18 PAPERS, ETC. 



Cnutitoti Castle, 



BT THE EEV. F. WAHRE. 



A T the commencement of tlie eighth Century, about one 

 ,j\ hunclred and fifty years had elapsed, since Cerdic, 

 landing at Cerdicshore, probably on the coast of Hamp- 

 shire, had laid the foundation of the West Saxon Kingdom. 

 During this interval, under the rule of able and warUke 

 Sovereigns that state had gradually increased in power 

 and importance, and at the time of which we speak imder 

 the auspices of the brave and wise Ina, was rapidly pro- 

 gressing to that superiority over the other states of the 

 Heptarchy, which enabled Egbert and bis successors to 

 assume the supreme government, and eventually to become 

 sole monarchs of the Anglo-Saxon nation. The Saxons, 

 atfir^-t a race of heathen savages, as fierce and barbarous as 

 ever laid waste a Christian and civilized country, had evinced 

 a wonderful aptltude for improvement and government. 

 No longer heathens, their kings and chiefs had become, in 

 most cases, zealous, though perhaps ignorant Christians ; 

 while the laws of Ina, still extant, furnish ample proof 

 that wliile carrying on a desperate contest dmüng two 

 centuries, with the Romano-British inhabitants of the 



