An ingenious anatomist has written a book 2 to prove that races are imperishable, but nations are pliant1 political constructions, easily changed or destroyed. But this writer did not found his assumed races on any necessary law, disclosing their ideal or metaphysical necessity; nor did he, on the other hand, count with precision the existing races, and settle the true bounds; a point of nicety, and the popular test of the theory. The individuals at the extremes of divergence2 in one race of men are as unlike as the wolf to the lapdog. Yet each variety shades down imperceptibly into the next, and you cannot draw the line where a race begins or ends. Hence every writer makes a different count. Blumenbach reckons five races; Humboldt three; and Mr. Pickering, who lately, in our Exploring Expedition, thinks he saw all the kinds of men that can be on the planet, makes eleven.
2 The Races, a Fragment. By Robert Knox. London: 1850.
The British Empire is reckoned to contain 222,000,000 souls, — perhaps a fifth of the population of the globe; and to comprise a territory of 5,000,000 square miles. So far have British people predominated. Perhaps forty of these millions are of British stock. Add the United States of America, which reckon, exclusive of slaves, 20,000,000 of people, on a territory of 3,000,000 square miles, and in which the foreign element, however considerable, is rapidly assimilated, and you have a population of English descent and language, of 60,000,000, and governing a population of 245,000,000 souls.
The British census4 proper reckons twenty-seven and a half millions in the home countries. What makes this census important is the quality of the units that compose it. They are free forcible men, in a country where life is safe, and has reached the greatest value. They give the bias5 to the current age; and that, not by chance or by mass, but by their character, and by the number of individuals among them of personal ability. It has been denied that the English have genius. Be it as it may, men of vast intellect have been born on their soil, and they have made or applied6 the principal inventions. They have sound bodies, and supreme7 endurance in war and in labor8. The spawning9 force of the race has sufficed to the colonization10 of great parts of the world; yet it remains11 to be seen whether they can make good the exodus12 of millions from Great Britain, amounting, in 1852, to more than a thousand a day. They have assimilating force, since they are imitated by their foreign subjects; and they are still aggressive and propagandist, enlarging the dominion13 of their arts and liberty. Their laws are hospitable14, and slavery does not exist under them. What oppression exists is incidental and temporary; their success is not sudden or fortunate, but they have maintained constancy and self-equality for many ages.
Is this power due to their race, or to some other cause? Men hear gladly of the power of blood or race. Every body likes to know that his advantages cannot be attributed to air, soil, sea, or to local wealth, as mines and quarries15, nor to laws and traditions, nor to fortune, but to superior brain, as it makes the praise more personal to him.
We anticipate in the doctrine16 of race something like that law of physiology17, that, whatever bone, muscle, or essential organ is found in one healthy individual, the same part or organ may be found in or near the same place in its congener; and we look to find in the son every mental and moral property that existed in the ancestor. In race, it is not the broad shoulders, or litheness18, or stature19 that give advantage, but a symmetry that reaches as far as to the wit. Then the miracle and renown20 begin. Then first we care to examine the pedigree, and copy heedfully the training, — what food they ate, what nursing, school, and exercises they had, which resulted in this mother-wit, delicacy21 of thought, and robust22 wisdom. How came such men as King Alfred, and Roger Bacon, William of Wykeham, Walter Raleigh, Philip Sidney, Isaac Newton, William Shakspeare, George Chapman, Francis Bacon, George Herbert, Henry Vane, to exist here? What made these delicate natures? was it the air? was it the sea? was it the parentage? For it is certain that these men are samples of their contemporaries. The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue; and no genius can long or often utter any thing which is not invited and gladly entertained by men around him.
It is race, is it not? that puts the hundred millions of India under the dominion of a remote island in the north of Europe. Race avails much, if that be true, which is alleged24, that all Celts are Catholics, and all Saxons are Protestants; that Celts love unity25 of power, and Saxons the representative principle. Race is a controlling influence in the Jew, who, for two millenniums, under every climate, has preserved the same character and employments. Race in the negro is of appalling26 importance. The French in Canada, cut off from all intercourse27 with the parent people, have held their national traits. I chanced to read Tacitus “on the Manners of the Germans,” not long since, in Missouri, and the heart of Illinois, and I found abundant points of resemblance between the Germans of the Hercynian forest, and our Hoosiers, Suckers, and Badgers28 of the American woods.
