which left all safe and quiet in the Southern Parts and main Body of the Kingdom whilst he marched with his Army against his Enemies in the North Nor is the Safety of a Prince so firm and well established upon any other Bottom as the general Safety and thereby Satisfaction of the common People which make the Bulk and Strength of all great Kingdoms whenever they conspire and unite in any common Passion or Interest For the Nobles without them are but like an Army of Officers without Soldiers and make only a vain Show or weak Noise unless raised and encreased by the Voice of the People which for this Reason is in a common Latin Proverb called the Voice of God No Prince ever made greater or happier Experience of this Truth than William the Conqueror both in the Events of the last and formidable Dangers which he so easily surmounted and in the whole Course of his subsequent Reign which was infested by many new Troubles either in England or in Normandy that would have proved fatal to him if he had been distracted by the common Discontents or Insurections of his English Subjects for his present Calm was not of long Continuance the Clouds soon gathered again and threatned another Storm and from the same Winds by which the last had been raised Malcolm King of Scotland still persisted in the Envy and Fear of his neighbouring Power and Greatness still esteemed it his own Interest to joyn with those of Edgar and his Dependants in England and thereby weaken the Force or disturb the Quiet of the Norman Government in England before it should by the Favour of Time and calm Seasons take too deep Root to be afterwards shaken He raised a greater Army than before with which he threatned again to invade England and led them himself though still in Favour only of Edgar's Title and Advancement to the Crown He entered into new Practises with several of the English Nobles who had followed him though unfortunately in the last Expedition and were resolved to repair their former Losses by venturing greater rather than give over the Game Nor could the Hopes of the discontented English ever die while the Root was alive and they were fomented by the Malice and encouraged by the Forces of so powerful a Neighbour joyned with so just Pretensions as those of Edgar were generally esteemed When the Preparations in Scotland and Intelligences in England were ripe for Execution the Earl Edwin made his Escape and fled towards the North but was by the Way murdered by some of his own Retinue The Earls Morchar and Hereward who were already upon the Wing for the same Flight discouraged by this Misadventure durst not pursue it but yet already engaged too far to make a Retreat they made Way to possess themselves of the Isle of Ely fortified there the best they could and hoped the Scotch Invasion would divert the King's Forces from attempting them before Winter and that the Season and Scituation together would there cover them for some Time On the contrary the Scotch King was discouraged from beginning his March by the News of these Disasters among his Confederates in England and chose rather to send the Bishop of Durham and Earl Syward out of Scotland to relieve and animate those Lords retired to the Isle of Ely than to enter England without Hopes of their making some Diversion But the King who never feared or slighted any Dangers and knew they were like Diseases to be taken in time marched immediately with his Forces to the Isle of Ely beset it upon one side with a great Number of flat bottom Boats and on another made a Bridge of two Miles long with incredible Diligence and Labour and with such Speed as both surprised and terrified his Enemies within So as despairing of further Resistance they all submitted to the King's Mercy except Hereward who with some few Followers escaped through the Fens and through many Dangers arrived safe in Scotland The rest of the Lords were sent Prisoners to several Parts of the Kingdom where some remained during the King's Life and others dyed be-before him with whom they could not be content to live The King after this small Adventure so happily atchieved and the present Peace of his Kingdom restored yet considering the Root of all his Dangers was in Scotland and unwilling to take up present Quiet and Safety at too great an Interest of Dangers to come resolved to march into Scotland with a powerful Army and endeavour to secure himself on that Side either by a Peace or Victory He first sent Roger a Norman then Gospatrick Earl of Northumberland with Part of his Forces into the North to oppose the Scotch Army that was already entred those Provinces with great Spoils and Ravages of the Country and to keep them at a Bay till the King came up with the rest of his Army In the mean time he assembled his Forces at York with the best Choice of Men and Officers and such Numbers as he judged necessary for such an Expedition composed of English and Normans whose Emulation he encouraged with Promises of Reward and Hopes of establishing their common Safety by the Success of this Enterprise From York to Durham he met with many Hardships and Difficulties from the Wants of his Army in a Country which had been so lately wasted by the Scotch Forces and his own and with which he was then contented to prevent another Invasion But having surmounted all by his own Care and the Patience of his Men from the Example of their Leaders he marched near the Borders without any Opposition though common Fame had made him expect the Scotch would give him Battle in England and not the Trouble of so long a March. But Malcolm their King now destitute of Hopes or Assistances from any forreign Confederates or any Insurrections in England after the late Disasters of the discontented Lords began to cool the Heats of his Blood and instead of further invading England changed his Counsels and resolved only upon a defensive War At the News of King William's Entrance into the Northern Provinces he quitted Northumberland and with good Order retreated back to the Borders and there encamped his Army to the best Advantage without making any further Incursions into the English Territories either to secure his Provisions or not to provoke his Enemies and render all Terms of Reconcilement desperate or not to endanger his Retreat in Case of any Disaster The King of England approaching the Borders and thereby the Scotch Army thought fit likewise to encamp his own both to refresh his Soldiers harassed by so long and difficult a March as also to discover the Forces of the Enemy observe their Countenance their Order and their Motions and thereby judge of their Designs and direct his own to the best Advantage So that for some Days the two Armies stood at a Bay seeming both prepared for a fierce Encounter and yet both content to delay it
of their Liberties and even as an Affectation of an Arbitrary Power in this Particular and from the Exercise whereof he was only restrained by the Regards of his Safety and Interest in others of more Moment and Consequence The great Nobles resented it yet further as an Indignity by levelling their Privileges with the Liberties of the Commoners from whom they esteemed themselves distinguished by the usual Regards and Respects paid them from the Princes in their Degree as well as from the People Nor does it appear whether this violent Institution of the Forrest Laws proceeded from his passionate Love of hunting the only Pleasure to which this Prince was addicted or from his Avarice by so many Fines to encrease his Treasure or from a Desire of being absolute and arbitrary in one Part of his Government which he found he could not be with any Safety in the rest For his Partiality to the Normans though it was disguised or at least not evident in the common Forms of his Justice which run a free and even Course yet it was easily discovered in that of his Graces and Favour the Civil Offices Ecclesiastical Benefices Places of most Trust about his Person and in his Realm were conferred generally upon his Normans and besides these Advantages and those of the Forfeitures that fell upon his Entrance they appeared to have his Countenance his Conversation his Confidence so that whatsoever the English possessed of the Kingdom the Normans alone seemed to possess the King This might have been more excusable if the English had considered the King as much as themselves and many of his Circumstances as well as their own They were Strangers to him or but new Acquaintance they differed in Language in Manners in Customs they had very lately differed in Interest and from Enemies in War were indeed now become Subjects but rather as to a Conqueror than a lawful Prince The Normans spoke his Native Tongue were trained up in the same Customs acquainted with his Person from his Youth had attended him in his Court followed him in his Wars at Home and Abroad and thought it but just they should share in his Fortunes as they had in his Dangers However many of the great aspiring Spirits among the English Nobles could not bear this Partiality of the Kings They thought the Normans ought to be provided of Rewards or Honours in Normandy but those of England should be conferred upon English Besides they resented the common Testimonies of his Inclination to the Normans as much as they could have done Injuries to themselves like generous Lovers who are more jealous and spited to see their Rivals gain the Inclination of their Mistress than the Possession and had rather they should have her Body than her Heart Upon all these Causes the Discontents of many chief English Nobles and Prelates were grown to such a Height swelling more within the more they were suppressed that they wanted only a fair Occasion to draw them to a Head and make them break out with Violence and much Pain and Danger to the State This furnish'd them either by Fortune or Design in the third fourth or fifth Year of the Conqueror's Reign for the Authors are neither distinct nor agreed in assigning the Causes or the Times of this King's Actions in War or Institutions in Peace by which their true Nature and that of the Prince would have been best discovered whereas they content themselves to display their Eloquence or vent their Passions by relating general or particular Events what was done and what was suffered in his Reign by which some of the Norman Writers endeavonr to represent him as a God and some of the English like a Devil and both unjustly Edgar Atheling was Nephew to Edward the Confessor and the undisputed as well as undoubted Heir of the Kingdom from the Saxon Race It was generally thought that he had likewise been designed by King Edward a just and pious Prince to succeed him in the Throne and that his Declaration pretended by Harold or Testament by the Duke of Normandy were fictitious or at least neither of them evident from any clear and undoubted Writings or Testimonies Edgar was besides from the Bounty of his Nature the Excellence of his Temper the Prerogative of his Birth and the Compassion of his unjust Fortunes much and generally beloved and esteemed among all the English both Nobles and Commons yet he neither opposed Harold's Usurpation nor the Normans Conquest whether for want of Spirit to attempt so great an Adventure or upon Prudence not to oppose such Powers as he found unresistable and in which so many Circumstances had conspired choosing rather to content himself with the Shades of a private Condition out of Danger and Envy or at least to attend some future Occasions that might open a more probable Way to his Hopes and his Fortunes He was at London among many other Nobles when the famous and decisive Battle was fought at Hastings and the News brought of the Duke's Victory and of Harold's Death Those of the Nobles who were for opposing the Conqueror were for declaring Edgar Atheling King the Citizens of London were at first disposed to the same Resolution but the Bishops and Clergy who had the greatest Sway among both those Orders prevailed in this general Council for a general Submission to the Fate of the Kingdom In Pursuance of this Resolution Edgar Atheling with Stigand and Alred Archbishops of Canterbury and York Edwin and Morchar two of the greatest English Lords the rest of the Nobles and Bishops who had attended the Victorious Duke upon his Way to London was well received by him and treated with Bounty as well as Humanity so that the young Prince attended frequently at Court accompanied the King into Normandy returned with him into England and lived there for some time like one who had forgot his Birth and his Title though they were by the English well remembred But at length either weary of Rest or roused by other Spirits more unquiet than his own he resolved or at least pretended to make a Journey into Hungary where he was born during his Father's Exile had lived long and was much beloved He embarqued for Flanders with his two Sisters Margaret and Christine but forced by a Storm and contrary Winds or allured by fairer Hopes he was driven upon the Coasts of Scotland the first was given out but the last suspected from the Event of this Voyage He was received by Malcolm the King with great Kindness and Compassion of his Disasters both at Sea and Land was resorted to by all the Nobles and Gentlemen who had sheltered themselves in that Kingdom upon Hate or Fear of the Conquest in England and was by them acknowledged and honoured as the true lawful Heir of that Crown Soon after his Arrival the King of Scotland enflamed either with the Beauty of the young Lady or with the Hopes of her Brother's Fortunes or upon former Concert with the
