ears, by this prince, who gave so bad a specimen of his character,
and whose bodily accomplishments alone are known to us by his
appellation of HAREFOOT, which he acquired from his agility in running
and walking. He died on the 14th of April, 1039; little regretted or
esteemed by his subjects, and left the succession open to his brother,
Hardicanute.

[MN Hardicanute. 1039.]
Hardicanute, or Canute the Hardy, that is, the robust, (for he too is
chiefly known by his bodily accomplishments,) though, by remaining so
long in Denmark, he had been deprived of his share in the partition of
the kingdom, had not abandoned his pretensions; and he had determined,
before Harold's death, to recover by arms what he had lost, either by
his own negligence, or by the necessity of his affairs. On pretence
of paying a visit to the queen-dowager in Flanders, he had assembled a
fleet of sixty sail, and was preparing to make a descent on England,
when intelligence of his brother's death induced him to sail
immediately to London, where he was received in triumph, and
acknowledged king without opposition.

The first act of Hardicanute's government afforded his subjects a bad
prognostic of his future conduct. He was so enraged at Harold for
depriving him of his share of the kingdom, and for the cruel treatment
of his brother Alfred, that, in an impotent desire of revenge against
the dead, he ordered his body to be dug up, and to be thrown into the
Thames; and, when it was found by some fishermen, and buried in
London, he ordered it again to be dug up, and to be thrown again into
the river; but it was fished up a second time, and then interred with
great secrecy. Godwin, equally servile and insolent, submitted to be
his instrument in this unnatural and brutal action.

That nobleman knew that he was universally believed to have been an
accomplice in the barbarity exercised on Alfred, and that he was on
that account obnoxious to Hardicanute; and perhaps he hoped, by
displaying this rage against Harold's memory, to justify himself from
having had any participation in his counsels. But Prince Edward,
being invited over by the king, immediately on his appearance
preferred an accusation against Godwin for the murder of Alfred, and
demanded justice for that crime. Godwin, in order to appease the
king, made him a magnificent present of a galley with a gilt stern,
rowed by fourscore men, who bore each of them a gold bracelet on his
arm, weighin