erected in the midft of fome deep foreft, crowded irregularly together round the hut of their chief. Strabo, after a diligent and minute enquiry, informs us, that the woods were their towns ;-after having cut down trees, they fenced therewith a spacious circle, where they placed their huts, and fixed stalls and folds for their cattle, Cæfar exprefsly affures us that there were no other forts of towns in the island. "Opора pidum Britanni vocant quum filvas impeditas vallo atque fossa munierunt.” As to their places of defence, Strutt, in his Chronicle of England, says, that "these were only furrounded by a ditch and vallum of earth; " and the entrance blocked up with trees cut down, and laid across "them; or, instead of a vallum, a rude wall of great loofe ftones, "without mortar or cement." † The remains of one of these fortifications are still visible in the county of Durham, which has been defcribed, as" of a fquare form, the plain inclining to the fouth-weft, “defended by an outward ditch, and a vallum of incredible magnitude, "compofed of loofe pebbles piled up to fuch a ridge that the interior "huts have been effectually covered and concealed by it."

WITH refpect to the first foreign commerce of the Britons, the most probable conjecture is, that it was occafioned by the resort of the Phoenicians and Greeks to their coasts; who, finding the country to abound particularly in tin, received that metal of the inhabitants, and gave them in exchange, earthen-ware, falt, and trinkets made of brafs. This circumstance points out the importance of Britain, in times more remote, perhaps, than thofe of which we have any record or tradition; being, in all probability, the only country which furnished the metal fo neceffary to the progrefs of civilization.

DOCTOR Pearfon, in a paper published in the philofophical tranfactions, for the year 1796, obferves, that "in the barbarous ftate of its "inhabitants, this island was known to the civilized nations of Europe, Afia, and Africa; and denominated in two of the most "ancient languages, viz. the Phoenician and Greek, by terms, which

† Vol. 1. p. 261.

"denote the land of tin; for fuch, according to Bochart, is the import "of Britain,-a corruption of Barat-anac, or Bratanac *; and there is "no doubt of the meaning of the Greek word caffiterides."

IT is natural to conclude, that this intercourfe with civilized nations, whofe luxuries had rendered other articles neceffary, would foon extend their traffic; and we accordingly find, that, although tin ftill continued the principal article of foreign trade, with it were afterwards alfo exported iron, lead, corn, cattle, hides, and dogs of chace; which laft, we are told, became a very gainful article of traffic to the Romans; gagates, or jett, pearls, and various precious ftones were also exported from this ifland; for which the inhabitants received nothing but articles of luxury and magnificence in return. We may fairly conclude, that fome of the articles exported at this period, were produced within this particular district. Corn and cattle, we may eafily conceive, would be found in fome of the more fruitful parts of Cleveland. Gagates, black-amber, or jett, is found in various places upon the fhore, and within the chinks and clefts of the rocks; the rare qualities of which will be noticed in the fequel of this work. Iron-flone abounds in the mountainous parts of this district: and the heaps of flag, found in many places, are an evidence, that iron has been wrought here; but, at what period, it is uncertain; it is probable that the manufactory of that article would be difcontinued when the forests were deftroyed. Agates, Cornelians, and a great variety of beautifully veined pebbles are frequently found upon the Cleveland shores; and the lands about Guisbrough, and the mountainous parts of the district, abound with allum-rock; which, though unknown to the Romans, is now become an article of importance to the country.

*It has been juftly obferved, that whenever the Romans called any place by a name, not fignificant in their own language, they must have retained the British appellation, smoothing the afperity of the word, and adding a convenient termination for the purposes of declenfion. Thus Batavia was formed from Wat-awey Wet-Seil; Britannia, probably from Bratanac, Tin Country.

IT is probable, that the Britons inherited from their earliest ancestors, fome of the ruder arts of navigation. Cæfar and Piny have described their veffels as large open boats, framed of light timbers, wound with ofiers, and covered with hides: thefe, though furnished with masts and fails, were frequently worked by the hand, the rowers finging to the chimes of their oars, and the mufic of the harp. Thus equipped, they navigated the feas between Britain and Ireland; nor was the paffage in thefe veffels, however rude they may now appear, fo dangerous as has been generally reprefented. But we are led to conclude, that the Britons, notwithstanding their intercourfe with the Gauls, had made no very confiderable improvement in maritime affairs, till after the invafion of the Romans; at leaft, it does not appear, that when Cæfar invaded Britain, he was oppofed by any naval force: Such, however, feems to have been their attention to the arts of navigation, after the coming of the Romans, that, about the year 286, their naval force was renowned; and fo rapidly did their commerce increafe, that in the time of Carausius, about the year 359, no less than 800 fhips were employed by them to tranfport corn to the legions on the German frontier.

