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"Londinum quidem cogno56 mento coloniæ non infigne, fed co"pia negotiatorum et commeatuum "maxime celebre." Annal. lib. 14. cap. 33. The Britons of the fouth had, therefore, profited very greatly by a fhort intercourfe with the Romans; and this progrefs will appear more remarkable, when it is confidered, that, from the time of Cæfar's invafion to the reign of Claudius, during almost a complete century, there was no Roman army in Britain, nor any flation or fettlement of that people in the island. The Britons, therefore, had, as yet, enjoyed little more than the fight of a polished and improved people. Amidit the tumult of hoftilities, there was no opportunity to imitate the practices, or study the accomplishments of the people by whom they were invaded; but they faw enough to convince them of their own ignal inferiority in all the arts of cultivated life, and to excite a defire to imitate them in a subsequent season of tranquillity. This they obtained by the retreat of the Romans; and profiting to the utmost by thofe lights they had acquired, they made a more rapid advancement or çivilization, than perhaps in any after period of their history. Cities were built, harbours conftructed for the accommodation of mercantile fleets, and money coined for the medium of trade. The coinage of Cunobeline, the fucceffor of Caffivelanus, and Sovereign of the Cahi and Trinobantes, from the mints of Colchester, Verulam, and London, is a proof, not only of an extenfive commerce, but of a very confiderable advancement in the arts. In this interval, therefore, between the invafion of Cæfar and the reign of Claudius, this period of rapid improvement, it is probable the Britons of the fouth first learned the art of conftructing durable buildings with mortar; though we do not find from any claffic author, that, before the reign of Nero, the Romans had

erected any buildings in the island which could ferve as a mode of re gular architecture. In the fifth year of the Emperor Nero happened that fignal defeat of the Romans by the British Queen Boadicea, occafioned principally by the revolt, or, as Tacitus terms it, the rebellion of the Trinobantes. One great caufe of this revolt had been the erection of a magnificent temple to the livine Claudius, which the Britons regarded as an infulting monument of the Roman power and their own abject flavery. "Ad hæc templum divo Claudio "conftitutum, quafi arx æternæ do"minationis afpiciebatur; delectique "facerdotes, fpecie religionis, omnes "fortunas effundebant." Tacit. Annal. lib. 14. cap. 31. That this temple was a ftructure of great magnitude and folidity, appears from this circumftance, that the Romans retreated to it as their laft ftrong hold, and, for two days, defended themselves in it against the befieging Britons. “Cæ"tera quidem impetu direpta aut in"cenfa funt: Templum in quo mi"les le conglobaverat, biduo obfef"fum expugnatumque." Ibid. cap. 32.

The Britons, profecuting their fuccefs, attacked, pillaged, and fet fire to feveral of the Roman forts and garrifons. London and Verulam were deftroyed; and, in thefe two places, (a convincing proof of their magnitude and poption) the Britons mafficred about 70,000 Roman citizens and their allies. But these temporary fucceffes were foon checked by a dreadful defeat of the Britons by Suetonius Paulinus, in which 80,000 were left deal upon the field of bartle. From that time, the Romans advanced into the internal part of the ifland; and. finding themfelves more feebly refifted, as their power became more known, began now to apply themfelves to the civilization of the rude people whom they had subdued. Julius Agricola, in the fecond

year

?

year of his command, as Proprætor the fecond year of Hadrian, A. D.

of Britain, A. Ð. 79. reduced the inhabitants of North Wales, of Chefhire, and of Lancashire, to abfolute fubjection, and conquered the ifle of Anglefey. Having fufficiently evinced his power, he tried the effect of alluring the natives to an eafy fubmiffion, by giving them a taste of the enjoyments of a polifhed people. Towards this purple, the Romans encouraged the Bitons to build regular towns, affifted them in conftructing temples, marke-places, and commodious dwellings, and taught them even the use of the baths and porticos, and all the luxuries of the Roman banquets. To this precife period, we may refer the foundation of many of the towns in the weft of England, which are known to have had a Roman origin, as Lancafter, Manchester, Warrington, Ribchefter, Overborough, Colne, &c.

At this time, therefore, A. D. 79, the Britons of the north-western parts of England, had acquired a contider able knowledge of regular architecture. But all to the north of the Roman conquefts, we mult prefume was in its original state of barbarism. Improvement, however, muft have kept pace with the advances of the Romans into the country; and it is therefore not difficult to mark its progrefs. In the year 80, we find Agricola employ ed in erecting a chain of forts between the friths of Clyde and Forth; and in 83, the last year of his command, he had penetrated to the foot of the Crampan mountains in the northern parts of Angus. From this time, curing the remainder of the reign of Domitian, and thro' the whole of the reigns of Nerva and of Trajan, a period of above thirty years, the Romant made no progrefs in the island. The northern parts of the province were ill defended, and the Caledonians, in that interval, recovered all that part of Scotland which Agricola had gained; for, in

120, when that Emperor built his
vallum across the ifland, between Sol-
way frith and the mouth of the Tyne,
he confidered the Roman Province
as extending no further to the north
than that rampart.
" Murum per

octoginta millia paffuum primus "duxit qui barbaros Romanofque "divideret.' Vit. Hadr. Hift. Aug.

