the entrance being blocked up by trees cut down and laid across it. The camps were seldom surrounded by entrenchments, being guarded only by waggons &c. drawn up in a circle. And even when the Romans had brought the art of fortification into this island, the Britons, when left to themselves, had so little profited by their instructions that their sentinels fell asleep on their ramparts for want of being relieved, and were dragged off by the hooks of the Caledonian invaders. The distinguishing character of Roman British castles, was a square area, with towers at the corners. Those purely British, were either square or round forts on the tops of steep hills, terraced with excavations, surrounded by an enclosure of loose stones; or else stones connected by mortar, as an outwork placed on some eminent situation with an artificial mound of earth for a citadel. Some other arts of the ancient Britons, will be noticed in the historical view of manufactures and dresses, contained in the ensuing books.

Learning, the art of war, and most of the other acquirements of the nation, appear to have been gradually declining before the Romans left Britain. But when they had finally departed, the people had become indolent, and fell an easy prey to the Saxons. The whole of their ancient records, too, was destroyed or carried out of the nation in the ensuing struggle; and the few reliques of contemporary and native history now remaining, have been fully particularized, in the Introduction to the former volume of the present work. There is probably no ancient British alphabet now extant, though several series of characters have been pro

VOL. II.

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3

duced as such. And of the old language of Britain, or Welsh, it has been observed, that it has little or no affinity with the English; for though several of its terms may have been admitted into the tongue, the idioms and genius of both are essentially and totally different.

The authorities for the preceding pages, are nearly the same as those cited in Book I. Chap. I. of the former volume; to which, however, may be added, Dr S. R. Meyrick's Account of the Ancient Inhabitants of Britain, and his Critical Inquiry into Ancient Armour, Lond. 1824, 3 vols. folio.

2. Anglo-Saxon Period.-The ninth and tenth centuries, have been considered an age of iron for barbarity and profligacy, and a time of utter darkness for ignorance of learning. The Latinity which Agricola had so established in this island, as to make it rather a Roman than a British nation, had become almost extinct; for Ælfred declared, that on his accession in 872, "there were few on this side of the Humber who were able to say their prayers in English, or to translate any thing from the Latin; and that he knew there were not many beyond the Humber, or rather they were so few, that he could not remember an instance south of the Thames. Some native rays of intellectual light, however, had been shed upon Britain even before this dark period, and the literature of the Anglo-Saxons must be dated from their conver sion to Christianity. Previously to that era, they probably had their Runic letters and songs; but their first improvement was through their inter course with Rome. When St Augustine came into England, the Pope sent him several books,

some of which are even now extant; and in the seventh century, a desire for learning began to inspire the Anglo-Saxons, when the King of East Anglia established in his dominions a school for the instruction of youth. At the same period, too, many persons are represented by the venerable Bede, who flourished in the eighth century, as reading and studying the Scriptures; he was called "the Wise Saxon," and his works are supposed to contain a summary of all the knowledge of his time. Nearly contemporary with him was Egbert, Archbishop of York, in 712, who had a library of the Fathers, and several of the ancient and later classics. What the value of such a collection must have been may be imagined, when Bede relates, that Ælfred, King of Northumberland, gave to Benedict Biscop, a learned priest who had travelled to Rome to collect MSS., a very large landed estate for only one book; and even many years afterwards, a Countess of Anjou gave 200 sheep and a large parcel of rich furs for a volume of Homilies. Egbert's library was burn ed in 1069, when the Norman garrison set fire to the suburbs of York, to prevent the approach of the Danes and Northumbrians. The catalogue, however, was preserved by Alcuinus, the pupil of Egbert, and supposed to have been Abbot of Canterbury. His wit and learning induced the Emperor Charlemagne, who really could not write his own name, to invite him to his court. His letters to this prince are still extant; and in one he solicits him to send the noble youth of France and Germany, to be educated in the excellent schools of Britain. A most interesting account of the rise and progress of Anglo-Saxon literature will be

found in Book IX. Chap. VI. of Mr Sharon Turner's History, so often referred to, with anecdotes of several of the principal persons who advanced it.

With the death of these persons, however, the national learning seems to have declined into general ignorance; since Ælfred deeply lamented the times of wisdom which existed before his reign. The long peace which followed the King's triumphs over the Danes, about 887, was the season of the revival of learning in England; and he then placed many of the youth of his kingdom under masters who taught them Latin and Saxon books, and writing, even before they learned their manly exercises. But the laity were in general uneducated, and such as could not read themselves, usually had a son or a servant taught to read for them. Ælfred was himself twelve years old before he could read, and he then learned, by his step-mother Judith, promising an illuminated volume of poetry, which he had often admired, to those of her sons who should first be able to understand it. From that time, through an unhealthy and active life of moderate length, he missed no opportunity of improvement; and even when harassed by war, was never without a book in his bosom, consisting of prayers, psalms, and daily religious offices collected by himself. In this little volume he entered any memorable passage which occurred in conversation, until it was entirely full, after which a new book was made, by the advice of Asser, and filled with diversified extracts on all subjects, which the King called his Hand-book, and made his constant companion. Asser, who wrote the life of Ælfred, and who has been already mentioned in the In

troduction to the present work, was one of the most learned men of his time.

Before closing these notices of Ælfred's encouragement of learning in England, it may bé mentioned, that from a passage in the author last mentioned, arose the famous dispute as to the superior antiquity of the schools of Oxford and Cambridge. The authentic proofs of the latter, did not extend beyond the seventh century; whilst the evidence of Asser showed that there had been public schools at Oxford at least in the fifth or sixth. In Archbishop Parker's copy of Asser, however, printed in 1574, this passage was not to be found, as well as in some other ancient MSS.; and its authenticity rested on one pos sessed by Camden, and published in 1603, though it was never afterwards produced, and was supposed to have been of the time of Richard II. The controversy, though it has now ceased, is still undecided, as there are no materials to be procured to determine it.

The Saxon language, is originally derived from the Gothic, and was brought into England by those adventurers who came over in the fifth century. Out of it were formed the English, Scotch, Low Dutch, and Frisic; and, as it was anciently spoken in Britain, it is divided into three periods. The first of these is called British-Saxon, and extends from the Saxon invasion in A. D. 449, to that of the Danes, under Ivar, in 867; the second, or Danish-Saxon, began at that period, and lasted till the entry of the Normans in 1066: when it was followed by the Norman-Saxon, which was very rude and irregular, and continued until nearly the