But whilst race works immortally29 to keep its own, it is resisted by other forces. Civilization is a re-agent, and eats away the old traits. The Arabs of to-day are the Arabs of Pharaoh; but the Briton of to-day is a very different person from Cassibelaunus or Ossian. Each religious sect30 has its physiognomy. The Methodists have acquired a face; the Quakers, a face; the nuns31, a face. An Englishman will pick out a dissenter32 by his manners. Trades and professions carve their own lines on face and form. Certain circumstances of English life are not less effective; as, personal liberty; plenty of food; good ale and mutton; open market, or good wages for every kind of labor; high bribes33 to talent and skill; the island life, or the million opportunities and outlets34 for expanding and misplaced talent; readiness of combination among themselves for politics or for business; strikes; and sense of superiority founded on habit of victory in labor and in war; and the appetite for superiority grows by feeding.
It is easy to add to the counteracting35 forces to race. Credence36 is a main element. ‘Tis said, that the views of nature held by any people determine all their institutions. Whatever influences add to mental or moral faculty37, take men out of nationality, as out of other conditions, and make the national life a culpable38 compromise.
These limitations of the formidable doctrine of race suggest others which threaten to undermine it, as not sufficiently39 based. The fixity or inconvertibleness of races as we see them, is a weak argument for the eternity40 of these frail41 boundaries, since all our historical period is a point to the duration in which nature has wrought42. Any the least and solitariest fact in our natural history, such as the melioration of fruits and of animal stocks, has the worth of a power in the opportunity of geologic43 periods. Moreover, though we flatter the self-love of men and nations by the legend of pure races, all our experience is of the gradation and resolution of races, and strange resemblances meet us every where. It need not puzzle us that Malay and Papuan, Celt and Roman, Saxon and Tartar should mix, when we see the rudiments45 of tiger and baboon46 in our human form, and know that the barriers of races are not so firm, but that some spray sprinkles us from the antediluvian47 seas.
The low organizations are simplest; a mere48 mouth, a jelly, or a straight worm. As the scale mounts, the organizations become complex. We are piqued49 with pure descent, but nature loves inoculation50. A child blends in his face the faces of both parents, and some feature from every ancestor whose face hangs on the wall. The best nations are those most widely related; and navigation, as effecting a world-wide mixture, is the most potent51 advancer of nations.
The English composite character betrays a mixed origin. Every thing English is a fusion52 of distant and antagonistic53 elements. The language is mixed; the names of men are of different nations, — three languages, three or four nations; — the currents of thought are counter: contemplation and practical skill; active intellect and dead conservatism; world-wide enterprise, and devoted54 use and wont55; aggressive freedom and hospitable law, with bitter class-legislation; a people scattered56 by their wars and affairs over the face of the whole earth, and homesick to a man; a country of extremes, — dukes and chartists, Bishops57 of Durham and naked heathen colliers; — nothing can be praised in it without damning exceptions, and nothing denounced without salvos of cordial praise.
Neither do this people appear to be of one stem; but collectively a better race than any from which they are derived59. Nor is it easy to trace it home to its original seats. Who can call by right names what races are in Britain? Who can trace them historically? Who can discriminate60 them anatomically, or metaphysically?
In the impossibility of arriving at satisfaction on the historical question of race, and, — come of whatever disputable ancestry61, — the indisputable Englishman before me, himself very well marked, and nowhere else to be found, — I fancied I could leave quite aside the choice of a tribe as his lineal progenitors62. Defoe said in his wrath63, “the Englishman was the mud of all races.” I incline to the belief, that, as water, lime, and sand make mortar64, so certain temperaments65 marry well, and, by well-managed contrarieties, develop as drastic a character as the English. On the whole, it is not so much a history of one or of certain tribes of Saxons, Jutes, or Frisians, coming from one place, and genetically66 identical, as it is an anthology of temperaments out of them all. Certain temperaments suit the sky and soil of England, say eight or ten or twenty varieties, as, out of a hundred pear-trees, eight or ten suit the soil of an orchard67, and thrive, whilst all the unadapted temperaments die out.
The English derive58 their pedigree from such a range of nationalities, that there needs sea-room and land-room to unfold the varieties of talent and character. Perhaps the ocean serves as a galvanic battery to distribute acids at one pole, and alkalies at the other. So England tends to accumulate her liberals in America, and her conservatives at London. The Scandinavians in her race still hear in every age the murmurs68 of their mother, the ocean; the Briton in the blood hugs the homestead still.
