Before the Conquest; or, English worthies in the old English period. With illustrations by F. Barnard

Front matter

ENGLISH WORTHIES. MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. From the leafy depths of the sorest a dwarf emerged, "who undertook to guide his prince to a place where he might obtain rest and refreshment." — Before the Conquest, rage 113. (Frontispiece.) Before the Conquest OR, ENGLISH WORTHIES IN THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD. BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS, AUTHOR OF ' THE CIRCLE OF THE YEAR,' ' SWORD AND PEN,' ' BURIED CITIES OF CAMPANIA,' ETC. ' Multi Jortes vixere ante Agamemnona. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BT P. BARNARD EDINBURGH : WILLIAM P. NIMMO. 1870. In history, all that belongs to the individual is exhibited in subordinate relation to the commonwealth ; in biography, the acts and accidents of the commonwealth are considered in their relation to the individual, as influences by which his character is formed or modified, as circumstances amid which he is placed, as the sphere in which he moves, or the materials he works with.

The man with his works, his words, his affections, his fortunes, is the end and aim of all. He does not, indeed, as in a panegyric, stand alone like a statue ; but like the central figure of a picture, around which others are grouped in due subordination and perspective, the general circumstances of his times forming the back and foreground. In history, the man, like the earth on the Copernican hypothesis, is part of a system ; in biography, he is, like the earth in the ancient cosmogony, the centre and final cause of the system. HARTLEY COLERIDGE.

Preface

HE present volume is the first of a series, in which it will be the writer's design to illustrate certain important periods of English history, by the assistance of English biography ; in other words, to assist the young student in obtaining a closer acquaintance with the great events of his country's annals, by showing him what manner of men were they who had the chief part in bringing them about. Of the reign of Henry n., for in stance, and the influence it exercised on the current of our history, no reader can obtain an accurate idea, unless he knows the character and life of Thomas a Becket. As little can he understand the reign of Henry in., without a full ap preciation of the genius and policy of Simon de Montfort. These worthies, however, in the historical works usually acces sible to the young, and even to the general reader, are but mere names — voces, et preterea nihil.

They pass across the crowded stage like shadows, and their actual lineaments are never realized. The writer therefore hopes that a series of volumes, in which their lives shall be told with some degree of fulness, especially in their connection with English history, will prove acceptable, and be regarded as no unfitting introduction to works of a more elaborate character. CONTENTS

Chapter I

Birth and Birthplace of Dunstan — His Early Years — Character of his Genius — Struggle between Love and Ambition — Brain Fever — The Married Clergy — A Revolution contemplated — Dunstan's share in it — Becomes Abbot of Glastonbury — Is called to Court,

Chapter II

Accession of Eadred — His Character — Dunstan's Influence — A Legend — Accession of Eadwig — Scene at his Coronation — Banishment of Dunstan — His Recall — Accession of Eadgar — Dunstan as a Statesman — His Policy — What he accomplished — Eadgar's Vices — A Penance — The Story of Ælfrida,

Chapter III

Æthelred the Unready — A Shameful Reign — Writings of Dunstan — His Canons of Canterbury — His Death — His Burial— His Tomb re-opened by Archbishop Warham, .... CONTENTS. XIII PAGE 129 139 159

Book III. Harold, The

' LAST OF THE SAXON KINGS.' A.D. 1023 (?)-io66. CHRONOLOGICAL LANDMARKS. From the Death of Dunstan to the Accession of Eadward the Confessor, ........

Chapter I

His early Years and Parentage — A Portrait — His first Appearance on the historic Stage — Becomes Earl of the East Angles — His Brother Swegen — An atrocious Act — Harold's Influence — The Normans in England — Eustace of Bretagne — The Affray at Dover ■ — King Eadward's Anger — Godwine refuses to interfere — He is charged with Rebellion, and, through Norman influence, he and his Sons are banished — Temporary Downfall of the House of Godwine, .

Chapter II

William the Norman visits the English Court — Eadward's Promise — Gradual Rise of a Patriotic Spirit — Harold raises an Army in Ireland, and crosses to England — Godwine raises a Fleet — Harold and Godwine sail up the Thames, and are warmly welcomed by their Countrymen — King Eadward is forced to submit — A great Witan is held — Godwine and his Sons restored to their Estates — Exodus of the Normans — Death of Godwine — The Truth and the Fiction — Godwine's Character — Harold becomes Earl of the West Saxons — He repels a Welsh Invasion, ....

