y judiciously omits all such details. He
tells us that "they carried on the conflagration from the eastern to the
western sea, without any opposition, and almost covered all the
superfices of the perishing island. Public as well as private structures
were overturned; the priests were everywhere slain before the altars;
the prelates and the people, without any respect of persons, were
destroyed with fire and sword." There is little to add to these
impressive words, which no doubt contain the general truth. But if we
open the British history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, we find ourselves
relieved from the thick darkness of the Anglo-Saxon records, by the blue
lights and red lights of the most wondrous romance. Rowena comes with
her golden wine-cup. Merlin instructs Vortigern how to discover the two
sleeping dragons who hindered the foundation of his tower. Aurelius, the
Christian King, burns Vortigern in his Cambrian city of refuge. Eldol
fights a duel with Hengist, cuts off his head, and destroys the Saxons
without mercy. Merlin the magician, and Uther Pendragon, with fifteen
thousand men, bring over "the Giant's Dance" from Ireland, and set it up
in Salisbury Plain. Uther Pendragon is made the Christian king over all
Britain.

At length we arrive at Arthur, the son of Uther. To him the entire
monarchy of Britain belonged by hereditary right. Hoel sends him fifteen
thousand men from Armorica, and he makes the Saxons his tributaries; and
with his own hand kills four hundred and seventy in one battle. He not
only conquers the Saxons, but subdues Gaul, among other countries, and
holds his court in Paris. His coronation at the City of the Legions
(Caer-Leon) is gorgeous beyond all recorded magnificence; and the
general state of the country, in these days of Arthur, before the middle
of the sixth century, is thus described: "At that time, Britain had
arrived at such a pitch of grandeur that in abundance of riches, luxury
of ornaments, and politeness of inhabitants, it far surpassed all other
kingdoms." Mordred, the wicked traitor, at length disturbs all this
tranquillity and grandeur, and brings over barbarous people from
different countries. Arthur falls in battle. The Saxons prevail, and the
Britons retire into Cornwall and Wales.

Amid the bewildering mass of the obscure and the fabulous which our
history presents of the first century and a half of the Saxon
colonization, there are some well-established facts which are borne