That they should have been preserved in such numbers for more than eight centuries after the fall of the Danish dominion in England, and that they should have retained, as it has been shown, the original Scandinavian forms, and that often in a highly-striking degree, completely disproves the opinion that the old Danish-Norwegian inhabitants of the country north of Watlinga-Stræt were supplanted or expelled after the cessation of the Danish dominion (1042), first by the Anglo-Saxons, and afterwards by the Normans from Normandy; for if such had been the case, the names of places would naturally have become altogether changed and impossible to recognise. As the matter stands it is sufficiently proved that Danes as well as Norwegians must have continued to reside in great numbers in the districts previously conquered by them, and particularly in the north; and consequently that a very considerable part of the present population in the midland and northern counties of England may with certainty trace their origin to the Northmen, and especially to the Danes. ---------- SECTION VIII. Resemblance of the People to the Danes and Norwegians.—Proper Names.—Popular Language.—Songs and Legends. The present English people is certainly composed, as we have seen, of the most heterogeneous elements. The Englishman reckons among his ancestors Britons, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Northmen, especially Danes and Normans. All these people, who successively reigned over England for centuries, must naturally have left numerous descendants behind them. But as in ancient times it was a combat of life and death for dominion, the conquered and their posterity could not immediately amalgamate with the conquerors. Long after the Norman conquest (1066) the Britons, Saxons, Danes, and Normans, were still hostilely opposed to each other. These disputes were brought to a close during the middle ages; prejudices vanished; mixed marriages became more frequent; the different races acquired common interests; and at last, with the exception of those Britons who kept themselves aloof in Wales, passed into one great nation. From this time it was no longer usual in marriages to regard family descent; it was only some of the richer sort, and higher lineage, who considered it an honour to preserve the original blood as pure as possible. There are families still to be found in England who pretend that they descend in a direct line from Saxon or Norman ancestors, and who assert that Saxon or Norman features have been transmitted to them. But even these families have in the course of time been considerably mixed with races of an entirely different extraction; nay, even the Britons in Wales have not been able to prevent some of the hated English blood from gradually supplying and deteriorating that which runs in their own veins. Moreover, if we consider what an immense number of