Chapter III

Death of the Ætheling Eadward — Harold recognised as future King — Magnificent Position of the House of Godwine — Ancestry of God- CONTENTS. XIV PAGE 176 190 2'3 225 231 wine — Harold's Pilgrimage to Rome — He founds the Minster at Waltham — Invasion of the Welsh under Gruffydd — Harold's great Campaign — Death of Gruffydd, and Subjugation of the Welsh — The Northumbrian Revolt against Earl Tostig — It is put down through Harold's prudent Policy — Eadward's Illness — His last Hours — His prophetic Visions — Nominates Harold as his Suc cessor — His Death and Burial — His Character, .

Chapter IV

Election of Harold as King — An Episode in his Life — His Visit to Normandy — How he was received by Duke William — A Crafty Plot — Harold's Oath and the Sacred Relics — Harold's Coronation — His Popularity — How the Tidings were received in Normandy — A Striking Scene — William and his Barons — Preparations for the Invasion of England, ......

Chapter I

The Battle of Senlac, or Hastings — The Morning of Battle — Speeches of William and Harold — The Norman Charge — Repulse by the English — Deeds of Valour — William's Stratagem — Harold's Death — Disorder of the English — The Battle Lost and Won, .

Chapter III

Night on the Field — Harold's Character considered — Search for his Body — Its Interment at Hastings — Removal to Waltham Abbey — Harold and Edward the First, ....

Book V. Stigand, Archbishop Of Canterbury

A.D. 1013 (?)-I070. Stigand's early Career — King Eadward's Court — Stigand promoted to the See of Winchester — Is elevated to the Primacy — Consecration of Westminster Abbey — Death of Eadward — Coronation of Harold — Coronation of William — Stigand's Policy — Visits Normandy in the Conqueror's Train — Retires into Scotland — The Camp of Refuge — Stigand made prisoner and deposed— His Death — His Character, ....... CONTENTS. XVI NOTES. PAGE Death of Earl Godwine, ...... 328 The Seven Sleepers, ...... 332 Death of King Eadward, ...... 334

Appendix

. I. Table of Contemporary Sovereigns, for the Reigns of William I. , William II., Stephen, and Henry I., . . . 34- II. Chronological Landmarks, from the Battle of Hastings to the Rise of Thomas a Becket, ..... Œngltsf) »ottf)t£S.

Book I

— ÆLFRED THE GREAT. ' Truth-teller was our English Alfred named. ' Tennyson. ' The pious Ælfred, king to justice dear ! Lord of the harp and liberating spear, Mirror of princes ! indigent renown Might range the starry ether for a crown Equal to his deserts, who, like the year, Pours forth his bounty, — like the day doth cheer, — And awes, like night, with mercy-tempered frown. ' Wordsworth. A FROM THE ROMAN INVASION TO THE ACCESSION OF ÆLFRED THE GREAT. B.C. 55. First invasion of Britain by Julius Cæsar. He lands near Deal. B.C. 54. Second invasion of Cæsar, who defeats Cassivellaunus. A. D. 43. Renewal of the Roman projects of conquest under Aulus Plautius and Vespasian. Arrival of the Emperor Claudius. A.D. 52. Heroic but fruitless struggle of Caractacus, who is captured and sent to Rome.

A.D. 61. Suetonius Paulinus captures Anglesey. Insurrection of the Britons under Boadicea. Roman London destroyed. Victory of Suetonius, and death of Boadicea. A.D. 78. Agricola made governor of Britain. He pushes the Roman conquests to the Frith of Forth, and divides Roman Britain into six departments. A.D. 120. The Emperor Hadrian visits Britain, and builds a wall from the Tyne to the Solway Frith. A.D. 208. Visit of the Emperor Severus, who builds a new rampart along the line of Hadrian's wall. A.D. 211. Severus dies at York (Eboracum). A.D. 281. First appearance in British history of the 'Saxons' or Northmen. A. D. 286. Carausius, a Roman general, assumes the sovereignty of Britain, and builds a fleet. Is assassinated, in 292, by his confi dential minister, Allectus, who reigns for three years, until defeated by the Cæsar, Constantius Chlorus.

