Men of Invention and Industry

"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful, -this was the material patrimony which descended to the English race-an inheritance that would have been little worth but for the inestimable moral gift that accompanied it. Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans-from some or all of them-have come down with English nationality a talisman that could command sunshine, and plenty, and empire, and fame. The 'go' which they transmitted to us-the national vis-this it is which made the old Angle-land a glorious heritage. Of this we have had a portion above our brethren-good measure, running over. Through this our island-mother has stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe of the earth....Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would she be in Europe?"-Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870)