Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/catechismofengliOOmath GATECHI8M OF ENGLISH HISTORY, ADAPTED FOR THE SCHOOLROOM & NURSERY. BY EDWARD AND EMMA MATHEWS. I^RIOE TWOPENCE. [entered at statioubes' hall.] LONDON : HOULSTON AND WRIGHT; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. MDOOCLXVIH. PREFACE. In compiling this Catechism, the Editors have kept in view the progress of the nation in civilization, commerce, and the arts of peace, rather than the histories of battles and their heroes ; having a strong conviction that such details tend to vitiate the minds of youth, and give false ideas of right and wrong. This evil exists in almost all our popular school-books. The Editors would suggest that maps and pictures be referred to in connexion with this and their other Catechisms, as the impression made on the young mind by such means is vivid and lasting. Bristol. E. & E. M. [Twenty-eighth Thousand.] CATECHISM OF ENGLISH HISTORY. CHAPTER I. THE ANCIENT BRITONS. Question. Can you tell me what England was called in ancient times ? Answer. Albion or Britannia ; and the people were called Britons. Q. How far back does the History of England reach? A. Very little is known about this country or its inhabitants until the time of Julius Csesar. Q. Who was Julius Caesar? A. A Roman general who came to these shores one thousand nine hundred years ago, and attempted to conquer the inhabitant*, but was not very success- ful, and so returned to Gaul (now called France). Q. What was the condition of the Britons when Julius Csesar came? A. They were divided into numerous tribes, each having a leader or chief, like the Indians of North America, and were constantly at war with each other. Q. Mention some other particulars about them? A. Their food was fruits, roots, nuts, and acorns; nlso the flesh of animals which they hunted in the forests; they painted their bodies, and wore no clothes but skins; they bad no furniture but blocks of wood, and their houses were little round huts, made of sticks or rushes plastered with clay. Their weapons were bows and arrows, clubs, and spears. Q. Who were the Druids? A. They were the Priests of Britain, and the most learned men of those times. They made laws, held courts of justice, made herb medicines for the sick, and worked in metals. Those of them who played music and made verses were called bards. Their usual dress v\ as a long white robe. 4 CATECHISM OP Q. What was their religion ? A. They were idolaters and worshipped trees, rivers, fire, and other objects ; they formed temples of large stones arranged in circles. The remains of one is still to be seen on Salisbury plain, and another at Stanton Drew, near Bristol, Q. Did not the Romans come again to Britain? A. Yes, about the year of our Lord 60, or a hundred years after Julius Caesar came ; and after killing many of the people, they made Britain a part of the Roman empire, just as India has been made part of the British empire in modern times. Q. How did they treat the Druids ? A. They put them to death, about the year of our Lord 78, by order of the Emperor Nero, infamous for his cruelty. It is said that many fled to Scotland and the i>le of Mona or Man. Q. Did they do any further injury to the Britons? A. Yes; they obliged them to pay very heavy taxes; taking away their young men, their cattle, corn, and other property ; but on the other hand they taught the Britons many useful things they did not know before. Q. Then the Remans did some good as well as harm? A. Yes; they taught the Britons to make roads and bridges, to drain marshy land, to build houses, and plant gardens. CHAPTER II. THE ROMAN8. Q. Who were the Romans? A. They were a bold warlike people living at Rome, in Italy. Their city was built about seven hundred years before the time of Julius Caesar; at first it was only a group of huts built on a hill and enclosed with walls. Q. What kind of a city was is about the time they couquered Britain? A. It was fifty miles in circuit, and contained four millions of inhabitants; it was enriched with marble statues, columns, and obelisks, from Egypt and Greece -with gold, silver, and precious stones, ENGLISH HISTORY. 5 aijd all that wag costly, gathered from the nations they had conquered in all parts of the world. Q, What was the religion of the Romans. 9 A. When they first settled in Britain they wor- shipped a number of false gods, and built temples to them ; but in the course of time, some Roman Christians came and taught the precepts of Jesus, and some of the temples were turned into Christian churches. Q. Did the Romans try to improve the Britons? A. Yes, they opened schools in the towns, where British and Roman boys were taught to read. They built market-places and brought money into use in buying and selling, improved the style of clothing and cooking, and thus in various ways, by treating the Britons as friends and equals, did much to soften their rough manners. Q. Did Britain remainlong under the Roman rule? A. Until the year of our Lord, 420, when the Roman empire had become so weak, that the soldiers were called home, and the Britons were left to take care of themselves. Q. What happened to the Britons then ? A. After the Romans had left, the Picts and Scots, a fierce people, who lived in the woods and wilds of Scotland, came down and robbed them of their corn, cattle, and children. Q. What had the Romans done to keep them away? A. They had built walls, with a row of strong forts, across the country, and placed soldiers to guard them, and thus kept the intruders on the other si4e. CHAPTER III. THE 8AXONS AND DAXE8. Q. What did the Britons now do to