quarrel among themselves, when they had the Britons no longer to contend with. Bloody and numerous, undoubtedly, were the wars and revolutions of those petty independent states, not only from jealousy or ambition, but on account of there not existing in the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, any rule of succession strictly observed; and thence the reigning prince, continually agitated with suspicions against all the princes of the blood, considered them as rivals, whose death alone could give him entire security in the possession of the throne, and for its transmission to his children. It happened too often that these royal murderers were induced to believe that such enormities could be redeemed by large donations to the churches and convents, by pilgrimages to Rome, or by shutting themselves up in a cloister during the rest of their life. Thence, and from the opinion of merit attending the preservation of chastity even in a married state, almost all the royal families of the Heptarchy were extinguished.

These transactions have been transmitted to us by the monks, who were the only annalists during those ages of ignorance; but their accounts are so full of names and so confusedly written, that there is no possibility of rendering them instructive, or even intelligible, without the assistance of a kind of map, such as that which is here subjoined, and which being divided into seven columns, has the advantage of presenting at once, though separately, the principal occurrences, revolutions, and successive kings, of the seven kingdoms. The deepest researches into the few remaining records of the kingdom of Kent, would not be rewarded by the discovery of any more events of importance and truth than those above-mentioned or related in that map. The history of the kingdoms of Essex and Sussex is still more imperfect and uninteresting.

Mercia, the largest, if not the most powerful of

these kingdoms, reckoned many warlike and enterprising princes in the royal family. Offa was the most conspicuous of all, from his numerous victories and his personal qualities. But the glory of his successes was stained by his treacherous murder of Ethelbert, king of the East-Angles, and his violent usurpation of that kingdom. Soon after this act of perfidy and cruelty, Offa, desirous of re-establishing his character in the world, and perhaps of appeasing the remorses of his own conscience, gave' the tenth of his goods to the church, bestowed rich donations on the cathedral of Hereford, and even made a pilgrimage to Rome. The better to ingratiate himself with the pope, he engaged to pay him a yearly donation for the support of an English college at Rome; and in order to raise the sum, he imposed a tax of a penny on each house possessed of thirty pence a year. This imposition, being afterwards levied on all England, was commonly denominated Peter-pence, and after a certain length of time was claimed as a tribute by the popes.

Offa was become so considerable in the Heptarchy, that the emperor Charlemagne entered into an alliance and friendship with him; and as he was a great lover of learning and learned men, Offa, at his desire, sent him over Alcuin, a clergyman, very much celebrated for his knowledge. He received great honours from Charlemagne, and even became his preceptor in the sciences.

Almost all the successors of Offa murdered one another for the preservation or usurpation of the throne, or were killed by their own subjects. The confusion produced by these repeated catastrophies in almost all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, paved the way to their union into a great monarchy; and by disgusting the people of their government and princes, prepared them to receive, without any opposition, the yoke which Egbert, king of Wessex, was enabled to impose upon them by the defeat and

submission of all their princes. Egbert had over them the advantage of being the only descendant of those first conquerors who subdued Britain, and who enhanced their authority by claiming a pedigree from Wooden, the supreme deity of their ancestors, and the chief object of their religious worship. They considered him as the God of war, and believed that if they could obtain his favour by their valour, they should be admitted after their death into his hall, and, reposing on couches, should satiate themselves with ale from the sculls of the enemies whom they had slain in battle.

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Thus were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy in one great state, in the year 827, about 378 years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain.

The Scots and Picts did not perform any actions worthy of remembrance, from the time of their defeat by the Saxons united to the Britons, in 449. They were established beyond the wall of Antoninus and the friths of Forth and Clyde; the Scots possessing the western, and the Picts the eastern part of that country. In the beginning of the sixth century, all the different clans of the Scots were united into one nation by Fergus, who seems to have been their first monarch. The Picts were equally formed into a nation, and had likewise their kings, but little or nothing is known of the history of the Scottish and Pictish princes during this period, except their names and length of their reign. The history of the Britons of Cornwall and Wales is no less obscure. Being under the government of many petty princes or chieftains, they were almost continually engaged in quarrels amongst themselves.

HEPTARCHY.

KENT.

HENGIST, 457.

465.

SUSSEX.

ELLA, 477.

