horse. The ancient Britons, being divided
into as many as thirty or forty tribes, each
commanded by its own little King, were
constantly fighting with one another, as savage
people usually do; and they always fought
with these weapons.

They were very fond of horses. The standard
of Kent was the picture of a white horse. They
could break them in and manage them wonderfully
well. Indeed, the horses (of which they
had an abundance, though they were rather
small) were so well taught in those days that
they can scarcely be said to have improved
since—though the men are so much wiser.
They understood, and obeyed, every word of
command; and would stand still by
themselves, in all the din and noise of battle, while
their masters went to fight on foot. The
Britons could not have succeeded in their
most remarkable art, without the aid of these
sensible and trusty animals. The art I mean,
is the construction and management of
war-chariots or cars, for which they have ever
been celebrated in history. Each of the best
sort of these chariots, not quite breast high
in front, and open at the back, contained one
man to drive, and two or three others to
fight: all standing up. The horses who
drew them were so well trained, that they
would tear, at full gallop, over the most
stony ways, and even through the woods,
dashing down their masters' enemies beneath
their hoofs, and cutting them to pieces with
the blades of swords, or scythes, which were
fastened to the wheels, and stretched out
beyond the car on each side, for that cruel
purpose. In a moment, while at full speed,
the horses would stop, at the driver's
command. The men within would leap out, deal
blows about them with their swords like
hail, leap on the horses, on the pole, spring
back into the chariots anyhow; and, as soon
as they were safe, the horses tore away again.

The Britons had a strange and terrible
religion, called the Religion of the Druids. It seems
to have been brought over, in very early times
indeed, from the opposite country of France,
anciently called Gaul, and to have mixed up
the worship of the Serpent, and of the Sun
and Moon, with the worship of some of the
Heathen gods and Goddesses. Most of its
ceremonies were kept secret by the priests,
the Druids, who pretended to be enchanters,
and who carried magicians' wands, and wore,
each of them, about his neck, what he told
the ignorant people was a Serpent's egg in a
gold case. But, it is certain that the Druidical
ceremonies included the sacrifice of human
victims, the torture of some suspected criminals,
and, on particular occasions, even the
burning alive, in immense wicker cages, of a
number of men and animals together. The
Druid Priests had some kind of veneration
for the Oak, and for the miseltoe—the same
plant that we hang up in houses at Christmas
Time now—when its white berries grew upon
the Oak. They met together in dark woods
which they called Sacred Groves; and there
they instructed in their mysterious arts, young
men who came to them as pupils, and who
sometimes stayed with them as long as twenty
years.

These Druids built great Temples and
altars, open to the sky, of which some are yet
remaining. Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain
in Wiltshire, is the most extraordinary of
these. Three curious stones called Kits Coty
House, on Bluebell Hill near Maidstone in
Kent, form another. We know, from
examination of the great blocks of which such
buildings are made, that they could not have
been raised without the aid of some ingenious
machines, which are common now, but which
the ancient Britons certainly did not use in
making their own uncomfortable houses. I
should not wonder if the Druids, and their
pupils who stayed twenty years, knowing
more than the rest of the Britons, kept the
people out of sight while they made these
buildings, and then pretended that they made
them by magic. Perhaps, they had a hand in
the fortresses too; at all events, as they were
very powerful, and very much believed in,
and as they made and executed the laws, and
paid no taxes, I don't wonder that they liked
their trade. And, as they persuaded the
people that the more Druids there were,
the better off the people would be, I don't
wonder that there were a good many of them.
But, it is pleasant to think that there are no
Druids, now, who go on in that way, and
pretend to carry Enchanters' Wands and Serpents'
Eggs—and of course there is nothing of the
kind, any where.

Such was the improved condition of the
ancient Britons, fifty-five years before the
birth of Our Saviour, when the Romans,
under their great General, Julius Caesar, were
masters of all the rest of the known world.
Julius Caesar had then just conquered Gaul;
and hearing, in Gaul, a good deal about the
opposite Island with the white cliffs, and about
the bravery of the Britons who inhabited it,
some of whom had been fetched over to help
the Gauls in the war against him, he resolved,
as he was so near, to come and conquer
Britain next.

So, Julius Caesar came sailing over to this
island of ours, with eighty vessels and twelve
thousand men. And he came from the
French coast between Calais and Boulogne,
"because thence was the shortest passage
into Britain;" just for the same reason, as
our steamboats now take the same track,
every day. He expected to conquer Britain
easily; but, it was not such easy work as he
supposed—for the bold Britons fought most
bravely; and, what with not having his
horse-soldiers with him (for they had been
driven back by a storm), and what with having
some of his vessels dashed to pieces by a high
tide after they were drawn ashore, he ran
great risks of being totally defeated.
However, for once that the bold Britons beat him,