A. D. 297-306. Constantius makes York his capital. a.d. 303-305. Persecution of the Christians. Martyrdom of St. Alban. 306. Constantine the Great acknowledged emperor at York. A.D. A.D. A.D. A.D. 363. The Picts ravage Northern Britain. 368. The Picts driven out of England by Theodosius. 400-408. Intestine troubles, and election of successive ' emperors, ' — Marcus, Gratian, Constantine. 410. The Emperor Honorius renounces the allegiance of Britain. A.D. A.D. 411. The Northern immigration, which has already continued for many years, now assumes a marked prominence. 450. The Northmen spread themselves all over England, partly by conquest, and partly by colonization. They are formed into various independent kingdoms (erroneously called the ' Heptarchy'), Cornwall being still held by the Britons or Romanized Celts, as well as North and South Wales, Cumbria, and Strathclyde.

These, at a later date, also fall under the sway of the Northmen. ' There is every reason to believe that the Celtic inhabitants of those parts of Britain which had become English at the end of the sixth century, had been as nearly extirpated as a nation can be. ' The women, however, were largely spared, and became the wives of the Teutonic conquerors. A.D, A.D, 449. The earliest permanent Teutonic settlement in Britain was the Jutish kingdom of Kent. The Jutes also formed a small principality out of the Isle of Wight and part of Hampshire (530). 477. The South Saxon kingdom (Sussex) sounded by Ælla. A.D. A.D. A.D. 526. The East Saxon (Essex) founded. 519. The West Saxon (Wessex) founded by Cerdic ; like Aaron's rod, it swallowed up all the others. 571. East Anglia founded by Offa. A.D. A.D, A.D. 547.

Northumbria founded by Ida. 584. Mercia (the march or border-land against the Welsh) founded by the junction of several small states. A.D, 590. Occasionally the sovereign of one of these kingdoms obtained a decided supremacy, and was recognised as Bretwalda. A.D. 597- Kent, under its sovereign Æthelbehrt, embraces Christianity, which is preached by Augustine. 681. All Britain Christian, Sussex being the last state to be received into the fold of the church. A.D. 577-5S4. Ceawlin, the West Saxon Bretwalda, enlarges his kingdom. A.D. A.D. 652. From this date the progress of West Saxon conquest becomes continuous. ' Step by step the English frontier advanced from the Axe to the Parret, from the Parret to the Tamar. Taunton at one stage, Exeter at another, were border for tresses against the Welsh enemy.

Step by step the old Cornish kingdom shrank up before the conquerors, till at last no portion of land north of the Bristol Channel was subject to a British sovereign. ' A.D. 577-823. Rivalry between Mercia, Northumberland, and Wessex. The most flourishing period of Mercia appears to have extended from 716 to 819, under its three great kings, Æthelbald, Offa, and Cenwulf. The permanent supremacy of Wessex was secured by Ecgbehrt, who became king A.D. 823. in 823, and assumed the style of King of the English. ' In a reign of thirty-six years he reduced all the English king doms to a greater or lesser degree of subjection. ' He was undoubtedly the founder of English unity ; for, though Mercia retained her kings for another half-century, yet ' they now received their crown at the hands of the West Saxon over-lord.' A.D. 787.

The incursions of the second migration of Northmen or Danes begin. They proved so successful, because England at this time had no maritime force, and her inhabitants displayed no partiality for maritime pursuits.1 A.D. 835. Battle of Hengestesdun, in Cornwall, in which Ecgbehrt defeats the Northmen and revolted Welsh. A.D. 836. On the death of Ecgbehrt, his son Æthelwulf succeeds to the throne. a.d. 855. The Northmen for the first time winter in the Isle of Sheppey. A.D. 867. Northumberland conquered by the Danes. a-.d. 868. Mercia invaded. They seize Nottingham. A.D. 870. East Anglia conquered. A.D. 871. Wessex first invaded in the reign of Æthelred. A.D. 871. In this year begins the reign of Ælfred the Great. 1 Mr. Freeman distinguishes three periods of Danish invasion : the first, of simple plunder (787-855) ; the second, of settlement (855-897) ; the third, of political conquest (980-1015).

Eventually the Danes became absorbed in the Teutonic population. chronology of ælfred's reign. A.D. 872. After a series of great battles, peace is made with the Northmen. A.D. S78. Second invasion of Wessex. Ælfred flies for concealment to the marshes of Somersetshire. A.D. 878-880. Having recruited his army, Ælfred attacks the Danes, and concludes the peace of Widmore. Guthrum and his followers embrace Christianity ; and Guthrum, under the name of Æthelstane, reigns in East Anglia. A.D. 887. Ælfred recovers London. A D. 8S6-873. Interval of peace. Ælfred promotes the education of his subjects, codifies the laws, removes unjust judges, builds a fleet, and re-organizes the kingdom. A.D. 893-897. Later Danish wars. Ælfred, after five years of struggle, restores peace. A.D. 901. Death of Ælfred.1 CONTEMPORARIES OF ÆLFRED THE GREAT.

