writers we are referred to the reign of Lucius, a British prince, who is conjectured to have been the third in descent from Caractacus, and to have inherited a portion of the authority, which Claudius had formerly bestowed upon that hero (4). "Though educated in the errors of paganism, he had imbibed, according to their account, a secret reverence for the God of the christians; and was at last encouraged by the favourable edict of the emperor Aurelius, to solicit the spiritual aid of Eleutherius the Roman pontiff (5). Two clergymen, Fugatius and Damianus, were commissioned to second the pious wishes of the prince; their zealous exertions were rewarded with the most rapid success; and the honourable title of apostles of Britain was secured to them by the gratitude of their disciples (6).

Of the subsequent history of the British church, but

(4) He was the great grandson of Arviragus, whose identity with Caractacus was formerly suggested by Alford, (Tom. i. p. 35,) and has since been ably maintained by Dr Milner, (Hist. of Winch. vol. i. p. 29.) The objections of Cressy, (Hist. p. 22,) and of Stillingfleet, (Orig. p. 29,) may be easily repelled, or eluded.

(5) The conversion, and even the existence of Lucius, have been questioned by the scepticism of some writers. But that the christian faith was publicly professed in Britain, before the close of the second century, is clear from incontestible authority, (Tert. cont. Jud. p. 189, edit. Rigalt. Orig. hom. vi. in Luc. hom. vi. in Ezech.) and that Lucius was the person to whom their ancestors owed this advantage, is the general assertion of the British writers. I can see no reason why their evidence should be refused, till it be opposed by the equal testimony of other historians.

(6) Nennius, p. 108, edit. Bert. Ang. Sac. vol. ii. p. 667. Were not the Triads a very questionable authority, a dangerous competitor might be produced in Bran, the supposed grandfather of Caractacus. See Triad 35.

few particulars can be gleaned from the works of the ancient writers. The first event which claims our notice is the persecution raised against the christians by the policy, or the superstition, of Dioclesian. He had committed the government of the island to Constantius; and that prince, though he abhorred the cruel policy of enforcing perjury and dissimulation, by the fear of torments, dared not, in the subordinate station of Cæsar, to refuse the publication of the imperial edict, or to prevent the inferior magistrates from indulging their private hatred against the enemies of the Gods. If the British church had to lament on this occasion, the weakness of several among her children, who yielded to the impulse of terror, she could also boast of the courage of many, who braved the fury of their adversaries, and grasped with joy the crown of martyrdom. At their head our ancestors were accustomed to revere the saints, Alban, the protomartyr of Britain, and Julius and Aaron, citizens of Caerleon (7). But Constantius was not long the silent spectator of cruelties which he condemned: within two years he was vested with the imperial purple; and, from that moment, he placed the christians under his protection, and returned the sword of persecution into its scabbard (8).

In a remote corner of the west, the Britons had scarcely heard of the controversies, which agitated the oriental churches. But they lent a more willing ear to the doctrines of their countryman Pelagius; and his disciples, armed with syllogisms and distinctions from the logic of

(8) Euseb. vit. Const. 1. 1, c. xvi. For the date of this persecu tion, an. 305, see Smith, (Bed. hist. appen. p. 659.)

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Aristotle, confounded the simplicity, though they could not pervert the faith of their pastors. The rapid progress of error alarmed the zeal of the orthodox clergy; and the Roman pontiff, or the bishops of Gaul, or perhaps both, commissioned St. Germanus of Auxerre, and St Lupus of Troyes, to support the declining cause of catholicity (9). They met the disciples of Pelagius in the synod of Verulam: the day was spent in unavailing debate; in the evening a miracle confirmed the arguments of Germanus; and his opponents declared themselves proselytes to his doctrine. The missionaries returned in triumph to their dioceses; but they were scarcely departed, when the exploded opinions were preached with renewed activity, and the bishop of Auxerre was compelled to resume his apostolic functions. His labours, however, were repaid with the most complete success. The partisans of error disappeared before him; and Pelagianism was eradicated from the island (10). But the satisfaction, which the Britons expressed at this event, was clouded by subsequent misfortunes: a foreign and more formidable enemy arose; and, after a long and doubtful struggle, the religion, with the government of the natives, sunk beneath the persevering efforts of the Saxons.

The Saxons, in the commencement of the second century, were a small and contemptible tribe on the neck of

(9) An. 429. From whom Germanus received his mission, is an unimportant question, which has been warmly but fruitlessly discussed. By Constantius (Vit. Germ. 1. 1, c. xix.) it is ascribed to the Gallic prelates; by Prosper (Chron. ad. an. 429, lib. adv. collat. c. xli.) to Pope Celestine.

(10) Vit. Ger. 1. 11, c. i.

the Cimbrian Chersonesus (11): in the fourth, they swelled into a populous and mighty nation, whose tories progressively reached the Elbe, the Weser Ems, and the Rhine (12). Their favourite occup was piracy. A body of Franks, stationed by the e ror Probus on the coast of Pontus, had seized a R fleet, and steering unmolested through the Bospl and the Mediterranean sea, had reached in safety shores of Batavia. Their successful temerity awak the adventurous spirit of the neighbouring nations; though they were ignorant of the art of naviga though they possessed neither the patience nor the to imitate the construction of the Roman vessels, b determined to try their fortune on the ocean. In and narrow skiffs, the intrepid barbarians comm themselves to the mercy of the winds and waves the commerce of the provincials rewarded their auda and increased their numbers; and, in the midst of storm, the Saxon squadrons issued from their swept the neighbouring seas, and pillaged with imp the unsuspecting coasts of Gaul and Britain. Whe emperor Honorius recalled the legions from the de of the island, the natives, who had often experience desperate valour of the Saxons, solicited their assis

(11) Επι τον αυχένα της Κιμβρικης χερρόνησε. Ptol. in Europ. tab. That Ptolemy wrote before the middle of the s century, appears from the latest of his observations, which made in the year 139, (Encycl. method. Physique, Tom. i. p (12) Amm. Marcel. 1. 37. Ethelwerd. 1. 1, f. 474, edit (13) Cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum Ludus, et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo. Sid. Apol. carm. 7, ad. A

against their ancient enemies the Picts and the Scots. Hengist, with a small band of mercenaries, accepted the proposal (14): but the perfidious barbarian turned the sword against his employers, and the possession of Kent was the fruit of his treachery. The fortune of Hengist stimulated the ambition of other chieftains. Shoals of new adventurers annually sought the shores of Britain; and the natives, though they defended themselves with a courage worthy of a more prosperous issue, were gradually compelled to retire to the steep and lofty mountains which cover the western coast.

By this memorable revolution, the fairer portion of the island, from the wall of Antoninus to the British channel, was unequally divided among eight independent chieftains (15) The other barbarous tribes, that dismembered the Roman empire, exercised the right of victory with some degree of moderation; and, by incorporating the natives with themselves, insensibly learned to imitate their manners, and to adopt their worship. But the natural ferocity of the Saxons had been sharpened by the stubborn resistance of the Britons. They spared neither the lives nor the habitations of their enemies; submission was seldom able to disarm their fury; and the churches, towns, and villages, all the works of art, and all the remains of Roman grandeur, were devoured by the flames (16). But while they thus indulged their

(14) Ann. 449.

(15) Anxious for the honour of his countrymen, Goodall attempts to prove, that the conquests of the Saxons were bounded by the river Tweed. See his introduction to Scottish history

prefixed to Fordun's Scotichronicon, (Edin. 1759, p. 40.)

(16) Confovebatur de mari usque ad mare ignis, orientali sacri