Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/15

"DUNHEVED, otherwise LAUNCESTON." Familiar as we now are with this combination of words, Dunheved AND Launceston were originally distinct places. We propose to treat first of ^aumesttm, HEN Julius Caesar landed in Britain, 55 years before Christ, he found the inhabitants skilled in arms. " They fight," said he (Comm. lib. iv. cap. 33), "in chariots, driving about in all directions, and throwing their wea- pons, thus breaking the ranks of the enemy, and when they have worked themselves in between the troops of horse, they leap from their chariots and engage on foot. . . . They display in battle the speed of horse with the firmness of infantry. By practice and exercise they are so expert that they can, even on a declining and steep place, check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant." And at lib. v. cap. 12, he says of the Britons, " Their number is countless, their buildings exceedingly abundant, and the number of their cattle great." And B