Note 167 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES
Reading edition
'The long, long canker of peace' had done its work—'vivebatur enim tunc pene ubique in Anglia perditis moribus, et pro pacis affluentia deliciarum fervebat luxus.'167 The land was ripe for the invader, and a saviour of Society was at hand. While our fathers were playing at democracy, watching the strife of rival houses, as men might now watch the contest of rival parties, the terrible Duke of the Normans was girding himself for war. De nobis fabula narratur.