containing the present county of Northumberland, and the bishoprick of Durham; the subjects of the other, called Dei'ri, extending themselves over Lancashire and Yorkshire. 4. These kingdoms were united in the person of Ethelred, king of Northumberland, by the expulsion of Edwin, his brother-in-law, from the kingdom of the Deiri, and the seizure of his dominions. In this manner, the natives being overpowered, or entirely expelled, seven kingdoms were established in Britain, which have since been well known by the name of the Saxon Heptarchy.

5. The Saxons being thus well established in all the desirable parts of the island, and having no longer the Britons to contend with, began to quarrel among themselves. A country divided into a number of petty independent principalities, must ever be subject to contention, as jealousy and ambition have more frequent incentives to operate. 6. After a series, therefore, of battles, treasons, and stratagems, all their petty principalities fell under the power of Egbert, king of Wessex, whose merits deserved dominion, and whose prudence secured his conquests. By him all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy were united under one common jurisdiction; but, to give splendour to his authority, a general council of the clergy and laity was summoned at Winchester, where he was solemnly crowned king of England, by which name the united kingdom was thenceforward called.

7. Thus, about four hundred years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain, all the petty settlements were united into one great state, and nothing offered but prospects of peace, security, and increasing refinement.

It was about this period that St. Gregory undertook to send missionaries among the Saxons, to convert them to Christianity. 8. It is said, that, before his elevation to the papal chair, he chanced one day to pass through the slave-market at Rome, and perceiving some children of great beauty, who were set up for sale, he inquired about their country, and finding they were English Pagans, he is said to have cried out in the Latin language, Non Angli, sed Angeli, forent, si essent Christiani. "They would not be English, but angels, had they been Christians 3."

3 Inquiring further the name of their province, he was answered Deiri, (a district of Northumberland ;) "Deiri," replied St. Gregory, "that is good: they are called to the mercy of God from his anger; that is, DE IRA." "But how is the king of that province named ?" He was told

9. From that time he was struck with an ardent desire to convert that unenlightened nation, and ordered a monk, named Augus'tine, and others of the same fraternity, to undertake the mission into Britain.

This pious monk, upon his first landing in the Isle of Thanet, sent one of his interpreters to Eth'elbert, the Kentish king, declaring he was come from Rome, with offers of eternal salvation. 10. The king immediately ordered them to be furnished with all necessaries, and even visited them, though without declaring himself as yet in their favour. Augus'tine, however, encouraged by this favourable reception, and now seeing a prospect of success, proceeded with redoubled zeal to preach the Gospel. 11. The king openly espoused the Christian. religion: while his example wrought so successfully on his subjects, that numbers of them came voluntarily to be baptized, the missionary loudly declaring against any coercive means towards their conversion. In this manner the other kingdoms, one after the other, embraced the faith: and England was soon as famous for its superstition, as it had once been for its averseness to Christianity *.

Questions for Examination.

1. Whence did adventurers continue to come?

What counties formed the fourth kingdom of the Saxons? 2. What counties did the fifth Saxon kingdom comprehend? 3. What was the sixth kingdom called?

What was the seventh kingdom? and how was it formed?

ELLA, or ALLA; "Alleluiah!" cried he, "we must endeavour that the praises of God be sung in this country."-Hume.

4 Bede, the ancient English historian, gives a particular account of their conversion in lib. 1, 2, 3, and 4, of his History. According to him, and other authentic historians, the kingdoms of the Heptarchy embraced Christianity in about the following order :

West Saxons, or Wessex. 519 1066 Winchester.

4. What was the general name given to the seven Saxon kingdoms? 5. What happened to the Saxons after the Britons were subdued? 6. Under whose power did all the petty principalities fall?

7. At about what period were missionaries sent among the Saxons, to convert them to Christianity?

8. What was the circumstance which occasioned the sending missionaries into Britain?

10. How were the missionaries received by the Saxon monarch? 11. What effect was produced by the king's example?

CHAPTER III.

THE INVASION OF THE DANES. From the End of the Heptarchy to the Reign of William the Conqueror.

SECTION I.

"The war-whoop echoes still our island round,
And, as the surge encroaching on the land

Gives note of mischief by terrific sound,

Like wave on wave, the robbers crowd to land.

The Danes! the Danes! the young and aged cry,

And mothers press their infants as they fly."-Dibdin.

1. Unanim'ity, 8. agreement in opinion. 3. Indiscrim'inately, ad. without disDepreda'tions, s. robberies, plundering.

2. Fero'city, s. savageness, fierceness, wildness.

tinction.

