LECTURE III.-THE BRITONS. The ancient Britons-their language, religion, education, commerce, and arts their relations on the Continent-their connection with the great Aryan family-their descendants in the present day. BC 55. Julius Cæsar. 1. Ir was about fifty-five years before the birth of Christ that Julius Cæsar, one of the greatest of the Roman generals, was in France, or Gaul, as it was then called, with an army. He was one of the most famous of the Romans; not only a victorious soldier, but also in other ways a wonderful man. Some time afterwards he was killed in Rome, as we may read in Shakespeare's play; but we have nothing to do with that now. What most concerns us is that he himself wrote long and very interesting histories of his own wars, of which we will read some extracts. You will observe he always speaks of himself in the third person; so he does generally in Shakespeare's play. Gaul and Britain. 2. The people of Gaul, though conquered, were not very submissive, and often gave the Romans trouble. When they were rebelling they used to get help from some neighbours, who were even fiercer and more turbulent than themselves. These neighbours came from over the sea; but in some parts the strip of sea was so narrow that the Romans could look across from Gaul to the land opposite, from whence they came, as we can now look from Calais to Dover. Now these Romans, being great fighters, great travellers, very fond of geography, and very fond of exploring, must have found it a great temptation to see that land dimly in the distance.. Was it an island? was it part of the Continent? who lived there? what grew there? At any rate these troublesome barbarians must be put down. 3. Before this time there had been sometimes merchants coming and going. There was one thing to be got in Britain which was very rare everywhere else, and, indeed, is so stilltin. Nearly all the tin in Europe until quite lately came from Cornwall and the isles of Scilly, though a great deal is now brought from Banca, in India. It is almost certain that the "bronze" 25. If it makes us shudder to hear of these dreadful and piteous scenes, what can have been the effect on those who looked at them; those who sate safe on their raised seats, shouting with delight, while the poor victims were struggling and sinking for their amusement? How it must have hardened their hearts and killed their sympathy! And how wise is Solomon's counsel: "Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this." LECTURE III.-THE BRITONS. The ancient Britons-their language, religion, education, commerce, and arts their relations on the Continent-their connection with the great Aryan family-their descendants in the present day. BC 55. Julius Cæsar. 1. Ir was about fifty-five years before the birth of Christ that Julius Cæsar, one of the greatest of the Roman generals, was in France, or Gaul, as it was then called, with an army. He was one of the most famous of the Romans; not only a victorious soldier, but also in other ways a wonderful man. Some time afterwards he was killed in Rome, as we may read in Shakespeare's play; but we have nothing to do with that now. What most concerns us is that he himself wrote long and very interesting histories of his own wars, of which we will read some extracts. You will observe he always speaks of himself in the third person; so he does generally in Shakespeare's play. 2. The people of Gaul, though conquered, were not very submissive, and often gave the Romans trouble. When they were rebelling they used to get help from some neighbours, who were even fiercer and more turbulent than them- Gaul and Britain. selves. These neighbours came from over the sea; but in some parts the strip of sea was so narrow that the Romans could look across from Gaul to the land opposite, from whence they came, as we can now look from Calais to Dover, Now these Romans, being great fighters, great travellers, very fond of geography, and very fond of exploring, must have found it a great temptation to see that land dimly in the distance. Was it an island? was it part of the Continent? who lived there? what grew there? At any rate these troublesome barbarians must be put down. 3. Before this time there had been sometimes merchants coming and going. There was one thing to be got in Britain. which was very rare everywhere else, and, indeed, is so stilltin. Nearly all the tin in Europe until quite lately came from Cornwall and the isles of Scilly, though a great deal is now brought from Banca, in India. It is almost certain that the "bronze" people, who lived not only in England, but also were scattered over great part of Europe, got the tin to mix with their copper from Cornwall. Most probably, also, the Phoenicians, who were the great traders of old, knew something of the southern parts of Britain, for though the Romans were afraid of passing the "pillars of Hercules," the Phoenicians had founded a colony at Cadiz, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean; and, as they were good sailors, those colonists might easily have found their way to Cornwall. 4. But by this time the trade in tin, and perhaps in skins also, was carried on between the ports of Gaul and Britain. What sort of people were living here at this, which we may call the beginning of the historical period, though not yet of the history of England? 5. The last people we heard of were those who made bronze implements. The inhabitants of Britain had now learnt to use iron. That is far more difficult to work than copper The Britons. and tin; so they must have improved greatly in skill, or they must have been another race of people. We will leave that question for the present, and find out what we can of the people, the Britons themselves. 6. We learn this not from any writings of their own, but from what the Romans tell us. They, it would seem, took as much interest in the matter as we do in Fi-ji, or any of the remote islands and countries we have annexed. Just as Captain Cook wrote accounts of the Sandwich Islands, so did the Romans about Britannia. And, as we have several of their books, or parts of them, remaining, we, at least, know what they can tell us. 7. We soon find out that the people were very brave, fierce, and quarrelsome; though Julius Cæsar says that those who lived in Kent were the most civilized. As they were the Dwellings. nearest to France, they had perhaps learnt politeness from the French. He tells us that the island was well peopled, and full of houses, built after the manner of the Gauls. We learn from another Roman, Strabo, what sort of houses the Gauls had. They were constructed of poles and wattled or hurdle-work; round, and with lofty, tapering, and pointed roofs. They do not seem to have had any windows or chimneys, and must have looked rather like huge bee-hives. A very delightful old English writer, Fuller, who tells the history of Christianity in our island, describes the difference between a common house and a palace. The "palace," though also built of hurdle-work, was white, "because the rods whereof it was made were unbarked, having the rind stripped off, which was then counted gay and glorious." 8. Cesar talks about villages and towns, but he says their towns were not much like ours. "What they call a town is a tract of woody country, surrounded by a wall or high bank, and a ditch, for the security of themselves and their cattle against the incursions of enemies." Food. 9. The more civilized people, in the south, understood something about agriculture, manuring the land, and storing up corn in underground granaries. None of the Britons would eat hares, fowls, or geese; but there were plenty of cattle all over the country, though at this time there were neither donkeys, cats, nor rats. The inland and more ignorant people never sowed their land or grew any corn, but lived by their flocks and herds, and by hunting. They wore coats of skins, and had their own skins painted blue with the juice of a plant. This, Cæsar says, "makes them look dreadful in battle." Boats. 10. However, they were not mere savages, as they could work in iron, could make wheeled carriages, and were, in particular, very clever at basket-work. They could even make boats of wicker, covered with the skins of animals, and very good wooden boats also. A great many ancient boats and canoes have been dug up in different places, especially at Glasgow. Some of them were formed of a single oak stem, hollowed out by blunt tools, probably stone axes, aided by the action of fire. Some were cut beautifully smooth, and must have been made with tools of some metal. The first of these, most likely, belonged to the stone period, and the next to the bronze. Then there was one regularly built of planks, with ribs, and with prow and stern like ours. This was probably of the iron or British age; it had been partly fastened with metal nails, but, as these had quite disappeared, we do not know if they were bronze or iron. It must have been very interesting to the excavators to see the improvement the boat-builders had made as time went on. 11. Besides the domestic animals, there were a great many wild ones, which have now quite passed away from our islands; as the brown bear, the wolf, the wild boar, and the beaver (the town of Beverley is named from the State of the beavers which used to live there). All these still country. live wild in other parts of the world, and it is less than 200 years since the last wolf was killed in Scotland. |