to their native wilds, by Theodosius-father of the emperor of the same name-who then erected a new line of forts between the friths of Forth and Clyde, and gave the name of the province of Valentia to the territory which he thus added to the Roman colony.

In the year 393, died the emperor Theodosius, on which the western empire passed into the hands of his youngest son, Honorius, a boy of eleven years of age. From this moment the decline of the Roman glory was rapid and almost uninterrupted. The various Gothic tribes who inhabited the regions beyond the Danube, the extensive forests of Germany, and the more northern coasts of Scandinavia, had already for many years pressed with continually increasing strength upon the frontiers of the Roman world. After the accession of Honorius, their attacks were made with much more system and determination than ever; and notwithstanding the able exertions of his minister and general Stilicho, which for some time succeeded in averting the catastrophe, it became every day more evident that the empire of the Cæsars was fast approaching its dissolution. While the signs of debility and a coming change were manifesting themselves every where else, the aspect of affairs in Britain also presented similar indications. The native youth had for a long time past been drawn in great numbers from the island, as soon as they became of military age, to serve in the legions that were employed in other parts of the empire ; and now even the troops forming the usual and the sole protecting force of the province, were suddenly recalled to repel the inroads of the barbarians from Gaul and Italy itself. This happened about the commencement of the fifth century. On the departure of the Roman soldiery, the Scots and Picts almost immediately renewed their attacks upon South Britain. A season of great misery followed to the inhabi

tants of that unhappy province.

It was in the year 410, according to the best historians, that the Romans took their final leave of the island. The southern part of it was now again left as free as the northern had always been; but, for the present crisis, the arts and social refinements which the South Britons had learned from their civilized conquerors, formed but a valueless substitute for the martial skill and ardour which long habits of peace had lulled asleep, and for the strength of the nation which had been so lavishly wasted in foreign wars. Feeble and defenceless as they were, they felt the removal of the Roman yoke to be in reality not their liberation but their abandonment.

We shall not repeat here the narrative of events which we find in the British historian Gildas, disproved as many of the statements of that writer are by their irreconcilable contradiction to the ascertained chronology of those times. The celebrated letter of the miserable Britons to the Roman commander Ætius, in which they are made to say, "We know not which way to turn us; the barbarians drive us to the sea, and the sea forces us back to the barbarians," is probably the composition of that declaimer himself. We need not doubt, however, that there is much truth in his general picture of the state of perplexity and terror to which his countrymen were now reduced. Harassed as they were by their northern enemies, they were at the same time torn

• See Turner's Anglo-Saxons, Book I. chap. 9.

to pieces by distractions which broke out among themselves, excited as it would seem, by the contentions of several competitors for the supreme power. At last, however, the sovereignty at least of all the southern and principal regions, appears to have been acquired by Gwrtheyrn, or Wrtheyrn, or, as as we shall take the liberty of calling him after Geoffrey of Monmouth, Vortigern. The accession of Vortigern, who had been previously prince of the Damnonii, or inhabitants of Devon and Cornwall, to the monarchy of England, is dated in the year 445.

For a long time before even the termination of the Roman dominion in Britain, the east coast of the island had been infested by bands of those famous pirates, who, under the name of Saxons, had from th termination of the third century made a principal figure among the barbarian powers of the North. The original seat of the Saxons comprehended the three small islands now denominated North Strandt, Busen, and Heligoland, near the mouth of the Elbe, with a small part of the opposite continent of Jutland.5 By the time of which we now speak, however, the confederacy of the Saxons, the Jutes, and the Angles, had reduced under their subjection, the whole of the large tract of country lying between the Elbe and the Rhine. The Jutes— a word which seems to be really the same with the term Getæ, or Goths-originally inhabited that southern portion of Jutland which now forms the dutchy of Sleswick; and the possessions of the Angles consisted properly of the district of Anglen in the same dutchy. These three nations, or tribes, however,—all equally Goths by descent —were, as we have just intimated, again so completely united by the middle of the fifth century, as to be generally looked upon as forming only one people or political confederacy. In their descents upon the British coast, even when it was guarded by the military force of Rome, parties of these adventurous plunderers had repeatedly spread the greatest alarm and devastation. Hitherto, however, they had not attempted to effect any settlement in the country; but perceiving the state of weakness and confusion to which it was reduced on its abandonment by the Romans, it is not unlikely that some of their leaders may now have began to contemplate its conquest and permanent occupation. Meanwhile, they were encouraged to attempt the execution of this project by what appears to have been quite a fortuitous event, which unexpectedly brought them into intimate connexion with the existing government of the Britons.

