EDMOND IRONSIDE.

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ii.1 the beginning of the day declared for him; but cEdric , having cut off the head of one Osmar,■whose countenance resembled that of Edmond,fixed it on a spear, carried it through the ranks intriumph, and called aloud to the English, that it wastime to fly ; for behold ! the head of your sovereign.And though Edmond , observing the consternationof the troops, took off his helmet and showed himselfto them, the utmost he could gain by his activityand valour was to leave the victory undecided..Edric now took a surer method to ruin him,by pretending to desert to him; and as Edmondwas well acquainted with his power, and proba-bly knew no other of the chief nobility in whomhe could repose more confidence , he was obligednotwithstanding the repeated perfidy of the man,to give him a considerable command in the army.

A battle soon after ensued at Assington in Essex;where Edric, flying in the beginning of the day,occasioned the total defeat of the English, followedby a great slaughter of the nobility. Theindefatigable Edmond, however, had still resour-ces : Assembling a new army atGlocester, he wasagain in a condition to dispute the field; whenthe Danish and English nobility, equally harassedwith those convulsions, obliged their kings tocome to a compromise, and to divide the king-dom between them by treaty. Canute reserved tohimself the northern division , consisting of Mercia ,East-Anglia , and Northumberland , which he hadentirely subdued : The southern parts were leftto Edmond. This prince survived the treaty

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III.