donshire, and parts of Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. They are supposed to have settled here about a thousand years before the Christian era. Prior to the Roman conquest, the aboriginal inhabitants of the southern parts of Britain had made some progress towards civilization; but those in the north were as wild and uncultivated as their native hills. Their religion was Druidism, which is supposed to have been introduced into England by the Phoenicians of Cadiz, who were the first merchants that discovered and traded to this Island, and for a considerable time monopolized its commerce, by carefully concealing their traffic from other nations; but the lucrative trade in tin, and other useful metals, with which Britain abounds, was ultimately traced to its source, and brought the Roman and other adventurers to our shores. The civil jurisdiction and religion of the Druids prevailed in every part of the Island. They dispensed justice, not under any written code of laws, but on what they professed to be equitable principles,---all their verdicts being determined by such sense as the assembled delegates entertained of impartial justice ; and on discordance of opinion in the congress, appeal was made to the Arch-Druid, whose sentence was decisive. Their religious ceremonies were few, and nearly in unison with those of the ancient Hebrews. They worshipped on high places, and in deep groves; and were not addicted to idolatry, as some authors have asserted, but adored the God of Nature, and rendered him praise on the yearly succession of the seasons, which they kept as solemn festivals. Their maxims of justice were taught orally, and the sons of chief personages were disciples in their ethic schools, where the rules of moral life were inculcated as the foundation of human wisdom. They studied medicine and the virtue of plants, of which the misletoe was their chief specific. In their civil government, capital offenders were sentenced to death, and publicly sacrificed on the altars of their temples; whilst those convicted of minor crimes, were excommunicated from all civil and religious benefits, till they had redeemed their character by penitence and good behaviour. The Druids exercised their utmost authority in opposing the invasion and usurpation of the Romans, who, fired with equal resentment, determined to secure their conquest, by exterminating the Druidic Order, which, after many massacres, and the defeat of Queen Boadicea, rapidly disappeared. There is no evidence in history that Suffolk was the scene of any of the sanguinary conflicts between the Britons and the Romans; the more southern district of Essex and Middlesex, inhabited by the Trinovantes, being the chief theatre on which British valour was displayed, with such zeal, as excited the admiration of the victors. Traces of the Iceni are yet discoverable in the names of various places in this county, as Iken, Iksning, (now Exning) &c., and in Icnield-street,--the Roman road which extended from Caistor in Norfolk, through Colchester to London, in the line of an ancient British track-way.

The ROMANS having overrun Gaul, invaded Britain 55 years before the birth of Christ, under the command of Julius Cæsar, who, after a sanguinary struggle renewed in the following year, succeeded in establishing a Roman government, unsettled in its nature, and transient in its duration; for, the conquerors being distracted by civil war, were obliged to return home, to preserve the seat of empire.

After their departure, the Britons remained unmolested till A. D. 43, when the Emperor Claudius sent over an army under Plautius, who was succeeded by Ostorius Scapula, and he by the cruel general Suetonius Paulinus, who completed the conquest of a great part of Britain, and exterminated many thousands of the Druids. After the death of Constantine the Great, at York, in 337, Britain was divided into two Roman Provinces, called Maxima Cæsariensis and Valentia. Suffolk, with the rest of the country of the Iceni, was included in a præsidial district of the latter province, called Flavia Cæsariensis. To keep the conquered tribes in subjection, as well as to guard the coasts against the frequent attempts of the northern hordes, the Roman generals established a number of military posts in this part of their newly acquired territory. The principal ROMAN STATIONS in Suffolk, are supposed to have been---Combretonium, at Brettenham or Icklingham; Ad-Ansam, at Stratford St. Mary; Sitomagus at Haughley or Woolpit; Garianonum, at Burgh Castle; Extensium, at Easton Ness; and Villa Faustini, at Bury. The Roman garrisons, on the eastern coast,were placed under the command of an officer called Comes litoris Saxonicis, that is, Count of the Saxon Shore, so called from the Saxons having there made frequent descents upon the Roman territories. In the early part of the fifth century, dissensions from within, and assaults from without, were fast hastening the overthrow of the mighty empire of Rome; and in 448, the Romans finally relinquished all possession, power, and authority in Britain.