Again, as if to intensate the influences that are not of race, what we think of when we talk of English traits really narrows itself to a small district. It excludes Ireland, and Scotland, and Wales, and reduces itself at last to London, that is, to those who come and go thither69. The portraits that hang on the walls in the Academy Exhibition at London, the figures in Punch’s drawings of the public men, or of the club-houses, the prints in the shop-windows, are distinctive70 English, and not American, no, nor Scotch71, nor Irish: but ‘tis a very restricted nationality. As you go north into the manufacturing and agricultural districts, and to the population that never travels, as you go into Yorkshire, as you enter Scotland, the world’s Englishman is no longer found. In Scotland, there is a rapid loss of all grandeur72 of mien73 and manners; a provincial74 eagerness and acuteness appear; the poverty of the country makes itself remarked, and a coarseness of manners; and, among the intellectual, is the insanity76 of dialectics. In Ireland, are the same climate and soil as in England, but less food, no right relation to the land, political dependence77, small tenantry, and an inferior or misplaced race.
These queries78 concerning ancestry and blood may be well allowed, for there is no prosperity that seems more to depend on the kind of man than British prosperity. Only a hardy79 and wise people could have made this small territory great. We say, in a regatta or yacht-race, that if the boats are anywhere nearly matched, it is the man that wins. Put the best sailing master into either boat, and he will win.
Yet it is fine for us to speculate in face of unbroken traditions, though vague, and losing themselves in fable80. The traditions have got footing, and refuse to be disturbed. The kitchen-clock is more convenient than sidereal81 time. We must use the popular category, as we do by the Linnaean classification, for convenience, and not as exact and final. Otherwise, we are presently confounded, when the best settled traits of one race are claimed by some new ethnologist as precisely82 characteristic of the rival tribe.
I found plenty of well-marked English types, the ruddy complexion83 fair and plump, robust men, with faces cut like a die, and a strong island speech and accent; a Norman type, with the complacency that belongs to that constitution. Others, who might be Americans, for any thing that appeared in their complexion or form: and their speech was much less marked, and their thought much less bound. We will call them Saxons. Then the Roman has implanted his dark complexion in the trinity or quaternity of bloods.
1. The sources from which tradition derives84 their stock are mainly three. And, first, they are of the oldest blood of the world, — the Celtic. Some peoples are deciduous85 or transitory. Where are the Greeks? where the Etrurians? where the Romans? But the Celts or Sidonides are an old family, of whose beginning there is no memory, and their end is likely to be still more remote in the future; for they have endurance and productiveness. They planted Britain, and gave to the seas and mountains names which are poems, and imitate the pure voices of nature. They are favorably remembered in the oldest records of Europe. They had no violent feudal86 tenure87, but the husbandman owned the land. They had an alphabet, astronomy, priestly culture, and a sublime88 creed89. They have a hidden and precarious90 genius. They made the best popular literature of the middle ages in the songs of Merlin, and the tender and delicious mythology91 of Arthur.
2. The English come mainly from the Germans, whom the Romans found hard to conquer in two hundred and ten years, — say, impossible to conquer, — when one remembers the long sequel; a people about whom, in the old empire, the rumor92 ran, there was never any that meddled94 with them that repented95 it not.
3. Charlemagne, halting one day in a town of Narbonnese Gaul, looked out of a window, and saw a fleet of Northmen cruising in the Mediterranean96. They even entered the port of the town where he was, causing no small alarm and sudden manning and arming of his galleys97. As they put out to sea again, the emperor gazed long after them, his eyes bathed in tears. “I am tormented98 with sorrow,” he said, “when I foresee the evils they will bring on my posterity99.” There was reason for these Xerxes’ tears. The men who have built a ship and invented the rig, — cordage, sail, compass, and pump, — the working in and out of port, have acquired much more than a ship. Now arm them, and every shore is at their mercy. For, if they have not numerical superiority where they anchor, they have only to sail a mile or two to find it. Bonaparte’s art of war, namely of concentrating force on the point of attack, must always be theirs who have the choice of the battle-ground. Of course they come into the fight from a higher ground of power than the land-nations; and can engage them on shore with a victorious100 advantage in the retreat. As soon as the shores are sufficiently peopled to make piracy101 a losing business, the same skill and courage are ready for the service of trade.
