P R E F A O E, vii to inveftigate the ftrft faint commencement of our . prefent towns, and trace back Manchester and various others to the rude ftations of the Britons in the woods. By a new argument that feems to carry every, convi&ion with it; he will endeavour to lay open the whole curious fyftem of polity that was eftablifhed among the primaeval Britons, and to follow the commencement of our ancient domeftic oeconomy up to the period of its earlieft origins And he will endeavour attentively to mark the pro- grefs of the Roman genius on the fubjedtion of the Britons, ii* planting fortreffes and conftru&ing roads in order to command the country, in erecting towns and introducing civility in order to humanize the* natives. The whole period of our national hi- ftory before the Conqueft & the mod: important and momen- tous in our. annals. It moil forceably lays hold upon the paf- fions by the quick fucceffion and aftive variety of its incidents* and by the decrfive greatnefs of its revolutions* And what is- much more, it is that period of our hiftory which, gives the bo~ 4y and the form to all the fucceeding centuries of it. It contains the a&ual commencement of every part of our public and private ctconomy. And yet this all- important period . has been mora Wretchedly delineated than any other. It has been hitherto deli- neated with all the hafty fuperficiaktefs of ignorance And it continues to this day loaded with difficulties and embarrafled with obscurities on every fide. But the ptefent work hopes t* .unfold many a dark entangled clue of this hiftory, and to 'fet- tle at laft upob decifive principles the origin and the hiftory of the Pids the Scots the Saxons and the Danes, the conduit of the Provincials upon the departure of the Romans* and the ge- nuine annals of Arthur and of Alfretk And the prefent work hopes to point Out a large variety of incidents and remarks relar ting .to the commencement of counties and of hundreds* of townJhips- and of nianouf s r of parishes, of feudal tenures, and of juries, which' have been regularly transmitted from pen to pen- through a long courfe of centuries,, and which can only plead their, antiquity in vindication of; their faheaefs. With a judicious, incredulity of fpirilTfCbin^uiQreja^lo^ink £o* themfelves, with
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