slew with the loss only of four hundred Romans and as many more wounded the Grief of which Defeat assisted as some say by Poyson put a Period to the Life of Boadicea Britain which was wel-nigh lost being thus by one Battel recovered the vindicative Nature of Suetonius who tho otherwise a very worthy person over-proud of his Victory gave too much way to his Anger against the Britains caused those that were yet untamed to stand out encouraged the rather thereunto by the Differences between him and the new Procurator Julius Classicianus But Suetonius being recalled his Successor Petronius Turpilianus set himself wholly to quiet the Province without making any new Attempts so that thenceforward the Britains who lived unmolested beginning to suck in the Pleasures of Vice were more enslaved by the Roman Luxuries than ever they had been by their Arms. In this posture Affairs continued here till that Vespasian having taken possession of the Empire sent hither Petilius Crealis who had many Battels with the Brigantes over whom tho he obtained some Victories yet he had alwayes enough of War His Successor Julius Frontinus subdued the stout and warlike Nation of the Silures But Julius Agricola sent into Britain in the last year of Vespasian extended the Roman Limits beyond all his Predecessors For at his very entrance into this Government he overthrew and almost extirpated the whole Nation of the Ordovices and gained the Isle of Mona from the Possession whereof the Rebellion of the Britains had called back Suetonius After which by proportionating with Equality the imposed Tribute removing the Exactions and exorbitant Fees of Officers and bridling the Extravagance and Licentiousness of his Domesticks and Souldiers he brought the People to be in love with Peace which before seemed no less formidable to them than War it self So that having first by many Inrodes terrified the Enemy and then by his gentle Demeanor allured them several Cities which hitherto had refused to bend voluntarily submitted to him gave Hostages and received Garisons for which he providently chose Places of such advantage that never any of them was either forced yielded up or quitted Then encouraging the Britains who before lived rude and scattered to build Houses Temples and Places for Publick Resort he taught them the Institutes and Customs of a Civil Life causing their Noblemens Sons to be instructed in the Liberal Sciences and by preferring the Wits of Britain before those of Gallia bringing them who before hated the Roman Language to be in love with the Latin Eloquence Now likewise came in the Gown and other Fashions of the Romans and by Degrees all those Incitements of Vice and Voluptuous Living which the Luxurious miscall Civility Glota and Bodotria called at this day Dunbritton and Edinborough Friths two opposite Arms of the Sea disjoined only by a Neck of Land with all the Creeks and Inlets on this Side being now held by the Romans and the Enemy shut up as it were in another Island Agricola passed over into and subdued Nations till then unknown supposed to be the Orcades and other Scotch Isles and placed Garrisons likewise in that part of Britain which faced Ireland at the Conquest whereof he also aimed courteously entertaining for that purpose one of the Irish Kings driven out of his Country by Civil Wars whom he kept with him for a fit Occasion But an Apprehension of a general Rising of the Nations beyond Bodotria called him away from this design for understanding that they had forelaid the Passages by land he commanded his Fleet to bear along the Shores and up the Friths and Harbors himself with even Marches keeping up close to it so that both Land and Sea Forces joined commonly at night with Shouts and loud Greetings Which much daunted the Britains not accustomed to see their Sea so ridden Yet the Caledonians generally taking Arms and attacking sundry Castles strook no small Terror into several of the Roman Commanders who concealing their Fears under the Name of cautious Counsel advised the General to retreat on this side Bodotria But he whose Resolutions were otherwise having Intelligence that the Enemy would fall on in many Bodies divided also his Army into three parts Which the Britains learning changed Counsels and with all their Forces assailed by night that part of the Roman Army which they knew to be the weakest whom surprizing between Sleep and Fear they had now begun some Execution when Agricola who was informed of their March following them at the Heels commanded the lightest of his Horse and Foot to charge on their Backs the whole Army soon seconding them with a Shout So that by approach of Day the Caledonians finding themselves encompast with the glittering Roman Ensigns after a sharp Fight betook themselves to their old Refuge the Woods and Boggs or else that day had probably made a total End of the War The Romans reencouraged with this Success and now boasting who but ere while trembled with one voice cried out to be led on as far as there was any British Ground Nor did the Britains who imputed that Dayes Victory not to the Valor of their Enemies but to the Policy of their General abate any thing of their Stoutness but arming their Youth and conveying their Wives and Children to places of Safety with solemn and sacred vows bound themselves to mutual assistance against the common Adversary In the mean time a Cohort of Vsipians here in Britain having slain their Centurion and other Officers in a Mutiny fearing Punishment fled to Sea without any