



Transcribed from the 1905 Chapman & Hall "Works of Charles Dickens"
edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org





A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND


By CHARLES DICKENS

With Illustrations by F. H. Townsend and others

LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD.
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1905




CHAPTER I--ANCIENT ENGLAND AND THE ROMANS


If you look at a Map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand upper
corner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea.  They are
England and Scotland, and Ireland.  England and Scotland form the greater
part of these Islands.  Ireland is the next in size.  The little
neighbouring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots,
are chiefly little bits of Scotland,--broken off, I dare say, in the
course of a great length of time, by the power of the restless water.

In the old days, a long, long while ago, before Our Saviour was born on
earth and lay asleep in a manger, these Islands were in the same place,
and the stormy sea roared round them, just as it roars now.  But the sea
was not alive, then, with great ships and brave sailors, sailing to and
from all parts of the world.  It was very lonely.  The Islands lay
solitary, in the great expanse of water.  The foaming waves dashed
against their cliffs, and the bleak winds blew over their forests; but
the winds and waves brought no adventurers to land upon the Islands, and
the savage Islanders knew nothing of the rest of the world, and the rest
of the world knew nothing of them.

It is supposed that the Phoenicians, who were an ancient people, famous
for carrying on trade, came in ships to these Islands, and found that
they produced tin and lead; both very useful things, as you know, and
both produced to this very hour upon the sea-coast. The most celebrated
tin mines in Cornwall are, still, close to the sea.  One of them, which I
have seen, is so close to it that it is hollowed out underneath the
ocean; and the miners say, that in stormy weather, when they are at work
down in that deep place, they can hear the noise of the waves thundering
above their heads.  So, the Phoenicians, coasting about the Islands,
would come, without much difficulty, to where the tin and lead were.

The Phoenicians traded with the Islanders for these metals, and gave the
Islanders some other useful things in exchange.  The Islanders were, at
first, poor savages, going almost naked, or only dressed in the rough
skins of beasts, and staining their bodies, as other savages do, with
 earths and the juices of plants.  But the Phoenicians, sailing
over to the opposite coasts of France and Belgium, and saying to the
people there, 'We have been to those white cliffs across the water, which
you can see in fine weather, and from that country, which is called
BRITAIN, we bring this tin and lead,' tempted some of the French and
Belgians to come over also.  These people settled themselves on the south
coast of England, which is now called Kent; and, although they were a
rough people too, they taught the savage Britons some useful arts, and
improved that part of the Islands.  It is probable that other people came
over from Spain to Ireland, and settled there.

Thus, by little and little, strangers became mixed with the Islanders,
and the savage Britons grew into a wild, bold people; almost savage,
still, especially in the interior of the country away from the sea where
the foreign settlers seldom went; but hardy, brave, and strong.

The whole country was covered with forests, and swamps.  The greater part
of it was very misty and cold.  There were no roads, no bridges, no
streets, no houses that you would think deserving of the name.  A town
was nothing but a collection of straw-covered huts, hidden in a thick
wood, with