"A noble soul is like a ship at sea,

That rides at anchor when the ocean's calm;
But when it rages and the wind blows high,
She cuts her way with skill and majesty."

Alfred

gets into the Danish

camp.

So says an old poet, and so it was with Alfred. King He was always watching the Danes, and trying to find out their weakness. Once he disguised himself as a harper, and so got into the Danish camp. He found the Danes thought he was conquered, and that therefore they were eating and drinking and living a careless life of wild revelry. So Alfred issued from his hiding place, and his people flocked to his standard. Suddenly he fell upon the Danes, defeated them, and forced them to beg for peace. Guthrum was their leader, and one of the conditions of peace on which Alfred insisted was, that Guthrum should become a Christian. To this Guthrum agreed, and he remained a faithful friend of King Alfred till he died. England now remained quiet for the remainder of Alfred's life, and he was able, therefore, to give himself up entirely to the improvement of his country and his country's laws. He died in the year 901, King leaving his throne to his son.

The Danes ravage England.

The Danes still occupied a great part of England, and during the reigns of Alfred's successors fresh swarms kept coming over. For the next hundred years, during the reigns of Alfred's son Edward the Elder, of his grandsons Athelstan, Edmund the First, and Edred, of Edwy and Edgar sons of Edmund the First, of Edward the Martyr and Ethelred the Unready sons of Edgar, and of Edmund Ironside son

Alfred's death,

A. D. 901.

The Danes
become the

terror
of the
country.

Dane-gelt.

Ravages of the Danes.

of Ethelred the Unready, the history is little more than a record of contests with the Danes.

For about three centuries the Danes were the terror of the country. They generally anchored their ships at the mouths of rivers, or lay under the islands on the coasts. Thence they sailed up the rivers into the interior of the country, where they often mounted on horseback and rode with wonderful speed from one place to another. Their progress was marked by the burning of churches and convents, castles and towns; and great multitudes of people were either killed or dragged away into slavery.

Not even the remote districts of Wales were free from these marauders. It is true that it was difficult for the Danes to force an entrance on the land side, and, in order to do so by sea, it was necessary to make

long and dangerous voyage round the long peninsula formed by Cornwall and Devonshire. But yet the Danes seem to have known Wales well, for they always called it Bretland, or the land of the Britons, to distinguish it from England.

In the reign of Ethelred a tax called Dane-gelt was imposed, for the purpose of paying the Danes money to leave the country; but, as a matter of course, the Danes took the money but did not leave the country.

In the old chronicles we constantly meet with such records as the following: "A. D. 991. This

year Ipswich was ravaged. And in that year it

was decreed that tribute, for the first time, should be given to the Danish men, on account of the terror which they caused to the sea coast; that was at first ten thousand pounds. This counsel first advised Archbishop Siric."-" A. D. 993. The Lincolnshire and Northumbrian coasts ravaged; Bamborough

Anlaf and Sweyn

taken by storm."-"A. D. 994.
from Norway attack London, but are repulsed, Sept.
8. They ravage Kent and the south coast; and at
last they took to themselves horses, and rode as far
as they would, doing unspeakable evil."-" A. D. 1006.
Then became the dread of the army so great, that no
man could think or discover how they could be driven
out of the land, or this land maintained against them;
for they had every shire in Wessex sadly marked,
by burning and by plundering. Then the King began
earnestly with his Witan (or wise men) to consider
what might seem most advisable to them all, so that
this land might be saved before it was entirely de-
stroyed. Then the King and his Witan decreed for
the behalf of the whole nation, though it was hateful
to them all, that they must needs pay tribute to the
army. Then the King sent to the army, and directed
it to be made known to them that he would that there
should be a truce between them, and that tribute
should be paid, and food given them. And then all
that they accepted, and then they were victualled
from throughout the English nation.”

The Danish Kings.

A. D. 1017 to A. D. 1071.

flies to

England.

At length Sweyn made himself master of Eng- Ethelred land, and, Ethelred having fled into Normandy, was Normandy crowned king of England. But, although Sweyn and Sweyn crowned thus became king, it is very clear that the English king of did not give up the struggle; and that they had allowed Sweyn to be crowned, rather because they had not sufficient confidence in Ethelred to support him heartily, than because they were beaten. For they sent over to Ethelred, and "declared that no lord were dearer to them than their

Ethelred called

natural lord, if he would rule them rightlier than he had done before. Then sent the King his son Edward hither with his messengers, and ordered them Normandy, to greet all his people; and said that he would be to

back from

them a loving lord, and amend all those things which they all abhorred, and each of those things should be forgiven which had been done or said to him, on condition that they all, with one consent, would be obedient to him without deceit. And then they established free friendship, by word and by pledge, on either half, and declared every Danish king an outlaw from England for ever. Then, during Lent, King Ethelred came home to his own people, and he was gladly received by them all."

On his arrival he attacked the Danes, and compelled Canute, the son of Sweyn, to retire to his ships. But Canute soon subdued Wessex, and then passed into Mercia. Ethelred gathered together a force to oppose them; but fearing treachery he retired to London, and his troops dispersed. Canute next made himself master of Northumbria, and then returned to Wessex, and prepared to attack London. But at this time Ethelred died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Edmund Ironside.

After many fierce contests with Canute, Edmund found himself obliged to divide his kingdom with him, after which he soon died. Canute now became King of England, and secured his throne by marrying Emma, the widow of Ethelred. There were only four Danish kings of England, viz: Sweyn, Canute, and his two sons, Harold, called Harefoot from his swiftness, and his brother Hardicanute. Canute seems to have governed England well. He improved the laws, he restored order and tranquillity to the

kingdom, and he endeavoured to put an end to the ancient enmities between the Danes and AngloSaxons. His successors, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute, greatly oppressed the Anglo-Saxons.

The English People and Language spring mainly

from the Anglo-Saxon Race.

English

mainly

Anglo

The downfall of the Anglo-Saxon race, as Kings The of England, began with the crowning of Sweyn. people But, though the Anglo-Saxons did not henceforth spring reign over England, except for a short period, yet from the we know, from the number of Anglo-Saxon words Saxons. in our language, as well as from other reasons, that the Saxons had so completely settled themselves over all the country, and mixed so completely with the ancient inhabitants that, as I have before said, the Anglo-Saxons must be considered as the race from which we, mainly, have sprung. We English are a mixed race. There were first, as I have told you, the Celts, then the Belgians or Gauls, then the Romans, then the Saxons, then the Danes, and last of all, as you will soon hear, the Normans. But although we are thus a mixed race, we know, as I have before said, from our language, that the Saxons mixed with us more than any other races. They were, as an eloquent writer says, "The founders of our laws and liberties, whose language we speak, in whose homes we dwell, and in whose establishments and institutions we justly glory."

*

In illustration of the derivation of our language Many English from the Anglo-Saxon, I may mention, that out of the words sixty-nine words which make up the Lord's Prayer, the Anglo

* Sir James Mackintosh.

come from

Saxons.