68
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
journeyed, the footsteps of civilization move up-
ward : till, reaching the rising ground from which
the streams descend on either side, the vanguards
of two parties meet, and the watershed becomes
their boundary, and the place of meeting for religi-
ous or political purposes. Meantime, the ford, the
mill, the bridge have become the nucleus of a vil-
lage, and the blessings of mutual intercourse and
family bonds have converted the squatters’ settle-
ment into a centre of wealth and happiness. And
in like manner is it, where a clearing in the forest,
near a spring or well1,—divine, for its uses to man,
—has been made ; and where, by slow degrees, the
separated families discover each other, and find
that it is not good for man to be alone.
This description, however, will not strictly apply
to numerous or extensive cases of settlement, al-
though some analogy may be found, if we substi-
tute a tribe for the family. Continental Germany
has no tradition of such a process ; and we may
not unjustly believe the records of such in Scandi-
navia to have arisen from the wanderings of un-
quiet spirits, impatient of control or rivalry, of cri-
minals shrinking from the consequences of their
guilt, or of descendants dreading the blood-feud
inherited from ruder progenitors. But although
systematic and religious colonization, like that of
Greece, cannot be assumed to have prevailed, we
may safely assert that it was carried on far more
1 Water seems the indispensable condition of a settlement in any part
of the world : hence, in part, the worship paid to it. It is the very
key to the history of the East.
CH. ∏.]
THE MARK.
69
regularly, and upon more strict principles than are
compatible with capricious and individual settle-
ment1. Tradition here and there throws light
upon the causes by which bodies of men were im-
pelled to leave their ancient habitations, and seek
new seats in more fruitful or peaceful districts.
The emigration represented by Hengest has been
attributed to a famine at home, and even the grave
authority of history has countenanced the belief
that his keels were driven into exile : thus far we
may assume his adventure to have been made with
the participation, if not by the authority, of the
parent state.
In general we may admit the division of a con-
quered country, such as Britain was, to have been
conducted upon settled principles, derived from the
actual position of the conquerors. As an army
they had obtained possession, and as an army they
distributed the booty which rewarded their valour.
That they nevertheless continued to occupy the
land as families or cognationes, resulted from the
method of their enrolment in the field itself, where
each kindred was drawn up under an officer of
its own lineage and appointment, and the several
members of the family served together. But such a
1 The solemn apportionment of lands and dwellings is nowhere more
obvious, or described in more instructive detail, than in Denmark.
Norway and the Swedish borderlands may have offered more nume-
rous instances of solitary settling. The manner of distributing the
village land is called Solskipt or Solskipti : the provisions of this law
are given by Grimm, Rechtsalt. p. 539. There is an interesting account
of the formalities used upon the first colonization of Iceland, in Geijer,
Hist, of Sweden, i. 159. (German translation of 1826.)