Eighteen centuries of the Church in England

Preface

'J^HE object of the present work is to lay before English Churchmen, I will not say the history, but an unbroken narrative of their Church from its commencement to the present day. An idea prevails with some, and those influential people, who use their influence to the detriment of the Church, that the Church in England was founded by the State at the Reformation ; that the State therefore has the right to deal with it as it pleases, to secularize its institutions, or to confiscate its endowments. So far from this being true, history shews that a Christian Church existed in this country of ours long before the Germans converted Britain into England, and long before Parliament was thought of ; the Reformers themselves tell us again and again that it was not the intention of the Reformation to innovate, but to restore ; to root out recent corruptions that had crept in ; and to restore what existed in the primitive and purer ages of the Church ; and not " to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy, France, Spain, Germany, or any such like Churches \" Instead of the State making the Church, it would be far more correct to say that the Church made the State, for it was the National Synods of the

° Canon xxx.

A 2

IV

PREFACE.

English Church which first suggested the idea of a National Parliament ; the Canons passed in those synods were the origin of our Statute Law ^ ; and instead of the State having endowed the Church, the property of the Church is incomparably the most ancient form of property which exists.

In traversing so long a period as eighteen hundred years, I have unavoidably been brought much in contact with the Church of Rome, the course of which, for more than three hundred years, flowed much in the same channel as that of our own Church. In order to avoid, as much as possible, controversy, which is at all times objectionable, and to present an unbroken narrative of our own Church, I have devoted one chapter to a short review of the rise and marvellous progress of the Church of Rome, from the time when, from being the head of the Suburbicarian Provinces of the imperial city, it claimed its right to make and depose emperors and kings ; when the Pope deposed King John of England, and compelled him to hold his kingdom as a fief of Rome ; till the time when the unwilling thraldom under which the Papacy held the State, no less than the Church, was shaken off at the Reformation.

In carrying out the object which I had in view, I have endeavoured, without advocating the cause of any particular party, to take my stand on the lines of the English Church ; although I have not hesitated to do justice to the memory of those who in past time

See Green's History of the English People, vol. i. 59.

PREFACE.

V have fought the battle of the Church, because it is the fashion of the nineteenth century to disparage them ; or to defend any unpopular cause, simply because it is unpopular ; or to present in their true light, practices, even if my own feelings may lead me to doubt their expediency, when I am describing not what ought to be, but what is, the Law of the Church.

Whatever may be the value of the present work, my excuse for writing it is, that it is the first attempt that has been made to give a continuous narrative from its commencement of the Church in England ; and my aim has been to write it in a style which may not only be instructive to students and candidates for Holy Orders, but also not unattractive to general readers, many of whom, whilst they would be ashamed to be ignorant of the secular history of their country, have, it is to be feared, although they may be ready with an answer on every subject which divides us, bestowed little attention on what certainly is not less interesting, and ought not to be of less importance, the history of their Church.

5 Marine Square, Brighton,

ERRATA.

Page 70, line 25,>r " Ethelfrid " read " Ethelred."

233, note \\,for "prohibited" " perfected."

362, line 2,^ for " associates " read " associations."

535) !) 2, "Jamaica " " and Barbados.

CHAPTER I. The Foundation of the British Church

The religion of the primitive inhabitants of Britain. — Authorities as to the early introduction of Christianity into the country. — Traditions about SS. James, Simon Zelotes, and Aristobulus, improbable. — St. Joseph of Arimathasa. — St. Peter. — Important authorities, that St. Paul preached in Britain. — Opposed by the most recent Commentators.— But not impossible. — The British Church of Oriental foundation. — Primitive Liturgies . . . pp. i — 19

CHAPTER n.

The British Church to the Missions of St. German.

Identity of the British Church with the Church of the present day. — King Lucius. — The Diocletian perseciftion. — St. Alban. — Constantine declared Emperor in Britain. — British Bishops present at Councils. — Aries. — Nice. — Sardica. — Rimini. — Orthodoxy of the early British Church. — But it was afterwards tainted with Pelagianism. — Two visits of St. German to Britain. — The Alleluia victory.

CHAPTER HL

The British Church in Wales.

The Anglo-Saxon Conquest. — Christianity annihilated in the parts occupied by the English. — Takes refuge in Wales. — Combination of the Churches of Britain, Ireland, and Scotland. — British Missions. — Ninian. — Patrick. — Columba. — Columban. — Gall. — Willibrord. — Kilian. — The two Ewalds. — Boniface. — British Schools and Monasteries.— British Saints . . . . • PP- 37 — 59 viii

CONTENTS.

