a people who dwelt on the east bank of the Rhine, near its mouth, occupying, as far as the scanty notices of them will allow us to determine, West Friesland, Groningen, and the north part of Upper Yssel; also the islands which lie to the north, and those which are formed by the mouths of the Rhine. Tacitus divides them into Frisii Majores et Minores, though probably by mistake, as no other author notices such a division. We find them, from the earliest period of their acquaintance with the Romans, on terms of the closest intimacy with that people. Not only did Drusus pass unmolested through their country, but they gave him most active support in his wars against the Cheruscii. In process of time it appears that the Romans began to build fortresses in their country, and to levy taxes; but this roused the spirit of the Frisii, who had received the Romans as friends, but not as masters. They rose in a body, defeated the forces, and razed the fortresses to the ground. They would no doubt have been chastised, but for the opportune jealousy of the Emperor Claudius towards his general Corbulo, who was employed to subdue them. Corbulo received orders to withdraw to the west of the Rhine, and from that time no Roman set foot in the land of the Frisii.

We hear nothing more of the Frisii till the fourth and fifth centuries, when they appear in history closely united to the Saxons, and occupying a much wider extent of country than they did originally. Not only do they appear to have stretched to the east as far as the Weser, but even to have reached along the sea coast to the Elbe; and towards the west their name appears more than once in the island of the Batavi, and along the coast of Flanders. We find them even mentioned by Procopius as possessing part of Britain. They were first humbled by Pepin, who defeated their king Radbod, and took from him the western portion as far as the mouth of the Rhine. Charlemagne added to his other Saxon conquests the eastern kingdom of the Frisii. This people may be considered as the ancestors of the Dutch.