Ἡ γλῶσσ ̓ ὀμώμοχ ̓ ἡ δὲ φρὴν ἀνώμοτος. -EURIPIDES. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1866. The right of translation is reserved. PREFACE. EVERY MAN who writes a book should, I think, have at least two good reasons for writing it. In the first place, he should be able to assert without fear of contradiction that what he has done is in itself worth doing; in the second place, he ought to have good grounds for believing that it has not been done before. I suppose no one will deny that, if any literary task is worth undertaking, an Englishman may consider all time well spent which is spent in attempting to ascertain what are the bodily and mental features possessed by the majority of Englishmen, to what sources those features are to be traced, and how far they resemble or differ from the marked features of other nations. I have then at least one excuse for my book. It is dangerous to assert that there is anything new under the sun; I can only say that, so far as I am aware, no one has hitherto entered upon a systematic investigation of the whole subject. I have met with some historical criticism, with some philological M300904 |