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)

II.

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“For I shall sing of battles, blood, and rage,
“Which princes and their people did engage;
“And haughty souls, that moved with mutual hate,
“In fighting fields, pursued and found their fate.”
Dryden's Virgil.

EDWARD THE ELDER.

Tho' less renown'd for what the learn'd acquire,
Edward in arms was worthy of his sire;
And happy for the realm, great Alfred's son,
Maintain'd with honor, what his father won;
In spite of insurrection, rapine, guilt,
And blood that flow'd for blood unjustly spilt.
First Ethelwald, from Ethelbert derived,
(Tho' two of royal Alfred's sons survived,)
Claim'd England's sceptre, and in frequent fight,
Warr'd against Justice and his Cousin's right;
A Norman and Northumbrian miscreant crew,
With Danes and Mercians to his side he drew,
And led his pupils in rebellion's school
That land to ravage which he might not rule.

Edward, with royal indignation fired,
Obeyed the impulse which his rage inspired,
And peaceful hamlets, towns, and cities mourn
The Monarch's and the Rebel's force in turn;
For civil discord glories in the ills
With which she indiscriminately fills
The royal mansion, or the rebel's hold,
The patriot cot, or den of ruffian bold,
While blood on both sides eagerly she spills.
The Kentish men, long England's warlike boast,
Assail'd at Bury, by the traitor's host,
With Danes maintain'd a most unequal fray,
'Till Ethelwald, his treasons to repay,
Lost, with his life, the honor of the day.
Northumbria, Mercia, and the scatter'd Dane,
Hostile by turns, and unsubdued, remain.
A powerful fleet, the Monarch bids prepare,
He sails, and quickly the rapacious band
Haste to despoil the absent Edward's land;
The King, as briefly of their plans aware,
Returns, with slaughter Stafford's plains to dye,
And see again his flag victorious fly.

Yet, by misfortune unsubdued,
The restless chiefs again unite,
Again their blood the earth imbrued,
At Tunsford, and in Maldon fight.

Thurktill the Dane, invincible esteem'd,
Not so, perdie, by Edward deem'd,
Vanquish'd, retreats before the conqu'ror's lance,
To pillage other lands in France;
At length, by perseverance, toil, and pains,
Edward, in well earn'd peace, with glory reigns.

Ladies, if thus far Somnus lets ye look
In this my nice narcotic book,
It may awake your sex's proper pride,
To recollect that, in each doubtful day,
Edward had oft a sister by his side,
Whose genius pointed to success the way;
Active, yet prudent, masculine, yet fair,
The widow'd Ethelflida, good and great

Ruled Mercia's province with propitious care,
And proved the grand appui of Edward's state.
Let it not from the Monarch derogate,
That he by female wit was sway'd,
Women, when good, are angels, and I wot,
(He who denies it is a senseless sot,)
Good angels may with safety be obeyed.

Edward surviv'd, to grace his sister's urn
With a fraternal tear; nor did he mourn
Her absence long, but sought that awful bourn,
From whence, nor slave nor monarch may return.

He was fortunate not only in military enterprize, but in domestic concerns; he matched four of his nine daughters to the greatest Princes in Europe; and three of his five sons successively mounted their father's throne, Athelstan, Edmund, and Edred.

This patriotic amazon was the wife of Ethered, Duke of Mercia; she is universally said by historians to have been the exact resemblance of her parent Alfred in every quality of the mind, and in many old writings she is actually styled, not Domina, but Rex. J. P. Andrews.