foot reflector that Herschel made most of his remarkable discoveries. In 1781 he pointed out that a star, long known, and believed to be a fixed star was, in reality, slowly moving onward amongst the heavenly bodies; in other words, a member, hitherto unknown, was added to the solar system. This planet was first called Georgium Sidus, in honour of the reigning king; but subsequently, to keep up the uniformity of the system of naming, it was called Uranus.

To give in any detail Sir W. Herschel's researches would require many lessons. Suffice it here to say, that he revealed the existence of two of Jupiter's satellites hitherto unknown; and with the assistance of his sister Caroline Herschel, he discovered and mapped some thousands of stars and nebulæ, and laid the foundation of our existing knowledge in Sidereal Astronomy. These investigations were carried on until within a very few years of his death, which occurred in the year 1822.

John Herschel, the son of Sir William, most worthily walked in the ways of his father. In Sidereal Astronomy, he made most valuable discoveries; many stars, supposed to be single, he discovered to be double or triple, and brought to light many interesting facts with regard to them. Not satisfied with examining the stars of the northern hemisphere, he spent four years at Feldhausen in Cape Colony, examining those of the southern. To him we are also indebted for some researches on the nature of light and its chemical action; and for two of the most lucid scientific books ever written, the one, the "Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy," and the other, his "Outlines of Astronomy."

In May, 1871, Sir John was gathered to his fathers, full

of years and honours; having been knighted by the Crown, and made honorary member of well-nigh all the learned societies of Europe. Without attempting to account for the fact, it may be here noted that most of our great astronomers have lived to a very advanced age. As we have already seen, Galileo died in his seventy-eighth year, Newton reached eighty-three, Sir William Herschel died at eighty-four, his son John at seventy-nine, while Sir William's sister Caroline reached her ninety-eighth year.

2.

EXERCISES. -1. Define,-Invention, telescope, discovery, astronomical, gradually, concave, constructed, and transparent. Briefly outline Sir W. Herschel's life. 3. Show the difference between a refracting and a reflecting telescope.

WHAT THE ROMANS DID IN BRITAIN.

Unmolested, not interfered with. Tradition, knowledge of events obtained by word of mouth. Pre-eminent, rising above others. Subjugation, reducing to obedience.

Partially, only in part.

Invasion, an entrance by force.

Magnificence, outward show of greatness.

Insurrection, a rising against rulers.

Permanently, for a long time. Martyrdom, the dying for one's faith.

Policy, a course of action.

From Julius Cæsar's second visit in 54 B.C. to A.D. 43, that is, for a period of 97 years, the Britons remained unmolested by the Romans. They were still divided into some thirty or forty independent tribes, each under its own chief; and although the invasions of the great Roman were kept in memory by tradition, yet they seem to have done little to prepare themselves for any future attack.

In the year 43, the Roman emperor Claudius sent over an army under his generals Plautius and Ostorius,

and for a short period came over himself.

From this

time the policy of the Romans was changed. To conquer the people, they knew they must stay in the country, and by the introduction of their own laws, arts, and habits of life, make the people Roman subjects in reality.

This they therefore set about doing. And the first thing was to keep a powerful army in the country. They had well established themselves south of the Thames, when Caradoc, whom the Romans called Caractacus, the chief of the Silurians of South Wales and the adjoining country, commenced a bold resistance, which lasted nine years. At last he was forced to risk all in a pitched battle. He made the best of his position, and did all that bravery and foresight could do. With the crest of a Welsh mountain at his back, and a stream in front, he and his little army, with lion-like hearts withstood the superior numbers and arms of the enemy. But they were at last broken and defeated; and the unfortunate Caradoc was betrayed, and sent to Rome a prisoner. Even here, however, his nobility never left him. In the presence of the emperor himself, he said he wondered that a people of such magnificence at home should meddle with him in his poor cottage in Britain. His manly bearing and bold speech obtained for him his freedom.

After this the Roman power gradually overcame the native resistance. The able Roman governor, Suetonius, was trying to break the Druid power in Mona, when Boadicea, the widow of the king of the Iceni, the people of Norfolk and Suffolk, headed a strong attack upon the Romans in the south and east of the island. This brave queen got together a large army, and for a time made way against the Romans; when Suetonius hearing of it,

hastily returned, and forced her to give battle near London. The Britons were totally defeated, and Boadicea in her despair killed herself. This was in 60 A.D., and was the last great battle fought between Britons and Romans.

The Roman generals were now learning that the true way to govern the land was by spreading a knowledge of their arts and industries, and so by healing the feuds between tribe and tribe, to make them a united people under Roman sway. In carrying out this policy, Julius Agricola stands pre-eminent. By his wise acts and persuasive words he did more than the swords of many legions towards making this island a province of the wide-spread empire.

The Romans knew that, as a governing people among a subdued race they would be liable to insurrection and outbreaks; they therefore established at convenient places, military camps, and joined these camps by well constructed roads, so that if any attack were made in one district, they had open and ready communication for sending aid from other and even remote camps. In this way, camps (castra) were established at Chester, London, Bath, Colchester, York, Leicester, Caerleon-on-Usk, and many other places; while the great military ways or roads, called afterwards the Ermyn Street, the Watling Street, the Icknield Street, and the Fosse-way, formed means of communication between all parts of the empire.

But even now the whole island was not reduced to Roman sway. Julius Agricola, who was governor here from 78 to 84 A.D., saw that it would be useless to attempt the subjugation of the wild Celts of what is now Scotland. Hence, he built across the narrow part of the island lying between the Firths of Forth and Clyde, a

D

series of forts, so as to prevent the inroads of these Picts and Scots upon Southern Britain.

At a later period, A.D. 120, the Emperor Hadrian, proud of his vast empire, visited Britain, and amongst other things, he ordered a wall, or military ditch and earthworks, to be made from the Tyne to the Solway Firth. This is a long way south of Agricola's line of forts, and we may fairly say that from this date until the Romans left the island, the country south of this line was permanently Roman. Between these two lines, that is between Hadrian's wall and Agricola's line of forts, was border or march country, sometimes and partially held by the Romans and sometimes independent of them; while to the north of Agricola's forts, or as it was afterwards called the wall of Antoninus (the forts having been, during that Emperor's reign, connected by a strong wall), the country remained in the almost undisturbed possession of the original Celtic inhabitants.

And now let us look a little into the effect of this Roman occupation upon the civil or home life of the people generally during the three centuries and a half that Britain had been a Roman province.

It must be borne in mind that the Roman occupation did not displace the original inhabitants. The Romans came to govern, and not to supplant them. True, the finest young natives were drafted off as soldiers to remote provinces of the empire; but as a rule, the people, once subdued, were encouraged to settle down as cultivators of the soil. The Romans taught them how to make and use superior tools for tillage and various other handicrafts. They erected many fine buildings, and laid out roads in all parts of the country; while there gradually sprang up near many of the castra, towns of