In the year 449, a body of Saxons, or more properly of Jutes, amounting, it is supposed, to not more than three hundred men, and conducted by two brothers, Hengist and Horsa, arrived in three vessels at the port of Ebbsfleet, now an inland spot at some distance from the sea, but then close to the estuary of the Wantsum, the river-now reduced to a brook-which divided the isle of Thanet from the mainland of Kent. At this moment, Vortigern and his chiefs or nobles happened to be assembled in council to consider what should be done to repel the Scots and other enemies by whom the country was attacked and ravaged. On the arrival of the Saxons being announced, some one proposed that application should be made to these warlike strangers

5 Cluver. Ant. Ger. III.

to lend their aid, on certain conditions, in driving back the invaders. In the state of distress, and almost of despair, to which they were reduced, the assembly resolved upon the adoption of this humiliating and withal hazardous expedient, as the only course that seemed to present a chance of saving the country. Negotiations were accordingly opened; and an arrangement was soon concluded by which the Saxons agreed to assist with their best endeavours, in the service to which their aid was required, on condition of receiving food and clothing, and being permitted in the meantime to fix their station in the isle of Thanet. It does not appear that any permanent occupation by the foreigners, even of that portion of territory, was in the first instance, either agreed to or dreamed of by the unsuspecting Britons. The more wary Saxons, however, no doubt saw more clearly the advantage which they might derive from thus obtaining a footing in the country. In the meantime, however, they proceeded without loss of time to perform their engagement, and having encountered the forces of the Scots and Picts, they soon succeeded in defeating and dispersing them.

Such, according to the most trustworthy accounts that have come down to us, was the commencement of the Saxon conquest of Britain. The course of the events that immediately followed has been very imperfectly recorded. It appears however, that the Saxon leaders, on the plausible pretence that the northern tribes, although driven away for the present, would, in all likelihood, soon resume their inroads, not only obtained permission to remain for some time longer in the island, but even prevailed upon Vortigern and his counsellors, to allow them to call over from time to time additional bands of their countrymen to enable them the more effectually to repel these invaders. In this way, Hengist is said to have augmented the forces under his command, first by the importation of as many more of his countrymen as filled seventeen cyules, or yawls, one of which conveyed his daughter, Rowena, and some time after by another band, occupying forty such vessels, and conducted by his eldest son, Æsca. Most of our readers are probably familiar with the story-which rests, however, merely on the authority of Nennius, a writer who does not appear to have flourished till long after this period of the feast given by Hengist to Vortigern, at which the latter was so much captivated by the charms of Rowena, that he requested her of her father, to be his wife,—a demand which, it is affirmed, was not assented to by the Saxon leader, until he had prevailed upon the British monarch to make over to him and Horsa, the whole of Kent. Whatever truth there may be in this tradition, it is certain that after the Saxons had been for some time in the country, they began to be looked upon by the natives with a suspicion and Jealousy which rapidly grew into open hostility. The strangers on being required to leave the country, now avowed frankly their intention of remaining where they were. A war began in consequence, between the two parties, when the unscrupulous Saxons immediately formed an alliance with those very Picts and Scots whom they had been originally hired to oppose. They are said to have been also assisted by the neutrality at least, if not by the active co-operation of Vortigern, whose infatuated passion for Rowena had utterly extinguished in his bosom alike all attachment to his country and all sense of honour

Guortemir, or Vortimer, however, the son of the unhappy monarch, offered himself to his countrymen in this emergency as their leader. Under his conduct the Britons fought numerous battles with the Saxons. The scene of one of the most famous of these engagements, was at Ailesford in Kent. Here, Horsa fell on the side of the Saxons, and Categirn, the brother of Vortimer, on that of the Britons. Another great battle was fought at a place called Stonar, on the coast fronting France; and such was the success of the Britons on this occasion, that the whole of the Saxons who escaped from the slaughter are asserted to have immediately taken to their ships and returned to the continent. This was in the year 455. The fugitives, however, very soon returned in greater force than ever. Nennius relates that soon after his arrival, Hengist pretended to sue for peace, and prevailed upon a great many of the British chiefs, with Vortigern at their head, to meet him at a banquet which he gave in celebration of the reconciliation of the two nations, when, on his uttering a preconcerted exclamation, the Saxons who were present suddenly drew forth their short swords which they had brought with them concealed under their cloaks, and instantly massacred all their guests with the exception of the British king. It seems to have been now that the Saxon leader for the first time assumed the title of king of Kent. Another great battle was soon after this fought at Crayford, which terminated in the complete defeat of the Britons, and left Hengist for a long time in undisturbed possession of his new kingdom. Although the native powers some years afterwards renewed the contest, they were never able to make any impression upon the band of foreigners who had thus established themselves in one of the fairest provinces of the island.

