. 7. [f] Will. Malm. p. 8.]

Hengist and Horsa, two brothers, possessed great credit among the
Saxons, and were much celebrated both for their valour and nobility.
They were reputed, as most of the Saxon princes, to be sprung from
Woden, who was worshipped as a god among those nations, and they are
said to be his great grandsons [g]; a circumstance which added much to
their authority. We shall not attempt to trace any higher the origin
of those princes and nations. It is evident what fruitless labour it
must be to search, in those barbarous and illiterate ages, for the
annals of a people, when their first leaders, known in any true
history, were believed by them to be the fourth in descent from a
fabulous deity, or from a man exalted by ignorance into that
character. The dark industry of antiquaries, led by imaginary
analogies of names, or by uncertain traditions, would in vain attempt
to pierce into that deep obscurity which covers the remote history of
those nations.
[FN [g] Bede, lib. 1. cap. 15. Saxon Chron. p. 13. Nennius, cap.
28.]

These two brothers, observing the other provinces of Germany to be
occupied by a warlike and necessitous people, and the rich provinces
of Gaul already conquered or overrun by other German tribes, found it
easy to persuade their countrymen to embrace the sole enterprise which
promised a favourable opportunity of displaying their valour and
gratifying their avidity. They embarked their troops in three
vessels, and about the year 449 or 450 [h], carried over 1600 men, who
landed in the Isle of Thanet, and immediately marched to the defence
of the Britons against the northern invaders. The Scots and Picts
were unable to resist the valour of these auxiliaries; and the
Britons, applauding their own wisdom in calling over the Saxons, hoped
thenceforth to enjoy peace and security under the powerful protection
of that warlike people.
[FN [h] Saxon Chronicle, p. 12. Gul. Malm. p. 11. Huntington, lib.
2. p. 309. Ethelwerd. Brompton, p. 728.]

But Hengist and Horsa perceiving, from their easy victory over the
Scots and Picts, with what facility they might subdue the Britons
themselves, who had not been able to resist those feeble invaders,
were determined to conquer and fight for their own grandeur, not for
the defence of their degenerate allies. They sent intelligence to
Saxony of the fertility and riches of Britain; and represented as
certain the subjection of a people so long