TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
THE
CHILD’S PICTORIAL
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
[Illustration: DEATH OF LLEWELLYN.]
[Illustration: DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.]
THE CHILD’S
PICTORIAL
HISTORY OF ENGLAND;
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY MISS CORNER,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND, GREECE, ROME, FRANCE,
SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL.
From the Thirteenth London Edition.
PHILADELPHIA:
HENRY F. ANNER’S,
48 NORTH FOURTH STREET
1853.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
H. F. ANNERS.
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States,
in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PHILADELPHIA:
STEREOTYPED BY GEORGE CHARLES,
No. 9 Sansom Street.
PREFACE
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
A juvenile history of England has long been needed in our primary
schools.
Those already prepared, and in use, are written in a style entirely
beyond the capacities of young children, and too comprehensive in
detail.
“History for children ought to be told in their own simple language,
or it fails to interest them; while all that is unfitted for childish
ears, or unsuited to a childish understanding, should be carefully
omitted; at the same time, it is essential to avoid making false or
imperfect impressions by an injudicious brevity.”
_Philadelphia_, 1853.
The Publisher invites the attention of those engaged in tuition, to
the following reviews, selected from a large number, recommendatory
of Miss Corner, as an historian for the school-room:
“Miss Corner is an excellent historian for the school-room; she
narrates with fluency and clearness, and in a concise and lively
manner.”--_London Spectator._
“It is written with clearness and simplicity, the principal events
are accurately and briefly described, and the whole is well adapted
to the comprehension of young persons.”--_London Atlas._
“Miss Corner is concise in matter, yet perspicuous in style, delicate
in narration, yet accurate in record, comprehensive in reference, yet
simple in arrangement.”--_Devonport Independent._
“Miss Corner writes intelligently and fluently, with much ease and
winning grace.”--_London Magazine of Arts and Sciences._
“The beauty of composition throughout the writings of Miss Corner is
singular and fascinating.”--_London Sun._
“This meritorious work is written in a very easy and agreeable style,
perfectly adapted to the capacities of the young persons for whom it
is intended.”--_London Times._
“Miss Corner has acquired a deserved celebrity for the
singularly-attractive and intelligible manner she has in narrating
history.”--_London Critic._
Contents.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
THE ANCIENT BRITONS, 9
CHAPTER II.
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN, 16
CHAPTER III.
THE SAXON HEPTARCHY, 24
CHAPTER IV.
MANNERS OF THE SAXONS, 33
CHAPTER V.
THE DANES AND ALFRED THE GREAT, 41
CHAPTER VI.
FROM THE DEATH OF ALFRED TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 50
CHAPTER VII.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 59
CHAPTER VIII.
THE NORMAN PERIOD--1087 TO 1154, 68
CHAPTER IX.
HENRY THE SECOND, RICHARD THE FIRST, AND JOHN--1154
TO 1216, 82
CHAPTER X.
FROM THE DEATH OF KING JOHN TO THE ACCESSION OF
RICHARD THE SECOND--1216 TO 1377, 95
CHAPTER XI.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF RICHARD THE SECOND TO THE
WAR OF THE ROSES--1377 TO 1422, 110
CHAPTER XII.
THE WARS OF THE ROSES--1422 TO 1461, 119
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH, TO QUEEN ELIZABETH--1461
TO 1558, 128
CHAPTER XIV.
QUEEN ELIZABETH--1558 TO 1603, 140
CHAPTER XV.
THE STUARTS. FROM THE UNION TO THE REVOLUTION--1603
TO 1689, 150
CHAPTER XVI.
THE REVOLUTION--1689 TO 1714, 168
CHAPTER XVII.
HOUSE OF HANOVER--1714 TO 1830, 175
CHAPTER XVIII.
FROM THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE THIRD, 1830, TO THE
PRESENT TIME, 190
CHAPTER I.
THE ANCIENT BRITONS.
[Illustration: ANCIENT BRITONS.]
1. Would you not like to read about your own country, and to know
what sort of people lived in it a long while ago, and whether they
were any thing like us? Indeed, they were not; neither was England,
in ancient times, such as it is now.
2. There were no great cities, no fine buildings, no pleasant
gardens, parks, or nice roads to go from one place to another; but
the people lived in caves, or in the woods, in clusters of huts,
which they called towns.
3. The country was not then called England, but Britain; and its
inhabitants were called Britons. They were divided into many tribes;
and each tribe had a king or chief, like the North American Indians;
and these chiefs often went to war with one another.
4. Some of the tribes lived like savages, for they had no clothes but
skins, and did not know how to cultivate the land: so they had no
bread, but got food to eat by hunting animals in the forests, fishing
in the rivers, and some of them by keeping herds of small hardy
cattle, and gathering wild roots and acorns, which they roasted and
eat.
5. But all the Britons were not equally uncivilized, for those who
dwelt on the south coasts of the island, had learned many useful
things from the Gauls, a people then living in the country now called
France, who used to come over to trade with them, and with many
families of Gauls who had at various times settled amongst them.
