"They bargained for Thanet with Hengist and Horsa, Their aggrandizement was to us disgraceful, After the destroying secret with the slaves at the confluent stream, Conceive the intoxication at the great banquet of Mead, Conceive the deaths in the great hour of necessity; Conceive the fierce wounds--the tears of the women-- The grief that was excited by the weak chief (Vortigern); Conceive the sadness that will be revolving to us, When the brawlers of Thanet shall be our princes." ANCIENT WELSH POEM--SEVENTH CENTURY. We have no account of the preliminary arrangements between the British king, and the Saxon chiefs, when the latter arrived with three ships, and landed at Ebbs-fleet, a spot which now lies far inland, though at that period the Wanstum was navigable for large vessels, and formed a broad barrier between the Island of Thanet and the mainland of Kent. Vortigern and his chieftains were assembled in council when the Saxons appeared, and Hengist and Horsa were summoned before them. The Saxon ships, which contained about three hundred soldiers, were drawn up beside the shore, where the adventurers anxiously awaited the issue of the interview between their leaders and the British king. Such a meeting as this could scarcely result from chance; the time of landing--the assembled council--the attendance of Hengist and Horsa, all bear evidence of some previous understanding between the parties, similar to what we have before alluded to. Vortigern first interrogated the Saxons as to the nature of their creed; Hengist enumerated the names of the gods they worshipped, and further added, that they also dedicated the fourth and sixth days in the week to Woden and Frea. Inference might be drawn from the reply of Vortigern, that the Britons were already Christians, though such a conclusion ought, doubtless, to be limited in its application to the inhabitants of our island, for we have evidence that all were not.