,82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. The first attempt, made by Rollo , was onIII. England , near the end of Alfred’s reign ; whenthat great monarch having settled Guthrun andhis followers in East-Anglia, and others of thosefree-bootersin Northumberland, and having restoredpeace to his harassed country, had established themost excellent military as well as civil institutionsamong the English. The prudent Dane , findingthat no advantages could be gained over such apeople , governed by such a prince , soon turnedbis enterprises against France, which he foundmore exposed to his inroads * ; and during thereigns of Eudes , an usurper , and of Charles theSimple , a weak prince, he committed the mostdestructive ravages both on the inland and ma-ritime provinces of that kingdom. The French,having no means of defence against a leader,Avho united all the valour of his countrymen withthe policy of more civilized nations, were obligedto submit to the expedient practised by Alfred,and to offer the invaders a settlement in some ofthose provinces, which they had depopulated bytheir arms 9 .

The reason why the Danes for many yearspursued measures so different from those whichhad been embraced by the Goths, Vandals ,Franks , Burgundians , Lombards , and othernorthern conquerors, was the great difference, inthe method of attack, which was practised by

Gul. Gemet. lib. 2. cap. 6.

* Dudo , p. 82 .

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