ation seems to have thought
that the crisis was too serious, and the dangers which threatened
their country were too imminent, to justify putting any child upon the
throne. The accession of one of those children would have been the
signal for a terrible and protracted struggle among powerful relatives
and friends for the regency during the minority of the youthful
sovereign, and this, while the Danes remained in their strong-hold at
Reading, in daily expectation of new re-enforcements from beyond the
sea, would have plunged the country in hopeless ruin. They turned
their eyes toward Alfred, therefore, as the sovereign to whom they
were to bow so soon as Ethelred should cease to breathe.

In the mean time, the Danes, far from being subdued by the adverse
turn of fortune which had befallen them, strengthened themselves in
their fortress, made desperate sallies from their intrenchments,
attacked their foes on every possible occasion, and kept the country
in continual alarm. They at length so far recruited their strength,
and intimidated and discouraged their foes, whose king and nominal
leader, Ethelred, was now less able than ever to resist them, as to
take the field again. They fought more pitched battles; and, though
the Saxon chroniclers who narrate these events are very reluctant to
admit that the Saxons were really vanquished in these struggles, they
allow that the Danes kept the ground which they successively took post
upon, and the discouraged and disheartened inhabitants of the country
were forced to retire.

In the mean time, too, new parties of Danes were continually arriving
on the coast, and spreading themselves in marauding and plundering
excursions over the country. The Danes at Reading were re-enforced
by these bands, which made the conflict between them and Ethelred's
forces more unequal still. Alfred did his utmost to resist the tide of
ill fortune, with the limited and doubtful authority which he held;
but all was in vain. Ethelred, worn down, probably, with the anxiety
and depression which the situation of his kingdom brought upon him,
lingered for a time, and then died, and Alfred was by general consent
called to the throne. This was in the year 871.

It was a matter of moment to find a safe and secure place of deposit
for the body of Ethelred, who, as a Christian slain in contending with
pagans, was to be considered a martyr. His memory was honored as that
of one who had sacrificed his life in defe