Читать книгу The Child's Pictorial History of England. From the Earliest Period to the Present Time онлайн

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18. The chief who made this conquest, was Esca, the son of Hengist, who called himself king of Kent, which, from that time, was a small Saxon kingdom, for the Britons never won it back again.

13. Then other chiefs, hearing how Esca had succeeded, got together bands of soldiers, and landed in different parts of the country, to try to gain kingdoms also; but they did not all come at once, and their conquests were made by such slow degrees, that the wars lasted more than one hundred and fifty years; so you may guess how hard the Britons fought in defence of their liberty.

20. We can learn but very little about those unhappy times, for the few histories that were then written were mostly destroyed in these long wars; and though songs were composed by the bards or poets, which the people used to learn and teach to their children, these songs were not all true.

21. They were mostly about the wars, and the brave British chiefs who defended the country against the Saxons; and if you should ever hear anybody speak of king Arthur, and the knights of the Round Table, you may remember that he is said to have been one of those chiefs; and, if we may believe the tale, killed four hundred Saxons with his own hand in one battle.