only by the desire of gratifying her Inst, made her this elegant reply : " If you had chosen me, you should have had my son ; but because you have chosen him, you shall neither have me nor him.99 But the king, on account of her wickedness and excessive beauty, gave her a noble nunnery of women, in which, having laid aside her secular garments, out of hypocrisy, and assumed the habiliments of a nun, she filled the place of abbess for a few years. In a short time afterwards, while she was cursing some of her sacred duties, she is said to have been ravished by a low-born man of her own nation. Accordingly, the king ordered her to be expelled from the holy nunnery, as a woman taken in adultery ; and after that she passed her time in poverty, most miserably and shamefully, to the end of her life. And when king Brithric was killed in this manner, Egbert succeeded him in his kingdom, and reigned thirty-six years. He was descended from the royal family of his nation, and with great might added many kingdoms to his empire. The same year, Eadbert, bishop of London, died, and was succeeded by Edgar. CH. XV.—FROM A.D. 803 το 870. Egbert begins to subdue the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy —Charlemagne summons five councils in France—Dies— Egbert becomes sole king of England—Subdues Wales— The Danes land at Sheppey—Are defeated by Egbert—He die»—They return a second time—Constant wars between them and the English—Alfred, son of Ethelwolf, is born— Story of the old woman of Berkeley—Ethelwolf devotes a tenth part of his kingdom to the service of God—He takes Alfred to Rome—Ethelwolf dies—Saint Swithan—Alfred marries—The Danes overrun England and Scotland— Death of King Edmund. A.D. 803. Higbald, bishop of Lindisfarne, died, and was succeeded by Egbert ; this Higbald was present at the ravages committed by the Danes in the province of Northumberland, which have been already mentioned. A.D. 804. Beornred, bishop of Rochester, died, and was succeeded in his bishopric by Puthric. A.D. 805. Etbelhard, archbishop of Canterbury, died,who (as had been foretold to him) received with great power the dig