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 |
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THE KINGDOM OF WESSEX,
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
THE KINGDOM OF WESSEX,
OR, WEST SAXONS.
A race of warlike princes, whose successThis realm increas'd, and other realms made less,
From Cerdic and his sons, to Brithric reign'd,
And still accession of domain obtain'd.
Wessex each neighbouring monarch could controul,
And spread, like snows that gather as they roll.
'Till Egbert's genius, by misfortune taught,
In camps and courts each gainful lesson caught;
By travel tutor'd, and by woes made wise,
By others' fall instructed how to rise,
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And made the Seven Kingdoms all his own.
—Though Egbert became Monarch of England, he was not perfectly absolute;—he actually possessed Wessex, Sussex, Kent, and Essex, which had been peopled by Saxons and Jutes, and contented himself with preserving the sovereignty over the other three Kingdoms, (originally inhabited by the Angles) and permitting them to be governed by Kings who were his vassals.
| A Metrical History of England | |