English Nobles residing in Scotland and Intelligence with others discontented in England married the Lady Margaret eldest Sister of Edgar and thereby became newly engaged in the Interests and Family of this noble but unfortunate Prince The Fame of this Adventure was no sooner divulged in England than it raised a great though different Motion in the Minds of all Men there who were either well or ill affected to the new King filling one Party with new Hopes ' and the other with new Fears and reasonably enough in both from all common Appearances Many Persons of great Note and Authority in England repaired immediately upon it into Scotland some by easie Passages out of the Northern Counties and others out of the remoter Parts of the Realm by more difficult Escapes either by Sea or Land Among these were the Earls Edwin Morchar Hereward Seward Gospatrick Men of great Estates and Power as was believed in England with many other Nobles and Gentlemen But that which seemed yet of greater Influence and Authority was the Repair of Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury and Alred of York with divers other Bishops and Prelates who having been the chief Instruments in making Way for the easie Accession of Duke William to the Crown and for the general Submission of the English to his Reign were presumed now likely to prove of as great Moment and Importance for the Restoration and Support of a just English Title in Edgar as they had been for the Admission and Establishment of one disputed and forreign of the Norman Dukes Besides the Clergy being accounted the wise and learned Men of that Age were esteemed most likely to judge best of the Rights and best to foresee the Events in Disputes of the Crown and unlikely to embark themselves in a Bottom unsound upon either the Regards of Justice or Success Edgar exalted with such a Concourse of Nobles out of England and the Hopes they gave him of a greater from the People there when he should appear among them resolved to lay claim to that Crown and with stronger Arguments than those of a bare Title or Right of Succession how just soever For the Scotch King had now assisted him with a great Army being induced to engage openly in his Quarrel not only by the Charms of his Wife or Compassion of her Brothers hard Fortune but by Reasons of State as well as of Justice and Affection he feared the dangerous Neighbourhood of so powerful aspiring and fortunate a Prince and apprehended his Ambition would not cease with the Conquest of England but extend it to that of Scotland too and reducing the whole Island of Britain under one Dominion for which it seemed by Nature to have been framed he thought it both wise and necessary to give some Stop to this growing Power before it became too well setled at home and thereby prepared for new Enterprises abroad and that it was better carrying a War into England than expecting it in Scotland He was glad of so fair an Occasion to justifie his Quarrel and by advancing the Fortunes of Edgar to secure his own he had taken Measures with Swayn King of Denmark to enter the Humber with a powerful Navy whilst he with his Army entred the Northern Provinces by Land and with the Sons of Harold at the same Time to invade the West by the Assistance of Forces to be furnished by Drone King of Ireland to whom they had fled upon the Norman Victory He presumed upon great Insurrections among the English in Favour of Edgar and by the Authority of the Nobles his Associates who had represented the common Discontents in England to be as great as their own These Hopes were not ill grounded nor the Designs ill laid for the Danish Fleet was ready to sail and the Sons of Harold with their Irish Forces landed and raised a Commotion in the West at the same Time that Edgar with those out of Scotland invaded the North where he found at first no Opposition but instead of Enemies met with many Friends prepared to receive him and increase his Strength He made himself Master of Northumberland Cumberland and the Bishoprick of Durham by the Defeat of Robert Count of Mortain who was there slain with seven hundred Normans From thence he marched without Resistance as far as York which was defended by a strong Garrison of Norman Soldiers He besieged this City the Capital and Defence of all the Northern Counties and assaulted it with that Fury that he carried the Town by Storm where all the Normans were put to the Sword by the Rage and Revenge of the English Nobles in his Army many in the Heat of the Assault and the rest after they were entred and found no more Resistance After this Success Edgar remained some time at York to refresh his Army after so long a March and so warm an Action which had cost him the Lives of many brave Men and the Wounds of many more Besides he expected here to see his Army soon increased by the Repair of many Friends and Discontents out of the Southern Provinces of England and by the Arrival of the Danish Fleet in the Humber according to the Concert before agreed and for which he knew all had been prepared King William thus surrounded with Dangers from the West and North and with Jealousies of his new Subjects of whose Affections he had yet made no Trial further than some few Years Submission to his Government was yet undaunted at the News of all these Attempts nor any ways distracted by such various either Dangers or Fears He applied himself to those which were nearest by sending the Forces he had ready immediately into the West under experienced Commanders and prepared a greater Army both of English and Normans to march himself into the North after the Commotions in the West should be appeased This happened to be easier and sooner than he expected for the Attempt of Harold's Sons with their Irish Forces proved weak and faint though successful in the first Encounter wherein Ednoth a brave Commander on the King's side was slain with several of his Followers but the Sons of Harold being defeated in a second Engagement and failing of any considerable Recourse or Insurrection of the English there upon which they had grounded their chief Hopes much disappointed and thereby discouraged were easily broken by the brave Norman Troops and forced to return with the Remainder of their Irish Forces into Ireland King William upon the happy End of this Adventure after the best Orders taken for the Security of the Southern Parts in his Absence marched at the Head of a brave Army in the North engaged the Forces of Edgar in a set Battel and by the Valour of his Troops the Discipline and Order of his Army and his own excellent Conduct defeated entirely the united Strength of his Enemies sieged and took again the City of York defended by Waltheof Son to the Earl Syward a young Gentleman of great Valour and
he had laid in an advantageous Pass he broke them killed some and put the rest to Flight then he advanced against the main Body where the King commanded and by an unnatural Chance he charged his old Father with such Fury that by the Stroak of his Launce he wounded him in the Arm and overthrew him to the Ground The King calling out upon his Fall his Son immediately knew his Voice and stung upon the sudden with the Conscience of his Crime and his Duty he leaped from his Horse raised his Father up from the Ground fell down upon his Knees begged Pardon of his Offence with Offers upon it to return to his Duty and Obedience The King moved by the same Force of Nature received his Submissions forgave him and embracing him ended an Adventure in Tears of Joy which had begun in Blood The Armies were as easily reconciled as their Leaders and all together marched to Rouen where the King was received with all Demonstrations of Joy and the Duke compliplimented upon his happy Reconcilement with his Father nor were those the last in this Croud of Rejoycers who had been the chief in promoting the Quarrel between them The King made no long Stay in Normandy dissembling the Knowledge or Resentment of what Part the French King had played in this Affair but after having re-established the Quiet and Order of the Province returned with his whole Forces into England left his Son in the Government of Normandy trusting to his Duty and the Loyalty of his Subject there as if nothing had passed to give him the least Suspicions of either A true Strain of the noble and fearless Nature of this Prince who was rather made to surmount all Dangers he encountred by brave Actions and judicious Councils than either to invite or anticipate his Misfortunes by Distrust and vain Apprehensions which are but the Distractions of weak and timorous Minds Yet this Sincereness and Confidence of the King had not the Return they deserved for Duke Robert having once tasted the Sovereign Power could not long digest any Dependance upon another Will and lying still open to the Practises of France upon his Levity and Ambition relapsed the next Year into his former Distemper and assumed again the Sovereignty of Normandy and as Duke thereof in his own Right which was again acknowledged and obeyed by the Normans The King upon the News of this second Defection in his Son and his Subjects fell into great Passion and in it is said to have cursed his Son and the Hour wherein he begat him but soon returning to himself with his usual Judgment and Composure of Mind gave present Orders for preparing a much greater Army and Navy than he had used in last Years Expedition and though both were shattered by great Storms he met with at Sea yet upon his Arrival in Normandy either the Fame of his Forces or the Lightness of his Son's Dispositions or Remorse of his Duty prevailed with Duke Robert to offer again his Submissions and Obedience to his Commands The King again received them pardoned both his Son and his revolted Subjects but forced now to more Caution than he had used before after having settled once more the Peace and Quiet of Normandy and placed the Government in safer Hands he took his Son with him into England and imployed him in the hard rough Wars of Scotland against Malcolm who upon the King's Absence and Confidence of being long detained by the Norman Revolt and Diversion of France had taken Occasion to pass the Borders with an Army and ravage the Northern Provinces of England Though Duke Robert gained no great Honour by this Expedition yet the King gained his End For the Scotch disheartned by his unexpected Return and more by his perfect Reconcilement with his Son returned home upon the Approach of the English Army and renewed the Peace which lasted the rest of the two Kings Lives About the same time incensed against the Welsh for many Inroads and Spoils upon the Frontier Counties he sent an Army against them subdued the plain and accessible Parts of their Country drove them to the fast Holds of their Mountains forced them to sue for Peace which he granted upon Homage done him by their Prince and upon Hostages given for Performance of the other Conditions This fortunate and victorious King seemed now to have passed all the tempestuous Seasons of his Life and secure of Repose for what remained which was necessary or most agreeable to the great Decline of his Age. He was at Peace with all his Neighbours obeyed and honoured by his Subjects feared by his Enemies and the Troubles of his Family were wholly appeased so that it was hard for any Man to conjecture from what Side any new Storm should arise But the Decrees of Heaven are wrapped up in the Clouds and the Events of future things hidden in the Dark from the Eyes of Mortal Men. The wisest Councils may be discomposed by the smallest Accidents and the securest Peace of States and Kingdoms may be disturbed by the lightest Passions as well as the deep Designs of those who govern them For though the wise Reflections of the best Historians as well as the common Reasonings of private Men are apt to ascribe the Actions and Councils of Princes to Interests or Reasons of State yet whoever can trace them to their true Spring will be often forced to derive them from the same Passions and personal Dispositions which govern the Affairs of private Lives as will be evident in the Sequel of this King's Reign The Normans were desirous to have a Prince of their Race reside among them the King was unwilling to venture again the ill Consequences of his Son Robert's Ambition or Inconstancy and therefore sent him over into Normandy but joyned in Commission with his youngest Son Henry whose Duty and Affection he most relied on both to observe the Actions and temper the Levity of his eldest Brother These two Princes agreed better than is usual to Associates in Power and governing the Province with Moderation and Prudence reduced Affairs there to such Order and Tranquility that having little Business at home they went to seek some Diversion abroad and made a Visit to the King of France then at Constance who received them with great Honour and Kindness and as was thought not without Design of renewing old Practises with Duke Robert to his Father's Prejudice Whatever Affairs might busie the Thoughts of that King and the Duke those of Lewis the young Dauphin and Prince Henry were taken up with the common Entertainments of Youth and of Leisure Love Hunting Play and other such Divertisements wherein the Similitude of Age and of Customs made them constant Companions It happened one Evening that the Dauphin playing at Chess at the Prince's Lodging lost a great many Games and much Money to Prince Henry and grew thereupon first into ill Humour and at length into ill Language which being returned by the