Pilot in three Pinnaces and being driven at random about the Coast used Piracy where they landed till after various Fortunes taken first by the Suevians afterwards by the Frisians they were sold into Britain where being known they first discovered to the Romans that Britain was an Island The Summer following Agricola having gained this Knowledge sending forth his Navy to scour the Coasts and by various and uncertain Landings to divert and disunite the Enemy with a flying Army wherein were many Britains whose Courage and Fidelity he had long experienced came as far as the Mountain Grampius where the Caledonians to the number of thirty thousand were assembled under the command of Galgacus whom both his Birth and Merit made their chief Leader He by his rough Oratory in detestation of Servitude and the Roman Yoke having augmented the Eagerness of his Followers and Agricola having incited his by exhorting them to Glory and Victory the Armies joyned Battle where after a vehement and various Contest the Romans clearly wan the Day ten thousand of their Enemies being slain and the rest so totally discomfited that the next day there was not a Man of them to be seen all being fled none knew whither Agricola informed hereof by his Scouts Summer being far spent and it being now no fit Time to divide his Forces leads his Army amongst the Horesti thought to be the Inhabitants of Eskdale in Scotland from whom having
him and holding his Court apart from the King In the eighth year of his Age being taken from the Charge of his Women Education he had for Governor William then Earl afterward Marquess and lately Duke of Newcastle and after him Thomas late Earl of Berkshire and for Tutor or Preceptor Dr. Brian Duppa then Dean of Christ-Church in Oxford soon after Bishop of Chichester after that of Salisbury and lately of Winchester In October 1642. the two Houses having out of their superabundant Loyalty and great Zeal for the preservation of their Soveraign raised an Army to divest him of his Soveraignty he was with his Father at the Battel of Edge-Hill and not long after was at Oxford committed to the Care of William Marquess of Hertford whom after his own happy Restauration he restored to the Dignity and Precedency of Duke of Somerset In the fifteenth year of his Age he was sent by his Father into the West of England to perfect an Association begun there in the end of the foregoing Summer And not long after there was a Marriage proposed between him and the Infanta Joanna eldest Daughter to the King of Portugal since deceased Departure out of England The year following Barnstable being taken and Exeter besieged by the Rebels he withdrew from Devonshire into Cornwall from whence he passed into the Isle of Scilly and thence to the Queen his Mother being at St. Germains near Paris In the year 1648. a Considerable part of the Royal Navy encouraged thereto by Captain Batten formerly Vice-Admiral to the Earl of Warwick being put into his Power he endeavored to rescue the King his Father out of the impious hands of his rebellious Subjects But failing of Success he was forced to retire to his Sister at the Hague where not many Months after upon the sad News of the barbarous Murther of his Royal Father he was first saluted King soon after proclaimed in Scotland and most Towns of Ireland being yet under nineteen years of Age. In the latter end of the year 1649. he received being then in Jersey Coming into England a Message from the Committee of Estates of Scotland brought by Mr. George Windram of Liberton and the March following met the Scotch Commissioners at Breda in Holland and about the beginning of June 1650. being invited by a solemn Message from the Estates of that Kingdom he took Shipping at Scheveling and having escaped the danger both of a sudden Storm that cast him upon certain Danish Islands and of a Fleet of English Vessels sent out under Popham to intercept his passage arrived at the Spey in the North of Scotland from whence all along his way to Edenborough he was entertained with the general Joy of the People several of the Towns by which he passed making him considerable Presents On the fifteenth of July he was again solemnly proclaimed King at Edenborough Cross and was the first of January following crowned at Scoon the accustomed place for Coronation of the Kings of Scotland Escape from Worcester Being invaded by an Army from England he was forced to quit that Kingdom and try his Fortune in this which he entred the sixth of August 1651. and on the twenty second of the same Month came to Worcester where on the third of September was fought that fatal Battel in which tho his Majesty acted with such marvellous Gallantry and Conduct that he wan applause from his very Enemies yet he unfortunately lost the Day and his whole Army himself not without a Providence unparalleld in History escaping the Hands of his blood-thirsty Enemies who not only by publick Act promised a Sum of Money to those that should discover him but likewise threatned the Penalty of High Treason to any that should conceal him For being in the very Heart England and a thousand pounds set upon his head he was forced to wander about in disguise for six Weeks and to appear in many Places and Companies before he could find a fit opportunity of Transportation During which time tho he were seen and known to many person divers whereof were excessively indigent and therefore liable to be tempted by the proposed Reward divers of the Female Sex and so not only most unapt to retain a