Emperor of the East, . Leo the Philosopher (886-911). Emperors of the West, . Charles the Bold (840-877) ; Louis the Stammerer (877-879) ; Louis III., and Carloman (878-884) ; Charles the Fat (884-887) ; Arnold (887-899); Louis iy. (897-911). Kings of France, . Eudes, Count of Paris (SS7-89S) ; Charles the Simple (89S-923). 1 ' Opening with the great days of Charlemagne, it is right that the ninth century should close with the far more glorious days of Ælfred, the patriot and sage, — a century illuminated at its two extremes, but in its middle period dark with disunion and ignorance, and not unlikely, unless controlled to higher uses, to give birth to a state of more hopeless bar barism than that from which the nations of Europe had so recently emerged.'— Rev. James White, The Eighteen Christian Centuries, p. 201.

BOOK I

ÆLFRED THE GREAT. A.D. 849-901.

Chapter I

Ælfred's Youth — His Accession to the Throne — Condition of England at this Period — The Danish Invasions — Athelney — Ælfred's Reappeaiance — Victory over the Northmen. E are about to tell the story of the life and reign of Ælfred, or Alfred, not unjustly surnamed the Great j — of him who first made England an actual living nation j who first created an English literature ; who laid the foundation of English naval power ; and who was not less eminent for his virtues as a man, than for his high qualities as a king. It has been his singular good fortune to have extorted the laudations of historians of widely different views ; and those writers who have laboured to clear away the mists enveloping our earlier annals, whatever may have been their divergence on other points, and however great the devotion of each to his own peculiar theory, have all united in a tribute of praise to this remarkable monarch.

It will be worth our while, be- ENGLfSH WORTHIES. 8 fore entering on the narrative of his career, to compare these panegyrical opinions, and to gather from them some idea of the man around whom they have accreted. We shall then have an opportunity of determining whether, in the formation of such opinions, any prejudices and prepossessions have had a part ; how far, in fact, the Man and the King deserved the homage of his eulogists. Turning to our latest and our best authority on early English history,1 we find Mr. Freeman warmly characterizing Ælfred as a saint without superstition, a scholar without osten tation, a warrior all whose wars were fought in the defence of his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never stained by cruelty, a prince never cast down by adversity, — never lifted up to insolence in the day of triumph.

He asserts that no other name is comparable to his. Saint Lewis of France — he who perished in an unprofitable crusade against the Saracens at a time when his own kingdom urgently needed his presence and active government — seems to have resem bled him in the union of a more than monastic piety with the highest civil, military, and domestic virtues. But Ælfred rightly attended to the sphere of duty which lay around him, and forbore from wasting his own or his country's strength on Quixotic expeditions to Egypt or Tunis. With an inquiring spirit, says Mr. Freeman, which embraced the whole world, for purposes alike of scientific inquiry and of Christian benevo lence, he never forgot that his first duty was to the people over whom he ruled. With a mind in advance of his age, he sent out fleets to explore the Northern Ocean, and he despatched alms to the distant churches of India, but not until he had 1 E. A. Freeman, History of the Norman Conquest, pp. 51-55.

CHARACTER OF ÆLFRED. 9 secured peace in his kingdom, and established the common weal on a safe foundation. The virtue of Ælfred, continues our authority, consisted in no marvellous displays of superhuman genius, but in the simple, straightforward discharge of the duty of the hour. — A great poet of our own time, we may add, has, with true poetic insight, recognised in him this distinguishing quality, and associated him in the same record with a later English hero of like character.1 ' Not once or twice in our fair island story, The path of duty was the way to glory. . . . Truth-teller was our England's Alfred named.' — Mr. Freeman, in this respect, compares him with the Ameri can Washington ; but Washington, though illustrious as soldier, statesman, and patriot, was not, like Ælfred, a saint and a scholar.

William of Nassau, surnamed William the Silent, was equally great as the saviour of a people, but he possessed no literary merits, and 'in his career, glorious as it is, there is an element of intrigue and chicanery, utterly alien to the noble simplicity of both Ælfred and Washington.' A similar union of devoutness and learning, combined with the highest gifts of the warrior and the statesman, is found in Charles the Great ; but the glory of the western emperor is not so pure as that of Ælfred. Amidst all the splendours of conquest and legislation, we cannot be blind, as Mr. Freeman remarks, to an alloy of personal ambition, of personal vice, to occasional unjust aggressions, and occasional acts of cruelty. Among our later English sovereigns, the only one who can bear comparison with Ælfred is Edward the First.

