may pause a moment to point out some of the changes which occurred in the country while it was under the Roman sway.

The Britons appear to have made great advances in civilization; and, instructed and aided by their conquerors, they largely cultivated the soil, and also carried on some manufacturing operations. Among the articles exported from the country were corn, iron, lead, and tin.

The Romans, of whom a considerable number resided in the island, caused excellent roads to be constructed, and erected or rebuilt many cities and towns. These towns were surrounded with walls, some of which were so massive that they have partially survived the wear and tear of sixteen centuries. Those of Colchester may be advantageously compared with any similar remains in Britain, or even on the continent.

Politically the country was divided into five provinces :I. BRITANNIA PRIMA, the district south of the Thames and the Bristol Channel.

II. BRITANNIA SECUNDA, the present principality of Wales. III. FLAVIA CESARIENSIS, the district north of the Thames and south of the Humber and Mersey.

IV. MAXIMA CESARIENSIS, the district northward to the wall of Severus.

V. VALENTIA, the district between the wall of Severus and the rampart of Antoninus.

The time at which the Britons first heard the tidings of salvation through faith in the crucified Saviour, cannot be certainly ascertained; but it is generally believed that at an early date the truth was widely diffused; and many of the professors of Christianity, in the days of the Diocletian persecution, suffered torture and death rather than abjure their religion. The names of Aaron and Julius of Caerleon-upon-Usk are preserved; but the first and most renowned martyr was Alban of Verulam, who, being a pagan at the time when the persecution commenced, was induced by the example of a minister who had taken refuge in his house, to become a Christian. He

boldly acknowledged his conversion, and being put to death, received the crown of life which God hath promised to those who love him (304). Nearly five hundred years after his death, Offa, King of Mercia, founded St. Alban's Abbey in order to commemorate his piety. [Crucifixion of Christ, A.D. 33.

Capture of Jerusalem by

Titus, 70. Destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii by an eruption of Vesuvius, 79. Rome sacked by Alaric, 410.]

THE ANGLO-SAXONS.

FROM A.D. 449 TO 1066.

THE Saxon, or rather Jutish, leaders, Hengist and Horsa, whose aid Vortigern had solicited, easily vanquished the Picts and Scots; and, as a reward for their services, the grateful Briton bestowed on them the isle of Thanet.

Like many military chiefs, they became desirous of augmenting their dominions; and, allying themselves with their late foes, they wrested from the Britons the district now called Kent, which they formed into a kingdom. The renown of their achievements reaching the continental Saxon tribes, other leaders emulated their example; and ultimately eight kingdoms were formed, known collectively as the SAXON OCTARCHY. They were:

I. Kent, embracing the modern county, founded by Hengist in 457.

II. SUSSEX, embracing Sussex and a part of Surrey, founded by Ella in 490.

III. WESSEX, embracing Hampshire, Berkshire, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, and Devon, founded by Cerdic in 519.

IV. ESSEX, embracing Essex, Middlesex, and part of Hertfordshire, founded by Erkenwin in 527.

V. BERNICA, embracing Northumberland and the south eastern counties of Scotland, founded by Ida in 547.

VI. DEIRA, embracing the eastern side of England from the Humber to the Tees, founded by Ella in 560. The two lastmentioned states were united in 617, and called NORTHUMBRIA. VII. EAST ANGLIA, embracing Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and part of Bedfordshire, founded about 571 by Uffa.

VIII. MERCIA, embracing the central district of England from the Thames to the Humber, and from the Severn to the Fens, founded by Crida in 586.

The invaders consisted mainly of three Teutonic tribes-the JUTES, the ANGLES, and the Saxons proper. The first of these, according to the current opinion, came from Jutland; the second from the present duchy of Sleswick; and the last from a small district between the Elbe and the Rhine. It was from the Angles that our country ultimately received the name of Angle-land, or England.

Several of the native British chiefs distinguished themselves in their opposition to the Saxon invaders. By far the most noted of these was Prince Arthur, whose exploits have been commemorated in our earlier romances. In the heroic legends relative to this prince there is much that is evidently fabulous, but we have no reason to doubt his existence. Natanleod and Urien, also, bravely but unavailingly defended their country against the Saxon foe.