Part II. Chapter I

The Conversion of England.

Gregory the Great. — Sends Augustine and forty Monks into England.— Cowardice of the Missionaries. — Ethelbert, King of Kent, baptized. — Augustine consecrated " Archbishop of the Enghsh." — Meetings between Augustine and the British Bishops. — Arrogance of the former. — Death of Augustine. — Lawrence consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.— Conversion of the Heptarchy. — Bishop Wilfrid ...... pp. 60 — 90

CHAPTER II. From Archbishop Theodore to the Lichfield Archbishopric

Theodore consecrated Archbishop at Rome. — Promotes the building and endowment by the Thanes of Churches. — Synod of Hertford.— Wilfrid appeals to the Pope against the Archbishop and the King. — Is in consequence imprisoned. — Council of Hatfield. — Death of Theodore. — Wilfrid's second appeal to Rome. — The Papal decree in his favour not accepted in England. — Benedict Biscop. — Laws of Ina. — York becomes a Metropolitan see. — Synod of Cloveshoo. — The short-lived Archbishopric of Lichfield. — Peter-pence ...... pp. 91 — 109

CHAPTER III. The Danish Invasions

Danish hatred of Christianity. — Persecutions. — Synod of Calcuith. — King Alfred. — His zeal for learning. — Intercourse between England and the Churches of India ; — And the Patriarch of Jerusalem. — Alfred a great admirer of Rome.- Destruction of Monasteries by the Danes. — Revival of Monasticism under Odo and Dunstan. — Archbishop Elfric — Piety of King Cnut.— The Normans. — Battle of Senlac. — The cause of Rome advanced in England.

CONTENTS.

ix

CHAPTER I. Lanfranc and William I

Low state of morality in England at the Norman Conquest. — Severity of William to the English Church. — Archbishop Stigand deposed. — Wulfstan. — William's independence of the Pope. — Clerical marriages. — Separation of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Courts. — Lanfranc. — Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. — Rebuilds Canterbury Cathedral. — Lanfranc's independence. — Pope Gregory VIL ; — Upholds the doctrine of Transubstantiation against Berenger. — The Sarum Missal arranged by Bishop Osmund. — Disputes between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.

CHAPTER IL

Anselm and William II. and Henry I.

The see of Canterbury kept vacant four years. — Anselm reluctantly accepts it. — His disputes with William Rufus. — Two Popes at Rome. — Pope Urban sends the Pall to William to be conferred by him. — Anselm invests himself with it. — Anselm goes to Rome. — Vacillating conduct of the Pope. — Henry I. King. — Requires Anselm to be re-invested and to do homage. — Anselm refuses. — Treacherous conduct of the new Pope. — Anselm determines to excommunicate the King. — Averted from this by the Countess of Blois. — Compromise effected. — Victory gained by Anselm to the Church. — See of Canterbury kept vacant five years after Anselm's death.— Quarrels between the two Archbishops. — Corboil, Archbishop of Canterbury. — A Legatus a latere sent by the Pope into England. — Battle of the "Standard." pp. 143 — 161

CHAPTER HI.

Thomas A Becket and Henry II.

The early life of A Becket.— Promoted when in Deacon's Orders to the Archbishopric of Canterbury. — Altered life of Becket. — Separation of the Civil from the Ecclesiastical Courts the cause of the troubles during his Primacy. — Henry II. demands that convicted

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CONTENTS.

Clerks should first be degraded, and then handed over to the civil authorities. — Becket objects to this. — Agrees to obey the customs of the kingdom. — Constitutions of Clarendon.— Two Popes at Rome. — Charges against Becket. — He retires to France, and lives in exile six years. — Spiteful conduct of the King.— Becket annuls the Constitutions of Clarendon and threatens the King with excommunication.— Henry's alarm. — The Pope threatens Henry with an interdict. — The murder of Becket. — Penance of the King in Canterbury Cathedral . . . . . . pp. 162 — 177

CHAPTER IV.

Stephen Langton and John.

Unseemly quarrel between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. — Increase of the Pope's influence in England. — Disputes between the Monks of Canterbury and the Bishops as to their rights to elect the Archbishop. — Stephen Langton consecrated Archbishop by Pope Innocent III. — King John defies the Pope. — The Pope places the kingdom under an interdict. — Afterwards excommunicates the King.— And threatens to depose him. — John makes terms with the Pope, and England becomes a fief of Rome.— The Barons make common cause against the King. — John signs Magna Charta. — Stephen Langton the real author of the Charter — The first article declares that the " Church of England shall be free." — The Pope annuls Magna Charta. — It is, however, renewed under Henry III. — Langton enforces the celibacy of the Clergy . pp. 178 — 190

PART IV. Zbc Hnolo*1Roman Cburclx

CHAPTER I.

