sons, by reciting to them reports of the great success and fame of Edmund, the East Anglian King. His recital had the desired effect. The young men determined, by an attack upon Edmund's dominions, to establish their own fame upon the ruins of his. A favourable opportunity soon presented itself. Lodbrog, whilst hawking on the shore, observed his favourite hawk fall into the sea. He got into a boat to rescue his bird, was driven from his own coast, and cast on shore in Norfolk. The inhabitants of the country presented him, with his hawk, to King Edmund, who kindly and liberally entertained him; requested him to make some stay at his court; and appointed his own falconer, Bern, or Berrick, as an attendant on the Danish monarch. Lodbrog's skill and success, in his favourite diversion of hawking, excited the admiration of Edmund, and filled Bern with jealousy and envy. Impelled by those malignant passions, he seized an opportunity, whilst he and the royal visitor were in the woods, of murdering him and concealing his body.-Lodbrog's absence from the court of Edmund, for three days, occasioned much alarm. His favourite greyhound was observed to come home for food; but, after much fawning, and taking remarkable notice of the King and his Nobles, he retired. On the fourth day he was followed, and, by that wonderful instinct which distinguishes the canine species, he conducted his followers to the remains of his murdered master. Edmund instituted an examination, and the dog, by

the ferocity which he displayed towards Bern, pointed him out as the murderer. Guilt having thus fixed itself upon him, Edmund ordered him to be committed to the waves, alone, and in the same open boat, without mast, sail, or oar, which had brought Lodbrog to the East Anglian coast. Driven by the wind to the shores of Denmark, the Danes recognized the boat, and earnestly enquired for their Sovereign. Bern inform them, that Lodbrog, having been cast on shore in East Anglia, had been put to death by order of King Edmund. Such a statement was calculated to call forth the spirit of revenge. Inguar and Hubba determined on immediate retribution; and, with an army of 20,000 men, conducted by Bern, and attended by Ralfdene, Osketel, Bagsed, Hosten, Eowils, Hamund, and Guthrum, they set sail for East Anglia. On their arrival they over-ran the country, slaughtered, without distinction of age or sex, its peaceful inhabitants, inflicted a cruel death of torture on their King, and destroyed, for ever, the East Anglian state. Such is the tale, which, for nearly a thousand years, has amused and interested our ancestors; but, shrinking from the Ithuriel spear of truth, it proves to be little more than a pleasing fiction. Mr. Turner, by an elaborate chronological research, has incontestibly established the fact, that Lodbrog met his fate in Northumbria, and not in East Anglia. Taking the Quida, or death song of Ragnar Lodbrog, for his data, and collating it with various other authorities, Mr. Turner makes

=

it appear, that Lodbrog, who was a distinguished warrior of his age, was shipwrecked on the Northumbrian coast, some time between the years 862 and 867. "Though thrown on the coast of enemies, without means of return, he moved forward as soon as he got on the shore, to plunder and ravage, as if disdaining to recollect that his small band would soon be confronted by a nation's array.-Ella at that time commanded in the throne of Deira, and, with the force of his kingdom, marched up to the fearless = Vickingr;* a fierce, though unequal conflict ensued. It was a Danish maxim, never to refuse the combat, even with the most superior foe. Ragnar, clothed in the garments which he had received from his beloved Aslauga at their parting, four times pierced the ranks of Ella; his friends fell one by one around him, and he at last was taken prisoner alive.—But Ella knew not the rights of the unfortunate, nor the duties of a conqueror. He obeyed the impulse of barbarian resentment, and doomed his illustrious prisoner to perish with lingering pain in a dungeon, stung by venomous snakes. Ragnar contemplated his fate without a groan of sorrow; his undaunted soul breathed its last energies in prospects of revenge, and cheered the agonizing hour by the hopes of his superstition. If the Quida has preserved the true expression of his feelings, the moment of his death

One of the names by which the Sea Kings, or piratical chieftains of the north, were distinguished.

was signalized by a laugh of defiance."*-Here, then, was a genuine theme for vengeance.

The sons

of Lodbrog projected, and performed, a dreadful retaliation. Inguar, distinguished by his commanding genius, and Hubba, by invincible fortitude, were chiefs well adapted for such an expedition. They immediately assembled an immense army, the respective divisions of which were commanded by eight kings, and twenty jarls, the children, relations, and former associates of Lodbrog. This force left the shores of the Baltic; and, by accident, or designmore probably the latter-it disembarked in East Anglia, apparently in the autumn of 866, when Edmund had reigned nearly ten years.

The Danish force now arrived was far greater than any that had reached the country before. It was therefore suffered to remain unmolested; and the enemy passed a peaceful winter in their camp, collecting provisions, receiving reinforcements, uniting their friends, and forming arrangements for future concert. Presuming on the passive character of Edmund, they demanded a supply of horses from him, to render decisive the plan of conquest which they had formed. With the most reprehensible folly, he complied with the demand, and mounted the greater part of their army. It is possible, also, that jealousy may have had its share in this impolitic act; for, at this time, there seems to have been no alliance,

*TURNER'S Anglo Saxons, vol. ii. (8vo. edition,) p. 117.

no bond of union, amongst the different states of the island, but each was ready to rise in arms against its neighbour, and mutual distrust universally prevailed. These circumstances could not escape the penetrating observations of the Danes: scarcely, therefore, is it to be wondered at, that, in so fine and fertile a country-a climate so much milder than their ownthey should meditate schemes of future conquest and settlement.-For the present, however, retributive justice seemed to demand a combination of all their energies. In the spring of 867, the Danes broke up their camp, and marched northward. The city of York was the first object of their attack. It surrendered on the 1st of March. Spreading devastation throughout the country, they extended their divisions as far as the Tyne, but without passing that river. They returned to York; near which, on the 12th of April, they were suddenly and unexpectedly attacked, by the combined forces of Ella and Osbert. They fled into the city, and were pursued by the English, with the eagerness of anticipated victory. The advantage was not long on the side of the Northumbrians, who, regardless of order, had intermixed themselves with the enemy in every direction. More cool and collected-more accustomed to irregular warfare-the Danes turned upon them, and committed dreadful slaughter. The guilty Ella, with Osbert, and most of the army, perished. "The sons of Ragnar inflicted a cruel and inhuman retaliation on Ella for their father's sufferings. They cut