and the foot to follow-the soldiers being scarce able to hold their hands above water to carry their arms. The attack was made with such resolution that the Britons at length were forced to quit their post, and leave the Romans a free passage.

Rapin, page 11.

CÆSAR'S DEPARTURE FROM BRITAIN.

Cæsar, after various fortunes, carried back his soldiers in the same year (B.c. 54) to Gaul. He set sail by night, in fear, he says, of the equinoctial gales. He left no body of men behind him-he erected no fortress. It is probable that he took back captives to adorn his triumph. But the Romans, with all their national pride, did not, in a succeeding age, hold Cæsar's expedition to be a conquest. Tacitus says, "He did not conquer Britain, but only shewed it to the Romans.' Horace, calling upon Augustus to achieve the conquest, speaks of Britain as "intactus (untouched): and Propertius, in the same spirit, describes her as "invictus (unconquered). Knight's Old England, page 26.

BOADICEA.

She was of the largest size, most terrible of aspect, most savage of countenance, and harsh of voice; having a profusion of yellow hair, which fell down to her hips, and wearing a large golden collar. She had on a party-coloured floating vest, drawn close about her bosom, and over this she wore a thick mantle, connected by a clasp. Such was her usual dress, but at this time she also bore a spear, that thus she might appear more formidable to all. Monumenta Historica Britannica.

FINAL RETIREMENT OF THE ROMANS.

The Romans bid a final adieu to Britain about the year 448, after being masters of the most considerable part of it during the course of nearly four centuries.* Hume, p. 13.

HENGIST AND HORSA.

Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, possessed great credit among the Saxons, and were much celebrated for their valour and nobi lity. They were reputed, as most of the Saxon princes, to be sprung from Woden, who was worshipped as a god among those nations; and they are said to be his great grandsons. They landed in the island of Thanet, about the year 449, with sixteen hundred men. Hume, p. 19.

Rapin says it was in the year 426 or 427; Stillingfleet, in 418.

THE SAXON HEPTARCHY.

FROM 455 TO 827-372 YEARS.

THE SEVEN KINGDOMS.

The seven English kingdoms existing between the fifth and ninth centuries, were those of Kent, South Saxons, or Sussex, West Saxons, or Wessex, East Saxons, or Essex, Northumberland, East Angleland, and Mercia. In 827, Egbert, King of Wessex, by a combination of events was enabled to assume the title of King of England.

During the existence, however, of the Heptarchy, it appears, there was generally one king, who, for a time, was supreme. But Egbert was solemnly crowned at Winchester, with the concurrence of a general council of the clergy and laity. He died in 837. Raymond's Metrical Chronicle, p. 21.

ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY.

About eighteen or twenty years before the arrival of the Roman missionaries, in the reign of Alla, King of Deira, some young children were sent from thence to Rome to be sold. That sort of trade was then commonly done by the English, who made no scruple of selling their children when overstocked. These young slaves being exposed for sale in the public market, drew the eyes of vast numbers of people upon them, who could not admire them enough. Among the rest, Gregory, Archdeacon of Rome, beheld them very attentively. He inquired particularly after the place of their birth, and the religion there professed. As soon as he knew they were English,* and born of idolatrous parents, he resolved to go and preach the gospel to that nation. Being unable from his duties in Rome (having become pope) to carry out his good intention in person, he sent those whom he thought capable of inspiring the people with a relish for the gospel. He chose for this purpose forty Benedictine monks, with Austin (St. Augustin) at their head, in quality of abbot. Austin and his companions having passed through France, arrived at the Isle of Thanet in the year of our Lord 597. As soon as they were landed, he sent the king word that he was come into his dominions with a company of very honest men, to bring him a message of the greatest importance, and instruct him in what would procure him everlasting happiness. Upon this information Ethelbert ordered them to stay where they were, designing to go himself and hear from their own mouths the occasion of their journey. Some few days after he went to the Isle of Thanet, in company with the queen, who in all likelihood was

