free from such pollution. Dunstan and his reformed monks knew well how to avail themselves of these popular topics, and set off their own character to the best advan tage. On the other hand, their rivals the secular clergy, who were numerous and rich, and possessed of the ecclesiastical dignities, defended themselves with vigour, and boldly maintained the sanctity of the institution of marriage. The whole nation was thrown into a ferment. In the meantime, the power of the monks received a check by the death of Edred, the dupe of their ambition. He left children, but in an infant state; the crown was therefore conferred on Edwy, his nephew, son to Edmund his brother and predecessor1o. A. D. 955. This prince, who was only seventeen years of age at his accession, possessed an elegant person, and the most amiable and promising virtues. But neither the graces of his figure, nor the accomplishments of his mind, could screen him from the fury of the monks, whom he unhappily offended in the beginning of his reign. The beautiful Elgiva, his second or third cousin, had made an impression on the susceptible heart of Edwy; and, as he was at an age when the tender passions are most keenly felt, he ventured to marry her, though within the degrees of affinity prohibited by the' church. The austerity of the monks made them particularly violent on this occasion; the king therefore entertained a strong aversion against them, and determined to oppose their project of expelling the seculars from the convents. But he had soon reason to repent his rashness, in provoking such dangerous enemies. On the day of his coronation, while the nobility, assembled in the great hall, were indulging themselves in riot and disorder, after the example of their German ancestors, Edwy, attracted by the gentler pleasures of love, retired to the queen's apartment, and gave loose to his fondness, which was but feebly checked by the presence of her mother. Dunstan conjectured the reason of the king's absence; and carrying along with him 1. Spelm. Cone vol. i. 10. Chron. Sux. Odo, Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, over whom he had gained an absolute ascendant, he burst into the royal privacy, upraided Edwy of lasciviousness, tore him from the arms. of his consort, and pushed him back ignominiously into the company of the nobles, loading the queen with the most opprobrious epithets". Though Edwy was young, and had the prejudices of the age to encounter, he found means to revenge this public insult. He accused Dunstan of malversation in office, while at the head of the treasury; and as that minister did not clear himself of the charge, the king banished him the realm. But Dunstan's party were not idle during his absence. They poisoned the minds of the people to such a degree by declamations against the king, and panegyrics on the abbot's sanctity, that the royal authority was despised, and still more outrageously insulted. Archbishop Odo ordered the queen to be seized and after her face had been seared with a red-hot iron, in order to destroy that fatal beauty which had ensnared the king, she was carried into Ireland, there to remain in perpetual exile". The Edwy finding resistance ineffectual, was obliged to consent to a divorce, which was pronounced by the imperious Odo. But these were not the only evils which attended this unfortunate prince and his consort. amiable Elgiva was made prisoner by her persecutors, and cruelly murdered in returning to the embraces of the king, whom she still considered as her husband. Nothing less than her death could satisfy the archbishop and the monks. Edwy was dethroned by the same influence, in order to make room for his brother Edgar, a boy of thirteen years of age. Dunstan returned to England, and took upon him the government of the young king and his party. He was first installe d in the see of Worcester, next in that of London, and afterwards in that of Canterbury of all which he long kept 11. Gul. Malmes, lib. ii. 12. Osberne. ubi sup possession possession. In the mean time the unhappy Edwy was excommunicated, and pursued by his enemies A. D. 959. with unrelenting vengeance 13. But his death soon freed them from all inquietude, and left Edgar in peaceable possession of the throne. The reign of Edgar is one of the most fortunate in the English annals. Though he ascended the throne in early youth, he soon discovered an excellent capacity for government. He shewed no aversion against war; he took the wisest precautions for public safety; and, by his vigilance and foresight, he was enabled to indulge his natural inclination for peace. He maintained a body of troops in the North, to keep the mutinous Northumbrians in awe, and to repel the inroads of the Scots. He also built and supported a powerful navy: and, in order to habituate the seamen to the practice of their profession, as well as to intimidate his enemies, he stationed three squadrons off the coasts of his kingdom, and commanded them to make by turns the circuit of his dominions. The foreign Danes durst not approach a country which was so