APPENDIX.

CHAPTER I.

Towns of the Ancient Britons were only clusters of huts, fortified by a row of felled trees, and a deep ditch.

Christianity. Introduced into Britain, it is supposed, about A.D. 60. The first church was built at Glastonbury, about A.D. 70. It was 60 feet long, and constructed of straw and wickerwork.

Persecution.-In 303, Diocletian, the emperor of the Western portion of the Roman dominions, being a Pagan, sent orders to the Viceroy in Britain to compel all Christians, under pain of death, to sacrifice to the gods. The persecution lasted nine years, during which time about 17,000 Christians suffered martyrdom. Bibles were burned in the streets, and priests killed. A Pagan, named Alban, sheltered a proscribed priest, who, during his stay, converted his host. Alban saved the priest by changing clothes with him, thus enabling him to escape in disguise. Alban was then commanded to offer sacrifice to the gods, and told that he should otherwise be put to death. He refused; and was first scourged, and then beheaded. On his way to execution, he converted one of the soldiers appointed to guard him. The town of St. Alban's, built on the spot where he was martyred, is named after him. The persecution was ended by the resignation of Diocletian, and the accession of a new emperor, who, although not a Christian, allowed Christianity in his dominions. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine the Great, who was converted to Christianity, it is said, by the miraculous appearance of a cross in the sky, as he was leading his soldiers to battle, or, more probably, by the example and teaching of a Christian mother.

Roman Remains. Most of the streets in London run upon the remains of Roman houses, which had no upper stories. Roman coins have been found in the bed of the Thames.

Picts and Scots.-The English built a wall between England and Scotland, by the advice of the Romans, but of earth, and it proved useless. The Romans next time made a stone one, gave patterns for arms, and good advice.

Departure of the Romans.-When the departure of the Romans took place, Britain possessed more than fifty walled towns, many military stations, public buildings, baths, temples, &c., also a large theatre, which would hold two or three thousand people.

Manners and Customs of the Saxons.-The Saxons were a very brave people; it was disgraceful to return safe from a battle where the chief was killed. Lazy folks or cowards were plunged into ponds of mud. People sat at table according to their rank. When Canute, the Dane, came to the throne, he ordered that any one sitting out of his place should be pelted with bones. In an old book of manners, it is ordered that the carver should hold the meat with his thumb and two fingers only; there were no forks. Bread was chiefly made of barley. Honey was much used, as there was no butter in England until the fifteenth century. If people wanted to be very friendly, they ate out of the same dish. The Saxons knew the use of an umbrella, how to cultivate roses and lilies, and how to make a gallows.

Houses were built of clay; bricks were so uncommon, that they were only used as ornaments. The cathedrals of Canterbury, Rochester, and St. Paul's, built by Ethelburt, the first Christian Saxon king, were built of wood, and thatched with straw or reeds.

Roads were very bad, for although the Romans had left good ones, they had been neglected. And moreover, the fact that the Saxon princes were constantly at war, caused travelling. to be most unsafe, as travellers were likely to be plundered and murdered by the contending parties. There were no inns.

Christianity.-Augustine was sent by the Pope to convert the Saxons, who had not been converted by the British Christians. Ethelburt, King of Kent, had a Christian wife. The missionaries came in procession, chanting psalms and litanies, and carrying a silver cross and a picture of Christ. A few months afterwards the king was baptized, the Witan or Saxon Parliament summoned, and Christianity recognised. On Christmas-day 10,000 Saxons were baptized.

A king of the East Angles built a church, at one end of which there was an altar for the celebration of mass; at the other, one for sacrifice to idols.

Monasteries or Abbeys in those days served the purpose of schools, hospitals, inns, and churches. Many rich people entered them. One order of monks (the Benedictines) received, during the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, ten emperors and twenty kings. Many monks were very learned. One Benedictine invented the musical scale, and another the organ. England contained many Benedictine monasteries.