it the Name of Ierne and this Name was communicated to all the rest of that Race who conquered and possessed the North of Ireland which from them was stiled by the Saxons Iren-land and by Abbreviation Ireland And the Original Name seems to have belonged rather to those Parts of Scotland than Ireland since it is given us by the ancientest Latin Verse that mentions it with the Epithet of Glacialis Ierne which agrees little with the Clymate of Ireland That these fierce Invaders were Scythians or Scyths which was their Vulgar Termination is probably conjectured if not ascertained not only from their Name but from the Seat of that Continent which is nearest to the North of Scotland This is Norway and is the utmost Western Province of that vast Northern Region which extends from thence to the farthest Bounds of Tartary upon the Eastern Ocean and was by the Ancients comprehended in that general Appellation of Scythia as well as divided into several other Barbarous Names and Countries Besides 't is both usual and rational that such great Transmigrations of People should be made from a worse to a better Clymate or Soil rather than to a worse which makes this probable to have proceeded from Norway than from lower and more fertile parts of Germany and the Island which is the nearest part of Land to that Continent of Norway retains still the Name of Schetland as the first point which is reported to have been touched by the Scots or Scyths in this Navigation Another Argument may be drawn from several Customs still remaining among the Old Northern Irish which are recorded to have been anciently among some of the Scythian Nations removing their Houses or Creats from one place to another according to the Seasons Burning of their Corn instead of Beating or Treading in other Countries Eating Blood they drew from living Cattle Feeding generally upon Milk and using little other Husbandry besides the Pasture and Breed of Cattle To this is added that the Mantle or Plad seems to have been the Garment in use among the Western Scythians as they continue still among the Northern Irish and the Highland Scots For their Language it must be confess'd there is not left the least Trace by which we may seek out the Original of this Nation for it is neither known nor recorded to have been used any where else in the World besides Ireland the High-lands of Scotland and the Isle of Man and must be allowed to be an Original Language without any Affinity to the Old British or any other upon the Continent and perhaps with less mixture than any other of those Original Languages yet remaining in any parts of Europe The Conjecture raised of its having come from Spain because some Spanish words are observed in it appears too light to be regarded when those very words are of the modern Spanish which is a Language not above seven or eight Hundred Years Old and compounded chiefly out of Old Roman and Gothick with a later intrusion of the Saracen among them And yet I know no better ground than this for the other Tradition of Ireland having been anciently planted from Spain and esteem the few Spanish words to have been introduced only by Traffick of the South-west parts of Ireland to Spain It seems probable that from what part soever of the Continent this Nation Sailed upon this Adventure they were driven away by the force or fear of some other Invaders and in so great numbers that the Natives remaining neither preserved any where their Name or Language but were either destroy'd by the Conquerors or blended into the Masse of the new Nations who seated themselves in their Country as we find the Old British to have been in England by the Conquests and Inundations of the Saxons The time of this Expedition is yet less in view nor does Buchanan or any other Author that I know of pretend to tell or so much as conjecture further than upon a supposition of the Scots coming first out of Ireland without alledging any Authority for that neither I know no way of making any guesses at a matter so obscure without recourse to the Runick Learning and Stories by which we find that the Asiatick Scythians under the Names of Getes or Goths and the Conduct of Odin their Captain their Law-giver at first and afterwards one of their Gods are esteemed to have begun their Expedition into the North-west parts of Europe about the time that the Roman Arms began first to make a great noise and give great fears in Asia which was in the Reigns of Antiochus first and then of Mithridates How long the Arms of Odin and his Successors were imployed in the Conquest and Settlement of that vast Kingdom which contained all the Tracts of Country surrounding the Baltick Sea is not agreed upon in these Runick Stories but 't is necessary Norway must have been the last they possessed in their Western Progress and I am apt to think the Scyths may have been driven by them to seek nearer Seats in our Islands and that 't is probable to have been some time of the first Century Whenever it was it seems more agreed that after the first Entrance of the Scots into Caledonia they subdued much of the Country mingled with the the rest of the Native Picts continued long to infest the Frontier Parts of the Roman Colonies in Britain with great fierceness and many various Events and would possibly have made much greater noise and impressions upon the Romans if their greater Numbers had not been drawn another way by so great a Drain as that of Ireland which they totally conquered and long possessed This is the best Account I have been ever able to give my self of these ancient Times and Events in the Northern Parts of our Islands being a matter that has imployed so many unskilful Pens in so much idle Trash and worthless Stuff as they have left upon it but all involved in such groundless Traditions and vanity of Fables so obscured by the length of Time and darkness of unlearned Ages or covered over with such gross Forgeries made at Pleasure by their first Inventers that I know few ancient Authors upon this subject worth the pains of Perusal and of dividing or refining so little Gold out of so much course Oar or from so much Dross And I have the rather made this Excursion because I have met with nothing in Story more Obscure and often observed with wonder that we should know less of Ireland than of any other Country in Europe For besides its having been anciently planted by the Scots and taken their Name and then after several Centuries been subdued and much of it planted by the Danes we know nothing certain of the Affairs or Revolutions of that Island till the English began their Conquests there under the Ensigns of Henry the Second For the Danish Establishments there we neither know the Time nor the manner they either began or ended though
Nations which under the Names of Goths and Vandals invaded the Roman Empire with infinite Numbers Fury and Danger to Rome it self all the Roman Legions were at last drawn out of Britain with most of the Britains that were fit for Military Service to relieve the Emperor who was pursued by the Goths into Piedmont and there besieged in a strong Passage or Town he pretended to Defend The Romans taking their last Leave of this Province here left the Britains to their own Government and Choice of their own Kings and Leaders with the best Instructions for the Exercise of their Arms and Discipline and the Repairs and Defence of the Wall or Rampart they had raised against their Northern Foes But these finding the whole Country deserted by the Roman Bands exhausted of their own bravest Youth and weakned by their new Divisions began to pour in greater Numbers than ever into the Northern Parts and ravaged all before them with greater Rage and Fury The poor Britains sent over their miserable Epistle for Relief still upon Record to the renowned Aetius who had by several famous Successes for a time repelled the Violence of the Gothick Arms which was addressed in these words To Aetius thrice Consul The Groans of the Britains and told him after other lamentable Complaints That the barbarous People drove them to the Sea and the Sea back to the barbarous People between which they had only left the Choice of these two Deaths either to be killed by the one or drowned by the other But having no Hopes given them by the Roman General of any Succours from that Side they began to consider what other Nation they might call over to their Relief The Saxons were one Branch of those Gothick Nations which swarming from the Northern Hive had under the Conduct of Odin possessed themselves anciently of all those mighty Tracts of Land that surround the Baltick Sea A Branch of these under the Name of Suevi from whom the Baltick was of old called Mare Suevicum had some time before Cesars Wars in Gaul invaded and subdued very large extended Territories in Germany from the Coast of the North-west Ocean to the South-eastern Parts whereof Suabia still retains the Memory and the Name These Suevi or Suabi were for their Strength and Valour grown so Formidable to all the German Nations they had Conquered and forced to seek new Seats That those upon the Rhine sending Embassadors to Cesar told him They would neither seek War with the Romans nor avoid it That they esteemed themselves as Valiant as any other Nation excepting only the Suevi for whom the very immortal Gods were not a Match These Suevi became afterwards divided into two several Nations and by Limits agreed between them Those towards the South-east of Germany were called Francs from their great Love of Liberty and their Valour in preserving it and never submitting to the Roman Subjection as many other German Nations had done These upon the fatal Decline of that Empire invaded Gaul under the leading of Pharamond and under the succeeding Kings of his Race conquered the whole Province and established that noble and ancient Kingdom of France The other Branch of the Suevi possessed themselves of all those Tracts of Land in Germany that lie between the Elve and the lower Rhine had extended their Seats all over the Coasts of the North-west Sea and from thence exercised their Arms and fierce Courages in all sorts of Spoils and Pyracies not only upon Merchants or Traders at Sea but upon the Maritime Coasts of Britain opposite to those Countries about the Mouth of the Rhine or thereunto adjacent These fierce People were called Saxons from a Weapon generally used among them and made like a Sythe with the Edge reversed which in in their Language were termed Seaxes To these Vortigern chosen King by the deserted and afflicted Britains made Address for Aid against the Picts and Scots who had now made Inroads as far as Trent Their desires of Relief and offers of Seats in Britain were soon accepted and granted by the Saxons who under the Conduct of Hengist and Horsa of the Race of Odin came over with great Numbers to the Assistance of the Britains in the year 450. They joyned with the Natives at first as Friends and Allies had the Isle of Thanet assigned them at their Landing and upon occasion of greater