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CHAP. III.

Ethelred — Settlement of the Normans — EdmundIronf.de — Canute — Harold Harejoot — Hardi-canutc — Edward the Confessor — Harold.

ETHELRED.

T

X HE freedom, which England had so long chat*enjoyed from the depredations of the Danes, in.

seems to have proceeded, partly from the estab- ?7S *

lishments , which that piratical nation hadobtained in the north of France, and whichemployed all their superfluous hands to peopleAnd maintain them; partly from the vigour andwarlike spirit of a long race of Englilhprinces , who preserved the kingdom in a postureof defence by sea and land, and either preventedor repelled every attempt of the invaders. Buta new generation of men being now sprung upin the northern regions, who could no longerdifburthen themselves on Normandy; the Englishhad reason to dread, that the Danes would againvisit an Island, to which they were invited,both by the memory of their past successes ,and by the expectation of assistance from theircountrymen, who, though long established in thekingdom, were not yet thoroughly incorporatedwith the natives , nor had entirely forgotten their