In 894 a
fleet of three hundred ships invaded the realm, but they met a crushing
defeat. The king was given some leisure to pursue those studies to which
his mind so strongly inclined, and to carry forward measures for the
education of his people by the establishment of schools which, like
those of Charlemagne in France, vanished before he was fairly in the
grave. This noble knight died in 901, nearly a thousand years ago, after
having proved himself one of the ablest warriors and most advanced minds
that ever occupied the English throne.
_THE WOOING OF ELFRIDA._
Of all the many fair maidens of the Saxon realm none bore such fame for
beauty as the charming Elfrida, daughter of the earl of Devonshire, and
the rose of southern England. She had been educated in the country and
had never been seen in London, but the report of her charms of face and
person spread so widely that all the land became filled with the tale.
It soon reached the court and came to the ears of Edgar, the king, a
youthful monarch who had an open ear for all tales of maidenly beauty.
He was yet but little more than a boy, was unmarried, and a born lover.
The praises of this country charmer, therefore, stirred his susceptible
heart.
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