to his former expedient of purchasing peace with money. The two kings then retired to Southampton ; and Olaus embracing Christianity, returned to Norway; and never more disturbed England. The payment of the money stipulated to pay the king of Denmark being delayed, that prince renewed the war; sailed up the Severn; and committed the most horrible ravages. The Danes were every where victorious; and the forces of the English were no sooner levied, than defeated, Ethelred seeing no other means of preservation than the payment of money, at last signed a treaty with the king of Denmark, by which he consented to give him 30,000l. This sum, which, in those days was very considerable, was levied by a tax upon land, called Danegelt, from which both the monks and the secular clergy found means to be exempted. In consequence of this agreement, part of the Danes returned home; but great numbers remained behind, and lived intermixed with the English.

This is the period on which historians fix for the relation of a general massacre of the Danes by Ethelred's orders, privately despatched to every part of the kingdom; a circumstance which has given rise to many disputes, and to a variety of incredible stories. It is, however, extremely probable, that a partial massacre was effected. Historians say, that Gunilda, sister of the king of Denmark, a lady of great virtue, who had embraced the Christian religion, and was married to a Danish nobleman domiciliated in England, was one of the victims of this sanguinary policy. It is said that she had at first been spared, and that, by Ethelred's special command, she and her children were massacred with the most horrible circumstances of cruelty.

This bloody tragedy, which was acted on the 13th of November, A. D. 1002, completed the guilt and the misfortunes of Ethelred. Swein, king of Denmark, on receiving intelligence of this horrid transaction, vowed that he would never rest till he had desolated England by fire and sword; and he made no delay in carrying his threats into execution. Having equipped a powerful fleet, he made his first landing in Cornwall, and proceeding to Exeter, put all the inhabitants to the sword, and reduced the town to ashes. The war was now

carried forward with the most implacable animosity; not for the sake of plunder, as formerly, but on a principle of extermination. All the kingdom, except London, was subdued. It would be both tedious and shocking to relate the horrible destruction of York, Lincoln, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Thetford, and in fine, of all the principal towns, with the inhuman butchery of their inhabitants. London, the only remaining possession of Ethelred, was several times attempted by the Danes, but they were always repulsed. This metropolis of England, being at that time surrounded with strong walls, both towards the land and the river, was, on all sides, completely fortified against the armies and fleets of the enemy. Ethelred, however, after having long remained shut up in his capital, apprehending that his subjects would at last deliver him up to the king of Denmark, withdrew privately from the city, with his family, and retired into Normandy. The Londoners, not thinking it prudent any longer to support the cause of a prince by whom they were abandoned, surrendered the city to Swein, and acknowledged him sole king of England. This monarch surviving his conquest but one year, Canute his son was proclaimed king by the Danes; but the English recalled Ethelred, and promised him their support. Canute, however, although at the head of that army which had already conquered England, suddenly evacuated the kingdom and returned to Denmark. The cause of this precipitate retreat was the revolt of his younger brother, who had been left regent of Denmark, during the absence of his father Swein; and on receiving intelligence of his death, had assumed the regal authority. Canute judged it imprudent to neglect his patrimonial inheritance for a country newly subdued, and every where ripe for defection. But after having secured the allegiance of his paternal kingdom, he returned the next year to England, and renewed the war. This again exhibited an uninterrupted series of successes on the side of the Danes, and of disasters on that of the English. Ethelred again shut himself up in the capital; while Canute, like his father, subdued city after city, and province after province. But his victories were not stained with the same degree of barbarity;

and the war was conducted on a principle of conquest, rather than of extermination. During its continuance, Ethelred died, at London, A. D. 1016, in the thirty-seventh year of a most disastrous reign.

In reviewing the misfortunes of this calamitous period, we hear of no other than some feeble and unsuccessful efforts of the English by sea; but, on the contrary, the Danes continually sailed from one part of the coast to another, and at different times ascended the Humber, the Thames, and the Severn, with scarcely any opposition from the English navy. From these circumstances, a judicious inquirer will be strongly inclined to believe, that the English navy was at this period very inconsiderable.

