the king had sent it; and when Alfred appeared at the place of rendezvous, he was received with enthusiastic joy-the men of Hampshire, and Dorset, and Wilts rejoicing as if he had been risen from death to life. In the general battle of Ethandune which ensued (seven weeks after Easter), the Danes were taken by surprise, and thoroughly beaten. Alfred's concealment, counting from his flight from Chippenham, did not last above five months. The success of Alfred after this, soon restored the kingdom to a state of prosperous tranquillity, and enabled him to direct his attention to the arts of peace.

ILLIAM, duke of Normandy, pretended that Edward the Confessor, had named him in his will as his successor. This plea had already been advanced by Harold; and it seems probable that each of them had an equal right to make such an assertion; for if Edward had named any one as his successor, Edgar Atheling, the son of his nephew Edward, would undoubtedly have been the object of his choice.

Of that young prince, however, no sort of notice was then taken, (though that was the time to have brought him forward) and Harold prepared to defend, and William to usurp, what in fact neither of them had any right to, except that iniquitous one, "the right of the strongest.'

Harold had unfortunately made a deadly and a powerful

enemy of his brother Tostig, Earl of Northumberland, whom he had exiled. The outlaw passed over into Normandy, and arranged with William for the invasion of England, and procured for him also the assistance of Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, with whom he made a descent upon England, and got possession of the greater part of Yorkshire. Hardrada and Tostig were encountered near Stamfordbridge on the Derwent, by Harold, and in the very first onset, Hardrada was shot through the neck and died instantly. The command was then taken by Tostig, and the most desperate battle that is recorded in the British annals, ensued At length Tostig also was slain, and Harold's troops were victorious.

A very short enjoyment of his victory, however, was allowed; and on the 29th of September, 1066, while sitting at a banquet among the wealthiest of his Thanes, he received intelligence of William's having landed with a powerful force, in Pevensey-bay, in Sussex. He immediately led his army towards the camp of the invader, and posted it on an eminence called Sentac, nine miles from Hastings.

On the 14th of October, at nine in the morning, both armies were harangued by their respective leaders; and shortly afterwards the battle commenced, which was to decide the fate of the combatants and of England. The fight was continued with wondrous ardour until dusk, when Harold was killed. On his death becoming known, the English army fell into a panic, from which all the efforts of their commanders could not recall them, and the flight became general. The rising moon afforded the Normans sufficient light to guide them in the pursuit; and though the English partially rallied more than once, it was in vain: the Norman was victorious, and the crown of England was his reward.

Harold's mother begged the body of her son, and offered even to ransom it with its weight in gold. But the conqueror ordered him to be buried on the beach, sarcastically

observing, "he guarded the coast while he lived; let him in death continue to do so."

The royal remains were, however, privately disinterred, and solemnly, though by stealth, deposited in the church of Waltham, of which he was the founder.

ROBERT OF NORMANDY.

NFORTUNATELY for him, William the Conqueror was wounded by the sharp tooth of filial disobedience, and obliged to

be frequently, and for long intervals, on the continent where a fierce and unnatural war

was waged between father and son. When William first received the submission of the province of Maine, he had promised the inhabitants to make his eldest son, Robert, their prince; and before departing for the conquest of England he stipulated, that in case of succeeding in his enterprise, he would resign the duchy of Normandy to the same son. So confident was he of success, that he permitted the Norman chiefs who consented to, and legalized the appointment, to swear fealty and render homage to young Robert as their future sovereign. But all this was done to allay the jealousy of the king of France and his other neighbours, uneasy at the prospect of his vastly extending power; and when he was firmly seated in his conquest, and had strengthened his hands, William openly showed his determination of keeping and ruling both his insular kingdom, and his continental duchy. Grown up to man's estate, Robert claimed what he considered his right. "My son, I wot not to throw off my clothes till I go to bed,"

*

Robert

was the homely but decisive answer of his father. was brave to rashness, ambitious, impatient of command; and a young prince in his circumstances was never yet without adherents and counsellors to urge him to those extreme measures on which they found their own hopes of fortune and advancement. He was suspected of fanning the flames of discontent in Brittany as well as in Maine, and to have had an understanding with the king of France, when that monarch frustrated William's attempt to seize the fugitive Breton, Raoul de Gael, and forced the king of England to raise the siege of Dol. Some circumstances, which added to the number of the unnatural elements already engaged, made Robert declare himself more openly. In person he was less favoured by nature than his two younger brothers, William and Henry, who seemed to engross all their father's favour, and who probably made an improper use of the nickname of Courte-heuse, which was given to Robert, on account of the shortness of his legs. One day, when the king and his court were staying in the little town of L'Aigle, William and Henry went to the house of a certain Roger Chassiegue, which had been allotted to their brother, Robert, for his lodging, and installed themselves, without his leave, in the upper gallery or balcony. After playing for a time at dice, "as was the fashion with military men," they began to make a great noise and uproar, and then they finished their boyish pranks by emptying a pitcher of water on the heads of Robert and his comrades, who were passing in the court below. Robert, naturally passionate, probably required no additional incentive; but it is stated, that one of his companions, Alberic de Grantmesnil, a son of Hugh de Grantmesnil, whom king William had formerly deprived of his estates in England, instigated the prince to resent the action of his brothers as a public affront, which could not be borne in honour. Robert drew his sword and ran up stairs, vowing he would wipe out the insult with blood. A great tumul

Literally "short-hose," or "short-boot,"-Brevis Ocrea. Oderic Vital.