numbers the County of Kent for their Colony and Habitation They marched against the Picts and Scots and in Conjunction with the British Arms overthrew their Forces in several Battels or Encounters with those cruel Ravagers and beat them back into the most Northern Parts of the Province After this by Consent of the Britains Hengist and Horsa sent for their two Sons or near Kinsmen to come over with a new Army of Saxons by Sea into those Northern Parts who seated their Colony about Northumberland upon pretence of guarding that Frontier against the Picts and Scots and their Incursions upon the Britains which they did with great Bravery and Successes and thereby left those Nations contented or forced to bound their Territories with those rough and mountainous Countries that lye between the two Seas near the River Tweed and which ever since continued as the Borders between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland into which the Island came afterwards to be divided The Province now delivered and secured from their ancient Foes Dissentions began to arise between the Britains and their new Allies The Saxons valuing too high the assistance they had given and the Britains perhaps too low what they had received till the first allured by so fair a Prey and the fertile Soil of so sweet a Country inviting still greater numbers from the Continent establish'd two Saxon Kingdoms one in the Southern and t'other in the Northern Parts and from both these sides invaded the Britains who for some time defended themselves and their Liberties with various Successes and with the greater hatred and distinction the Saxons being all Pagans and the British generally Christians which Religion seems to have been planted here in the first Century but to have taken Root and spred chiefly under Constantius who was long Governour of the Roman Province here a great favourer of Christianity and Father of Constantine the Great In the time of these first Wars between the Saxons and Britains Ambrosius reigned over the last and either as General of his Armies or his Successor in the Kingdom Arthur so famous in the Traditions or rather in the Romances of succeeding Ages and who is said to have gained twelve Battels over the Saxons and to have left the Britains in the middle of the Province for some time to secure from these fierce Enemies till Peace and Luxury had again softned them and by new Dissentions among themselves exposed their whole Province to become an easie Prey to so fierce and numerous Invaders The time of King Arthur's Reign or Atchievments if any such there were must have been
or agreement of Times or Actions by the few and mean Authors of those barbarous and illiterate Ages and perhaps the rough course of those lawless Times and Actions would have been too ignoble a Subject for a good Historian About the Year 8 o. after many various Events and Revolutions between the several Races of the Heptarchy Ecbert descended from the West-Saxon Kings having inherited most of the Successions from the Prowess and Exploits of his Ancestors and acquired others by his own became the first sole King or Monarch of England as it now was distinguished from the Principality of Wales possessed by the old Britains and from that part of the Island to the North of Tweed possessed by the Picts and Scots and by the Saxons stiled by one common Name of Scotland This famous Adventure of the Saxons in England was atchieved by the Force and Confluence of such Multitudes from the Coasts of Germany which lie between the Belgick and Baltick Shores that some Parts of their Native Countries were left almost dispeopled to fill again by new Swarms from the great Northern Hive and the Number of Saxons and Angles Iutes and other Nations that came over were not only sufficient to Conquer and Wast this whole Province but even to Plant and People it soon again with numerous and new Inhabitants So as by them succeeded in this Island not only a Change of Government as by the Roman Arms but a Change of the very People or Nation that inhabited or possessed the Lands of this whole Province This induced a Change likewise of Names of Language of Customs of Laws of Arms of Discipline of Possessions of Titles of Religion and even of the whole Face of Nature through this whole Kingdom So as we may justly date the Original of all these amongst us as well as our Nation it self from these our Saxon Ancestors Britain which was before a Roman Province was now grown a Saxon Kingdom and instead of its former Name was called England The Language which was either Latin or British was now grown wholly Saxon or English The Land that was before divided into Roman Colonies or Governments was so now into Shires with Names given to them by the Saxons as they first possessed or afterwards thought fit to distinguish them The Habits in Peace and Arms in War the Titles of Officers in both as well as of great Counsellors to their Kings or great Proprietors of Lands came to be all according to the Saxon Forms and Usage The Laws of this Country which before were Roman changed now into Old Saxon Customs or Constitutions Their Princes or Leaders of their several Nations became Konings or Kings of the Territories they had subdued They reserved part of the Lands to themselves for their Revenue and shared the rest among their chief Commanders by great Divisions and among their Soldiers by smaller shares The first who had the great Divisions were called Earls or Barons those of the smaller were Knights and the smallest of all were Freemen who possessed some Proportions of free Lands and were thereby distinguished from the Villens that held nothing but at the Will of the Landlord In this universal Transformation Religion it self had a share like all the rest and received new Forms and Orders with the new Inhabitants whilst all that was Roman or British expired together in this Country The Britains began early to receive the Christian Faith and as is reported from some of the Disciples themselves And this was so propagated among them that when the Romans left the Province they were generally Christians and had their Priests and Bishops from the ancient and Apostolick Institution The Saxons were a sort of Idolatrous Pagans that worshipped several Gods peculiar to themselves among whom Woden Thor and Frea were the chief which left their Memory still preserved by the common names of three days in the Week This Religious Worship they introduced with them and continued long in England till they subdued the Britains reduced it under their Heptarchy of Saxons Kings persecuted the British Christians and drove them with their Religion into Wales where they continued under their Primitive Priests and Bishops who with their Monks were all under the Surintendance of one Arch-Priest or Bishop of Carleon or Chester the Bound of the British Principality About the year 600. or soon after Pope Boniface sent Austin the Monk to Preach the Gospel in England to the Heathen Saxons who landing at Dover was received with Humanity by Ethelbert King of the South Saxons and being admitted with four or five of his Companions as well-meaning Men to teach and explain the Doctrin and Mysteries of Christianity among these ignorant and barbarous People they so well succeeded that they converted at first great numbers of the common sort and at length the King himself whose example gave easie way for introducing the Christian Faith into his whole Kingdom which from thence spread into all the Countries subject to the Saxon Heptarchy Thus Religion came to be Establish'd in England under the Rites and Forms and Authority of the Roman Church by which Austin was instituted chief Bishop in England and seated by the Saxon King at Canterbury But his Jurisdiction though admitted in all the Saxon Territories was not received by the British Priests or People in Wales though endeavoured by many missions from Austin and his Successors and even by Wars and Persecutions of the Saxons upon the Old British Christians at the instigation of the New Romish Priests in one of which near Carleon Twelve Hundred of the poor British Monks are said to have been slaughtered while they were apart in the Field at their Prayers for the success of the British Army With this Account of a new face and state of Persons and of Things both Natural Civil and Religious establish'd in England I return to the Period I left of the Saxon Heptarchy which being extinguish'd by long and various Revolutions among themselves made way for the Reign of Ecbert the first sole King or Monarch of England about the year 830. It might have been reasonably expected that a wise and fortunate Prince at the Head of so great a Dominion and so brave and numerous a People as the English after the Expulsion of the Picts and Scots out of his Country into the rough Northern Parts and of the Britains into the North-west Corners of the Island should not only have enjoyed the Fruits of Peace and Quiet but left much Felicity as well as greatness to many succeeding Generations both of Prince and People Yet such is the instability of Human Affairs and the weakness of their best Conjectures That Ecbert was hardly warm in his united Throne when both he and his Subjects began to be alarmed and perplexed at the approach of new and unknown Enemies and this Island exposed to New Invasions About this time a mighty Swarm of the Old Northern Hive who had possessed the Seats about the Baltick
peaceably inhabiting came to incorporate and make a part of the English Nation without any distinction Edward the Confessor Reigned long reduced the Laws of Edward Alfred and Edgar's Reigns into more Form and Order and governed by them His Wars were successful both in Scotland and Wales though managed by his Leaders and without his presence But being a Prince of a soft and easie Nature he gave way to the growing Power and Arrogance of Earl Godwin and his Sons who had been the chief Instruments of advancing him to the Throne upon the Condition of Marrying Earl Godwin's Daughter After he was settled in the Kingdom either upon gratitude and inclination to the People and Customs of a Country where he had lived long and been well received when he was banished from his own He invited many of his Norman Friends into England employ'd them in his greatest Offices either of Church or State and upon some quarrels between them and the English exprest too much partiality to the Normans This gave Godwin and his Son Harold occasion or pretence of raising and heading great Discontents of the English against the Norman Favorites and at last Insurrections against the King who soft in his Nature devout in his temper and now declined in his Age endeavoured rather to appease these troubles by Articles than by Arms and thereby left Harold too powerful for a Subject and aspiring to the Crown Edward had no Children and though he seemed desirous to leave the Crown to his Nephew yet distrusting his weakness to defend it against so powerful a Rival it does not appear or is not agreed among Authors whether he made any disposition of it at his Death or no or whether any such at least as was afterwards pretended Harald alledged that he was appointed by Edward the Confessor to succeed him was believed by some and allowed by more who followed his Power rather than his Right and was immediately after the King's Death elected or admitted to the Crown His first trouble was from his own Brother who being the Elder had obtained assistance from Norway to set up a Title or Pretence to the Kingdom though he could have no other but that his Brother had usurped it Harald having marched into the North overthrown his Brother and his Army of Strangers or Discontents with great slaughter at Stamford was suddenly recalled by a more dangerous and fatal Storm from the South For William Duke of Normandy surnamed the Conqueror was landed at Hastings with a mighty Army of stout Norman Soldiers to pursue a Right he pretended to the Succession of the Crown after the Death of Edward What this was is but obscurely proved or defended But the pretext was that Edward had by Testament left him Successor of the Crown and that Harald while he was last in Normandy had likewise assured him of his Assistance to advance him to the Kingdom upon the Death of the King and the Duke therefore sent to put him in mind of that Engagement But Harald was in possession and admitted neither of these Claims resolved to defend well what he had gotten ill since the apparent Right was in Edgar Atheling descended from the true Saxon Race and from a Brother of Edward the Confessor To decide these Disputes between the two powerful Pretenders while the just Right lay unregarded for want of Force