wrested so large an island as
Great Britain from its original occupants (changing it from _Britain_ to
_England_), to have proceeded from, is _not_ the country of the
Anglo-Saxons. On the contrary, it is the country of a similar but different
section of the Germanic population, a section which has not received the
attention from the English historian which it deserves. The country in
question is the area of--

s. 18. _The Frisians._--At the present moment the language of the Dutch
province of Friesland is materially different from that of the other parts
of the kingdom of Holland. In other words it is not Dutch. Neither is it
German--although, of course, it resembles both languages. On the other
hand, it is more like the English than any other language or dialect in
Germany is.

It is a language of considerable antiquity, and although at present it is
spoken by the country-people only, it possesses a considerable literature.
There is the _Middle_ Frisian of Gysbert Japicx,[17] and the _Old_ Frisian
of the Frisian Laws.[18] The older the specimen of the Frisian language
the more closely does it show its affinity to the English; hence the
earliest Frisian and the Anglo-Saxon are exceedingly alike. Nevertheless
they differ.

s. 19. The Frisian was once spoken over a far greater area than at present.
It was the original language of almost all Holland. It was the language of
East Friesland to a late period. It was, probably, the language of the
ancient Chauci. At the present time (besides Friesland) it survives in
Heligoland, in the islands between the Ems and Weser, in part of Sleswick,
and in a few localities in Oldenburg and Westphalia.

Hence it is probable that the original Frisian, extending to an uncertain
and irregular distance inland, lay between the Saxons and the sea, and
stretched from the Zuyder Zee to the Elbe; a fact which would leave to the
latter nation the lower Elbe and the Weser as their water-system: the
extent to which they were in direct contact with the ocean being less than
we are prepared to expect from their subsequent history.

On the other hand the _a priori_ probabilities of there being Frisians as
well as Anglo-Saxons amongst the conquerors of Great Britain are
considerable.--See ss. 55, 56.

s. 20. The Anglo-Saxon area coincided--

1. _Politically._--With the kingdom of Hanover, the duchy of Oldenburg, and
parts of Westphalia and Holstein.

2. _Physically._--With the basin of the Wese