on the folk-stead, in battle slain; and his son he left on the slaughter-place, mangled with wounds, young in the fight: he had no cause to boast, beorn grizzly-haired, of the vile clashing, the old deceiver; nor Aulaf the more, with the remnant of their armies; they had no cause to laugh that they in war's works the better men were in the battle stead, at the conflict of banners, meeting of spears, concourse of men, traffic of weapons; that they on the slaughter field with Eadward's offspring played. The north-men departed in their nailed barks; shamed in mind. So to the brothers, both together, in the war exulting. They left behind them, the corse to devour, the sallowy "pada" and the swart raven with horned neb, and the dusky "pada," erne white-tailed, the corse to enjoy, greedy war-hawk, and the grey beast, wolf of the wood. Carnage greater has not been in this island ever yet of people slain, before this, by edges of swords, as books us say, old writers, since from the east hither Angles and Saxons came to land, o'er the broad seas Britain sought, mighty war-smiths, the Welsh o'ercame, eorls most bold, this earth obtained. We [Mr. Taylor's Drama of "Edwin the Fair" is full of grace and power, seizing, we have no doubt, upon the great historical truths of that age. give a scene, with an extract from the Preface.] Mr. Turner's learned and elaborate work has done much to make the Anglo-Saxon times better known than they were formerly, and we have ceased to regard them as antecedent to the dawn of civilization amongst us, or as destitute of the spiritual and chivalric features by which in reality some of the subsequent centuries (though not those immediately subsequent) were less distinguished than they. Of the dark ages, in this country, the tenth century was hardly so dark as the fifteenth; and if the aspects of each could be distinctly traced, the civil wars of the Anglo-Saxons would probably excite a deeper interest than struggles such as those of the Houses of York and Lancaster, in which there was no religious and hardly any political principle at stake. Indeed though the three centuries which preceded the Conquest were on the whole less enlightened than the three which followed it, yet the Anglo-Saxon times furnish examples of both the Hero and the Scholar, which the Norman can hardly match; and perhaps the real distinction between the periods is, that amongst the AngloSaxons, learning and ignorance, and rudeness and refinement, coexisted in stronger contrast. But even when Anglo-Saxon history was less read and otherwise understood than it is now, some interest was always felt in the reign of Edwin the Fair. There was left to us little more than the outline of a tragic story; in some parts, indeed, even less-for here and there the outline itself is broken and wavering; but the little that was known was romantic enough to have impressed itself upon the popular mind, and the tale of "Edwy and Elgiva” had been current in the nursery long before it came to be studied as an historical question. Edwin's contemporaneous annalists, being Monks, were his natural enemies; and their enmity is sufficiently apparent in their writings. But notwithstanding all their efforts, and all the influence which the monastic orders undoubtedly possessed over the English populace of the tenth century, there is reason to think that the interest taken in Edwin's story may have dated from his own times. His name having been supplanted by its diminutive "Edwy," seems to indicate a sentiment of tenderness and pity as popularly connected with him from the first; and his surname of "The All-Fair" (given him, says the Monk Ingulphus, "pro nimiâ pulchritudine"), may be construed as a farther indication that the success of the monastic faction in decrying him with the people, was not so complete as the merely political events of his reign might lead us to suppose. Whilst the details of his story are left, with one or two exceptions, to our imagination, the main course of the struggle in which he was engaged, represents in strong and vivid colours the spirit of the times. It was a spirit which exercises human nature in its highest faculties and deepest feelings-the spirit of religious enthusiasm; a spirit which never fails to produce great men and to give an impulse to the mind of a nation; but one which commonly passes into a spirit of ecclesiastic discord, and which cannot then be cast out without tearing the body. In the tenth century it vented itself in a war of religious opinion. An apartment leading to an Oratory in the Royal residence at Sheen. As the Scene opens, EDWIN and ELGIVA are discovered before the altar in the Oratory, and RICOLA, the King's Chaplain, is joining their hands. They all three then advance out of the Oratory to the front. Ricola. So be ye one from this time forth for ever, And God for ever be your gracious guide In love and peace to live! A hasty rite Hath solemnized your nuptials; not the less Be ye observant of the sacred bonds Wherein ye stand contracted for all time. My sovereign Lord and Lady, ye are young, And these are times and yours beyond compare Helpful, and fullest of comfort, next to God. Edwin. My honoured friend, Our secret kept, the Queen abides with you. bound [Exit Ricola. Be satisfied, for 'tis a joy so great To know thee mine, that nature for my Seems insufficient, and my spirit yearns Intent with thee to pass from this pale earth Where life is ever thus. Makes the heart tremble! Now no change can come That is not to be feared. Ricola. Re-enter RICOLA. My lord, my liege, Forgive me-but I fear **** I'm old, my lord, And shake at trifles, but I strangely fear That mischief is afoot. Edwin. Ricola. At Kingston? There, And coming hitherward; the poor fool Grimbald |