London (England) -- History; London (England) -- Social life and customs
How long did this go on? For fifty years or more. The rude survivors of
Augusta and their children lived neglected and forgotten, like the Arabs
in the ruins of Palmyra. Outside they knew that a fierce enemy roamed
the country; sometimes they could see a band of them on the southern
bank gazing curiously at the silent and deserted walls of the City. But
these warriors cared nothing for cities, and shuddered, suspecting
magic at the sight of the gray wall, and went away again.
One day, however, because nothing remains always undiscovered, there
came along the great Vicinal Way so tough and strong, on which the tooth
of Time gnawed in vain, a troop of East Saxons. They were an offshoot, a
late arrival, a small colony looking about if haply they could find or
conquer a convenient place of settlement not yet held by their own
people. They marched along the road, and presently saw before them the
gray walls of the City, with its gates and bastions. It was a city of
which they had heard--once full of people, now, like so many others, a
waste chester. It was of no use to them; they wanted a place convenient
for farming, not a place encumbered with ruins of houses; a place where
they could set up their village community and grow their crops and keep
their cattle. The first rush and fury of battle were now over. The East
Saxons were at peace, the enemy being either driven away or killed. A
single generation of comfort and prosperity had made the people milder
in temper. They desired no longer to fight and slay. What, however, if
they were to visit the City?
[Illustration: TOILET ARTICLES--HAIR-PINS; HAIR-PIN (SABINA, WIFE OF
HADRIAN); BONE COMB AND CASE (CLOAKHAM); BONE COMB (LOWER THAMES
STREET)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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