Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune Page 7

of Elfric's ancestors had fought on the side of Offa, and theexploits of this doughty warrior had formed the subject of a balladoften sung in the winter evenings at Aescendune, so that Elfric exploredthe scene with great curiosity. Inferior to Dorchester, it was still aconsiderable town.

  Late at night they reached Reading, where they slept, and started earlyon the morrow for London, where they arrived on the evening of thefourth day.

  CHAPTER IV. LONDON IN THE OLDEN TIME.

  London, in the days of King Edred, differed widely from the stately andpopulous city we know in these days, and almost as widely from theelegant "_Colonia Augusta_," or Londinium, of the Roman period. Narrow,crooked, and unpaved lanes wound between houses, or rather lowlycottages, built of timber, and roofed with thatch, so that it is notwonderful that a conflagration was an event to be dreaded.

  Evidence met the eye on every side how utterly the first Englishmen hadfailed to preserve the cities they had conquered, and how far inferiorthey were in cultivation, or rather civilisation, to the softer racethey had so ruthlessly expelled; for on every side broken pedestal andshattered column appeared clumsily imbedded in the rude domesticarchitecture of our forefathers.

  St. Paul's Cathedral rose on the hill once sacred to Diana but waswholly built within the ruins of the vast temple which had once occupiedthe site, and which, magnificent in decay, still surrounded it like anoutwork. Further on were the wrecks of the citadel, where once the sternlegionary had watched by day and night, and where Roman discipline andorder had held sway, while the wall raised by Constantine, broken andimperfect, still rose on the banks of the river. Near the Ludgate wasthe palace of the Saxon king, and the ruins of an aqueduct overshadowedits humbler portal, while without the walls the river Fleet rolled,amidst vineyards and pleasant meadows dotted with houses, to join themighty Thames.

  Edred, the reigning king of England, was the brother of the murderedEdmund, and, in accordance with the custom of the day, had ascended thethrone on the death of his brother, seeing that the two infant sons ofthe late king, Edwy and Edgar, were too young to reign, and the idea ofhereditary right was not sufficiently developed in the minds of ourforefathers to suggest the notion of a regency. It must also beremembered that, within certain limits, there was an elective power inthe Witenagemot or Parliament, although generally limited in its scopeto members of the royal family.

  Edred was of very delicate constitution, and suffered from an inwarddisease which seldom allowed him an interval of rest and ease. Like somany sufferers he had found his consolation in religion, and the onlycrime ever laid to his charge (if it were a crime) was that he loved theChurch too much. Still he had repeatedly proved that he was strong inpurpose and will, and the insurgent Danes who had settled in Northumbriahad owned his prowess. In the internal affairs of his kingdom he waschiefly governed by the advice of the great ecclesiastic and statesman,with whose name our readers will shortly become familiar.

  Upon the morning after the arrival of Elfric in London, Edwy, the youngprince, and his new companion, sat in a room on the upper floor of thepalace, which had but two floors, and would have been considered inthese days very deficient in architectural beauty.

  The window of the room opened upon the river, and commanded a pleasantview of the woods and meadows on the Surrey side, then almostuninhabited, being completely unprotected in case of invasion, acontingency never long absent from the mind in the days of the sea kings.

  A table covered with manuscripts, both in Latin and Anglo-Saxon,occupied the centre of the room, and there Elfric was seated, lookingsomewhat aimlessly at a Latin vocabulary, while Edwy was standinglistlessly at the window. The "library," if it deserved the name, wasvery unlike a modern library; books were few, and yet very expensive, sothat perhaps there was no fuller collection in any layman's house in thekingdom. There were Alfred's translations into Anglo-Saxon, the"_Chronicle of Orosius_," or the history of the World; the "_History ofthe Venerable Bede_," both in his original Latin and in English;Boethius on the "_Consolations of Philosophy_;" narratives from ancientmythology; extracts from the works of St. Augustine and St. Gregory; andthe Apologues or Fables from Aesop.[viii]

  "Oh, put those stupid books aside," exclaimed the prince; "this is yourfirst day in town, and I mean to take a holiday; that surly old Dunstanshould have left word to that effect last night."