SAXONS:---After the Romans had abandoned Britain, the country sunk into a state of anarchy. Under the Romans, England and Wales contained thirty civitates, governed by their own magistrates, and it is supposed that the Britons, when left to themselves, established the same number of republics. Civil discord terminated in the establishment of military tyrannies, and to aggravate these maladies, the Picts and Scots again renewed their marauding irruptions into England. The Saxons were at length introduced as auxiliaries against these invaders, whom they had no sooner overthrown, than, in their greedy concupiscence to possess the fertile country for which they had been fighting, they turned their swords upon the Britons, who made an obstinate resistance, in which they fought many great battles under Vortigern and the renowned King Arthur, who, in 520, expelled the Saxons almost from the kingdom; but after the death of that monarch, they again prevailed, and by a slow progression of conquest, at length obtained possession of the whole of that part of the island, which from them obtained the name of England. They were confederated tribes, consisting of the Angles, (hence the term Anglo-Saxons,) the Jutes, and the genuine Saxons, who had long been settled on the shores of the German Ocean, and extended from the Eyder to the Rhine. The Britons yielded to them no part of the country until it had been dearly purchased with blood; and 111 years elapsed from their invasion, under Hengist and Horsa, before they established the northern part of the Heptarchy, or seven kingdoms of Kent, East-Anglia, Essex, Sussex, Wessex, Northumbria, and Mercia, into which England was divided. In 495, Cerdic, a Saxon prince, with Cenric his son, and a considerable body of soldiers, whom he had transported in five ships, effected

a landing on the sand bank, which was afterwards called Cerdic Sand, and upon which Yarmouth was built at a much later period. After gaining some advantages over the inhabitants, Cerdic departed for the western part of the island. After this, Suffolk was gradually overrun by other Saxon adventurers; and in 475, Uffa established himself king of EAST ANGLIA, which comprised Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire. To this petty kingdom the German Ocean formed a natural boundary on the east and north; the river Stour, on the south, divided it from Essex; and on the west it bordered upon Mercia, and was defended by several extensive entrenchments, one of which is the "Devil's Ditch," running seven miles in a direct line from near Newmarket to the fens of Ely. Some authors

say that Grecca, father of Uffa, was the first sovereign of East Anglia. Uffa died in 578, and was succeeded by his son Titul, who died about 599, and was succeeded by his son Redwald, who embraced Christianity; but the influence of his queen caused him to relapse into the doctrines of paganisın. His son Erpwald, or Erpenwald, who ascended the throne in 624, also professed the Christian religion, although the greater part of his subjects still continued in the rudest state of idolatry. After a short reign of six years, he was basely murdered by the hand of a relation. The honour of giving Christianity a permanent footing in East-Anglia, was reserved for Sigbrecht, or Sigebert, the successor of Erpwald. This prince was the son by a former marriage of Redwald's second queen; and finding that the popularity which his amiable qualities and accomplishments obtained for him, had excited the jealousy of his step-father, he retired to France. There he became a proficient in the literature of the age, and a zealous professor of the Christian faith. From this voluntary exile Sigebert was recalled on the death of his half-brother, for the purpose of being placed on the vacant throne. He brought over with him Felix, a learned and pious Burgundian priest, whom he appointed bishop of Dunwich. (Vide page 366.) In consequence of the indefatigable exertions of this prelate, and the judicious assistance of the sovereign, the latter soon had the satisfaction of witnessing the general conversion of his subjects to the Christian faith. To this monarch the town of Bury was indebted for the germ of the ecclesiastical distinction to which it afterwards attained: for here Sigebert founded a monastery, and built a church, which he dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. (See page 605.) After a reign of seven years, motives of mistaken piety impelled this prince to resign the cares of a crown to his kinsman Egric, and to become a monk in his own convent. The royal recluse was not destined long to enjoy the pleasures of retirement. Penda, king of Mercia, having turned his arms against the East-Angles, Sigebert was prevailed upon to quit his monastery, and to assume the command of their army. His attempt to oppose the invader, proved unsuccessful, both himself and Egric being slain in 644. The crown now devolved to Anna, the nephew of Redwald, a prince distinguished for wisdom and valor. Notwithstanding these qualities, he was unable to cope with the superior power of Penda; and after an unequal contest of ten years, he bravely fell with his son Firminus, in an obstinate battle fought at Bulcamp, near Blythburgh, in 654. (See page 357.) Their remains were interred.

in Blythburgh church; but afterwards removed to the abbey church at Bury. The assistance afforded to Penda, by Ethelred, the natural brother of Anna, procured his elevation to the throne of East-Anglia, which continued to be governed by its own princes, till Offa, King of Mercia, about the year 792, basely assassinated Ethelbert, and seized his kingdom. Ravaged by contending armies, East-Anglia was now converted into a scene of bloodshed and desolation; and in 828, it was obliged to submit to the preponderating power of Egbert, King of Wessex. That monarch, instead of incorporating it with his own kingdom, suffered it to remain as a tributary state, under its own sovereigns, the last of whom was the unfortunate Edmund, who was killed by the Danes, in 870, and dignifed after his death, with the titles of Saint and Martyr.

