mon Law by Sir Matthew Hale, with Notes, &c. by C. Runnington, Esq., Lond. 1794, 8vo, 2 vols. History of the English Law from the time of the Saxons to the end of the reign of Philip and Mary, by John Reeves, Esq., Lond. 1787, 8vo. 4 vols. This excellent and very learned work was also written in consequence of the chapter in Blackstone's Commentaries already alluded to, and it is only to be regretted that it was never carried lower than 1558. The legal antiquities of England will be found excellently illustrated by Sir William Dugdale's Origines Juridiciales, or Historical Memorials of the English Laws, &c. Lond. 1680, folio; with which should be connected the Chronica Juridicialia, or abridgement and continuation of the former work, Lond. 1739, folio. Numerous other excellent volumes on this subject may be found in John Clarke's Bibliotheca Legum, or Catalogue of Law Books of the United Kingdom, Lond. 1810, 12mo; but one of the most interesting publications of this class, is Mr Hallam's Constitutional History of England, which has been already referred to, and which enters at large into the relative conduct of the British Sovereigns and their Parliaments, down to the decease of King George the Second.

ILLUSTRATIONS

OF THE

HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN.

BOOK III.

VIEW OF THE LEARNING, LITERATURE, ARTS, AND SCIENCES OF ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I.

LEARNING, &c. OF ENGLAND, IN THE BRITISH, SAXON, AND DANISH PERIODS.

THE historians of the most eminent nations of the world, have commonly been too much occupied in recounting the political and martial events by which their greatness was acquired, to give any particulars, whilst the information was yet to be procured, of the other various branches of their memoirs, which would frequently have proved equally interesting and far more generally instructive. If the

favourable period be permitted to pass unnoticed, then the early history of their religion is either lost in impenetrable obscurity, or distorted by the miraculous narratives of those who sought rather to dignify their own order, than to preserve the truth. The codes of their ancient laws are either destroyed by the despotism, or left to decay by the improvements of their rulers; and for the annals of their Literature, those peaceful sages who first cultivated the Arts or Learning of a barbarous land, are either chronicled as monstrous magicians, or their very names are entirely forgotten. In this state is the early history of the Literature and Science of this nation.

1.-British and Roman Period.-The only persons in Britain who possessed any knowledge before the Roman invasion, and even for some considerable time after it, were the Druids, of whose various orders, &c. a full account has been given in the first volume of this work. The information of modern times, however, as to the real extent of their attainments, is extremely doubtful and superficial, from the fact that, though they were acquainted with the Greek letters, they taught almost entirely by memory, and committed little or nothing to writing. A summary of what is known concerning the Druidical knowledge, is contained in the following particulars.

Concerning the universe, they believed that it should never be entirely destroyed or annihilated, though it was expected to suffer a succession of violent changes and revolutions, by the predominating powers of fire and water. They instructed their disciples in the heavenly bodies and their motions; and they had probably some kind of

rude astrology for discovering the will of the gods, as Pomponius Mela observes of them, after remarking that "they profess to have great knowledge of the movement of the heavens and stars." Indeed their religion was such as to require some attention to astronomy, since they paid considerable regard to the changes of the moon; their time was computed by nights, according to very ancient practice, by moons, or months, and by years, when the planet had gone the revolution of all the seasons. They began their account of these from the sixth day of the moon, and they esteemed the new and full to be sacred times and auspicious seasons. They had another period of time called an age, consisting of thirty years; and they are supposed to have been acquainted with some kind of cycle, when the sun and moon returned to the same point, and recommenced their revolutions. That at least they knew the reversion of the seasons, as adapted to agricultural purposes, is evident from the fact, that Cæsar landed in Britain in his first expedition on the 26th of August, when he states that the harvest was all completed, excepting one field, which was more backward than the rest of the country.

It is concluded that the Druids possessed some knowledge of arithmetic, using the Greek characters as figures in those public and private computations mentioned by Cæsar; and were not unacquainted with mensuration, geometry, and geography, because, as judges, they decided disputes about the limits of fields, and are even said to have been engaged in determining the measure of the world. Their mechanical skill, and particularly their acquaintance with the Lever, is gene

rally argued from the enormous blocks of Stonehenge, and the numerous other massive erections of rude stone which are yet remaining in many parts of the kingdom, and which are commonly attributed to these times.

The Druids were also the only physicians and surgeons of the Britons; in which professions they blended some knowledge of natural medicines, with the general superstitions by which they were characterised. For as they taught and believed that all internal diseases came from the gods, their priests were held to be the fittest persons to turn aside the Divine anger by offering sacrifices; when even a human victim was sometimes adopted as the most efficacious means of cure, in a case of considerable danger. Yet they had also certain herbs which formed the chief of their medicines, whence it has been supposed that the Druids had some kind of botanical knowledge. Their famous Mistletoe or all-heal, was considered as a certain cure in many diseases, an antidote against poisons, and a sure remedy against infection. Another plant called Samulus, or Marshwort, which grew chiefly in damp places, was believed to be of excellent effect in preserving the health of swine and oxen, when it had been bruised and put in their water-troughs. But it was required to be gathered fasting and with the left hand, without looking back when it was being plucked. A kind of hedge-hysop called selago, was esteemed to be a general charm and preservative from sudden accidents and misfortunes; and it was to be gathered with nearly the same ceremonies as the mistletoe. To these might be added Vervain, the herb Britannica, which was either the great water-dock or