The Heimskringla, or Sagas102 of the Kings of Norway, collected by Snorro Sturleson, is the Iliad and Odyssey103 of English history. Its portraits, like Homer’s, are strongly individualized. The Sagas describe a monarchical104 republic like Sparta. The government disappears before the importance of citizens. In Norway, no Persian masses fight and perish to aggrandize105 a king, but the actors are bonders or landholders, every one of whom is named and personally and patronymically described, as the king’s friend and companion. A sparse106 population gives this high worth to every man. Individuals are often noticed as very handsome persons, which trait only brings the story nearer to the English race. Then the solid material interest predominates, so dear to English understanding, wherein the association is logical, between merit and land. The heroes of the Sagas are not the knights107 of South Europe. No vaporing108 of France and Spain has corrupted109 them. They are substantial farmers, whom the rough times have forced to defend their properties. They have weapons which they use in a determined110 manner, by no means for chivalry111, but for their acres. They are people considerably112 advanced in rural arts, living amphibiously on a rough coast, and drawing half their food from the sea, and half from the land. They have herds113 of cows, and malt, wheat, bacon, butter, and cheese. They fish in the fiord, and hunt the deer. A king among these farmers has a varying power, sometimes not exceeding the authority of a sheriff. A king was maintained much as, in some of our country districts, a winter-schoolmaster is quartered, a week here, a week there, and a fortnight on the next farm, — on all the farmers in rotation114. This the king calls going into guest-quarters; and it was the only way in which, in a poor country, a poor king, with many retainers, could be kept alive, when he leaves his own farm to collect his dues through the kingdom.
These Norsemen are excellent persons in the main, with good sense, steadiness, wise speech, and prompt action. But they have a singular turn for homicide; their chief end of man is to murder, or to be murdered; oars75, scythes115, harpoons117, crowbars, peatknives, and hayforks, are tools valued by them all the more for their charming aptitude118 for assassinations119. A pair of kings, after dinner, will divert themselves by thrusting each his sword through the other’s body, as did Yngve and Alf. Another pair ride out on a morning for a frolic, and, finding no weapon near, will take the bits out of their horses’ mouths, and crush each other’s heads with them, as did Alric and Eric. The sight of a tent-cord or a cloak-string puts them on hanging somebody, a wife, or a husband, or, best of all, a king. If a farmer has so much as a hayfork, he sticks it into a King Dag. King Ingiald finds it vastly amusing to burn up half a dozen kings in a hall, after getting them drunk. Never was poor gentleman so surfeited120 with life, so furious to be rid of it, as the Northman. If he cannot pick any other quarrel, he will get himself comfortably gored121 by a bull’s horns, like Egil, or slain122 by a land-slide, like the agricultural King Onund. Odin died in his bed, in Sweden; but it was a proverb of ill condition, to die the death of old age. King Hake of Sweden cuts and slashes123 in battle, as long as he can stand, then orders his war-ship, loaded with his dead men and their weapons, to be taken out to sea, the tiller shipped, and the sails spread; being left alone, he sets fire to some tar-wood, and lies down contented124 on deck. The wind blew off the land, the ship flew burning in clear flame, out between the islets into the ocean, and there was the right end of King Hake.
The early Sagas are sanguinary and piratical; the later are of a noble strain. History rarely yields us better passages than the conversation between King Sigurd the Crusader, and King Eystein, his brother, on their respective merits, — one, the soldier, and the other, a lover of the arts of peace.
But the reader of the Norman history must steel himself by holding fast the remote compensations which result from animal vigor125. As the old fossil world shows that the first steps of reducing the chaos126 were confided127 to saurians and other huge and horrible animals, so the foundations of the new civility were to be laid by the most savage128 men.
The Normans came out of France into England worse men than they went into it, one hundred and sixty years before. They had lost their own language, and learned the Romance or barbarous Latin of the Gauls; and had acquired, with the language, all the vices129 it had names for. The conquest has obtained in the chronicles, the name of the “memory of sorrow.” Twenty thousand thieves landed at Hastings. These founders130 of the House of Lords were greedy and ferocious131 dragoons, sons of greedy and ferocious pirates. They were all alike, they took every thing they could carry, they burned, harried132, violated, tortured, and killed, until every thing English was brought to the verge3 of ruin. Such, however, is the illusion of antiquity133 and wealth, that decent and dignified134 men now existing boast their descent from these filthy135 thieves, who showed a far juster conviction of their own merits, by assuming for their types the swine, goat, jackal, leopard136, wolf, and snake, which they severally resembled.
England yielded to the Danes and Northmen in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and was the receptacle into which all the mettle137 of that strenuous138 population was poured. The continued draught139 of the best men in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, to these piratical expeditions, exhausted140 those countries, like a tree which bears much fruit when young, and these have been second-rate powers ever since. The power of the race migrated, and left Norway void. King Olaf said, “When King Harold, my father, went westward141 to England, the chosen men in Norway followed him: but Norway was so emptied then, that such men have not since been to find in the country, nor especially such a leader as King Harold was for wisdom and bravery.”
