King Alfred of England | Page 9

which were grouped by the historian together, or else that several other
vessels or transports accompanied the three, which history has specially
commemorated as the first arriving.
In fact, very little can now be known in respect to the form and capacity
of the vessels in which these half-barbarous navigators roamed, in those
days, over the British seas. Their name, indeed, has come down to us,
and that is nearly all. They were called cyules; though the name is
sometimes spelled, in the ancient chronicles, ceols, and in other ways.
They were obviously vessels of considerable capacity and were of such
construction and such strength as to stand the roughest marine
exposures. They were accustomed to brave fearlessly every commotion
and to encounter every danger raised either by winter tempests or
summer gales in the restless waters of the German Ocean.
The names of the commanders who headed the expedition which first
landed have been preserved, and they have acquired, as might have
been expected, a very wide celebrity. They were Hengist and Horsa.
Hengist and Horsa were brothers.
The place where they landed was the island of Thanet. Thanet is a tract
of land at the mouth of the Thames, on the southern side; a sort of
promontory extending into the sea, and forming the cape at the south
side of the estuary made by the mouth of the river. The extreme point
of land is called the North Foreland which, as it is the point that
thousands of vessels, coming out of the Thames, have to round in
proceeding southward on voyages to France, to the Mediterranean, to
the Indies, and to America, is very familiarly known to navigators
throughout the world. The island of Thanet, of which this North

Foreland is the extreme point, ought scarcely to be called an island,
since it forms, in fact, a portion of the main land, being separated from
it only by a narrow creek or stream, which in former ages indeed, was
wide and navigable, but is now nearly choked up and obliterated by the
sands and the sediment, which, after being brought down by the
Thames, are driven into the creek by the surges of the sea.
In the time of Hengist and Horsa the creek was so considerable that its
mouth furnished a sufficient harbor for their vessels. They landed at a
town called Ebbs-fleet, which is now, however, at some distance
inland.
There is some uncertainty in respect to the motive which led Hengist
and Horsa to make their first descent upon the English coast. Whether
they came on one of their customary piratical expeditions, or were
driven on the coast accidentally by stress of weather, or were invited to
come by the British king, can not now be accurately ascertained. Such
parties of Anglo-Saxons had undoubtedly often landed before under
somewhat similar circumstances, and then, after brief incursions into
the interior, had re-embarked on board their ships and sailed away. In
this case, however, there was a certain peculiar and extraordinary state
of things in the political condition of the country in which they had
landed, which resulted in first protracting their stay, and finally in
establishing them so fixedly and permanently in the land, that they and
their followers and descendants soon became the entire masters of it,
and have remained in possession to the present day. These
circumstances were as follows:
The name of the king of Britain at this period was Vortigern. At the
time when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, he and his government were
nearly overwhelmed with the pressure of difficulty and danger arising
from the incursions of the Picts and Scots; and Vortigern, instead of
being aroused to redoubled vigilance and energy by the imminence of
the danger, as Alfred afterward was in similar circumstances, sank
down, as weak minds always do, in despair, and gave himself up to
dissipation and vice--endeavoring, like depraved seamen on a wreck, to
drown his mental distress in animal sensations of pleasure. Such men

are ready to seek relief or rescue from their danger from any quarter
and at any price. Vortigern, instead of looking upon the Anglo-Saxon
intruders as new enemies, conceived the idea of appealing to them for
succor. He offered to convey to them a large tract of territory in the part
of the island where they had landed, on condition of their aiding him in
his contests with his other foes.
Hengist and Horsa acceded to this proposal. They marched their
followers into battle, and defeated Vortigern's enemies. They sent
across the sea to their native land, and invited new adventurers to join
them. Vortigern was greatly pleased with the success of his expedient.
The Picts and Scots were driven back to their fastnesses in the remote
mountains of the north, and the Britons