A. D. 1040.

treacherously set upon, by his orders, on the way. Six hundred of his train were murdered in the most cruel manner; he himself was taken prisoner; and his eyes being put out, he was conducted to the monaftery of Ely, where he died foon after. Edward and Emma, apprised of his fate, fled to the continent, and Harold, without refiftance, took poffeffion of the whole kingdom. He lived to enjoy the fruits of his treachery but four years; and dying, very little regretted by his fubjects, he left the fucceffion open to his brother.

HARDICNUTE's title was readily acknow ledged both by the Danes and the English + and, upon his arrival from the continent, he was received with the most extravagant demonftrations of joy. The ceremony of his coronation was scarce performed, when he gave the first fpecimen of the badness of his difpofition, in his impotent infults upon the body of his brother, which he ordered to be dug up, beheaded, and thrown into the Thames. When it was found fome time after by a fisherman, and buried, he ordered it to be again dug up, and to be thrown into the Thames a fecond time. His malice, however, was in the end ineffec tual; for it was again found, and buried with the greateft fecrecy. Hardicnute's next act of rigorous

rigorous fovereignty, was the impofition of a grievous tax, for the payment of his navy; which was the more intolerable, as the nation was threatened with a famine. In thefe acts of feverity, Godwin, duke of Weffex, who had beeen a vile instrument of treachery and oppreffion during the former reign, was affiftant now. However, his bafe compliances did not entirely fcreen him from the refentment of Emma, who had the strongest reafons to believe that he was inftrumental in the death of prince Alfred, her fon. At her instigation, therefore Alfric, archbishop of York, accused him of being an accomplice, and demanded juftice accordingly. Godwin found means to evade the danger, by appealing to the king's avarice, and not to the justice of his caufe. He prefented him with a magnificent galley, curioufly carved and gilded, rowed by fourfcore men, who wore each of them a gold bracelet on his arm, weighing fixteen ounces. The king, softened by this prefent, permitted him to purge himself by oath; and Godwin very readily fwore, that he had no hand in the death of Alfred. This king's violent and unjust government was but of fhort duration. He died two years after his acceffion, in confequence of excefs at the marriage of a Danish lord, which was celebrated at Lambeth. VOL. I.

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His

A. D.1041.

His death, far from being regretted by the English, became the fubject of their derifion, his anniversary being diftinguished by the name of Hock Holiday.

EDWARD, furnamed THE CONFESSOR, from his piety, had many rivals, whofe claims to the crown were rather more just than his own. The direct defcendants of the laft Saxon monarch were still in being, though at the remote distance of the kingdom of Hungary. Sweyn, the eldest son of Hardicnute, was still alive, but at that time engaged in wars in Norway. It required therefore the utmost diligence in Edward to fecure his claims, before either of these could come over to difpute his title. His own authority, though great in the kingdom, was not fufficient to expedite his affairs with the defired difpatch; he was therefore obliged to have recourse to Godwin, whose power was then very extenfive, to fecond his pretenfions. This nobleman, though long an enemy to his family, finding, upon the prefent occafion, that their interests were united, laid afide all former animofity, and concurred in fixing him upon the throne.

The English, who had long groaned under a foreign yoke, now fet no bounds to their joy, at finding the line of their ancient mo

narchs

narchs restored; and at firft the warmth of their raptures was attended with some violence against the Danes: but the new king, by the mildness of his character, foon composed thefe differences, and the diftinction between the two nations gradually difappeared. Thus, after a ftruggle of above two hundred years, all things feemed to remain in the same state in which thofe conflicts began. These invafions. from the Danes produced no new change of laws, customs, language, or religion; nor did any other traces of their establishments feem to remain, except the caftles they built, and the -families that ftill bear their names. No farther mention therefore is made of two diftinct nations, for the Normans coming in foon after, ferved to unite them into a clofer union.

The first acts of this monarch's reign bore the appearance of feverity, for he resumed all grants that had been made by the crown in former reigns; and he ordered his mother, Emma, who was ever intriguing against him, to be fhut up in a monaftery. As he had been bred in the Norman court, he fhewed, in every inftance, a predilection for the customs, laws, and even the natives of that country; and a mong the reft of his faults, though he had martied Editha, the daughter of Godwin, yet, either

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either from mistaken piety, or fixed averfion, during his whole reign, he abstained from her bed.

However these actions might be regarded by many of this king's fubjects, for they were all of a doubtful kind, certain it is, that Godwin, who was long grown much too powerful for a subject, made them the pretext of his oppofftion. He began by complaining of the influence of the Normans in the government, and his animofities foon broke out into action. Euftace, count of Boulogne, who had married Edward's fifter, arrived in England upon a vifit to the king, and was received with great honour and affection. Upon his return to Dover, having fent a fervant before him to befpeak lodgings in that city, a fray happened Between this domeftic and the townfinen, in which he loft his life. The count and his attendants attempting to take revenge, the inhabitants took arms, and both fides engaging with great fury, the count was obliged to find fafety by flight, after having loft about twenty of his men, and flain as many of the people. The count, exafperated at this infult, returned to the court, at Gloucester, and demanded juftice of the king, who very warmly efpoused his quarrel. He inftantly gave orders to Godwin,

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