ELGIVA, fair, the youthful Monarch's wife,
Lovely in form, and dear to him as life,

A virtuous, blooming, young and new-made bride,
Torn from her husband, and her mother's side;
By ruffians, whom no human ties cou'd bind,
Tortur'd; her frame to ling'ring death consign'd;
Her sex insulted, and her charms defaced,
By wretches who the forms of men disgraced!*

The people too, deluded by the priest,
And Ono,† less a bishop than a beast,
Rebel against the crown; Rome too conspires,
And launches all St. Peter's fiercest fires.
With mournful indignation next I sing,
The hapless, widow'd, persecuted King!
His earthly crown he quits, on Heav'n relies,
Invokes the spirit of his wife-and dies.

* Many of the earliest Missionaries were hostile to, and dreaded the company of, the fair sex. The unpolished St. Columba prohibited his catechumens the conforts of milch kine, because, “Where there is a cow,” said the brute, “there must be a woman, and where there is a woman there must be mischief." Vide PENNANT.

+ ODO, successively promoted, through Dunstan's influence, to the sees of Worcester, London, and Canterbury, is handed down to posterity by the Monks, as a man of piety.

HUME.

SUMMARY

SUMMARY OF THE REIGN OF

EDGAR, SURNAMED THE PEACEABLE,

Born, A. D. 943. Crowned at Kingston-on-Thames, 959. Married two English ladies; the first a Nun, called Editha, Ethelflida, or Wolfchild, by whom he had, Edward the Martyr; the second, Elfrida, Daughter of a Duke of Devonshire, by whom he had, Edmund, (who died young,) and Ethelred.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS.

The King imposed an annual tribute of 300 wolves' heads on the Welsh. Favored the Monks, reformed the secular Clergy, and paid homage to the Pope. The navy of England improved.

Of the East-Romanus, the Younger, 959. Nicephorus,

963. Zemisces, 970.

Kings.

Of France-Lothaire, 954.

Of Scotland-Indulphus, 958. Duffus, 967.

972.

Culenus,

EDGAR

Equal to both, and arm'd for either field."

ROWE.

EDGAR encreas'd our navy-he was right,
Tho', toujours prêt, he'd little cause to fight.
Next, he obliged the Prince of Wales
Το pay three hundred wolves a year;
Which, with three amatory tales,

Is all that of his Majesty we hear.
Whether these tales are worthy of perusal,

Or, whether their contents are false or true, They wait acceptance or refusal,

As may, my readers kind, seem good to you.

LOVE TALE THE FIRST.

WILFRIDA✶ was the fairest of the fair;

So thought the King, for lovers think on stilts; Which made her parents, with most proper care, Immure her in a Nunnery of WILTS. (Whether 'twas Amesbury, where ancient Q Imported Nuns from France, I never knew.)

King EDGAR, living in such days as those, When DUNSTAN took the DEVIL by the nose,† Was doubtful in what manner to proceed.

Now DUNSTAN and the DEVIL were not foes (But in appearance) for, tout autre chose, They help'd each other in the time of need.

To DUNSTAN quoth Old NICK,

'twill aid,

"My plans

"If EDGAR from yon abbey force the maid,

* Hume calls this lady EDITA; she is, by another author named WOLFCHILD.

+ The Monks whom Dunstan and Edgar put in possession of Convents, were so nearly perfect, that they knew nothing of religion but continence and obedience.

INGULPHUS.

"Then,

"Then, prithee, brother Dunny, don't impede him."

Quoth DUNSTAN to OLD NICK, "'Tis my design "To let him take her, then a glorious fine,

"I'll levy first, and next the Pope shall bleed him."

In short, the Monarch took the Nun away, There was, in consequence, I scarce need say, The Devil and the Friar both to pay.

LOVE TALE THE SECOND.

AT ANDOVER with great applause
A pair dwelt, sans rebuke;

The wife a Duchess was, because
The husband was a Duke!

A lovely daughter eke had they,
Well-favored, fair, and mild,
They had no other, for folks say,

She was an only child.