ed into Normandy, whither he
had sent before him Queen Emma and her two sons, Alfred and Edward.
Richard received his unhappy guests with a generosity that does honour
to his memory.

[MN 1014.] The king had not been above six weeks in Normandy when he
heard of the death of Sweyn, who expired at Gainsborough, before he
had time to establish himself in his newly acquired dominions. The
English prelates and nobility, taking advantage of this event, sent
over a deputation to Normandy, inviting Ethelred to return to them,
expressing a desire of being again governed by their native prince,
and intimating their hopes, that being now tutored by experience, he
would avoid all those errors which had been attended with such
misfortunes to himself and to his people. But the misconduct of
Ethelred was incurable; and on his resuming the government, he
discovered the same incapacity, indolence, cowardice, and credulity,
which had so often exposed him to the insults of his enemies. His
son-in-law, Edric, notwithstanding his repeated treasons, retained
such influence at court as to instil into the king jealousies of
Sigefert and Morcar, two of the chief nobles of Mercia: Edric allured
them into his house, where he murdered them; while Ethelred
participated in the infamy of the action, by confiscating their
estates and thrusting into a convent the widow of Sigefert. She was a
woman of singular beauty and merit; and in a visit which was paid her,
during her confinement, by Prince Edmond, the king's eldest son, she
inspired him with so violent an affection, that he released her from
the convent, and soon after married her, without the consent of his
father.

Meanwhile the English found in Canute, the son and successor of Sweyn,
an enemy no less terrible than the prince from whom death had so
lately delivered them. He ravaged the eastern coast with merciless
fury, and put ashore all the English hostages at Sandwich, after
having cut off their hands and noses. He was obliged, by the
necessity of his affairs, to make a voyage to Denmark; but returning
soon after, he continued his depredations along the southern coast: he
even broke into the counties of Dorset, Wilts, and Somerset; where an
army was assembled against him, under the command of Prince Edmond and
Duke Edric. The latter still continued his perfidious machinations;
and after endeavouring in vain to get the prince into his power, he
found means to disperse the army; and