of such an excursion, and not mention it to my sister and daughter at Enfield? We shall be out about a fortnight or three weeks. Adieu and adieu till our return, my dear Miss Wescomb! May health and happiness attend your mainma, your self, and Miss Betsey, and all you love and honour, prays Your most affectionate and faithful friend and servant, S. RICHARDSON. London, Aug. 15th, 1753. ANECDOTES relative to the CIVIL HIS- From the Arrival of the Serons, A.D. "To know soon after their establishment, till revived by Ossa, King of Mercia, A.D. 755, who gave every encouragement to his subjects to fit out ships and carry goods to the continent, as well for the benefit of trade as the protection of his dominions. The other princes of the Heptarchy followed his example. The establishment of fairs and markets, soon after this, further increased it; and, what is remarkable, these fairs were generally kept on a Sunday, that the people might have an opportunity of buying provisions for the ensuing week, when they came to perform their religious duties on that day. However, this mixing of secalar and spiritual affairs together did not suit; and the fair-day was changed to Saturday (which continues to this day; but the markets were still kept near a church, for the benefit of those attending divine service if they chose it. This commerce, however, small as it was, was constantly broken in upon by the irruption of the Danes, who had a far superior flect, and who almost annually made depredations on the English coast and kingdom till the reign of Alfred. This monarch, whom we can never sufficiently praise as the glory and founder of the English constitution, encouraged navigation by every means in his power. Sensible that the proper method of opposing an enemy who History of Commerce, Coin,and Shipping merce of this country during the Roman In regard to maritime affairs, the Saxons seem to have neglected them was to meet them on their own element, he took care to provide himself with a naval power, which, though the most natural defence of an island, had hitherto been totally neglected by the Luglish. He increased the shipping of his kingdom both in number and force, and trained his subjects in the practice as well of sailing as of naval action. He distri buted his armed vessels in proper stations round the island, and was sure to meet the Danish ships either before or after they had landed their troops, and to pursue them in all their incur sions. Though the Danes might suddenly, and by surprise, disembark on the coast, which was generally become desolate by their frequent ravages, they were encountered by the English fleet in their retreat; and escaped not, 15 formerly, by abandoning their booty, but paid, by their total destruction, the nalty of the disorders which they had committed. pe After a variety of sea engagements with the Danes, in every one of which he was victorious, he was at last attacked by Sigefert, a Northumbrian, who had spirited up a great number of the Danes to attack him on a new principle of naval tactics. This freebooter, well acquainted with Alfred's naval preparations, had framed vessels upon a new construction, higher and longer and swifier than those of the English - but the king soon shewed the extent and promptitude of his genius, by building vessels still higher, longer, and swifter than those of the Northumbrians, and falling upon them while they were exercising their ravages in the west, he took twenty of their ships, and having tried all the prisoners at Winchester, he hanged them as pirates and as the common enemies of mankind. By these indefatigable and well-timed exertions, he not only cleared his country of the depredation of the Danes, but increased the naval force of England, both in respect to commerce, the increase of good and able seamen, and the general knowledge of naval tactics, much greater than it ever had been since the establishment of the Saxon government. Navigation had many fluctuations after the death of this excellent prince, to the time of Hardicanute, the last of the Danish kings in England, who kept a fleet of sixty ships in excellent order, and which, we must suppose, was pretty much the state of the navy previous to the conquest. The exports were pretty much the same as during the Roman government, except the enlargement of the slave trade, which still continued to form one of the most valuable articles of exportation from England. Great numbers of unhappy men, women, and children were annually carried out of this land, like beasts of burden, and exposed to sale in all the markets of Europe it was the spectacle of so great a num ber of English slaves, exposed in this manner, in the market of Rome, that inspired Gregory the Great with the resolution of attempting their conversion to christianity, and which he afterwards happily accomplished under St. Augustine. The people of Bristol scem to have taken the lead in this unhappy traffic; and as the following fact, fold in the life of Walston, Bishop of Worcester at the Norman conquest, is so curious to this point, we shall transcribe it : "There is a sea port town near Bris tol, opposite the land, into which its inhabitants make frequent voyages, on account of trade, which they derived from their ancestors, of buying men and wamen in all parts of England, and exporting them to Ireland for the sake of guin. The young women they frequently got with child, and carried them to market during their pregnancy, to enhance their value.