other travellers in those ages)
brought back the most shocking accounts of the ferocity of the people,
which they magnified, as usual, in order to excite the admiration of
their countrymen. The south-east parts, however, of Britain had
already, before the age of Caesar, made the first, and most requisite
step towards a civil settlement; and the Britons, by tillage and
agriculture, had there increased to a great multitude [a]. The other
inhabitants of the island still maintained themselves by pasture:
they were clothed with skins of beasts. They dwelt in huts, which they
reared in the forests and marshes, with which the country was covered:
they shifted easily their habitation, when actuated either by the
hopes of plunder, or the fear of an enemy: the convenience of feeding
their cattle was even a sufficient motive for removing their seats:
and as they were ignorant of all the refinements of life, their wants
and their possessions were equally scanty and limited.
[FN [a] Caesar. lib. 4.]

The Britons were divided into many small nations or tribes; and being
a military people, whose sole property was their arms and their
cattle, it was impossible, after they had acquired a relish for
liberty, for their princes or chieftains to establish any despotic
authority over them. Their governments, though monarchical [b], were
free, as well as those of all the Celtic nations; and the common
people seem even to have enjoyed more liberty among them [c] than
among the nations of Gaul [d], from which they were descended. Each
state was divided into factions within itself [e]: it was agitated
with jealousy or animosity against the neighbouring states: and while
the arts of peace were yet unknown, wars were the chief occupation,
and formed the chief object of ambition among the people.
[FN [b] Diod. Sic. lib. 4. Mela, lib. 3. cap. 6. Strabo, lib. 4.
[c] Dion. Cassius, lib. 75 [d] Caesar. lib. 6. [e] Tacit. Agr.]

The religion of the Britons was one of the most considerable parts of
their government; and the Druids, who were their priests, possessed
great authority among them. Besides ministering at the altar, and
directing all religious duties, they presided over the education of
youth; they enjoyed an immunity from wars and taxes; they possessed
both the civil and criminal jurisdiction; they decided all
controversies among states as well as among private persons, and
whoever refused to submit to their decree was exposed to th