9. Lit'erature, s. learning, knowledge acquired from books.

1. (A.D. 832.) PEACE and unanimity had been scarcely established in England, when a mighty swarm of those nations called Danes and Northmen, subsequently corrupted into Normen or Normans, who had possessed the country bordering on the Baltic, began to level their fury against England. A small body of them at first landed on the coasts, with a view to learn the state of the country; and, having committed some depredations, fled to their ships for safety. 2. About seven years after this first attempt, they made a descent upon the kingdom of Northumberland, where they pillaged a monastery, but their fleet being shattered by a storm, they were defeated by the inhabitants and put to the sword. It was not till about five years after the accession of Egbert3, that their

'The Danes were inhabitants of Denmark, a kingdom in the north of Europe.

2 The Baltic is an inland sea in the north of Europe.

3 Egbert was the first sole monarch in England.

invasions became truly formidable. From that time they continued with unceasing ferocity, until the whole kingdom was reduced to a state of the most distressing bondage *.

3. Though often repulsed, they always obtained their end of spoiling the country, and carrying the plunder away. It was their method to avoid coming, if possible, to a general engagement; but, scattering themselves over the face of the country, they carried away, indiscriminately, as well the inhabitants themselves, as all their moveable possessions.

4. At length, however, they resolved upon making a settlement in the country; and, landing on the Isle of Thanet, stationed themselves there. In this place they kept their ground, notwithstanding a bloody victory gained over them by Eth'elwolf. The reign of Eth'elbald, his successor, was of no long continuance; however, in a short space, he crowded together a number of vices sufficient to render his name odious to posterity.

5. This prince was succeeded by his brother Eth'elred, a brave commander, but whose valour was insufficient to repress the Danish incursions. In these exploits he was always assisted by his younger brother, Alfred, afterwards surnamed the Great, who sacrificed all private resentment to the public good, having been deprived by the king of a large patrimony. 6. It was during Eth'elred's reign that the Danes, penetrating into Mercia, took up their winter quarters at Nottingham; from whence the king attempting to dislodge them, received a wound in the battle, of which he died, leaving his brother Alfred the inheritance of a kingdom that was now reduced to the brink of ruin.

7. The Danes had already subdued Northumberland and East Anglia, and had penetrated into the very heart of Wessex. The Mercians were united against Alfred; the dependance upon the other provinces of the empire was but precarious; the lands lay uncultivated, through fear of continual incursions; and all the churches and

4. Nothing could be more dreadful than the manner in which these fierce barbarians carried on their incursions; they spared neither age nor sex, and each commander urged the soldiers to inhumanity. One of their celebrated chieftains, named Oliver, gained, from his dislike to the favourite amusement of his soldiers, (that of tossing children on the points of their spears) the contemptuous surname of Burnakal, or Preserver of Children."

"The

monasteries were burnt to the ground. In this terrible situation of affairs, nothing appeared but objects of terror, and every hope was lost in despair. 8. The wisdom and virtues of one man alone were found sufficient to bring back happiness, security, and order; and all the calamities of the times found redress from Alfred.

9. This prince seemed born not only to defend his bleeding country, but even to adorn humanity. He had given very early instances of those great virtues which afterwards gave splendour to his reign; and was anointed by Pope Leo as future king, when he was sent by his father, for his education, to Rome. On his return from thence, he became every day more the object of his father's fond affections; and that perhaps was the reason why his education was at first neglected. He had attained the age of twenty before he was made acquainted with the lowest elements of literature; but hearing some Saxon poems read, which recounted the praise of heroes, his whole mind was roused, not only to obtain a similitude of glory, but also to be able to transmit that glory to posterity. 10. Encouraged by the queen his mother, and assisted by a penetrating genius, he soon learned to read these compositions, and proceeded from thence to a knowledge of Latin authors, who directed his taste, and rectified his ambition.

He was scarcely come to the throne when he was obliged to oppose the Danes, who had seized Wilton', and were exercising their usual ravages on the country around. 11. He marched against them with the few troops he could assemble on a sudden, and a desperate battle was fought, to the disadvantage of the English. But it was not in the power of misfortune to abate the king's diligence, though it repressed his power to do good. He was in a little time enabled to hazard another engagement; so that the enemy, dreading his courage and activity, proposed terms of peace, which he did not think proper to refuse. 12. They, by this treaty, agreed to relinquish the kingdom; but instead of complying with their engagements, they only removed from one place to another, burning and destroying wherever they came.

5 Wilton is the county town of Wiltshire, though Salisbury is now its principal place.