It was a considerable space of time before the success of Hengist and his followers tempted any others of the Saxon chiefs to try their fortunes in the same path of adventure. The next who arrived was Ella, also as well as Hengist a descendant of the celebrated Woden, or Odin, the leader under whose conduct the Saxons believed that their ancestors had originally come to Europe from the East. Ella landed with his three sons at a port in Sussex in the year 477. Although all his men were contained in three ships, he completely put to flight the British forces by whom he was attacked; and succeeded in establishing himself so firmly in the country that it was afterwards found impossible to dislodge him. In this manner was founded the kingdom of Sussex. The third body of Saxon invaders arrived in the year 495, under the command of Cerdic, another chief who likewise boasted of being sprung from the great patriarch of his nation. Cerdic came with five ships; and is generally supposed to have made his descent at Yarmouth. This chief turned out by far the most formidable opponent the Britons had yet had to encounter. His predecessors had contented themselves with endeavouring to secure possession each of the separate district or corner of the land on which he happened to have first set his foot; but Cerdic seemed to contemplate nothing less than the entire conquest of the country. We know but little of his earlier operations; but in the

* Nennius, c. 46. The Saxon annalist claims the honour of this fight for his countrymen, and says that the Britons in consequence retired from Kent. Chron. Sax. 13.-Batteley thinks that this conflict took place at Stone-end in the south corner of Kent. Antiq. Rut. 19.

year 501, it is stated, that, having received an augmentation to his forces by the arrival of two ships at Portsmouth, under the command of Porta-who gave his name to the place-he proceeded to drive the Britons from the whole of the southern part of the island. This attempt gave rise to a long and bloody war, which was not brought to a termination during the lifetime of Cerdic, nor till the unhappy Britons had been completely subdued. The accounts, however, which have come down to us of this protracted struggle, are even more than usually obscure, imperfect, and mixed with fable. Cerdic is stated to have made himself master of Hampshire, and to have there established what was afterwards called the kingdom of the West Saxons, by the year 519.

The greatest battle which is mentioned as having taken place up to this time, was one which was fought at Chardford in Hampshire in the year 508, when the British king, Natanleod-whom some suppose to be the same with Ambrosius, the successor of Vortigern-was left dead on the field, with five thousand of his followers. The commander of the British forces in most of the engagements which took place for a long period after this, was the famous Arthur, King or Prince of Cornwall, who, if we are to believe the common accounts, however, commenced his military career under Ambrosius, in the year 466, when he was yet a boy of fourteen. His history has been so overlaid with the marvellous, that many modern writers, so far from crediting the old accounts of his martial exploits, have even refused to believe in his existence. Little doubt, however, is now entertained that he was a real personage; and that he acted an important part in this last protracted and arduous struggle, sustained by his countrymen in defence of their expiring liberties and independence. But we cannot attempt in this place to go over the long detail of his military exploits, as they have been handed down to us by the Welsh bards, and other writers who have affected to record his history. His life, according to the common accounts, was protracted to the great extent of ninety years, when he was at last, in the year 542, mortally wounded in a battle, fought near Camelford, against the Saxons assisted by his nephew, Modred. Before this, however, his great antagonist, Cerdic, had also been removed from the scene of strife and blood. The death of that monarch took place in the year 534, when he was succeeded by his son Cynric. Cynric continued the war with the same perseverance and ability which had been displayed by his father, and defeated the Britons in a succession of engagements with great slaughter. The consequence of these successes was the enlargement of the kingdom of Wessex by the annexation to the county of Hampshire, originally conquered by Cerdic, of the territory now forming the adjoining counties of Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Buckinghamshire Cynric was succeeded in the year 560 by his eldest son Cealwin, nearly the whole of whose reign was likewise spent in warring with the of ten-beaten, but still unvanquished Britons. Cealwin, however, extended his dominions over Gloucestershire and a part of Somersetshire, after which measure of success he seems to have declined the attempt of pursuing his conquest farther into the interior.

Some writers place this battle two years later. The Red book of Hergest dates it in 576.