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This interval, therefore, of more than thirty years, muft have been a period of remarkable improvement to the favage Caledonians. Maintaining a conftant intercoutfe with the Romans, not diftinguished by extraordinary hoftilities, and gradually regaining a country in which they found the recent works of a polished people, they could not fail to acquire much knowledge in the arts. At the time, therefore, when Adrian built his ram part, A. D: 120, we know, almoft to a certainty, that the inhabitants of Scotland, as far to the north as the Grampian mountains, understood and practifed the art of conftructing du rable buildings with mortar. forts or caftella erected by Agricola, which Tacitus fays were fo ftrongly conftructed as to refift the utmost efforts of the enemy to take them by ftorm, were now in the poffeffion of the Caledonians. The Roman caftella were circula, and fometimes fquare, inclofures, furrounded with a trong wall of ftone, hewn into square blocks, and cemented with mortar? The space inclofed was fufficient to contain various buildings likewife of ftone, barracks for the winter habitation of the troops, granaries for provifions, and fometimes baths. The form of thefe caftella may be seen in the fculptures upon the Trajan column, and their conftruction may be learnt from Vegetius. The remains of a bath belonging to one of these caftella, probably erected by Agricola, were discovered, within these few years, at the village of Dalnoter, be

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ween Glasgow and Dumbarton. The Caledonians had witneffed the building of thofe ftructures, which were reared with the most perfect skill in military architecture, from materials which the country furnished in abundance. They were now in poffeffion of the ftructures themfelves. It is reasonable, therefore, to conclude, that they now learnt the art of conftructing regular buildings with ftone and mortar, and practifed it, both for the purposes of defence and habitation; because the contrary fuppofition would do violence to all probability.

The wall of Adrian, which was built in 120, and that of Antoninus Pius, built, as Horsley thinks, in 140, were both conftructed folely of turf. Bat they were defended by caftella, placed at intervals of various distance, according to the nature of the ground. The wall of Antoninus ran across from Dumbarton on Clyde to Cramond on the frith of Forth, and was probably in the precife line of the caftella built by Agricola. It was at this period, and under the command of Lollius Urbicus, the lieutenant of Antoninus, that the Romans made their fartheft advances into the island of Britain. After the erection of this new vallum, which had probably been reared in the idea, that the country to the north of it was hardly worth fecuring, Urbicus marched to the northward, and finding, beyond his expectation, that the country, efpecially along the fea-coatt, was open and fertile, he appears to have profecuted his conquefts as far north as Invernefs. For this fact, we want indeed the authority of any Roman hiftorian; but the Geography of Ptolemy, and the late difcovered itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, prove, beyond all doubt, that there were Roman ftations in the neighbourhood of Invernefs; and there is no other Roman general, but Urbicus, who, to the days of Ptolemy, can be fuppofed to have paffed the limits of Agricola's conquefts.

The moft northerly Roman flation, according to Ptolemy, is the rig said, or caftra ala ta, which, in the itinerary of Richard, is termed Ptorotone. This, I think, there is every reafon to believe to have been that fortified promontory,, now called the Burgh of Moray. At any rate, it is certain there were fe teral Roman ftations in that neighbo prhood, as Tueffis, Varis, and Pto: otone, which is fufficient for our purpofe. It is then evident, that, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and with in a few years of A. D. 140, the date of this vallum, the Romans had fixed præfidia and built caftella in the neighbourhood of Inverness, from which part of Scotland, there was an uninterrupted military road, as appe: irs by Richard's itinerary, to the-Land's end in Cornwall. At this period, therefore, the inhabitants of this region of Scotland muft have been acquainted, from the practice of the Romans, with the art of building with mortar. And, as the ftructure of thofe hill-fortifica tions demonftrates the ignorance of the builders of the ufe of that cement, the most complete evidence thence arifes, that they were reared prior to the time above mentioned, that is, above fixteen centuries and a half ago.

But how far beyond that period we are to fearch for the date of those singular fortifications, ftill remains in doubt. All that we can, with certainty, conclude, is, that they belong to a period of extreme barbarifm. They must have been conftructed by a people fcarcely removed from the ftate of favages, who lived under no impreffion of fixed or regulated property in land, whofe only appropriated goods were their cattle, and whofe fole fecurity, in a life of conftant depredation, was the retreat to the fummits of thofe hills of difficult access, which they had fertified in the beft manner they could. As the fpace inclofed was incapable of containing a

great

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great number of men, especially if occupied in part by cattle, it is prefumable, that these retreats were formed chiefly for the ecurity of the women and children of the canton, and of heir herds. They could be defend ed by a few men, while the reft of the tribe were engaged with their enemies in the field.

In the defcripgion I have given of the fortified hill of Dun-Jardel upon Loch-Nefs, I mentioned a Druidical circle upon the houlder of the hill a bout fifty or fixty feet below the fortification; and hinted, that this circumftance might poflibly afford ground for a conjecture with regard to the date of those extraordinary Aructures on the tops of hills.

