CHAP. XXI. THE PERIOD FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE III. TO THE NOTICE OF THE RELIGION, GOVERNMENT, AND LAWS, LITERATURE, THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. THE ANCIENT BRITONS -THEIR ORIGIN, CONDITION, ETC. THE origin of the first inhabitants of the British Islands is involved in obscurity; nothing is known of them that can be relied on as certain. Some of the most probable of the early traditions respecting them are preserved in some Welsh poetical histories, written in verses of three lines each, and called Triads. In one of these it is stated that before our island was inhabited at all, it was called Clas Merddin, that is, the "Country of sea and cliffs," and afterwards Fel Ynis, the "Island of honey;" that the first inhabitants were the Cymri, ancestors of the present Welsh, who came to England across the German Ocean from the "Country of summer," supposed to mean Constantinople, under the guidance of a chief called "Hugh the Strong." One of these Cymri chiefs named Prydain was the first who established a government in the island, and from him it was called Prydain or Britain. Before these Cymri came, the only inhabitants were "bears, wolves, and oxen with the high prominence," or buffaloes. The name of Britain, however, has been said by some to be derived from two Celtic words meaning "Painted people,” and by others again from two different words, meaning "Land of tin," which is also the signification of the name Cassiterides, by which our country was known to the Greeks. After the Cymri had settled in Britain other tribes came to it; some called Picts to Scotland, others of the Celtic race to the southern parts of Britain, from France: but, in the absence of any real historical evidence concerning these times, we can do little more than choose, among various accounts, those that appear the least B improbable. As an instance of what absurdities have been sometimes gravely put forth under the name of history, may be mentioned a story told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, an ecclesiastic who lived in the twelfth century, and wrote what he called a History of the Britons. According to this account the first Britons were descendants of Trojans, a party of whom had found their way to this country under the guidance of a certain Brutus, a grandson or great-grandson of Æneas, after the destruction of Troy. This Brutus and his party landed in Cornwall, where they found some giants already in possession, and had some terrific combats with them, especially with one Gog-magog, who was seventy-two feet high, and whom nevertheless one of the companions of Brutus succeeded in throwing from a rock headlong into the sea. This tale has been repeated by various historians and even by Milton, though he expresses his disbelief of it. By degrees, as we advance towards less remote times, we leave mere fables behind us, and, we may say, in the words of Milton, "having travelled through a region of idle dreams, history arrives on the confines where daylight and truth meet us with a clear dawn." The only fact that appears to be well authenticated concerning those first ages is, that Britain was visited by the Phoenicians, who may even have left colonies of their people, both here and in Ireland. Some remarkable ancient buildings called the Round Towers, of which remains may still be seen in Ireland, are supposed on good grounds to have been erected by them. These Phoenicians, who were enterprising commercial people, and the most skilful navigators of the time, ventured to pass the Straits of Gibraltar, and proceeded along the coasts of Spain and France till they reached Britain, with the view of trading with its inhabitants for tin; a valuable article, which they could scarcely procure elsewhere, and for the production of which Cornwall was already celebrated. The exact situation of these islands, however, appears to have been known only to the Phoenicians, and they kept the secret very carefully for several hundred years. Strabo relates, that on one occasion the master of a Phoenician vessel even ran his ship aground and destroyed it, on finding that some Roman mariners were resolved to follow his course. During their season of commerce some of the Phoenician traders may have found inducements to settle in Britain, and may have amalgamated with its earlier inhabitants; but there is no doubt of the numerous population afterwards found by the Romans having been almost wholly Celtic. Julius Cæsar, the first writer who has described these people, states that their language, their religious rites, and their buildings bore the closest resemblance to those of the Celtic races inhabiting Gaul, with whom they were in alliance, and whom they continually aided in their contests with the Romans. The inhabitants of the interior, though more rude in their manners, and less advanced in civilisation, were evidently of the same descent, and spoke dialects of the same Celtic tongue; and additional evidence of the fact of the country having been first occupied by a Celtic population is found in its topographical nomenclature; while the names of towns and villages are usually of Anglo-Saxon derivation, those of hills, forests, rivers, and other striking natural objects and localities, both on the coast and in the interior of the country, are of Celtic. It seems clear, therefore, that though colonies from other quarters may have mingled with them, the Celtic population formed the basis of society over the greater part of Britain, and everything of the greatest antiquity that survives among us is of Celtic origin.* At the period of the Roman invasion a large part of England was hidden by thick forests, extending many miles in length, while * The names of the British or Celtic tribes existing at the commencement of authenticated English History have been given as follows:1. The Bibroci in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, and part of Berkshire. 2. The Segontiaci in Hampshire and part of Berkshire. 3. The Durotriges in Dorsetshire. 4. The Carnabri 5. The Cimbri both in Devonshire. 6. The Hedui in Somersetshire, part of Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire. 7. The Ancalites in a small district near Henley-on-Thames. 8. The Dobuni in Oxfordshire, part of Gloucestershire, and part of Worcestershire. 9. The Cassii in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, and Essex. 10. The Iceni Magni in Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and part of Northamptonshire. 11. The Coriceni, including the Jugantes, in Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, and part of Northamptonshire. 12. The Carnabii in Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. 13. The Brigantes in Durham, Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire. In these three minor tribes are included. 14. The Voluntii 15. The Sistuntii in the countries north of the Tyne, extending into Scotland. in Wales, except the isle of Anglesea and a small tract near Bangor. 22. The Cangiani in the Isle of Anglesea and a small tract near Bangor. Although, however, the general portion of these tribes may be traced in a map of England, it must not be supposed that their boundaries were marked with any precision. Rivers and ranges of hills probably formed what lines of demarcation there were among them; but these lines could not then be so exactly defined as they are at present. |