the present Master of the Rolls, is becoming more accessible every day for the purposes of history. Dec. 1859. a

PREFACE.

TO THE NEW EDITION. This volume has been carefully revised, and some matters in it have been treated a little more adequately. But this has been accomplished mainly by the omission of some less important material, so as to secure that the Index at the close of the third volume may still be adapted to the entire work. Oct. 1865. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. The Eakly Inhabitants Of Britain

PAGE PAGI Ancient British States . . 9 Races of ancient Britain . 10 Caledonians — Picts and Scots 11 Question of a Pre-Celtic race 12 Physical features of the ancient Britons .... 13 Prehistoric period ... i Phœnicia 2 Phœnician history ... 3 Greek testimony .... 4 Voyage of Himilco ... 5 Polybius — Diodorus — Strabo 6 Britain as described by the Romans 8

Chapter II. Revolution By The Sword

Rome in the time of Cæsar 1 5 Cæsar's policy in invading Britain 16 News-vending in ancient Rome 17 Cæsar's preparations ... 17 Landing — Submission —Revolt 18 Second submission ... 20 Second invasion . . . . 21 Military operations ... 22 Cassivelaunus 23 Departure of Cæsar ... 24 British resistance .... 25 Subsequent progress . . . 26 Caligula's expedition ... 27 Plautius and Claudius . . 28 Plautius and Ostorius . . 30 Defeat of the Icenians . . 31 Caractacus and the Silures . 3 z Caractacus in Rome . . . 33 The Britons not subdued . 35 Suetonius 35 Slaughter of the Druids . 36 Roman oppression ... 38 Revolt under Boadicea . . 39 Massacre of the Romans . 40 Slaughter of the Britons . 43 Julius Agricola .... 44 The Caledonians .... 45 Battle of Ardoch .... 46 Conquest completed ... 48 Adrian and Antoninus . . 48 Commodus — disorder . . 49 Campaign — wall of Severus 49 The Scots — Carausius . . 51 Theodosius — Maximus . . 53 Departure of the Romans . 54 Work of the sword in Britain CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Effect Of The Ascendency Of The Romans In Britain On

GOVERNMENT. PAGE PAGE Celtic popular assemblies . 56 British kings — Revenue — The Druids 56 Roman government ... 58 Roman colonization ... 58 Provinces in Britain ... 59 Colonies — Municipia — Latian towns 60 The prefect and procurator 62 Revolution in government . .62 Roman force in Britain . . 65

Chapter IV. Revolution In Religion

British Druidism .... 66 Doctrine of the Druids . . 67 Sacred groves — Religious rites 68 The Romans intolerant of Druidism 70 Christianity 71 Fictions and misconceptions 71 Legend of King Lucius . . 74 The probable truth ... 76 Persecution under Diocletian 77 Council of Aries .... 78 Pelagius and Celestius . . 79 Lupus and Germanicus . . 80 Summary 81

Chapter V. Effect Of The Roman Ascendency On Social Life

Agriculture 83 Clothing — Art 84 Impediments to British civilisation 86 British earthworks ... 86 Roman civilisation ... 89 Mines — Coal — Metals . . 90 Roman roads 90 Educated life 91 End of Druidism — Fine arts — General culture . . . 92 Roman cities in Britain . . 94 Influence of Roman cities . 95 Revolution in manners . . 96 Cæsar on British morals . . 97 Summary 101 Distribution of race . . .104

Chapter I. Sources Of Anglo-saxon History

British authorities . . .107 Gildas — Nennius . . . .108 Scandinavian poetry and tradition 1 10 Anglo-Saxon writers — Bede 1 1 1 Saxon Chronicle . . . .112 Ancient laws 112 Anglo-Norman writers . .113 Authority of the Anglo- Norman writers . . .115 CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter II. The Migration Page

Britain as left by the Romans 1 16 Picts and Scots . . . .116 Repulsed by the Britons . 117 Final departure of the Romans 118 Picture of Britain by Gildas 1 1 8 PAGE The Saxons no Hengist aud Horsa . . .122 Saxon and British accounts 123 Rise of the Octarchy . .123 British resistance . . . .125 Summary 126