It was a tardy142 recoil143 of these invasions, when, in 1801, the British government sent Nelson to bombard the Danish forts in the Sound; and, in 1807, Lord Cathcart, at Copenhagen, took the entire Danish fleet, as it lay in the basins, and all the equipments from the Arsenal144, and carried them to England. Konghelle, the town where the kings of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were wont to meet, is now rented to a private English gentleman for a hunting ground.
It took many generations to trim, and comb, and perfume the first boat-load of Norse pirates into royal highnesses and most noble Knights of the Garter: but every sparkle of ornament145 dates back to the Norse boat. There will be time enough to mellow146 this strength into civility and religion. It is a medical fact, that the children of the blind see; the children of felons147 have a healthy conscience. Many a mean, dastardly boy is, at the age of puberty, transformed into a serious and generous youth.
The mildness of the following ages has not quite effaced148 these traits of Odin; as the rudiment44 of a structure matured in the tiger is said to be still found unabsorbed in the Caucasian man. The nation has a tough, acrid149, animal nature, which centuries of churching and civilizing150 have not been able to sweeten. Alfieri said, “the crimes of Italy were the proof of the superiority of the stock;” and one may say of England, that this watch moves on a splinter of adamant151. The English uncultured are a brutal152 nation. The crimes recorded in their calendars leave nothing to be desired in the way of cold malignity153. Dear to the English heart is a fair stand-up fight. The brutality154 of the manners in the lower class appears in the boxing, bear-baiting, cock-fighting, love of executions, and in the readiness for a set-to in the streets, delightful155 to the English of all classes. The costermongers of London streets hold cowardice156 in loathing157: — “we must work our fists well; we are all handy with our fists.” The public schools are charged with being bear-gardens of brutal strength, and are liked by the people for that cause. The fagging is a trait of the same quality. Medwin, in the Life of Shelley, relates, that, at a military school, they rolled up a young man in a snowball, and left him so in his room, while the other cadets went to church; — and crippled him for life. They have retained impressment, deck-flogging, army-flogging, and school-flogging. Such is the ferocity of the army discipline, that a soldier sentenced to flogging, sometimes prays that his sentence may be commuted158 to death. Flogging banished159 from the armies of Western Europe, remains here by the sanction of the Duke of Wellington. The right of the husband to sell the wife has been retained down to our times. The Jews have been the favorite victims of royal and popular persecution160. Henry III. mortgaged all the Jews in the kingdom to his brother, the Earl of Cornwall, as security for money which he borrowed. The torture of criminals, and the rack for extorting161 evidence, were slowly disused. Of the criminal statutes162, Sir Samuel Romilly said, “I have examined the codes of all nations, and ours is the worst, and worthy163 of the Anthropophagi.” In the last session, the House of Commons was listening to details of flogging and torture practised in the jails.
As soon as this land, thus geographically164 posted, got a hardy people into it, they could not help becoming the sailors and factors of the globe. From childhood, they dabbled166 in water, they swum like fishes, their playthings were boats. In the case of the ship-money, the judges delivered it for law, that “England being an island, the very midland shires therein are all to be accounted maritime167:” and Fuller adds, “the genius even of landlocked counties driving the natives with a maritime dexterity168.” As early as the conquest, it is remarked in explanation of the wealth of England, that its merchants trade to all countries.
The English, at the present day, have great vigor of body and endurance. Other countrymen look slight and undersized beside them, and invalids169. They are bigger men than the Americans. I suppose a hundred English taken at random170 out of the street, would weigh a fourth more, than so many Americans. Yet, I am told, the skeleton is not larger. They are round, ruddy, and handsome; at least, the whole bust23 is well formed; and there is a tendency to stout171 and powerful frames. I remarked the stoutness172, on my first landing at Liverpool; porter, drayman, coachman, guard, — what substantial, respectable, grandfatherly figures, with costume and manners to suit. The American has arrived at the old mansion-house, and finds himself among uncles, aunts, and grandsires. The pictures on the chimney-tiles of his nursery were pictures of these people. Here they are in the identical costumes and air, which so took him.