6. They grew corn, brewed ale, made butter and cheese, and a coarse
woollen cloth for their clothing. And they knew how to dye the wool
of several colors, for they wore plaid trowsers and tunics, and dark
colored woollen mantles, in shape like a large open shawl.
7. Perhaps you would like to know what they had to sell to the Gauls;
so I will tell you. Britain was famous for large dogs; and there
was plenty of tin; and the South Britons sold also corn and cattle,
and the prisoners which had been taken in war, who were bought for
slaves; and you will be sorry to hear that many of the ancient
Britons sold their children into slavery.
8. They carried these goods in carts, drawn by oxen, to the coast of
Hampshire, then crossed over to the Isle of Wight, in light boats,
made of wicker, and covered with hides or skins, in shape something
like half a walnut shell.
9. The merchants from Gaul met them in the Isle of Wight; and as they
brought different kinds of merchandise to dispose of, they managed
their business almost entirely without money, by exchanging one thing
for another.
10. The Britons were very clever in making things of wicker work, in
the form of baskets, shields, coated with hides, boats, and chariots,
with flat wooden wheels.
11. These chariots were used in war, and sharp scythes were fixed
to the axles of the wheels, which made terrible havoc when driven
through a body of enemies.
12. But I shall not say much about the wars of the ancient Britons,
or their mode of fighting; as there are many things far more pleasant
to read of, and more useful to know.
13. At that time, which is about one thousand nine hundred years ago,
the country was almost covered with forests; and when the people
wanted to build a town, they cleared a space for it by cutting down
the trees, and then built a number of round huts of branches and
clay, with high pointed roofs, like an extinguisher, covered with
rushes or reeds.
14. This was called a town; and around it they made a bank of earth,
and a fence of the trees they had felled; outside the fence, they
also dug a ditch, to protect themselves and their cattle from the
sudden attacks of hostile tribes.
15. As to furniture, a few stools or blocks of wood to sit upon,
some wooden bowls and wicker baskets to hold their food, with a few
jars and pans of coarse earthenware, were all the things they used;
for they slept on the ground on skins, spread upon dried leaves, and
fern, or heath. Their bows and arrows, shields, spears, and other
weapons, were hung round the insides of their huts.
16. The Britons were not quite ignorant of the art of working in
metals; for there was a class of men living among them who understood
many useful arts, and were learned, too, for those times, although
they did not communicate their learning to the rest of the people.
17. These men were the Druids, or priests, who had much more
authority than the chiefs, because they were so much cleverer;
therefore the people minded what they said.
18. They made all the laws, and held courts of justice in the open
air, when they must have made a very venerable appearance, seated in
a circle on stones, dressed in long white woollen robes, with wands
in their hands, and long beards descending below their girdles.
19. The ignorant people believed they were magicians, for they knew
something of astronomy, and of the medicinal qualities of plants and
herbs, with which they made medicines to give the sick, who always
thought they were cured by magic.
20. Some of the Druids were bards, that is poets, and musicians;
others taught young men to become Druids; and some of them made a
great many useful things out of the metals that were found in the
mines.
21. You will perhaps wonder where the Druids gained all their
knowledge. I cannot tell you; but many learned men think that the
first Druids came from India or Persia, as the religion they taught
was very similar to that of the Persians and Hindoos.
22. They did not believe in the true God, but told the people there
were many gods, and that they were in trees and rivers, and fire,
which they worshipped for that reason.
23. They had no churches, but made temples, by forming circles of
large stones, of such immense size that nobody can guess how they
were carried to the places where they stood, for there are some of
them still remaining.
24. They used to hold several religious festivals in the course of
the year, when all the people made holiday, and the bards played on
their harps and sang, and there was plenty of feasting, and merry
making; and they used to light bonfires, and make an illumination by
running about with torches in their hands, for they believed that a
display of fire was pleasing to their gods; and so you see that our
custom of having fireworks, and illuminations, and bonfires, on days
of public rejoicing, is as old as the time of the ancient Britons.
25. The Druids had a great deal to do on those days; for they used
to go to their temples and say prayers, and sacrifice animals for
offerings to their false gods; and on New Year’s Day, they walked in
procession to some old oak tree to cut the mistletoe that grew upon
it, for this was one of their religious ceremonies; and the oldest
Druid went up into the tree to cut the plant, while the rest stood
below singing sacred songs, and holding their robes to catch the
boughs as they fell; and crowds of men and women stood round to see
them.
26. But I must make an end of this chapter about the ancient Britons,
and tell you how the Romans came and conquered the country, and made
quite a different place of it.
QUESTIONS.
3. What was England called in ancient times?
4. How did the Britons resemble the American Indians?
5. Describe the tribes that were most civilized.
7. With whom did they trade, and in what commodities?
8. How and where was their trade carried on?
10. For what manufacture were the Britons famous?
13. How did they build a town?
15. Describe the furniture of their habitations.
17. Who were the Druids?
18. Tell me what you know about them.
19. Mention the different employments of the Druids.
21. Where is it supposed the first Druids came from?
25. Describe their temples.