to support it a fierce and bloody Battel was Fought near Hastings which continued for a whole day with great Bravery and Slaughter on both sides but ended with the Death of Harald most of the bravest Captains and above Sixty Thousand Soldiers of the English Nation who resolved to defend a Domestick Usurper against a Foreign Invader and by the loss of their Lives made easie way for the undisputed Succession of William the Conqueror to the Crown of England about the year 1066. or as some account 1068. This Norman Prince was Natural Son of Robert the Sixth Duke of Normandy by Arlette a very Beautiful Virgin of Falaize with whom he fell in Love as she stood gazing at her Door whilst he passed through that Town So that he was the Issue of a sudden and strong Inclination like a noble Plant raised in a hot Bed which gave it such Force and Vigour as made it prosper and grow to so great a Height Nor is it unlikely that the ancient Heroes derived themselves from some Gods to cover the Misfortunes or Follies the Rapes or Loves of some fair Maidens or else the Passions of some frail Wives who loved a Gallant better than a Husband And the force of such Encounters might have Part in the Constitution of a young Hero and give a Natural Vigour Spirit and Lustre to the Children from the Flames wherein they were conceived 'T is certain this young Conqueror owed his Greatness to his Birth and his Fortunes to his personal Merit from the strength of his Temper and vigour of his Mind For he had a Body of Iron as well as a Heart of Steel Yet his Intellectuals were at least equal to his other natural Advantages and he appears as Wise in his politick Institutions as he was Bold in his Enterprises or Brave and Fortunate in the Atchievment of his great Adventures His Father Robert growing Old fell into a Fit of Devotion frequent enough in that Age which made him resolve upon a Visit to the holy Sepulcher His Nobles used all Arguments they could to disswade him but chiefly from the want of lawful Issue and the Competition like to arise upon his Death between several great Pretenders which might prove dangerous to his Country and perhaps fatal to the Norman State But he persisted in the Design of his Journy and told them he had a young Son that he believed certainly to be his own and of whose Person and Disposition he had great Hopes and therefore resolved to leave him his Successor in the Dutchy recommended him to their Care and Loyalty and appointed the King of France to be his Guardian and the Duke of Britain his Governour who was one of the fairest Pretenders to the Succession of that Dutchy after the failing of Robert's Line An unusual Strain or Testimony of the good Faith and Meaning of that Age where Honour was so much more in Request than Interest that such a Prince could trust a Son of reproached Birth and disputed Right to a powerful Neighbour the likeliest to Invade him and to a Pretender that stood the fairest to contest his Title The Prince was not above Nine or Ten Years Old when Duke Robert caused his Nobles and Chief Norman Subjects to Swear Fealty to him and afterwards carried him to do Homage to Henry the First King of France for the Dutchy of Normandy according to the Custom of the former Dukes since their first Accords with that Crown after their Conquests and Establishments in that Part of France which was before called Neustry and took the Name of Normandy from those fierce Invaders These coming
distance fell again to their Arrows with one of which Harold was shot quite through the Head and fell to the Ground And by his Death gave the Victory and the Field to the Normans which had hitherto continued doubtful on both sides and seemed thus far to have been Fought with equal Courage and with equal Loss But the Flight of the English upon Harold's Fall soon determined it and was followed by a long and bloody pursuit of the Normans which continued till Night and left mighty Numbers of the English slain in their Flight that had been safe in the Battel and the rest of them wholly dispersed though covered by the Night So different are the effects of Courage and of Fear and so Just the Rewards of both the first which seeks dangers often avoids them the other often runs into them by endeavouring to escape them Much greater numbers falling in all Battels by the pursuit of those that fly than by the Slaughter of those that Fight Nothing seems to show the greatness of England so much at this time as that Harold should be able to assemble so mighty an Army to oppose this Invasion And find above Threescore Thousand Men Brave enough not only to Fight but to lose their Lives in his defence For so many are agreed to have been slain of the English at this Battel of Hastings where he lost his Crown and his Life together and left the Field with the Kingdom to this brave Norman Conquerour This was the Man These the Forces and such the Circumstances that contributed to so famous an Enterprise by which the Fate of England was determined in or about the Year 1066. The Duke after this famous Victory resolved not to lose the Fruits and Advantages he had thereby gained which is often done for want of Speed or Vigour in the Prosecution wherein Celerity is sometimes of more Consequence than Force Therefore after the Pursuit of his broken Enemies and a short Refreshment of his own Army He began immediately his March towards London where was all the Strength then left in the Kingdom believing if he could be Master of the Head the rest of the Body would follow without more Struggle or Resistance In his March he is said to have exercised much Cruelty towards all he found in Arms with great Rigour and Oppression upon the other Inhabitants and Spoil of the Countries where he passed till entring into a Woody Part of Kent and advancing with his Vanguard before the rest of his Army he found himself almost environed with mighty Numbers of the Kentish Men who had concealed themselves in the Wood by carrying every Man a great Bough of a Tree like a Shield in his Hand But when they saw the Norman Troops and the Duke at the Head of them within their Danger they began on a sudden to march like a moving Wood till approaching their Enemies they threw down their Boughs and discovered on all Sides a Multitude of brave armed Men ready to charge the Normans that stood surprised and amazed at the Strangeness of the Sight which appeared as if a Wood had been by some Enchantment transformed into an Army But the Kentish Men approaching made a Halt and sent the Abbot of St. Austins to tell the Duke that all the Men of that Province were there assembled to defend their Country and their Liberties or to sell their Lives as dear as they could that if he would swear to preserve them in those ancient Laws and Customs under which they and their Ancestors had so long lived they were all ready to lay down their Arms and become his Subjects if not he must prepare to fight with Men that had resolved to lose their Lives rather than their Liberties and Laws The Duke finding he was too far advanced to joyn the Body of his Army before he engaged and unwilling to venture all his Fortunes and Hopes against such numerous Bands as these appeared and of so desperate Men granted to all the Inhabitants of the Province of Kent the Preservation and free Enjoyment of all their ancient Laws and Customs under the Saxon Reigns swore the Observance of his Grant received their Homage and so pursued his March This is represented as a forc'd Prelude to a subsequent voluntary Act of this Prince whereby he made or confirmed the same Concession in general to all the rest of the Kingdom And though this Adventure of the Kentish Men be not recorded with great Evidence of Truth or Agreement of Circumstances or of Time for some Writers place it before his first Arrival at London others after and upon an Expedition to reduce the Castle of Dover yet it is related by so many Authors and is so generally received by vulgar Tradition that it seems not to be omitted But when or however it happened or whether at all or no is not material to the History of this Prince or to the following Actions or Institutions of his Reign In the City of London besides the great Numbers and Riches of the Inhabitants were retired most of the great Nobles of the Kingdom both Ecclesiastical and Secular who had not been engaged in Action of either Side and attended what would be the Issue of this strong and violent Convulsion of the State Upon Decision of the last Battel they all consulted together with the Citizens what was best to be advised and done for their common Interest and Safety as well as of the whole Kingdom which was like to run their Fate by following their Example Many of the secular Nobles were for collecting what Forces they could and making a stand either in the Field or in the Town and thereby trying their Fortunes or at the worst making Conditions for they could not bear that their great Possessions and Lands should lie at the Mercy of a Prince whose Will might be as boundless as his Power and who had so great a Train to be rewarded at their Cost and by the Spoils if he pleased of the whole Kingdom The Citizens feared the hostile Entrance of an incensed Army upon a weak Resistance and the sudden Loss of their Possessions which consisting chiefly in Moveables might be seized in a Day and dissipated past any Recovery by the very Grace of the Prince or succeeding Composition between him and the rest of the Kingdom They thought no Forces could be collected either in Time upon so sudden an Approach or with Strength enough to make Opposition in a Body that had lost so much Blood and without a Head to command them or upon any Treaty to manage their common Interests to the best Advantage and so they were disposed to submit to what they esteemed the Fate of the Kingdom The Arch-bishops Bishops and the rest of the Clergy were a sort of State apart within the State it self having a Jurisdiction independent as they pretended and were usually allowed in that Age upon the secular Power they held their Lands and Possessions in the Kingdom
Justice being the very Foundation of Government as Treasure is said to be the Sinew of War For the first As he had sworn at his Coronation to govern by the Laws of the Realm so he continued the ancient Customs and Liberties of the People that were called the common Law of the Kingdom which he caused to be in Substance observed both in what concerned the Crown and the Subject though he introduced several new Forms in the Administration or Execution of them Besides the ancient Laws or Customs that concerned the Descent of private Inheritances or the Penalties upon several Crimes There were two fundamental Laws of the Saxon or English Kingdom The Trial by Juries of twelve Men wherein consisted the chief Safety of Mens Properties and Lives And the Burrough Law which was the greatest Security that had been invented by the Wisdom of our Saxon Ancestors for the Peace and Order of the Realm The first I know is by some Authors mentioned as having been introduced by this Norman King out of the Laws of that Country But I think it evident to have been an Institution very ancient among the Saxons and to have been derived and observed during the whole Succession of the English Kings and even in the Danish Reigns without any Interruption Nor does there want some Traces or Appearance of it from the very Institutions of Odin the first great Leader of the Asiatick Goths or Getae into Europe and the Founder of that mighty Kingdom round the Baltick Sea from whence all the Gothick Governments in these Northwest Parts of the World were derived by the spreading Conquests of those Northern Races 'T is recorded that upon the beginning of his Expedition he ordained a Council of twelve Men who should judge and decide all Matters that came in Question and there being then no other Laws establisht among those vast Numbers of rough People going to seek out new Conquests and thereby Seats to inhabit It is probable these twelve Men judged all Cases upon Evidence or matter of fact and then gave their Sentence and appointed Penalties according to what they esteemed most agreeable to Justice and Equity so as the twelve Men were at first both Jurors and Judges Their Judgments in Causes both real and criminal being generally approved as just and equitable grew into President to succeeding Judges and being received by general Submission introduced the Custom of certain Sentences being pronounced in certain Causes and certain Punishments being usually inflicted upon certain Crimes In Process of Time and Multiplicity of Business the matter of Fact continued to be tried by twelve Men but the Adjudgment of the Punishment and