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no light. When held before the flame of a candle several of them prove a considerable amount of chemical knowledge, as when three or four colours are put on, one over the other, each fusing at a different temperature. Much skill also must have been employed in manipulating the glass, in those cases in which very fine strings or threads have been introduced.

A very difficult part of this inquiry is now reached. In paper No. 1 I stated that what are called celts of stone and bronze, one a fac-simile of the other, had been found, and the question was to determine whether the stone had been made in imitation of the brass, or had preceded it. The same difficulty arises in our present inquiry. Beads of stone are frequently found which seem no older, so far as can be judged from the circumstances connected with their discovery, than those of glass. Were these the originals of the new handsome bead? I think not. They were more probably the ornaments of persons too poor to procure the more costly material. This of course is only an opinion for which I have no reason to offer.

ON THE MATERIALS FOR THE HISTORY OF THE TWO COUNTIES, AND THE MODE OF USING THEM,-Part II.

By John Robson, Esq.

(READ 29TH MARCH, 1855.)

In the paper which I had the honor of reading to the Society two years ago, on the Materials for the History of the two Counties, we came down to the commencement of the fifth century, and I ventured to express an opinion that there was no real ground for the common belief that the inhabitants of Lancashire and Cheshire had been at any time Welsh or Celtic; that in fact the Celtic tribes, at the earliest historic period, were confined to the western parts of the island; that the extent of their dominions may be traced by the Celtic names of places, both in Wales and Cornwall; and that the rest of England was occupied by a Teutonic race, as it is at the present time. We have now to ascertain how far our subsequent materials confirm or invalidate this statement, and whether in following out the tracks left us, few and indistinct enough, we may not get. a more trustworthy survey than we had before.

* See also Volume v. p. 129.

+ Volume v. p. 199.

It may be right to say, that I use the words Britanni, Picti, Saxones, and others taken from the Latin writers, in the original language. By the Sexna I mean the inhabitants of the south-eastern part of the island, including Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Sussex, and the old kingdom of Wessex, the Litus Saxonicum of the Roman Empire; and by the English, the rest of England, excluding of course the Celtic tribes already named, and including the Anglians, Mercians, Hwiccas, and Northumbrians, or as they are often called in Welsh documents Lloegrians. I must add that the history of the two counties, during the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries, merges in the general history of the country, there being no authenticated remains, that I am aware of, and no mention of either of them in the records left to us.

In investigating the history of the two centuries following the expulsion of the Romans, important as they are to the Archæologist, the Historian, and the Legislator, we find our most able writers utterly bewildered. Mr. Kemble says, "It must not be forgotten that we have no trustworthy event of English history previous to the arrival of Augustine (A.D. 597). Whatever precedes that great epoch, by whom soever, and at what period soever related, is nothing more than tradition, and liable to all the accidents by which tradition is affected, nay, which themselves constitute tradition."* And again, "In all that these, the earliest historians of England, have left us, we have evidence of what unsatisfactory materials they had to deal with. A majority of the kings recorded in their pages are mythic heroes, common both to England and Germany; while the constant recurrence of particular numbers in the dates of their reigns, are equally convincing proofs of mythic tradition. History has nothing to do with them, they fall into the circle of mythology. Even of those who approach somewhat nearer to historical periods, little more than the names has survived; and it is often doubtful whether even those are or are not names of men; it may be fairly questioned whether we know the name and rank of Aethelberht's grandfather." I am sure that I need say no more to bespeak your indulgence, in attempting to throw some light upon the period in question, and that you will allow me to quote a passage in a late number of the Quarterly Review, written, however, upon a totally different subject, but which seems most appropriate to our own. "Let us premise, before we plunge into the P. 58.

.

Kemble, Codex Diplom., vol. i,

P.

5.

+ Ibid.

mare magnum before us, this one caveat' for the reader's sake, viz., a great deal more may always be said on what we do not know than on what we do. Truth is a grain, error a mass; but the mass often encloses the precious particle, which is discovered only by him who will patiently sift it, throwing nothing aside until he is satisfied of its worthlessness."*

As far as number is concerned there is no want of works relating to this portion of our history, but unfortunately their value is very small. First we have the Welsh authorities-the bards, the triads, Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth; then we have Saxon Remains, and Norman Chronicles; but none of these have any authenticity for the affairs of the fifth and sixth centuries. Beda, Asser, Ethelward, are equally wanting in authority, and the only actually contemporary evidence is that of Gildas.

The influence that the Welsh writers have had on subsequent historians is very singular, and not easily understood. The Welsh themselves swallow with perfect good faith the most astounding relations, and if a statement is made in genuine Cymraeg, it is neither doubted nor doubtful. Even if we were inclined to admit the existence of such individuals as Aneurin and Taliessin, the poems which we have under their names would still be of little value, as we have no evidence that at that period the Welsh language had been reduced to writing, and the earliest manuscripts are five or six hundred years later. But more than this, in the collection edited by M. Hersart de la Villemarqué there is not a single fact recorded that can be made available for historical purposes, and the attempt to do this has utterly failed. Thus, the first poem in the collection is one said to be by Llywarch Henn, on the death of Gerent, son of Erbin. This Gerent, says the poem, was born in the glorious time of Britain, and a christian, he was the foe of the Sais or Saxons, and a friend to the saints. "At Longport I saw tumult, corpses in blood, and men red before the assault of the foc. At Longport I saw carnage, corpses in great number, and men red before the assault of Gerent." The poet had seen at Longport men who had drunk wine out of sparkling glasses, suffering want and privation after plenty there was blood in the valleys, and a fearful conflagration. At Longport, Gerent the brave, warrior of the wooded Deuvnent, (Damnonia, Devonshire,) was slain, with the valiant soldiers of Arthur, the chief in war." Now in the Saxon chronicle we read, "501. This year Port and his two

* Quarterly Review, No. 191. p. 98,

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