THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF CESAR AND TACITUS; TO WHICH ARE ADDED EXPLANATORY NOTES FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. BY LATE WILLIAM DRAKE, M.A. FELLOW OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. PREFACE. In the present Book are put together, in chronological order, those passages of Cæsar and Tacitus which relate to the early history of Britain, and which indeed constitute nearly the entire amount of our knowledge upon that interesting subject. The idea of such a collection is due to an article which appeared in the " Educational Magazine" for March, 1841, being the second of a series of letters on the study of English History. The selection there pointed out has been almost exactly followed; and as it was thought that this first Chapter of English History might be both interesting and profitable as a text book for schools, notes have been added to adapt it to that purpose. These notes will be found, it is hoped, not only explanatory of all real difficulties, but also suggestive and interrogative on many points which boys are apt to slur over in preparing a lesson. They have received this latter form upon a considerable experience in teaching, in the hope that, if close attention and examination on the points of enquiry which they suggest be exacted as an essential portion of the daily work, they may not share the general fate of notes in the hands of schoolboys, and may prove rather an incitement to industry than an encouragement to idleness. There can be no comparison in point of value, whatever there may be in point of quantity, between the knowledge which a boy acquires by his own investigation, and that which he is told by his master. when every word is required to be parsed and traced to its original meaning; but it is the slowness of the tortoise, and will beat the hare at last. Both masters and scholars, and, above all, parents of scholars, have need to bear this constantly in mind. Coventry, October, 1845. The progress may seem slow W. D. FASCICULUS PRIMUS HISTORIE BRITANNICE. CHAPTER I. WHAT MOVED JULIUS CÆSAR TO COME INTO BRITAIN. HOW HE CROSSED OVER, AND HOW THE PEOPLE RECEIVED HIM. Cæsar de Bello Gallico, lib. iv. cap. 20—38. inclusive. Cap. 20. EXIGUA parte æstatis reliqua, Cæsar, etsi in his locis, quod omnis Gallia ad Septemtriones vergit, maturæ sunt hiemes, tamen in Britanniam proficisci contendit, quod omnibus fere Gallicis bellis hostibus nostris inde subministrata auxilia intelligebat: et, si tempus anni ad bellum gerendum deficeret, tamen magno sibi usui fore arbitrabatur, si modo insulam adîsset, genus hominum perspexisset, loca, portus, aditus cognovisset: quæ omnia fere Gallis erant incognita. Neque enim temere præter mercatores illo adit quisquam, neque iis ipsis quidquam, præter oram maritimam atque eas regiones, quæ sunt contra Gallias, notum est. Itaque, evocatis ad se undique mercatoribus, neque quanta esset insulæ magnitudo, neque quæ aut quantæ nationes incolerent, neque quem usum belli haberent, aut quibus institutis uterentur, neque qui essent ad majorum navium multitudinem idonei portus, reperire poterat. B |