own persuasion, that they hazard more in a revolt, than they
can hope to obtain by a revolution; but it has appeared so natural
to oppress those whom we hate and fear, that the contrary system well
deserves the praise of wisdom and moderation.

While the kingdom of the Franks and Visigoths were established in Gaul
and Spain, the Saxons achieved the conquest of Britain, the third
great diocese of the Praefecture of the West. Since Britain was already
separated from the Roman empire, I might, without reproach, decline a
story familiar to the most illiterate, and obscure to the most learned,
of my readers. The Saxons, who excelled in the use of the oar, or the
battle-axe, were ignorant of the art which could alone perpetuate the
fame of their exploits; the Provincials, relapsing into barbarism,
neglected to describe the ruin of their country; and the doubtful
tradition was almost extinguished, before the missionaries of Rome
restored the light of science and Christianity. The declamations of
Gildas, the fragments, or fables, of Nennius, the obscure hints of the
Saxon laws and chronicles, and the ecclesiastical tales of the venerable
Bede, have been illustrated by the diligence, and sometimes embellished
by the fancy, of succeeding writers, whose works I am not ambitious
either to censure or to transcribe. Yet the historian of the empire
may be tempted to pursue the revolutions of a Roman province, till
it vanishes from his sight; and an Englishman may curiously trace the
establishment of the Barbarians, from whom he derives his name, his
laws, and perhaps his origin.

About forty years after the dissolution of the Roman government,
Vortigern appears to have obtained the supreme, though precarious
command of the princes and cities of Britain. That unfortunate monarch
has been almost unanimously condemned for the weak and mischievous
policy of inviting a formidable stranger, to repel the vexatious inroads
of a domestic foe. His ambassadors are despatched, by the gravest
historians, to the coast of Germany: they address a pathetic oration to
the general assembly of the Saxons, and those warlike Barbarians resolve
to assist with a fleet and army the suppliants of a distant and unknown
island. If Britain had indeed been unknown to the Saxons, the measure
of its calamities would have been less complete. But the strength of the
Roman government could not always guard the maritime province against
the pirates of Germany; the ind