-You may have seen with sorrow," continues the author, long ranks of both sexes, all young persons and of the greatest beauty, tied together with ropes, and daily exposed to sale-nor were these men ashamed to do so. Oh! horrid wickedness, to give up their nearest relations, nay their own children, to slavery!" The good bishop, however, by constantly preaching amongst the Bristolians every Sunday, against this abominable traffic, in process of time obliged them to relax, if not entirely give it up. Till lately, both the cities of Bristol and Liverpool only practised this humane branch of commerce on the coast of Africa. English Horses. This noble breed of animals seems to be indigenous to this country,, even at this period, they were universally adaired all over Europe for their shape and agility, and formed another valu able article of exportation. Articles of Importation. Books, especially on religious subjects, as well as relics, pictures, statues, vessels, vestments, &c. forined no inconsiderable articles of importation; and when the city of Venice, and after. wards the cities of Pisa and Amalphi, became the repositories of the east, precious stones, gold, silver, linen, spices, drugs, and other kinds of goods, were likewise imported. What particularly encouraged this bold species of commerce was a law made by Athelstan, which enacts, "That if a mariner or merchant so prosper as to make three voyages over the high seas, with a ship and cargo of his own, he shall be advanced to the honour and dignity of a thane." This excellent law, which discovers an equal knowledge of human nature, as well as of the true interest of England, must have been productive of very great effects. • Wilkins' Leges Saxon. Wines. Wines were likewise imported from France and Spain, clothes from Germany and Flanders, and furs, deer skins, whale oil, ropes, &c from Scaudinavia.* in short, it appears that the foreign trade of England was so extensive, even in this remote period, as to furnish such of her inhabitants as could afford to pay for them with a share of all the commodities that were then known in any part of the world. Coin. The money of the Anglo-Saxons consisted of two species; what they called living money, and coined money. The former consisted of slaves and cattle of all kinds, which had a certain value settled on them by law; the other was real money, of a particular stamp and value. During the time of the Roman government, there were Roman coins, which, at the first settlement of the Saxons, being seized upon, they mixed them with the German money which they brought with them. But about the period of the Heptarchy, the AngloSaxons began to coin money here, which passed under the following denomina tions: Denominations of Coin. Names. The pound. The mark.. A sheep, by the laws of Athelstan, was estimated at one shilling; that is, fifteen pence of our money. The ecce was two-fifths of the value of the whole sheep, much above its present estimation; of which the reason probably was, that the Saxons, like the ancients, were little acquainted with any other clothing but that made of wool. Silk and cotton were quite unknown. An oa was computed at six times the value of a sheep, and a cow at four. If we suppose, that the cattle in that age, from the defects of husbandry, were not so large as they are at present in England, we may compute that money was then near ten times of greater d. qrs. value. Troy Present Grains. Value. £ s. -5,400 2 16 3 .3,600 1 17 9 56 0 7 0 The mancus of gold The mancus of silver 675 0 7 0 The greater shilling The thrimsa 450 0 4 1124 0 1 2 0 11 90 0 8 670 0 11 0 0 1 14 The current payment of the Saxons was in shillings, as the French do now in livres; and the pound, as it is with us at present, was a nominal coin, with this difference, that the Saxon pound represented as many of their coins of any kind as were actually taken out of the pound of metal, and if thrown into the scale would have weighed as much.+ A horse was valued at about thirty Saxon shillings, which may be equal to about thirty-six shillings of our money: a mare or colt twenty shillings, equal to about twenty-three shillings sterling. A swine one shilling and three pence, equal to one shilling and ten pence sterling. The board wages of a child the first year was eight shillings, or the price of a cow's pasture in summer, or an ox in winter. Between the years 900 and 1000, Ednoth bought a hide of land for about 118 shillings, which was little more than one shilling an acre, which appears to have been the usual price, as we may learn from other accounts. The Saxon Chronicle tells, that in the reign of Edward the Confessor there was the most terrible famine ever known; insomuch that a quarter of wheat rose to sixty pence, or about fifteen shillings of our present money; consequently it * Leges Wallica, As manners lead a country to respect and independence, or, on the contrary, turn it to its destruction, it will be necessary to give some account of the manners of the Anglo-Saxons at the period of their settlement in this country. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes are described by all the ancient writers as remarkably tall, strong, and robust in their persons; nor did their posterity degenerate in this respect affer their settlement in this island, being distinguishable not only for their largeness and height of stature, but still more so for the elegance of their shapes and the fairness of their complexions; insomuch, that Pope Gregory (as we mentioned before, previous to the period of their being converted to christianity) exclaimed, "How lamentable it is that the prince of darkness should have such beautiful subjects; and that a nation so amiable in their bodies should have none of the charms of the divine grace in their souls!" They likewise lived to a very great age; as we have accounts from the famous Turketut, who had been chancellor of England, and afterwards abbot of Croiland, of one monk (Father Clarenbold) living to 168; another (Father Swarling) to 142; and a third (Father Turgard) to 115. These facts are related with much confidence, with many other circumstances, by Ingulphus, who was abbot of Croiland, and who wrote from the historical registers of his abbey. Genius. The Saxons possessed a degree of genius at least equal to the ages in which they lived, as may be inferred from the lives of Aldhelm, Bede, Alcuin, Alfred, and other great characters; but they were generally tinctured with too much Vide Hume, Hist. of England, vol. i. and his authorities. superstition, which shewed itself in their attachment to relics, pilgrimages, build? – ing monasteries, and the general belief of legendary tales. Martial Spirit. Our ancestors possessed a degree of courage equal to all the northern nations, particularly the Danes, who made a considerable proportion of the first settlers; who coming from a barren uncultivated state, living mostly by plunder and piracy, were a remarkable hardy and daring race. It was one of their favourite martial axioms, "That a Dane who wished to acquire the character of a brave man should always attack two enemies; stand firm and receive the attack of three; retire only one pace from four; and fly from no fewer than five."