Long before they had effected any settlement in Britain, they used to make frequent descents upon the coast, particularly that of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. To guard against which, the Romans not only kept a fleet cruising in these seas, but also built a chain of forts in the most convenient places, which they had well garrisoned. These forts were nine in number, and extended from Brancaster to Yarmouth, and thence down a considerable way along the coast; and (as was before observed) the troops here stationed, a good part of which consisted of cavalry, were under the command of an officer called, _The Count of the Saxon shore_. This provision, or precaution, however, proved, too often, but a very imperfect security against the sudden inroads of those ancient and daring marauders. {229} Of all the nations of the north, the Saxons appear to have been the most barbarous and most sanguinary. The _Francs_, who conquered Gaul, were a civilised people compared with them. Of the use of letters they were totally ignorant. All knowledge that had not some affinity with piracy, or tendency to improve their system of rapine and devastation, was by them held in the utmost contempt and abhorrence. _Gildas_, who was born but a few years after their arrival in this country, describes them as a most fierce and detestable people, “a nation odious both to God and man.” {231} They were invited here to assist the inhabitants in opposing the incursions of the _Picts_ and _Scots_; but they soon turned their arms against their infatuated employers, and converted the war into a system of extermination.