Notes & Queries Archive
NOTE1851

Origin of the present Race of English

By TERRA MARTIS.

In Southey's *Letters of Espriella* (Letter xxiv., p. 274., 3rd edit.), there is a remark, that the dark hair of the English people, as compared with the Northern Germans, seems to indicate a considerable admixture of southern blood. Now, in all modern ethnological works, this fact of present complexion seems to be entirely overlooked. But it is a fact, and deserves attention. Either it is the effect of climate, in which case the moral as well as the physical man must have altered from the original stock, or it arises from there being more "ungerman" blood flowing in English veins than is ackn…

Topics: Ethnology, Romanised Celts, Saxon Conquest, Norman Conquest

Locations: England, France