The Roman Church and Western Christendom.

In what sense the Church was founded upon St. Peter. — The five Patriarchates. — The Patriarchate of Rome confined to the Suburbicarian Provinces. — Circumstances that favoured the Roman Church. — The Council of Sardica laid the foundation of its supremacy. — The Popes take advantage of it. — Still Gregory the Great pronounces the assumption of the title of Oecumenical Bishop to be blasphemous. — Not long afterwards Pope Boniface III. accepted it.

CONTENTS.

xi

Rome specially indebted to the French nation for its pre-eminence and temporary power. ^ — The Iconoclastic controversy. — Charles Martel. — Pepin. — Charlemagne ; — Crowned by the Pope Emperor of the West. — The Pseudo-Isidore Decretals. — The ninth and tenth centuries an age of darkness. — Division of the Eastern and Western Churches. — Advance of the Papacy under Gregory VII. — Gregory and the Emperor Henry IV. — The Crusades greatly advanced the influence of the Popes. — Alexander III. and the Emperor Barbarossa. — Rome's greatest height attained under Innocent III. — Decline commences from the Pontificate of Boniface VIII. — The Papacy removed to Avignon. — The great Schism of the West. — - The three Councils. — General demand for a Reformation.

Chapter II

The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, TILL THE Age of Wicliffe.

The Pope, through his Legate, claims the guardianship of the young King Henry III. — Also the right of annulling the election of Bishops. — Contrives to elect the Archbishops ; — But not without remonstrance from the Bishops. — Papal exactions in England. — But frequently opposed. — Birth of Parliament. — Statute of Provisors. — Statute of Praemunire. — The Philosophy of the Schoolmen. — How it affected the Doctrines of the Church. — Condition of the English Church in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. — Rise of the Mendicant Orders. — Colleges at the Universities due to them. — The Friars favoured by the Popes. — Their degeneracy.

CHAPTER III. Pre-reformation Reformers

Reformers before Wicliffe. — Archbishop Rich. — Bishop Grostete. — Archbishop Sewell. — Archbishops Bradwardine, Thursby, Fitzralph. — Piers Ploughman's Vision. — Wicliffe appointed second on a Commission under John of Gaunt to Bruges.— The Pope orders his prosecution. — Insurrection of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. — Archbishop Sudbury murdered, and Courtney appointed Archbishop. — Wicliffe retires to Lutterworth, where he dies. — His opinions. — His translation of the Bible. — In what sense Wicliffe was the forerunner, if not the actual author, of the Reformation. — Wicliffe's bones burnt. — The Lollards. — The statute De hmretico combiirendo. — Prosecutions under it.— Causes that led to the Reformation, pp.249 — 269 xii

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. The Breach with Rome

Not the object of English Reformation to separate from other Churches nor to found a new Church.— Reformation effected by Convocation as well as Parliament, and no change touching the Church made without the sanction of the former. — The character of Henry, and his marriage with Ann Boleyn, only an incident of the Reformation.^ — Henry to the end of his life a Romanist. — His divorce from Katharine. — Disgrace of Wolsey. — Cranmer Archbishop.— Confirms Henry's marriage with Ann Boleyn. — The Clergy subjected to a Prcenmnire. — Refuse to accept Henry's supremacy except under a limitation. — The " Annates Act," and the " Statute for the Restraint of Appeals." — The Pope annuls the divorce and threatens to excommunicate Henry. — The Act of " Submission of the Clergy." — All Bulls and Briefs and appointments to Bishoprics from Rome forbidden. — Convocation, with the exception of Bishop Fisher, together with the Universities, reject the Pope's jurisdiction. — The Act of Supremacy. — Goes far beyond what the Clergy had agreed to. — Execution of Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More. — Crumwell made Vicegerent. — Dissolution of the smaller Monasteries. — A rebellion in the north of England in consequence. — Dissolution of the larger Monasteries. — Unprincipled character of the Commissioners. — Execution of the Abbots of Reading, Colchester, and Glastonbury. — Confiscation of Chantries, &c. — Evils arising from the suppression of the Monasteries. — The seeds of Puritanism sown. ■ — Several useful measures effected in reign of Henry. — A translation and free use of the Bible prescribed. — The "whip with six cords." — The Litany. — The Reformation under Henry not doctrinal. — Executions in his reign , . . . . pp. 270 — 307

CHAPTER n.

