33
provinces of Gaul ; the Narbonnese, Aquitaine, chap.
the Celtic , or Lyonnese, the Belgic, and the two--
Germanies.
We have already had occasion to mention the Britain ,conquest of Britain , and to fix the boundary ofthe Roman province in this island. It compre-hended all England, Wales , and the lowlands ofScotland , as far as the friths of Dunbarton andEdinburgh. Before Britain lost her freedom, thecountry was irregularly divided between thirtytribes of barbarians, of whom the most consider-able were the Belgae in the west, the Brigantesin the north, the Silures in South Wales, andthe Iceni in Norfolk and Suffolk .' 1 As far aswe can either trace or credit the resemblance ofmanners and language, Spain, Gaul, and Britain were peopled by the same hardy race of savages.
Before they yielded to the Roman arms, theyoften disputed the field, and often renewed thecontest. After their submission, they constitutedthe western division of the European provinces,which extended from the columns of Hercules tothe wall of Antoninus , and from the mouth of theTagus to the sources of the Rhine and Danube .
Before theRoman conquest, the country which Ita h*is now called Lombardy was not considered asa part of Italy . It had been occupied by a pow-erful colony of Gauls , who, settling themselvesalong the banks of the Po, from Piedmont toRomagna , carried their arms and diffused theirname from the Alps to the Apennine . The
a Whitaker’s History of Manchester, vol. i, c. 3.
VOL. I. D