It is the fault of their forms that they grow stocky, and the women have that disadvantage, — few tall, slender figures of flowing shape, but stunted173 and thickset persons. The French say, that the Englishwomen have two left hands. But, in all ages, they are a handsome race. The bronze monuments of crusaders lying cross-legged, in the Temple Church at London, and those in Worcester and in Salisbury Cathedrals, which are seven hundred years old, are of the same type as the best youthful heads of men now in England; — please by beauty of the same character, an expression blending good-nature, valor174, and refinement175, and, mainly, by that uncorrupt youth in the face of manhood, which is daily seen in the streets of London.
Both branches of the Scandinavian race are distinguished176 for beauty. The anecdote177 of the handsome captives which Saint Gregory found at Rome, A. D. 600, is matched by the testimony178 of the Norman chroniclers, five centuries later, who wondered at the beauty and long flowing hair of the young English captives. Meantime, the Heimskringla has frequent occasion to speak of the personal beauty of its heroes. When it is considered what humanity, what resources of mental and moral power, the traits of the blonde race betoken179, — its accession to empire marks a new and finer epoch180, wherein the old mineral force shall be subjugated181 at last by humanity, and shall plough in its furrow182 henceforward. It is not a final race, once a crab183 always crab, but a race with a future.
On the English face are combined decision and nerve, with the fair complexion, blue eyes, and open and florid aspect. Hence the love of truth, hence the sensibility, the fine perception, and poetic184 construction. The fair Saxon man, with open front, and honest meaning, domestic, affectionate, is not the wood out of which cannibal, or inquisitor, or assassin is made, but he is moulded for law, lawful185 trade, civility, marriage, the nurture186 of children, for colleges, churches, charities, and colonies.
They are rather manly187 than warlike. When the war is over, the mask falls from the affectionate and domestic tastes, which make them women in kindness. This union of qualities is fabled188 in their national legend of Beauty and the Beast, or, long before, in the Greek legend of Hermaphrodite. The two sexes are co-present in the English mind. I apply to Britannia, queen of seas and colonies, the words in which her latest novelist portrays189 his heroine: “she is as mild as she is game, and as game as she is mild.” The English delight in the antagonism190 which combines in one person the extremes of courage and tenderness. Nelson, dying at Trafalgar, sends his love to Lord Collingwood, and, like an innocent schoolboy that goes to bed, says, “Kiss me, Hardy,” and turns to sleep. Lord Collingwood, his comrade, was of a nature the most affectionate and domestic. Admiral Rodney’s figure approached to delicacy and effeminacy, and he declared himself very sensible to fear, which he surmounted191 only by considerations of honor and public duty. Clarendon says, the Duke of Buckingham was so modest and gentle, that some courtiers attempted to put affronts192 on him, until they found that this modesty193 and effeminacy was only a mask for the most terrible determination. And Sir James Parry said, the other day, of Sir John Franklin, that, “if he found Wellington Sound open, he explored it; for he was a man who never turned his back on a danger, yet of that tenderness, that he would not brush away a mosquito.” Even for their highwaymen the same virtue194 is claimed, and Robin195 Hood165 comes described to us as mitissimus praedonum, the gentlest thief. But they know where their war-dogs lie. Cromwell, Blake, Marlborough, Chatham, Nelson, and Wellington, are not to be trifled with, and the brutal strength which lies at the bottom of society, the animal ferocity of the quays196 and cockpits, the bullies197 of the coster-mongers of Shoreditch, Seven Dials, and Spitalfields, they know how to wake up.
They have a vigorous health, and last well into middle and old age. The old men are as red as roses, and still handsome. A clear skin, a peach-bloom complexion, and good teeth, are found all over the island. They use a plentiful198 and nutritious199 diet. The operative cannot subsist200 on watercresses. Beef, mutton, wheatbread, and malt-liquors, are universal among the first-class laborers201. Good feeding is a chief point of national pride among the vulgar, and, in their caricatures, they represent the Frenchman as a poor, starved body. It is curious that Tacitus found the English beer already in use among the Germans: “they make from barley202 or wheat a drink corrupted into some resemblance to wine.” Lord Chief Justice Fortescue in Henry VI.’s time, says, “The inhabitants of England drink no water, unless at certain times, on a religious score, and by way of penance203.” The extremes of poverty and ascetic204 penance, it would seem, never reach cold water in England. Wood, the antiquary, in describing the poverty and maceration205 of Father Lacey, an English Jesuit, does not deny him beer. He says, “his bed was under a thatching, and the way to it up a ladder; his fare was coarse; his drink, of a penny a gawn, or gallon.”