Chapter III. Rise Of The English Monarchy Egbert

Anglo- Saxon wars . . .127 Design of the Saxon invaders 128 Office of Brctwalda . . .128 The Heptarchy 130 Northumbria 132 Mercia 133 Offa and Charlemagne . .134 Murder of Ethelbert . . .135 Progress of Wessex . . .136 Ceadwalla — Ina . . . .137 Egbert — Elective monarchy 138 Why continued .... 140 Tendencies towards unity . 140

Chapter IV. Rise Of The English Monarchy Athelstan

Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria 142 Danger from the Danes . .143 Descent of the Danes . -143 Causes of the movement . 144 Intentions of the Danes . .146 Ragnar Lodbrog . . . .148 Inguar and Ubbo . . . .149 Check at Nottingham . .150 Battle at Kesteven . . .150 Danish ravages — King Edmund 151 Danes in Wessex . . . . i5z Alfred at Reading . . . .153 Ashdune 154 Progress of the Danes . .155 Alfred's retreat . . . .158 Battle of Ethadune . . .159 Treaty with Guthorm . .159 Invasion under Hastings . 161 Edward aud Athelstan . .162 Battle of Brunanburgh . . 163 Athelstan king of England 163

Chapter V. Rise Of The Danish Monarchy

Edmund succeeds Athelstan 164 Insurrection 165 Edwy — Edgar 165 Edward the Martyr — Ethelred the Unready . . .166 Massacre of the Danes . . 1 68 , Edmund Ironside . . . .171 Canute becomes king . . 173 Retrospect 1-4 Ancient and modern England / CONTENTS. XIV

Chapter VI. Effect Of The Saxon And Danish Conquests On The Distributions

OF RACE. PAG8 Diversities of race . . .176 Location of the Britons . .178 The Angles in Northumbria 181 PAGE Location of the Danes . .182 Norwegians in Cumberland 183

Chapter VII. Revolution In Religion In Anglo-saxon Britain

Religion — its potency . .187 Saxon heathendom . . .188 Odin worship — Other deities 189 Story of Balder .... 192 Evil deities — Fates . . .193 Worship 194 Summary on Saxon heathendom 195 Christianity 198 Augustine 200 The British bishops . . . 202 Iona and its missionaries . 205 Aidan 207 Work of Scottish missionaries in England '. . . 209 Progress of Christianity . 210 The new faith not pure . .213 The old faith and the new . 214 Results from this revolution in religion 216 Priestly power 216 Policy of the clergy . . .217 Life of Wilfrid .... 220 Odo and St. Dunstan . . . 229 Edwy and Elgiva . . . .232 Better ejects of Christianity 234 Bede, Biscop, and Aidan . 236

Chapter VIII. Revolution In Government In Anglo-saxon Britain

Feudal relations .... 239 Landholding 242 Confederations of settlers . 243 Local government . . . 244 Free and the Not-free . . 245 Noble by birth and by service 248 The family 251 The tithing and hundred . 252 The wergild 254 The Witanagemot . . .255 Shires and people .... 257 Different holdings of land . 258 Rise of towns 259 Government in towns . . 261 The king 262 The king's household . . . 263 Jurors and compurgators . 264 Trial by ordeal 265 Summary of the revolution in government .... 266

Chapter IX. Revolution In Social Life In Anglo-saxon Britain

Agriculture 269 Draining and embankments 270 Handicraft and foreign trade 271 Intellectual life .... 273 Music and poetry .... 273 Prose literature .... 275 Culture of the Danes . . 277 Science in Anglo-Saxon Britain , . 279 v CONTENTS. XV

