I INTRODUCTION Our interest in the THE story of the English is the story of our forefathers. Most of us in America, if we try to learn something of our grandfathers, and of their grandfathers before them, find that the story takes us back to some town or county in England. We find English. ourselves descended from some smith, or weaver, or tailor, or some other honest man of that “tight little isle." And when, in addition, we ask where we got our government, our church organization, and our ways of living, we are again led back by many a path to the island of Great Britain. So, if we wish truly to know how we came to be what we are, we must first ask who the English are,-—where they came from, what their country is like, Outline history. and what their history has been. We must of their see how they began with a very simple life. How, little by little, through many long years, they changed from heathens to Christians, and built great and beautiful churches. How they have become industrious and energetic, building great ships and railways, warehouses and factories, helping to make the powers of nature bow to the will of man. And how, from living in wild and scattered tribes, they came to have one strong and free government; and how its area spread until now their power is felt in many lands, and millions of men are proud to say that they are of English or British race. The English began their story at a time when the story of the Romans was coming to a close. The Romans were great conquerors for some time before the birth of Christ, and they ruled the lands about the Mediterranean Sea, and beyond, for hundreds of years. But at last they were obliged to give up that task. Their empire was broken into many parts, which were taken by barbarous but stronger peoples. That part of it which the Romans knew as the island of Britain was given up when Rome's troubles came thick upon her. The English then came over from the Continent of Europe and took possession. And it is from them that we now give the name "England" to the greater part of that island. We begin our story first with an account of the island itself, and then of the different peoples who lived there before the English came. Afterward we will trace the story of the English, as they grow from small beginnings to their present great strength. II BRITAIN AND THE BRITONS POINTS TO BE NOTICED The things which fitted the British Isles to be the home of civilized men. What kind of people the early inhabitants were; why they were overcome. Who the Britons were; whence they came; how they lived; their chief weakness in government. The British the sea. FROM the city of Calais, on the northern coast of France, one may look over the water on a clear day and see the white cliffs of Dover, in England. At this point the English Channel is only twenty- Isles and one miles wide. But this narrow water has dangerous currents, and often fierce winds sweep over it, so that small ships find it hard to cross. This rough Channel has more than once spoiled the plans of England's enemies, and the English people have many times thanked God for their protecting seas. Indeed, the British Isles belong more to the sea than to the land. They once formed a peninsula, jutting out from Europe, far into the Atlantic Ocean; and thus they remained for countless ages. But a long struggle for mastery went on between sea and land. It ended at last, ages before our story begins, by the sinking of the land between England and France, and between Scotland and Norway. The rolling, tireless sea poured over these low places, to form the North Sea and the English Channel. The Irish Sea and St. George's Channel were formed in the same manner. The result is that we now have the two islands of Great Britain and Ireland, with |