That Britain was first peopled from Gaul, we are assured by the best
proofs: proximity of situation, and resemblance in language and manners.
Of the time in which this event happened, we must be contented to remain
in ignorance, for we have no monuments. But we may conclude that it was
a very ancient settlement, since the Carthaginians found this island
inhabited when they traded hither for tin; as the Phoenicians, whose
tracks they followed in this commerce, are said to have done long before
them. It is true, that when we consider the short interval between
the universal deluge and that period, and compare it with the first
settlement of men at such a distance from this corner of the world, it
may seem not easy to reconcile such a claim to antiquity with the
only authentic account we have of the origin and progress of mankind;
especially as in those early ages the whole face of nature was extremely
rude and uncultivated; when the links of commerce, even in the countries
first settled, were few and weak; navigation imperfect; geography
unknown; and the hardships of travelling excessive. But the spirit of
migration, of which we have now only some faint ideas, was then strong
and universal; and it fully compensated all these disadvantages.
Many writers indeed imagine, that these migrations, so common in the
primitive times, were caused by the prodigious increase of people beyond
what their several territories could maintain. But this opinion, far
from being supported, is rather contradicted by the general appearance
of things in that early time, when in every country vast tracts of land
were suffered to lie almost useless in morasses and forests. Nor is
it, indeed, more countenanced by the ancient modes of life, no
way favourable to population. I apprehend that these first settled
countries, so far from being overstocked with inhabitants, were
rather thinly peopled; and that the same causes, which occasioned that
thinness, occasioned also those frequent migrations, which make so large
a part of the first history of almost all nations. For in these ages men
subsisted chiefly by pasturage or hunting. These are occupations which
spread the people without multiplying them in proportion; they teach
them an extensive knowledge of the country, they carry them frequently
and far from their homes, and weaken those ties which might attach them
to any particular habitation.
It was in a great degree from this manner of life, that mankind became
scattered in the earliest times over the whole globe. But their peaceful
occupations did not contribute so much to that end, as their wars, which
were not the less frequent and violent because the people were few, and
the interests for which they contended of but small importance. Ancient
history has furnished us with many instances of whole nations,
expelled by invasion, falling in upon others, which they have entirely
overwhelmed; more irresistible in their defeat and ruin than in their
fullest prosperity. The rights of war were then exercised with great
inhumanity. A cruel death, or a servitude scarcely less cruel, was the
certain fate of all conquered people; the terror of which hurried
men from habitations to which they were but little attached, to seek
security and repose under any climate, that however in other respects
undesirable, might afford them refuge from the fury of their enemies.
Thus the bleak and barren regions of the north, not being peopled by
choice, were peopled as early, in all probability, as many of the
milder and more inviting climates of the southern world, and thus, by a
wonderful disposition of the Divine Providence, a life of hunting, which
does not contribute to increase, and war, which is the great instrument
in the destruction of men, were the two principal causes of their being
spread so early and so universally over the whole earth. From what is
very commonly known of the state of North America, it need not be
said, how often, and to what distance, several of the nations on that
continent are used to migrate; who, though thinly scattered, occupy an
immense extent of country. Nor are the causes of it less obvious--their
hunting life, and their inhuman wars.
Such migrations, sometimes by choice, more frequently from necessity,
were common in the ancient world. Frequent necessities introduced a
fashion, which subsisted after the original causes. For how could it
happen, but from some universally established public prejudice, which
always overrules and stifles the private sense of men, that a whole
nation should deliberately think it a wise measure to quit their country
in a body, that they might obtain in a foreign land a settlement, which
must wholly depend upon the chance of war? Yet this resolution was
taken, and actually pursued by the entire nation of the Helvetii, as it
is minutely related by Caesar. The method of reasoning which led them to
it, must appear to us at this day utterly inconceivable; they were far
from being compelled to this extraordinary migration by any want of
subsistence at home; for it appears that they raised without difficulty
as much corn in one year as supported them for two; they could not
complain of the barrenness of such a soil.
This spirit of migration, which grew out of the ancient manners and
necessities, and sometimes operated like a blind instinct, such as
actuates birds of passage, is very sufficient to account for the early
habitation of the remotest parts of the earth; and in some sort also
justifies that claim which has been so fondly made by almost all nations
to great antiquity. Gaul, from whence Britain was originally peopled,
consisted of three nations; the Belgae towards the north; the Celtae in
the middle countries; and the Aquitani to the south. Britain appears to
have received its people only from the two former. From the Celtae
were derived the most ancient tribes of the Britons, of which the most
considerable were called Brigantes. The Belgae, who did not even settle
in Gaul until after Britain had been peopled by colonies from the
former, forcibly drove the Brigantes into the inland countries, and
possessed the greatest part of the coast, especially to the south and
west. These latter, as they entered the island in a more improved age,
brought with them the knowledge and practice of agriculture, which
however only prevailed in their own countries; the Brigantes still
continued their ancient way of life by pasturage and hunting. In this
respect alone they differed; so that what we shall say in treating of
their manners is equally applicable to both. And though the Britons
were further divided into an innumerable multitude of lesser tribes and
nations, yet all being the branches of these two stocks, it is not to
our purpose to consider them more minutely.
Britain was in the time of Julius Caesar, what it is at this day in
climate and natural advantages, temperate, and reasonably fertile. But
destitute of all those improvements, which in a succession of ages it
has received from ingenuity, from commerce, from riches and luxury, it
then wore a very rough and savage appearance. The country, forest or
marsh; the habitations, cottages; the cities, hiding-places in woods;
the people, naked, or only covered with skins; their sole employment,
pasturage and hunting. They painted their bodies for ornament or terror,
by a custom general among all savage nations; who being passionately
fond of show and finery, and having no object but their naked bodies
on which to exercise this disposition, have in all times painted or cut
their skins, according to their ideas of ornament. They shaved the beard
on the chin; that on the upper lip was suffered to remain, and grow to
an extraordinary length, to favour the martial appearance, in which they
placed their glory. They were in their natural temper not unlike the
Gauls; impatient, fiery, inconstant, ostentatious, boastful, fond of
novelty; and like all barbarians, fierce, treacherous, and cruel. Their
arms were short javelins, small shields of a slight texture, and great
cutting swords with a blunt point, after the Gaulish fashion.
Their chiefs went to battle in chariots, not unartfully contrived, nor
unskilfully managed. I cannot help thinking it something extraordinary,
and not easily to be accounted for, that the Britons should have been so
expert in the fabric of those chariots, when they seem utterly ignorant
in all other mechanic arts: but thus it is delivered to us. They had
also horse, though of no great reputation in their armies. Their
foot was without heavy armour; it was no firm body; nor instructed
to preserve their ranks, to make their evolutions, or to obey their
commanders; but in tolerating hardships, in dexterity of forming
ambuscades (the art military of savages), they are said to have
excelled. A natural ferocity, and an impetuous onset, stood them in the
place of discipline.