Part 6 (1/2)

Edred died in the year 955, having for nine years aiovern well His decease, like his brother's before hiovernment, except in the departularities”--as stealing is sometimes called nowadays--had taken place there, so becos of England was Edwy the Fair,--fifteen years of age when he ascended the throne

He was the son of Edood at heart as he was handso, he had iva So we have here a boy king and a girl queen

As if one bad prelate were not enough, there was, besides Dunstan, another great mischief-maker, Odo, the Dane, Archbishop of Canterbury

The coronation of Edas the occasion of great rejoicing They had a su, attended by all the prelates and thanes Edwy liked the society of the girl queen better than that of these rude people, and in the midst of the festivities he retired to the queen's apartment to see her and the queenhad left his place at the tables He rightly guessed the reason, and deeuests So he went and made co king

When the latter came to the queen's apartment, and was refused admittance, he broke open the door, upbraided Edwy for his absence froed and pushed hi-hall

Edwy, of course, resented this treatreat i way, and Edwy, though a considerate boy, and of a mild disposition, at last lost his temper

”You have a very nice sense of propriety,” he said ”You were the treasurer in the last reign, I believe I intend to call you to account for the way that you fulfilled your trust”

Dunstan was greatly astonished, and, guilty an to feel very unsafe

The boy king made the attempt which he had threatened, to call Dunstan to account for his late doings in the treasury But the latter, when he found that Edas in earnest, fled to Ghent

The nobles saw somewhat into his true character when he thus disappeared from court, and a party of men was sent in pursuit of hiht, and arrived safely in Belgiureat deal of trouble in the world yet

Incited by Dunstan, Odo raised a rebellion When he had drawn to himself a sufficient party to insure his personal safety, he proclai

Dunstan returned to England, and joined Odo, and this precious pair soon discovered the value of their piety, as you shall presently see

Edwy the Fair loved the girl queen She was beautiful as well as amiable, and was as devoted to her husband as she was lovely Odo and Dunstan wished to break the spirit of Edwy, and thought to acco the queen They caused her to be stolen from one of the royal palaces, and her cheeks to be burned with hot irons, in order to destroy the beauty that had so enchanted the boy king They then sent her to Ireland, and sold her as a slave

The Irish people pitied the weeping maiden, and loved her They healed the scars on her cheeks, that the hot irons had ain, and all her drea

Then the Irish people released her froave her land full of joyful anticipations, and made rapid journeys towards the place where Edwy held his court But Odo and Dunstan, who had been apprised of her co, intercepted her, and ordered that she should be tortured and put to death They caused the cords of her limbs to be severed, so that she was unable to walk orbut a few days

Weeping continually over her disappoint at times from the acuteness of her pain, she died at Gloucester,--perhaps the lish throne

When Edwy heard of her death, he ceased to struggle for his right; he cared for nothing rew paler and thinner day by day, his beauty faded, his thoughts turned heavenward, and he aspired to a better crown and kingdoe of twenty, having ain was followed by that of his brother Edgar, who succeeded to the Anglo-Saxon throne in the year 959, and was an unprincipled and dissolute king

He was fifteen years of age when he began to reign One of his first acts was to reward the intriguing Dunstan for his cri upon hi an archbishopric as the price of a brother's ruin and death! Ah, better to be Edwy the Fair in his early grave, with the birds singing and the violets waving above hined the government alayety, pleasure, and ease He was unstable, profligate, and vicious He once broke into a convent and carried off a beautiful nun, named Editha For this violation of the sanctuary, Dunstan commanded hireat punishment, as he could ornament his head as well in soreat ability as a statesainst the neighboring sovereigns, and co of Scotland and the Princes of Wales, of the Isle of Man, and of the Orkneys, to do hoe around England in great state, accompanied by princes and nobles

On one of these occasions, when he wished to visit the Abbey of St