The great 1 Tennyson, Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington, p. 147. ENGLfSH WORTHIES. 10 Plantagenet was superior as a legislator and a soldier, but not his equal in manly virtues, in purity, simplicity, and honour. Ælfred, therefore, remains ' a singular instance of a prince who has become a hero of romance, who, as such, has had countless imaginary exploits and imaginary institutions attributed to him, but to whose character romance has done no more than justice, and who appears in exactly the same light in history and in fable.' We turn to Professor Pearson,1 and find him describing our hero as ' the typical English king.' Of Ælfred's political capacity, he says, there can be no doubt. Wielding only the resources of a third of the kingdom, he contended against the most powerful foe then known to the nations of Europe, exacted honourable peace, and literally enlarged his dominions by Mercia, which had been free rather than dependent under his brothers, and under him became dependent rather than free.

To him especially belongs the credit of having first recognised the fact that the best defence of an island is the water surrounding it ; and his establishment of a national navy is in itself a sufficient proof of his statesman-like sagacity. His zeal for learning is justly particularized as one of his most honourable titles to remembrance. He was not only himself an author, but he encouraged scholars and teachers with a wise liberality, founded schools, and stimulated a love of scholarship. In days, — says Pearson, speaking of the great king's private virtues, — in days when charity had grown cold, and when religion no longer restrained the powerful, their king was the one man to whom the needy could apply for support, and the 1 Professor Pearson, Early and Middle Ages of England, pp. 118-122.

ÆLFRED AS AN ADMINISTRATOR. 11 injured for redress. His shrewd sense was the terror of evil doers; and though the sternness of his early years was tem pered, as he grew older, by courtesy, his wish to conciliate never so far prevailed as to make him swerve from the truth. ' In one or two minor points,' continues Mr. Pearson, ' we may have a curious resemblance between the views of Ælfred and those of later English society. His character was of that striking conservative type which bases itself upon old facts, but accepts new facts as a reason for change. Recognising slavery, he was yet careful in his will to provide for the liberty of his old servants. It is in his laws that we first find the principle of entail maintained ; and in his will he declares his intention of following his grandfather's example, and leaving his lands on the spear-side.

His laws confirmed the authority of the noble as well as that of the king. That he opened the ranks to the ceorl who enriched himself, or to the merchant who had made three voyages, proves indeed that his love of order was not the narrow and senseless love of caste, but does not weaken the presumption that he was aristocratic in his sympathies. The watchwords of modern democracy would have sounded strangely in his ears.1 Some regard him as a Protestant before Luther. It is the fondest of speculations to discover such absolute tendencies in Ælfred. It is possible that a more original thinker might, if called upon to legislate, have anticipated the modes of thought that are common in our own days; but it is at least doubtful whether such high speculative talent could have been combined with the tact, the statesmanship, and the success of Ælfred.' 1 Surely this is only equivalent to saying that Ælfred did not live in the nineteenth century.

Democracy was simply impossible under the con ditions that prevailed in Ælfred's time. Sir Francis Palgrave,1 after enumerating those virtues of the great king which all his biographers agree to recognise, is yet inclined to believe that he did not approach to that ideal perfection sometimes portrayed by his panegyrists. Certainly he began with good intentions, but he did not always bear them in mind (which is only saying that, after all, he was human) ; and during the first portion of his reign he was proud, tyrannical, and almost as much hated as he was afterwards beloved.2 Still he preserved within him the only germ of real improvement, the consciousness of his own entire insufficiency; and the same tendency which, before he yielded to the temptations of authority, had rendered him unwilling to accept the throne, enabled him afterwards to reform from his errors.

Yet, after every allowance has been made for such of Ælfred's faults as may be discovered in the accounts which we possess, and still greater deductions for the faults and sins of which the memory has been buried with him, we are justified in asserting that he affords a brighter model for the character of a good king than can be found in any other age or realm. He really and truly sought wisdom from her only source, and employed her various gifts in assisting him to discharge with strict conscientiousness the duties of his high and difficult position. As a legislator, he was guided by three main principles : the first, a tolerant (and, let us add, a truly English) endurance of institutions, not theoretically perfect, but incapable of alteration without the risk of greater evil ; the second, an incessant endeavour to supply any defi ciency in the theory of his laws, by the prompt and equitable 1 Sir F. Palgrave, History of England — Anglo-Saxon Period, pp. 186-192. * It is presumption to differ from so great an authority, but we must con fess that for this sweeping assertion we can find no foundation.

