But what if the Danish name, and the remembrance of the exploits of the Danes and Norwegians, in spite of the many centuries that have passed since they were performed, still live as fresh in the memory of the people of the western lands as the Swedish name in Germany, nay, perhaps even fresher? What if we found that, by means of monuments, the popular character, public institutions, and other traits, a constant powerful and beneficial influence could be traced from the expeditions of the Vikings or Northmen, so that the natives of the lands which they subdued accounted it an honour to descend from the bold natives of the North? Would not the Northman in that case have a double right to be proud of his forefathers? Or would he, upon the whole, any longer have reason to complain? It is the object of the following pages to convey, partly in the form of travelling impressions, a picture of the memorials of the Danes and Norwegians, as they exist in the monuments and among the people of those countries which in former times most frequently witnessed the victories of the Danes and Normans—namely, the British Islands. It is, however, by no means the exclusive, or even special, design of them, to present to scholars and persons of science detailed and critical observations on every individual ancient monument in those islands, which may be said to be of Danish or Norwegian origin. Their aim rather is to describe the more general, and consequently more appreciable, features of actually existing Scandinavian monuments; in doing which a distinction will, as far as possible, be drawn between the Danish and the Norwegian memorials; and in general between the influence of the Danes in England, and of the Norwegians in Scotland and Ireland. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE DANES IN ENGLAND. ---------- SECTION I. Nature of the Country.—Earlier Inhabitants: Britons, Romans, and Anglo-Saxons.