The religion of the Druids obtain. ed in Britain long before the period of the Roman invafion; and it was probably introduced into the island by the first colony of Celta or Gauls who landed from the continent. If, as is generally fuppofed, this ifland was actually peopled from Gaul, Druidifm muft have been the religion of its first inhabitants. I am difpofed, however, to believe, that this ifland was inhabited of old by a race of men who knew nothing of the religion of the Druids, whofe manners and mode of life were too barbarous to be compatible with that system, and who, in after times, adopted from thofe Druids their firft ideas of civilization and improvement. The Druids, it is well known, were a very enlight ened order of men; and they had the addrefs to avail themfelves of that character of wisdom and learning, in obtaining an abfolute centroul, not only in matters of religion, but in the civil government of the countries in which they were established. They cultivated the mechanic arts, and even the sciences of Medicine, Afronomy, and Geometry, with confiderable fuccefs. In fhort, no nation, among whom that fyftem had become

prevalent, could long remain in a ftate of barbarifm. But, from all the ideas we can form of the state of Caledonia, at the time when it was ne ceffary to rear those hill-fortifications, there appears no probability that the inhabitants either lived under such a government as we know to have prevailed under the influence of the Druids, or had any acquaintance with thofe arts which it is certain they cultivated. Those buildings muft, therefore, have been erected previoufly to the introduction of the Druidical fyftem; that is to fay, in a period of time antecedent to the firft vifitation of this island by the Celtz of Gaul.

The Druidical circle upon DunJardel lends its aid in fupport of this conjecture. If the fortification on the fumit had been erected after the abolition of Diuidim, it feems extremely improbable, that the builders of it would have neglected to employ the ftones of this circle in rearing their fortification, (ftones extremely well fuited to the purpose, and quite at hand) when they have been at immenfe pains to carry up a prodigious quantity of ftones from the very bottom of the hill for that work. It is not probable that they would have been restrained by any fuperftitious idea of reverence for the monuments of an extinguished religion. For Druidifm, foon after its abolition, funk into utter contempt, and the introduction of Chriftianity rendered the ancient fuperftitions impious and deteftable. That this hill-fortification was erected in the times of the Druids, I have already fhewn to be extremely in probable. We muft, therefore, recur to the only remaining, and the moft natural fuppofition, that it was reared in times antecedent to the introduction of that religion. And this fuppofition carries the date of this ftructure, and confequently of all the relt of the fame nature, up to a pe

riod of antiquity far beyond all hiftorical record, and connects them with a itate of fociety in which the arts were as imperfect, the manners

as

barbarous, and the condition of life as la vlefs, turbulent, and precarious, as among the rudeft tribes of American faváges.

Scene from Sacontala, or, The Fatal Ring. An Indian Drama. Tranflated from the original Sanfcrit and Pracrit.

[This performance is faid to be tranflated by Sir William Jones. Dushmanta, a mighty King, diverting himfelf with hunting, is privately married to Sacontala, the guardian of a facred foreft, whom Canna, the preceptor of fome holy Anchorites had received as a facred depofit. Soon after his marriage, the king leaves his bride to defend the Anchorités against certain evil demons that diflurbed their retreat, and a confiderable time elapfes without any tidings of him. Canna is informed by a voice from heaven, "that Sacontala has received from the king a ray of glory deftined to "rule the world, as the wood Sami becomes pregnant with mysterious "fire." Preparations are then made for her departure from the foreft, when the following fcene commences.]

SACONTALA, ANUSUYA, PRIYAMVADA. GAUTAMI.

BELOVED friend, was your bath

Sac. O! my friends, you are welcome: let us fit awhile together.

[They feat themfelves.

Anu. Now you must be patient, whilft I bind on a charm to fecure your happiness.

Sac. That is kind.-Much has been decided this day: and the pleafare of being thus attended by my fweet friends, will not foon return.

[Wiping off her tears.

Pri. Beloved, it is unbecoming to weep at a time when you are going to be fo happy.-[Both damfels burft into tears as they drefs her.] Your elegant perfon deferves richer apparel: it is now decorated with fuch rude flowers as we could procure in this foreft.

CANNA'S PUPIL enters with rich clothes.
Pup. Here is a complete drefs.
VOL. XIL No. 69.
Z

Let the queen wear it aufpiciously; and may her life be long !

[The women look with aftonishment. Gaut. My fon, Harita, whence came this apparel?

Pup. From the devotion of our father Canna.

Gaut. What doft thou mean?

Pup. Be attentive. The venerable fage gave this order: Bring fresh flowers for Sacontala from the most beautiful trees;' and fuddenly the wood nymphs appeared, raifing their hands, which rivalled new leaves in beauty and foftnefs. Some of them wove a lower mantle bright as the moon, the prefage of her felicity; another preffed the juice of Lacha to ftain her feet exquifitely red; the reft were bufied in forming the gayeft or naments; and they eagerly thowered their gifts on us.

Pri. [Locking at Sacontala.] Thus it is, that even the bee, whofe neft is within the hollow trunk, does homage to the honey of the lotos flow

er.

Gant

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