the Sentence thereupon came to be given by one or two or more Persons chosen out of such as were best versed in the Knowledge of what had been usual in former Judgments upon like Cases and as the first Part was left to the Equals or Neighbours of the Persons accused as most likely to do Justice to one of their own Rank or Acquaintance so the other was committed to Persons of Learning or Knowledge in the ancient Customs Records or Traditions of what had long passed in the Course of Justice among that Nation Thus we find it evident that in the Saxon Reigns in England Causes were adjudged by the Aldermen and Bishop of the several Shires with the Assistance of twelve Men of the same County who are 〈◊〉 said to have been Judges or Assistants to the two first by such as affirm or pretend this manner of Trial to have been drawn by the Conqueror himself out of Normandy who is thereby said to have introduced in this as well as some other Forms the Norman Laws into the common Law of England 'T is true that the same Custom or Trial was used in Normandy before the Conquest and it is most probable that neither the English received it from the Normans nor these from the English but that both Nation deriving their Original from those ancient Goths agreed in several Customs or Institutions deduced from their common Ancestors which made this Trial by Juries continue uninterrupted in England not only by the Normans but by the Danes also who were but another Swarm of that great Northern Hive 'T is true the Terms of Jury and Verdict were introduced by the Normans with many others in the Stile and Practice of our Laws but the Trials by twelve Men with that essential Circumstance of their unanimous Agreement was not only used among the Saxons and Normans but is known to have been as ancient in Sweden as any Records or Traditions of that Kingdom which was the first Seat of the Gothick Dominions in the Northwest Parts of Europe and it still remains in some Provinces of that Country However King William caused this to be observed as the common Law of the Kingdom and thereby gave great and universal Satisfaction to the Body of the People both English and Normans The Burrough Law had been likewise anciently establish'd among the Saxons whereby every Shire was divided into so many Hundreds or Burroughs consisting at first of one hundred Families therein usually inhabiting every Hundred into so many Tithings consisting of ten Families If any Person committed or were accused of any Crime the Tithing to which he belonged was bound to produce him to Justice before the Court of the Hundred or County If he fled they were to swear they were not Complices of the Fact and that they would procure the Criminal whenever they could find him if this failed in a certain time they would discover all the Goods he was possess'd of within their Tithing to satisfie the Damage done to a Subject or a Fine to the King upon such an Offence If neither Person nor Estate appeared then the Tithing was answerable to a certain Proportion and if that were not sufficient then it was laid upon the Hundred By this means it became every Man's Interest as well as Duty to prevent all Crimes and Misdemeanors among their Neighbours and to discover the Criminals since they were otherwise to share in the Penalty and as the rest of the Tithing was bound for the Behavior of every Freeman among them so every Lord or Master was bound to answer in the same manner for their Servants I know not whether any Constitution of Government either ancient or modern ever invented and instituted any Law or Order of greater Wisdom or of greater Force to preserve the Peace and Safety of any State and of equal Utility to the Prince and People making Virtue and Innocence of Life so necessary by the easie Apprehension or Discovery and certain Punishment of Offenders This Law the King caused likewise to be severely observed during his Reign finding therein his own Interest as well as his Peoples and the great Security of his new settled Government He confirmed all Mens Properties Inheritances and Successions invading none either for his own Benefit or Reward of his Norman Forces or Friends
excepting the Possessions of such as had opposed his Claim to the Crown which he pretended to be a lawful Right as derived from the Testament of Edward the Confessor and thereby was made a Pretence of legal Forfeiture in all that resisted him But this Blow to so many Estates and Families was given at once and no more renewed On the contrary Justice was administred equally to the English Men upon the Injuries of the Normans who presume upon the King's Favour in Prejudice of Right and of those Laws he had confirmed or established Whereof one memorable Instance remains upon Record even in those Writers who were most severe upon the Actions and Memory of this Prince It was an Action between Warren a Norman and Sherburn an English Man The first by Virtue of a Grant from the King had entered upon the Lands of the other who came into Court and pleaded That he had never bore Arms against the King nor opposed his Title or Accession to the Crown but had lived always peaceably upon his own Lands and so was liable to no Forfeiture by the common Law but was further secured by the King's Declaration immediately after his coming to the Crown Upon which Plea a just Sentence was given in favour of Sherburn his Lands restored and Warren the Norman cast and condemned to the Costs of the Suit He appointed Justices to preserve the Peace and administer Justice in every County pursuant to that which was used in the Saxon Reigns For the Pleas of the Crown and those of greater Moment between the Subjects he created Judges of the most learned and able he could find and ordained four Terms each Year consisting of a certain Number of Days wherein Justice should be duly administred and all Suits heard in such Places as the King should appoint and find most convenient Besides these Orders he instituted the Courts of Chancery and Exchequer the first for tempering the Rigor of Laws according to the Dictates of Conscience and Equity and the other for determining all Actions concerning the Revenues of the Crown and punishing Exactions or irregular Proceedings in the Officers who levied or received them as well as Defaults or Delays in those from whom it was due For Taxes or Impositions unusual it does not appear that he levied any excepting one of Six Shillings upon each Plow-land throughout the Kingdom nor is it well agreed at what Time or upon what Occasion this was raised whether by consent of a general Assembly or by his own Regal Authority By this indeed he imposed Danegelt upon the Invasion of the Danes which happened once or twice in this Reign though with little Progress or Success This Tax was first raised by Ethelreld upon the first Enterprise of the Danes upon England and afterwards used by several of his Successors upon the like Danger sometimes to repulse them by Force and Arms sometimes to evade them by Bargains and Money wherewith they compounded for the present Dangers but invited others to come by such mean Defences This Tax grew odious to the People whenever it was raised upon any other Pretence than a Danish Invasion and though it was sometimes levied yet very seldom and cautiously by some few of the Saxon Kings and but once or twice by this Norman Prince and then most probably upon the true natural Occasions which had given it the first Original Thus I suppose it is confounded with the Tax before mentioned and without applying it to the Danish Invasions by some Writers who seem to take all Occasions of defaming the Actions and Memory of this King and to avoid all just Excuses of any that were ill resented And this proceeded from the ill Talent of the Monkish Writers who measured the Virtues and Vices of Princes by the Opinion of their Favour or Disaffection to the Clergy whom they accounted or stiled the Church though this general Appellation is known to comprehend not only such Persons as were anciently chosen to administer the Offices of divine Worship but also all believing Christians that composed such Assemblies to whom those Offices were administred Of this the King seemed to be sensible for though he was a Prince of known and great Piety and so approved by the several Popes during his Reign yet he appeared very little favourable if not something hard to the Ecclesiasticks of this Kingdom and perhaps something bold with their Privileges so long enjoy'd under the devout Saxon Kings For the rest he contented himself with the usual Revenues of the Crown and by his great Order and Management as well as Moderation in his constant Expence gained much Ease to the Crown and Satisfaction to his People The chief and ancient Branches of the Crown Revenue consisted of First the Lands of old reserved as a Provision for the King's Houshold and so reckoned as Crown-Lands These at first yielded only certain Quantities of Provisions as Beefs Sheep Wheat Hay Oates according to the Nature of the Lands the Tenures by which they held and the Quantity of Provisions found necessary for the King's Houshold What Overplus remained was compounded for and paid in Money according to Rates usual and agreed The next was a Duty reserved anciently out of every Knight's Fee which at first was constantly paid as a Quit-rent but being small came in time to be neglected by the Kings that contented themselves with the Military Attendance of the Knights in their Wars and with levying sometimes a greater Duty upon great or urgent Occasions under the Name of Escuage which was burthensom and odious till the Proportions and Occasions came to be ascertained Those Authors who will make the Conquerour to have broken or changed the Laws of England and introduced those of Normandy pretend this Duty of Escuage with the Tenures of Knights Service and Baronage to have come over in this Reign as well as the Trial by Juries But as enough has been said to clear the last so it needs no Proof that these with the other Feudal Laws were all brought into Europe by the ancient Goths and by them settled in all the Provinces which they conquered of the Roman Empire and among the rest by the Saxons in England as well as by the Franks in Gaul and the Normans in Normandy where the use of their States or general Assemblies were likewise of the same Original The last common Branch of the King's Revenue consisted of Forfeitures both of Lands and Goods in Cases of Treason and Fines or some known mulctuary Punishments upon other Crimes which were distinctly prescribed in the Saxon Laws even for Manslaughter and Murther it self the Rigour of those Times not extending to Blood except in those Cases where the common Safety of the Kingdom was concerned by the danger of the King By all these Orders and Institutions and the Clemency as well as Justice wherewith they were administred the King how new soever his Reign how disputed his Title and how disagreeable his Person by a
