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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. I. B.C. 4004 to A.D. 1066.

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MATTHEW OF WESTMINSTER
The flowers of history, especially such as relate to the affairs of Britain. Vol. I. B.C. 4004 to A.D. 1066.
page 537



MATTHEW ΟΥ WESTMUTSTEB. A.D. 1037. A.D. 1036. Alfred, the eldest eon of king Ethelred, who was stall hying in Normandy, when he heard of the death of Canute, came to England, with twenty-five picked ships full of armed men, in order peaceably, if possible, but, if need were, by force of arms, to obtain his father's kingdom, which of right belonged to him. And, landing with his men in the harbour of Sandwich, he marched as far as Canterbury. And when Godwin, count of Kent, heard of his arrival, he went to meet him, and pledging his faith to him, in the next night played the part of the traitor Judas to him and his comrades. For after he had given him the kiss of peace, and after a cheerful banquet, in the deep silence of the night, when Alfred and his companions had yielded their limbs to sleep, they were all taken, unarmed, in their beds, suspecting no evil, by a multitude of armed men who rushed upon them, and, with their hands bound behind their backs, they were compelled to sit down in order, one by the side of the other ; and sitting there, nine were beheaded, and the tenth released and preserved alive. And all this was done at ÔtlHeforUe, a royal town. But as it appeared to the traitor Godwin that in this way more people were left alive than was desirable, he ordered them to be decimated a second time, and then very few remained alive. And the young Alfred, who was in all respects worthy of the honours of a king, he sent bound to the city of London, to king Harold, with the small number of his followers who remained after the decimation, that he might find more favour in Harold's eyes. But the moment that the king beheld the young Alfred, he caused him to be conducted to the Isle of Ely, and there to be deprived of his eyes, and the soldiers he put to death in a pitiless manner ; and Alfred, that admirable young man, died, and was buried there. A.D. 1037. The body of Pallas, the son of Evander, of whom Virgil speaks, was found at Rome quite uninjured, to the great astonishment of all beholders, who marvelled at its having preserved its incorruptibihty for so many ages. The hole made by the wound which Turnus had inflicted in the centre of his chest was four feet and a half long ; there was also found an epitaph inscribed on his tomb, in the following words : " PaUas, Evander's son, whom Turnus's spear Pierced through the heart and slew, lies buried here.'' And a burning lamp was found at his head, composed with


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