is son
and heir, into England, and usurped the crown. Siward, whose daughter
was married to Duncan, embraced, by Edward's orders, the protection of
this distressed family: he marched an army into Scotland; and having
defeated and killed Macbeth in battle, he restored Malcolm to the throne
of his ancestors.[*]

[* W. Malms, p. 79. Hoveden, p. 443. Chron. Mailr.
p. 158 Buchanan, p, 115, edit. 1715].

This service, added to his former connections with the royal family of
Scotland, brought a great accession to the authority of Siward in the
north; but as he had lost his eldest son, Osberne, in the action with
Macbeth, it proved in the issue fatal to his family. His second son,
Walthoef, appeared, on his father's death, too young to be intrusted
with the government of Northumberland; and Harold's influence obtained
that dukedom for his own brother Tosti.

There are two circumstances related of Siward, which discover his high
sense of honor, and his martial disposition. When intelligence was
brought him of his son Osberne's death, he was inconsolable; till he
heard that the wound was received in the breast, and that he had
behaved with great gallantry in the action. When he found his own death
approaching, he ordered his servants to clothe him in a complete suit
of armor; and sitting erect on the couch, with a spear in his hand,
declared, that in that posture, the only one worthy of a warrior, he
would patiently await the fatal moment.

The king, now worn out with cares and infirmities, felt himself far
advanced in the decline of life; and having no issue himself, began to
think of appointing a successor to the kingdom. He sent a deputation to
Hungary, to invite over his nephew Edward, son of his elder brother, and
the only remaining heir of the Saxon line. That prince, whose succession
to the crown would have been easy and undisputed, came to England with
his children, Edgar, surnamed Atheling, Margaret, and Christina; but his
death, which happened a few days after his arrival, threw the king into
new difficulties. He saw that the great power and ambition of Harold had
tempted him to think of obtaining possession of the throne on the first
vacancy, and that Edgar, on account of his youth and inexperience, was
very unfit to oppose the pretensions of so popular and enterprising a
rival. The animosity which he had long borne to Earl Godwin, made him
averse to the succession of his son; and he could not, without ex