Note 167 — SECTION V. ANTHROPOLOGY.

The discovery of Uriconium and of Roman remains throughout England, and even in London, during the last few years, strongly suggests that the beauty of the English race is derived from a far greater intermixture of southern blood than was formerly suspected; and the racial baptism, repeated by the invasion of the Normans, must also have brought with it Gallo-Romans in considerable numbers. We can hardly doubt that the handsome peasantry of south-western Ireland is the produce of Spanish or Mediterranean innervation; and a comparison with the country people of Orotava in Tenerife, where the Irish have again mixed with the mingled Hispano-Guanche race, shows certain remarkable points of family likeness. On the other hand, except in certain parts of Great Britain, especially the Danelagh or Scandinavianised coasts and the counties occupied by the Angli and other Teutonic peoples, the English race remarkably differs from both its purer congeners, the homely Scandinavians and Germans. The general verdict of foreigners confirms its superior beauty, which, indeed, is evident to the most superficial observer.