Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/56

 6. If a nobleman, therefore, wanted to buy any thing of two pounds value, he could pay for it with two of his thralls, or eight oxen, and the seller was obliged to take them; but he could sell them again directly; for I am sorry to say there were slave markets in England till some time after the Norman Conquest.

7. Athelstan had a good deal of fighting to do, for the people of the Daneland revolted, and he was obliged to lead his soldiers into their territory, to bring them to order; and then he had to march against Howel, the Prince of Wales, who was defeated in battle, when Athelstan nobly gave him back his dominions, saying, "There was more glory in making a king than in dethroning one."

8. I shall not mention all the kings that reigned after Athelstan, because there were many of them who did nothing that is worth telling about; but I must speak of a great churchman, named Dunstan, who was Archbishop of Canterbury, and, for several reigns, ruled the whole country, for the kings and nobles were obliged to do just as he pleased.

9. He was a very clever man, and so good a worker in metals that he made jewellery and bells, and gave them to some of the churches, which was considered an act of piety; for it was