Secret but also very subject to be terrified by the threatned Penalty and divers besides all this of the Roman Religion which alone the very Principles thereof having been alwayes clamored against as reputed to teach nothing but Treachery and Disloyalty to Princes and the Lawfulness of breaking Faith with Hereticks might have made his Majesty afraid to trust them yet was he still most miraculously preserved and at length by one Tetershal since a Captain in his Majesties Navy whose Wife suspecting the Business was so far from disencouraging him that she said She cared not if she and her little ones begged their Bread so the King were in safety transported from Bright-hemstead neer Shoram in Sussex to Feccam neer Hauvre de Grace in Normandy whence he posted directly to Rouen and having thence dispatched Letters to the French Court he was met the Queen his Mother the Duke of Orleans and many Persons of Quality and by them conducted to Paris where with his Royal Brothers and divers of the British Nobility Clergy and Gentry he was for some years received and treated as King of Great Britain There by his Excellent Wisdom and Address mediating with the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Lorrain then in the Head of two great Armies against the French King he quenched the newly-kindled Fire of an universal Rebellion raised against him and was a Means of restoring Cardinal Mazarine who had for fear of the Princes of the Blood withdrawn himself to Colen to his former Authority and Greatness In the year 1654. His Majesty understanding that upon a Treaty of Peace between the French King and Oliver Cromwel then stiling himself Protector of the Commonwealth of England Scotland and Ireland one of the chiefest Articles insisted upon by the Usurper was the excluding of him with his Relations and Followers out of France to prevent a ceremonious Expulsion voluntarily departed thence into Germany making his first place of Residence at the Spaw whence after a few Moneths he went to Colen where was discovered the Correspondence between Thurloe Cromwels Secretary and Manning one of the Kings Secretaries Clerks who for giving weekly Intelligence to the Usurper of the Transactions in his Majesties Court was deservedly shot to death After the Rupture between Cromwel and the King of Spain he was by Don John of Austria who being Governor of the Low-Countryes for his Catholick Majesty sent the Count of Fuensaldagne to offer him in the name of the Spanish King all possible Service and Assistance invited into Flanders where making his Residence for the most part at Bruges he continued till a little before Sir George Booths Rising in Cheshire when he removed privately from Bruxels to Calais whence having notice
serviceable While this was doing Caesar advertized by the Sentinels at the Camp-Gates that an unusual Dust was seen to arise from that part of the Countrey whither the seventh Legion was gone forth to forrage taking with him the Cohorts of his Guards and commanding all the rest but two who were to keep the Camp to speed after him came very opportunely to assist his Legion that was now over-born by the Britains who not doubting but their Enemies would on the morrow return to that Place which they had only left unreapt of all their Harvest had laid themselves in Ambush and whilst the Romans were disperst and busy at their Labor set upon them killed some and routed the rest and had now enclosed them with their Horse and Chariots when Caesars Arrival caused the Britains to retire and he not thinking it convenient to offer them Battel drew off his Legions to the Camp Foul weather for many dayes after hindring all Action on both sides the Britains by dispatching Messengers into all parts signifying to what small number their Enemies were reduced the great Hopes there was of Spoil and of freeing their Country from future Invasion if they could now make the Romans a severe Example had got together great Multitudes both of Horse and Foot whom Caesar having after a fierce Encounter put to flight pursued as far as he could and in his return burnt and laid wast all about him The Britains the same day sent Ambassadours to him to treat of Peace who glad no doubt that he could return with some Shew of Honour whereas if they had delayed but a little he must either have forsaken the Island or else perished for want of Provisions enjoyned only for so great a Breach of Faith a double number of Hostages to be sent him into Gallia and about Midnight set Sail for the Continent whence sending to Rome an account of his Attempt the Senate for this Discovery decreed twenty dayes of Thanksgiving to the Gods Invasion The Britains not sending their Hostages Caesar at his Departure according to annual Custom for Rome commanded his Legats to provide what possible Shipping they could ordering them to be low-built for the easier Fraughtage and better haling ashore and flat-bottom'd for the more convenient Transporting of Horse Finding at his Return six hundred such in readiness with twenty eight Gallies and above two hundred Adventurers and other Hulks in all a thousand about Sun-set with sive Legions and two thousand Horse hoyâ—ing Sail from Port Iccius he was at Midnight becalmed so that at Day-break descrying the Island to bear left of him he turned about with the Tide and by the unwearied Labor of his Souldiers who cheerfully tugged at the Oar came up about Noon near the same Place which the year before he had found so convenient for Landing At his Arrival no