ida approached him, and gave him
a stab behind. The prince, finding himself wounded, put spurs to his
horse; but becoming faint by loss of blood, he fell from the saddle, his
foot stuck in the stirrup, and he was dragged along by his unruly horse
till he expired. Being tracked by the blood, his body was found, and was
privately interred at Wereham by his servants.

The youth and innocence of this prince, with his tragical death, begat
such compassion among the people, that they believed miracles to be
wrought at his tomb; and they gave him the appellation of _martyr_,
though his murder had no connection with any religious principle or
opinion. Elfrida built monasteries, and performed many penances, in
order to atone for her guilt; but could never, by all her hypocrisy
or remorses, recover the good opinion of the public, though so easily
deluded in those ignorant ages.

CHAPTER III.

ETHELRED

{978} THE freedom which England had so long enjoyed from the
depredations of the Danes, seems to have proceeded, partly from the
establishments which that piratical nation had obtained in the north
of France, and which employed all then superfluous hands to people and
maintain them; partly from the vigor and warlike spirit of a long race
of English princes, who preserved the kingdom in a posture of defence,
by sea and land, and either prevented or repelled every attempt of
the invaders. But a new generation of men being now sprung up in the
northern regions, who could no longer disburden themselves on Normandy,
the English had reason to dread that the Danes would again visit an
island to which they were invited, both by the memory of their past
successes, and by the expectation of assistance from their countrymen,
who, though long established in the kingdom, were not yet thoroughly
incorporated with the natives, nor had entirely forgotten their
inveterate habits of war and depredation. And as the reigning prince
was a minor, and even when he attained to man's estate, never discovered
either courage or capacity sufficient to govern his own subjects, much
less to repel a formidable enemy, the people might justly apprehend the
worst calamities from so dangerous a crisis.

{981.} The Danes, before they durst attempt any important enterprise
against England, made an inconsiderable descent by way of trial; and
having landed from seven vessels near Southamptom, they ravaged the
country, enriched themselves by spoil,