portunity offered to them of extending their military fame, and acquiring a portion of those riches which Roman civilization had introduced into Britain. A considerable army was immediately sent over, by whose prowess and intrepidity, the Picts and Scots were once more driven back to their original settlements. No sooner was this service performed, than the Saxons, allured by the opulence and fertility of the country, and the easy conquest the dastardly behaviour of its inhabitants promised, determined to seize upon it for themselves. With this view they warmly urged to their countrymen on the continent the many advantages to be derived from such a measure, nor were their representations long neglected. Thousands immediately abandoned their native land, to join the standard about to be unfurled for the subjugation of Britain. A pretence for quarrelling was soon discovered; then followed a scene of desolation and cruelty, more dreadful, if possible, than that which marked the progress of the northern barbarians, from whose sanguinary grasp they had just been freed. The Saxon army being divided into several corps under leaders totally independent of each other, advanced into different districts, each with the view of conquering for themselves. In the end seven kingdoms were established, of which Mercia was the finest, if not the most powerful, extending over all the midland counties. It was founded by Crida, who arrived in England in 584, and assumed the purple the following year.* Staffordshire formed a portion of this monarchy and contained several of its principal towns. In the neighbourhood of Lichfield, is the forest of Cannock, the favourite chace of the Mercian kings, near which it is extremely probable some of their palaces anciently reared their lofty battlements. During the inroads of the Danes this county bore a considerable share of the calamities, the cruelty and rapacity, occasion ed in almost every portion of our island. Several sanguinary battles • Rapin's History of England, Vol. I. p. 53. battles took place between them and the Saxons within the limits of Mercia. The Saxon annals mention a dreadful defeat which they sustained in that kingdom in the year 911, but do not specify the spot on which the action was fought.* The slaughter was prodigious, and among the slain were two kings, Eewils and Healfden, two earls, Ohter and Scursa, six generals, and a vast number of inferior officers, many of them very considerable persons. Henry of Huntingdon gives us a similar account of this action, differing only a little with respect to the names of the great men killed. Concerning the scene of this battle much diversity of opinion prevails among succeeding antiquaries and historians. Florence of Worcester, and Ralph Rigden, contend that it took place in the vicinity of Tettenhall, in this county. Ethelwald, on the other hand, maintains with equal confidence that it was fought at Wednesfield. The truth seems to be that two battles + happened in this part of Staffordshire; the one near Tettenhall, in 907, and the other at Wednesfield, in the year 911, in both of which the same parties were engaged. These brilliant victories are among the number of those which distinguished the glorious and successful reign of Edward the elder, second son of the celebrated Alfred, by his queen Ethelswitha, daughter of a Mercian Earl. || Ethelfleda the king's sister, and widow of Ethelbert, governor of that kingdom, contributed much by her prudence, activity, and va Zz3 • Shaw's History of Staffordshire, Vol. I. p. 38. lour, + Antiquaries and historians differ no less with regard to the period in which these battles were fought, than they do with respect to the scene of them, Asser says, the battle of Wednesfield happened in 910, and so it is in Leland's Collectanea, vol. II. p. 219. Ethelwald describes it as fought on the 5th of August, 911, but his account evidently points it out as the battle of Tettenhall and not that of Wednesfield. The action of Tettenhall is mentioned by Leland, in page 185, of his Collectanea, as having taken place in 907, but in page 282 of the same work he places it in 933. Hoveden, p. 242 makes the date of it 907, but Huntingdon, p. 203, says 911. Hume's History of England, vol. I. p. 99. lour, to the continued success of her brother's arms.* Retaining the government after the death of her husband, she erected numerous castles, raised and organised a powerful army, and is said to have been personally present, in all the great actions fought during her government, within the limits of Mercia. At the time of the partition of England, between Edmund Ironside and Canute, Staffordshire, as part of Mercia, fell to the latter. After the conquest, the whole estates of the Mercian Earls were divided by William among four of his principal followers, Hugh de Montgomery, Earl of Arundel, Robert de Stafford, Henry de Ferrars, and William Fitz Ansculph, the last of whom held twenty-five manors in this county. The other landholders besides the king were the bishop of Chester, the abbies of Westminister and Burton, the church of Rheims, the canons of Stafford and Wolverhampton, Earl Roger, &c.