Claudius, and the late residence of Cunobelinus became the head-quarters of the emperor and his attendants. After this decisive victory, Claudius received the submission of several British tribes; and, having completed a campaign of fifteen days' continuance, returned to enjoy the honours of a splendid triumph.

The continuance of the war in Britain was intrusted to Plautius and Vespasian during several years. They were succeeded in the military command of the island by Ostorius, a general of great intrepidity and skill. During his government, a cónfederacy was formed between the Iceni, the Brigantes and the Silures; three of the most powerful British tribes, who again chose for their leader the celebrated Caractacus. Himself a devoted patriot, this valiant chief endeavoured to enkindle the flame of patriotism throughout the land. Nor was it difficult to rouse to action a people, who accounted their liberty far dearer than their lives. They flew to arms, rallied round their patriotic chief, and attacked the Romans with the most desperate valour. Caractacus maintained an unequal struggle with the enemy during nine years, but was at length completely overthrown, and betrayed by the queen of the Brigantes into the hands of the Romans. He and his family were conveyed to Rome, that they might form the most splendid pageants in the triumphal procession of Ostorius. The manly dignity, the unyielding courage and the native eloquence of the British chief, awakened in the breasts of the degenerate Romans, sentiments of generosity to which they had long been strangers. When, passing along the streets of Rome, he saw for the first time the splendour and magnificence of that great city, he exclaimed, "Is it possible, that a people so wealthy and luxurious, should envy me an humble cottage in Britain?" Admitted into the presence of the emperor, he pleaded so powerfully his own cause and that of his injured country, that he was not only pardoned, but treated by the emperor and his court with great distinction, during his continuance at Rome.

The Romans having now established several flourishing colonies in Britain, it became necessary to maintain a standing army for their defence, and to appoint

both civil and military governors for each station. Some of these were arbitrary exactors, who obtained possession of the wealthiest inhabitants by force or fraud, sold them for slaves, or treated them as vassals, and seized upon their effects. These oppressive measures armed against them the fiercest resentment of the natives, who only waited for a favourable moment of retaliation and vengeance. The opportunity so ardently desired at length presented itself. Suetonius Paulinus, who commanded in Britain during the reign of Nero, resolved on attempting the extermination of the Druids, to whose secret influence he ascribed the continual restlessness and insubordination of the native tribes. Their strongest hold was then in the isle of Mona, or Anglesey; thither, therefore, he marched a considerable army, which ravaged with fire and sword the consecrated island, and destroyed an immense multitude of infuriated devotees, whose bodies were consumed on the altars, which the Druids had prepared for the immolation of their anticipated prisoners. The sacred groves were then cut down, and their ensanguined altars rased, by the express order of the Roman general.

In the mean time, a flagrant act of injustice on the part of one of the subordinate governors of Britain, had enkindled a flame which threatened to terminate at once the authority of the Romans in Britain. Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, had, at his death, bequeathed his titles and possessions jointly to the emperor and his own daughters. He had been induced to do this by a temporizing policy, which proved ruinous both to his family and kingdom. For no sooner had he expired, than a rapacious Roman officer took possession of the whole in the emperor's name, and only answered the remonstrances of the widowed queen, Boadicea, by causing her to be publicly scourged, and her daughters violated. This was the signal for a general insurrection. The Britons, roused by the wrongs of their patriotic queen, flew to arms; and while the greater part of the disciplined Roman troops were in a distant part of the island, attacked the almost defenceless colonies of Camelodunum and London, and massacred men, women and children, to the amount, it is said, of seventy thousand. This horrible butchery was

however quickly avenged by Suetonius, who hastened to encounter the British army commanded by Boadicea in person. But ber martial courage and her pathetic eloquence were alike unavailing, when opposed to the Roman legions. The Britons were routed with a tremendous slaughter. It is said that not less than eighty thousand were left on the field of battle, Boadicea escaped the general carnage, but, overwhelmed with shame and mortification, soon afterwards destroyed herself by poison.

