Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/34

 Britons, but must look upon the Saxons as the people of England.

24. I told you how Esca had established the little kingdom of Kent. Well, in the course of the wars, six more kingdoms had been formed in the same manner, by different Saxon chiefs, so that, by the time the conquest was completed, there were seven kingdoms in Britain, namely, Kent, Sussex, Essex, and East Anglia, Northumbria, Wessex, and Mercia; and this division of the country among seven kings, was called the Saxon Heptarchy.

25. The Saxons were not clever people, like the Romans, but were rough and ignorant, and cared for nothing but fighting; so while the wars were going on, they ruined and destroyed all the beautiful and useful works that had been done in the Roman times; for they did not understand their value, and only thought it was a fine thing to destroy all that belonged to their enemies.

26. But the works of the Romans were very strong; for even now, when workmen are digging in London, and different parts of the country, they sometimes find Roman walls, and pavements, and foundations of houses, that show what good architects the Romans were.

27. When the Saxons had got possession of the whole country, you may perhaps suppose