Hengist having founded this king- This Saxon prince arrived in Bridom at that period, called over to tain, with his three sons and many Britanny his brother Octa and his martial followers, in 477. He denephew Ebessa, and established them feated a body of Britons who atin Northumberland. tempted to prevent his landing, and obtained two more signal victories This prince obtains a great victory over them in 485 and 490. After at Wippedfleet against the Britons these successes, he assumed the title commanded by Ambrosius; and an- of King, and founded the kingdom other, still more decisive, eight years of Sussex, which included Surrey, after. The Britons gave him no fur-Sussex, and the New Forest, and exther molestation during the remain-tended to the frontiers of Kent. He der of his life. was succeeded, in 515, by his youngest son Cissa.

ESC, 488.

Esc succeeded his father Hengist, and reigned 24 years in perfect tranquillity.

осто, 512.

CISSA, 515.

Cissa had a very long reign; but before his death this little kingdom became so inconsiderable, that the The reign of Octo, son and suc-name of his immediate successor is cessor of Esc, lasted 22 years, dur-not even mentioned in history. ing which the countries of Essex and

Middlesex were taken from him by the East Saxons.

HERMENRIC, 534,

Succeeded his father Octo; and during a reign of 32 years, he performed nothing memorable.

ETHELBERT, 566.

Ethelbert, the son and successor of Hermenric, was the greatest of the Kentish kings. He obtained many victories, enlarged his dominions, and gained a great ascendancy over all the other Saxon princes. He died in 616, after a reign of 50 years.

EADBALD, 616.

Eadbald, son of Ethelbert, succeeded his father, but had not his abilities; under him and his successors a great part of the kingdom of Kent was invaded by the Mercian princes, and it became tributary to the kings of Mercia and Wessex in the year 685, or thereabouts, as those of Essex, Sussex, and East Anglia had done in 676.

WEST SAXONS, or
WESSEX,

CERDIC, 495.

This Saxon chieftain met with a more obstinate resistance than the other princes, owing to the superior courage and abilities of Ambrosius and the famous Prince Arthur, who led the British forces against him. The former fell in battle, with 5000 of his bravest troops, in 508.

Cerdic assumed the title of King in 519, and founded the kingdom of Wessex; but he was so often defeated by Arthur, that he made little or no progress until he received fresh

reinforcements from the continent. He died in 534.

CYNRIC, 534.

Cynric succeeded his father Cerdic, and had been the companion of all his toils and victories. This prince, during a reign of 26 years, gloriously supported, by many victories over the Britons, the illustrious character he had obtained of a brave and prudent general.

CEAULIN, 560.

This prince succeeded his father Cynric; and, more ambitious than him, he defeated Ethelbert, king of Kent, in 568, and by several victories added to his kingdom the countries now called Devonshire and Somersetshire. The other Saxon princes dreading his ambition, formed a confederacy against him, and he was defeated by them in 591. He died soon after.

CEOLRIC, 591.

Ceoltic, nephew to Ceaulin, succeeded to his throne; but his reign lasted no longer than five years.

CEOLWOLF, 596.

Ceolwolf, brother of Ceolric, ascended the throne; and during his whole reign, which was fourteen years, he had wars with the Britons, the Saxons, the Scots and Picts, with various successes.

CINIGESİL AND QUINCELM, 611.

These two brothers, the nephews of Ceolwolf, succeeded him, and assumed jointly the government of that kingdom. They defeated the Britons in 614. Quincelm bearing impatiently the superiority which Edwin, King of Northumberland, had assumed over the other Saxon princes, sent him, under the title of ambassador, a man who had engaged to murder him with a poisoned dagger. The assassin having missed his aim, Edwin, justly incensed at this base attempt, marched an army into the territories of Wessex, and took a severe revenge. Cinigeril, having lost his brother Quincelm, died himself soon after, in the thirty-second year of his reign,

CENWAL, 643.

This prince, the son and successor of Cinigesil, soon after his accession divorced his queen, a sister to Penda, King of Mercia, who immediately invaded his dominions, defeated him in several battles, and at last obliged him to take shelter in the court of the King of East Anglia. Three years after, he found an opportunity of recovering his kingdom, and thenceforward defended it with great valour and success during a long reign of thirty-one years.