MISTTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

that an yearly paytiitent should be made of Danegeld; that is to say, twelvepence upon every hiide thrbugh the Whole land, for the pay of those thatShould be cm ployed to» hinder the irruption of pirates.’

Ethtelrbd,” says Mr. Seldfen, “ being brought into miserable straits bySwahe, king of Deiirmatk, was forced to buy a peace of him, by the paymentof forty-eight thousamd pounds, or, as some say, (see foh 267.) thirty-eightthousand peUiid's; aftdl also to hire forty-five Danish ships by agreement, forguarding his eOasts, w/he were to receive their pay out of the Danegeld, whichprobably begUii at th'att precise time, and was instituted for that purpose, andreceived its hame, t»ahegeld, or Danish tribute, from the occasion of its in-stitution. The forty-^ight thousand pounds was likewise paid from the Dane-geld ; upon which, sa-.y several Monkish writers* the Danish navy, which wasbeforfe iri a body dispersed, Only forty-five ships, as mentioned above, remainedWith thfe king* and sWare fidelity to him, and to defend his realm againstforfeio-ners. on condition that he would provide them victuals and clothing.

O ' _ O

This Danish fleet thereupon sailed up the Thames to Greenwich, and usuallylay there. This bitter tax was taken off after thirty-eight years by Ethelred’sson, Edward the Conffessor, or rather suspended by him for his own reign.’*Mr. Selden labours to> distinguish the Danegeld into two classes, one for thepayment of the tribute to the Danes, which was to purchase peace ; the other,a yearly tax, for the tcharges of the forty-five Danish ships. This question isinvolved in a confusuoh and obscurity, which perhaps it would be a uselessattempt to develope.

Ed'ittund, surnamed Ironside on actount of his invincible courage, succeededhis father Ethelred in the year 1016, but appears to have relied more on hisbwn prowess, an’d the' bravery of his soldiers, for support, than on his navy.His feign, however, was unhappily too short to warrant any positive opinionas to the measures he ^ultimately intended to pursue, he having been murderedat Oxford by two of his chamberlains, within twelve months after he hadascended the throne. To him succeeded the intrepid Canute, son to Swane,t>r Sweno, who had rendered his name so terrible to Britain during the reignof Ethelred. Immediately after the death of his father, which happened during'the reign of the unforrtunate prince just mentioned, he had attacked and ra-vaged all the eastern, coast with such merciless fury, that, as historiansytry justly remark, the Britons found in him an enemy no less to be dreaded

than