dgment_ in England; and allured by its fertility, were induced to try
their fortune in various expeditions, which were occasionally completely
successful, and at other times most fatally disastrous. At length, after
a struggle of several years, their success was so decided, that king
Alfred was obliged for a time to abandon his kingdom, as we all know, to
their ravages. They immediately passed over to Ireland, and divided it
into three sovereignties; that of Dublin fell to the share of Olauf;
that of Waterford to Sitrih; and that of Limerick to Yivar. These
arrangements dispersed the forces of the enemy, and watching his
opportunity, Alfred issued from his retreat, fell on them like a
thunderbolt, and made a great carnage of them. This prince, too wise to
exterminate the pirates after he had conquered them, sent them to settle
Northumberland, which had been wasted by their countrymen, and by this
humane policy gained their attachment and services. He then retook
London, embellished it, equipped fleets, restrained the Danes in
England, and prevented others from landing. In the twelve years of peace
which followed his fifty-six battles, this great man composed his body
of laws; divided England into counties, hundreds, and tithings, and
founded the University of Oxford. But after Alfred's death, fresh swarms
of pirates visited the shores, among the most formidable of whom were
the Danes, who spread desolation and misery along the banks of the
Thames, the Medway, the Severn, the Tamar, and the Avon, for more than a
century, though repeatedly tempted to desist by weighty bribes, raised
by an oppressive and humiliating tax called _Danegelt_, from its object;
and which, like most others, were continued long after it had answered
its intent.

About the end of the 9th century, one of the sons of Rognwald, count of
the Orcades, named Horolf, or Rollo, having infested the coasts of
Norway with piratical descents, was at length defeated and banished by
Harold, king of Denmark. He fled for safety to the Scandinavian island
of Soderoe, where finding many outlaws and discontented fugitives, he
addressed their passions, and succeeded in placing himself at their
head. Instead of measuring his sword with his sovereign again, he
adopted the wiser policy of imitating his countrymen, in making his
fortune by plundering the more opulent places of southern Europe. The
first attempt of this powerful gang was upon England, where, finding
Alfred