were exceedingly lavish of human blood; and the most trifling calamity was sufficient to justify the immolation of a fellow-creature; and the selection of a proper victim was entrusted to the Druids; who were thus invested with such a complete and uncontrollable power over the lives as well as the consciences of their wretched votaries, that, as Strutt very justly observes, in his Chronicle of England, "all the ancient records of the known world cannot furnish a more striking view of the prevalence of superstition in the people, or the arbitrary government of the priests, than we shall find amongst the deluded Britons." Hence religion degenerated into the very worst species of idolatry; and hence arose a system which placed an effectual bar to the progress of civilization. The Druids monopolized all the learning and science of the land; and left the people in ignorance, firmly rivetted by superstition; to which fatal source may be traced the destruction of all records, and our consequent want of ability to ascertain, with the necessary degree of perfect accuracy, the history and antiquities of Britain before the time of the Romans. And hence, also, arose that confusion of appellations with which the British monuments are distinguished; some being of Roman, some of Saxon, some of Danish, or even Norman derivation; while few retain their primitive names, unadulterated by modern alterations. It remains with the antiquary to sift these etymologies to the bottom, and to determine from the best evidence he

can procure, the names and design of the places which come under his inspection. And it is humbly hoped, that the etymologies given in the succeeding pages will have some claim to public credence, and be sufficient to throw a light on the very ancient History of Grimsby.

The Druids possessed few written records; and none have descended to our times; a deficiency of positive evidence which has been frequently lamented by our early historians. Gildas* says, that if the Britons ever had any written books, they were either. destroyed by the enemy, in our own country, or taken abroad by the exiles who were forcibly driven from their native land by the violence of an invading foe. And Leland† adds, that "the Bookes of the Britons were lossid, burnid, and many caried owt of Britaine." We must, therefore, seek for evidence under a different form. And here we are abundantly supplied; for the Druids left behind them documents which will exist, notwithstanding the efforts of ancient fanaticism and modern barbarity, which have laid waste and destroyed some of the most august monuments which the art and ingenuity of man ever created, in the stupendous fabrics of earth and stone, which served our ancestors for temples, cemeteries, and places of defence and habitation. Many of them still contain within their bowels, testimonials. of British manners and customs, which demand

* Apud Camden. Introd.

+ Collectan. vol. 2. p. 511.j

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a ready acquiescence, and an extent of credence, which no written records can attain. Scriptory documents are always questionable, because the individuals who have composed them were subject to the usual infirmities of our nature; and, by the exercise of prejudice and partiality, even truth may be perverted, and falsehood made to assume its appearance; but in the monuments of the early Britons, every thing which is thrown up by the spade and pickaxe, may be depended on as conveying a just memorial of antiquity; for they did nothing for posterity; they had no follies to flatter; no prejudices to gratify; and little thought that their places of sepulture would ever be desecrated by the prying curiosity of remote generations, occupying the same soil. In their interments they simply complied with the prescribed rites and ceremonies of their religion.

Those standing monuments of British industry and perseverance, which are distributed throughout the land, point out, with unerring certainty, the precise situation of British settlements; and mark, unquestionably, the places which different tribes selected as their peculiar residence. They were thrown up for various purposes; some for tumuli, some for altars of sacrifice, some for defence, and some for habitation; and all served as telegraphic beacons for the communication of important intelligence. These were placed under the guardianship of the Druids, who thus became the conservators of the public

safety; and in their custody was reposed the security and even the life of every individual, from the prince upon his throne to the naked peasant in his hut.

Before the time of the Danes, the History of Grimsby is involved in the same darkness which spreads its common shade over the general records of Britain; and we can only deduce its existence from the antiquities which remain within its precincts. These memorials of other times, being of a character that cannot suffer any material change by time, or the operation of the elements, where they exist on maiden earth, or soil untouched by the plough, they may safely be considered as carrying unequivocal indications of the times in which they were erected.

The bodies of the dead, in these primeval times, were usually burned; and the ashes being deposited in a rude, sepulchral urn, it was placed in the ground, with its mouth downwards, and the arms, and sometimes the horse of the deceased, as well as his jewels, and other honorary embellishments, being carefully arranged round it, the whole was covered up with earth or stones, and a high mound was erected over the spot, as a monument in honour of the dead.. When the tumulus, or barrow, was raised to the proposed degree of elevation, the surface was usually covered with a stratum of chalk or flints, about six inches thick, that it might be distinguished from the surrounding herbage, and be noted at the most distant point of observation, as a place of sacred sepulture.

Another species of mound was the hill altar, which cannot be distinguished from the tumulus, except by excavation. The patriarchal custom of sacrificing on earthen altars, whence proceeded the high places of idolatrous nations, was preserved in Britain; and the Druids practised all the abominations which are so frequently and explicitly condemned in holy Scripture. They worshipped in groves, and on high places; used earthen altars, bestowed the rites of adoration on rough stones, placed erect, to represent the Deity; and passed their young men through consecrated stones, and through the fire as a ceremony of purification.

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