Chapter I. The Normans In Normakdy

PACE PAGK Origin of chivalry . . . 295 Character of the Normans . 295 Story of Harold's pledge to William 296 Death of the Confessor . . 297 Landing of William . . . 299 Tostig and Hardrada . . . 300 Battle of Stamford Bridge . 301 Harold's limited resources . 304 William's proposals . . . 305 Harold's reply 305 Battle of Hastings . . . 306 The Normans 285 Northmen in France . .286 Rolla, first duke of Normandy 287 William I., Richard I. & II. 288 Richard III., Robert the Devil 289 William the Conqueror . . 290 Society in Normandy . . 290 Christianity 291 Defective civilisation of the Normans 293 Norman legislation and government 294

Chapter II. The Conquest In Its Relation To Property

Submission of the English 311 William's coronation . . .311 His pretensions . . . .312 Displacement of the Saxons 3 1 3 Distribution of manors . .314 Opinion of Selden and Hale 315 Feudal tenures 316 Knight service and soccage 317 Military power — State of towns 317

Chapter III. The

CONQUE8T IN ITS RELATION TO THE PEOPLE. Why the battle of Hastings was so decisive . . . .319 Subsequent resistance . .320 Siege of Exeter . . . .320 State of the north . . .322 William's devastations . .323 Removal of the Saxon clergy 324 Anglo-Norman clergy . .326 Agricultural population . . 327 Serfs and free tenants . . 328 Confederation at Ely . . .329 Fate of the Alfgars . . .330 Here ward 331 Death of Waltheof . . 333 Anglo-Saxon women . . .334 Last form of resistance . . CONTENTS. PAGE Change in English feeling . 335 Cumberland outlaws . . . 337 Robin Hood 338 Retrospect 340 PAGE Rise of towns 341 Lord Macaulay and the Normans 343

Chapter IV. The Conquest In Its Relation To Government

Two great principles . . . 363 Source of authority among the Germans 363 Judicial corruption . . . 364 Wealth of the crown . .366 Subsidies — tenths and fifteenths 367 Imports and exports . . . 368 Good from the Conquest . 368 Distinctions of race much effaced 369 Popular liberty .... 370 King John and the barons . 371 Magna Charta 374 Common law and statute law 345 Feudalism in England . . 346 Feudal incidents .... 346 Meeting at Salisbury . . . 347 Rule of the Conqueror . . 348 Laws of the Confessor . . 349 Trial by jury — its origin . 350 Jurors and taxation . . .352 Jurors and parliament . .353 King's court — and council . 355 Judicial power of the council 356 King's relation to the law . 358 Itinerant judges .... 360 Growth of popular power . 361

Chapter V. Relation To The Church

THE CONQUEST IN ITS Spiritual courts .... 378 Trabsubstantiation . . .379 Celibacy of the clergy . .380 Lanfranc 380 The married clergy . . .384 Anselm 385 His dispute with Rufus . . 386 Henry I. — Investitures . -387 Exemption of monasteries . 392 Thomas a Becket .... 393 Constitutions of Clarendou. 396 Policy of the crown . . 398 Progress of the dispute . . 400 Becket's violence and death 402 Popular feeling .... 403 Result of the controversy . 404 Religion 404 Religious persecution . . 409

Chapter VI. The Conquest In Its Relation To Social Life

The Conquest injurious to industry 410 Improvements — imports . .410 The Cinque Ports — the Jews 412 Regulations concerning trade 414 History of Longbeard . .415 Patronage of learning . .421 Lay schools 422 Universities 423 Arab literature . . . .427 Aristotle 427 Anglo-Norman historians . 429 Civil and canon law . . . 430 Romance literature . . .431 Geoffrey of Monmouth . . 434 Norman architecture-. . -438 Retrospect CONTEXTS. XVII

Chapter I. Influence Of The Wars Of England On The English Nationality

PAGE Henry III. — His wars . . 441 Edward I. — A naval victory 442 Invasion of Ffance . . . 444 Wars of Edward I. . . -445 Edward III.— Effect of his wars 448 Henry V. — Issue of wars with France .... 454

Chapter II. Industrial Life In England From The Death Of King John

TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. Progress of industrial power 455 Impeded by piracy . . . 456 Middle-Age navy .... 456 Naval triumphs .... 457 Trade impeded by legislation 458 Prejudice against foreign merchants 458 Introduction of weavers . 460 Merchants of the Staple . 461 Companies 461 The English engage in foreign trade 462 Agriculture 463 A corn law 465 Free labour 466 Parliament regulates wages. 467 Value of labour in the fourteenth century .... 468 Retrospect 470