protect themselves from their enemies? A. They were foolish enough to quarrel among themselves; and instead of helping each other, they invited some Saxons from Germany to help them against the Scots. Q. How did the Saxons conduct themselves? A. These daring, hardy men, drove back the Soots, and finding Britain a pleasant country got 6 CATECHISM OF many more Saxons over, and settled in Kent, where they soon quarrelled with the Britons, drove them out, and established the Saxon kingdom of Kent. Q. Did they make any further settlements ? A. Yes, in the course of one hundred and fifty years, various Saxon chiefs took possession of dif- ferent parts of England. By degrees the natives became very few in number, for they were either killed in the wars, or driven to the mountains of Wales, or to that part of France called Brittany. Q. Can you tell me what language was spoken by the Saxons? A. Our own EngJish language, though it has been much altered since then ; the ancient British language is now spoken by the Welsh. The lan- guage of the Romans was Latin. Q. What was the religion of the Saxons? A. It differed from that of the Druids, and from that of the Romans. Tbey worshipped great images of wood or stone, and from thpse gods or goddesses we derive the names of the days of the week. Q. How was Christianity again introduced into England ? A. It was brought by some missionaries from Rome, about the year 680. These good men im- proved the manners of the Saxons or English, and taught them many useful arts. Q. Can you mmtion some particulars? A. Yes, they taught them to write books, and draw and paint in colors ; they instructed masons, smiths, and carpenters; they improved agriculture and the rearing of sheep and cattle. Q. What was the political condition of the people at this time? A. The Saxon lords had made themselves not only owners of the land, but owners of the people gfifo-; they could therefore neither buy nor sell, nor receive wages, nor go a journey, but as their mas- ters chose. Q. How did the Saxon chiefs divide the country? A. Seven of them united and agreed to divide England into seven kingdoms. Thi9 was called the Saxon Heptarchy. The names of these kingdoms ENGLISH HISTORY. 7 were Kent, Sussex, Essex, East Anglia, North- umbria, Wessex, and Mercia. Q, Did this arrangement make the Saxons quiet and contented ? A. No, they had acquired such a love of fighting, that they soon went to war with each other; at length the most successful of these princes, Egbert, king of Wessex, became master of the whole, about the year of our Lord 800. Q. What name was given to the kingdom ? A. Angle-land, or England, from a numerous Saxon tribe called Angles. Q. Did England now enjoy peace? A. No, a great number of Danish pirates over- ran the country. Often landing at night, they burnt down villages, and carried off whatever came in their way. Q. Were the Danes at length got rid of? A. Yes, after many years of conflict they were routed by Alfred the Great. Q. What noble deeds distinguished this king ? A. He encouraged the education of the people, founded schools of learning at Oxford, made wise and just laws, established trial by jury, made a survey of England, divided it into counties, and built large '•hips to protect it. He was a poet, and knew several languages. He died in the year 900. Q. Did the Danes return to England ? A. Yes, nearly one hundred years after Alfred's death they conquered the country, and three Danish Kings sat on the throne in succession. Q. Did the Saxons regain the throne ? A. Yes, but kept it only during the life-time of Edward the Confessor, (who was a descendant of Alfred,) for at his death, his successor Harold, had no sooner ascended the throne, than William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England wirh sixty thousand men. Harold and many of the Saxons were killed, and William soon declared himself king. CHAPTER IV. THE NORMAN CONQUEST. Q. What is the invasion of England commonly called. 8 CATECHISM OF A. The Norman Conquest, and the king is called William the Conqueror. Q. How did he behave towards the Saxon or English people ? A, He took their lands from them and gate them to his Norman soldiers ; he then had the amount of the land, cattle, and servants of every one •ntered in a book called Doomsday book. Q. Did not the people whom he had robbed plot against him ? A. Yes, and to prevent this, he made them put out their fires and candles every evening at eight o'clock, at the ringing of a bell. This was called the cur-few bell. Q. When did William become king, and how long did he reign ? A. He was crowned king of England on the 25th of December, 1066, and reigned 21 years. Q. What king succeeded him ? A. His second son, William Rufus, or William the Red, so called because he had red hair. Q, What caused the death of William Rufus; A. As William Rufus was hunting, on land that his father had laid waste, with a favourite named Walter Tyrrell, whilst they both shot at a stag, an arrow glancing from a tree, struck the king in the breast and killed him. Q. Who was the next king? A. The next king was William's brother Henry, who was called Beau-Clerk because of his great learning. He reigned thirty-five years. Q. Who sat on the throne after Henry I. ? A. Stephen, who reigned eighteen ) ears; but he wa.* considered a usurper, that is, one who reigned without good right, and when he died in 1154, Henry II , grandson of the former Henry, was made king. Q. Was there anything worthy of notice in the character of Henry II. 2 A, Henry took gome pains to improve the con- dition of his people, and conducted the affairs of the kingdom with wi