with the Normans. Armorial Bearings. Simon St Liz. Earl Ferrers and Okeham. Curious Custom. Death of William the Conqueror.
Britain probably received its earliest population from Gallia Celtica some centuries before the Christian era, and these Belgiæ or Cimbri were what we now term the ancient Britons. The island, however, was in all probability populated before the arrival of these wanderers, though we know little of its history until the advent of the Romans. At Cæsar's invasion it was well populated, and the interior was inhabited by people who believed themselves to be autochthones. The southern and eastern coasts were more particularly occupied by the emigrants from Belgic Gaul, who had crossed the channel and the northern sea, attracted by the prospect of plunder. After having obtained a footing they became agriculturists. They possessed the same manners as the Gauls, though their social condition was less advanced; the Celts in Gaul having attained a comparatively high degree of civilization. They were also more fierce than their kindred on the other side of the channel, and were altogether, perhaps, in a more degraded condition than those tribes we have been considering. Their religion was the same as that of the Gauls, and Tacitus tells us that they had the same worship and the same superstitions.[1] Druidism found a congenial home in Britain when banished from the continent, though it had existed in this country, in all
likelihood, from the landing of the nomads; and with its mysterious and dismal rites, it no doubt claimed the same
- ↑ Agricola, ii.
