CHAPTER IV.

BRITANNIA ANTIQUA.

As Britain appears to have been peopled by successive migrations from the neighbouring coast of Gaul, it will be our most natural way of proceeding to begin with describing the parts nearest that country.

Opposite the coast of Gaul, and divided from it by a narrow Strait, were, I. The Cantii, or people of Kent and part of Middlesex, whose principal harbour was Rutupiæ, or Richborough, where the Romans generally landed. Even in the days of Juvenal the oysters of Richborough were imported into Italy. * Durovernum, or Darvernum was Canterbury. A little below Dover was Portus Lemanis, or Lymne, where Cæsar is thought to have landed on his first expedition to Britain, B. C. 55, A. U. C. 699: having set out from the Portus Itius, in Gaul, a little South of Calais. II. South West of

Circeis nata forent, an

Lucrinum ad saxum, Rutupinove edita fundo

Ostrea, callebat primo dignoscere morsu.

the Cantii were the Regni, or antient inhabitants of Surrey, Sussex, and part of Hampshire, whose principal city Neomagus, or Noviomagus, is placed at Woodcote, near Croydon, in Surrey. III. Nearly West of the Regni were the Belgæ, or inhabitants of Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and part of Hampshire. The principal station here was Venta Belgarum, or Winchester. Aquæ Calida was Bath, Ischalis, Ilchester; the Isle of Wight was called Vectis. South West them were, IV. The Durotriges, or the inhabitants of Dorsetshire. The chief town was Dunium, or Dornovana, now Dorchester. V. West of the Durotriges were the Damnonii, or Dumnonii, who possessed Devonshire and Cornwall. The chief towns were Isca Damnoniorum, or Chiselborough, and Uxela, or Exeter. Tamari Ostia was the mouth of the Tamar, now Plymouth Sound. Ocrinum was the Lizard Point; and Bolerium the Land's End or Cape Cornwall. VI. North, above the Cantii, were the Trinobantes, or people of Essex and Middlesex. The principal settlements were Camulodunum, or Maldon, Colonia, probably Colchester, and Londinium, or London. VII. South West of the Trinobantes were the Atrebatii, in Berkshire and part of Oxfordshire. Their principal town was Calleva, probably Silchester. VIII. Nortn of the Atrebatii were the Catti, Catieuchlani or Cattevelauni, in the present counties of Hertford, Bedford, Northampton, and Bucks. Their capital was Verulamium, near St. Albans. IX. South West of the Cattevelauni and Atrebatii were the Dobuni, who inhabited Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. The two principal stations were Corinium, or Cirencester, and Glevum, or Gloucester. Wales was divided among two principal nations: X. In South Wales the Silures

inhabited the counties of Hereford, Monmouth, Radnor, Brecon, and Glamorgan; whose capital was Isca Silurum, now Caerleon, on the river Isca, or Uske, in Monmouthshire. The other principal stations were Burrium, or Uske, Blestium, or Monmouth, Gobannium, or Abergavenny, and Venta Silurum, or Caer Gwent, near Chepstow. The Demeta were a tribe of Silures on the coast. The great Caractacus, who was defeated by Ostorius Scapula, A. D. 51, was a prince of the Silures. XI. In North Wales were the Ordovices, who occupied the counties of Montgomery, Carnarvon, Denbigh, and Flint. Their capital was Mediolanium, or Meywood, in Montgomeryshire. Among them were also Segontium, or Carnarvon, on the river Seiont, and Conovium, or Conwy, on the river Conwy. The island of Anglesea was called Mona. XII. Returning to the Eastern coast: North of the Trinobantes were the Simeni, Cenimagni, or Iceni, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire; whose capital was Venta Icenorum, ór Caister, not far from Norwich. The famous Boadicea was queen of the Iceni, who revolted against the Romans, and was defeated by Suetonius Paulinus, A. D. 61. XIII. North West of the Iceni were the Coritani, who possessed the counties of Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, and part of Stafford. Among the principal stations were Lindum, or Lincoln, and Ratæ, or Leicester. XIV. West of the Coritani were the Cornavii, who were settled in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire. The principal stations here were the Deva, or Chester, Uriconium *,

* Hence the present name of the Wrekin.

I

er Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, the antient capital of the Cornavii, Etocetum, or Wall, near Lichfield, and Manduessedum, or Manceter, in Warwickshire, though the two last belong more properly to the Coritani. The Huicii, or Jugantes, as they were called by Tacitus, were a tribe of the Cornavii settled in Warwickshire and Worcestershire. XV. North of the Coritani were the Parisi, but a small nation, situated in that part of Yorkshire called Holderness, and subject to, XVI. The Brigantes, the greatest, most powerful, and most antient of the British nations. They possessed the whole extent of Britain from sea to sea, comprising the counties of York, Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. The famous Cartismandua, with whom Caractacus took refuge, was queen of the Brigantes. The principal towns were Eboracum, or York, one of the greatest in the island, and Isurium, or Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, which was at one time the capital of the Brigantes. These are the principal British nations. The antient inhabitants of Scotland were very little known to the Romans; and it may suffice to mention the Otadeni, who were seated in the counties of Northumberland, Merse, and the Lothian; the Gadeni, North West of the Otadeni, in Northumberland and Teviotdale; the Selgovæ, in Eskdale, Annandale, and Nithisdale, on the shores of the Solway Firth: still West, the Novantæ, in Galloway, Carrick, Kyle, and Cunningham; and on the North West, above the Otadeni and Gadeni, the Damnii, in Clydesdale, Renfrew, Lenox, and Stirlingshire. These five nations were sometimes comprehended under the general name of the Mæatæ.

When Britain was formed into a regular Roman province, the nations above enumerated were comprised in the five following grand divisions: -I. Britannia Prima, comprising the East and South East of Britain. II. Flavia Cæsariensis, containing the West and South West. III. Britannia Secunda, containing Wales. IV. Maxima Cæsariensis, containing the North of Britain. And subsequently, V. Valentia, comprehending the five Scottish tribes, already mentioned under the name of Mæatæ, lying between the walls of Antoninus and Severus, about to be described, which were built to prevent the incursions of the barbarous Scottish tribes into the Roman provinces. The first of these was built by Agricola, A. D. 79, nearly in the situation of the Rampart of Hadrian and Wall of Severus, hereafter to be described. But in A. D. 81, Agricola built a line of very strong forts, advanced considerably North, from the Firth of Forth, on the East, to the Firth of Clyde, on the Western coast of Scotland. These, however, appear to have been insufficient to restrain the progress of the barbarians after the departure of Agricola, A. D. 85; and in A. D. 120 the Emperor Hadrianplanned and executed that mighty rampart about to be described. It began from Tunnocelum, or Boulness, on the Estuarium Itunæ, or Solway Firth, on the Western coast, and was continued, almost in a direct line, to Segedenum, or Cousin's House, beyond Pons Ælii, or Newcastle upon Tyne, on the Eastern shore, being a distance of rather more than 68 English, or 74 Roman miles. It consisted of a principal agger, or vallum, that is a rampart, about 10 or 12 feet high, a ditch, on the North of this vallum, 9 feet deep and 11 feet wide, an agger 20 feet on the North side of this ditch, and an agger, without a