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as a field or a fountain might invite, it is supposed that that people were equally destitute of towns. The Celtic race were not, indeed, partial to a residence within walls, but they were sufficiently careful to construct many fortifications which received the name of cities, and, from their strength and magnitude, deserved the appellation. Josephus says, there were twelve hundred cities in Gaul; and Ptolemy enumerates ninety in Germany. The Semnones inhabited one hundred towns, the Suessiones had twelve, and the Nervii had as many.† In Spain, were three hundred and sixty; ‡ and at the period of the first settlement of the Romans in Britain, its Celtic tribes, in England and Wales, possessed upwards of a hundred.§ Dio Nicæus, who flourished in the beginning of the third century, says, neither the Caledonians nor Meats had towns, or walled forts. They may not, in his meaning; but Tacitus informs us, that beyond the Forth were "amplas civitates." There is every reason to believe, that, even among the rudest of the Caledonians, there were many of those strengths which, in other places, have been dignified by the name of cities. The Celts, who constructed their forts as places of retreat, were not likely to discover them to enemies, whom they always endeavored to meet in the open field; and it is to this principle that we must ascribe Cæsar's ignorance of those astonishing places, which were undoubtedly in existence previous to his arrival in the island. "What the Britons call a town," says this accomplished writer," is a tract of woody country, surrounded by a vallum and ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle, against the incursions of an enemy; for, when they have inclosed a very large circuit with felled trees, they build within it houses for themselves and hovels for their cattle." In this description, he is less satisfactory than on other occasions; for it gives no just idea of those places. Some were, no doubt, of a rude construction, from having been formed in haste, or for temporary occupation; in which cases, the thick forests afforded a ready and well-adapted means of raising a strong barrier of prostrate trees with an accompanying ditch; but the Celtic fort was a work of regular and judicious design, and must have been executed with prodigious labor.

The Nervii protected themselves from the attacks of the Roman cavalry by a fence of young trees, bent, and interlaced with brambles and thorns. These continuing to grow, and the breadth of the whole being considerable, it was a fortification which could not by any means be entered, or even looked into. We find Ambiorix, when unexpectedly attacked, taking refuge in an edifice environed with wood, which, says the same intelligent writer, was the case with most of the dwellings of the Gauls, who, in order to avoid the heat, resorted to the neighborhood of woods and rivers: hence the Romans carefully avoided the forests, where they suffered so much from ambuscades. T

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By the Notitia Imperii, there were only 115. Gibbon, i. c. i. t Bello Gall. ii. 3.

Bello Gall. ii. c. 17.

+ Pliny.

§ Whitaker.

¶ Polybius, iii.

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The Celtic towns were sometimes placed on peninsulas, or constructed in marshes, difficult of access; but the favorite positions were the summits of precipitous elevations, where the natural strength was increased by ditches and ramparts, sometimes of astonishing magnitude; and, notwithstanding Cæsar's sarcastic remark, the British and Gallic fortresses resisted the continued assaults of the Roman troops-the best soldiers in the world; and, although these places were rude and incommodious, compared with the elegant cities of Italy and Greece, yet the conquerors themselves repeatedly acknowledged that they were excellent fortifications. The Britons, according to Dio, either inhabited the tops of barren mountains, or resided in plains, rendered secure by surrounding marshes. These last do not retain much visible marks of ancient inhabitation: the vestigia of Celtic castrametation are most conspicuous on the summits of hills, where nature assisted the labors of the architect and engineer. In the formation of these intrenchments, the plan generally coincided with the figure of the hill, and hence the form was usually circular or oblong. Sometimes there were several ditches, or embankments, that increased in number and strength where the sides were naturally weakest; and the area has frequently one or more divisions, which are reasonably presumed to have been intended for the separate reception of the cattle and inhabitants. The Celtic towns were not protected by wooden ramparts only, nor did they occupy a small spot of ground. Alesia and Gergovia are represented as surrounded with walls of great strength, that appear to have been erected about mid-hill, six feet in height, and composed of great stones.†

It being in contemplation among the Gauls to burn Avaricum, the Bituriges fell on their knees, praying that they should not be compelled, with their own hands, to set fire to a city, the most beautiful nearly of all Gaul, and equally an ornament and protection to the State. They represented that, from the nature of the place, it could be easily defended, being surrounded on all sides by a river and marsh, except where there was but one very narrow entrance. After much discussion, their petition was granted, and proper persons were appointed to conduct the defence of the place. +

In Britain, the valla § are most commonly of earthwork: sometimes they are composed of stones, piled up without mortar; and sometimes there is a mixture of both. The renowned Caractacus, or Caradoc, we are told, reared huge ramparts of stone around his camp. In Scotland, where this material is plentiful, the walls of the ancient forts are most commonly built of it. There is sometimes only one entrance; more frequently there are two; and not seldom, several are observed; all contrived with much art, being rendered secure by traverses.

Ambresbury banks, in Essex, are the remains of a Lowland town. Gough's Gamden, ii. p. 49. ↑ Bello Gall. vii. 43. § Balla, Gaelic, a wall.

Bello Gall. vii. 14.

