at the means of attack and
defence would be pretty equal throughout; but the use of bronze would
give a vast preponderance of power to certain districts, Cornwall,
Wales, and the copper countries. The vast forests, too, upon which stone
hatchets would have but little effect, would be more easily cleared, and
their denizens would be more successfully hunted.

_Amber_ ornaments are found along with the implements of bronze. Do
these imply foreign commerce--commerce with the tribes of Courland and
Prussia--the pre-eminent amber localities? Not necessarily. Amber, in
smaller quantities, is found in Britain.

_Glass_ beads, too, are found. This, I think, _does_ imply commerce. At
any rate, I am slow to believe that the art of fusing glass was of
indigenous growth. The use of it was, most probably, a concomitant of
the tin trade.

Undoubted specimens of weaving and undoubted specimens of pottery, occur
during the Bronze period. Lead, too, is found in some of the bronze
alloys; the word itself being, apparently, of Keltic origin. Whether the
same could not be referred to the Stone period is uncertain. It is
probable, however, that whilst the implements were of stone and bone,
the dress was of skin.

Nothing has yet been said about the dwellings of the early islanders.
This is because it is difficult to assign a date to their remains. They
may belong to the Bronze--they may belong to the Stone period. They may
be more recent than either. At any rate, however, relics of ancient
domestic architecture exist. A foundation sunk in the earth, with stone
walls of loose masonry, and covered, most probably, with reeds and
branches, suggests the idea of a subterranean granary, for which the old
houses of the earliest Britons have been mistaken; but, nevertheless, it
belonged to a house. On the floor of this we find charred bones, and
enormous heaps of oyster and mussel shells. Stone handmills, too, denote
the use of corn; though from the character of the ancient Flora,
vegetable forms of food must have been rarer than animal.

Iron was known in Caesar's time. How much earlier is doubtful. So was
silver. Both were of later date than gold and bronze; and more than this
it is not safe to say. Of the great monolithic buildings, it is
reasonable to suppose that they are later than the Stone, and earlier
than the Historical, period. Druidism, however, in its germs may be of
any antiquity; not, however, if we suppose that the first introdu