wall, which the Romans had built to keep off their incurfions, with fuccefs. Having thus opened to themfelves a paffage, they ravaged the whole country with impunity, while the Britons fought precarious fhelter in their woods and mountains. It was in this deplorable and enfeebled ftate that the Britons had recourfe to the Saxons, a brave people; who, for their ftrength and valour, were formidable to all the German nations around them, and fuppofed to be more than a match for the gods themselves. They were a people reflefs and bold, who confidered war as their trade; and were, in confequence, taught to confider victory as a doubtful advantage, but courage as a certain good. A nation, however, entirely addicted to war, has feldom wanted the imputation of cruelty, as thofe terrors which are oppofed without fear, are often inflicted without regret. The Saxons are reprefented as a very cruel nation; but we must remember that their enemies have drawn the picture. It was no difagreeable circumftance to the fe ambitious people to be invited into a country, upon which they had for ages before been forming defigns. In confequence, therefore, of Vortigern's folemn invitation, who was then king of Britain, they arrived with fifteen hundred men, under the command of Hengift and Horfa, who were brothers, and landed on the ifle of Thanet. There they did not long remain inactive; but being joined by the British forces, they boldly marched against the Picts and Scots, who had advanced as far as Lincolnshire, and foon gained a complete victory over them. The Saxons, however, being fenfible of the fertility of the country to which they came, and the barrennefs of that which they had left behind, invited over great numbers of their countrymen to become fharers in their new expedition. Accordingly, they received a fresh fupply of five thousand men, who paffed over in feventeen veffels, and foon made a permanent establishment in the island. The British hiftorians, in order to account for the eafy conqueft of their country by the Saxons, affign their treachery, not lefs than their valour, as a principal caufe.. B 4 They They alledge, that Vortigern was artfully inveigled into a paffion for Rowena, the daughter of Hengift; and, in order to marry her, was induced to fettle the fertile province of Kent upon her father, from whence the Sax. ons could never after be removed. It is alledged alfo, that upon the death of Vortimer, which fhortly happened af. ter the victory he obtained at Egglesford, Vortigern his father was reinftated upon the throne. It is added, that this weak monarch accepting of a feftival from Hengift, three hundred of his nobility were treacherously flaughtered, and himself detained as a captive. Afterthe death of Hengift, feveral other German tribes, allured by the fuccefs of their countrymen, went over in great numbers. A body of Saxons under the conduct of Ella and his three fons, had fome time before laid the foundation of the kingdom of the South Saxons, though not without great oppofition and bloodshed. This new kingdom, included Surry, Suffex, and the New Fo. reft; and extended to the frontiers of Kent. Another tribe of Saxons, under the command of Cerdic, and his fon Kenric, landed in the Weft, and from thence took the name of Weft Saxons. Thefe met with a very vigorous oppofition from the natives, but being reinforced from Germany, and affifted by their countrymen on the island, they routed the Britons; and although retarded in their progrefs by the celebrated king Arthur, they had ftrength enough to keep poffeffion of the conquefts they had already made. Cerdic, therefore, with his fon Kenric, eftablished the third Saxon kingdom in the island, namely, that of the Weft Saxons, including the counties of Hants, Dorfet, Wilts, Berks, and the Ifle of Wight. It was in oppofing this Saxon invader thatthe celebrated prince Arthur acquired his fame. However unfuccefsful all his valour might have been in the end, yet his name made fo great a figure in the fabulous annals of the times, that fome notice must be taken of him. This prince is of fuch obfcure original, that fome authors fuppofe him to be the fon of king Ambrofius, and others only his nephew; others again affirm that he was a Cor nish prince, and fon of Gurlois, king of that province. However this be, it is certain he was a commander of great valour; and, could courage alone repair the mife. rable ftate of the Britons, his might have been effectual. According to the most authentic hiftorians, he is faid to have worted the Saxons in twelve fucceffive battles. In one of thefe, namely, that fought at Caerbadon, in Berks, it is afferted, that he killed no lefs than four hundred and forty of the enemy with his own hand. But the Saxons were too numerous and powerful to be extirpated by the defultory efforts of fingle valour; fo that a peace, and not conqueft, were the immediate fruits of his victories. The enemy, therefore, ftill gained ground; and this prince,. in the decline of life, had the mortification, from fome domeftic troubles of his own, to be a patient fpectator of their encroachments. His first wife had been carried off by Melnas, king of Somerfetfhire, who detained her a whole year at Glaftonbury, until