Next, as a people the Saxons were also fond of music, singing, poetry: the quicker witted Norman despised the Saxon as slow of understanding. Perhaps: but the Saxon proved himself in the long-run far more capable of enthusiasm, of loyalty, of patriotism, of sacrifice, of all those actions and emotions which spring from the imagination and produce forces united and irresistible. Remember that the whole of our literature is Anglo-Saxon; none of it is Norman. There is not one great Norman poet. No Norman literature was produced on this our Anglo-Saxon soil. The next characteristic of this people is less picturesque. They were obstinate. Now obstinacy, if we think of it, is one of the most useful and valuable qualities that can be planted in the breast of man. It has many names: it is called by its friends firmness: under any name it is the tenacious man who wins in the long-run. They were essentially an outdoor people: they loved all manner of outdoor sports: all classes were hunters, hawkers, fishers, trappers: the country was full of creatures to hunt: there were in the forests wolves, bears, wild bulls, and stags: they loved the free air of the open hillside: and they hated towns. It was many years after their settlement in this country before they ceased to feel the old terror of the magic which, they thought, could be practised within the walls of a city. As regards the Anglo-Saxon women, it is pleasant to learn that the very same virtues which are now conspicuous in our own women of the present day were conspicuous in them. She was, as Thomas Wright says, “An attentive housewife: a tender companion: the comforter and consoler of her husband and her family: the virtuous and noble matron.” In all ranks, from the queen to the farmer’s wife, we find the lady of the household attending to her household duties. They were more learned than the men: they could recite and sing the poetry of their native bards: they were skilful in playing the harp: and in embroidery and needlework of all kinds the work of the Anglo-Saxon ladies was in demand all over Western Europe.