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Of St. Edmund, and the cause of the Danish Invasion, there are many legendary tales, as noticed at pages 605 to 608. (See also Hoxne, page 458.) The Danish marauders, under Inguar and Hubba, having slain King Edmund, and sacked Thetford, his capital, overrun the whole of East Anglia, sparing neither towns nor churches, unless redeemed by the inhabitants with large sums of money. But they were repeatedly checked by the sons and successors of Egbert, king of Wessex, especially the youngest, who obtained the name of Alfred the Great, and constrained them to abandon East Anglia entirely. The Danes afterwards concentrated their forces in Wessex, and were again defeated by Alfred, who assigned them East Anglia for their limited residence, after compelling them to receive Christian baptism. Guthrum, their leader, was to hold East Anglia in capite, as a feudatory prince, and he received a code of laws from Alfred. The restless spirit of the Danes could not long brook restraint. couraged by rumours of fresh arrivals of their countrymen, they revolted, but were again subdued. The Anglo-Saxon monarch, Ethelred II., having gained additional strength and confidence, by marrying the daughter of Richard, Duke of Normandy, secretly ordered a general massacre of the Danes to take place on Nov. 13th, 1002. To revenge this outrage, Sweyn, King of Denmark, assembled a numerous army, invaded England, burnt Norwich, Thetford, &c., and, after ravaging the country at various intervals, during the succeeding eleven years, was proclaimed King of England in 1013, but died at Gainsborough in the following year. His son, Canute, returned with fresh levies of troops, in 1016, and, after several battles, the kingdom was divided between him and Edmund Ironside. In the following year, Canute obtained dominion over the whole kingdom, and committed East Anglia to the government of the Danish Earl, Turketel, or Turkill. On the death of Hardicanute, the fourth and last Danish King of England, in 1041, Edward the Confessor, by general consent, ascended the throne of his Saxon ancestors. expelled the Danes from the kingdom, abolished the oppressive tax, called Danegelt, and firmly united East Anglia to his other dominions. He died in 1066, and with him ended both the Saxon and Danish rule in Britain.

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NORMAN CONQUEST:-After the death of Edward, Harold, the son of Godwin, ascended the throne, but was opposed by his brother Tosti, at whose instance, Harfrager, King of Norway, entered the

Humber with a mighty armament, embarked on board a kind of Norwegian armada, and landed his forces in Yorkshire, where they were completely overthrown by Harold, who left his brother and his royal confederate dead on the field. Harold's triumph was, however, of short duration; for, whilst rejoicing over his victory at York, he received information that William, Duke of Normandy, (nephew of Edward the Confessor, and whom that monarch is said with his dying breath to have nominated as his successor,) had landed at Pavensey, in Sussex, with a numerous and well disciplined army. To meet this foe, Harold marched his forces to Hastings, where, in a sanguinary battle, he lost both his life and his kingdom. No sooner was William the Conqueror seated on the English throne, in the year 1066, than he showed that his policy was to root out the ancient nobility, by dividing their estates among his followers, and to degrade the native inhabitants of the humbler classes to the rank of miserable slaves; though in this work he was obstinately, but unsuccessfully, opposed in the north of England, where he burnt York and many other places, and swore," by the splendour of God," (his favourite oath,) that he would not leave a soul of his enemies alive. Conscious of the detestation in which he was held, he entertained a perpetual jealousy of the English. He built and garrisoned strong castles to keep them in awe; and in the wantonness of his power, he obliged them to extinguish their fires and candles every evening at the ring of a bell, called " the Curfew." He also caused a survey to be made of all the lands in the kingdom; the register of which is called DOMESDAY BOOK, and was finished in 1081, after a labour of six years, on the model of the Book of Winchester, compiled by order of Alfred the Great. Through all time, this "Book of Judicial Verdict" will be held in estimation, not merely for its antiquity, but also for its intrinsic value. It afforded the Conqueror an exact knowledge of his own land and revenue, while the rights of his subjects, in disputed cases, were settled by it; and to this day it serves to show what manor is, and what is not, ancient demesne. It specifies the extent of the land in each district; the state it was in, whether meadow, pasture, wood, or arable; the name of the proprietor; the tenure by which it was held; and the value at which it was estimated. That nothing might be wanting to render this document complete, and its authority perpetual, commissioners were appointed to superintend the survey, and the returns were made under the sanction of juries of all orders of freemen, in each district, empannelled for the purpose. This best monument to the memory of the Conqueror, written in Roman, with a mixture of Saxon, is still presered in the chapterhouse, at Westminster, amongst the national archives. This valuable manuscript, which had for so many centuries remained unpublished, was printed in the 40th of George III., for the use of the members of both Houses of Parliament, and the public libraries in the kingdom.

In parcelling out the lands of the kingdom among his followers, the Conqueror gave 629 manors, in Suffolk, as follows:---to Hugh de Albrincis, Earl of Chester, 32; Robert, Earl of Morton and Cornwall, 10; Odo of Champagne, Earl of Albemarle, 14; Wm. Warren, Earl of Surrey, 18; Endo de Rye, steward of his household, 10; Wm. Mallet, lord of Eye, 221; Robt. de Todenei, 4; Robt. de Stafford, 2 ;