Note (return) — Chapter XI

This spirit of theirs, like their blood, is ever with us still. It has gone into our race, and it keeps coming out in unexpected quarters. Hidden under Celtic colouring and Highland dress, the Viking warrior is there in spirit, glorying in battle, though often apparently no more of a real "Barelegs" by race than was kilted King Magnus. The Berserk fury and stubborn tenacity of our Highland regiments derive their origin from the Viking as well as from the Celtic strain.21 Our sailors too, had they been Celts, would not readily have left smooth water. It was Viking not Celtic blood that drove them to the open sea. It was Viking skill that built the ships, managed them in storms through Viking discipline, navigated them across the ocean, and gave us the naval and commercial supremacy which founded and preserves our empire overseas.