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A CURSORY VIEW OF English History.
DISCOURSE I.
HAVING given you, my dear Eugenius, some account of Sacred History, I will now endeavour to give you some light into that of our own country.
You will find me all attention.
The History of England may be divided into three periods. The first from the commencement of our knowledge of this country to it's conquest by the Normans; the second, from that conquest to the alteration of the con|stitution, by the beheading of King Charles; and the last, from King Charles's death to the present time.
Before the Romans entered this island, which was fifty four years before the birth of Christ, the country was po|pulous, and stored with great plenty of animals, savage and domestic. Towns were few and house were meanly built and scattered up and down. The ancient Britons lived upon milk and flesh, procured by hunting, and went al|most naked, painting their bodies with different colours; the only garments they wore were the skins of beasts thrown over their shoulders, and another round their waists.
Had they no sort of government among them?
What government they had, consisted of petty principalities, who united in cases of common danger, and chose a leader by general consent. In short, the people were little better than savages.
Had they no religion among them.?
They had a fraternity among them known by the name of Druids, who were majestrates as well as priests, and who taught a morality which principally consisited in jus|tice