THE

SAXONS IN ENGLAND.

BOOK I.

THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE ANGLO-SAXON
COMMONWEALTH.

CHAPTER I.

SAXON AND WELSH TRADITIONS.

Eleven centuries ago, an industrious and consci-
entious historian, desiring to give a record of the
establishment of his forefathers in this island, could
find no fuller or better account than this : “ About
the year of Grace 445-446, the British inhabitants
of England, deserted by the Roman masters who
had enervated while they protected them, and ex-
posed to the ravages of Picts and Scots from the
extreme and barbarous portions of the island, called
in the assistance of heathen Saxons from the conti-
nent of Europe. The strangers faithfully performed
their task, and chastised the Northern invaders ;
then, in scorn of the weakness of their employers,
subjected them in turn to the yoke, and after vari-
ous vicissitudes of fortune, established their own

VOL. I.

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