had plunged it.  Egbert knew how to make advantage of these divisions:  fomenting them by his policy at first, and quelling them afterwards by his sword, he reduced these two kingdoms under his government.  The same power which conquered Mercia and Northumberland made the reduction of Kent and Essex easy,—­the people on all hands the more readily submitting, because there was no change made in their laws, manners, or the form of their government.

[Sidenote:  Egbert A.D. 827.]

[Sidenote:  A.D. 832]

Egbert, when he had brought all England under his dominion, made the Welsh tributary, and carried his arms with success into Scotland, assumed the title of Monarch of all Britain.[47] The southern part of the island was now for the first time authentically known by the name of England, and by every appearance promised to have arrived at the fortunate moment for forming a permanent and splendid monarchy.  But Egbert had not reigned seven years in peace, when the Danes, who had before showed themselves in some scattered parties, and made some inconsiderable descents, entered the kingdom in a formidable body.  This people came from the same place whence the English themselves were derived, and they differed from them in little else than that they still retained their original barbarity and heathenism.  These, assisted by the Norwegians, and other people of Scandinavia, were the last torrent of the Northern ravagers which overflowed Europe.  What is remarkable, they attacked England and France when these two kingdoms were in the height of their grandeur,—­France under Charlemagne, England united by Egbert.  The good fortune of Egbert met its first check from these people, who defeated his forces with great slaughter near Charmouth in Dorsetshire.  It generally happens that a new nation, with a new method of making war, succeeds against a people only exercised in arms by their own civil dissensions.  Besides, England, newly united, was not without those jealousies and that disaffection which give such great advantage to an invader.  But the vigilance and courage of Egbert repaired this defeat; he repulsed the Danes; and died soon after at Winchester, full of years and glory.

[Sidenote:  Ethelwolf A.D. 838]

He left a great, but an endangered succession, to his son Ethelwolf, who was a mild and virtuous prince, full of a timid piety, which utterly disqualifies for government; and he began to govern at a time when the greatest capacity was wanted.  The Danes pour in upon every side; the king rouses from his lethargy; battles are fought with various success, which it were useless and tedious to recount.  The event seems to have been, that in some corners of the kingdom the Danes gained a few inconsiderable settlements; the rest of the kingdom, after being terribly ravaged, was left a little time to recover, in order to be plundered anew.  But the weak prince took no advantage of this time to concert a regular plan of defence,