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)

COURTSHIP of the CANAILLE.

KINGDOM OF NORTHUMBERLAND.

THE KINGDOM OF EAST-ANGLIA.

THE KINGDOM OF MERCIA.

THE KINGDOM OF ESSEX,

THE KINGDOM OF SUSSEX,

THE KINGDOM OF WESSEX,

ETHELRED THE UNREADY.

DANISH SOVEREIGNS.

THE SAXON LINE RESTORED.

II.

RICHARD III. surnamed CROOKBACK.

10.

11.

12.

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

110

DANISH SOVEREIGNS.

111

“A little flattery sometimes does well.”
Shakespeare.

“Ely's Monks sang cheerfully,
“When Canute the King was passing by;
“‘Row to the shore, Knights,’ said the King,
“‘And let us hear these Churchmen sing.’”
Written by Canute.—Vide Sturt.

CANUTE THE GREAT.

Edmund by Edric thus unjustly slain,
Britons are now sole “liegemen to the Dane;”
Who, less by right than power of the sword,
Of England, Denmark, Norway, is the Lord.
Hence, servile courtiers as they bent the knee,
Hail'd him great master of the land and sea;
His better feeling courts th' unconscious waves,
To roll reproof around his cringing slaves.

The Sons of Edmund most unjustly sent
From their inheritance to banishment;
Seek Sweden's aid in vain, and, after, found,
A kind asylum on Hungarian ground.

112

Canute in four the British state divides,
And Dane and Englishman in turn presides;
Olaus, of Norway, next his arms subdue,
And Scottish Malcolm pays the tribute due.
A splendid pilgrimage to Rome he takes,
And needless homage to the Pontiff makes.
Rebuilt the Abbey, which his sire destroy'd
At Bury, hence new wealth the Monks enjoyed.
To appease Old Edgar Ath'ling's spirit, who,
So legends tell, Canute's great father slew.
As (Pallas taught) Idomeneus of Crete
Gave to the useful arts protection meet;
Some wholsome laws the British Monarch made,
Encouraged genius, and assisted trade.
It has been said, that, “Like Augustus, he
“Shou'd never have been born.” We also see
In the same sentence it has been replied,
That, “being born, he never shou'd have died.”
Unjustly tho' the English crown he gain'd,
Few subjects of his Government complain'd;
Who, finally, to all his people proved
A Sovereign respected, and beloved.

The story of Canute's reproof of his flatterers, is too generally known to need insertion here.

A. D. 1036. A tribute levied by the Danish invaders on the English, in arrear for several preceding reigns, and called Danegelt.

Vide the reign of Ethelred the Second, page 105.

114

“Nought hath he done for us and nought deserved.”
Voltaire.

“En vain, du sang des Rois, dont je suis l'oppresseur,
“Les peuples abusés m'ont cru le défenseur,
“De quinze ans de travaux j'ai perdu tout le fruit.
“Croi moi, ces préjugés de sang et de naissance
“Revivront dans les cœurs, y prendront sa defense.”
Ibidem.

“In vain have I oppressed the blood of Kings, whilst the deluded people adored me as their friend, if yet there lives a hateful offspring, all the prejudice of birth and blood revives.” Smollet's Voltaire.

HAROLD HAREFOOT.

By mutual accord, it was decreed,
Hardicanute his father should succeed;
But absence seldom helps the claim of right,
And Harold, in fraternal honour's spite,
Usurp'd the Crown.—His reign was short, and these,
Some of his acts, are little fram'd to please;
Mixture of insignificance and pride,
(Proud to love walking better than to ride. )

115

To narrowness of soul he added guilt,
And caus'd the blood of Alfred to be spilt.
Alfred, (of Edmund Ironside the Son,)
Who cross'd the seas, by Harold's treachery won.

Well may my reader tire of tasteless rhymes,
Which but repeat a catalogue of crimes;
But faithful narrative must be content
With fact, nor seek for bland embellishment.
Else had some episode or harmless joke
Your present comfortable slumbers broke.
Edward, the brother of the Prince who fell,
Escap'd the snare, and 'twill be ours to tell
Hereafter of his fate; it now remains,
That Hardic'nute a pow'rful army gains,
Against King Harold to assert his right;
But, while the doubtful issue of the fight
Depends, the reigning Monarch yields his breath,
And civil strife is ended by his death.

Earl Godwin, lord of the once fertile land
Where many a bark now moulders in the sand;
First flourish'd in this reign, and by his aid,
The selfish King his brother's right betray'd.

Hence his surname of Harefoot.

117

“They call me a foul-feeder.”
Shakespeare.

“There's no bottom, none
“In my voluptuousness.
Ibid.

HARDICANUTE.

To each unprincely appetite inclined,
Hardy in form, but imbecile in mind;
Two years (too long) he reign'd, when at a feast
The tyrant died, as he had lived, a beast.
A surfeit stopp'd the sensual Caitiff's breath,
And merry England celebrates his death.
Hogstide the anniversary they call
Of that good day which saw the glutton fall.
During his life, his brother from the grave
He dragg'd, and gave his body to the wave;
The wave rejects it, and fraternal crime,
Disturbs the hapless corse a second time.
Earl Godwin joins with sacrilegious hand,
To hurl dead Harold from the shelt'ring land.

118

Godwin, who, when Prince Edward dares to call,
To answer for young Alfred's timeless fall;
With venal off'ring of a splendid barge
Buys from the shameless King his crime's discharge.

The Danegelt next provokes the subjects' ire,
Whose 'plaints are answer'd but with sword and fire;
In fine, tho' brief, from crime this reign appears
In two-and-twenty lines as many years.

None of the names of these tools of a tyrant's caprice have escaped posterity. The diggers up of Harold are known to have been—Alfric, Archbishop of York; Earl Godwin; Styr, the steward; Edric, the sewer; and Troudle, the executioner. J. P. Andrews.