Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/328

 diap.' fe. O F v &'A N CHESTER. ity}' imrffc many cbmeftie titenfils have beeii fotmea by the primaeval Britons. The iron itaoney of the Britons evinces theni to have pofiefled the fecret of caftihg* their koct and'ft&nipmg h. And th^ ij^tifai&ity, whiih Appears t6 have extended into the fartheft ftgibh* efrjthe ntirrik *%' had Certaftify learnt the art of hardening fh^fron into fteel. ' This was a ftctet Wefl known at this period among 1 their' Celticf brethren on the coritmeht. * The fteel of the Spaniards bbre as great a reputation as it* bears at pnefent ". Arid Srrhsit fairtfl! mirror- of the original Bwtrfh, tHe native language* &Fite£Liti;"iht ap'pebktidr^bf ftefel h ; nbt Roman at all, the ap- j^ilatfdh .of fteel is' a&ualiy and abfolttiely BrithhV"B«t: th£ mantifacWr xnuflr hare been unddubtedft enforced and the forgek muft hive been undoubtedly multiplied 1 bt the 'Romans OheJ fcrg;e' perhaps was ereclfed fri tHe vfcmity'bf erefy ftdtiori. " Aft2f wirMi'fche wefterH Hding of YorkfhttVand* in then heighbottri hoed of • Ndrth-Brre'rleyV ahlid many be* of" tihdera heaped' nft tit thV adjacent fields, <fome years aigo was fbtihd- a quantity ' ox Roman coins carefully fepofited m one of theni u, • ' '•' « j: '••' « Whetothe gritbnV irripdrted- all' thtehr iron frbm rfc^coftrmen'rV they imported alfd all their- brail. 1  Another! tHe/ . Katf &afetf folntrddtee «lw'fbmieH theyftffl'con^feue^'t^Vecel^e'Vffe^t- «er * Their want bf fhemefh! remained, and no' 'mules' 6r* re «fere opened in flietflarid-* 1 ' 111 th^rifeff ages wlioTe Wanner? feiVe'becn delmeated r *bytlie i, pencir ] of 1 Hiftory, we'fihd'thV ^en- ttorb of 'thelrNvarriows^^^ And <he"mbft authentic ' : of aH' , thc ; pfo^me' records' b'Fafaiqmty tor that "reafon ' miiftakenly- tos '• tKe 4 ' ' ffrft difebve'ry '■'&; frbri' * touple of centuries ; below'tHc aera'of* theTrojtfrt war ". 1 EveY}' military nation, as fnch, is naturally ffudibtis of bfightnefs 'in Jts arms. -Arid the Britons particularly gloriecr'iri'tfie^ricatheff O^ttiefirs' 8 ;- 1 Fo^thrs^rbtifoii tile nations of the woricfili g^fiei^f ftill fabricated their arms of r Brafs' even long after the AViiiideliatf iera for the difcovery of iron * For this reafoii the primeval Nitons in particular ftiH 1 continued to import brafs fr<5m the C**itiiieiit, though they had found iron- td bt a 1 native of' the country, -and- could' have fuppNed themfelves with a fitfficferit Q q quantity