Little Arthur's history of EnglandCallcott, Maria, Lady
History
Little Arthur's history of England
Callcott, Maria, Lady
Great Britain -- History -- Juvenile literature
I told you what poor and small places the British towns were, before
the Romans came here. They soon taught the Britons to make them
better. London was one of their towns; it was so hid among trees that
it could hardly be seen; but the Romans soon cut down a good many of
the trees round it, and built large houses there to live in. And they
made a market, which you know is a place where people go to sell what
they do not want themselves, and to buy other things. At first they
only changed one thing for another; I mean, that if one man wanted
a pair of shoes, he went to the shoemaker, and said, Give me a pair
of shoes and I will give you a shirt, or some chickens, or something
that I have and do not want myself, if you will give me the shoes.
But this was troublesome, because people could not easily carry
enough things about to make exchanges with. So, when the Romans came,
they began to use money to buy the things they wanted, and the money
was made of the silver and copper found in England.
Well, besides the good houses and the market the Romans made in
London, they built a good wall round it, made of stone and brick
mixed, and a tower. Now a tower is a very high and strong building;
and it was used long ago to put money and other things into to
keep them safe. And if any enemies came to fight the people of the
country, they used to put the women and children into their towers,
while the strong men went to fight their enemies and drive them away.
Towers have not these uses now-a-days, when by God’s blessing we
enjoy peace and safety in our open houses and the police protect us
from thieves; while towers and castles fall into ruin and are looked
at as curiosities. Another sort of tower, you know, is built by the
side, or at the end, of a church, to hang the bells in, that people
may know it is time to go to prayers, when they hear the bells ring.
Though the Romans took so much pains with London, they did not forget
the other towns of the Britons, but made them all much better. I
will tell you the names of some they did most good to. First there
was Bath, where the Britons showed them some springs of warm water,
which were used to cure sick people. Drinking the water was good
for some, and bathing in it for others. Now, Bath was a very pretty
place, and the Romans made it prettier, by building beautiful houses
to bathe in, and making fine gardens to their own houses; and many of
the great men, and some Roman ladies, loved to live there. And the
Britons followed their example, and began to have fine houses, and
to plant beautiful gardens, and some of them went to Rome to learn
more than they could learn in Britain; and, when they came back, they
taught others what they had learned.
Then there was York, the largest town next to London, of those that
the Romans took the trouble to make much better than the old Britons
had done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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