King Alfred of England | Page 4

was
compelled to leave the realm altogether, and in his destitution and
distress he went for refuge and protection to his rejected daughter
Cordiella. She received her father with the greatest alacrity and

affection. She raised an army to restore him to his rights, and went in
person with him to England to assist him in recovering them. She was
successful. The old king took possession of his throne again, and
reigned in peace for the remainder of his days. The story is of itself
nothing very remarkable, though Shakspeare has immortalized it by
making it the subject of one of his tragedies.
Centuries passed away, and at length the great Julius Cæsar, who was
extending the Roman power in every direction, made his way across
the Channel, and landed in England. The particulars of this invasion are
described in our history of Julius Cæsar. The Romans retained
possession of the island, in a greater or less degree, for four hundred
years.
They did not, however, hold it in peace all this time. They became
continually involved in difficulties and contests with the native Britons,
who could ill brook the oppressions of such merciless masters as
Roman generals always proved in the provinces which they pretended
to govern. One of the most formidable rebellions that the Romans had
to encounter during their disturbed and troubled sway in Britain was
led on by a woman. Her name was Boadicea. Boadicea, like almost all
other heroines, was coarse and repulsive in appearance. She was tall
and masculine in form. The tones of her voice were harsh, and she had
the countenance of a savage. Her hair was yellow. It might have been
beautiful if it had been neatly arranged, and had shaded a face which
possessed the gentle expression that belongs properly to woman. It
would then have been called golden. As it was, hanging loosely below
her waist and streaming in the wind, it made the wearer only look the
more frightful. Still, Boadicea was not by any means indifferent to the
appearance she made in the eyes of beholders. She evinced her desire to
make a favorable impression upon others, in her own peculiar way, it is
true, but in one which must have been effective, considering what sort
of beholders they were in whose eyes she figured. She was dressed in a
gaudy coat, wrought of various colors, with a sort of mantle buttoned
over it. She wore a great gold chain about her neck, and held an
ornamented spear in her hand. Thus equipped, she appeared at the head
of an army of a hundred thousand men, and gathering them around her,

she ascended a mound of earth and harangued them--that is, as many as
could stand within reach of her voice--arousing them to sentiments of
revenge against their hated oppressors, and urging them to the highest
pitch of determination and courage for the approaching struggle.
Boadicea had reason to deem the Romans her implacable foes. They
had robbed her of her treasures, deprived her of her kingdom,
imprisoned her, scourged her, and inflicted the worst possible injuries
upon her daughters. These things had driven the wretched mother to a
perfect phrensy of hate, and aroused her to this desperate struggle for
redress and revenge. But all was in vain. In encountering the spears of
Roman soldiery, she was encountering the very hardest and sharpest
steel that a cruel world could furnish. Her army was conquered, and she
killed herself by taking poison in her despair.
By struggles such as these the contest between the Romans and the
Britons was carried on for many generations; the Romans conquering at
every trial, until, at length, the Britons learned to submit without further
resistance to their sway. In fact, there gradually came upon the stage,
during the progress of these centuries, a new power, acting as an enemy
to both the Picts and Scots; hordes of lawless barbarians, who inhabited
the mountains and morasses of Scotland and Ireland. These terrible
savages made continual irruptions into the southern country for plunder,
burning and destroying, as they retired, whatever they could not carry
away. They lived in impregnable and almost inaccessible fastnesses,
among dark glens and precipitous mountains, and upon gloomy islands
surrounded by iron-bound coasts and stormy seas. The Roman legions
made repeated attempts to hunt them out of these retreats, but with very
little success. At length a line of fortified posts was established across
the island, near where the boundary line now lies between England and
Scotland; and by guarding this line, the Roman generals who had
charge of Britain attempted to protect the inhabitants of the southern
country, who had learned at length to submit peaceably to their sway.
One of the most memorable events which occurred during the time