Ultra-Reform. — Edward VI.

Three Parties in the Church. — Violence of the Sectarians. — Rapacity of the Protector Somerset. — Confiscation of the remaining Chantries. — Bishops required to take out new Commissions. — The

CONTENTS.

XIU

Protector determines on a General Visitation, and issues Injunctions to the Visitors. — Change as to issuing the conge d'^lire. — Reception under Two Kinds sanctioned. — Four petitions from Convocation. — The First Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. — Not a new book, but the adaptation of the old " Sarum Use." — Marriage of the Clergysanctioned. — Cranmer's Catechism. — Foreigners in England object to the Prayer-Book. — Second Prayer-Book and second Act of Uniformity.— The two Books compared. — The forty-two Articles.— " Reformatio Legum Ecclesisticarum " . . pp.308 — 327

Chapter III

All the early Reformers persecutors. — Gardiner made Lord Chancellor.— Character of Gardiner. — Of Bonner. — Parliament ratifies the marriage of Henry and Katharine. — Convocation meets without the Royal Licence and annuls the Statutes made under Edward. — Cardinal Pole arrives in England as the Pope's Legate, and receives the Nation back into Communion with Rome. — Several Bishops and others seek refuge on the Continent. — Many who remain at home provoke the Queen and Pole. — Many executions. — Latimer and Ridley executed at Oxford. — Cranmer's courage fails him, and he recants. — He recants his recantation, and is executed.— Pole succeeds him as Archbishop. — Mary takes Pole's part against the Pope . . . . • PP- 328 — 338

Chapter IV

The Roman Schism, and the Rise of Puritanism. — Elizabeth.

Coronation of Elizabeth. — The Queen proceeds cautiously in the work of Reformation. — Insolent conduct of the Pope. — The Queen refuses the title of Supreme Head of the Church. — A proviso made in the Supremacy Act. — The Prayer-Book Revision Committee. — The Queen and Cecil wish to re-introduce the First Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. — Her Council, however, recommend the Second. — The Second Prayer-Book with certain alterations, and a return to the Ornaments prescribed under the First Book, probably at the suggestion of the Queen, is annexed to the new Act of Uniformity. — Commissioners furnished with fifty-three Injunctions appointed to make a visitation of the country. — They find the new Prayer-Book xiv

CONTENTS.

willingly received by the Laity, by nearly all the Clergy, and a vast majority of Romanists.— Pope Pius IV. expresses his willingness to accept it, if the Queen would acknowledge his supremacy. — No difficulty in finding Bishops to consecrate Parker as Archbishop. — Other Bishops consecrated. — The Nag's Head Fable.— The Thirty-nine Articles.— The Bishops' Bible.— The Advertisements.— Probably never seen by the Queen, and issued only with the authority of the Bishops. — Foreign Seminaries. —Pius V. excommunicates the Queen. — Political prosecutions of Romanists. — Amalgamation of ultra-Protestant sects under the name of Puritans. — Tenets of the Puritans. — They find a leader in Cartvvright. — Establishment of Presbyteries. — Parker succeeded by Grindall. — Whitgift. — The Lambeth Articles. — Jewell. — Hooker . . • PP- 339 — 368

CHAPTER V. The Growth of Puritanism. — James I

The Millenary Petition. — The Hampton Court Conference. — Alterations made in the Prayer-Book. — Canons of 1604. — The English Bible. — Gunpowder Plot. — The oath of allegiance. — Book of Sports. — James sends deputies to the Synod of Dort. — Breach between the Puritans and the Church widened during James's reign. — Primacy of Abbot favoured the Puritans . . pp.369 — 381

CHAPTER VL

Charles L — The Triumph of Puritanism.

Embarrassed state of the country. — Unpopularity of Charles's marriage.— The Puritans form a majority in the House of Commons. — The Commons set forth a list of their grievances. — Parliament usurps the functions of Convocation in the case of Montagu. — Laud, with the Bishops of Oxford and Rochester, complain of their conduct. — Parliament refuses to vote sufficient supplies, and is dissolved.— New Parliament. — Erastianism of Sibthorpe and Mainwaring. — Suspension of Abbot. — Mainwaring fined and suspended by the House of Commons, but made Bishop of St. David's. — Laud promoted to the See of London. — The Petition of Right. — The Remonstrance of the Commons. — No Parliament between 1629 and 1640. — Laud prefixes the Royal Declaration to the Thirty-nine Articles. — The Vow. — Laud promoted to Canterbury. — Laud and

CONTENTS.