They have more constitutional energy than any other people. They think, with Henri Quatre, that manly exercises are the foundation of that elevation206 of mind which gives one nature ascendant over another; or, with the Arabs, that the days spent in the chase are not counted in the length of life. They box, run, shoot, ride, row, and sail from pole to pole. They eat, and drink, and live jolly in the open air, putting a bar of solid sleep between day and day. They walk and ride as fast as they can, their head bent207 forward, as if urged on some pressing affair. The French say, that Englishmen in the street always walk straight before them like mad dogs. Men and women walk with infatuation. As soon as he can handle a gun, hunting is the fine art of every Englishman of condition. They are the most voracious208 people of prey209 that ever existed. Every season turns out the aristocracy into the country, to shoot and fish. The more vigorous run out of the island to Europe, to America, to Asia, to Africa, and Australia, to hunt with fury by gun, by trap, by harpoon116, by lasso, with dog, with horse, with elephant, or with dromedary, all the game that is in nature. These men have written the game-books of all countries, as Hawker, Scrope, Murray, Herbert, Maxwell, Cumming, and a host of travellers. The people at home are addicted210 to boxing, running, leaping, and rowing matches.
I suppose, the dogs and horses must be thanked for the fact, that the men have muscles almost as tough and supple211 as their own. If in every efficient man, there is first a fine animal, in the English race it is of the best breed, a wealthy, juicy, broad-chested creature, steeped in ale and good cheer, and a little overloaded212 by his flesh. Men of animal nature rely, like animals, on their instincts. The Englishman associates well with dogs and horses. His attachment213 to the horse arises from the courage and address required to manage it. The horse finds out who is afraid of it, and does not disguise its opinion. Their young boiling clerks and lusty collegians like the company of horses better than the company of professors. I suppose, the horses are better company for them. The horse has more uses than Buffon noted214. If you go into the streets, every driver in bus or dray is a bully215, and, if I wanted a good troop of soldiers, I should recruit among the stables. Add a certain degree of refinement to the vivacity216 of these riders, and you obtain the precise quality which makes the men and women of polite society formidable.
They come honestly by their horsemanship, with Hengst and Horsa for their Saxon founders. The other branch of their race had been Tartar nomads217. The horse was all their wealth. The children were fed on mares’ milk. The pastures of Tartary were still remembered by the tenacious218 practice of the Norsemen to eat horseflesh at religious feasts. In the Danish invasions, the marauders seized upon horses where they landed, and were at once converted into a body of expert cavalry219.
At one time, this skill seems to have declined. Two centuries ago, the English horse never performed any eminent220 service beyond the seas; and the reason assigned, was, that the genius of the English hath always more inclined them to foot-service, as pure and proper manhood, without any mixture; whilst, in a victory on horseback, the credit ought to be divided betwixt the man and his horse. But in two hundred years, a change has taken place. Now, they boast that they understand horses better than any other people in the world, and that their horses are become their second selves.
“William the Conqueror221 being,” says Camden, “better affected222 to beasts than to men, imposed heavy fines and punishments on those that should meddle93 with his game.” The Saxon Chronicle says, “he loved the tall deer as if he were their father.” And rich Englishmen have followed his example, according to their ability, ever since, in encroaching on the tillage and commons with their game-preserves. It is a proverb in England, that it is safer to shoot a man, than a hare. The severity of the game-laws certainly indicates an extravagant223 sympathy of the nation with horses and hunters. The gentlemen are always on horseback, and have brought horses to an ideal perfection, — the English racer is a factitious breed. A score or two of mounted gentlemen may frequently be seen running like centaurs224 down a hill nearly as steep as the roof of a house. Every inn-room is lined with pictures of races; telegraphs communicate, every hour, tidings of the heats from Newmarket and Ascot: and the House of Commons adjourns225 over the ‘Derby Day.’
