But, if the outward type is rarely seen, its inward qualities remain.
What were those qualities?
The late Professor York Powell summed up the character of the Viking
emigrant folk in his introduction to Mr. Collingwood's _Scandinavian
Britain_, as follows:--
"A sturdy, thrifty, hardworking, law-loving people, fond of good cheer
and strong drink, of shrewd, blunt speech, and a stubborn reticence,
when speech would be useless or foolish; a people clean-living,
faithful to friend and kinsman, truthful, hospitable, liking to make a
fair show, but not vain or boastful; a people with perhaps little
play of fancy or great range of thought, but cool-thinking, resolute,
determined, able to realise the plainer facts of life clearly, and
even deeply."[16]
Blend these qualities with those of the Gael, and what infinite
possibilities appear; for the characteristics of the two races
supplement each other. Fuse them together in proper proportions for
a few generations, the improvident and dreamy with the thrifty and
energetic, the voluble with the reticent, the romantic and humorous
with the truthful and blunt of speech, the fiery and impulsive with
the sober of thought, and how greatly is the type improved in the new
race evolved from the union of both.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205