A  few  hundred  years  later  the  Saxons  fol
lowed  them;  they  came  to  stay,  for  they  con
quered  and  absorbed  England  or  were  absorbed
in  it,  and  England  is  largely  of  their  making.
The  Normans — a  race  of  freebooters  and
pirates  from  the  Northland  who  had  settled  in
Normandy  rather  against  the  original  owners'


144          THE  REAL  AMERICA

wishes — were  the  third  group  of  invaders,  and
though  they  defeated  the  Saxons  in  battle  and
placed  their  own  Duke  of  Normandy  on  the
throne  as  the  first  King  of  England,  and
though  they  came  to  stay  (incidentally  it  may
be  mentioned  because  they  had  possessed  them
selves  of  pretty  well  all  that  was  worth  having
over  here),  the}7  never  really  conquered  Eng
land,  though  they  have  left  indelible  traces  on
the  land;  it  was  the  Saxons  who  eventually
absorbed  them,  and  not  they  the  Saxons.
For  nearly  eight  centuries  England  re
mained  free  from  actual  invasion.  Threats
and  scares  there  were  many,  but  no  foreign  host
ever  planted  its  heels  on  the  soil  of  Britain;
the  Jews  came,  and  of  course  they  stayed,  but
they  are  common  to  every  country,  and  each
has  as  many  of  these  as  it  deserves.  England,
being  rich,  could  afford  many.  I  do  not  count
these  as  invaders.