Chapter III. Intellectual Life In England From The Death Of King John

TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. The English language . -472 French metrical romance . 474 British traditions .... 476 Vision of Piers Plowman . 478 Chaucer 479 English prose — Maundeville — Wycliffe 482 Occleve and Lydgate . . . 484 Progress of art .... 484 Comparative rudeness of Middle-Age life . . . .487 Roger Bacon aud Alexander Neckam 488 The universities .... 488 City life 489

Chapter IV. Political Life In England From The Death Of King John

TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. Trade and freedom . . . 490 The king's council . . . 490 Representative principle . 491 The Great Charter . . . 492 Its immediate effects . . . 493 First House of Commons . CONTENTS XVIII PAGE PAGE Tonnage and poundage . . 525 Law of treason . . . .526 Liberties gained . . . .528 Historical significance of parliamentary history . . 529 Condition of the people . . 529 Free and skilled labour . .531 The English aristocracy not a privileged noblesse . . 532 Growth of independence . 533 Condition of the suffrage . 533 Purveyance grievances . . 534 Popular discontent . . . 535 Wat Tyler 536 London politics in the fourteenth century . . . .539 Rising influence of towns . 497 Parliaments under Edward 1. 498 Hereford and Norfolk . .501 The statute De Tallagio non Concedendo 503 Political life under Edward I. 508 Edward as a legislator . 510 Parliaments under Edward n 5'3 Civil war — Gaveston . . -517 The Spencers — Battle of Boroughbridge . . . .518 Deposition of the king . . 520 Edward III.- — Settled form of parliament . . . .521 Power of the Commons . . 523

Chapter V. Religious Life In England From The Death Of King John

TO THE ACCESSION OF HENRY IV. Papal power — Its caluminating point 540 .The papacy versus the national churches .... 541 Peter's pence 542 King John's tribute . . . 542 The custom of provisors . 543 Commendams 545 General corruptness . . . 545 Ecclesiastical diplomacy . . 546 Gnjstete 547 The pope's collectors . . . 548 Resistance under Edward in 549 The popes at Avignon . . 552 Papal schism 553 Retrospect 554 Laws in revolutions . . .554 Social life in the counties . 556 Population of towns . . .556 The Franciscans .... 557 Become city missionaries . 558 Their benevolence and success 559 Become learned . . . .561 Rapid deterioration . . . 562 Chaucer's pictures of society 564 Wycliffe 565 Proceedings against him . . 569 Opposes the doctrine of transubstantiation . . .571 His opinions 572 Remonstrance of the Wycliffites 575 Impolicy of the clergy . . 676 Retrospect CONTENTS. XIX

Chapter I. Tib Reaction

PAGE FAliE Accession of Henry IV. . 579 His policy 579 Persecution 580 Sawtre and Badby . . .582 Reforming spirit of the Commons 582 Arundel's constitutions . . 584 Lord Cobham . . . . .586 Persecutions under Chicheley 587 Excesses of the reformers . 589 Clergy at fault 589 Reaction in Oxford . . . 590 Decline of learning . . . 594 The aristocracy during the Civil War 595

Chapter II. The Dawn

English constitution . . . 599 Friars and the clergy . . 600 The new opinions embraced by clergymen .... 603 Reginald Pecock 604 The people 607 Some encouragement of learning 609 The duke of Gloucester . .610 Earl of Worcester . . .610 Earl Rivers 612 Lord Littleton 612 Sir John Fortescue . . .613 State of science . . . .615 Printing 617 Probabilities of the future .618 Historical function of the papal power 618 Decline of the papal supremacy 620 Policy of the pontiffs. . .621 Corruption general . . . 623 Revival of literature and art 624 Leo X. — Scepticism in Italy 626 Prospects of society on the opening of the fifteenth century 627 Richard III 629 Accession of the house of Tudor 630 Rule of Henry VII. . . . 63 1 His ecclesiastical policy . .632

Appendix

Errata, Pag-e 488, note, for Neckham read Neckam ; and for show read shows.

