and philosophic writer assigns other probable motives for his expeditions into Britain,-such as his desire of dazzling his countrymen, and of seeming to be absorbed by objects remote from internal ambition, by expeditions against a new world, or of furnishing himself with a pretence for prolonging his provincial command, and keeping up an army devoted to him, till the time should arrive for the execution of his projects against liberty at Rome.

Whatever were his motives, in the year 55 B. C. Cæsar resolved to cross the British channel, not, as he has himself told us, to make then a conquest, for which the season was too far advanced, but in order merely to take a view of the island, learn the nature of the inhabitants, and survey the coasts, harbours, and landing-places. He says that the Gauls were ignorant of all these things; that few of them, except merchants, ever visited the island; and that the merchants themselves only knew the seacoasts opposite to Gaul. Having called together the merchants from all parts of Gaul, he questioned them concerning the size of the island, the power and customs of its inhabitants, their mode of warfare, and the harbours they had capable of receiving large ships. He adds, that on none of these points could they give him information; but, on this public occasion, the silence of the traders probably proceeded rather from unwillingness and caution than ignorance, while it is equally probable that the conqueror received a little more information than he avows. He says, however, that for these reasons he thought it expedient before he embarked himself, to despatch C. Volusenus, with a single galley, to obtain some knowledge of these things; commanding him, as soon as he had obtained this necessary knowledge, to return to head-quarters with all haste. He then himself, marched with his whole army into the territory of the Morini, a nation or tribe of the Gauls, who inhabited the seacoast between Calais and Boulogne, "because thence. was the shortest passage into Britain." Here he collected many ships from the neighbouring ports.

Meanwhile many of the British states having been warned

of Cæsar's premeditated expedition by the merchants that resorted to their island, sent over ambassadors to him with an offer of hostages, and submission to the Roman authority. He received these ambassadors most kindly, and exhorting them to continue in the same pacific intentions, sent them back to their own country, despatching with them Comius, a Gaul, whom he had made king of the Atrebatians, a Belgic nation then settled in Artois. Cæsar's choice of this envoy was well directed. The Belga, at a comparatively recent period, had colonized, and they still occupied all the southeastern coasts of Britain; and these colonists, much more civilized than the rest of the islanders, no doubt held frequent commercial and friendly intercourse with the Atrebatians in Artois, and the rest of the Belgic stock settled in other places. Cæsar himself says, not only that Comius was a man in whose virtue, wisdom, and fidelity he placed great confidence, but one "whose authority in the island of Britain was very considerable." He therefore charged Comius to visit as many of the British states as he could, and persuade them to enter into an alliance with the Romans; informing them, at the same time, that Cæsar intended to visit the island in person as soon as possible.

C. Volusenus appears to have done little service with his galley. He took a view of the British coast as far as was possible for one who had resolved not to quit his vessel, or trust himself into the hands of the natives, and on the fifth day of his expedition returned to head-quarters. With such information as he had, Cæsar embarked the infantry of two legions, making about twelve thousand men, on board eighty transports, and set sail from Portus Itius, or Witsand, between Calais and Boulogne. The cavalry, embarked in eighteen other transports, were detained by contrary winds at a port about eight miles off; but Cæsar left orders for them to follow as soon as the weather permitted. This force, however, as will be seen, could never make itself available, and hence mainly arose the reverses of the campaign.