*Bede has either invented, or else heard, that Pope Gregory made divers Latin allusions upon answers to his questions concerning those boys, particularly on being told they were angli, he replied " Bene nam angelicam habent faciem;" or as inosi historians have it, "Non angli sed angeli forent si fuissent christiani."

not ignorant of the reason of Austin's coming. As soon as the king arrived, he seated himself in the open air, being apprehensive, as Bede says, of charms or spells, which in the open field he thought could have no power over him. Then, ordering the strangers to be called before him, he asked them what they had to propose? Austin, who was the spokesman, made a long harangue, preaching the gospel in a forcible and zealous manner. Ethelbert, informed by the interpreters what Austin had said, returned him this answer-"Your proposals are noble, and your promises inviting; but I cannot resolve upon quitting the religion of my ancestors for one that appears to me supported only by the testimony of persons that are entire strangers to me. However, since, as I perceive, you have undertaken so long a journey on purpose to impart to us what you deem most important and valuable, you shall not be sent away without some satisfaction. I will take care you are treated civilly in my dominions, and supplied with all things necessary and convenient. And if any of my subjects, convinced by what you shall say to them, desire to embrace your religion, I shall not be against it." This first step being taken, the queen got leave for the missionaries to settle at Canterbury, the capital of Kent, where she took care to provide them with convenient lodgings, and procure them the liberty of preaching to as many as had the curiosity to hear them. They made so good use of this favourable juncture, that in a short time several of the principal Saxons embraced the Christian faith. The swift progress of the gospel at Canterbury raised the king's curiosity to be more particularly instructed in the nature of the religion those strangers preached. At length, by the persuasions of the queen, and frequent conferences with Austin, he received baptism about a year after the arrival of the missionaries. The conversion of the king being followed by that of multitudes of his subjects, the queen's chapel, which stood without the city, soon became too little to hold them, and therefore they were obliged to turn one of the heathen temples into a church, which was dedicated to St. Pancrace. Shortly after several other temples were served in the same manner by Ethelbert's order, and the foundations of Canterbury Cathedral were laid, which was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, and was afterwards called St. Thomas. Thus began the conversion of the Saxons in England. Austin and his fellow-labourers were the instruments made use of by Divine Providence to turn them from their idolatrous superstitions to the light of the gospel; a blessing their brethren in Germany enjoyed not till 200 years after, in the reign of Charles the Great. Ethelbert promoted to his utmost the conversion of his subjects, but without using the least violence or compulsion, having learnt of his instructors, as Bede expressly observes, "that God requires none to serve him but those who do it with a willing mind.' The Saxons were so eager to embrace the gospel that, if historians may be credited, Austin in one day baptized ten thousand in the river Swale, which runs into the Thames. Rapin, vol. i., p. 65.

THE SAXON AND DANE KINGS.

FROM 827 TO 1066-239 YEARS.

EDWY AND ELGIVA.

Kingston, although the fact has been overlooked by nearly every writer, was the scene of one of the most romantic incidents in early English history-the loves and misfortunes of Edwy and Elgiva. King Edwy, in his seventeenth year, was crowned with great magnificence in the market-place at Kingston.* He was of handsome figure, and a most amiable disposition. Before his accession he had been smitten with the charms of Elgiva, a noble lady, his kinswoman, whom he married secretly, in spite of the fulminations of Saint Dunstan and Odo, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had represented to him that their relationship was too near to allow of their union. Upon the day of his coronation a great feast was prepared for all the nobles; but the king, disliking their rude merriment and drunkenness, took an early opportunity to withdraw, and spend the remainder of the day in the more congenial society of his best beloved Elgiva. The nobles, after he was gone, expressed great dissatisfaction at the indignity with which they were treated in being abandoned by their entertainer; and Saint Dunstan was deputed by the rest to bring the monarch back to the table. Saint Dunstan readily undertook the mission, and accompanied by Odo, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was also highly indignant at the disrespect shown by Edwy to the church, rushed into the royal apartment, and found the king dallying with his bride. The brutal Dunstan immediately tore him from her arms, and applying an opprobrious epithet to the queen, dragged the young monarch by force into the banqueting-hall of the nobles. It was not to be expected that any woman, however mild her temper, could forgive so deep an insult as this; and Elgiva exercised all the influence she possessed over her husband's mind to bring about the ruin of the presuming and unmannerly priest. An opportunity was soon fourd; charges were brought against him from which he could not clear himself,† and he was finally banished from the kingdom, and forced to take refuge in Flanders. But the Archbishop of

