King EDGAR lov'd, King EDGAR woo'd,
You'll all allow, I ween,

'Twas grossierté, 'twas wrong, 'twas rude!

For EDGAR had a Queen.

In vain he offered heaps of gold,

In vain to work he went,

More ways than we have yet been told,

To win the maid's consent;

When words, and sighs, and tears had fail'd,

He feign'd him deadly sick,

The Lady, since nought else prevail'd,
Then play'd a King a trick.

All in the dark she made believe,
She'd grace the Monarch's bed,
Then sent, nor did the Prince perceive,
Another in her stead.

At Highgate, I am much afraid.

They ne'er had sworn his Grace, Else had he never let the Maid,

Assume her Lady's place.

Such

Such shocking things

Prove, modern Kings

Are better than of yore;

Which probably,

Is reason why,

Some folks abuse them more.

LOVE TALE THE THIRD.

YET how dare I attempt to tell a story,
Which MASON has related con amore?
No matter, whether good or bad, my song,
I'll promise this, shall not be very long.

ELFRIDA with her father liv'd retired,

Few

eyes beheld her, yet, who saw, admired; And fame, of beauty ever prone to sing, Proclaim'd her modest merits to the King; Who, 'ere he credence gave, resolv❜d to send, The truth to ascertain, a fancied friend.

Who read my simple legend, ah, beware! Those are not always friends who say they are.

When

When ATHELWOLD beheld the beauteous maid Too soon his trust from EDGAR was betray'd;

With false report his master's ear abus'd,

He weds the fair the cheated King refus'd;
Triumph'd awhile in baseness and deceit,
Nor fear'd the vengeance he was doom'd to meet.
My legend who peruse, on this depend,
Dishonest dealing ne'er meets happy end.

The King by other favorites made wise,
For favorites on fav'rites still are spies,

Views his friend's treason in ELFRIDA's charms,
Who flies from ATHELWOLD to EDGAR's arms:

The faulty Earl is slain, and on the spot,
Another abbey falls to DUNSTAN's lot.-*

So much for love!-the gallant King expires,
And, scarcely he reposes with his sires,
'Ere fell ELFRIDA (like the Scottish Dame,
Who fann'd Macbeth's ambitions flame,)
Her sex forgot, her soul's repose disdain'd,
With blood of deepest dye the empire stain'd.

* The usual mode of compensation was resorted to, and a pile was raised in honour of a saint, to expiate the crime of murdering a sinner.

By

By way of Postcript, suffer me to add,

The King his Magistrates with care inspected, The just rewarded; woe betide the bad!

Whom neither rank, nor friends, nor place, protected.

He taught the Clergy to reform their lives,
Clergy who deem'd it wicked to have wives;
And therefore openly" withouten shame,"
Were kind to Ladies with another name.

EDGAR, and it was noble in the Prince,
Made yearly circuits to discover

Where pardon might reform and more convince
Than punishment. Of PEACE an ardent

lover.

Where more congenially cou'd MERCY rest, Than thus companion'd in a Monarch's breast?

END OF PART THE SECOND.

ENGLAND.

ENGLAND.

PART THE THIRD,

From Edward the Martyr to the Norman Conquest.

CONTENTS.

Edward the Martyr-Ethelred the Unready-Edmund Ironside. Danish Sovereigns: Canute the Great-Harold HarefootHardicanute-Edward the Confessor-Harold-Landing of William of Normandy-Conquest of England.

SUMMARY