much admired in this Action being said to have stood firm at a Breach made in the Wall and with his Sword to have cut of the Heads of many Normans as they pressed to enter and could do it but one by one by the Narrowness of the Breach so bravely defended After this Defeat and the Surrender of York Edgar retired into Scotland with those of his Dependants who were most desperate and impatient of the Norman Conquest The rest of the English Nobles who had escaped the Battel submitted themselves to the King and came in upon publick Faith took a new Oath of Allegiance and were thereupon all pardoned and many restored not only to their Estates but to Favour with the King who had found Erick the Forrester that had first rebelled against him after his Coronation express great Fidelity after his Pardon obtained and perform good Service in this Northern Expedition He made Gospatrick Earl of Northumberland and employed him against the Dangers and Incursions he apprehended from the Scotch He was so charmed with the Valour and Constancy that Waltheof had shewed in the Defence of York though so much to his Cost and the Loss of so many Normans by his Sword that he resolved to gain him at what Rate soever he valued himself showing the Nobleness of his own Courage and Virtue by loving and honouring them in his Enemies He married this young Gentleman to Iudith his Niece gave him great Possessions besides those to which he was Heir and used him with much Confidence which was for some time returned with Service and with Faith Most of the other Nobles that came in upon Pardon of their Lives he despoiled of their Estates and Offices and bestowed them upon his Norman Friends and Followers some he kept Prisoners whom he thought most dangerous as the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and Edwin a Man of the greatest Power and Dependences whose Earldom and great Possessions in Yorkshire were given to Alain Earl of Britain as were those of several others at the same time to others of his Kindred or Friends In the room of Stigand he made Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury an Italian born but an Abbot in Normandy a Person of great Wisdom and Temper as well as Learning Thomas his Chaplain he made Archbishop of York and obtained the Approbation of the Pope for their Succession in those Sees during the Lives of the other two upon Representation of other Crimes or at least Vices besides their Rebellion against a King whose Title had been confirmed by the Pope as well as encouraged 'T is not agreed at what Time the Danish Fleet arrived upon the Coasts but 't is certain they entered Humber with about two hundred Sail some write that they returned again without making any Attempt upon the Shore that their Commanders were enriched with great presents from the King and their Soldiers supplied with Provisions and all treated rather like Friends than Enemies whether their Arrival out of Time made them despair of any Success and whether that were occasioned by cross Winds at Sea or cross Purposes in the Danish Court is not well known For William the Conqueror after he was seated in the Throne feared no Insult from abroad but by Danish Powers and Pretensions they had still upon England and the Preparations as was divulged abroad of Swain their King for invading it with a Navy of a thousand Ships Hereupon he endeavoured to ward this Blow by slight rather than Force thinking his Safety on that side better purchased with Treasure than with Blood He practised private Intelligences in the Danish Court and by Force of Presents and Pensions gained to his Devotion some Persons of Credit and among the rest Adelbert Archbishop of Hamburg a Man of great Authority in those Parts and whose Advices were much used and esteemed by the Danish King It was believed the Artifices and Practices of these Men eluded the first great Design of a mighty Invasion changed it into an Assistance of the discontented here with smaller Forces delayed them till the Time was past and disposed their Commanders to return without Action and their Master to receive their Excuses with Approbation or at least with Impunity Yet there are other Writers who say the Danes landed in England made great Spoils joyned Prince Edgar's Forces wintered in this Kingdom and returned in the Spring by the King 's private Practices and Rewards among the Commanders as well as Bounty to the Soldiers The King after having established his Affairs in the North returned triumphant to London where the first Action he performed was to take a new personal Oath before Lanfranc the new Archbishop and all the Lords then present in that City to observe the ancient Laws of the Realm established by the Kings of England his Predecessors and particularly those of Edward the Confessor This Action of the Kings was the more applauded and the better accepted by the English because it was unconstrained by any Necessity of his Affairs or Appearance of any new Dangers against which he might have Reason to provide And 't is certain his Oath taken at his Coronation of preserving the ancient Laws of the Realm had been the chief Occasion of his Safety in the late and dangerous Convulsion of the State together with the ill chosen Time of the Scotch Invasion and the Revolt of the Lords in Favour of Edgar For if such Attempts had been made soon after the Conquest while the Minds of the People were generally in Motion and in Fear of what might succeed to the Danger of their Properties and their ancient Liberties upon that new Revolution his Throne had not been only shaken but in evident Danger of being overthrown by such a violent Concussion But the People having lived quietly some Years under the Protection of their ancient Laws and in an equal Course of known and common Justice grew indifferent to the Change which had been made in the Rights or Succession of the Crown or to any new one that might succeed Besides though they were well affected to Edgar yet they disliked the Company with which he came attended and hated the Entrance of a Scotch Army into England more than they loved Edgar They thought if he succeeded the Dominion would fall under the Scotch whilst he only retained the Name and if they must be governed by Strangers the best was to have those they were already used to and so feared least The common Subjects of a Kingdom are not so apt to trouble themselves about the Rights and Possession of a Crown as about their own and seldom engage in the Quarrels of the first but upon some general and strong Apprehensions that the last are in Danger So the Discontents and Insurrections of the Nobles in England though encouraged and supported by forreign Forces yet failed of Success against this new King and his Government because they were not followed by any general Commotion or Sublevation of the People
and so much Power to punish and revenge them which serves to make up that Character of Clemency of Nature that is allowed this Prince among his other Virtues even by those Writers who are severest upon his Memory Both the Danes and the Irish Fleets were upon the English Coasts when they first received the News of their Cenfederates Discovery and Disasters upon which they returned to Denmark and to Ireland and after this Time the Danes never again attempted any Invasion upon England nor was this Conqueror any more infested or disturbed by any of his English Subjects during the rest of his Reign finding the Conspiracy wholly suppressed and the Kingdom in perfect Tranquility upon his Return which he had yet hastened out of Normandy upon the Intelligence of his Danger in England and Ignorance how deep it was rooted or where it might end Nor was it easie to conjecture since it was believed by wise Men in that Age that the Weakness and ill Success of this Conspiracy proceeded chiefly from the Want of some popular Pretension that might have raised a Commotion of the People in Favour of the Lords and that if this had been designed in Defence of Edgar's known Rights to the Crown and spirited by that Prince at the Head of so many English and Norman Lords as were engaged in it the Throne had been endangered by this last Shake. But the unfortunate Prince Edgar had made his first Pretensions too late and his last Submissions too soon and the Danish Title was hated by the Commons of England though favoured by many of the Nobles and thereby wanted the Foundation proper and necessary to raise any firm Building Thus the Infelicity of some Princes may be occasioned only by ill timing their Councils when to attempt and when to desist in the justest Endeavours and the Greatness of others may be raised and preserved by unforeseen Accidents where the greatest Reach of Foresight and Conduct might have failed For had Edgar been at Liberty to pursue his Rights upon this Conjunction of the English and Norman Nobility he might probably have gained the Crown and had not some of the chief Complices discovered the Conspiracy the Conqueror might as probably have lost it However these Fortunes came to attend him thus far of his Reign yet here the Curtain may be drawn over the happy Scenes of this Prince's Life for the next that must open will represent him in the Decline of his Age imbroiled in Domestick Quarrels which could neither end in Glory nor in Gains assaulted by his own Children opposed by his Native Subjects forced to use Strangers to reduce them to Duty and Obedience after two dangerous Revolts and when these Troubles were appeased after much Anguish of Mind and many Dangers engaged by a trivial Accident and without any Design in a foreign War with a powerful Prince which though pursued with his usual Vigor and Fortune it first cost him his Health and at last his Life William the Conqueror had by his Wife Matild Daugter to Baldwin Count of Flanders four Sons Robert Richard William and Henry besides several Daughters Richard was a Prince of the greatest Hopes but unfortunately killed by a Stag while he was hunting in the new Forrest his untimely Fall was much lamented by the King but less by the People who interpreted it as a Judgment upon him for the mighty Wasts he had made to extend the Bounds of that Forrest and for the Rigor and Oppression of the Forrest Laws The other three survived their Father but with very different Fortunes as well as Merits and very unequally distributed The King before his Expedition into England had promised his eldest Son Robert the Dukedom of Normandy in case he conquered the Kingdom he then pretended this Promise was made before the King of France and challenged by Robert after the King 's first Establishment upon the English Throne But the King though he denied not the Promise he had made yet long delayed the Performance upon Pretence of his unsettled State in England from the Discontents of his Nobles and the Scotch Invasions which made it necessary for him to keep Normandy as a Retreat upon any great Misfortune or Revolution in England Duke Robert seemed content with these Reasons whilst they were justified by the Appearances of any Dangers in England but perceiving they were ceased and yet the Delays continued he grew at length impatient and about the fourteenth Year of the King's Reign assumed the Government of Normandy as sovereign and in his own Right caused the Barons to swear Fealty to him as to the Duke and not as his Father's Lieutenant and was received and obeyed by the Normans who grew weary of a subordinate Government and thought they deserved the Presence of their Prince among them which they had enjoyed since the first Establishment of their Possessions in France Besides Robert was generally beloved as a Prince courteous generous and brave though withal ambitious unquiet and uncertain yet these Dispositions both of Prince and People had not alone induced him to engage in so bold a Resolution with such a Breach of his Duty and his Trust without the Practises and Instigations of the King of France who grown jealous of King William's Greatness and envious of his Felicity found no better way of lessening both than to kindle this Fire in his own House and thereby the most sensibly to disquiet his Mind as well as to disjoynt his State and divide his Power He therefore not only encouraged Robert but combined with him in this Attempt and engaged to support him with his Forces if his Father disputed longer the Justice of his Claim The King though at first discomposed at the News of this Insolence in his Son yet believing it had no deeper Root but what would soon wither or be cut off by his Presence in Normandy gathered immediately what Forces he could raise and with an Army of his English Subjects sailed over now to invade Normandy as he had done before to invade England with his Normans A strange Revolution to befal one Prince in so short a Period of Time and which made as great a Change in his Dispositions as his Fortunes for the great Alacrity and Faithfulness which the English expressed towards him in this Expedition gained so far upon his Affections and Confidence that in the rest of his Reign and his succeeding Wars he seemed to place his chief Trust in the Courage and Loyalty of his English Subjects Duke Robert informed of his Father's Preparations neglected not his own and though surprised at the Suddenness of his Arrival to which the Winds had conspired he could not oppose his Landing yet soon after he was in the Field at the Head of a brave Norman Army and of two thousand Men at Arms which the King of France had sent to his Assistance With these Forces he marched against the King fell upon his Vanguard and by the Success of an Ambush
