Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/410

 Chap. X. OF MANCHESTER. 375 and have ranged them under his own ftandard. Such was the general difpofition of the British forces *. And thefe bodies muft have been all armed after the firitifh mode; with brafs fwords,* brafs Celts, the {pear, the dagger, the fcythed chariot, and the bow. Thefe Britifh implements of war would be fully fuffi- cient in themfclves againit the fimilarly armed Britons of the f north. The Roman auxiliaries constantly retained their own: weapons of war *. And the copper fwords and the brafs Celts of the Tritons have Seen found folded up in Roman-Britifli linea and attended by Roman- Britifh coins. The military difcipline of the Britons was greatly fuperior to- the ideas which are univerfally entertained concerning it. They commonly encamped behind a ftream for fear of a iurprize by night ,£>. They lighted their fires and pofted their centinels about the camp ". They even had regularly what they deno- minated " The troop of the night/* which was ftationed at fome diftance from the camp, to defcry the remoter approaches of .an enemy, and to guard the more efFedually agairtft a fudden attack x Their commanders frequently walked the rounds in the night, and perfonally infpedted the order and difpofition of the men 1S. And they had certain appointed fignals for the day or the night, the feveral "• voices of their kings, which the war- Thefe were given either by the geheralY horn, by the beating of his (hield, or by the exertion of his voice ,$ . The fliield of the commander was fitted with feveral hollow bofles, each of which was occafionally beat upon with his fpear and emitted a loud and a different, found *V As the general (truck the ihicld of his alarms, the warriors of the night moved o*i to their pofts l As another bofs was founded, the bards acknowledged the fum-- mons and immediately attended his perfon ,8 . By one .fignal from the fliield the troops were ordered inftantly to advance and begin the fight,, as by a fucond they were commanded to dis- continue the fight and to retreat 2 °.. " The troops marched up to- the attack beneath the founds of their military fongs r. the bards beginning the chaunt and the troops taking it from them, till the;
 * riors received from the wind and marked over all their tribes 'V