The other implements of the stone period are axes and hammerheads, of which a great variety have been found, made of very hard stone. Antiquaries are much divided in opinion whether the former were battle-axes, or were used for other purposes; and in this division of opinion the difficulty of giving them a name has been compromised by calling them "Celts."

Implements of a similar kind were afterwards cast in bronze, the matrices for the castings being sometimes shaped out of soft stone, at other times moulded in sand, and afterwards they were made of bronze. Specimens of the stone matrices have been discovered, in which the hollowed parts for the two sides of the instrument are carved out in separate stones, the surfaces of which lie flat together.

As an example of the earliest known method of casting metals in this country, we give the accompanying illustration of a matrix for a "Celt" cut in stone.

The opinions of antiquarians differ on the point whether the Britons had advanced so far in the knowledge of working metals, at the time of Cæsar's invasion, as to cast coins and medals. Numerous coins have been discovered in gold, silver, and bronze, which, if not the work of the ancient Britons, were no doubt made shortly after the landing of the Romans. The accompanying engravings, reproduced from our first volume, represent specimens of rude coins supposed

that the Gauls had taken refuge in those caves from the fury of Cæsar, and had perished there; and that thus their bones became mingled with those of extinct animals which had in antediluvian periods made those caves their places of abode. A similar explanation might reconcile the apparent anomaly of the recent discovery; for the formation of the stalagmite, in which the knives and bones are imbedded, might have occurred by the deposition of lime within a few centuries.

BRITISH POTTERY-CLOTHING.

5

to be of ante-Roman date. The first one is plain on one side, and on the other side are portions of a horse and of a wheel, intended to represent a war-chariot. The design is very evident in the second specimen, which is a more finished production, and has a head crowned by a wreath of laurel on the other side. The latter most probably was made subsequently to the Roman invasion. Whatever doubt may exist as to the date of those coins, there can be no question that

the art of coining was carried to a great extent by Cunobeline at Camulodunum (Maldon), after his return from Rome, no less than forty different coins of that king having been found.

That pottery was not unknown to the ancient Britons, is evidenced from the relics of rude earthenware drinking vessels and of urns, which contained the ashes of their chiefs, discovered in barrows that were piled up antecedent to the invasion of the Romans. The Gauls, indeed, are known to have made earthenware vessels long before that period. A large specimen of British pottery was found in a barrow in Anglesea, and was supposed to have contained the ashes of Bronwen the Fair, aunt to Caractacus; some smaller specimens were drinking cups used by the Britons. The earthenware of which they were made was coarse and unglazed.

The original natives of Britain, like all other savage tribes, were either naked or covered themselves with skins when they required protection from the cold, and it seems doubtful whether at the time of

6

DYES-BASKETS AND BOATS OF OSIERS.

Caesar's invasion they had acquired the art of making cloth. From the words of Cæsar, that "the Britons in the interior parts of the country are clothed in skins," it has been inferred that those whom he encountered were better clad; and it is most probable that the natives in the southern parts of Britain wore cloth either of their own manufacture, or imported from the Continent. In Cornwall and the neighbouring districts, also, there can be little doubt that cloths of various kinds had for centuries been obtained from the Phoenicians in exchange for the tin which they took away in large quantities. From the frequent intercourse of the Britons with the Gauls and Belgæ, among whom the arts of spinning, dressing, and weaving wool and flax were known, it may be assumed that the Britons had learned to make cloth before the Romans visited the island, and that they were not only clothed in woollen garments, but that the clothing they wore was of their own manufacture. It is related by Pliny that the ancient Gauls even excelled in dyeing cloth, for when noticing the great perfection that art had attained generally, he observes, "the people of Gaul beyond the Alps have invented a method of dyeing purple, scarlet, and all other colours, only with certain herbs." Woad is supposed to have been the principal vegetable product employed for that purpose, and that the "invention " originated from the experience gained in staining the naked body and skins, the same materials having been applied, naturally enough, to the dyeing of cloth. The deep blue, which was the predominant colour, indicates that woad was extensively used by the Britons as a colouring substance.

The interlacing of pliant osier twigs into various forms, and for various uses, constituted one of the earliest manufacturing arts of the Britons, and attracted the special notice of their conquerors. The coracles or small river boats* were constructed of wicker-work covered with skins; and the baskets made in Britain were considered so remarkable, that specimens of them were taken to Rome as curious exemplifications of the manual products of the far distant islanders.

The preceding sketch of the state of manufactures in Britain at the time of the first Roman invasion, represents the inhabitants as having made but slight advances in the arts of civilized life, even in those portions of the island where intercourse with the other nations of Europe had been most frequent. Every kind of manufacture known to them had been acquired from the Gauls and Belgæ, and it must be * "Progress of Shipping," vol. i. p. 274.

ST. AUGUSTINE-INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.

7

inferred that the manufactures thus introduced among a barbarous people were reproduced by them with less skill than in the countries from which they were imported. Nor could it have been otherwise when the more perfect and more various manufactures of southern Europe were brought into Britain by the Romans. It required a long time before the refinements of a highly civilized nation could be appreciated by the rude natives; and it would be still longer before they acquired the arts connected with civilized life. Their conquerors paid little attention to their instruction in the useful arts, beyond the tillage of the soil, which was necessary to supply food for their army of occupation. Nevertheless, the settlement of the Romans in the country for a period of three hundred and sixty years, could not have failed to introduce among the natives some taste for the comforts and luxuries which they had seen enjoyed by the almost naturalized settlers; and together with the taste for their enjoyment a knowledge of the means of obtaining them. In the latter years of the Roman occupation, indeed, some of the mechanical arts seem to have been more advanced in Britain than in Germany, and it is stated that the Emperor Chlorus sent for British artificers to repair the cities of Germany which had been reduced to ruins during the wars.

CHAPTER II.

MANUFACTURES IN THE SAXON PERIOD.

WHEN the Saxons first settled in England after the departure of the Romans, they occasioned a retrograde movement in the useful arts, in which they were less advanced than the native inhabitants. The long-continued struggles between the Britons and the in-pouring Saxons, who overran the country, had a seriously depressing effect on manufacturing industry; nor was it until the foundation of the Saxon Heptarchy and the introduction of Christianity into the country, that manufactures were again cultivated and improved.

St. Augustine and his monks came from Rome on a mission very different from that of Cæsar's. Instead of being actuated by the lust of conquest, spreading death and destruction over the land, the object

8

INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

of the Christian invasion of Britain was to spread the knowledge of Christ and of everlasting life, to preach peace and good-will to all mankind. The fulfilment of this blessed mission was no easy task among a people so rude, that the attempt to Christianize them was considered so dangerous that those who first undertook it were frightened from their design by the reports they received of the savage character of the natives.

The success that attended the persevering efforts of Augustine and the diffusion of Christianity in Britain, were accompanied by a rapid diffusion of the arts of civilization. The monks not only acquired a knowledge of but practised the useful arts adapted to supply their own wants and those of the people, and by their teaching and example they succeeded in establishing many of the manufactures that were then known in Europe. Artisans from abroad, and those native workmen who had become most proficient, were employed in the monasteries. The artificers so engaged were millers, bakers, weavers, embroiderers, architects, carpenters, shoemakers, and smiths, and those who worked in the precious metals. Among the monks who were renowned for their skill in mechanical arts was St. Dunstan, who lived in the tenth century. It is stated in the life of that saint, that when young he had acquired such skill in designing, that he was requested by a religious lady of rank to draw figures, which she afterwards