possessed.  Then  we  are  reminded  of  the  Roman  occu-
pation, but  we  cannot  boast  that  Latin  blood  flows
through  our  veins.  It  is  singular  to  reflect,  that  shortly
after  the  Christian  era  this  island,  then  a  Roman  colony
under  the  surpassing  rule  of  the  great  Western  Empire,
was  well  defended,  and  to  which  the  lu:?ury  of  Rome  was
transported,  that  the  Roman  villas  were  scattered  over
the  country,  and  in  them  might  be  found  all  the
elegancies  of  life,  all  the  tastes  which  civilization  of  a
very  high  order  could  invent ;  and  yet  the  Roman  roads,
traces  of  fortifications,  some  sculpture,  pottery,  and
coins,  these  are  the  solitary  evidences  of  the  Roman
occupation  of  England.  The  ruthless  race  that  succeeded
the  Romans  had  no  eye  for  beauty,  no  notion  of  the
comforts  of  life,  for  its  German  forest-life  taught
nothing  but  what  was  very  stern,  very  real,  and  very  piti-
less. That  race  claims  us,  for  the  most  part,  as  our  true
parents,  and  we  are  not  ashamed  of  our  parentage,  we
rejoice  in  our  Anglo-Saxon  origin.  Let  me  here  quote  to
you  a  passage  from  the  late  lamented  Professor  Kingsley
in  one  of  his  lectures  before  the  University  of  Cambridge,
which  is  a  very  apt  comment  on  my  previous  remarks : —

''  Menzel,  vrho,  though  'he  may  not  rank  vorj  high  as  a  historian,  has
at  least,  a  true  Grermau  heart,  opens  his  history  with  a  striking  passage.
