doms of
Huntingdon and Northampton [u]. Cospatric, Earl of Northumberland,
having, on some new disgust from William, retired into Scotland, where
he received the earldom of Dunbar from the bounty of Malcolm; Waltheof
was appointed his successor in that important command, and seemed
still to possess the confidence and friendship of his sovereign [w].
But as he was a man of generous principles, and loved his country, it
is probable that the tyranny exercised over the English lay heavy upon
his mind, and destroyed all the satisfaction which he could reap from
his own grandeur and advancement. When a prospect, therefore, was
opened of retrieving their liberty, he hastily embraced it; while the
fumes of the liquor, and the ardour of the company, prevented him from
reflecting on the consequences of that rash attempt. But after his
cool judgment returned, he foresaw that the conspiracy of those
discontented barons was not likely to prove successful against the
established power of William; or if it did, that the slavery of the
English, instead of being alleviated by that event, would become more
grievous, under a multitude of foreign leaders, factious and
ambitious, whose union and whose discord would be equally oppressive
to the people. Tormented with these reflections, he opened his mind
to his wife Judith, of whose fidelity he entertained no suspicion, but
who, having secretly fixed her affections on another, took this
opportunity of ruining her easy and credulous husband. She conveyed
intelligence of the conspiracy to the king, and aggravated every
circumstance, which, she believed, would tend to incense him against
Waltheof, and render him absolutely implacable [x]. Meanwhile the
earl, still dubious with regard to the part which he should act,
discovered the secret in confession to Lanfranc, on whose probity and
judgment he had a great reliance: he was persuaded by the prelate,
that he owed no fidelity to those rebellious barons, who had by
surprise gained his consent to a crime; that his first duty was to his
sovereign and benefactor; his next to himself and his family; and
that, if he seized not the opportunity of making atonement for his
guilt by revealing it, the temerity of the conspirators was so great,
that they would give some other person the means of acquiring the
merit of the discovery. Waltheof, convinced by these arguments, went
over to Normandy; but though he was well received by the king, and
thanked