lted as one man, from the
tyrannous cruelty of Tostig; the insurgents had marched upon York; Tostig
had fled in dismay, none as yet knew whither. The sons of Algar had
sallied forth from their Mercian fortresses, and were now in the ranks of
the Northumbrians, who it was rumoured had selected Morcar (the elder) in
the place of Tostig.

Amidst these disasters, the King's health was fast decaying; his mind
seemed bewildered and distraught; dark ravings of evil portent that had
escaped from his lip in his mystic reveries and visions, had spread
abroad, bandied with all natural exaggerations, from lip to lip. The
country was in one state of gloomy and vague apprehension.

But all would go well, now Harold the great Earl--Harold the stout, and
the wise, and the loved--had come back to his native land!

In feeling himself thus necessary to England,--all eyes, all hopes, all
hearts turned to him, and to him alone,--Harold shook the evil memories
from his soul, as a lion shakes the dews from his mane. His intellect,
that seemed to have burned dim and through smoke in scenes unfamiliar to
its exercise, rose at once equal to the occasion. His words reassured
the most despondent. His orders were prompt and decisive. While, to and
fro, went forth his bodes and his riders, he himself leaped on his horse,
and rode fast to Havering.

At length that sweet and lovely retreat broke on his sight, as a bower
through the bloom of a garden. This was Edward's favourite abode: he had
built it himself for his private devotions, allured by its woody
solitudes and gloom of its copious verdure. Here it was said, that once
that night, wandering through the silent glades, and musing on heaven,
the loud song of the nightingales had disturbed his devotions; with vexed
and impatient soul, he had prayed that the music might be stilled: and
since then, never more the nightingale was heard in the shades of
Havering! Threading the woodland, melancholy yet glorious with the hues
of autumn, Harold reached the low and humble gate of the timber edifice,
all covered with creepers and young ivy; and in a few moments more he
stood in the presence of the King.

Edward raised himself with pain from the couch on which he was reclined
[204], beneath a canopy supported by columns and surmounted by carved
symbols of the bell towers of Jerusalem: and his languid face brightened
at the sight of Harold. Behind the King stood a man with a Danish
battle-axe i