A CHRISTIAN LA W-MAKER. 13 administration of them in practice ; — instead of introducing new machinery, he addressed himself to the task of making the old work well by constant care and watchfulness ; — and, third, he earnestly and unremittingly sought to introduce the true spirit of the divine law into the secular legislation of his kingdom. ' We commonly say,' continues Palgrave, ' that Christianity is a part of the law of the land. Ælfred had a clearer per ception of the part which religion ought to perform in a Christian commonwealth. He would have wished to render Christianity the law itself. The necessity for any human law exists simply and solely in proportion to our neglect of the divine law ; and if we were enabled to write that law in our hearts, nothing whatever would be left for human legislation to perform.' Lastly, we shall borrow the sketch of Ælfred's character furnished by Sir Edward Creasy.1 History, he says, has justly associated with his name the epithet of ' The Great ;' and many are the other phrases of affection and admiration with which he is spoken of in his country's annals.

Perhaps the title most grateful to a spirit so pure, so fearless, so averse from all fraud and meanness, must have been that which we find used by one of his biographers,—the title of ' Ælfred the Truth-teller.' Some of the old writers, he adds, mention blemishes in Ælfred's character during the early part of his reign, which may in part account for the national want of zeal in his behalf at his season of peril. He is said to have shown haughtiness and impatience, when suitors for justice and petitioners for redress of grievances approached him. The vehemence of 1 Sir E. Creasy, History of England, pp. 141-150. disposition which gained for him in the Saxon camps, while a mere lad, the surname of the ' wild boar of the battle,' and which made him in the chase the keenest and most daring of hunters, may, before experience and sorrow taught him self control, have made him hasty in demeanour, and petulantly negligent of the dull routine of official duty.

But even if we should adopt all that is asserted by old, and insinuated by some modern, writers, against the character of Ælfred in his youth, we should find the greater reason to admire him when we take him for all in all, and review the whole, instead of an exceptional part, of his career. If such tales show that Ælfred had strong passions to subdue, they also show that he did subdue them. For it is beyond all doubt, that in his man hood he was pure, and gentle, and enduring ; and that he preserved a noble equanimity of soul amidst the frequent attacks of agonizing and debilitating physical disease. These estimates, by different but competent and discrimi native critics, should furnish the reader with a tolerably full and accurate conception of the character of Ælfred the Great. They are mainly founded upon facts — facts which no one can dispute, and which are happily free from any legendary or mythical surrounding ; and they show us a man reaching almost to the ideal of humanity ; a king sensible of the im portance of his duties, and energetic in their due discharge ; a Christian with gentle tolerance for the views of others, but earnest and emphatic in acting upon his own.

High thoughts were his, ' And amiable words, And courtliness, and the desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes a man.' ÆLFRED AS MAN AND KING. 15 Like Tennyson's Arthur, he seems to have charged himself with a noble and sacred enterprise : ' To break the heathen and uphold the Christ, To ride abroad redressing human wrongs, To speak no slander, — no, nor listen to it, — To lead sweet lives in purest chastity.' ' His desire of knowledge was strong and keen, not only for himself, but for others, and he sought to elevate his subjects to the high standard he had himself attained. In adversity never desponding, in prosperity he was never rash. Obstacles could not daunt, and successes were unable to elate him. His mind was so well balanced that it spontaneously threw off the faults of youth ; and though he was of an ardent and daring disposition, he could bide his time with a heroical patience.

Incapable of envy, he generously rewarded merit ; of a tender though resolute heart, he felt an active compassion for the widow and the fatherless. Though his genius was eminently progressive, he made no changes for the mere sake of change, but, availing himself of the machinery at his hands, so improved it by gradual modification as to adapt it for the fit performance of the work it had to do. Naturally endowed with æsthetic tastes, he nevertheless shrank from a regal splendour which might have oppressed his subjects, and in all things displayed the moderation of a noble and self-restrained nature. His military talents fitted him to shine in war, but he cultivated peace, because peace was needful for the prosperity of his kingdom. Tortured by an agonizing malady, he endured its paroxysms with composure, and never suffered them to impede him in the performance of the task he had undertaken.