glowing in the colouring. But waving the testimony of authorities, which in some respects may be considered doubtful, and adopting as guides, reason and experience, it will be readily discerned, that these ancient Britons need not be degraded into absolute savages, merely because the Romans, in imitation of the Greeks, chose to give them, as they did to all strangers. the contemptuous name of barbarians. There can be no doubt but they brought with them the knowledge of the arts and sciences, to whatever extent they were possessed by the parent country, at the time of their emigration. And these they must have had abundance of opportunities of exercising in a country, the state of which could administer little to their subsistence or comfort, without the application of both labour and skill.

When visited by the Romans, they had a religion remarkable for its numerous ceremonies, an order of priests, and places set apart for public worship. They possessed an established government, consisting of a princely aristocracy, united, in times of danger, under one head. Their militia were composed of regular and well-disciplined troops, divided into charioteers, cavalry and infantry, and their horses were admirably trained for the purposes of war.

With respect to their vast naval power, though attempted to be established by the learned Selden, considerable doubts and objections may be urged, founded upon authentic documents. As to small vessels, which does not exclude the probability of their having others of larger dimensions, Cæsar bears ample testimony to the ingenuity of their construction, and their great convenience; and acknowledges himself indebted to the Britons, for several useful improvements in the Roman navy. The facility with which these instruments of aquatic conveyance were made, and their peculiar portability, have occasioned a continuance of their use, and corracles still form the fishing boats which ply on the rivers of Wales.

They seem also to have understood rural economy; for their keepers of cattle having a distinct appellation, evinces that numbers of others were occupied in the labours of the field. In consequence of which they appear to have had sufficient corn for their own support, and their pastures were abundantly stocked with cattle, sheep, and hogs. Besides, they bred for amusement, hares, geese, and poultry. That an idea of individual property was prevalent among them, is manifest from all disputes, respecting limits of lands, having been referable for their decision to the Druids. In their negotiations with each other, for money they used rings, or small plates of iron strung together, and what proves great exactness in their dealings is, these passed among them by weight as well as tale. Supposing they possessed no minted coins, this circumstance alone would be a sufficient evidence of their civilisation; since it is deducible from history, that no nation in a state of barbarism ever adopted in buying and selling a circulating medium. That they possessed a foreign commerce is manifest, for the inhabitants of Britany, or Bretagne, traded hither in large ships, and the ports of Britain were visited by merchant vessels from the Levant. These facts respecting the first inhabitants will suggest to the reflecting mind, that the Romans, on their arrival did not find our ancestors hordes of ignorant savages; but a people, though widely different from their invaders in temper, customs, and manners, having all the necessaries, and some of the conveniences of life and what is the most invaluable of all possessions, contentment in their

condition. It will also further appear, that, so early as their actions furnished materials for history, the Britons breathed a spirit of genuine freedom; had imbibed rational notions of its political advantages, and the miseries resulting from despotic power. Upon this principle, therefore, they always studied to procure, and preserve their liberty, and whenever they were deprived of it, by any undue extension of arbitrary power, they never ceased struggling till the galling yoke of despotism was removed. The same spirit animated their minds, and the same temper pervaded their actions, when their country was invaded by the Romans. Excited by a patriotism never exceeded in the annals of man, and stimulated by a noble ambition never to be satisfied but by victory, nor extinguished but by death, they fought with a degree of bravery that astonished the legionary troops; performed prodigies of valour, which nearly represented them as invincible; and disputed every inch of ground with a tenacity and obstinacy that extorted from their victors the tribute of admiration. Suetonius Paulinus overcame the Ordovices, and extirpated the remainder of the Druids, and other religious sects, who had fled to the island of Mona, the principal seat of their superstitious rites; vainly imagining the Deity would there afford them an invulnerable shield against the Roman arms. Notwithstanding this, the heroic Silures for years continued their struggle for liberty, till at length Julius Agricola was sent hither, with a powerful army, by the emperor Vespasian; and having entirely defeated the Britons under their intrepid leader, Caractacus, in a decisive battle near Caer Caradoc, on the borders of Salop, he completely reduced this part of the island to the Roman yoke. The affability of this General gained him the affections of the people, and, by his great urbanity, he disposed many to embrace the Roman manners; flattering them with the names, and bestowing ou them the privileges of citizens, receiving them into his armies, providing for the education of their youth, living amongst them in a style of great hospitality, rewarding their valour, and commending their learning and politeness. Thus, securing by policy what he had won by force, Cambria was dignified with the name of Britannia secunda; and the conquerors, as they had previously done in Britannia prima, began to establish jurisdictions, appoint magistrates, and adopt other measures for the due and regular administration of the laws. Towns were built, stations appointed and garrisoned, and roads formed for intercommunication between them. So speedily and successfully did they proceed in their settlement of the country, that, in a few years, Wales assumed all the appearance of a Roman colony, and regular stations were erected under various designations.

