them, together with Queen Emma, into Normandy to Duke Richard the queen's brother. The terrible overthrow which the English received in 1018, from the Scots, proved fatal to the venerable Aldhun. He was so affected by the news that he died a few days after. "Wretch

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that I am," said the expiring prelate when he heard of the disaster, why have I lived to see this time! Was it to behold the destruction of my people? O holy confessor Cuthbert! if I have done any thing pleasing in thy sight, now reward me by not permitting me to witness the slaughter of thy people." He held the prelacy twenty-nine years, and was esteemed a pious and good man.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

ΤΟ

SECOND PERIOD.

State of the Anglo-Saxons at the conquest-Of the Normans-Improvement of the English character after the conquest-State of property after the conquest-Feudal system established-Power of the crown limited by the great council-The Saxon wittenagemote-The great council-The words baron, &c. used in various meanings-Vagueness in the more minute descriptions of the great council- Attendance of others than the crown-tenants not improbable in the state of society-Whether any representative system, 1. Of counties-2. Of burghs-Final introduction of representation by the earl of Leicester; his character-Improvement in manners; its causes-Causes which checked the prerogative-Decline of the county-courtsClerical power-Remarks on the various charters.

BEFORE the time of the conquest, the Anglo-Saxon government had fallen into a state of great weakness and decay. The Danish invasions had mainly contributed to check the progress of improvement; and an oligarchy which had obtained possession of a large portion of the property, and of the whole administration, of the country, and was at once effeminate and factious, domineered over a succession of feeble sovereigns, and oppressed the people. The influence of Earl Godwin-the father of King Harold-and of his family, was especially predominant. Never distinguished by refinement, the Saxons, under these adverse circumstances, appeared to be descending even in the scale of civilization. Their houses were mean, inelegant, and uncomfortable; they prized such ornaments as strike the fancy of a rude people-bracelets, ear-rings, silken attire, and all kinds of gaudy personal decorations; their chivalry had only the most repulsive features of that fantastic institution; and though they aimed at many of the luxuries of a more advanced stage of society, their history teems with examples of the most savage barbarism. If the church could boast of having remained in a great measure independent of the Roman see, the clergy had not escaped the infection of a declining age, and were remarkable only for their ignorance or their vices. Learning had retrograded since the days of Athelstan. The best Anglo-Saxon writers, Aldhelm, Bede, Boniface, Alcuin, and King Alfred, flourished as early as the 8th and 9th centuries; and the vernacular poetry, though it lasted longer than more serious composition, does not possess sufficient merit to redeem the nation from the charge of intellectual debasement. It is a curious fact, however, that even at this time, the English artists had obtained a decided superiority over their continental neighbours in the manufacture of various articles of the most delicate workmanship.