also the local saints were believed to guard the lives of certain kinds of animals. St. Colman's teal could neither be killed nor injured; St. Brendan provided an asylum for stags, wild-boars, and hares; and St. Beanus protected the cranes and hazel-hens which built their nests upon the Ulster mountains.1

We may notice in this connexion the fact that the names of several tribes or the legends of their origin show that an animal, or some other real or imaginary object, was chosen as a crest or emblem, and was probably regarded with a superstitious veneration. A powerful tribe or family would feign to be descended from a swan or a water-maiden or a "white lady" who rose from the moonbeams on the lake. The moon herself was claimed as the ancestress of certain families. The legendary heroes are turned into "swan-knights" or fly away in the form of wild geese. The tribe of the "Ui Duinn," who claimed St. Brigit as their kinswoman, wore for their crest the figure of a lizard which appeared at the foot of the oaktree above her shrine. We hear of "Griffins" by the Shannon, of "Calves" in the country round Belfast: the men of Ossory were called by a name which signifies the "wild red-deer."3 There are similar instances from

shire." See also Sikes' Brit. Goblins, 162. The sacred character of the animal is indicated by the legend of Boadicea who, according to Dion Cassius, "loosed a hare from her robe, observing its movements as a kind of omen, and when it turned propitiously the whole multitude rejoiced and shouted." Dion Cass. lxii. 3.

1 Girald. Cambr. Topogr. Hibern. ii. cc. 29, 40. Compare the same writer's story of the loathing shown by the Irish chieftains on being offered a dish of roasted crane, Conqu. Hibern. i. c. 31.

2 Revue Celtique, iv. 193.

3 O'Curry, Mann. Anc. Irish, ii. 208. The "Lugi" and "Mertæ " are

Scotland in such names as Clan Chattan" or the Wild Cats, and in the animal-crests which have been borne from the most ancient times as the emblems or cognizances of the chieftains. The early Welsh poems will furnish another set of examples. The tribes who fought at Cattraeth are distinguished by the bard as wolves bears or ravens; the families which claim descent from Caradoc or Owain take the boar or the raven for their crest. The followers of "Cian the Dog" are called the "dogs of war," and the chieftain's house is described as the stone or castle of "the white dogs.”1

It seems reasonable to connect the rule of abstaining from certain kinds of food with the superstitious belief that the tribes were descended from the animals from which their names and crests or badges were derived. There are several Irish legends which appear to be based on the notion that a man might not eat of the animal from which he or his tribe was named.2

placed by Ptolemy in the modern Sutherland. "Lugia" is his name for Belfast Lough. "The Irish name was Loch Laogh and Adamnan renders it by Stagnum Vituli. 'Laogh' is a calf in Irish, and is probably the word meant by Lugia. If the same word enters into the name 'Lugi' it is rather remarkable that 'Mart' should be the Irish word for a heifer. It would seem that the tribes took their names from these animals." Skene, Celtic Scotland, i. 206.

1 Aneurin's Gododin, St. 9, 21, 30; Guest's Mabinogion, 37, 328. There are many traces of the same practice among the Teutonic nations. Their heroes were believed in many cases to have descended from divine animals, like the children of Leda and Europa. The Merovingian princes traced their origin to a sea-monster. The pedigrees of the Anglo-Saxon kings contain such names as "Sigefugel," "Sæfugol," and "Beorn," which seem to be connected with legends of a descent from animals. Compare such patronymics as "Dering," "Harting," "Baring," and the like.

