prince, he
determined to use treachery against him, and he employed one Eumer for
that criminal purpose, The assassin, having obtained admittance, by
pretending to deliver a message from Cuichelme, drew his dagger, and
rushed upon the king. Lilla, an officer of his army, seeing his master's
danger, and having no other means of defence, interposed with his own
body between the king and Burner's dagger, which was pushed with such
violence, that, after piercing Lilla, it even wounded Edwin; but before
the assassin could renew his blow, he was despatched by the king's
attendants.

The East Angles conspired against Redwald, their king; and having put
him to death, they offered their crown to Edwin, of whose valor and
capacity they had had experience, while he resided among them. But
Edwin, from a sense oL gratitude towards his benefactor, obliged them
to submit to Earpwold, the son of Redwald; and that prince preserved his
authority, though on a precarious footing, under the protection of the
Northumbrian monarch.[***]

[* Bede, lib. ii. cap. 12. Bromton, p. 781.]

[** Chron. Sax. p. 27.]

[*** W. Malms, lib. i. cap. 3]

Edwin, after his accession to the crown, married Ethelburga, the
daughter of Ethelbert, king of Kent. This princess, emulating the glory
of her mother, Bertha, who had been the instrument for converting her
husband and his people to Christianity, carried Paullinus, a learned
bishop, along with her;[*] and besides stipulating a toleration for the
exercise of her own religion, which was readily granted her, she used
every reason to persuade the king to embrace it. Edwin, like a
prudent prince, hesitated on the proposal, but promised to examine
the foundations of that doctrine, and declared that, if he found them
satisfactory, he was willing to be converted.[**] Accordingly he held
several conferences with Paullinus; canvassed the arguments propounded
with the wisest of his counsellors; retired frequently from company, in
order to revolve alone that important question; and, after a serious
and long inquiry, declared in favor of the Christian religion;[***]
the people soon after imitated his example. Besides the authority and
influence of the king, they were moved by another striking example.
Coifi, the high priest, being converted after a public conference with
Paullinus, led the way in destroying the images, which he had so long
worshipped, and was forward in making this atonement for h