Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/400

352  1em  BRISTOL, a town of the United States, the capital of a county in Rhode Island, is situated on a peninsula between Narraganset Bay and Mount Hope Bay, 16 miles S.E. of Providence by rail. Its trade and manufactures are considerable, but it is chiefly important as a summer watering-place. There is direct steamboat communication with Providence and New York. During the War of Independence the town was nearly destroyed by the English. Population in 1870, 5302.  BRITANNIA. The history of Britain begins with the invasion of Julius Ciesar, 55 B.C. Caesar is the first Roman Vr-riter who mentions Britain ; before him we have only a few short notices in Greek writers, who appear to have known but little about the country. The earliest notice of Britain is in Herodotus (450 B.C.), who mentions the Tin Islands, only to confess his ignorance about them. By the Tin Islands are probably to be understood only the Scilly Isles and Cornwall, which are said to have been known to Phoenician traders some centuries before the Christian era. More important is a passage in Aristotle, who, writing a century later than Herodotus, is the earliest writer who mentions the British Isles by name. The passage is in the De Mundo, c. 3, &quot; Beyond the pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar) the ocean flows round the earth, and in it are two very large islands called British (/JperaviKcu Acyo/xevai), Albion and Icrne, lying beyond the Keltoi.&quot; The applica tion of the name Britannia, to denote the larger island, is first found in Caesar. The etymology of the name Britannia is uncertain. Of the numerous derivations which have been proposed the most generally adopted is that which connects the word with a root brith (varieyatus), in supposed allusion to the British practice of staining the body with woad ; but this is not to be considered as perfectly satisfactory. The earliest inhabitants of Britain concerning whom we have any certain knowledge are the Celts, who formed the vanguard in the great westward migration of the Indo- European or Aryan nations ; but it seems certain, from the evidence of remains found in the country, that the Celts were preceded in their occupation of it by a non-Aryan race. The Celtic family is divided into two branches the Gaelic and the Cymric. To the former belong the Irish and the Highlanders of Scotland, to the latter the Welsh and the inhabitants of Britanny, and to these may be added the ancient Gauls, the remains of whose language seem to prove without doubt that they belonged to the Cymric and not to the Gaelic branch. Of the Celtic inhabitants of Britain nothing is known be fore the time of Caesar, whose account of them is the earliest which we possess. Somewhat abridged it is as follows : &quot; The interior of Britain is inhabited by a race said to be aboriginal, the coast by invaders from Belgium, who having come over for the sake of spoil have settled in the country. For money they use either copper or pieces of iron of a certain weight. Tin is found in the interior of the country ; iron on the coasts, but the quantity is small ; copper is imported. The timber is of the same kinds as in Gaul, except the beech and the fir. The climate is more temperate than in Gaul, the cold being less severe.&quot; After a short geographical description of the island, Caesar proceeds to speak of the inhabitants—

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Nothing is here said as to the religion of the Britons ; and we are obliged to turn for information on this head to Caesar s account of Druidism in Gaul. We are justified in so doing by Caesar s statement that the religious system of the Gauls was devised in Britain, and that it was still the custom for those who wished to become thoroughly versed in it to go thither for the sake of instruction, Having said that besides the common people, who are of no account and are little better than slaves, there are in Gaul two orders, the Druids and the Knights, Caesar goes on to give an account of the former—

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These are the leading points of Caesars short account of the Druids, which is the earliest we possess, and is the main foundation on which has been raised the elaborate Druidic system of later writers. Politically, Britain consisted of a number of independent tribes united in a federation of the loosest kind, in which the lead was taken by the tribe which happened at any time to be the most powerful. The Britons appear to have kept up a tolerably close intercourse with the Continent. They are first mentioned by Caesar as sending aid to the Veneti (a Gaulish tribe whose name is preserved in that of the present town of Vannes), in their revolt against the Roman power. This was in 56 B.C. ; and in the following year Caesar resolved on an invasion of Britain, partly influenced, no doubt, by the desire of taking vengeance for the help afforded by the Britons to his enemies the Veneti. C. Volusenus having been previously sent to examine the British coast, Caesar himself set sail from Portus Itius (probably Wissant, between Boulogne and Calais) on the night of the 26th of August 55 B.C., taking with him two legions. The opposite coast was reached early on the morning of the following day, and after a sharp struggle a landing was effected apparently somewhere near Deal. Slight resistance was now offered by the Britons, to whom peace was granted on easy terms, and the Romans hastened back to Gaul. Early in the following summer Caesar again started from Portus Itius, this time with a force of five legions and a corresponding body of 2000 cavalry, and landed on the coast of Britain at the same place as in the previous year. Leaving a small force to protect the ships he advanced twelve miles inland to the River Stour before meeting with the enemy. Cassivellaunus, chief of the country to the north of the Thames, had been chosen by the Britons as their general-in-chief, and under his command they for a time presented a fierce resistance to the invaders, but they were unable to withstand the steady onset of the Romans, and Caesar soon reached and took by storm Cassivellaunus s capital. The site of this city is now unknown, but it has been 