Page:Comic History of England.djvu/36

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CHAPTER III.


THE ADVENT OF THE ANGLES: CAUSES WHICH LED TO
THE REHABILITATION OF BRITAIN ON NEW LINES.


WITH the landing of Hengist and Horsa English history really begins, for Cæsar's capture of the British Isles was of slight importance viewed in the light of fast-receding centuries. There is little to-day in the English character to remind one of Cæsar, who was a volatile and epileptic emperor with massive and complicated features.

The rich warm blood of the Roman does not mantle in the cheek of the Englishman of the present century to any marked degree. The Englishman, aping the reserve and hauteur of Boston, Massachusetts, is, in fact, the diametrical antipode of the impulsive, warm-hearted, and garlic-imbued Roman who revels in assassination and gold ear-bobs.

The beautiful daughter of Hengist formed an alliance with Vortigern, the royal foreman of Great Britain,—a plain man who was very popular in the alcoholic set and generally subject to

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