Some writers suppose that before the consolidation of the Octarchy under Egbert, there was generally one or other of the Saxon kings who had a superiority over the rest, and was, on that account called Bretwalda (ruler or emperor of Britain). The venerable Bede mentions seven princes with this title— Ella, of Sussex; Ceawlin, of Wessex; Ethelbert, of Kent; Redwald, of East Anglia; and Edwin, Oswald, and Oswio, of Northumbria.

It was under the third of these that Christianity was first preached to the Saxons in England. All the invading tribes

were heathens; their religion consisting partly in hero-worship, and partly in veneration for celestial objects. The names of their divinities are preserved in the terms employed to designate the days of the week-the Sun, Moon, Tiue, Wodin or Odin, Thor, Freya, and Sæter. The originator of the mission to Britain was pope Gregory, who, some time before he ascended the papal throne, had chanced to see a number of youthful slaves, belonging by birth to the nations of the Angles, in whom he became so interested, that, when pope, he despatched Augustine, with forty monks, to attempt their conversion (597). Ethelbert was induced by them to renounce his gods, and embraced Christianity; and to his liberality and piety the erection of the first church at Canterbury was owing. Nearly a hundred years, however, elapsed before Christianity became the religion of all the Saxon kingdoms.

Ethelbert issued the earliest code of Saxon laws which are extant. We also possess those of Ina, King of Wessex, who flourished a century later. Two other sovereigns, Penda and Offa, of Mercia, were especially noted for their martial prowess.

About the beginning of the ninth century the kingdom of Wessex became the most powerful of the Saxon states; and EGBERT, who succeeded to the rulership in 800, by a course of conquest subdued the other states, though he allowed East Anglia, Mercia, and Northumbria to be governed by tributary kings. Egbert died in 836.

His reign is

ETHELWULF, his son, reigned from 836 to 856. principally remarkable for the ravages of the Danes, or Northmen, who first troubled our coasts in 787. These pirates were led by vikingr, or sea-kings, who were mostly the younger sons of chieftains in Scandinavia and the adjacent countries, where, according to the rule of succession, the eldest son inherited his father's patrimony. In consequence the other sons maintained themselves by plundering the coasts of adjacent territories. ETHELBALD, Son of Ethelwulf, reigned from 856 to 860. He caused great scandal to his subjects by espousing Judith, his

youthful stepmother; but he at last yielded to the advice of Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, and renounced the iniquitous alliance.

ETHELBERT, brother of Ethelbald, reigned from 860 to 866. While he occupied the throne, the Danes stormed Winchester, but were afterwards defeated (860). In the north of England, a body of the invaders, under the famous Ragnar Lodbrog, was vanquished, and Ragnar himself was cast into a pit, where he was stung to death by venomous serpents (865).

ETHELRED, brother of his predecessor, reigned from 866 to 871. During the whole of his reign the country was harassed by the Northmen, who put to death Ella, King of Northumbria, and Edmund, King of East Anglia. They ravaged their territories, as well as Mercia, and in 871 entered Wessex. Four battles were fought before Etheldred's death, in two of which the invaders were victorious.

ALFRED, the brother of Etheldred, reigned from 871 to 901. He was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, and at an early age distinguished himself by his love of learning. In the first year of his reign he fought several battles with the Danes, who shortly after evacuated Wessex, and fixed their quarters in Mercia. In 876 he made peace with them, but they quickly broke the treaty, and so harassed him, that he was obliged to abandon the government, and secretly retired to a small island called Athelney, in Somersetshire, accompanied by a few devoted followers (878). He took up his abode in the cottage of a cowherd, whose wife was ignorant of his rank. On one occasion she sharply rebuked him, because, while trimming his bow and arrows, he had neglected to look after the cakes which were burning on the hearth. "You will be glad enough to eat the bread when done," said she, "though you will not turn it when you see it burning." After a time, he and his subjects recovered their spirits, and attacked and defeated the Danes at ETHANDUNE; and Gothrun, the leader, with thirty of his most distinguished followers, agreed to be baptized. Gothrun