strongly defended; the domestic Danes saw destruction to be the inevitable consequence of insurrection; and the princes of Wales, of Scotland, and even of Ireland, were happy to appease so potent a monarch by submission". But the means by which Edgar more especially maintained his authority at home; and preserved public tranquillity, was paying court to Dunstan and the monks, who had violently placed him on the throne, and whose claim to superior sanctity gave them an ascendant over the people. He favoured their scheme of reformation, as it was called, but in reality of dispossessing the secular canons of the monasteries; he consulted them in the administration of all ecclesiastical, and even of many civil affairs; and although the vigour of his genius prevented him from being entirely guided by 13. Brompton. 14. Spelm. Cone. vol. i. them them, he took care never to disoblige them. Hence he only as a is represented by the monkish writers not warrior and a politician, a character which he seems to have merited, but also as a saint and a man of virtue, though he was licentious in the highest degree, and violated every law human and divine. His very amours are a compound of barbarity and brutality. He broke into a convént, carried off a nun by force, and even committed violence on her person's. Struck also with the charms of a nobleman's daughter, in whose house he was entertained, he demanded that she should pass that very night with him, without once consulting the young lady's inclinations. But his most remarkable amour was with the beautiful Elfrida; and, as it is connected with the history of the following reign, I shall relate it circumstantially. It will give you at once an idea of the manners of the age, and of the character of Edgar. Elfrida the only daughter and sole heiress of Olgar, earl of Devonshire, though educated in the country, and a stranger at court, had filled all England with the repu tation of her beauty. Edgar, who was never indifferent to any report of this kind, sent Athelwold his favourite to see if the young lady was indeed as fair as fame had represented her. Athelwold no sooner saw Elfrida than hə was inflamed with love, and determined to sacrifice to it his fidelity to his master: he therefore told Edgar, on his return, that the fortune and quality of Elfrida alone had been the cause of the adulation paid, and that her charms, so far from being extraordinary, would have been entirely over-looked in a woman of inferior condition. "But," added he when he found he had blunted the edge of the king's 15. Gul. Malmes. lib. ii. 16. This demand was made to the mother, who being a woman of virtue, sent secretly to the king's bed, instead of her daughter, her maid Elfleda; with whom Edgar passed the night so much to his satisfaction, that he not only forgave the old lady for her pious deceit, but transferred his love to Elfeda, who became his favourite mistress. Gul. Malmes. ubi sup. VOL. I. да curiosity curiosity, "though she has nothing to claim the attention "of a sovereign, her immense wealth would, to a subject, "be a sufficient compensation, for the homeliness of her person; and, although it could never produce on me "the illusion of beauty, it might make her a convenient "wife!" 66 Edgar, glad of an opportunity of establishing his favourite's fortune, not only gave his approbation to the projected match, but forwarded its success by recommending him in the warmest manner to the earl of Devonshire; so that Athelwold was soon made happy in the possession of his beloved Elfrida. Dreading, however, the eyes of the king, he still found some pretence for detaining his wife in the country. But all his precautions were insufficient to conceal his amorous treachery. Royal favourites are never without enemies; Edgar was soon informed of the truth; but before he would execute vengeance on Athelwold's perfidy, he resolved to satisfy himself fully in regard to Elfrida's beauty. He therefore told his deceiver, That he intended to pay him a visit at his castle, and be introduced to his wife, whose beauty he had formerly heard so much praised. Athelwold was thunderstruck at the proposal; but, as he could not refuse such an honour, he only begged leave to go a few hours before his royal guest, that he might make proper preparations for his reception. On his arrival, he fell at his wife's feet; discovered the whole secret, and conjured her, if she valued either her own honour or his life, to disguise as much as possible that fatal beauty which had tempted him to deceive his prince and friend. Elfrida promised compliance, though nothing appears to have been farther from her thoughts. She adorned her person with the most exquisite art, and called forth all her charms; not despairing, it should seem, yet to reach that exalted station of which Athelwold's fondness had deprived her. The event was answerable to her wishes; she excited at once in Edgar's bosom the warmest love, and the keenest desire of revenge. The king, however, who could dissemble those passions, as well as feel them, beheld her with seem |