At ten o'clock on a morning in autumn, (Halley, the astro

nomer, in a paper in the Philosophical Transactions, has almost demonstrated that it must have been on the 26th of August,) Cæsar reached the British coast, near Dover, at about the worst possible point to effect a landing in face of an enemy, and the Britons were not disposed to be friends. The submission they had offered through their ambassadors was intended only to prevent or retard invasion; and seeing it fail of either of these effects, on the return of their ambassadors with Comius, as Cæsar's envoy, they made that prince a prisoner, loaded him with chains, prepared for their defence as well as the shortness of time would permit; and when the Romans looked from their ships to the steep white cliffs above them, they saw them covered all over by the armed Britons. Finding that this was not a convenient landingplace, Cæsar resolved to lie by till the third hour after noon, in order, he says, to wait the arrival of the rest of his fleet. Some laggard vessels appear to have come up, but the eighteen transports, bearing the cavalry, were nowhere seen. Cæsar, however, favoured by both wind and tide, proceeded at the appointed hour, and sailing about seven miles farther along the coast, prepared to land his forces on an open, flat shore which presents itself between Walmer Castle and Sandwich. The Britons on the cliffs perceiving his design, followed his motions, and sending their cavalry and warchariots before, marched rapidly on with their main force to oppose his landing any where. Cæsar confesses that the opposition of the natives was a bold one, and that the difficulties he had to encounter were very great on many accounts; but superior skill and discipline, and the employment of some military engines on board the war-galleys, to which the British were unaccustomed, and which projected missiles of various kinds, at last triumphed over them, and he disembarked his two legions. We must not omit the act of the standardbearer of the tenth legion, which has been thought deserving of particular commemoration by his general. While the Roman soldiers were hesitating to leave the ships, chiefly deterred, according to Cæsar's account, by the depth of the water,

this officer, having first solemnly besought the gods that what he was about to do might prove fortunate for the legion, and then exclaiming with a loud voice, "Follow me, my fellowsoldiers, unless you will give up your eagle to the enemy! I, at least, will do my duty to the republic and to our general!" leaped into the sea as he spoke, and dashed with his ensign among the enemy's ranks. The men instantly followed their heroic leader; and the soldiers in the other ships, excited by the example, also crowded forward along with them. The two armies were for some time mixed in combat; but at length the Britons withdrew in disorder from the well-contested beach. As their cavalry, however, was not yet arrived, the Romans could not pursue them, or advance into the island, which, Cæsar says, prevented his rendering the victory complete.

The native maritime tribes, thus defeated, sought the adrantages of a hollow peace. They despatched ambassadors to Cæsar, offering hostages, and an entire submission. They liberated Comius, and restored him to his employer, throwing the blame of the harsh treatment his envoy had met with apon the multitude or common people, and entreating Cæsar 'o excuse a fault which proceeded solely from the popular gnorance. The conqueror after reproaching them for sendng, of their own accord, ambassadors into Gaul to sue for peace, and then making war upon him, without any reason, forgave them their offences, and ordered them to send in a certain number of hostages, as security for their good behaviour in future. Some of these hostages were presented immediately, and the Britons promised to deliver the rest, who lived at a distance, in the course of a few days. The native forces then seemed entirely disbanded, and the several chiefs came to Cæsar's camp to offer allegiance, and negotiate or intrigue for their own separate interests.*

* Pictorial History of England.

THE NORTHMEN IN BRITAIN.

EAVING that portion of British history which connects it natu rally with the Roman, I now pass to the Anglo-Saxon period, and the contests of Alfred with the Danes.

The piratical hordes called Danes, or Norsemen by the English, Normans by their neighbours the French, and Nor. manni by the Italians, were not merely natives of Denmark, properly so called, but belonged also to Norway, Sweden, and other countries spread round the Baltic sea. They were offshoots of the great Scandinavian branch of the Teutons, who, under different names, conquered and recomposed most of the states of Europe on the downfall of the Roman empire. Such of the Scandinavian tribes as did not move to the south and the west to establish themselves permanently in fertile provinces, but remained in the barren and bleak regions of the north, devoted themselves to piracy as a profitable and honourable profession. The Saxons, then scattered along the south of the Baltic, did this in the fourth and fifth centuries, and now, in the ninth century, they were becoming the victims of their old system, carried into practice by their kindred the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and others. All these people were of the same race as the Saxons, being an after-torrent from the same Scandinavian fountain-head; and though time, and a change of country and religion on the part of the Anglo-Saxons had made some difference between them, the common resemblance in physical appearance, language, and other essentials, was still strong. It is indeed remarkable that the three different conquests of England made in the course of six centuries, were all the work of one race of men, bearing different