Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/110

 74 ALFRED, vanfs who repaired thither to him. When he had been about a year in this retreat, having been informed that fume of his fubjets had routed a great army of the Dane, killed their chiefs, and taken their magical ftandard [E], he ifl'ued his letters, giving notice where he was, and inviting his no- bility to come and confulc with him. Before they came to a final determination, /Eifred, putting on the habit of a harper, went into the enemy's ramp ; where, without fufpicion, he was every where admitted, ami hid the hoPlour to play be- fore their princes. Having thereby acquired an exacSt know- ledge of their htuation, he returned in great fecrecy to his no- bility, whom he ordered to their refpe&ive homes, there to, draw together each man as great a force as he could ; and upon a day appointed there was to he a general rendezvous at the great wood, called Selwood, in Wiltfhire. This affair was tranfated fo fecretly and expeditioufly, that in a little time the kins, at the head of an army, approached the Danes, before they had the leaft intelligence of his defign. Alfred, taking advantage of the furprize and terror they were in, fell upon them, and totally defeated them at /Ethendune, now Chr.-n. Sax. Eddington. Thofe who efcaped fled to a neighbouring caitle, ' ' 7 where they were foon befieged, and obliged to furrender at discretion. Alfred granted them better terms than they could expeci : he agreed to give up the whole kingdom of the Eaft- Angles to luch as would embrace ihe Chriffian religion j on condition that they fhould oblige the reft of their countrymen to quit the ifland, and, as much as it was in their power, pre- p>t<3. vent the landing of any more foreigners. For the perform- ance thereof he took hoftages ; and when, in purfuance of the treaty, Guthrum, the Danifh captain, came, with thirty of his chief officers, to be baptized, /Elfred anfwered for him at the font, and gave him the name of ^EtheJftan ; and certain laws were drawn up betwixt the king and Guthrum for the regulation and government of the Danes fettled in England. In 884, a frefh number of Danes landed in Kent, and laid fiege to Rochelier ; but, the king coming to the relief of that city, they were obliged to abandon their defign, .rEifred ["E] "This (fays Sir John Spelman) " by the Danes to have carried great " was a banner with the image of a ra " fataiiiy with it, for which it was " ven magically wrought by the three " highly eftfemerl by them. It is pit- " filters of Hinguar anii Hubba,on pur- " tended, that being carried in battle, " pofe for their expedition, in revenge " towards good fuccefs it would always " of their father i-odebroch's murder, '' feem to clsp its wings, and makeas if " made, they lay, alrroft in an inlian', "it would fly j but towatds the approach " bein; by, them at cuce begun and " of mifliap, it would hang down and " finiitcd in a noontide, and believed f< net move." Life or' Alfred, p. 61. had