, and the object is attained; every stage of these
proceedings is depicted on the canvas, as well as William's courteous
reception of Harold at his palace.

The portraiture of a female in a sort of porch, with a clergyman in
the act of pronouncing a benediction on her, is supposed to have
reference to the engagement between William and his guest, that the
latter should marry the daughter of the former. Many other
circumstances and conditions were tacked to this agreement, one of
which was that Harold should guard the English throne for William;
agreements which one and all--under the reasonable plea that they were
enforced ones--the Anglo-Saxon nobleman broke through. It is said that
his desertion so affected the mind of the pious young princess,[37]
that her heart broke on her passage to Spain, whither they were
conveying her to a forced union with a Spanish prince. As this young
lady was a mere child at the time of Harold's visit to Normandy, the
story, though exceedingly pretty, is probably very apocryphal. Ducarel
gives an entirely different explanation of the scene, and says that it
is probably meant to represent a secretary or officer coming to
William's duchess, to acquaint her with the agreement just made
relative to her daughter.

The Earl of Bretagne is at this moment at war with Duke William, and
the latter attaching Harold to his party, from whom indeed he receives
effectual service, arrives at Mount St. Michel, passes the river Cosno
(to which we have before alluded), and arrives at Dol in Brittany.
Parties are seen flying towards Rennes. William and his followers
attack Dinant, of which the keys are delivered up, and the Normans
come peaceably to Bayeux; William having previously, with his own
hands, invested Harold with a suit of armour.

Harold shortly returns to England, but not before a very important
circumstance had taken place. William and Harold had mutually entered
into an agreement by which the latter had pledged himself to be true
to William, to acknowledge him as Edward's successor on the English
throne, and to do all in his power to obtain for him the peaceable
possession of that throne; and as Harold was, the reigning monarch
excepted, the first man in England, this promised support was of no
trifling moment. William resolved therefore to have the oath repeated
with all possible solemnity. His brother Odo, the Bishop of Bayeux,
assisted him in this matter. Accordingly we see Harold standin