† In the reign of Henry I. Robert de Belesme earl of Shrewsbury, ravaged this county in support of the pretensions of Robert Curthose the King's brother.‡ During the contentions for the crown between the houses of York, and Lancaster, a decisive battle was fought at Bloreheath, in this county. The earl of Salisbury marching to join the Duke of York, who then lay at Ludlow in Shropshire, was intercepted at this place, by the royal army under Lord Audley, who posted himself here for that purpose, by the express orders of Queen Margaret, the celebrated consort of Henry VI. she being extremely fearful lest the kings person should fall into the power of his adversary. Lord Audley's forces amounted to ten thousand men, and had besides the advantage of chusing their position, whereas the Yorkist troops did not exceed 5000, men with all the incumbrances and disadvantages of an army on its march. The Earl of Salisbury, to obviate these difficulties, as much as possible, and with the view of separating the royalists, and throwing them off their guard, had recourse to strata gem. Gough's Camden, Vol. II. p. 499. • Hume's History of England, vol. I. p. 102. Domesday Book, Fol. 246. Α. gem. Between the two armies ran a small rivulet with very steep banks, and not easily passed. Feigning therefore a retreat, he induced Lord Audley to order a precipitate pursuit. The consequence was the division of his army by the rivulet; which the Earl no sooner perceived than he ordered his troops to face about, and commence the attack. The vigour of the onset, and the surprise and astonishment of the enemy, soon decided the fortune of the day.* Lord Audley himself, and two thousand four hundred of the Cheshire gentlemen whose loyalty and ardour had led them into the van, fell in the action. Queen, who beheld the defeat of her army, from the tower of Muccleston church, fled to Eccleshall castle, while Salisbury proceeded, without further opposition, to the place of his desti. nation.‡ The Michael Drayton commemorates this important battle, so fatal to the Lancastrian cause; and preserves the names of the Cheshire heroes, who fought on either side. At Tutbury, as well as Chartley, Mary, the beautiful but unfortunate Queen of Scots, resided at different periods during the time of detention in England, by her rival Elizabeth. At the latter place her correspondence with the Pope was contrived and carried on. Here likewise she resided, previous to being conducted to Fotheringham castle, where her trial and condemnation took place, followed by her execution, to the indelible disgrace of the great and illustrious princess who then swayed the English sceptre. Staffordshire, during the great rebellion, as it is called, in go neral supported the cause of the parliament, but to this observation the exceptions were perhaps more numerous than in any other county in England. The Dyotts of Lichfield and many of the country gentlemen were conspicuous for their loyalty and attachment to the house of Stuart. Lichfield was taken Zz4 • Hume's History of England, Vol. II. p. 204. Leland's Itin. VII. 31, Gough's Camden, Vol. II. p. 509. Pennant's Journey, p. 61, 62. taken and retaken several times in the course of the war, as shall be more fully shewn when we come to the history and description of that city. In the neighbourhood of Stafford, the Earl Northampton engaged Sir John Gell, and Sir William Brereton, and after a most desperate rencounter, succeeded in compelling the enemy to abandon the field. He himself however being too eager in the pursuit, was surrounded by a party of republican horse and slain. This event so discouraged the Royalists that they fell back again upon Stafford, which town soon after surrendered to the parliament, as did also the town of Wolverhampton. In this county, Charles II. lay concealed after the fatal battle of Worcester, till he found an opportunity of making his escape to France. The circumstances attending his concealment, the hardships he underwent, and the faithful attachment of his friends, particularly of the three brothers, Humphry, John, and Richard Pendsford, will be found very fully detailed by Mr. Shaw in his General History of Staffordshire, to which we beg leave to refer such as feel strongly interested in the misfortunes of royalty. In the year 1745, the Scotch rebels posted themselves at Leek, to the great consternation of the inhabitants, who feared the consequences of an action, betwixt them and the army of the Duke of Cumberland, then stationed in the town of Stone. The rebels, however, deemed it prudent to withdraw to their own country, without hazarding an engagement. Since that period the history of Staffordshire is merely a history of its commerce and manufactures. ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.-Mr. Shaw is of opinion that in the days of Druidism, the chief seat of the arch-druid of Britain, was situated in the vicinity of Sutton Colfield, which anciently formed a portion of the forest of Cank or Cannoc. This conclusion is drawn from a combination of evidence which we confess appears to us to possess considerable weight. The forest of Cannoc lying nearly in the centre of England, corresponds with the position of the well authenticated residence of that |