fell; but their object not having been foreseen, the survivors secured it."

.t

The battle continued with many changes of fortune. The rival commanders distinguished themselves for their personal exertions. Harold emulated the merit, and equalled the achievements of the bravest soldier, at the same time that he discharged the vigilant duty of the general. William was constantly the example to his troops. He had three horses killed under him ;t but, undaunted by peril, he was everywhere the foremost. Such was the general enthusiasm, that they who were exhausted by loss of blood and strength, still fought on, leaning on their supporting shields. The more disabled, by their voice and gestures, strove to animate their friends."

The sun was departing from the western horizon, and the victory was still undecided. While Harold lived and fought, his valorous countrymen were invincible. But an order of the duke's, by occasioning his fate, gained the splendid laurel. To harass the hinder ranks of that firm mass which he could not by his front attack destroy, he directed his archers not to shoot horizontally at the English, but to discharge their arrows vigorously upwards into the sky. These fell with fatal effect on the more distant troops.w The random shafts descended like impetuous hail, and one of them pierced the gallant Harold in the eye. A furious charge of the Norman horse increased the disorder, which the king's wound must have occasioned; his pain disabled him, and he was mortally wounded. As the evening closed, one of the combatants had the brutality to strike into his thigh after he was dead, for which William, with nobler feelings, disgraced him on the field. Panic scattered the English

y Matt. West. 438.

La plaie fu disi qu'a l'os."

Lanc. 467.

Malmsb. 101. The tapestry seems to represent this; for under the words, "Here Harold king was slain," an armed man is figured falling

on their leader's death. The Normans vigorously pursued, though the broken ground and frequent ditches checked their ardour. Encouraged by observing this, a part of the fugitives rallied, and, indignant at the prospect of surrendering their country to foreigners, they fought to renew the combat. William ordered the count Eustace and his soldiers to the attack. The count exposed the peril, and advised a retreat. He was at this instant vehemently struck in his neck, and his face was covered with his blood. The duke, undismayed, led on his men to the conflict. Some of the noblest Normans fell, but he completed his hard-earned victory.a

The body of Harold was found near his two brothers, and was carried to the Norman camp. His mother offered its weight of gold, for the privilege of burying it; but she was denied the melancholy satisfaction. The two brothers of Harold fell also in the battle.c

William escaped unhurt. But the slaughter of his Normans had been great.

His victory was splendid; but if Harold had not fallen, it would have contributed very little to gain the crown of England. It was the death of Harold which gave William the sceptre. The force of England was unconquered. A small portion of it only had been exerted; and if Harold had survived, or any other heir at all competent to the crisis, William would have earned no more from his victory than the privilege of fighting another battle with diminished strength. When he landed in England, he came with all his power. The fleet of the Anglo-Saxons was afterwards ready to cut off further succour, if such could have been raised for him in Normandy; and it is probable, that if by the

dead, his battle-axe flying from him. Another upon horseback leans forward, and with a sword is wounding his thigh.

z The tapestry ends with the flight of the English. "On ne voit plus ce qui reste de la tapisserie que des traits qui tracent des figures; peut-être n'y-a-t'il jamais eu que ces traits; l'ouvrage dessiné et tracé fut interrompu par la mort de la princesse Mathilde; peut-être aussi le tems et les différens accidens qu'a essuyee cette extrémité de la tapisserie, ont rougé le tissu." Lanc. 468.

Guil. Pict. 203.

So says Guil. Pict. 204. "In castra Ducis delatus, qui tumulandum eum Guillelmo agnomine Maletto, concessit non matri pro corpore dilectæ prolis auri par pondus offerenti-Estimavit indignum fore ad matris libitum sepeliri cujus ob nimiam cupiditatem insepulti remanerent innumerabiles." So, in his following apostrophe, says, "In cruore jacuisti et in littoreo tumulo jaces." In opposition to this contemporary evidence, the English writers, as Malmsb. 102, and others, say, "Corpus Haroldi matri repetenti sine pretio misit licet illa multum. per legatos obtulisset." It is added, that the body was buried at Waltham. Orderic's statement, p. 502, is like Guil. Pict.

be

The tapestry places the death of Gurth and Leofwine, the two brothers, some time before Harold's.

d Matt. West. 439.

e Hoveden, 449. Sim. Dun. 197. That Harold had rushed with vain confidence to the battle, with an inferior force, is a general assertion among our old chroniclers.

fall of Harold, England had not been suddenly left without a chief, the battle of Hastings would have been to William but a scene of brilliant glory, speedily followed by a melancholy catastrophe.

