A Childs History of England | Page 4

ditch all round, and a low wall, made of mud, or the trunks
of trees placed one upon another. The people planted little or no corn, but lived upon the
flesh of their flocks and cattle. They made no coins, but used metal rings for money.
They were clever in basket-work, as savage people often are; and they could make a
coarse kind of cloth, and some very bad earthenware. But in building fortresses they were
much more clever.

They made boats of basket-work, covered with the skins of animals, but seldom, if ever,
ventured far from the shore. They made swords, of copper mixed with tin; but, these
swords were of an awkward shape, and so soft that a heavy blow would bend one. They
made light shields, short pointed daggers, and spears - which they jerked back after they
had thrown them at an enemy, by a long strip of leather fastened to the stem. The
butt-end was a rattle, to frighten an enemy's 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 golden 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 mistletoe - 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, fragments of some of which

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