XV

Strafford the King's principal advisers. — Republication of the Book of Sports. — The Histriomastix. — Severe punishment of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton. — Laud's endeavours to introduce greater reverence into the Church's services. — Character of the Scotcli people. — Unsuccessful attempt to introduce the Liturgy into Scotland.— The Solemn League and Covenant. — The King sanctions the Covenant. — The Short Parliament. — Convocation and Parliament.— The "et C^etera" oath. — The Long Parliament. — Laud committed to the Tower. — The Committee of Religion. — The Smectymnuan controversy. — The High Commission Court and Star Chamber abolished. — The King confirms the abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland ; — But refuses to do so in England. — New Bishops appointed.— The Grand Remonstrance. — War between the King and Parliament inevitable. — The Root and Branch Bill passed. — Westminster Assembly of Divines. — The Directory for Public Worship. — Committee for the removal of scandalous Ministers. — Execution of Laud. — His Life and Character. — Oliver Cromwell. — Execution of the King ..... pp. 382 — 409

CHAPTER VIL

The Completion of the Reformation, and the last Act of Uniformity. — Charles IL

The Triers.— Restoration of Charles H. — Appointment of Bishops. — Declaration from Breda. — Assembly at Sion College. — The Savoy Conference. — A Review of the Prayer-Book determined on, and a direction sent to Convocation for that purpose. — The work unanimously subscribed by both Houses of Convocation. — The Lord Chancellor returns thanks to Convocation for the care bestowed upon it. — The Commons accept it without debate. — A via media adopted as to the Ornaments Rubric. — The last Act of Uniformity. — Black Bartholomew. — First Conventicle Act. — Five Mile Act. — Second Conventicle Act— The King favours Toleration. — The Duke of York declares himself a convert to Rome. — The Test and Corporation Acts. — Sancroft succeeds Sheldon as archbishop. — Titus Oates. — The Exclusion Bill rejected in the House of Lords — Death of Charles H. — Noble array of English Divines during the reign. — New school of Latitudinarians . . . pp.410 — 426

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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Attempt to Undo the Reformation. — James II.

James's Declaration. — Resolves to establish Romanism. — Determines to get rid of the Test Act. — Defeated in Parliament, which he dissolves. — Jefferies appointed Lord Chancellor. — All the high places in the State conferred on Romanists. — High Court of Commission revived. — Compton, Bishop of London, its first victim. — James's Declaration of Indulgence. — A Romanist appointed Dean of Christ Church. — The Master of University College a Romanist. — James attacks the Universities. — Magdalen College, Oxford. — The Roman Mass celebrated in the college chapel. — The Declaration of Indulgence ordered to be read in the churches. — A Remonstrance from the Bishops presented to the King. — Seven Bishops committed to the Tower. — Their trial and acquittal. — The Prince of Orange lands in England. — Flight of the King . pp. 427 — 440

CHAPTER IX.

Comprehension and Toleration. — William and Mary.

The Bishops and Clergy required to take the oath of allegiance to the new Sovereigns. — The Non-jurors. — Other Non-juring Bishops consecrated. — The names " High Church " and " Low Church." — The new King favours the Latitudinarians and Dissenters. — Bishop Burnet. — The Comprehension Bill. — Passes the Lords, but the Commons reject it. — The Toleration Act passed. — Unitarians and Romanists excluded from its benefits. — Severe penalties against the latter. — Proposed changes in the Prayer-Book come to nothing. — Meeting of Convocation. — " Nolumus leges Angliee mutari." — The Lower House refuses to join the Upper in designating the English Church Protestant. — Parliament prorogued for ten years. — The King appoints Latitudinarian Bishops. — Severance between the Bishops and their Clergy. — Tillotson, Primate. — Is succeeded by Tenison. — The Convocation controversy . . pp. 441 — 452

Chapter I. The Foundation Of The British Church

TT would be interesting to know for certain by whom Christianity was introduced into this country ; but, unfortunately, all native documents of the early British Church have been lost% whilst the information which is gleaned from other sources is frequently so mixed up with spurious documents and monkish fables, as to throw suspicion on what otherwise would be accepted as a trustworthy foundation. Our earliest native historian, Gildas^ sadly laments the want of any domestic records from which he could derive certain information. He says : "If there were any, they have either been consumed in the fires of the enemy, or have accompanied my exiled countrymen into distant lands, so that none of them are to be founds" He was, therefore, obliged to be " guided by the relations of foreign writers, which, being broken and interrupted in many places, are therefore by no means clear." The numerous wars in which this country has been engaged, and the various nationalities — Celts, Romans, Saxons, Danes, Normans — which at different times have occupied it ; the Diocletian and other per-

* Bede's Ecclesiastical History, together with the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, are the chief sources of the early history of England.

