ather Cuthbert survived him many
years, and died honoured and lamented in the last year of the great
king.

His brother Elfwyn, and the lady Hilda, full of years, having outlived
the natural span of man's appointed years, followed him shortly--not
till they had seen their grandchildren, a numerous and hopeful
progeny, grow up around them, and so perpetuate their race upon earth.

And for Alfgar and Ethelgiva, they lived to see a their children's
children, and peace upon Israel, surviving until the close of the
reign of Edward the Confessor, the son of Ethelred and Emma. Their
days were days of peace, in strange contrast to their youthful years.

"Peace! and no more from out her brazen portals
The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies;
But, beautiful as songs of the immortals,
The holy harmonies of peace arise."
--Longfellow.

THE END.

i Genealogy of Aescendune.

The reader may be glad to have the genealogy of the family in whom it
has been the author's aim to interest him placed clearly before him.
The following genealogical table, including the principal names in
"The First Chronicle of Aescendune," as well as those in the present
book, may suffice, the date of decease being given in each case.

Offa, 940
* Oswald, 937.
* Redwald, 959.
* Ella, 959, m. Edith.
+ Elfric, 960.
+ Alfred, 998, m. Alftrude.
o Elfric, 975.
o Elfwyn, 1086, m. Hilda.
# Bertric, 1006.
# Ethelgiva, 1064 m. Alfgar.
o Cuthbert, 1034.
o Bertha, 1050 m. Herstan.
+ Edgitha, 990.

ii Curse of Dunstan.

"In the year of our Lord's incarnation 979, Ethelred, son of Edgar and
Elfrida, obtaining the kingdom, occupied, rather than governed it, for
thirty-seven years. The career of his life is said to have been cruel
in the beginning, wretched in the middle, and disgraceful in the end.
Thus, in the murder to which he gave his concurrence he was cruel,
base in his flight and effeminacy, miserable in his death.

"The nobility being assembled by the contrivance of his mother, and
the day being appointed for Dunstan, in right of his see, to crown
him, he, though he might be ill-affected to them, forebore to resist,
being a prelate of mature age well versed in secular matters. But,
when placing the crown on his head, he could not refrain from giving
vent, with a loud voice, to that prophetic spirit which he so deeply
imbibed. 'Si