re de l'Art dans
l'Antiquite," t. iii.; "Phenicie et Cypre," p. 48.) For
a contrary opinion, see Elton's "Origins of English
History." Elton ascribes the first knowledge of the
British islands to the voyage of Pytheas in the fourth
century B.C.; he acknowledges that the geography of
Britain was well known to the Greeks in the time of
Alexander the Great. We owe to Pliny and Strabo the few
fragments from Pytheas that have been rescued from
oblivion, and to Pliny the notices of Himilco. (See
Bouillet's "Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Geographie.")

[558] See Rock's Introduction to "Textile Fabrics," p.
xii.

[559] I give the following amusing tradition, which was
probably founded on the celebrity of the English pearl
embroidery of the Anglo-Saxon times, of which much went
to Rome:--

"Then Caesar, like a conqueror, with a great number of
prisoners sailed into France, and so to Rome, where
after his return out of Brytaine, hee consecrated to
Venus a surcote of Brytaine pearles, the desire whereof
partly moved him to invade this country."--(Stow's
"Annales," p. 14, ed. 1634.) Tacitus, in the Agricola
12, says that British pearls are grey and livid.

[560] See Rock's Introduction to "Textile Fabrics," p.
xii.

[561] These are the poor results of the Roman invasion
and neglect of Britain during their occupation. The
second invasion of Britain by the Romans, under
Claudius, was caused by the squabbles between the chiefs
of the different tribes. Comnenus, the prince of the
Atrebates, was at war with the sons of Cunobelinus
(Cymbeline). He took his grievances to Rome, and the
Roman legions were despatched to settle the matter, and
to dazzle the world by the echoes rather than the facts
of the triumphant victories in the land of the "wintry
pole." Claudius marched with elephants clad in mail, and
bearing turrets filled with slingers and bowmen,
accompanied by Belgic pikemen and Batavians from the
islands in the Rhine, A.D. 44. The dress of Claudius on
his return from Britain was purple, with an ivory
sceptre and crown of gold oak leaves. One officer alone
was entitled to wear a tunic embroidered with golden
palms, in token of a former victory. The Celts, the
Gauls, the Gaels, the Picts, the Scots, and the
Saxons,--all crowded and settled in