themselves into thirty small republics, they turned their attention to the Picts and Scots who had made frightful inroads into the country since the departure of the Romans, and in various encounters drove them from the country. The different republics soon degenerated into monarchies which rivalled each other for precedence, and the result was a civil war from one end of the country to the other, These wars led to the formation of a federal monarchy with Vortigern, a man of great ambition, at the head; he had however great difficulty in maintaining his position, and therefore prevailed on a council of chiefs in 449, to enrol a standing mercenary army to prevent the incursions of the Picts and Scots, as he said, but really to keep up his own power against his many rivals among the British princes. Shortly after this council had been held, there arrived upon the coast of Kent three Saxon cyules or war ships containing some 1500 men, 450 undertwo Saxon chiefs named Hengist and Horsa, these men, Vortigern, with the permission of his nobles, took into his service to uphold his authority and defend him against all his enemies, they in return were to receive the beautiful and fertile isle of Thanet. For a time these brave Saxons did their duty nobly and well, but they were not satisfied with the reward, and contemplated more pay and larger estates, they were soon in a position to make their own terms, and the men of Kent soon caught the alarm when about 5,000 Saxon recruits landed on the coast.

Hengist and Horsa saw that they could now do pretty much as they liked with the country, and with a show of friendship invited the chief nobility of the land to a banquet, the invitation was accepted, and the Britons went to the place of meeting without their weapons, and about three hundred were cruelly put to death.

This so roused the spirit of the nation that they resolved to make one grand attempt to punish the Saxons; several battles were fought with varied success. At Aylesford (455,) Horsa was killed, and the battle of Crayford (457,) ended so disastrously for Hengist, that he was compelled to leave the country, and did not return to it till 465, when he returned and firmly established himself in Kent.

After the death of Hengist the Saxons poured into Britain in great numbers, under various leaders, who established themselves in various parts of the country; Ella settled down in Sussex; Cerdic and his son took the Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Somersetshire and Wiltshire; Erkemom settled in Essex; Uffa made a kingdom for himself out of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely, while Cridda occu

pied the centre of the island. Ida, the leader of a band of Angles, overran the country as far south as the Tees. It must not, however, be supposed that these Saxon chiefs had it all their own way in taking this country, for they were bravely opposed and sometimes successfully by various British princes in different parts of the country. We may mention Urien in the north, Natan'eod in Hampshire, and greatest of all, the renowned Arthur in the West, who it is said defeated the Saxons in twelve successive battles and succeeded in giving to the country thirty years of peace. The Britons now gradually took refuge in Wales, Cornwall, Cumberland, and some even crossed the channel and settled in Armorica, in the north-west of France, and to which they gave the name of Britany.

The country was now divided into seven small kingdoms. viz: 1.-Cantia or Kent, included the county of Kent, and was founded by Hengist in 457.

510.

2.-South Saxony, included Sussex and Surrey, and founded by Ella in 3.-Wessex, included Hants, Berks, Wilts, Somersetshire and Devonshire, and was founded by Cerdic in 519.

4.-East Saxony, included Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Essex, and was founded by Erken win in 527.

5.-Northumbria, included the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Durham, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and the southern portion of Scotland, and was founded by Ida in 547.

6.- East Anglia, included the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge, and was founded by Uffa in 575.

Mercia, or the country of the Middle Saxons included nearly all the midland counties, and was founded by Cridda in 586.

Amongst the various petty princes there was always one who was looked up to as a leader or chief; this person was called the Britwalda (Wieldor of Britain), this honour seems to have been much sought after, for we find that Ethelbert, king of Kent, led an army against Ceawlin king of Wessex to obtain the Britwalda, but was defeated at Wimbledon.

SAXON FOOT-SOLDIERS.

The Saxons were idolators, having many gods; they worshipped the Sun, thence we got Sunday; Moon, thence we got Monday; Tiu, thence Tuesday; the god Woden, thence our Wednesday Thurse, thence Our Thursday; Friga, thence our Friday; and Saterne, and from this we derive Saturday. But in the year 597, Augustine landed with forty monks from Italy, and succeeded in converting the kings of Kent and Northumbria; several churches were erected, the most important being that at Canterbury, and a new order of things began to prevail.

Egbert, who had been an exile at the court of Charlemagne, now returned, and took the throne of Wessex, and carried on successful expeditions against the Britons of Devonshire aud Cornwall. He had reigned over Wessex about nineteen years, when Kenwolf, king of Mercia, died, and his successor Beornurilf having provoked the hostility of Egbert, a great battle was fought at Wilton, which resulted in the defeat of Beornurilf, and the annexation of Essex and Kent to Wessex. Egbert then turned his attention to East Anglia, Northumbria, and to the Britons of Denlythshire and Anglesea, until he had subdued the whole country in the year 827, and became the first king of England, the capital of which was Winchester.

SAXON KINGS.

EGBERT.

827 to 836.

The country was just beginning to settle down quietly and peaceably, when new enemies from the northerly shores of Europe,

Norway, Sweden and Denmark, made their appearance; by profession these Danes were pirates and they styled themselves Vikingr or Sea-kings, they were a wild and barbarous race far surpassing the Saxons in brutality. They had landed in Holy Island as early as the year 787, returning periodically but with greater numbers every time, but during Egbert's reign they were not very successful in their raids upon the shores of England, and on one occasion he defeated a large body of them at Charmouth in Dorsetshire, and another victory at Hingisdown proved more successful than the first. After a long and prosperous reigu Egbert died in the year 836, and was buried at Winchester.

ETHELWULF.

836 to 857.

SAXON HORSE-MEN.

Egbert was succeeded by his son Ethelwulf, a man ill adapted to the exigencies of the times, for the greater portion of his life had been spent within the walls of a monastery, and as might be expected, he had not acquired a knowledge of the arts of war, and therefore he made but feeble head against the Northmen, whose great successes on the shores of France induced them to push their operations with great vigour on those of England. Indeed the whole domestic policy of this king was so wanting in energy, that his son Ethelbald took several of the western coun ties from his father, and set up an independent sovereignty.

8

Ethelwulf undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, granted tithes to the clergy, and an annual tax to the Pope, called Peter's Pence. During this reign the Danes succeeded in establishing themselves in the Isle of Thanet in Kent.

Ethelwulf died in the year 857, and bequeathed his kingdom to his son Ethelbald.

ETHELBALD.

857 to 860.

The reign of Ethelbald lasted only three years, but in so short a period, he showed himself to be so wicked and vicious, as to render his very name odious to posterity.

ETHELBERT.

860 to 866.

He was followed by his brother Ethelbert, who held the reins of government for six years over a nation torn by civil war, and exposed to repeated attacks from the Danes who had laid waste the whole of Kent, and succeeded in exacting tribute from the Saxons.-Ethelbert died in the year 866.

ETHELRED.

866 to 871.

When Ethelred, the third son of Ethelwulf came to the throne, he found that the Anglo-Saxon monarchy merely existed in name, and that its power was fast waning; it was really divided into four kingdoms, between which there existed the most deadly hatred and jealousy which the dreadful encroachment of the