So long as Celt and Teuton
are in their embryo rudimentary state, or, at least, no such great
while out of their cradle, still engaged in their wanderings, changes
of place and struggle for development, so long as they have not yet
crystallised into solid nations, they may touch and mix in passing,
and yet very little come of it. It is when the embryo has grown and
solidified into a distinct nation, into the Gaul or German of
history, when it has finally acquired the characters which make the
Gaul of history what he is, the German of history what he is, that
contact and mixture are important, and may leave a long train of
effects; for Celt and Teuton by this time have their formed, marked,
national, ineffaceable qualities to oppose or to communicate. The
contact of the German of the Continent with the Celt was in the pre-
historic times, and the definite German type, as we know it, was
fixed later, and from the time when it became fixed was not
influenced by the Celtic type. But here in our country, in historic
times, long after the Celtic embryo had crystallised into the Celt
proper, long after the Germanic embryo had crystallised into the
German proper, there was an important contact between the two
peoples; the Saxons invaded the Britons and settled themselves in the
Britons' country.
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