THE Romans had scarcely gone away from Britain,when the Britons began to wish they had never left it.For,the Romans being gone,and the Britons being much reduced in numbers by their long wars,the Picts and Scots came pouring in,over the broken and unguarded wall of SEVERUS,in swarms.They plundered the richest towns,and killed the people;and came back so often for more booty and more slaughter,that the unfortunate Britons lived a life of terror.As if the Picts and Scots were not bad enough on land,the Saxons attacked the islanders by sea;and,as if something more were still wanting to make them miserable,they quarrelled bitterly among themselves as to what prayers they ought to say,and how they ought to say them.The priests,being very angry with one another on these questions,cursed one another in the heartiest manner;and (uncommonly like the old Druids)cursed all the people whom they could not persuade.So,altogether,the Britons were very badly off,you may believe.
They were in such distress,in short,that they sent a letter to Rome entreating help-which they called the Groans of the Britons;and in which they said,'The barbarians chase us into the sea,the sea throws us back upon the barbarians,and we have only the hard choice left us of perishing by the sword,or perishing by the waves.'But,the Romans could not help them,even if they were so inclined;for they had enough to do to defend themselves against their own enemies,who were then very fierce and strong.At last,the Britons,unable to bear their hard condition any longer,resolved to make peace with the Saxons,and to invite the Saxons to come into their country,and help them to keep out the Picts and Scots.
It was a British Prince named VORTIGERN who took this resolution,and who made a treaty of friendship with HENGIST and HORSA,two Saxon chiefs.Both of these names,in the old Saxon language,signify Horse;for the Saxons,like many other nations in a rough state,were fond of giving men the names of animals,as Horse,Wolf,Bear,Hound.The Indians of North America,-a very inferior people to the Saxons,though-do the same to this day.
HENGIST and HORSA drove out the Picts and Scots;and VORTIGERN,being grateful to them for that service,made no opposition to their settling themselves in that part of England which is called the Isle of Thanet,or to their inviting over more of their countrymen to join them.But HENGIST had a beautiful daughter named ROWENA;and when,at a feast,she filled a golden goblet to the brim with wine,and gave it to VORTIGERN,saying in a sweet voice,'Dear King,thy health!'the King fell in love with her.My opinion is,that the cunning HENGIST meant him to do so,in order that the Saxons might have greater influence with him;and that the fair ROWENA came to that feast,golden goblet and all,on purpose.
At any rate,they were married;and,long afterwards,whenever the King was angry with the Saxons,or jealous of their encroachments,ROWENA would put her beautiful arms round his neck,and softly say,'Dear King,they are my people!Be favourable to them,as you loved that Saxon girl who gave you the golden goblet of wine at the feast!'And,really,I don't see how the King could help himself.
Ah!We must all die!In the course of years,VORTIGERN died-he was dethroned,and put in prison,first,I am afraid;and ROWENA died;and generations of Saxons and Britons died;and events that happened during a long,long time,would have been quite forgotten but for the tales and songs of the old Bards,who used to go about from feast to feast,with their white beards,recounting the deeds of their forefathers.Among the histories of which they sang and talked,there was a famous one,concerning the bravery and virtues of KING ARTHUR,supposed to have been a British Prince in those old times.But,whether such a person really lived,or whether there were several persons whose histories came to be confused together under that one name,or whether all about him was invention,no one knows.
I will tell you,shortly,what is most interesting in the early Saxon times,as they are described in these songs and stories of the Bards.
In,and long after,the days of VORTIGERN,fresh bodies of Saxons,under various chiefs,came pouring into Britain.One body,conquering the Britons in the East,and settling there,called their kingdom Essex;another body settled in the West,and called their kingdom Wessex;the Northfolk,or Norfolk people,established themselves in one place;the Southfolk,or Suffolk people,established themselves in another;and gradually seven kingdoms or states arose in England,which were called the Saxon Heptarchy.
The poor Britons,falling back before these crowds of fighting men whom they had innocently invited over as friends,retired into Wales and the adjacent country;into Devonshire,and into Cornwall.