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pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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divergence
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| n.分歧，岔开 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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spawning
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| 产卵 | |
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colonization
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| 殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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quarries
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| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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litheness
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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badgers
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| n.獾( badger的名词复数 )；獾皮；（大写）獾州人（美国威斯康星州人的别称）；毛鼻袋熊 | |
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immortally
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| 不朽地，永世地，无限地 | |
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sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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dissenter
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| n.反对者 | |
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bribes
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| n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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outlets
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| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
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counteracting
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的现在分词 ) | |
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credence
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| n.信用，祭器台，供桌，凭证 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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40
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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geologic
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| adj.地质的 | |
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rudiment
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| n.初步；初级；基本原理 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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baboon
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| n.狒狒 | |
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antediluvian
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| adj.史前的，陈旧的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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inoculation
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| n.接芽；预防接种 | |
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51
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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fusion
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| n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接 | |
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53
antagonistic
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| adj.敌对的 | |
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54
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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55
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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56
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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57
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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58
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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59
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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60
discriminate
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| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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61
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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62
progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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63
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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64
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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temperaments
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| 性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁 | |
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genetically
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| adv.遗传上 | |
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67
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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69
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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71
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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72
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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73
mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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75
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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76
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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81
sidereal
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| adj.恒星的 | |
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82
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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84
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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85
deciduous
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| adj.非永久的；短暂的；脱落的；落叶的 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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meddled
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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galleys
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| n.平底大船，战舰( galley的名词复数 )；（船上或航空器上的）厨房 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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piracy
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| n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害 | |
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102
sagas
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| n.萨迦（尤指古代挪威或冰岛讲述冒险经历和英雄业绩的长篇故事）( saga的名词复数 )；（讲述许多年间发生的事情的）长篇故事；一连串的事件（或经历）；一连串经历的讲述（或记述） | |
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odyssey
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| n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险 | |
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monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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aggrandize
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| v.增大，扩张，吹捧 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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108
vaporing
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| n.说大话，吹牛adj.蒸发的，自夸的v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的现在分词 ) | |
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corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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110
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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111
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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112
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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113
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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114
rotation
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| n.旋转；循环，轮流 | |
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115
scythes
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| n.（长柄）大镰刀( scythe的名词复数 )v.（长柄）大镰刀( scythe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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116
harpoon
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| n.鱼叉；vt.用鱼叉叉，用鱼叉捕获 | |
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117
harpoons
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| n.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的名词复数 )v.鱼镖，鱼叉( harpoon的第三人称单数 ) | |
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118
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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119
assassinations
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| n.暗杀( assassination的名词复数 ) | |
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120
surfeited
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| v.吃得过多( surfeit的过去式和过去分词 )；由于过量而厌腻 | |
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121
gored
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| v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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123
slashes
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| n.（用刀等）砍( slash的名词复数 )；（长而窄的）伤口；斜杠；撒尿v.挥砍( slash的第三人称单数 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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124
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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125
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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126
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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127
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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128
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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129
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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130
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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131
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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132
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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133
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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134
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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135
filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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136
leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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137
mettle
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| n.勇气，精神 | |
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138
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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139
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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140
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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141
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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142
tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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143
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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144
arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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145
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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146
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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147
felons
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| n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎 | |
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148
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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149
acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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150
civilizing
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| v.使文明，使开化( civilize的现在分词 ) | |
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151
adamant
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| adj.坚硬的，固执的 | |
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152
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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153
malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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154
brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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155
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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156
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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157
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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158
commuted
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| 通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿 | |
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159
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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160
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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161
extorting
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| v.敲诈( extort的现在分词 )；曲解 | |
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162
statutes
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| 成文法( statute的名词复数 )； 法令； 法规； 章程 | |
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163
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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164
geographically
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| adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面 | |
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165
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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166
dabbled
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| v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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167
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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168
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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169
invalids
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| 病人，残疾者( invalid的名词复数 ) | |
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170
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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172
stoutness
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| 坚固，刚毅 | |
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173
stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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174
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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175
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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176
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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177
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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178
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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179
betoken
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| v.预示 | |
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180
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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181
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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182
furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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183
crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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184
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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185
lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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186
nurture
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| n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持 | |
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187
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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188
fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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189
portrays
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| v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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190
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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191
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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192
affronts
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| n.（当众）侮辱，（故意）冒犯( affront的名词复数 )v.勇敢地面对( affront的第三人称单数 )；相遇 | |
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193
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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194
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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195
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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196
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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197
bullies
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| n.欺凌弱小者, 开球 vt.恐吓, 威胁, 欺负 | |
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198
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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199
nutritious
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| adj.有营养的，营养价值高的 | |
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200
subsist
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| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
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201
laborers
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| n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工 | |
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202
barley
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| n.大麦，大麦粒 | |
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203
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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204
ascetic
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| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
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205
maceration
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| n.泡软，因绝食而衰弱 | |
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206
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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207
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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208
voracious
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| adj.狼吞虎咽的，贪婪的 | |
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209
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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210
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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211
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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212
overloaded
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| a.超载的，超负荷的 | |
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213
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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214
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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215
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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216
vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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217
nomads
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| n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活 | |
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218
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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219
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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220
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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221
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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222
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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223
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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224
centaurs
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| n.（希腊神话中）半人半马怪物( centaur的名词复数 ) | |
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225
adjourns
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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