THE Garments of the Britons were chiefly the fkins of deer, wolves, and other wild beasts, with which the country then abounded. Thefe were caft over the fhoulder, and fastened round the waift with a leathern girdle. The manufacture of woolen cloth was not known, till the Germans, by their frequent intercourfe with the inhabitants, introduced the art into Britain. The poorer fort went almost naked; and, in consequence of this want of covering, they had recourfe to the practice of painting their bodies with a fubftance, that shut up the pores of the fkin, and defended the nerves from the inclemencies of the weather. The following lines, from a poem, on the original

Britons, by Mr. Richards, feem fo appropriate to this part of the fubject, that we shall present them to our readers.

"Rude as the wilds, around his fylvan home,

"In favage grandeur, fee the Briton roam;

"Bare were his limbs, and ftrung with toil and cold,

"By untam'd nature, caft in giant-mould;
"O'er his broad, brawny shoulders loosely flung,

Shaggy and long, his yellow ringlets hung;
"His waift an iron-belted falchion bore,
"Maffy, and purpled deep with human gore;
"His.fcarr'd and rudely painted limbs around
"Fantastic, horror-ftriking figures frown'd,
"Which monster-like, e'en to the confines ran
"Of nature's work, and left him hardly man;
"His knitted brows, and rolling eyes impart
"A direful image of his ruthless heart,

"Where war and human slaughter brooding lie,
"Like thunders, lowering in a gloomy sky."

IT will be unneceffery to enter farther into the history of our British ancestors; fince their customs and manners have been minutely traced by Cafar, Strabo, Tacitus, and others of the ancients, as well as by fome of our modern writers, who have drawn their information from the fame fources.

NOR will we here follow the fucceffion of the Roman commanders, or detail at length the various incidents that marked the feveral periods of their authority in Britain; it will be fufficient for our purpofe to remark that by an artful infinuation of their maxims into the minds of the Britons, and by promoting the adoption of Roman cuftoms, luxuries, and pleasures, the natives became fo far reconciled to their invaders, as to intermarry with them; a circumstance, which, by degrees, would naturally lead to fubdue the ferocity of the Britons, and deftroy the diftinction between the two nations. Thus accustomed to Roman manners, and connected by matrimonial alliances, the inhabitants became fo far interested in the profperity and fuccefs of their conquerors, as to be ready on all occafions to fupport their ambition,

and to participate in all their expectations. One inftance, out of many, of the destructive confequences of this attachment, is worthy of being here recited. About the year 380, the Britons, prefuming to fupport Maximus their governour (a Spaniard by birth) in his pretenfions to the empire, the flower of their youth were embodied in the army; with which he paffed over to, and fubdued Gaul and Spain; but, extending his views to the conqueft of Italy, he failed in the attempt, and his British followers were either cut off by the fword, or becoming wanderers in a foreign country, never regained their native fhores. Britain, thus deprived of her inteftine strength, lay expofed fometime to the depredations of her watchful enemies; till Theodofius, furnamed the Gre it, on coming to the empire, fent forces to her relief. Soon after this, about the year 42c, when it was found neceffary to recall the Roman legions out of Britain, to protect the falling empire, the distracted Britons, who had not joined in the emigration, finding themselves deserted by those, in whom they had long trusted for safety and protection, looked upon their wretched country, as abandoned to mifery and despair. This was an awful crifis to the Britons; for the Pitts and Scots, finding that the Romans had finally quitted the island, now regarded the country as an eafy conquest, and attacked the northern wall, which had been erected as a barrier to fecure the frontiers from their incurfions. This rampart was found but a weak defence against these northern ravagers; and the affrighted Britons, deferting their station, gave up their country a prey to the barbarous enemy, who carried ruin and devastation along with them; nor was their native ferocity in the leaft mitigated by the helpless condition and fubmiffive behaviour of the inhabitants. Finding themfelves unable to repel the incurfions of these northern invaders, the Britons fent ambaffadors to Etius, the governour of Gaul, with a letter from their countrymen, infcribed, "THE GROANS OF THE BRITONS;"-" The barbarians, on the one hand, drive us into the fea; the "fea, on the other, throws us back upon the barbarians; and we have only the “fatal choice left us, either of perishing by the fword, or by the waves."