2 In the story of the Death of Cúchulain, contained in the Book of Leinster, some witches offer the hero a dog cooked on spits of rowan

Such facts suggest an inquiry whether the religion of the British tribes may not in some early stage have been connected with that system of belief under which "animals were worshipped by tribes of men who were named after them and were believed to be of their breed." This form of superstition prevails at the present day among Indians in North and South America among the natives of Australia and in some of the African kingdoms.1 Traces of its existence have been found in the early history of Germans Greeks and Latins, as well as in the traditions of the Semitic peoples in Arabia and Palestine. In countries

where this belief has prevailed it is generally found that relationship was traced through females exclusively, and

it

appears in many cases that marriage in its modern form

wood. Cúchulain's name signified "the Hound of Culand," and was connected with the cult of a god called Culand the Smith. The story turns on the idea that "one of the things he must not do was eating his namesake's flesh." See the translation of the story by Mr. Whitley Stokes, Revue Celtique, iii. 176; O'Curry, Mann. Anc. Irish, ii. 363. The legend of Einglan, king of the birds, shows the existence of an ancient tradition that birds were formerly considered by some Irish tribes to be sacred. Conaire the Great, a mythical king of Ireland, was the son of the Birdking, and was therefore forbidden to kill birds of any kind. O'Curry, Mann. Anc. Irish, introd. ccclxx. Compare Martin, Descr. West. Isl. 273.

1 The system mentioned in the text is usually called "Totemism" from the word "totem" or "dodhaim," which the Red Indians apply to the plant animal or other natural object representing the ancestor and protector of the group of persons who share the name and crest. The "totem" may not be eaten by any member of the group. Another rule provides that persons with the same "totem" may not intermarry. The theory of the wide distribution of "Totemism" among the nations of the ancient world (especially among the Greeks) is due to Mr. J. F. M'Lennan, who first explained it in the Fortnightly Review, 1869, 1870. See with regard to the Semitic peoples an essay on the subject by Professor Robertson Smith in the Journal of Philology, 1880, ix. 75. See also Mr. A. Lang's article on "The Family" in the Encyclopædia Britannica.

It is, at any rate, a

was at one time quite unknown. plausible hypothesis that the fabled descents from animals and plants or from the divine influences of the waters or the moon or stars may have originated in a time when paternity was as yet unacknowledged and a fiction was required to keep the mother's offspring united in one family group.

CHAPTER XI.

THE ROMAN PROVINCE OF BRITAIN.

Character of the Roman Conquest-The century of peace after Caesar's invasion— Increase of commerce with Gaul-Fresh settlements of Gauls in Britain-The Atrebates-The Belga-The Parisii-Prosperity of the native states -MetallurgyList of exports-End of the peace-The capture of Camulodunum -The triumph of Claudius-Massacre of the captives-Enrolment of British regiments-Conquest of the Southern Districts-The colony of Camulodunum-Tyrannical measuresRevolt of the Iceni-Victory of Paullinus—The province constituted—Agricola's beneficial government-The visit of Hadrian-The four legions-Description of Caerleon-Growth of towns-Hadrian's Wall—Description of its remains―The Wall of Antoninus-Tablets erected by the soldiers-Their worship and superstitions -The expedition of Severus-Death of the Emperor at York-The revolt of Carausius-Influence of the Franks-Diocletian's scheme of government-Reigns of Constantius and Constantine the Great—A new system of administration-The military roads -Whether identical with the mediæval highways-Course of Watling Street-The Roman system of communications-Three lines from north to southTransverse routes in the North-Connections with roads in the South and WestThe district of the Saxon Shore-Course of the Ikenild Way-The routes in the Antonine Itinerary-The Peutingerian Table-The effect on Britain of the new constitution Increase of taxation-Establishment of Christianity in BritainGradual decay of paganism-Pantheistic religions-State of the frontiers--The Picts and Scots-The Franks and Saxons-Victories of Theodosius-The Revolt of Maximus-The successes of Stilicho-Usurpation of Constantine-The treason of Gerontius-The independence of Britain.

HERE is something at once mean and tragical about

THE

the story of the Roman Conquest. Begun as the pastime of a foolish despot and carried on under a false expectation of riches, its mischief was certain from the beginning. Ill-armed country-folk were matched against disciplined legions and an infinite levy of auxiliaries. Vain heroism and a reckless love of liberty were crushed in tedious and unprofitable wars. On the one side stand the petty tribes, prosperous nations in miniature, already enriched by commerce and rising to a homely culture; on the other the terrible Romans strong in their tyranny