Edwy knew not till now how dangerous were the ene mies he had provoked. He found himself unable to con tend with them ; and submitted to a divorce, which was pronounced by the archbishop. The unhappy Elgiva, being cured of her wounds, and having recovered her beauty, which her persecutors had attempted to deface, had returned to England, and was hastening to the arms of Edwy, when she was intercepted by Ode, whose barbarous hatred could only be satiated by the cruellest death. This innocent victim was hamstrung, and expired a few clays after at Gloucester, in the most acute sufferings. The fate of Elgiva, instead of exciting compassion or indignation against her murderers, was succeeded by fresh acts of violence against her husband. The people were made to believe, that heaven was pouring out its wrath upon the head of Edwy for his crimes ; and the monks encouraged Edgar, his younger brother, to aspire to the throne. Dunstan immediately returned to England, to support him with his influence. Edwy was excommunicated; and his death, which hap pened soon after, left Edgar in quiet possession of the throne. Dunstan was appointed to the see of Worces ter, then of London ; and, upon the death of Odo, to that of Canterbury, of all which he long kept possession.
Edgar was only thirteen years of age when he re ceived the crown; but he soon discovered an excellent capacity in the administration of affairs, and took such effectual methods for preventing foreign invasion, and for securing the internal peace of the kingdom, that his reign is considered as the most fortunate in the an cient history of England. Ile kept the Scots and Northumbrians in awe by a powerful army, which he quartered on the frontiers; and a formidable navy checked every attempt of the foreign Danes to make a descent upon his shores. Three squadrons were sta tioned off the coast, and had orders to make from time to time the circuit of his dominions; and it is said, that when once at Chester his barge was rowed by eight tributary princes. He supported Dunstan and the monks in all their schemes of aggrandizement ; and they in return repaid his favours with the highest pa negyrics. At a general council of the prelates and heads of religious orders, he inveighed against the dis solute lives of the clergy, the smallness of their ton sut es, their gaming, hunting, dancing, and singing, and particularly against their openly living with con cubines, by which he meant their wives ; he-then extolled Dunstan as the pious reformer of these abuses, and urged him to employ more vigorous remedies than he had hitherto done, and to complete the work which he had begun. The prelate was not wanting in his exer tions, and in a short time the new discipline was esta blished in almost all the convents. This good under standing which subsisted between the king and the monks, was a great mean of strengthening his autho rity, and preserving the peace of the state. But not withstanding his invectives against the licentiousness of the clergy, he himself was one of the greatest liber tines of his time; and, in the gratification °rids passions, did not hesitate to violate every law, both human and divine. His amours are peculiarly the subject of the historians of that age, and indeed are still the theme of romance. He first broke into a convent, and ravished a nun called Editha, for which crime this favourite of the monks was reprimanded by Dunstan; but instead of being obliged to restore her, he kept her as his mis tress, and was only to abstain from wearing his crown for seven years ; while the unfortunate Edwy, for a crime more venial, was separated from his queen, saw her treated with the most wanton barbarity, and was at last expelled his kingdom.
Lodging one night at the house of a nobleman, Edgar was struck with the beauty of his daughter ; but being too impatient to employ intreaties and address it ob taining his wishes, he, without ceremony, demanded of the mother to send the young lady to his bed-chamber.
The mother knowing well the impetuosity of the young monarch, thought it safer to deceive than to refuse him; and promised compliance. But when night came, she directed a waiting-maid named Eifleda, to steal to the king's bed and personate her daughter. Wishing, however, to retire before daybreak, as she had been commanded, the king, well pleased with his companion, forcibly detained her, and morning revealed the deceit. But, instead of being displeased with the trick, Elfleda continued to be his favourite mistress until his marriage with Elfrida.
Edgar had long heard of the beauty of Elfrida, the daughter and heiress of Olgar, Earl of Devonshire; and his curiosity and desire were so excited, that he resol ved, if report spoke true, to make her his wife. To ascertain, however, whether Elfrida was such a person as she had been described, he sent Earl Athelwold, his favourite, upon a pretended message to her father, with orders to bring him a correct account of the beauty of his daughter. Athelwold, as soon as lie beheld Elfrida, was so overcome with her charms, that he forgot every other consideration but the gratification of his own passion, and demanded her from her father for his own wife. The favourite of a king was not to be refused, and they were married in private. Athelwold, pleased with the treacherous part which he had acted, returned with tidings very different front what Edgar had ex pected. lie represented Elfrida as possessed of none of those accomplishments for which she had been so highly praised, and assured him that she was altogether unworthy the hand of a king. When he had thus di verted the thoughts of Edgar from Elfrida, he took an opportunity, some time after, of remarking, that the fortune of Olgar's daughter, rendered her a very ad vantageous match for himself; and he requested per mission to pay his addresses to her. Edgar, without hesitation, consented, and even recommended him to her parents. Athelwold returned to his wife, and had their nuptials solemnised in public ; but, to secure him self against all possibility of detection, he used every precaution to detain Elfrida in the country, and to keep her at a distance from the eyes of the king. The ene mies of the favourite, however, soon exposed him to his master ; but Edgar, dissembling his resentment, mere ly expressed to Athelwold his surprise that he never brought his lady to court, and intimated his desire of being made acquainted with one of whom he had for merly heard so much. The favourite was thunder struck at such an intimation, hut could not refuse such an honour, and requested a few hours to prepare his wife for the king's reception. He fell at her feet, con fessed the treachery of which he had been guilty, and intreated her, if she had any regard for his life or her own honour, to conceal, by every mean, front his sove reign, that beauty which had been so fatal to his fidelity. Elfrida promised obedience; hut, instead of complying with the wishes of her husband, she was exasperated against him for having deprived her of a crown, and with the hope of still captivating the heart of Edgar, appeared before him in all her charms. The monarch was overcome by her beauty, and determined to obtain her; but for the present concealed his sensations from Athelwold, who was soon after, however, secretly mur dered by the king's command, and Elfrida was raised to the throne. Such was Edgar ; yet Edgar was placed by the monks among the r of the saints. IIi f reign is remarkable For the e pation of wolves from England. He himself ,took great pleasure in hunting these animals; and he changed the tribute which had been imposed upon the Welsh princes by Atheistan, into an annual tribute of 300 wolves heads, which pro duced such diligence in destroying them, that they soon became extinct in the island.