The Religion of Ancient Britain Author:George Smith Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: employed by persons well acquainted with the densely populated countries of Italy and Sicily, and is used by them without any qualification. It is equally cle... more »ar, that at this period the British chiefs were possessed of considerable wealth. Thus, Caesar is said to have acquired considerable booty in his two descents on the island. Prasutagus, the king of the Sceni, died possessed of very great wealth. And to a few states in the South, and within a few years after their first subjection, the philosophical Seneca lent more than .£480,000 of our money, upon good security, and at exorbitant interest. The Britons were also acquainted with the useful arts. The houses in which they dwelt, their chariots of war, as well as a great variety of other works, prove this beyond the possibility of doubt. We notice the latter : " Their cars were admired by the Romans, adopted by individuals for their journeys, and introduced by the public into their races. And we have a picture of one of them, sketched by a British hand, and engraved on a British coin. There we see the charioteer mounted on his carriage before us, a quiver of arrows peeping over his left shoulder, and a spear protended from his left hand, his feet resting upon the pole or foot-board annexed to it, and his body leaning over the horses in the act of accelerating their motion. And we have the description of another in Ossian, equally authentic, very similar in one or two particulars, and more circumstantial. It is the car of a British monarch, bending behind, drawn by a pair of horses, and embossed with sparkling atones. Its beam is of polished yew, its seat of the smoothest bone, and the sides of it are replenished with spears."f Persons who could construct such vehicles, build houses and Whitaker'b " Manchester," vol. ii....« less