The towns, classed as stations, were of different degrees, varying not merely in the rank of civil estimation, but also in the nature of their constitution. They were particularly distinguished into four orders, latian, colonial, municipal, and stipendiary. The first had the Jus Latii communicated to them, which exempted them from the ordinary jurisdiction of the prætor; and the inhabitants were not governed by a foreign præfect and questor, but those officers were elected from among themselves. A Briton was their president, a Briton their justiciary, and a Briton their collector; and such as had served these offices, became entitled to the privileges of Roman citizens. Of this description there were several in Britain, but none in Wales.

The second kind were governed by a different polity. They were those towns or cities which formed the head-quarters of the respective legions, where some of the principal cohorts were stationed, the eagle or standard was deposited, and the commander in chief resided. Towns of this class were occupied by Romans, and chiefly by legionary soldiers, who received portions of land in the neighbourhood, as a reward for past services, and as an inducement to be vigilant in the suppression of insurrection. Yet, for the sake of protection, numbers of the natives took up their habitation near, and were consequently deemed Roman citizens, and subjected to the imperial laws.

The third, or stipendiary towns, had their constitution courts of justice and offices copied from those at Rome, and governed by officers deputed by the prætor.

Exclusive of these, a few ranked as Municipia, by virtue of which distinction they were invested with the privilege of enacting laws for the regulation of their own affairs, and were exempted from subjection to the imperial code. The inhabitants also, without being divested of their native citizenship, were considered as denizens of Rome. None of this description appear to have existed in Cambria.

Of the Roman roads, though more distinct traces might be supposed to exist in Wales, than in England, from their vestiges not having been equally liable to obliteration, by the hand of cultivation: yet, for want of due investigation, few of them have been traced in a satisfactory manner.

After the Romans had been in possession of Britain for nearly five centuries, their empire, grown too unwieldy to preserve its integrity, had long been on the decline, and was now rapidly approaching to its dissolution. Immediately after the death of the emperor Maximus, such a scene of confusion succeeded in the imperial affairs, that it would occupy too much room to attempt a brief discussion of the discordant accounts given by writers, respecting the revolutions, and consequent devastations, which happened at that eventful. period. The Romans were miserably harassed on all sides by the surrounding barbarians; and the Britons, unable to derive their usual protection from the legionary troops, shared a similar fate. At the period when the invaders bade a final adieu to this island, the country was exposed to the inroads of numerous enemies. Assailed on the north by the Picts and Scots, it was equally infested by the Irish on the west. The native strength of the country had been exhausted in the support of foreign wars; the number of its inhabitants further diminished by famine and pestilence; and the grand bulwark of its safety, the navy, was fallen into decay. Under these disadvantages, the people were also in want of that unanimity so essential to become powerful in times of emergency. They had recourse to their ancient form of government, and elected for their governors certain reguli, or chieftains; but these princes, instead of uniting to oppose the common enemy by well-concerted plans of co-operation, and to ward off the impending danger by combined force, were principally occupied in securing their separate interests.

Enervated by luxury, and weakened by dissensions, they found themselves in a worse state, as to self-defence, than on the arrival of Julius Cæsar. In this sad situation, without union, order, or discipline, and attacked on all sides by inveterate foes, through infatuation

or despair, they adopted the most impolitic of all expedients for national safety,--that of calling in the assistance of one barbarous nation, to drive out another; which quickly, in the sequel, subjected them to a new and heavier yoke.

On the arrival of the new race of settlers, the Saxons, besides the many sovereignties into which the island was then divided, a personal competition appears to have existed between one that tyrannised over the other princes, named Gwtheyrn, by most English writers called Vortigern, and a chieftain of Roman parentage, called Ambrosius, but by the Welsh, Emrys Wledig, or Emrys the chief. During this contest, to repel the incursions of the Scots and Picts, Gwtheyrn called in the assistance of the Saxons, an army of whom arrived under their leaders Hengist and Horsa, sons of Woden. The Saxon General having driven back the enemy, and discovered the pusillanimity of the British monarch, turned his attention towards establishing his troops, and securing for himself a portion of the territories he had defended: this plan, through the treachery or incapacity of Gwtheyrn, he was enabled to accomplish. The insulted and enraged Britons proceeded to depose the traitorous monarch, and placed Emrys Wledig on the throne, in his stead; who is described as brave, modest, and sincere, and whose parents had worn the imperial purple. For a time he prevailed against the Saxons, but fresh troops arriving under the command of Ella, they were enabled to become victorious, and to extend their territory. On the death of Emrys, his brother Uther, commonly called, from his office, Pendragon, was elected to the sovereign dignity. The intestine warfare was continued between the Britons and Saxons with varied success; but numerous hordes continually arriving from the northern hive of population, the latter became formidable in several parts of the island. Arthur, the son and successor of Uther, so celebrated in the annals of fame, though the existence of such a personage has been doubted by some, and denied by others, for a series of years conducted the war against the invaders; and, in many desperately-fought battles, led on the Britons to decisive victory.

