which distinguished those sons of the Scandinavian from all other
kindred tribes.

The Norman position in France, indeed, in much resembled that of the
Spartan in Greece. He had forced a settlement with scanty numbers in
the midst of a subjugated and sullen population, surrounded by jealous
and formidable foes. Hence sobriety was a condition of his being, and
the policy of the chief lent a willing ear to the lessons of the
preacher. Like the Spartan, every Norman of pure race was free and
noble; and this consciousness inspired not only that remarkable
dignity of mien which Spartan and Norman alike possessed, but also
that fastidious self-respect which would have revolted from exhibiting
a spectacle of debasement to inferiors. And, lastly, as the paucity
of their original numbers, the perils that beset, and the good fortune
that attended them, served to render the Spartans the most religious
of all the Greeks in their dependence on the Divine aid; so, perhaps,
to the same causes may be traced the proverbial piety of the
ceremonial Normans; they carried into their new creed something of
feudal loyalty to their spiritual protectors; did homage to the Virgin
for the lands that she vouchsafed to bestow, and recognised in St.
Michael the chief who conducted their armies.

After hearing the complin vespers in the temporary chapel fitted up in
that unfinished abbey of Westminster, which occupied the site of the
temple of Apollo [53], the King and his guests repaired to their
evening meal in the great hall of the palace. Below the dais were
ranged three long tables for the knights in William's train, and that
flower of the Saxon nobility who, fond, like all youth, of change and
imitation, thronged the court of their Normanised saint, and scorned
the rude patriotism of their fathers. But hearts truly English were