ENGLAND. 



598 



Hietorjr. 



His brother 

 Edgar as- 

 pires to the 

 throne. 



A. D. 939. 



Edgar pro- 

 tects the 

 coast by a 

 numerous 

 avy. 



His licen- 

 tious a- 



ititmr-. 



acute sufferings. The late of Elgiva, instead of exciting 

 compassion or indignation against her murderers, was 

 succeeded by fresh acts of violence against her husband. 

 The people were made to believe, that heaven was 

 pouring out its wrath upon the head of Edwy for his 

 crimes ; and the monks encouraged Edgar, his younger 

 brother, to aspire to the throne. Dunstan immediately 

 returned to England, to support him with his influence. 

 Edwy was excommunicated; and his death, which hap- 

 pened soon after, left Edgar in quiet possession of the 

 throne. Dunstan was appointed to the see of Worcester, 

 then of London ; and, upon the death of Odo, to that 

 of Canterbury, of all which he long kept possession. 



Edgar was only thirteen years of age when he re- 

 ceived the crown ; but lie soon discovered an excellent 

 capacity in the administration of affairs, and took such 

 effectual methods for preventing foreign invasion, and 

 for securing the internal peace of the kingdom, that 

 his reign is considered as the most fortunate in the an- 

 cient history of England. He kept the Scots and 

 Northumbrians in awe by a powerful army, which he 

 quartered on the frontiers ; and a formidable navy 

 checked every attempt of the foreign Danes to make a 

 descent upon his shores. Three squadrons were sta- 

 tioned off the coast, and had orders to make from time 

 to time the circuit of his dominions; and it is said, that 

 when once at Chester his barge was rowed by eight 

 tributary princes. He supported Dunstan and the 

 monks in all their schemes of aggrandizement; and 

 they in return repaid his favours with the highest pa- 

 negyrics. At a general council of the prelates and 

 heads of religious orders, he inveighed against the dis- 

 solute lives of the clergy, the smallness of their ton- 

 sures, their gaming, hunting, dancing, and singing, 

 and particularly against their openly living with con- 

 cubines, by which he meant their wives ; he then extolled 

 Oun-.t;in .is the pious reformer of these abuses, and 

 urged him to employ more vigorous remedies than he 

 had hitherto done, and to complete the work which he 

 had begun. The prelate was not wanting in his exer- 

 tions, and in a short time the new discipline was esta- 

 blished in almost all the convents. This good under- 

 standing which subsisted between the king and the 

 monks, was a great mean of strengthening his autho- 

 rity, and preserving the peace of the state. But not- 

 withstanding his invectives against the licentiousness 

 of the clergy, he himself was one of the greatest liber- 

 tines of his time ; and, in the gratification of his passions, 

 did not hesitate to violate every law, both human and 

 divine. His amours are peculiarly the subject of the 

 historians of that age, and indeed are still the therne of 

 romance. He first broke into a convent, and ra\ ' 

 a nun called Editha, for which crime this favourite of 

 the monks was reprimanded by Dunstan ; but instead 

 of being obliged to restore her, he kept her as his mis- 

 tress, and was only to abstain from wearirjg his crown 

 for seven years ; while the unfortunate Edwy, for a 

 crime more venial, was separated from his queen, saw 

 her treated with the most wanton barbarity, and was 

 at last expelled his kingdom. 



Lodging one night at the house of a nobleman, Edgar 

 was struck with tne !>eauty of his daughter; but being 

 too impatient to employ intreaties and address in ob- 

 taining his wishes, he, without ceremony, demanded of 

 the mother to send the young lady to his l>ed-chnmber. 

 The mother knowing well the impetuosity of the young 

 monarch, thought it safer to deceive than to refuse 

 him ; and promised compliance. But when night came, 

 she directed a waiting-maid named Elfleda, to steal to 



VOL. VIII. PART II. 



the king's bed and personate her daughter. Wishing, ^ History. ^ 

 however, to retire before day-break, as she had been S "~Y"""'' 

 commanded, the king, well pleased with his compa- 

 nion, forcibly detained her, and morning revealed the 

 deceit. But, instead of being displeased with the trick, 

 Elfleda continued to be his favourite mistress until his 

 marriage with Elfrida. 



Edgar had long heard of the beauty of Elfrida, the Hears of the 

 daughter and heiress of Olgar, Earl of Devonshire; and 

 his curiosity and desire were so excited, that lie resol- 

 ved, if report spoke true, to make her his wife. To 

 ascertain, however, whether Elfrida was such a person 

 as she had been described, he sent Earl Athelwold, his 

 favourite, upon a pretended message to her father, with 

 orders to bring him a correct account of the beauty of 

 his daughter. Athelwold, as soon as he beheld Elfrida, 

 was so overcome with her charms, that he forgot every 

 other consideration but the gratification of his own 

 passion, and demanded her from her father for his own 

 wife. The favourite of a king was not to be refused, 

 and they were married in private. Athelwold, pleased 

 with the treacherous part which he had acted, returned 

 with tidings very different from what Edgar had ex- 

 pected. He represented Elfrida as possessed of none 

 of those accomplishments for which she had been so 

 highly praised, and assured him that she was altogether 

 unworthy the hand of a king. When he had thus di- 

 verted the thoupMs of Edgar from Elfrida, he took an 

 opportunity, some time after, of remarking, that the 

 fortune of Olgar's daughter, rendered her a very ad- 

 vantageous match for himself; and he requested per- 

 mission to pay his addresses to her. Edgar, without 

 hesitation, consented, and even recommended him to 

 her parents. Athelwold returned to his wife, and had 

 their nuptials solemnised in public; but, to secure him- 

 self against all possibility of detection, he used every 

 precaution to detain Elfrida in the country, and to keep 

 her at a distance from the eyes of the king. The ene- 

 mies of the favourite, however, soon exposed him to his 

 master ; but Edgar, dissembling his resentment, mere- 

 ly expressed to Athelwold his surprise that he never 

 brought his lady to court, and intimated his desire of 

 being made acquainted with one of whom he had for- 

 merly heard so much. The favourite was thunder- 

 struck at such an intimation, but could not refuse such 

 an honour, and requested a few hours to prepare his 

 wife for the king's reception. He fell at her feet, con- 

 fessed the treachery of which lie had been guilty, and 

 intreated her, if she had any regard for his life or her 

 own honour, to conceal, by every mean, from his sove- 

 reign, that beauty which had been so fatal to his fidelity. 

 Elfrida promised obedience; but, instead of complying 

 with the wishes of her husband, she was exasperated 

 against him for having deprived her of a crown, and 

 with the hope of still captivating the heart of Edgar, 

 appeared before him in all her charms. The monarch 

 was overcome by her beauty, and determined to obtain 

 her ; but for the present concealed his sensations from 

 Athelwold, who was soon after, however, secretly mur- and marries 

 dered by the king's command, and Elfrid.i was raised her. 

 to the throne. Such was Edgar; yet Edgar was placed 

 by the monks among the number of the saints. His 

 reign is remarkable for the extirpation of wolves from 

 England. He himself took great pleasure in hunting 

 these animals; and he changed the tribute which h:id 

 been imposed upon the Welsh princes by Athelstan, Wolves ex- 

 into an annual tribute of 300 wolves heads, which pro- ii'p-;il 

 duced such diligence in destroying them, that they f 1 " En <>' 

 soon became extinct in the island. 