At the time this prince held the pendragonate, it appears that Wales was divided into two sovereignties, for, by virtue of being chief ruler, he demanded, in the year 518, for the warfare in which he was engaged, the assistance of Caron, king of Scotland; Maelgwyn, the sovereign of North-wales; Meyric, Prince of South-wales; and Cador, duke of Cornwall; and at the same time received the support of his nephew Howel, king of Armorica in Gaul. During this and the late reign the ancient Britons had attained the meridian of their glory, but the period assigned, in the concatenation of events, for the fall of their empire, approximated to a close; though the beams which threw a degree of radiance on its decline, lingered for a time in the west, until gradually receding from the sight, not a single ray was visible in the horizon. The death of Arthur, decided the fate of Britain. The splendour, which had distinguished the preceding era, having principally derived its lustre from the virtue and the valour of a few individuals who took the lead in the contest, became clouded by the opposite qualities, so conspicuous in the princes of the subsequent period. The Britons, constrained by necessity to take up arms, were frequently victorious; though their successes are so magnified, and accompanied with so much of the marvellous in the detail, as not only to surpass all credi

bility, but even to render problematical the very existence of the conquerors. And could they have abstained from intestine quarrels, and thoroughly united in the common cause, they might yet have recovered and preserved their country. But this lesson, which prudence dictated, they could not even learn from disastrous experience. So that, whenever they obtained the least respite from their foreign foes, they relapsed into civil dissensions; by which they not only exhausted their military strength, but were diverted from adopting the means by which they might have prevented the return of the enemy, and provided for their own security. Arthur had appointed his nephew Constantine, son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, as successor to the pendragonate; and the appointment was confirmed by the elective voice of the people. The Saxons, to excite divisions, espoused the cause of the sons of Mordred, the late regent; and while the Britons were settling the dispute, their wily adversaries were rapidly extending the bounds of their empire. During these troubles, many of the people submitted to the Saxons, and the Scots; others, to preserve their freedom, fled into distant countries, to Armorica and Bretagne; some retired with their effects into the wilds of Devon and Cornwall; some took shelter in the mountainous part of the north of England; but by far the greatest number found refuge in the fastnesses of Wales; where they defended and preserved their independence, long after the expiration of the Saxon dynasty. At the period, when the latter had conquered the greater part of Britain, and made their approaches to the borders of Cambria, the country appears to have been divided into six principalities, under so many reguli, and Maelgwyn king of North-wales, was invested with the sovereign dignity, about the year 552. The contest was continued under several succeeding monarchs, till the death of Cadwalader, in the year 703, closed the imperial dignity, which for many centuries had been annexed to the British government; during which time the paramount princes chiefly resided at Diganwy, on the water of Conway, and at Caer Segont near Caernarvon.

Rodric Moelwynoc, nominally succeeded to the sovereignty in 720. By continual and unhappy divisions, the strength of the country was so diminished, as to become unable successfully to resist the incursions of the Saxons. The Mercians, under king Offa, frequently laid waste the country, and at length wrested a portion from the Welsh princes; and to prevent the new occupants from the retaliating vengeance of the Welsh, Offa caused that famous boundary to be made, from the mouth of the river Dee to the Wye, which still goes under the appellation of Clawdd Offa, or Offa's Dyke. By this the region was considerably narrowed, and nearly reduced to its present limits. Though the Saxons made frequent inroads, yet they do not appear to have had any permanent footing in the country; so that, though the page of history relates many sanguinary conflicts which took place between them and the Welsh, yet scarcely any vestiges remain to mark the incursions of the invaders.

The Danes had called off the attention of the Saxons from the Welsh, who from this circumstance were left for many years to enjoy a season of unusual tranquillity. But, instead of taking the advantage of this fortunate conjuncture, a fatal plan was adopted, and irreparable