* Though we are willing to allow a considerable degree of bravery and personal strength to our ancestors, we must not receive the whole of this as a fact. This kind of bravado attaches to most nations, probably with no bad political view, to support the courage of the people when they are thus told they are so much superior to other men. We all know, that there is a vulgar opinion in this country, even at present, that an Englishman is capable of beating three renchmen;" and in some respect it has been proved, particularly in our late glorious victories by sea over the French but then as to personal combat, we all know, it is not physically true. But the French are even with us in this respect, as are, perhaps, most other countries; as there is a note in Helvetius, where there is the same account of a Frenchman, viz. "that he is a match for three Englishmen;" not, adds the author very gravely, "that I believe it to be a fact in many particular cases.' The Danes carried this predominant spirit over the English, when they first subdued them, to a very great degree; insomuch, that no Englishman presumed to drink in the presence of a Dane without his express permission; nay, when they were invited to their feasts, no Englishman would venture to drink without some Dane becoming security for his safety during the time. This custom originated e habit of what is called pledging each other in drinking; some vestiges of which remain to this day in Ireland, and in the northern * William of Malisbury. parts of England, where the Danes were most predominant. It is, however, now converted into a mark of respect; as when a person, in drinking, says, pledge you," he means to give you the cup first, in preference to himself. Social Disposition. The Anglo-Saxons and Danes, when they were incorporated as a nation, were of a social disposition, and delighted much in forming themselves into fraternities and guilds of various kinds, which were cemented by frequent convivial meetings. The establishment of the decennary, where the neighbours were pledgers of each other for their good behaviour, and which created a connexion between them, by drinking together at the common table of the neighbourhood, induced a general hospitality, which spread from the cottage to the throne-the English kings at this period spending a considerable portion of their revenues in en tertaining strangers of distinction, as well as their own nobility and clergyparticularly at the three great festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. Much of this excess, both in eating and drinking, was introduced by the Danes, who were always, and in some respect continue to this day, lovers of the pleasures of the table. When the Danes were defeated, towards the latter end of the ninth century, by King Alfred, at Edendon, in Wiltshire, Gurthrum, their king, commonly called Gurmond, was baptised under the sponsorship of Alfred, who gave him the name of Athelstan, and took him for his adopted son. During the stay of the Danes in Wiltshire," they consumed their time in profuseness and belly cheer, in idleness and sloth;" insomuch that, from their laziness in general, and from the licentiousness of Curmond and his army is particular, we brand all luxurious and profuse people by the name of Gurmandizers, or, as we call them now, Gormandizers,* to this very day. Indeed, the love of drinking and good-fellowship was so very prevalent amongst our German ancestors, that, on the succession of their chieftains and kings, the following admonition was solemnly tendered to them during the inauguration: Vide a Vindication of Stonehenge restored, by John Webb, Esq. p. 227. Europ. Mag. Vol. LIV. July, 1802 "Vis sobrietatem cum Dei auxilio custodire ?" Will you endeavour to keep yourself sober by the grace of God? Matrimony. The marriage of the Saxons was very unlike that of the Britons, who, as we have before observed, lived in tribes together, and in a promiscuous state of population. The Saxons, on the contrary, preserved their marriages with great strictness and conjugal fidelity. Every woman was under the protection of some guardian, settled by rules of consanguinity: and without the consent of this guardian, the husband had no legal authority over his wife or any of her goods. The guardian likewise celebrated the marriage in the following form : ་་ "I give thee my daughter" (sister, or whatever other relation she might happen to be) to be thy honour and thy wife, to keep thy keys, and to share with thee in thy bed and goods, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." After which the priest pronounced the nuptial benediction. The father, brother, or guardian of the bride then made a considerable present (according to the circumstances of the family) in furniture, arms, cattle, and money, called fader fium (father's gift); and this was all the fortune the husband received with his wife.* Authority of the Husbands. The husband, being invested with all the rights of the guardian, now became her lord and protector, and the guardian of all the children of that marriage. But though the husband was bound to treat his wife with lenity, and it was the general custom so to do. by the laws of Wales (which are supposed to be copied from their neighbours the English), a husband was allowed to give his fe three blows with a stick on any part of the body, except the nean, squanded his goods, pulled him by the beard, or gave him opprobrious names he but if he beat her more severely, or for more trifling causes, he was fined according to his fault. + In cases of adultery, however, the woman was punished with great seve |