* Gildas wrote about A.D. 550.

n. B secutions, during which care was taken to destroy all the monuments which concerned the Christian churches ; above all, the destruction of the monasteries ; by such and other causes, we can conceive every vestige of its antiquity, every document connected with its early history, and the succession of its Bishops, to have been burnt, or otherwise destroyed. We must, therefore, content ourselves with such scanty testimony from foreign sources as we can command ; and this testimony, if it does not establish the exact date of its foundation, at the least establishes three points : first, the extreme antiquity of the British Church ; second, that it is of Eastern, and not Western origin ; third, that it was not originally subject to any foreign jurisdiction.

A few words are necessary as to the state of the country before the introduction of Christianity.

It need hardly be said that the present inhabitants are not the aborigines of the land. We are, by far the greater part of us, Germans. England, or as it was originally. Angle, or Engle-lond, is the land of the Angles, a German tribe ; the Germans who conquered Britain, swept its former inhabitants off the face of the land, and introduced a new race, a new language, new institutions, and a new religion ; and ever since that first immigration, every new infusion of blood, the Dane, the Norseman, even the French-speaking Norman, have only added to the Teutonic identity.

The earliest inhabitants of whom we read were Celts, or Gauls a people of the same stock as the

ITS FOUNDATION.

Cimmerians, or Gommerians, the descendants of Corner, the son of Japheth, who were found here by the Phoenicians the earhest traders with the island, and seem to have come from the adjacent Continent about B.C. 600. We read of the Cimmerians being a powerful nation in Western Asia between B.C. 800 — 600, occupying the country of which the modern Sebastopol is the central point. These Cimmerians being hard pushed by the Scythians from the East, went, as was always the custom with Asiatic hordes, westward : on their way to Britain, they would pass through Gaul, which lies in a direct line between the cradle of the human race and Britain : hence the various points of affinity between the early inhabitants of the country, and the countries of the neighbouring Continent ; the same language, the same manners, the same monarchical form of government, and the same religion.

Our knowledge of the earliest inhabitants of the country we derive almost entirely from Julius Caesar, before whose time the country was little known to the world ; and from his account, the character of the people was about as barbarous as it could be. It must, however, be borne in mind, that Caesar's stay in the island was only of short duration, and his experience limited to a small part of it. The most civilized portion of the inhabitants were those who lived nearest to Gaul, the people of Kent and the

' The Phoenicians are supposed to have come here about B.C. 1000, from Gades, or Cadiz, for the purpose of buying tin ; they probably wished to monopohse the trade, and made a secret of the place whence their goods were brought, so that we derive from them little information as to the island. Hence it is that Herodotus (iii. 15) expressed his inability to say more of the Cassiterides (or tin islands), than that these were situated in the extreme West.

B 2 southern coast. But no one would go to the island who could avoid it^; the people generally were very barbarous ; they clothed themselves in the skins of wild animals, wore their hair long, and dyed their bodies with woad ^, which made them of a bluish colour, and an object of terror to their enemies ; they had wives in common, and their domestic arrangements generally were of the most promiscuous character.

The primitive religion of the people was Druidism, the chief abode of which was in the island of Anglesea. Alone, conspicuous for knowledge, stood the Druids, the prophets and priests ; and the bards, the poets and historians of the people. The Druids formed a separate caste ; were freed from war, and the payment of taxes, and were held in great fear and honour by the people. They decided all cases and controversies, and inflicted punishment at their own discretion ; whosoever disobeyed them was deprived of all rights, and denied the protection of the law ; he was held as impious and excommunicate, and his presence shunned from fear of contagion. They also were the instructors of the young. No species of superstition ever was more terrible than that of the Druids, no idolatrous worship ever gained such an ascendancy over its votaries ; for by the doctrine of the transmigration of souls they stimulated the fears of the people, and

' "Neque enim temere prjEter mercatores adit quisquam." — (Co»!. '\\:2o.) Diodorus Siculus, however, says, " They who live near the promontory of Britain, which is called Belerium (Land's end), are particularly fond of strangers, and from their intercourse with foreign merchants, civilized in their habits."