Chap. i. BOOK I CELTS AND ROMANS

CHAPTER I. THE EARLY INHABITANTS OE BRITAIN.

THE man who treads the greensward of Dover Cliff for the first time, will feel that before him is the passage which must have been made by some of the earliest settlers in Britain. The white coast of Gaul stretches along in the distance, and the track of voyagers in the unknown past seems to be still upon those waters. On those waters, too, the dark sides and the floating sails of the multitude of ships under the command of Cæsar seem to be still visible. But in the age of Cæsar many centuries must have passed since the first rude wicker-boat grazed its oxhide covering on our shore and landed the first man. Some hundreds of winters must then have come and gone since the first attempt was made to penetrate our primeval forests, or to compass our stagnant marshes. Far back, even then, must the day have been when the eye of man — that probably half-naked and wondering new-comer — fell for the first time on the waters of the Thames and the Humber, the Severn and the Mersey.

But man comes in his season : and now the day will come when the borders of the Thames shall be no longer a wilderness, and when from the banks of the Mersey other sounds shall be heard than those of untamed animals in search of prey. VOL. I. B Phœnicia. But how soon change by the hand of man began to make its appearance in Britain is a point on which we cannot speak with exactness. Rude nations do not write histories, and it is not until they begin to cast off their rudeness that civilised nations begin to write history for them. We know, however, that the merchants of Phœnicia were the people to open the first communication between this island and distant countries. It is the commercial spirit that gives to Britain her place for the first time in history. So we were called from our obscurity by the kind of enterprise which was to be the source of our ultimate greatness.

The strip of the coast of Syria known to the an cients as Phœnicia, did not measure much more than a hundred miles in length, and scarcely twenty in breadth. Along the inland border of Phœnicia rose the snow-covered mountains of Lebanon, with their slopes and ravines darkened here and there by their ancient cedars. From those highlands roots were sent off as rocky promontories into the sea. The coast was thus broken up into a succession of bays, which became harbours, and fitting places for for tresses and walled cities. The Phœnicians knew well how to use such advantages. As the mariner spread his sail in front of the city of Aradus, and with a favouring breeze from the land, turned the high prow of his vessel towards Egypt, every few miles placed him abreast with a new city. Tripolis, Berytus, Sidon, Tyre — all rose thus in succession from the sea.

The land between those cities was studded with cities of less importance, and with villages. Every where the signs of industry were visible, in the culture of the field, of the vine, and of the olive. The relation of this chain of cities to the countries east ward of them, and westward, was for many centuries the same with that of the great cities of Italy in the Middle Ages. Phœnicia and Italy had their place at about the middle of the civilised world ; and both were THE EARLY INHABITANTS OF BRITAIN.

BOOK I.

Chap. i. Phœnician history. the means, in their time, of enabling the one half of the human family to interchange commodities with the other half. The greatness of the Phœnician power dates from a thousand years before the age of Augustus. Its prosperity continued unabated during the first half of that interval. Its ships visited every shore of the known world, and often penetrated into the unknown. In those remote times, Phœnician navigators made their way to Cape Finisterre, and learnt to strike across the open sea to Britain. In such adventures the Cynosure, the last light in the Little Bear, was their chosen polestar. The Cynosure beams upon us as brightly as ever, but the Phœnician mariner is gone. Great military monarchies are bad neighbours to small commercial states. It is in the nature also, of such states, that they should rely too much on the aid of mercenaries — a dangerous weapon.

The tendency of their wealth, too, is ever towards concentration and oligarchy. In time, the few who govern become divided by feuds between their rival houses, and the many who are governed become lost to patriotism. So weakness within is all that remains to be opposed to strength from without. From these causes the soldier power prevailed at length in the history of Phœnicia over the merchant power. The glory of the past be came wholly of the past. In modern Tyre the fisher man dries his nets on the ruins of ancient palaces.* * Xenophon's description of a Phœnician vessel shows that the Phœni cians greatly excelled the Greeks as seamen. ' The best and most accu rate arrangement of things I ever saw, was when I went to look at the great Phœnician ship. For I saw the greatest quantity of tackling separately bestowed in the smallest stowage.

