A Metrical History of England :: :: University of Virginia Library

A Metrical History of England

Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin

Dibdin, Thomas (1771-1841)

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“—Rules the num'rous band,
“And crowded nations wait his dread command.”
Pope's Homer.

EGBERT.

Egbert o'er Kings subdu'd scarce 'gan to reign,
E're he's invaded by the savage Dane .
Charmouth, in Dorsetshire, supplied the field
Where British chiefs to foreign leaders yield .
Yet, soon avenged, the English blood they spill;
A year not pass'd, when famous Hengsdown-Hill
Proves, to the northern spoilers dear bought cost,
That Egbert cou'd regain what late he lost.
The King in peace lived five succeeding years,
And his best epitaph was England's Tears .

The Danes first landed in 789, and were so little known that a peace officer, at Portland, asked them, in the name of his King, (Brithric,) what they did there? unused to the checks of magistracy, these uncivilized rovers murdered the intruder, plundered the country, and retired unmolested. H. Hunt, Saxon Chronology.

Had it not been for this unfortunate battle, (in which the Bishops Wigfurth and Herefurth, and the Earls Dudda and Osmond were slain,) Egbert would have added North Wales to his dominions, having already over-run the country to the foot of Snowdon. J. P. Andrews.

The following was inscribed on a chest containing his and other royal bones, at Winchester:

Hic Rex Egbertus pausat cum Rege Kenulpho,
Nobis egregia munera uterque tulit,