HISTORY OF NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, &c. &c. 'HE hiftory of the town and county of New THE caftle upon Tyne, on account of its relative confequence and advantage to fociety, is highly interesting. Previous, however, to our entering upon this agreeable, but arduous undertaking, it will be neceffary to remark, that the richest domains of the three then known quarters of the globe were indebted to the Romans for their civilization and improvements in the arts of life. It is true, that mighty people were as boundless in their ambition, as they were irresistible in their arms; and not contented with the fairest and moft fertile provinces of the world, they extended their vaft empire from the banks of the Tygris to the frozen fhores of the Caledonian fea. And fo, by either finding or making all nations hoftile to their arrogant claims, they, by policy, difcipline, and valour, in the course of fix centuries, fubdued Afia, Africa, and Europe to their dominion. It was from this love of conqueft, fatal to the repofe and independence of nations who had not before heard of the Roman name, that a B large large proportion of the human kind were fubjugated or destroyed. It was peculiarly fo with our ifland of Britain, with the history of which we are best acquainted, and in which we are most immediately interested. Thus realising the descriptive lines of the poet : Of rougher front, a mighty people came ! A race of heroes! in thofe virtuous times THOMSON'S WINTER. But, as a late enlightened hiftorian observes, the Romans, after having fubdued, or exterminated, the nations, and given mankind time to breathe, fet about civilizing the countries they had conquered; and, by inftructing them in their language, laws, arts, and arms, they made fome atonement for the fanguinary exceffes to which their infatiable ambition had impelled them. But that warlike people, intending their empire fhould run on in the long line of ages coeval with time itself, have accordingly left, to the admiration of mankind, the moft ftupendous monuments of their unrivalled power and profound policy. And in no country, in the extenfive bounds of their once mighty empire, are left, to the investigation of the antiquary and the hiftorian, more ftriking remains of their priftine greatness than in Britain; nor in any part of the country, greater or more noble than those in Newcastle and its vicinity, as will fully appear when we prefent our readers with a detailed delineation of this town. The See Dr Robertfon's Hift. of Charles V. emperor of Germany. The uniform teftimony of ancient history informs us, that Julius Cæfar was the first Roman general who invaded Britain; nor was the undertaking unworthy of the greatest hero, and the most accomplished warrior. This event happened in his third confulate, and about fifty-two years previous to the Chriftian æra. Cæfar having fubdued all antient Gaul, or modern France, and having transported his victorious legions over the Rhine by forming a bridge of ftupendous structure, He, the first of the Roman name, invaded the warlike nations of Germany, and having overthrown them in many bloody battles, broke their power, almost exterminated many of their moft powerful nations, and brought them under the domination of Rome. Having achieved these warlike and mighty enterprizes, he refolved to invade Britain. We are told that his motive for this invafion was the hopes which he entertained of obtaining pearls of vaft fize and beauty. And although this intrepid commander made good his landing, by two fucceffive invasions, yet he foon perceived that he owed his fuccefs over these fierce barbarians more to his difcipline and arms, than to any fuperiority in point of courage and refolution. Cæfar, finding his legions thinned with fo many bloody engagements with Germans, Gauls, and Britons, fired with ambition to be at the head of the world, overthrew his rival Pompey in the plains of Pharfalia, and, affuming abfolute power, was affaffinated in the fenate-houfe by the chief men of that illuftrious body. Auguftus, his fucceffor, feems to have paid little attention to Britain; and more than a century revolved from its firft invafion B 2 Suet. vit. Jul. Cæf. by by Cæfar, before it was further difquieted by the hoftile arms of Rome. It was then, however, seriously invaded, in several parts at once, by the Roman legions; fo that a large portion of the island, extending from the Humber to the Tyne, and now known by the name of the counties of York, Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, after many bloody battles, was obliged to yield to the fuperior difcipline of the Roman arms. It was during this period, in the reign of Claudius, that Caractacus, generaliffimo of the Britons, and queen Boadicea, difplayed fuch heroifm and love of independence. At laft, under Vefpafian, the greatest part of the country of the Brigantes, poffeffors of the counties mentioned above, was over-run and conquered by the victorious Romans; and the complete conqueft of that warlike people was achieved under the reign of Titus: Julius Agricola, one of the most enterprising and fuccessful leaders of antiquity, commanded the legions under that emperor, and led his victorious troops from the Tyne through Northumberland, and the moft fertile parts of North Britain, till they encamped on the heights of Abernethy which overlook the river Tay, about five miles fouth east from Perth. It is faid by the best informed Scotch hiftorians, that when the Roman legions, from the elevated fituation of their camp, beheld the windings of that beautiful river, the enchanting plains on its banks, and the rude grandeur of the Grampian hills at a diftance, they were ftruck with pleasant aftonishment, and cried out in ecstacy, "Ecce Tyber!" Behold the Tyber! The The political and fagacious Romans, beginning to difcern how important the province of Britain might prove to their empire, fet about fecuring the conquefts which they had made in this ifland. For this purpose, Agricola drew a ftrong line of garrisons across the ifthmus which runs between the rivers Forth and Clyde; and, as Tacitus informs us, the Romans were thus lords of incomparably the best and moft fertile parts of the country; while the aborigines, or natives, were confined by woods, rocks, and hills, as it were, within another island.‡ The restless Caledonians, impatient of the galling reftraints of their cruel mafters, gave them no repofe, but by frequent incurfions into the Roman provinces, rendered another, and ftronger, rampart neceffary. This was effected in the year 117 of the christian æra. We are informed by Spartian, that they drew a wall of eighty miles in length, and completely divided the Romans from the barbarians. The veftiges of this once mighty mound are still visible, at Calender-house, near Falkirk, where it terminated a little to the eastward, and from the Carron to the Clyde it extended from fea to fea. The vulgar affix to that rampart the appellation of " Graham's Dyke." But upon the recal of Agricola, and the command of the Roman legions being committed to lefs fkilful hands, the Caledonians eafily burft over the barrier, conftructed only of earth and pallifadoes, faced up with ftone; and, pouring their hordes of fierce warriors into the fertile plains of the Lothians, and from thence croffing the Tweed, they over-ran Northumberland, and continued their victorious career to the Humber, and the confines of the city of York. But ‡ Vide Tacitum in vita Agricola. Fordunum. Buchannanum. |