Enemy was seen the Britains who had been there in great Numbers being withdrawn into the higher Countries terrified with the Sight of so vast a Fleet. Having landed his Army encamped to the best advantage and learnt of some Fugitives where to find the Britains leaving Quintus Atrius with ten Cohorts and three hundred Horse to guard his Ships about the third Watch of the Night he advanced with his main Body twelve Miles into the Country where upon the Banks of a River commonly thought to be the Stowr in Kent he sees embattelled the British Forces who with their Horse and Chariots having possest themselves of the upper Ground smartly opposed the Romans March but repulst by their Enemies Cavalry retired into the Woods to a Place fortified both by Art and Nature cast up as it seemed in time of Wars amongst themselves the Passages whereto were on all sides blockt up with huge Trees felled and laid overthwart one another within which they did their utmost to keep out the Romans till the seventh Legion having raised a Mount and lockt their Shields close over their Heads like a Roof without much loss of Blood took the Place and drave the Britains from their Holds whom yet Caesar would not pursue through unknown wayes but Evening drawing on more wisely employed the Time in fortifying another Camp and refreshing his Souldiers Next Morning early three Bodies of Roman Horse and Foot sent to seek the Enemy were not yet got out of sight when News coming Post from Q. Atrius that most of the Fleet wrackt that Night by a sudden Tempest lay split on the Shore made Caesar call back his Forces and return to his Ships of which finding about forty utterly lost and the rest so shattered as not to be new rigged without much Labour he assembled what Shipwrights he could both from his own Legions and the Continent sending Orders to Labienus whom he had left to make good the Port in Gallia to fall a Building more and in ten dayes time not respiting his Souldiers either Night or Day drew up all his Ships and entrencht them within his Camp This done leaving there the former Guard he marcht up to the same Wood where he had defeated the Britains whom he finds now repossest of that Place with far greater Numbers under the Command of Cassibelan chosen by the British Princes whom common Danger had now united for their chief Leader who with his Horse and Chariots stoutly fought the Roman Cavalry in their March but being somewhat overmacht retreated to the Woods and Hills whither the Romans too eagerly pursuing them the Britains rallying again cut off the forwardest and after a while when Caesar who thought all over was busied about the entrenching of his Camp of a sudding breaking out of their Coverts fiercely assaulted the very Stations of his Guards and Sentries and whilst two of the choicest Cohorts drawn out of two Legions and sent to the Alarm stood at small distance from each other amazed at the Novelty and Fierceness of the Fight charged back again through the midst without Loss of a Man Next Morning the Britains shewed themselves upon the Hills and tho not so boldly as before skirmished with the Roman Horse but about Noon Caesar having sent forth three Legions and all his Horse to seek Fodder they suddenly set upon the Forragers and charged up after them to the very Legions and their Standards where they were couragiously repelled by the Romans whose Horse well seconded by their Foot so closely pursued them that the Britains not having leisure to rally stand or descend from their Chariots were many of them slain and the rest generally routed Cassibelan after this Overthrow resolving in a manner to change the whole Nature of the War disbanded many Auxiliary Forces that had from all parts been sent him and with the choicest of his Men and four thousand Chariots which he judged sufficient to hinder the Enemies Incursions set himself to attend Caesars March Who advertized thereof drew his Army toward the Frontiers of Cassibelans Kingdom which was bounded by the Thames fordable only in one Place
another Wall of Stone twelve foot high and eight broad traversing the Island in a direct Line from East to West where Severus had walled before between certain Cities placed as Frontiers to keep off the Enemy and along the South Shore from whence Hostility was also feared they erected Towers at certain distances for safety of the Coast This done having instructed the Britains in the Art of War leaving them Patterns of their Arms and Weapons and exhorting them manfully to resist the Invaders of their Countrey they took their last Farewel never purposing to return The Romans being finally departed and their Resolution of not returning known the Scots and Picts more confidently than ever issuing out of their Holes seized upon all the North part of the Island even as far as the Wall which not fearing to be dispossest they as natural Inhabitants planted and manured Not content herewith they assaulted the Garrison on the Wall whence with their Hooks and Engines pulling down some they put the rest to flight themselves taking possession of the Frontier Cities and having with such ease broken into the Province pursued the Britains into the Inland Countreys bringing destruction still along with them The better to withstand the frequent Inroads of these cruel Enemies the Princes after the example of their Ancestors in the dayes of Julius Caesar resolved to choose a General Captain of the whole Nation and to establish the Kingdom in his Line For this high Dignity there were two