Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and PresentTimbs, John
History
Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present
Timbs, John
England -- Social life and customs
believed they were manufactured there, and that a vast proportion of the
bronze weapons of antiquity were actually made in Cornwall and exported.
THE ROMANS IN ENGLAND.
"The Romans in England they once did sway."
OLD SONG.
Archæological information obtained of late years shows that at the time
of the Roman invasion, there was a larger amount of civilization in
Ancient Britain than had been generally supposed: that in addition to
the knowledge of the old inhabitants in agriculture, in the training and
rearing of horses, cows, and other domestic animals, they were able to
work in mines, had skill in the construction of war-chariots and other
carriages, and in the manufacture of metals; and there is evidence that
British manufactures and materials were exported to certain parts of the
Continent, probably in British vessels. The ancient coinage of this
period is also well worthy of attention.
In connexion with the Ancient British period, it would seem that
probably 2,000 years before the Roman times there had been in Great
Britain a certain degree of civilization, which from various causes
declined in extent. If Stonehenge may be considered as of the same
antiquity as similar remains in various parts of the East--which are
reckoned by good authorities to be 4,000 years old--we had in this
country a degree of civilization which was contemporary with the
prosperous period of the Egyptian empire; and, in times more immediately
preceding the Roman occupation, we know that Britain was the grand
source of Druidical illumination (whatever relation that may have had to
a true civilization) to the whole of Continental Europe.
That the Ancient Britons, even after they were conquered by the Romans,
had still a strength considered dangerous, is shown by the fact that
upwards of forty barbarian legions which had followed the Roman
standards were settled chiefly upon the northern and eastern coasts; and
it is shown that a force of about 19,200 Roman foot and 1,700 horse was
required to secure peace, and the carrying out of certain laws in the
island.
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