92 



tutions and history. The deductions and inferences of 

 Mr. Kemble are so valuable, and so capable of receiving 

 confirmation or correction from a variety of sources which 

 present themselves on every side, that, as an ardent admirer 

 of our good old Saxon institutions, and an earnest student 

 of English history, I have taken the liberty of calling the 

 attention of the society, however feebly and imperfectly, 

 to the subject. 



I will not weary your patience, by tracing back the 

 wanderings of our Saxon ancestors, from the Cimmerian 

 Bosphorus, through the forests of Germany, to the shores 

 of the Baltic, and the mouths of the Weser, the Elbe, and 

 the Rhine. All this, together with illustrations of the 

 character and manners of the race, has been recently so 

 fully and ably presented to your notice by my friend Mr. 

 Laker, as to render it quite unnecessary on the present 

 occasion. I may, however, just allude to the fact as 

 bearing on our present subject, that the Saxons, in the 

 5th century, were not mere savages, like the Britons, when 

 invaded by Csesar five centuries previously. Eude they 

 were, and innocent of the softening influences of literature 

 and books; but they brought with them the elements of a 

 social polity and order which the classical nations of anti- 

 quity had in vain sought for under every form of govern- 

 ment. Nor were they altogether ignorant of the arts of 

 civilised life. With the navigation of the stormy seas of 

 the north of Europe they were perfectly familiar. In agri- 

 culture they had made considerable proficiency, and poetry, 

 of a nervous though rude character had already begun to 

 be cultivated. In their laws and institutions the great 

 leading principle which pervaded the whole, and which 

 was the centre (so to speak) to which all converged, and 

 from which all radiated, was that of individual and personal 

 rights. In this respect, the Saxons difl'cred essentially 

 from the classical nations, and those whicli have derived 



