THE HEPTARCHY.

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th I* step: But soon aster, his wife, who was an chap.idolatress, brought him back to her religion ; and i.he was found unable to resist those allurements,which have seduced the wisest of mankind. After ,his death , which was violent, like that of mostof the Saxon princes, that did not early retireinto monasteries, Sigebert, his successor, andhalf-brother, who had been educated in France,restored Christianity , and introduced learningamong the East-Angles. Some pretend that hefounded the university of Cambridge, or rathersome schools in that place. It is almost impos-sible, and quite needless to be more particular iarelating the transactions of the F.ast-Angles. Whatinstruction or entertainment can it give the readerto hear a long bead-roll of barbarous names,

Egric, Annas, Ethelbert, Ethelwald, Aldulf,

Elf waid, BeorneEthelred , Ethelbert, who suc-cessively murdered, expelled, or inherited fromeach other, and obscurely silled the throne ofthat kingdom? Ethelbert, the last of these prin-ces was treacherously murdered by Ossa, kingof Mercia, in the year 792, and his state wasthenceforth united with that of Ossa, as we shallrelate presently.

The Kingdom of MERCI 4

JVIeRCIA, the largest, if not the most power-ful kingdom of the Heptarchy, comprehended allthe middle counties of England; and as its fron-tiers extended to those of all the other six king-