their want of discipline, led, very shortly afterwards, to their complete defeat.

With Alfred, the first result of victory, was clemency and benevolence. To Guthrun and his followers, now prostrate at his feet, he proffered not only mercy and forgiveness, but protection and territory, provided they would abandon Paganism, embrace Christianity, and be regulated by the laws of civilized Society.

To these terms Guthrun joyfully, and as the event proved, sincerely acceded; himself and thirty of his officers being immediately baptized in the presence of Alfred. Part of his army and his retinue were settled with their chief in east Anglia; Guthrun fixing on the scite of Hadleigh in Suffolk, as a central situation for his capital, or heard-liege. He reigned near eleven years, inviolably observing the laws and religion of Alfred, and preserving his own people within the strict bounds of peace and good order. No stronger proof indeed can be given of the integrity and fidelity of Guthrun than, that no sooner had he ceased to govern, than the Danes of east Anglia shewed signs of turbulence and disaffection, and took the earliest opportunity of cooperating with their countryman, Hastings, in his invasion of England in 893. An ancient gothic arch in the wall of Hadleigh church, marks the place where his remains were deposited. All history cannot furnish a more illustri

ous instance of the power of christian principles to restore fallen human nature, than the conversion of Guthrun the Dane.

Inscription for the tomb of Guthrun ;

"O! stay thee stranger; o'er this hallow'd ground
In solemn silence pause! Here sleeps the chief,
Whom royal Alfred, with a christian's zeal,
From deeds of savage slaughter, from the rites
Of Odin, bath'd in blood, and breathing war.
Turn'd to the living God.-Guthrun the Dane!
Here oft, repentant of the erring course
That stain'd his dawn of manhood, hath he bow'd
His head in meekness; with a pilgrim's faith
Abjur'd the idols of his native land;

Pray'd for redeeming grace; aud sighing deep,
Dropp'd the lone tear upon his Saviour's cross;
Then hence retiring with a patriot's care,
Ruled his brief realm, and kept his vow of peace.
ye, who 'midst the strife of battle, burn
With lust of fame or power! Say, have ye felt,
E'en in the glow of conquest, when the car
In triumph bore you o'er the tented field,
Felt ye a throb of joy so keenly sweet,
Such thrilling rapture as did Guthrun feel
When free from ruthless rage and thirst of blood,
The storm of vengeful passion lull'd to rest,
Here, prostrate at St. Mary's shrine, he felt
His heart within him yearning for his God.
Go stranger, if perchance to thee belong
The honour'd name of father, teach thy sons,
That not in deeds of rapine, or of spoil,
Power's forceful arm, or vict'ry's crimson steel,
Consists the virtue or the good of man;

That He, who bade them breathe and live, alone
Looks on the heart, alone vouchsafes to dwell
In that pure bosom, where, with peace reside
The sister forms of Piety and Love."

On the ascendancy of Alfred and the declension of the Danish power, Mercia was governed as a province by Ethelred, who married Ethelfleda, or Elfleda, the eldest daughter of his sovereign.

Ethelfleda was a woman of superior understanding, and extolled in the ancient Chronicles as the wisest lady in England: her brother Ed

ward governed his life, in its best actions, by her counsels. After she was married to the governor of Mercia, she built numerous cities. and castles, and on all occasions displayed a statesman's skill, and an amazonian activity. The difficulties and sufferings of her first parturition deterred her from the chance of a repetition; she protested that it did not become a king's daughter to pursue any pleasure, which was attended with such inconvenience.

In 912 Ethelfleda was a widow, but she continued to govern Mercia until her death in 920. Among the numerous fortresses which she erected to protect the Mercian territory in Shropshire and Herefordshire, were Wigmore, Bridgnorth, and Chirbury. This celebrated lady died at Tamworth, and was buried at Gloucester, by St. Peter's Porch; upon her tomb this Epitaph was written.—

"O Elfleda potens, o terror virgo virorum,
O Elfleda potens, nomine digna viri.
Te quoque splendidior fecit natura puellam,
Te probitas fecit nomen habere viri.
Te mutare decet sed solum nomina sexus,
Tu regina potens rexque trophea parans.
Jam nec Cæsareos tantum mirere triumphos,
Cæsare splendidior virgo, virago vale."

Translation:

"O Princess, dread of Cambria's hostile baud,
Elfleda, worthy of a manlier name;

A woman made by nature's liberal band,

But virtue gave thee more than manly fame.
Thou mighty queen whom kinglike trophies grace,
Still with thy sex thy fame will disagree;

Now we no more Cæsarean triumphs praise,
For Cesar, boasted conqueror, yields to thee."

In 983 Alfric occupied the dukedom of Mercia. Three years afterwards he was expelled the kingdom. In 992 he was intrusted, by Ethelred the unready, with the management of an expedition against the Danes, who had invaded the coasts. The expedition failed through his perfidy in joining the invaders; to revenge which, the king barbarously put out the eyes of his son Algar.

Edric, one of the favourites of Ethelred, was duke of Mercia in 1007. He was eloquent and crafty; excelling all men in perfidy and cruelty. When, in 1013, Canute the Dane called to his aid Eric the Jarl, one of the rulers of Norway, and one of the sons of Hakon the bad, Edric crowned the treasons of his life, by joining the invading enemy. In this warfare Mercia was plundered without mercy. This infamous noble was again restored to his dukedom by Canute in 1016, but imprudently boasting of his services, and his treasons to his former sovereign, Canute's anger arose, and he ordered his attendants to put him to death in his presence. In 1057 England lost Leofric, the duke of Mercia, by whose wisdom the reign of Edward the confessor, was preserved from many perils and disorders, which the ambition of others would have introduced his son Algar succeeded him.

The early part of the history of the conten

C

tions of the Britons and Saxons is so little diversified, that it is reviewed rather with disgust than complacency; it is a recital of reciprocal inroads and injuries, neither supplying a regular series of events to form a consistent history, nor affording scenes of sufficient interest to engage the imagination. Among the few exceptions to this general character of the rude and barbarous ages referred to, the æra of the renowned Arthur must not be forgotten; he was a prince formed by nature to inspire a nation with chivalrous and dignified sentiments, and incite to great and worthy actions; and the enthusiastic attachment of his countrymen is a proof of his worthiness. He is described as the most brave, the most witty, and the most liberal of all the british princes. When Uther expired, prefering death with glory to life with shame, and conquering even in his dying moments, Arthur was crowned king of Britain by Dubricious, Archbishop of Caerleon. The splendor of his court, his bravery and generosity, made him the idol of his country, and insured success against his enemies. His fame and his genius drew around him all the choice spirits of the age, and in all occurrences of importance and difficulty, he was aided in his councils, in the tower of heroes, by the advice of his attendant train of noblemen and knights.

In the ninth century, Judith, the sister of Al