Now, at the very moment when this faith, innocence, and ingenuity were on the point of springing up into their fruitage, comes the Northern invasion; of the real character of which you can gain a far truer estimate by studying Alfred's former resolute contest with and victory over the native Norman in his paganism, than by your utmost endeavours to conceive the character of the afterwards invading Norman, disguised, but not changed, by Christianity. The Norman could not, in the nature of him, become a _Christian_ at all; and he never did;--he only became, at his best, the enemy of the Saracen. What he was, and what alone he was capable of being, I will try to-day to explain. And here I must advise you that in all points of history relating to the period between 800 and 1200, you will find M. Viollet le Duc, incidentally throughout his 'Dictionary of Architecture,' the best-informed, most intelligent, and most thoughtful of guides. His knowledge of architecture, carried down into the most minutely practical details,--(which are often the most significant), and embracing, over the entire surface of France, the buildings even of the most secluded villages; his artistic enthusiasm, balanced by the acutest sagacity, and his patriotism, by the frankest candour, render his analysis of history during that active and constructive period the most valuable known to me, and certainly, in its field, exhaustive. Of the later nationality his account is imperfect, owing to his professional interest in the mere _science_ of architecture, and comparative insensibility to the power of sculpture;--but of the time with which we are now concerned, whatever he tells you must be regarded with grateful attention. I introduce, therefore, the Normans to you, on their first entering France, under his descriptive terms of them.[12] [Footnote 12: Article "Architecture," vol. i., p. 138.]