În great revolutions much is effected by active talents; but perhaps more by that arrangement of events over which man has no control. It was William's intention to have sailed a month sooner than he appeared. If his wishes had been fulfilled, he would have invaded Harold before the king of Norway, and would perhaps have shared his fate. For if the English king, with the disadvantages of a loss and desertion of his veteran troops, of new levies, of an inferior force, and an overweening presumption," was yet able to balance the conflict with William's most concentrated, select, and skilfully exerted strength, until night was closing; if the victory was only decided by his casual death, how different would have been the issue, if Harold had met him with the troops which he marched against the Norwegians! But Providence had ordained that a new dynasty should give new manners, new connections, and new fortunes to the English nation. Events were therefore so made to follow, that all the talents of Harold, and the force of England, should not avail against the vicissitudes intended. While Harold's fleet watched the ocean, the adverse wind kept William in port. This fleet was dispersed by its stores failing; and at the same time the invasion of the king of Norway compelled Harold to leave his coast unguarded, and to hurry his soldiers to the north of the island. In this critical interval, while Harold was so occupied by land, and before his fleet had got revictualled, the 8 At the foot of his anonymous MS., Taylor found this catalogue of the ships which were supplied for William's invasion:

By Willelmo dapifero filio Osberni sexaginta naves.

Hugone postea comite de Cestria totidem.

Hugone de Mumfort quinquaginta naves et sexaginta milites.

Romo Elemosinario Fescanni postea episcopo Lincoliensi unam navem cum viginti miltibus.

Nicholao Abbate de Sancto Audoeno quindecim naves cum centum militibus.
Roberto Comite Augi sexaginta naves.

Fulcone Dauno quadraginta naves.

Geroldo Dapifero totidem.

Willelmo Comite Deurons octoginta naves.

Rogero de Mumgumeri sexaginta naves.

Rogero de Boumont sexaginta naves.

Odone Episcopo de Baios centum naves.

Roberto de Morokmer centum et viginti.

Waltero Giffordo triginta cum centum militibus.

Extra has naves quæ computatæ simul M efficiunt habuit Dux a quibusdam suis hominibus secundum possibilitatem unius cujusque multas alias naves, p. 209.

b One chief reason of Harold's hastening to fight before he was fully prepared, is declared to have been, that he might find the Normans before they fled out of the country. Previous to the battle, he is said to have affirmed, that he had never done any thing more willingly in his life than his coming to meet William. Taylor's Anon. Hist. 191.

winds became auspicious to William, and he landed in safety. Immediately after this, the Saxon fleet was enabled to sail.

Harold had in the mean time conquered the Norwegians; but this very event, which seemed to insure the fate of William, became his safety. It inflated Harold's mind so as to disgust his own soldiery, and to rush to a decisive conflict in contempt of his adversary, before he was prepared to meet him. When the battle had begun, the abilities of Harold, and the bravery of his countrymen, seemed again likely to ruin the hopes of his great competitor. The death of Harold then terminated the contest, while William, who had been in as much danger as Harold, was not penetrated by a single weapon.

But it was ordained by the Supreme Director of events, that England should no longer remain insulated from the rest of Europe; but, should, for its own benefit and the improvement of mankind, become connected with the affairs of the continent. The Anglo-Saxon dynasty was therefore terminated; and a sovereign, with great continental possessions, was led to the English throne. By the consequences of this revolution, England acquired that interest and established that influence in the transactions and fortunes of its neighbours, which have continued to the present day, with equal advantages to its inhabitants and to Europe.

APPENDIX.

No. 1.

ON THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.

CHAPTER I.

On the Structure or Mechanism of the Anglo-Saxon Language.

To explain the history of any language, is a task peculiarly difficult at any period of the world, in which we are so very remote from the era of its original construction.

We have as yet, witnessed no people in the act of forming their language; and cannot, therefore, from experience, demonstrate the simple elements from which a language begins, nor the additional organization which it gradually receives. The languages of highly civilized people, which are those that we are most conversant with, are in a state very unlike their ancient tongues. Many words have been added to them from other languages; many have deviated into meanings very different from their primitive significations; many have been so altered by the changes of pronunciation and orthography, as scarcely to bear any resemblance to their ancient form. The abbreviations of language, which have been usually called its articles, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs, and interjections; the inflections of its verbs, the declensions of its nouns, and the very form of its syntax, have also undergone so many alterations from the caprice of human usage, that it is impossible to discern any thing of the mechanism of a language, but by ascending from its present state to its more ancient form.

The Anglo-Saxon is one of those ancient languages to which we may successfully refer, in our inquiries how language has been constructed.

As we have not had the experience of any people forming a