Invasion of the Danes.-A battle took place near Croyland Abbey. The Danes conquered; only a few men escaped to tell the tale at Croyland. They arrived just as service was beginning. It ceased; and the abbot (or chief priest) heard the news. He then told forty of the monks to take all the church relics and hide them in the fens, where they were concealed for four days. The abbot remained with the oldest monks and children, whom he thought the Danes would not hurt, and continued the service. But just as the abbot was saying mass,

the shouts of the heathens were heard; all the monks were killed, the abbot at the foot of the altar. The Danes, angry at finding no treasure, destroyed the church.

Alfred the Great made many good laws. By some historians he is said to have introduced trial by jury; others ascribe it to the period of the Saxon Heptarchy.

Edward the Confessor, so called because of his regularity in attending confession, spent his time between prayer and hunting, built Westminster Abbey instead of going a pilgrimage to Rome; dedicated it to St. Peter. The church took fifteen years to build; it was the first cruciform one in England. The king expended a tenth of his revenues in its erection. He was buried there.

CHAPTER III.

William I. was, some writers tell us, crowned two or three times a year, in different places. He ransacked the churches and monasteries.

CHAPTER IV.

William Rufus kept the archbishopric of Canterbury vacant for four years, and took the money.

CHAPTER XV.

In Henry V.'s reign, John Wicliffe translated the Bible. In 1428, there was a persecution of his followers, who were called Lollards.

CHAPTER XVII.

Wars of the Roses.-An unlucky man, in Edward IV.'s reign, kept an inn with the sign of a Crown, and was put to death, because he said he would make his son heir to the crown.

Sign-boards were invented, because the art of reading was so scarce that the owner's name over the shop would have been useless. So a hare and a bottle stood for Harebottle, and two cocks for Cox.

Before the use of coaches, horses were much more ridden. When the Emperor Charles V. visited Henry

VIII., he brought with him two thousand people and one thousand horses.

In 1564, the Dutch introduced coaches, in which the grand ladies rode up and down, to the admiration of all who saw them.

IMPORTANT BATTLES AND SIEGES.
Saxons defeated by the Normans.

1066. HASTINGS.

1191. ASCALON. Saracens defeated by Richard I.

1265. EVESHAM. Barons defeated by Prince Edward.

1314. BANNOCKBURN. Edward II. defeated by the Scotch. 1340. SLUYS. French fleet defeated by the English.

1346. CRESSY. French defeated by Edward III.

1347. CALAIS taken by Edward III.; retaken by the French in 1588. 1403. SHREWSBURY. Rebel nobles defeated by Henry IV.

1460. NORTHAMPTON. Henry VI. defeated and made prisoner by the Duke of York.

1460. WAKEFIELD. Yorkists defeated by Queen Margaret. 1461. ST. ALBAN's. Yorkists defeated by Queen Margaret. 1471. TEWKESBURY. Queen Margaret defeated.

the Roses.

Last battle of

1485. BOSWORTH. Richard III. defeated and killed by the Lancastrians under the Earl of Richmond.

1513. FLODDEN FIELD. Scotch defeated by English.

1586. ZUTPHEN besieged unsuccessfully by British and Spaniards against the Dutch. Here Sir Philip Sidney was killed. 1588. SPANISH ARMADA. Fleet defeated by the English. 1644. MARSTON MOOR. Royali ts defeated by the Parliament troops.

1644. NEWBURY. Royalists victorious.

1645. NASEBY. Royalists defeated. Five thousand taken prisoners. 1651. WORCESTER. Scotch under Charles II. defeated by the troops of Cromwell.

1685. SEDGEMOOR. Duke of Monmouth defeated by James II.'s troops.

1689. LONDONDERRY unsuccessfully besieged by James II.'s troops. 1690. BOYNE. James II.'s troops defeated by William III. 1692. EDGEHILL. Drawn battle between Royalists and Parliament. 1704. GIBRALTAR taken by Sir George Rooke and the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt.

1704. BLENHEIM. French defeated by Marlborough and Prince Eugene.

1706. RAMILLIES. French defeated by Marlborough.

1709. MALPLAQUET. French defeated by Marlborough and Prince

Eugene.

1743 DETTINGEN.

the French.

British, Hanoverian, and Nessian forces defeat

1746 CULLODEN. Charles Edward defeated by the. Duke of Cum

berland.