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The Herefordshire Beacon, situated on one of the highest of the Malvern hills, is a remarkable specimen of a British hill fort. A steep and lofty vallum of earth and stones, with a wide and deep ditch on the outside, enclose an irregular oblong space of 175 feet by 110. Attached to the principal area are two outworks, lower down the hill, evidently adapted for the reception of cattle, horses, or chariots, and several banks and ditches guard the acclivity of the hill. In King's Munimenta Antiqua, Stukely's Itinerarium Curiosum, and Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire, will be found extended notices, with views of various British towns and earthworks. In Scotland, the two Catherthuns in Angus, Barra hill, Aberdeenshire, and many others, are singular monuments of the skill of the Caledonians, in fortifying the summits of elevated hills, with formidable earth-works. The magnitude of these valla excites astonishment, and we wonder by what means they were raised. The labor of forming works so vast, in those rude ages, must have been great, and could only be accomplished by the united exertions of whole tribes. A curious account of the operation is given by Cæsar. The Nervians surrounded their camp, with a line of which the rampart was eleven feet high, and the foss fifteen feet deep, and having no other implements, they cut the turf with their swords, and digging the earth with their hands, carried it away in their cloaks. In less than three hours, they completed a circuit of fifteen miles!*

On a hill, in the parish of Echt, in the county of Aberdeen, is a well preserved fastness, the walls of which are formed of stone, without the addition of any cement. This fortress is called the Barmekin, a term derived from the old word, barme, or bawn, a bank or wall, for the purpose of defence, applied, in many instances, to the outer ballium of a fortress, The term is used by Gawin Douglas, and in 1509, a charter, given to John Grant, of Freuchie, of the lands and fortalice of Urquhart, enjoins him to "big the houses with Barmekin walls."† It will be seen, from the engraving, that these remains consist of five concentric ramparts and intermediate ditches, inclosing an area of 347 feet diameter, according to a measurement I took some years ago. The inner wall is the most perfect, and is about five feet high, and ten or twelve thick at the base. The others appear to have been of nearly similar dimensions, and the exterior was formed with large flat stones, pitched edgewise, in manner of a casing, to strengthen and secure the smaller ones in the body of the wall. Large stones are also observable on each side the openings, by which access was obtained to the interior, and which are six or eight feet wide. Extended lines, the remains of walls, run a considerable way towards the north, accompanied by tumuli, and the vestigia of stone circles. (See engraving on next page.)

In Ireland similar remains are found. On the top of Gauir Conrigh, a high mountain near Tralee, is a circular inclosure of stones, piled on

* Bello Gall. v. c. 34.

+ Harl. MS. 4134.

CONSTRUCTION OF WALLS.

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each other, some of which measure ten cubical feet, and the hill being very steep, it is matter of wonder how they could have been conveyed to their elevated situation.

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The Celta,

In Gaul, the art of fortification was well understood. when they contended for their liberties with the Romans, were not always actuated by that feeling which leads a rude and gallant people to despise artificial protection, and prefer contention in the open plain. In Gaul, were numerous towns, constructed as in Britain, on the summits of the steepest and most inaccessible heights, and they were formed with so much care and strength, that they seemed impregnable, and cost the Roman Generals exceeding trouble to reduce. A description of the walls is given by Cæsar, who does not hesitate to bestow his unqualified praise on their skilful erection. "The valla are formed," says he, "of long beams driven into the ground, at two feet distance from each other, which are bound together in the inside with stout planks, and farther strengthened by an earthen bank. The intervals on the outside, or face of the wall, are filled up with several courses of large stones, well cemented with mortar, a way of building beautiful and efficient, that resisted both fire and the battering ram, and could neither be broken through nor drawn asunder."*

In Celtiberia were a sort of walls reared by filling a wooden frame

*Bello Gall. vii. c. 12.

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with earth or clay.* When Cæsar led his army towards the Alps, the inhabitants of Larignum, trusting to the natural strength of the place, and the efficiency of their fortifications, refused to surrender; the emperor, therefore, ordered it to be assaulted, and, after an obstinate defence, the city was finally reduced. That which the inhabitants chiefly relied on, when they resolved to resist the Roman arms, was a tower, said to have been erected before the gate of the castle, and constructed of alternate beams, raised in manner of a pyre, and carried so high that it commanded the whole place. From this tower stakes, stones, and other missiles, were unremittingly hurled on the besiegers, who, on their part, strenuously endeavored to set it on fire. This mode of attack having no effect, it was stormed; when they learned that the fort was built or certain trees, very difficult to be burned, that grew plentifully in the neighborhood, and were called larigna, from which the place received its name.†

Those singular remains, known in Scotland by the name of Duns, are curious monuments of the skill of the ancient inhabitants in military architecture. I do not here confine myself to those round towers of admirable structure, distinguished by this appellation, which, although undoubtedly erected as places of defence, will more appropriately be described in the following Chapter. The vestigia of the aboriginal fortresses are called Raths by the Irish, and both terms anciently denoted a precipitous elevation, the natural site of Celtic strongholds. In like manner, the Latin arx signified both the top of a hill and a castle; and ban, that denoted a wall for defence, is still applied by the native Irish to a mount.

The term dun, originally applied to the site of a fastness of whatever construction, was given to those astonishing works peculiar to Scotland, and distinguished by their formation from all others.

The VITRIFIED FORTS have excited a great degree of curiosity, and must continue to be objects of wonder, from their magnitude and singular construction. The dry stone walls of the original hill fort were, by a process of vitrification, rendered a mass of impregnable rock; but the means used to effect this change, can only be guessed at. These forts appear to have been first noticed, in a scientific manner, by John Williams, mineral surveyor, in 1771, since which time various essays have appeared, in different publications, with a view to determine the manner by which the singular appearance of these remains was produced. The walls, or masses of rampart, consist of stones, of various sizes, that have been at one time in a state of semi-fusion, and are consequently so very hard, that it is necessary to use force to detach any part. This mode of building, which seems confined to Scotland, is so different from all others, that it could not fail to engage the attention of antiquaries; and the difficulty of accounting for the formation of these walls, led many to Pliny, xxxv. 14. + Vitruvius Archit. ii. c. 9.

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