ted a discontented people to reject the yoke of the
Barbarians, and to assert the name and dignity of Roman citizens. The
allegiance of doubtful subjects is indeed most effectually secured by
their 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. [125]

[Footnote 125: The Code of the Visigoths, regularly divided into twelve
books, has been correctly published by Dom Bouquet, (in tom. iv. p.
273-460.) It has been treated by the President de Montesquieu (Esprit
des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 1) with excessive severity. I dislike the style;
I detest the superstition; but I shall presume to think, that the
civil jurisprudence displays a more civilized and enlightened state of
society, than that of the Burgundians, or even of the Lombards.]

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, [126] 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. [127] 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.

[Footnote 126: See Gildas de Excidio Britanniae, c. 11-25, p. 4-9, edit.
Gale. Nennius, Hist. Britonum, c. 28, 35-65, p. 105-115, edit. Gale.
Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. G