were bare, and their bosoms uncovered;-fashions which, in some measure, seem peculiar to the ladies of England to this day. Their government was generally an elective monarchy, and sometimes a republic. Their commanders were chosen for their merit, and dismissed from duty when their authority was no longer needful. The salaries they were supplied with seldom exceeded a bare subsistence; and the honours they received were the only reward of their superior dangers and fatigues. The custom of trying by twelve men is of Saxon original: slavery was unknown among them, and they were taught to prefer death to a shameful existence. We are told by Marcellinus, that a body of them being taken prisoners, were kept for exhibition on the amphitheatre at Rome, as gladiators for the entertainment of the people. The morning, however, on which they were expected to perform, they were every one found dead in his cell, each chusing rather a voluntary death than to be the ignominious instruments of brutal pleasure to their conquerors. The chastity of this people is equally remarkable; and to be without children, was to be without praise. But their chief excellence, and what they most gloried in, was their skill in war. They had, in some measure, learned discipline from the Romans, whom they had often defeated; and had, for a century and an half before, made frequent descents upon the coasts of Britain, for the sake of plunder. They were, therefore, a very formidable enemy to the Romans when settled there; and an officer was appointed to oppose their inroads, under the title of the "Count of the Saxon shore." Thus, ever restless and bold, they considered war as their trade, and and were, in consequence, taught to consider victory as a doubtful advantage, but courage as a certain good. A nation, however, entirely addicted to war, has seldom wanted the imputation of cruelty, as those terrors which are opposed without fear are often inflicted without regret. The Saxons are represented as a very cruel nation; but we must remember that their enemies have drawn the pic ture. It was upon this people that Vortigern turned his eyes for succour against the Picts and Scots, whose cruelties, perhaps, were still more flagrant. It certainly was not without the most pressing invitations that the Saxons deigned to espouse their cause; and we are yet in possession of the form of their request, as left us by Wittichindus, a contemporary historian of some credit: "The poor and dis"tressed Britons, almost worn out by hostile inva sions, and harassed by continual incursions, are "humble suppliants to you, most valiant Saxons, for "succour. We are possessed of a wide-extended, " and a fertile country; this we yield wholly to be at your devotion and command. Beneath the wings "of your valour we seek for safety, and shall willingly undergo whatever services you may here"after be pleased to impose." It was no disagreeable circumstance to these conquerors, to be thus invited into a country upon which they had, for ages before, been forming designs. In consequence, therefore, of Vortigern's solemn invitation, they arrived with fifteen hundred men, under the command of Hengist and Horsa, who were brothers, and landed on the isle of Thanet. There they did not long remain inactive; but, being joined by the British forces, they they boldly marched against the Picts and Scots, who had advanced as far as Lincolnshire, and soon gained a complete victory over them. Hengist and Horsa possessed great credit among their countrymen at home, and had been much celebrated for their valour and the splendor of their descent. They were believed to be sprung from Woden, who was worshipped as a god among this people, and were said to be no more than the fourth in descent from him. This report, how fabulous soever, did not a little contribute to increase their authority among their associates; and being sensible of the fertility of the country to which they came, and the barrenness of that which they had left behind, they invited over great numbers of their countrymen to become sharers in their new ex. pedition. It was no difficult matter to persuade the Saxons to embrace an enterprise, which promised at once an opportunity of displaying their valour, and of rewarding their rapacity. Accordingly, they sent over a fresh supply of A. D. 450. five thousand men, who passed over in seventeen vessels. It was now, but too late, that the Britons began to entertain apprehensions of their new allies, whose numbers they found augmenting as their services became less necessary. They had long found their chief protection in passive submission; and they resolved, upon this occasion, to bear every encroachment with patient resignation. But the Saxons, being determined to come to a rupture with them, easily found a pretext, in complaining that their subsidies were ill paid, and their provisions withdrawn. They, therefore, demanded that these grievances should be immediately redressed, other wise they would do themselvess justice; and, in the mean time, they engaged in a treaty with the Picts, whom they had been called in to repress. The Britons, impelled by the urgency of their calamities, at length took up arms; and having deposed Vortigern, by whose counsel and vices they were thus reduced to an extremity, they put themselves under the command of Vortimer, his son. Many were the battles fought between these enraged nations, their hatred to each other being still more inflamed by the difference of their religion, the Britons being all Christians, and the Saxons still remaining in a state of idolatry. There is little to entertain the reader in the narration of battles, where rather obstinate valour than prudent conduct procured the victory; and, indeed, the accounts given us of them are very opposite, when described by British and Saxon annalists. However, the progress the latter still made in the island sufficiently proves the advantage to have been on their side; although, in a battle fought at Eglesford, Horsa, the Saxon general, was slain. But a single victory, or even a repetition of success, could avail but little against an enemy continually reinforced from abroad; for Hengist, now becoming sole commander, and procur→ ing constant supplies from his native country, carried devastation into the most remote corners of Britain. Chiefly anxious to spread the terror of his arms, he spared neither sex, age, nor condition, but laid the country desolate before him. The priests and bishops found no protection from their sacred calling, but were slaughtered upon their altars. The people were massacred in heaps; and, ! and, some, chusing life upon the most abject terms, The British historians, in order to account for the easy conquest of their country by the Saxons, assign their treachery, not less than their valour, as a principal cause. They allege that Vortigern was artfully inveigled into a passion for Rowena, the daughter of Hengist; and, in order to marry her, was induced to settle the fertile province of Kent upon her father, from whence the Saxons could never after be removed. It is alleged also, that, upon the death of Vortimer, which happened shortly after the victory obtained at Eglesford, Vortigern his father was reinstated upon the throne. It is added that this weak monarch accepting of a festival from Hengist, three hundred of his nobility were treacherously slaughtered, and himself detained as a captive. Be these facts as they may, it is certain that the affairs of the Britons gradually declined, and they found but a temporary relief in the valour of one or two of their succeeding kings. After the death of Vortimer, Ambrofius, a Briton, though of Roman descent, was invested with the command, and in some measure proved successful in uniting his countrymen against the Saxons. He penetrated with his army into the heart of their possessions; and though he fought them with doubtful advantage, yet he restored the British interest and do minion. |