HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

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The war which was carried on with varied success till nearly the close ofthe sixth century, then ended in the total subjugation of almost the whole ofthat part of Britain now called England. The maritime history of it, as alreadyobserved, would very immaterially tend to the illustration of the present sub-ject. Inasmuch as the Britons possessing no naval force capable of copingwith the invaders, the whole contest was uninterruptedly carried on by land.There are, nevertheless, a few points of historical information relative to theSaxon annals, which appear so interwoven with the subject, as to render it im-proper they should be suffered to pass over totally unnoticed. When at particularperiods, the guardian genius of the Britons had afforded them her protectionand aid, to the discomfiture of the Saxons, when the latter appeared reduced,as was more than once the case, to the lowest ebb, and were in almost dailyexpectation of being forcibly driven from all probable possession, of that spotwhich had so long been the object of their hope, their desire, and their avarice,the arrival of a very inconsiderable number of ships, frequently not more thanthree, restored their sinking cause, and placed them once more, high inpower *. The formation of the seven Saxon kingdoms, from thence denomi-nated the Heptarchy, followed in regular succession after the establishment ofthe first, comprising Kent, under Hengist. In short, the Saxon rule appearedunmoveably established in every quarter where the rugged face of the countrydid not either prevent approach, or appear to hold forth no reward or advantagesufficiently consequential to repay the labour, and the danger of attempting itsconquest.

From the naval history of the Saxons, who became the conquerors of theBritons, the transition is extremely easy to that of the conquered. It were tovery little purpose to enter into those remote periods of British history, whenfiction, romance, and improbability, clouded the dignity of the record, and

* A striking proof of this circumstance, appears in the time of Cerdic, a Saxon prince, who lived atthe close of the fifth century. Having sustained great losses in the many battles that were fought withthe Britons, he sent over to Germany for new supplies, which arriving in three ships, under the conductof Stuf and Wilgar, his two nephews, they landed at Cerdickshore, where they were attacked by theBritons, v. horn they put to flight. Henry of Huntingdon, who describes this battle at large, relates,that the British forces were drawn up on the side of a hill, and likewise in a valley, a measure whichat first frightened the new comers, but that the latter recovering themselves from their consternation,they fell with great resolution upon the Britons, and put them to flight.

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