  "Will he not be here soon?"

  "Yes, he is coming this morning, the old bear, to superintend myprogress, and I wish him joy thereof."

  "What has he given you to do?" inquired Elfric.

  "Why, a wretched exercise to write out. There, you see it before you;isn't it a nuisance?"

  "It is not very hard, is it?"

  "Don't you think it hard? See whether you can do it!"

  Elfric smiled, and wrote out the simple Latin with ease, for he had beenwell instructed by Father Cuthbert at Aescendune.

  He had scarcely finished when a firm step was heard upon the stairs.

  "Hush," said Edwy; "here comes Dunstan. Be sure you look solemn enough,"and he composed his own countenance into an expression of preternaturalgravity.

  The door opened, and an ecclesiastic in the prime of life entered theroom, one whose mien impressed the beholder with an indefinable awe.

  He was dressed in the Benedictine habit, just then becoming common inEngland, and his features were those of a man formed by nature tocommand, while they reconciled the beholder to the admission of the factby the sad yet sweet smile which frequently played on the shapelycountenance. He was now in the thirtieth year of his age, having beenborn in the first year of King Athelstane, and had been abbot ofGlastonbury for several years, although his services as counsellor toKing Edred had led him to spend much of his time in town, and he hadtherefore accepted the general direction of the education of the heir tothe throne. Such was Dunstan.

  He seemed but little welcome to Edwy, and the benediction with which hegreeted his pupil was but coldly received.

  Not appearing to notice this, he mildly said, "You must introduce youryoung companion to me, my prince. Am I not right in concluding that Isee before me Elfric, heir to the lands of Aescendune?"

  Elfric blushed as he bent the knee to the great churchman to receive thepriestly benediction with which he was greeted, but remained silent.

  "Father Cuthbert, whom I knew well years agone, has told me about you,and your brother Alfred; is not that his name?"

  "He is so named, my father."

  "I am glad to perceive that my royal pupil has chosen so meet acompanion, for Father Cuthbert speaks well of your learning. You writethe Latin tongue, he tells me, with some little facility."

  Elfric feared his powers had been overrated.

  "I trust you have resumed your studies after your long holiday,"continued Dunstan. "Youth is the season for sowing, age for reaping."

  "I have had a very bad headache," said Edwy, "and have only been able towrite a page of Latin. Here it is, father."

  And he extended the exercise Elfric had written to the abbot, who lookedat the writing for one moment, and then glanced severely at the prince.The character was very like his own, but there was a difference.

  "Is this your handwriting, Prince Edwy?" he asked.

  "Of course. Elfric saw me write it, did you not?"

  Elfric was not used to falsehood; he could not frame his lips to say "Yes."

  Dunstan observed his confusion, and he turned to the prince with a lookin which contempt seemed to struggle with passive self-possession.

  "I trust, Edwy," he said, "you will remember that the word of a king issaid to be his bond, and so should the word of a prince be if he everhopes to reign. I shall give Father Benedict charge to superintend yourstudies as usual."

  He wished them a grave good morning, and left the room.

  As soon as the last sound of his steps had ceased, Edwy turned sharplyto Elfric--"Why did you not say yes at once? Surely you have a tongue?"

  "It has never learnt to lie."

 
"Pooh! What is the harm of such a white lie as that would have been? Ifyou cannot give the credit of a Latin exercise, which you happen to havewritten, to your future king, you must be selfish; it is my writing, ifyou give it me, isn't it?"

  Elfric did not quite see the matter in that light, yet did not care todispute the point; but his conscience was ill at ease, and he was gladto change the subject.

  "When can we go out?" he said, for he was anxious to see the city.

  "Oh, not till after the midday meal, and you must see the palace first;come now."

  So they descended and traversed the various courts of the building; thedormitories, the great dining hall, the audience chambers where Edredwas then receiving his subjects, who waited in the anteroom, which alonethe two boys ventured to enter. Finally, after traversing