A History of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the 14th Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria: With Conversations at the End of Each Chapter (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A History of England, From the First Invasion by the Romans to the 14th Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria: With Conversations at the End of Each Chapter

Fifty-five years before the birth of our Saviour, Julius Caesar, the greatest general the Romans ever had, was in Gaul. He there heard a great deal about Britain, which was the name of England at that time, from the traders who used to go back wards and forwards for tin, and for some other commodities. From them he heard that it was a fine country, and when he saw its white cliffs from the opposite shores of Gaul, he felt a great desire to conquer it. He set sail from a small port or cove near Calais with several ships fiill of soldiers, and arrived before Dover; but it seems that the Britons had heard of his coming, and were assembled to prevent his landing. They stood in such great numbers on the tops of the cliffs, which are very high at Dover, and looked so fierce, that the Romans were frightened, and sailed away to Deal, where the shore is flat, and they could land more easily but the Britons kept sight of the ships, and, marching across the land, got to Deal as soon as they did. The Romans did not know what to do, whether to attempt landing, or to resolve to sail back again: however, they got their ships as close to the shore as they could, and for a time waited to see what the Britons would do. At last a Roman standard-bearer jumped into the water, and then the rest of the soldiers followed, and waded to land in spite of all the Britons could do. At length the poor Britons, who had no armour that was at all suited to withstand the swords and spears of their enemies, were driven off.

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