VESPASIAN'S chieftains kept the land in awe, AGRICOLA, tho' form'd for warlike strife, He chaced GALGACUS* o'er the Northern plain, "Ye gentlemen of England," who criticise the times, Tho', heav'n knows, they must be rather better than these rhymes; Give ear unto my narrative, and it will plainly shew, That things were ten times worse almost two thousand years ago. Agricola totally defeated Galgacus, who commanded the last Army the Country cou'd raise, reduced almost the whole of England and Scotland to the denomination of a Roman Province, and began to build the famous Barrier called Picts'-Wall. For For Rome grew a little too big, And the people, like most people, grumbled; At grievances all had a dig, 'Till down the whole edifice tumbled. The nations around, who'd been robb'd of their pelf, Their freedom, their name, or what not, At Rome were so busy, each helping itself, Our Island alone was forgot. KINGS OF BRITAIN, From the invasion of Julius Cesar to the departure of the Romans. THE BRITONS. THE Romans all gone, or of pow'r bereft, Protection with unity ever will fly, And, leaping its boundary, hourly you'd spy "The groans of the Britons" are mournfully sent "To ÆTIUS,† thrice Consul," who sighs; 446 But turns the ambassadors back as they went, Without one single word of supplies. The Picts, (so called from Pictich, a Plunderer, and not from Picti, painted) and the Scots, from Scuite, a Wanderer, in the Celtic Tongue, were only different tribes of Caledonians. Dr. HENRY. Ætius, Prefect of Gaul, was thus addressed by "The Groans of the wretched Britons, to the thrice-appointed Consul, Ætius.—The Barbarians drive us into the Sea, and the Sea forces us back on the swords of the Barbarians." Etius was too closely engaged in opposing Attila, the renowned King of the Huns, to spare them any attention. DESTRUCTION of the BRITTAIN ES. Each Each Briton, now dejected and a slave, Flies to the ocean from the foe's attack; Nor less relentless, the destructive wave Devours or hurls them to their tyrants back. THE SAXONS. A. D. 447. "A Nation known only to the Britons by their continued "and successful acts of Piracy." J. P. ANDREWS. BUT hark! what foreign drum on THANET's isle Proclaims assistance? 'tis the Saxon band, By HENGIST led, and HORSA;-see, they smile, Not arms alone they bring, but specious art, Imprudent VORTIGERN! how much to blame! *The Saxons, it is supposed, gained great advantages over Britain by means of a foolish passion which the old Vortigern conceived for the young and beautiful RowENA, niece to HENGIST "She presented him," (say our old Historians) "on her knee, with a cup of wine, saying 'Waes heal, hlaford cyning,' or, 'Be of health, Lord King'! to which Vo: tigern, being instructed in the custom, answered 'Drinc heal,' or, 'I drink your health '-This introduction led to the subsequent marriage of Rowena to Vort gern, who felt no more anxiety respecting the Saxon encroachments on his dominions. VERSTEGAN, &c. &c. |