in Normandy and in a Church he had there built How the Ground that was opened to receive him was claimed at that instant by a Knight of the Country who alledged it had belonged to his Ancestors and himself and was violently or unjusty seised from them by the King so that his Funeral was fain to be deferred till an Agreement was made and the Value of the Ground paid to the Claimer with other invidious Circumstances which may argue the Ingratitude Avarice or other Vices of his Servants or Subjects then living but not defame the Memory or obscure the Glory of the Dead Thus ended all that was Mortal of this noble King and this renowned Conqueror for his Fame will never die but remain for ever in the most lasting Records of Time and Monuments of Glory among the Princes most celebrated for their brave Atchievements in War their wise Institutions in Peace the Length and Prosperity of their Lives and their Reigns In all which he must with Justice be confessed not to have been equalled by many if indeed by any we read of in Story I have made no mention of any great Councils or Assemblies held in this King's Reign because I find no clear Evidence of the Nature or Constitution the Times or the Occasions of them whether like those used in the Saxon Reigns or like the Parliaments in Normandy or whether that Style was introduced here in this King's Time or that of his Sons who succeeded him It appears that he often assembled the Nobles and Barons of the Realm but whether upon the Solemnity of some great Festivals or some Occasions of more Importance either for the Honour of his Court or Consultation of his Affairs I find not so well recorded nor so easie to determine as some will have it It is agreed only that there were two general Assemblies of the Clergy one about the sixth Year of his Reign upon a Controversie between the Archbishops of Canterbury and York about the Primacy which was therein determined in favour of the first The other about erecting some new Bishopricks or translating their Sees from some decayed and smaller Towns to others grown in that Age more populous and opulent The Lichfield Chronicle also relates how in the fourth Year of his Reign he summoned out of every County the Nobles the Wise Men and such as were learned in their own Law that he might from them learn what were their ancient Laws and Customs After which the Laws of St. Edward were conserved and by him confirmed throughout the whole Kingdom I have not been so particular as other Writers in the Names of Places or of Persons or Distinction of Years because in such Antiquity of Times and Variety of Authors I find them very hard to be ascertained Besides the Disagreement among Writers is so great in assigning the Years to the several Actions of this Prince that so important an Affair as that of framing the Doomesday Book is by some referred to the eighth by others to the thirteenth and by some to the nineteenth Year of his Reign And many others are left in the same Uncertainty I have likewise omitted the Accounts and Remarks wherein some Writers have busied their Pens of strange Comets Inclemencies of Seasons raging Diseases or deplorable Fires that are said to have happened in this Age and Kingdom and are represented by some as Judgments of God upon this King's Reign Because I rather esteem them Accidents of Time or Chance such as happen in one Part or other of the World perhaps every Age at some Periods of time or from some Influence of Stars or by the conspiring of some natural or casual Circumstanstances and neither argue the Virtues or Vices of Princes nor serve for Example or Instruction to Posterity which are the great Ends of History and ought to be the chief Care of all Historians For this Reason as well as to comply with common Custom it may not be improper or unnecessary to end the wise politick and prosperous Reign with the just Character of this renowned Prince Since all great Actions in the World and Revolutions of States may be truly derived from the Genius of the Persons that conduct and govern them so as by comparing both together and observing the Causes as well as Events it may be easie to discern by what Personal Qualities and Dispositions of Princes the happy and glorious Successes of their own Fortunes with the Greatness and Felicity of their States are generally atchieved for to attribute such great Events to Time or to Chance were to destroy the Examples and confound the Consequences of all Virtues and Vices among Men. William surnamed the Conqueror was of the tallest Stature among those common in his Age and Country his Size large and his Body strong built but well proportioned His Strength such as few of his Court could draw his Bow His Health was great and constant which made him very active in his Business and his Pleasures till about the Decline of his Age he grew something corpulent from all which I suppose came the Story in some Norman Writers that he was eight Foot high or the Size of Hercules As he was of goodly Personage so his Face was lovely but of a Masculine Beauty the Loins being strong rather than delicate his Eyes were quick and lively but when moved something fierce his Complection Sanguine his Countenance very pleasant when he was gay and familiar when he was serious something severe His Pastimes were chiefly hunting and feasting in the first he spent much Time used great Exercise and yet much Moderation of Diet. In his Feasts which were designed for Magnificence or Conversation to know or to be known among his Nobles and not for Luxury he was courteous affable familiar and often pleasant and which made him the more so to his Company was easie at those Times in granting Suits and Pardons It is by all agreed that he was chaste and temperate which with a happy Constitution and much Exercise preserved not only his Health but Vigor to the last Decline of his Age. He was of sound natural Sense and shewed it not only in his own Conduct and Reasoning upon all great Occasions but also in the Choice of his Ministers and Friends wherein no Prince was happier or wiser than he He talked little never vaunted observed much was very secret and used only Lanfranc Archbishop of Canterbury with an universal Confidence both as a Counsellor and a Friend to whom he was ever meek and gentle though to others something austere as if this Conqueror had been himself subdued by the Wisdom and Virtue of that excellent Man In his Purposes he was steddy but not obstinate and though constant to his Ends yet appliable to Occasions as appeared by his favouring and trusting the Normans in his Troubles of England and the English in those of Normandy and was either very wise or very happy in the Arts of gaining Enemies and retaining Friends
having never lost but one which was Fitz-Auber He was a Prince deep in his Designs bold in his Enterprises firm in his Prosecution excelling in the Order and Discipline of his Armies and choice in his Officers both of his Army and his State But admirable in Expedition and Dispatch of Civil as well as Military Affairs never deferring till to Morrow what should be done to Day Above all he was careful and prudent in the Management of his Treasure and finding a Temper between the Bounty of his own Nature and the Necessity of his Affairs proportioning always the Expences of his Gifts his Buildings his Enterprizes to the Treasure he was master of for defraying them designing nothing out of his Compass and thereby compassing all he seemed to design He was religious in frequenting Divine Service giving much Alms building Abbies and endowing them sending Presents of Crosses of Gold rich Vestures and Plate to many other Churches and much Treasure to Rome He was a great Lover of Learning and though he despised the loose ignorant Saxon Clergy he found in England yet he took Care and Pleasure to fill Ecclesiastical Dignities here with Persons of great Worth and Learning from abroad as Lanfranc Durand Anselm with many more He was a Lover of Virtue in others and Hater of Vice for being naturally very kind to his half Brother Odon Bishop of Bayeux having made him Earl of Kent given him great Revenues entrusted him in his Absence with the Government of the Realm yet finding him a Man of incurable Ambition Avarice Cruelty Oppression and Prophaneness he at length wholly disgraced him and kept him in Prison during all the rest of his Reign which seems to have been a just Punishment of his Crimes and Sacrifice to the English he had cruelly oppressed in the King's Absence rather than a greediness of his Treasures as some envious Writers would make it appear Yet by the Consent of them all and the most partial or malicious to his Memory as well as others He is agreed to have been a Prince of great Strength Wisdom Courage Clemency Magnificence Wit Courtesie Charity Temperance and Piety This short Character and by all agreed is enough to vindicate the Memory of this noble Prince and famous Conqueror from the Aspersions or Detractions of several malicious or partial Authors who have more unfaithfully represented his Reign than any other Period of our English History Having taken a full View of this King in his Actions and his Person it remains only that we consider the Consequences that both of them had upon the Condition of this Kingdom which will be best discovered by the Survey of what it lost what it preserved and what it gained by this famous Conquest England thereby must be confessed to have lost first very great Numbers of brave English Men who fell in the Battle of Hastings and in two Wars afterwards by the Revolt of the Nobles and Invasion of the Scots in Favor of Edgar Atheling Likewise many Nobles and Gentlemen who disdaining all Subjection to a forreign and conquering Power retired into Scotland Ireland Denmark and after the Extinction of their Hopes by the Suppression of all Endeavours in Favour of Edgar's Right never returned but left their Families habituated in those Countries choosing if they must live under a forreign Dominion to do it rather abroad than at home In the next Place England lost the true Line of their ancient Saxon Kings who were a Race of just good and pious Princes governed by such known Laws and with such Moderation and were so beloved of their People as makes it observed by Writers that no popular Insurrection ever happened in any of the Saxon Reigns Lastly England by the Conquest lost in a great Measure the old Plainness and Simplicity of the Saxon Times and Customs of Life who were generally a People of good Meaning plain Dealing contended with their own little coveting or imitating their Neighbours and living frugally upon the Product of their own fruitful Soil For the Profusion of Meats at our English Tables came in with the Danes and the Luxury of them was introduced first by the Normans and after encreased by the more frequent Use of Wines upon the Accession of Guienne to this Crown What we preserved is remarkable in three Particulars not usual upon great Conquests for first we preserved our Name which was lost by the Saxon Invasions but that of England then succeeding the other of Britain has ever since continued Next we preserved our Language or the old English Tongue which has made the Body and Substance of what still remains though much enlarged and polished since those Times by the transplanting many Words out of forreign Languages especially Latin and French In the last Place we preserved our Forms of Government our Laws and Institutions which have been so much celebrated by ancient Writers and have been so obstinately defended by our Ancestors and are by Chancellor Fortescue who writ in the Time of Henry the Sixth averred to have been preserved through the five several Governments in this Island of Normans Danes Saxons Romans and Britains and so to have continued for a longer Course of Time than those of Rome or Venice or any other Nation known in Story But this I doubt is not so easily proved as affirmed though it may be with more Certainty of the three first which is sufficient to illustrate the Antiquity of our Constitutions without Recourse to strained or uncertain Allegations For what we gained by our Loss in this Conquest though it seems a Contradiction yet it may be observed in many more Particulars than the other two First England grew much greater both in Dominion and Power abroad and also in Dignity and State at home by the Accession of so much Territory upon the Continent For though the Normans by the Conquest gained much of the English Lands and Riches yet England gained Normandy which by it became a Province to this Crown Next it gained greater Strength by the great Numbers of Normans and French that came over with the Conqueror and after his Establishment here and incorporated with the English Nation joyning with them in the same Language Laws and Interests Then we gained much by the great Encrease of our Naval Power and Multitude of Ships wherein Normandy then abounded by the Advantage of more and better Havens than in later Ages This with the perpetual Intercourse between England and Normandy and other Parts of the Continent gave us a mighty Encrease of Trade and Commerce and thereby of Treasure to the Crown and Kingdom which appeared first in so great a Mass as was left by the Conqueror to Prince Henry his younger Son England by the Conquest gained likewise a natural Right to the Dominion of the narrow Seas which had been before acquired only by the great Naval Power of Edgar and other Saxon Kings But the Dominion of narrow Seas seems naturally to belong like that of