pounds, he bribed them to depart the kingdom. This shameful expedient
was attended with the success which might be expected. The Danes next
year appeared off the eastern coast, in hopes of subduing a people who
defended themselves by their money, which invited assailants, instead
of their arms, which repelled them. But the English, sensible of
their folly, had, in the interval, assembled in a great council, and
had determined to collect at London a fleet able to give battle to the
enemy [a]; though that judicious measure failed of success, from the
treachery of Alfric, Duke of Mercia, whose name is infamous in the
annals of that age, by the calamities which his repeated perfidy
brought upon his country. This nobleman had, in 983, succeeded to his
father Alfere in that extensive command; but being deprived of it two
years after, and banished the kingdom, he was obliged to employ all
his intrigue, and all his power, which was too great for a subject, to
be restored to his country, and reinstated in his authority. Having
had experience of the credit and malevolence of his enemies, he
thenceforth trusted for security, not to his services, or to the
affections of his fellow-citizens, but to the influence which he had
obtained over his vassals, and to the public calamities, which he
thought must, in every revolution, render his assistance necessary.
Having fixed this resolution, he determined to prevent all such
successes as might establish the royal authority, or render his own
situation dependent or precarious. As the English had formed the plan
of surrounding and destroying the Danish fleet in harbour, he
privately informed the enemy of their danger; and when they put to
sea, in consequence of this intelligence, he deserted to them, with
the squadron under his command, the night before the engagement, and
thereby disappointed all the efforts of his countrymen [b]. Ethelred,
enraged at his perfidy, seized his son Alfgar, and ordered his eyes to
be put out [c]. But such was the power of Alfric, that he again
forced himself into authority; and though he had given this specimen
of his character, and received this grievous provocation, it was found
necessary to intrust him anew with the government of Mercia. This
conduct of the court, which in all its circumstances is so barbarous,
weak, and imprudent, both merited and prognosticated the most grievous
calamities.
[FN [a] Chron. Sax. p. 126. [b] Chron.. Sax. p. 127. W