considerable Competitors Aurelius Ambrosius descended of a noble Roman Family and as it is supposed Son of Constantin who in the dayes of Honorius pretended to the Roman Empire and Vortigern Prince of the Damnonii or as some write Consul of the Gevissei Inhabitants of the South-Western parts about Cornwal or South-Wales Which Principality it seems he had governed well enough to be esteemed not unworthy to be preferred above his formerly Fellow-Princes Ambrosius therefore with his Brother Vter Pendragon retiring into lesser Britain in Gaul quitted both his Pretence and Country to Vortigern who the Choice thus falling on him was in the Year 438 anointed King For that in those ancient times of British Government the solemn Ceremony of anointing their Kings was in use in this Island is clear from the Testimony of Gildas Vortigern thus advanced to the Throne governed a while his Principality with Moderation In the eighth year of his Reign the Picts who after their miraculous Discomfiture by St. Germanus had for the most part kept within their own Territories now breaking in afresh miserably wasted all those Provinces of Britain which had formerly been subject to the Romans and this Invasion they continued the year following with such violence that after much Bloodshed and horrible Devastation of the Countrey the Britains having no other Refuge wrote to Aetius then President of Gallia this short but lamentable Epistle recorded by Gildas To Aetius the third time Consul the Groans of the Britains The Barbarians drive us to the Sea the Sea beats us back upon the Barbarians Between these two we are exposed either to be slain with the Sword or drowned and to avoid both we find no Remedy But in vain were these Supplications the Romans who could scarce secure the heart of their Empire infested with the Huns and Vandals not being able to afford them any assistance Many therefore of the Britains seeing themselves thus rejected wearied with flying from place to place and spent with the terrible Famin which had long afflicted them yielded themselves Slaves to their Savage Enemies but others more resolute taught by their Miseries to seek aid from Heaven retired to inaccessible Mountains and Caves whence with Courage and Success they often assaulted these ravenous Spoilers recovering from them their Booty and driving them back to their own Quarters These hostil Invasions therefore a while ceasing the Britains set themselves to cultivate their Ground which with scarce credible Plenty abundantly recompenced their Labors No sooner were their Enemies departed and their pinching Hunger allaid but their Piety likewise vanished in the room whereof succeeded excessive Luxury accompanied with all sorts of Vices infecting not the Laity only but the Clergy also who ought to have been Guides to others And altho GOD sought to reclaim them by his Scourge of Pestilence by which such Multitudes perished that the Living were not sufficient to bury the Dead yet were they with this Severity nothing at all amended but like Solomons Fool tho scourged yet they felt it not GODs Patience therefore being spent towards a People which grew worse both by Prosperity and Adversity he so far infatuated their Counsels that they themselves invited from a remote Country Enemies far more savage and barbarous than either the Picts or Scots The Northern Spoilers whom fear of the Contagion had kept within their own Borders the Infection now beginning to cease readvanced into the Inland Countrey against whose Incursions the better to provide King Vortigern summoned a general Councel where by common Advice it was resolved that Ambassadors should be sent into Germany to hire the Saxons to their assistance an Army of which in the year 449 landing in Britain under the Conduct of Hengist and Horsa the Britains by their Help overcoming their Enemies who were come as far as Stamford in Lincolnshire gave them great Possesions in that part of the same County now called Lindsey where they built Thong-Castle King Vortigern falling in love with Rowena Daughter to Hengist divorced his Queen a vertuous Lady by whom he had three Sons named Vortimer Catigern and Pascentius to make his Bed vacant for this Pagan whom he bought of her Father with the Kingdom of Kent who soon after taking advantage at the Discontent of the Britains for this Act of their King pickt a Quarrel and making a League with the Picts laid wast the Countrey The Saxons Power increasing by the coming over of fresh Supplies the British Laity first and afterwards the Clergy represented their Danger to the King whom either not believing or not regarding their Complaints they in the sixteenth year of his Reign deserted and followed his Son Vortimer choosing him as some say for their General or as others for an Associate to his Father in the Kingdom under whose Conduct they had many Conflicts with the Saxons and that with various Success in one of which the Vant-guard being led by Aurelius Ambrosius newly come out of Little Britain to assist Prince Vortimer the main Body by Vortimer himself and the Rere by his Brother Catigern Catigern was slain and buried at Alestrew now called Aylesford in Kent where a Monument erected for him is at this day corruptly called Keith-Coty-House This Proceeding of the Britains tho the more excuseable in that they did not presume to depose their King which yet Parker in his Antiquities of the British Church not only affirms they did but like a true Calvinist commends them for so doing but only without or