Arthur, difcovering the place of her retreat, advanced with an army against the ravifher, and obliged him to give her back. In his fecond wife, perhaps, he might have been more fortunate, as we have no mention made of her; but it was otherwife with his third confort, who was debauched by his own nephew, Mordred. This produced a rebellion, in which the king, and his traitorous kinfman, meeting in battle, flew each other. In the mean time, while the Saxons were thus gaining ground in the weft, their countrymen were not lefs ac tive in other parts of the island. Adventurers ftill continuing to pour over from Germany, one body of them,. under the command of Uffa, feized upon the countries of Cambridge, Suffolk and Norfolk, and gave their com-mander the title of king of the Eaft Angles, which was the fourth Saxon kingdom founded in Britain. Another body of thefe adventurers formed a kingdom: under the title of Eaft Saxony, or Effex, comprehending Effex, Middlefex, and part of Hertfordshire. This kingdom, which was difmembered from that of Kent, formed the fifth Saxon principality founded in Britain. The kingdom of Mercia was the fixth which was esta. blished by these fierce invaders, comprehending all the middle B 5 middle counties, from the banks of the Severn to the frontiers of the two laft named kingdoms. The feventh, and laft kingdom which they obtained, was that of Northumberland, one of the most powerful and extenfive of them all. This was formed from the union of two fmaller Saxon kingdoms, the one called Bernicia, containing the prefent county of Northumber land, and the bishoprick of Durham; the fubjects of the other, called the Deiri, extending themfelves over Lancafhire and Yorkshire. Thefe kingdoms were united in the perfon of Ethelfrid, king of Northumberland, by the expulfion of Edwin, his brother-in-law, from the kingdom of the Deiri, and the feizure of his dominions. In this manner, the natives being overpowered, or entirely expelled, feven kingdoms were established in Britain, which have been fince well known by the name of the Saxon Heptarchy. The Saxons being thus eftablifhed in all the defirable parts of the island, and having no longer the Britons to contend with, began to quarrel among themfelves. A country, divided into a number of petty independent principalities, muft ever be fubject to contention, as jealoufy and ambition have more frequent incentives to operate. After a feries, therefore, of battles, treafons, and ftratagems, all their petty principalities fell under the power of Egbert, king of Weffex, whofe merits deferved dominion, and whofe prudence fecured his conquefts. By him all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were united un der one common jurifdiction; but, to give fplendour to his authority, a general council of the clergy and laity was fummoned at Winchefter, where he was folemnly crowned king of England, by which name the united kingdom was thenceforward called. Thus, about four hundred years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain, all the petty fettlements were united into one great ftate, and nothing offered but profpects of peace, fecurity, and increafing refinement. It was about this period, that St. Gregory undertook to fend miffionaries among the Saxons, to convert them to Christianity. It is faid, that, before his elevation to the papal chair, he chanced one day to pass through the flave market market at Rome, and perceiving fome children of great beauty who were fet up for fale, he inquired about their country, and, finding they were English Pagans, he is faid to have cried out, in the Latin language, Non Angli, fed Angeli, forent, fi effent Chriftiani. They would not be English, but angels, had they been Chriftians. From that time he was ftruck with an ardent defire to convert that unenlightened nation, and ordered a monk, named Auguftine, and others of the fame fraternity, to undertake the miffion into Britain. This pious monk, upon his firft landing in the ifle of Thanet, fent one of his interpreters to Ethelbert, the Kentish king, declaring he was come from Rome, with offers of eternal falvation. The king immediately ordered them to be furnished with all neceffaries, and even vifited them, though without declaring himfelf as yet in their favour. Auguftine, however, encouraged by this favourable reception, and now feeing a profpect of fuccefs, proceeded with redoubled zeal to preach the gospel. The king openly efpoufed the Chriftian religion, while his example wrought fo fuccefsfully on his fubjects, that numbers of them came voluntarily to be baptifed, their miffioner loudly declaring against any coercive means towards their converfion. In this manner the other kingdoms, one after the other, embraced the faith; and England was foon as famous for its fuperftition as it had once been for its averfenefs to Chriftianity. CHA P. III. THE INVASION OF THE DANES. DEACE and unanimity had been fcarcely eftablished in England, when a mighty fwarm of thofe nations called Danes, who had poffeffed the countries bordering on the Baltic, began to level their fury against England. A small body of them at firft landed on the coafts, with a view to learn the state of the country; and, having committed. B.6 fome: |