You know that a ship comes to anchor or gets under way by means of many wooden instruments and many ropes, and sails by means of many sails, and is armed with many machines against hostile vessels, and carries about with it many cooks for the crew, and all the apparatus which men use in a dwelling-house for each mess. Beside all this the vessel is filled with cargo, which the owner carries for his own profit. And all that I have mentioned lay in not much greater space than will bo found in a chamber large enough n Greek tes^ timony. But if Phœnicia was the first to discover the island of Britain, it is to Greece we owe the first literary notices concerning it. When Paul preached to the men of Athens on Mars Hill, four centuries and a half had passed since Herodotus had read his History to the ancestors of the same people.

That number of years in our own history would take us back to the days of Henry V. and the battle of Agincourt. Time does not become less by distance : but, like all other objects, it seems to do so. In the age of Herodotus the kings of Rome had all passed away, and the patricians and plebs were committed to their great struggle. But the historian, while he makes no mention of Rome, deems it proper to state that, if he has not spoken concerning 'the islands called Cassiterides, whence tin ' is imported,' it is because he had ' no certain know ' ledge of them,' — a manner of expression which implies that the things rumoured at that time concerning the islands so named must have led his auditory to expect information on that subject. That tin and amber are brought, says the historian, from the extreme parts of Europe is unquestionable.* The word Cassiterides would, have conveyed no meaning to a Britain or a Gaul.

The word cassiteros for tin, is first found in Homer, but it does not appear to have been of Greek origin. There is no room to doubt, that in the Scilly Islands, we have the remains of the Cassiterides of Herodotus. Aristotle flourished a century later than Herodotus. In a passage which has been attributed to that philo sopher, it is said that beyond the Celtæ (Gaul) there are ' two very large islands called Britannia, Albion, ' and Ierne ; ' and that near to Britain there are not a few small islands. Aristotle might readily have learnt conveniently to hold ten beds. All this too lay in such a way that they did not obstruct one another, so that they needed no one to seek them, and there were no knots to untie and cause delay, if they were suddenly wanted for use.' — Œconomicus. Kenrick's Phœnicia, c. vii. * * Hist. lib. iii. §115. THE EARLY INHABITANTS OE BRITAIN. 5

BOOK I.

Chap. i. Voyage of Himilco. thus much from the Phœnician seamen of his time ; but both the date and the authorship of the work in which this passage is found are doubtful.* It was while Aristotle was teaching at Athens, that is, in 360 B.C., that the Carthaginians sent their great captain Himilco into these regions on a voyage of discovery. This navigator explored the seas and coasts of Britain, and some fragments from the report made by him have reached us. These fragments are found in the ancient poem of Festus Avienus. Himilco is there made to speak of this island, and especially of the point where the sea separates the Land's End in Cornwall from the islands beyond, in the following terms: ' Here rises the head of the promontory, in ' olden times named Œstrymnon, and below, the like ' named bay and isles ; wide they stretch, and are rich ' in metals, tin and lead.

Here a numerous race of ' men dwell, endowed with spirit, and with no slight ' industry, busied all in the cares of trade alone. They ' navigate the sea in their barks, built, not of pines or ' oak, but, strange to say, made of skins and leather. ' Two days long is the voyage thence to the Holy Island ' (once so called), which lies expanded in the sea, the ' dwelling of the Hibernian race ; at hand lies the ' isle of Albion.' f In this passage, notwithstanding some obscure ex pressions, there is a clear reference to the Scilly Islands, to Mount's Bay, and Mount St. Michael. In our maps, the Scilly Islands consist of small dots sprinkled at various distances on the sea. Albion, which is still near to those islands, was then no doubt much nearer, and the distance to Hibernia is not more than eighty miles.