*Here the old Saxon monarchs of England were crowned in sight of the people, most of them on a raised platform in the open air, and the rest in the church :-Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edmund, Edred, Edwy, Edward the Martyr, and Ethelred. Egbert, the first king of England, held a great council here in the year 838, and in the records of that event the town is styled "Kyngngeston, that famous place." The stone on which the monarchs were crowned is still preserved in the town hall. Their portraits are at Windsor.

+ The king questioned Dunstan concerning the administration of the Treasury during the reign of his predecessor, and when the minister refused to give any account of the money expended, as he affirmed, by orders of the late king, he accused him of malversation in his office, and banished him the kingdom.

Hume, p. 116.

Canterbury still remained behind. The unhappy Elgiva, in espousing the king, had gained to herself a host of troubles and of enemies; and instead of intimidating, had only embittered the latter by the means she had adopted. Intrigues were fomented against the young couple who had loved so well, but so unwisely. The queen, all fresh in youth, and all radiant in her beauty, was seized by the archbishop, at the head of a party of ruffians, and held forcibly upon the ground, while a wretch with a hot iron burnt her" damask cheeks" to obliterate the traces of that transcendant loveliness which had set enmity between the civil and ecclesiastical power. She was then carried away to the sea coast, and hidden for some days, till an opportunity was found to convey her to Ireland. She remained in that country for some months, when she effected her escape. The scars on her face had healed; the brutal work had not been effectually done, and she shone in as great beauty as ever, and was hastening to Kingston, to the embraces of her royal spouse, when she was intercepted at Gloucester, by the spies of the relentless archbishop. At this time revolt was openly declared against the authority of Edwy; and to show him how strong and how reckless the conspirators were, the archbishop gave orders that the unhappy princess should be put to death by the most horrible tortures which could be devised. It was finally resolved that she should be ham-strung. The crue. sentence was carried into execution, and the poor queen was left to linger on a couch of straw, without nourishment or attendance of any sort, until death put a period to her sufferings a few days afterwards. Edwy was soon afterwards deposed. He did not long survive his Elgiva; crownless, and what to him was worsewifeless, he died of a broken heart before he attained his twentieth year. "The Thames and his Tributaries," Charles Mackay.

EDGAR AND ELFRIDA.

Elfrida was daughter and heir of Olgar, Earl of Devonshire; and though she had been educated in the country, and had never appeared at court, she had filled all England with the reputation of her beauty. Edgar himself, who was indifferent to no accounts of this nature, found his curiosity excited by the frequent panegyrics which he heard of Elfrida; and reflecting on her noble birth, he resolved, if he found her charms answerable to their fame, to obtain possession of her on honourable terms. He communicated his intentions to Earl Athelwold, his favourite; but used the precaution, before he made any advances to her parents, to order that nobleman, on some pretence, to pay them a visit, and to bring him a certain account of the beauty of their daughter. Athelwold, when introduced to the young lady, found general report to have fallen short of the truth; and being actuated by the most vehement love, he determined to sacrifice to this new passion his fidelity to his master, and to the trust reposed in him. He returned to Edgar, and told him that the riches alone, and high quality of Elfrida, had been the ground of the admiration