Prince Edwin was the leader of the sports, and no amusement was adopted
unless his approbation had previously been asked and obtained. All
disputed matters were referred to his decision, and no appeal from his
judgment was permitted.

It would have afforded subject of serious reflection, perhaps of
jealous alarm, to the king had he been aware of the injudicious courses
which were pursued by those around Prince Edwin; but Athelstane was
engaged in bloody wars with the Danes and the insurgent Welsh princes,
which kept him far remote from Oxford. His brother, meanwhile,
continued to receive the most pernicious flattery from every creature
around him, except Wilfrid, the son of Cendric, who, by order of King
Athelstane, had been appointed his page of honor.

When Wilfrid was first admitted into the college he was treated with
great scorn by the royal wards. Among them were many who, in the pride
of circumstance and the vanity of youth, were so unkind as to cherish
disdainful feelings against the unfortunate Wilfrid, and to murmur at
his introduction into their society.

Prince Edwin was, however, of a more generous disposition, and by
extending his favor and protection to the forlorn youth, rendered his
residence in the college less irksome than it otherwise would have
been. But the very affection with which Wilfrid was regarded by his
young lord had the effect of increasing the hostile feeling of the
others against him; and in the absence of the Atheling, he had to
endure a thousand bitter taunts and cruel insults respecting his
father's crime and the ignominious death he had suffered.

Wilfrid was too noble-minded to complain to his young lord of this
treatment, although he felt it deeply. It required all his firmness
and forbearance to endure it patiently; but he remembered the words of
King Athelstane--"that his future fortunes depended upon his own
conduct;" and he resolved, under all circumstances, to persevere in the
path of duty; and, if possible, by his own virtues to blot out the
remembrance of his father's fault. He was also duly impressed with a
grateful sense of the king's goodness in extending to him the
advantages of a liberal and courtly education; of which he wisely
determined to make the most he could. By unremitting exertions, he
soon made so rapid a progress in his studies that he outstripped all
his fellow-students; and, though the youngest boy in the college, he
obtained the highest plac