tions, and was joined to the great continuous
stream of the World's highest development. Fresh intellectual stimulus
renovated the Church. Roman law was planted upon the simple Teuton
system of rights. Every department in State and in Society shared the
advance, while language became refined, flexible, and enriched.

This engrafting with the results of {39} antiquity, was an enormous
saving of time, in the development of a nation; but it did not change
the essential character of the Anglo-Saxon, nor of his speech. The
ravenous Teuton could devour and assimilate all these new elements and
remain essentially unchanged. The language of Bunyan and of the Bible
is Saxon; and it is the language of the Englishman to-day in childhood
and in extremity. A man who is thoroughly in earnest--who is
drowning--speaks Saxon. Character, as much as speech, remains
unaltered. There is small trace of the Norman in the House of Commons,
or in the meetings at Exeter Hall, or in the home, or life of the
people anywhere.

The qualities which have made England great were brought across the
North Sea in those "keels" in the 5th Century. The Anglo-Saxon put on
the new civilization and institutions brought him by the Conquest, as
he would an embroidered garment; but the man within the garment, though
modified by civilization, has never essentially changed.

{40}

CHAPTER III

It is not in the exploits of its Kings but in the aspirations and
struggles of its people, that the true history of a nation is to be
sought. During the rule and misrule of the two sons, and grandson, of
the Conqueror, England was steadily growing toward its ultimate form.

As Society outgrew the simple ties of blood which bound it together in
old Saxon England, the people had sought a larger protection in
combinations among fellow freemen, based upon identity of occupation.

The "Frith-Gilds," or peace Clubs, came into existence in Europe during
the 9th and 10th Centuries. They were harshly repressed in Germany and
Gaul, but found kindly welcome from Alfred in England. In their mutual
responsibility, in their motto, "if any misdo, let all bear it," Alfred
saw simply {41} an enlarged conception of the "_family_," which was the
basis of the Saxon social structure; and the adoption of this idea of a
larger unity, in _combination_, was one of the first phases of an
expanding national life. So, after the conquest, while ambitious kings
were absorbing Fr