On the death of Ethelred, Edmund his son, surnamed Ironside, was proclaimed king by the English; while the Danes adhered to Canute. This prince regarding London as the grand support of Edmund, and the principal obstacle to his own success, resolved on its reduction; and ac-~ cordingly made a formidable effort for that purpose; but was repulsed. Considering this capital as the great object of the contest, he resolved, once more, to assault it by land and by water; but the progress of his ships up the Thames being impeded by the bridge, which appears to have been strongly fortified, he was obliged to have recourse to an extraordinary and immensely laborious expedient. This was no less than the cutting of a vast ditch from Rotherhithe, passing in a semicircular direction at a considerable distance from the Thames, and opening into that river opposite to the western extremity of the city. Having drawn his ships through this canal, the blockade of London was completed.* Notwithstanding this stupendous stratagem, the Danish king being constantly repulsed in all his assaults, was a second time compelled to raise the siege.

Edmund was not less remarkable for his activity and courage, than his father had been for his inertness and pusillanimity. He constantly met his enemies in the field, and carried on his military operations with extraordinary vigour. The

* Pennant's London, p. 281.

events of this war are very confusedly related by historians; but it appears that not fewer than five pitched battles were in one year fought, between the two rival kings, with various success. The two monarchs, at last, having collected their whole force were preparing for an engagement, which would in all probability have decided their fate, and that of the kingdom in one day; but Edmund proposed to the Danish king to trust the decision to a single combat, which Canute declining, a treaty was concluded, by which the kingdom was divided between them, with the reversion of the whole to the survivor. By this partition, all the country south of the Thames, with the city of London, and part of Essex, was assigned to Ed. mund, and the rest allotted to the share of Canute. Edmund did not long enjoy his peaceable sovereignty, being murdered in about a year, at the instigation of the traitor Edric, duke of Mercia.

Canute, in consequence of Edmund's death, convened an assembly of the nobles, and put in his claim to the government of the united monarchy, and although some did not willingly acknowledge, none durst openly dispute his right. The people had indeed too long, and too severely, smarted under the scourge of a destructive war, to have any great inclination to renew its calamities, for the sake of deciding who should be their master. The children of Edmund were therefore abandoned, and Canute acquired the undivided sovereignty. Thus was the Danish government established in England, and the monarchy of the Anglo Saxons subverted, about one hundred and ninety years after its foundation by Egbert.

Canute was one of the greatest and best monarchs that had ruled over England. One of his grand political objects, was the incorporation of the two nations, which he diligently laboured to accomplish. He sent back a great part of the Danish troops, who were liberally rewarded for their services with English money. Canute, while king of England, made several voyages to his Danish dominions, and took a journey to Rome, where he appeared with great splendour; was received with extraordinary respect; and left many marks of

his munificence. His name derives as much lustre from his magnanimity and love of justice, as from his political and military talents. One of the first acts of his reign was to condemn to death Edric, duke of Mercia, the assassin of Edmund. To put an end to the existence of a disloyal traitor, whom conscience could not bind, nor favours render faithful, and who converted his wealth and his power to the worst of purposes, was an act both of justice and policy. This monarch seemed intent on effacing from the minds of his subjects, the remembrance of past calamities; and on restoring tranquillity and social order throughout his dominions. He died A. D: 1036, in the twentieth year of his reign.

Harold, from his swiftness in running, surnamed Harefoot, succeeded his father Canute in the throne of England; but made no great figure, either in war or in peace. His short reign of four years affords few materials for history.

Hardicanute, the son of Canute, by Emma of Normandy, relict of Ethelred, next ascended the throne. He was indolent and luxurious; lived unbeloved, and died unlamented, A. D. 1042. With this prince ended the monarchy of the Danes in England, after it had continued about twenty-eight

years.

Edward the Confessor, the son of Fthelred and Emma, was at this juncture advanced to the throne of his ancestors, and in him the Saxon line was restored. This prince was placed on the throne by the influence of Earl Godwin, whose interest he secured by engaging to marry his daughter. This nobleman's genius, his great alliances, his high dignities, and important offices, had long rendered him the principal arbiter of public affairs. Having convened an assembly, to which the English alone had been called, he displayed, in an eloquent oration, the calamities which the country had suffered from the Danes. Historians relate, that this oration had such an effect on the minds of the assembly, as to produce a unanimous decree, that no prince of the Danish race should ever ascend the throne of England. It is also said to have been likewise resolved in this council, that the Danes should be expelled from the kingdom, and that this decree was imme