name was Elfrida, brought him some herself; and while he was drinking it, she made a sign to one of her servants, who stabbed Edward in the back, so that he died almost directly. I need not tell you, I am sure, that after such a wicked action she was very unhappy all her life, and everybody hated her.

CHAP. XII. ETHELRED-RAVAGES OF THE DANES.

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CHAPTER XII.

Why King Ethelred was called The Unready; how the Danes drove away the English princes, and made Canute king; how Canute rebuked his courtiers, and improved the people; and how the Danes and Saxons made slaves of their prisoners and of the poor.

THE son of the wicked Elfrida was king after his brother Edward. His name was Ethelred, and he was king a great many years, but never did anything wise or good. The Danes came again to England, when they found out how foolish King Ethelred was, and that he was never ready, either with his ships or his soldiers, to fight them, for which reason he was called ETHELRED THE UNREADY. I should be quite tired if I were to tell you all the foolish and wicked things that were done, either by this king, or by the great lords who were his friends.

They allowed the Danes to get the better of the English everywhere; so they robbed them of their gold and silver, and sheep and cattle, and took their houses to live in, and turned them out. They burnt some of the English towns, and altered the names of others; they killed the people, even the little children; till at last you would have thought the whole country belonged to them, and that there was no king of England at all. You may think how unhappy the people were then, the cruel Danes robbing and murdering them when they pleased. The king was so idle, that he did nothing to save his people. There was no punishment for bad men, and nobody obeyed the laws.

When Ethelred died, they hoped they would be

the property of others, who buy and sell them, as they would horses.

Formerly there were white slaves in almost every country afterwards, when white slaves were not allowed by law, people went and stole black men, from their own homes and families, and carried them to places so far from their homes, that they could never get back again, and made them work for them. And it is very lately that a law has been made that there shall be no more slavery.

The reason I tell you about slavery in this place is, that the Danes had a great many Saxon slaves, and the rich Saxons had a great many Britons, and even poor Saxons, for their slaves; for although the Danes and Saxons loved to be free themselves, they thought there was no harm in making slaves of the prisoners they took in battle, or even of the poor people of their own country, whom they forced to sell themselves or their children for slaves, before they would give them clothes or food to keep them from starving. By degrees, however, these wicked customs were left off, and now we are all free.

After wise King Canute's death, there were two more Danish kings in England, one called Harold Harefoot, and the other Hardicanute; but they reigned a very short time, and did nothing worth remembering so I shall say nothing more about them. In the next chapter we shall have a good deal to learn.

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CHAPTER XIII.

How King Edward the Confessor suffered his courtiers to rule him and the kingdom, and promised that the Duke of Normandy should be king; how some of his wise men made a book of laws; how Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, was made king; how he was killed in the battle of Hastings, and the Duke of Normandy became king.

I TOLD you that when the Danes got so much the better of the Saxon English as to make one of their own princes king, they drove away the princes of Alfred's family; and I told you, at the same time, that some of them went to Normandy, which was governed by a duke instead of a king. The duke at that time was brave and generous, and was kind to the princes, and protected them from their enemies, and allowed them to live at his court. One of the English princes was called Edward; and after the three Danish kings were dead, this Edward was made king of England.

The people were all delighted to have a prince of Alfred's family once more to reign over them; for although Canute had been good to them, they could not forget that he was one of the cruel Danes who had so long oppressed the English; and as to his sons, they never did anything good, as I told you before; and the people suspected them of having murdered a favourite young prince, called Alfred.

King Edward was very much liked at first; but he was idle, and allowed sometimes one great man, and sometimes another, to govern him and the kingdom, while he was saying his prayers, or look

ing over the workmen while they were building new churches.

Now it is very right in every body to say prayers; but when God appoints us other duties to do, we should do them carefully. A king's duty is to govern his people well; he must not only see that good laws are made, but he must also take care that everybody obeys them.

A bishop's duty is to pray and preach, and see that all the clergymen who are under him do their duty, and instruct the people properly.

A soldier's duty is to fight the enemies of his country in war, and to obey the king, and to live quietly in peace. A judge's duty is to tell what law is, to order the punishment of bad people, and to prevent wickedness. A physician's duty is to cure sick people; and it is everybody's duty to take care of their own families, and teach them what is right and set them good examples.

It has pleased God to make all these things duties, and he requires us to do them; and he has given us all quite time enough to pray rightly, if we really and truly love God enough to do our duties to please him. So King Edward, if he had loved God the right way, would have attended to his kingdom himself, instead of letting other people rule it.

However, in King Edward's time, people thought that everybody who prayed so much must be very holy, and therefore after his death he received the name of Edward the Confessor, or Saint.

One of the great men who ruled England in Edward's time was Godwin Earl of Kent. He was very clever, but very cruel. After his death, his son Harold, who was called the under-king, did all the king ought