After this disastrous battle, no combined attempt was made by the Britons to recover their liberties for many years; nor did any event of importance take place, till Agricola was intrusted with the government of the island. This distinguished Roman was no less wise as a statesman, than skilful as a military commander. He saw the errors into which his predecessors had fallen, and resolved on pursuing a different policy. He reformed public abuses, called the Roman exactors to a strict account, listened to the complaints of the injured, and administered justice with a firm but impartial hand. He induced the Britons by degrees to adopt the costume, manner, language and refinements of their Roman conquerors; liberally patronised the arts and sciences among them; and encouraged them to send their youth to Rome for education. By such mild and efficient measures, the Britons were gradually civilized, and their ferocious passions tamed, till at length they became so intimately blended with the Roman colonists, as to form but one people. It now became easy to incorporate Britain into the Roman empire by adding it to the number of its transmarine provinces. The greater part of the island having been completely subjugated, it only remained to defend the Roman provinces from foreign incursions, by pursuing the warlike Caledonians to their native mountains, and by throwing up a line of entrenchments which stretched from sea to sea. It is not unworthy of remark, that during the administration of Agricola, Britain was first discovered to be an island, which had been previously supposed to form a peninsula of the European continent.

Sueton. Tacit. Annal. et Vit. Agric. Dion. Oper. &c.

REFLECTIONS.

Though nothing occurred in Britain, during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, to claim the particular attention of the historian, how infinitely important were the events that took place in another part of the Roman empire. It was in that interval of repose from the conflicts and desolations of war, that the Messiah appeared, "in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed." It seems as though the Ruler of Nations determined that nothing should occur in all the provinces of the widelyextended empire of Rome, to withdraw the attention both of men and angels from transactions so deeply interesting, as those of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of the Divine Redeemer. It would appear as though the supreme Head of the church designed by the dispensations of his providence, to remove every obstacle to the triumphal progress of his Gospel; that it might speedily visit and bless remotest nations, and the islands that were afar off.

But from this tranquil scene, how painful is it to turn our attention to those calamitous years, and even ages, that followed, during which this unhappy island was the prey of civil discord and foreign oppression! What torrents of blood flowed on either side, while the one party endeavoured to enslave, and the other to maintain, its independence! What efforts have been frequently made by the men of this world to preserve their civil liberties, or to recover them when lost! Much as war is to be deprecated in every case, yet if there be one in which it assumes a less hateful form, it is when the patriot draws his sword against some proud oppressor, when the injured slave shakes off his iron yoke of bondage, or when the generous attempt is made to rescue the widow and the fatherless from the grasp of an avaricious usurper.

Though nothing could justify the barbarities of Boadicea and her associates, yet it must be confessed that the provocations they had received, the ignorance in which

they were enveloped, and the ferocious spirit of the age, furnish some palliatives of their guilt, and greatly diminish their atrocity. They had yet to learn those precepts which are no less essential to the peace of society, than honourable to those who practise them: "Render to no man evil for evil-avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

But is there not a liberty which should be far dearer to our hearts, and for which far greater sacrifices should be made

e;

a liberty unsung

By poets, and by senators unpraised;

Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the powers
Of earth and hell confederate take away;

A liberty which persecution, fraud,

Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind ;
Which whoso tastes can be enslaved no more?
'Tis liberty of heart, derived from heaven;
Bought with his blood who gave it to mankind,
And sealed with the same token. It is held
By charter, and that charter sanctioned sure
By th' unimpeachable, the awful oath
And promise of a God.

Cowper.

O! why are we not more solicitous to secure this inestimable boon! Let the ardour of those patriots, who contend unto blood for their social rights and civil liberties, fire our zeal in a nobler cause, and induce us to "stand fast in that liberty, wherewith Christ has made us free."

It had been well for society, if conquerors in every age had possessed the wisdom of Agricola, and imitated his honourable example; if, instead of appealing to the sword on every slight occasion, at the first symptom of insurrection or revolt, they were to destroy the germ of sedition, by the impartial administration of justice, and by pursuing measures of conciliation and kindness. Shall a heathen conqueror practise these social virtues, and shall not the knowledge and profession of Christianity much rather produce these precious fruits? Shall it not constrain us to "put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing