However this may be, Buthred, finding that he could not have Alfred’s aid, and that he could not protect his kingdom by any force which he could himself bring into the field, tried negotiations too, and he succeeded in buying off the Danes with money.  He paid them a large sum, on condition of their leaving his dominions finally and forever, and not coming to molest him any more.  Such a measure as this is always a very desperate and hopeless one.  Buying off robbers, or beggars, or false accusers, or oppressors of any kind, is only to encourage them to come again, after a brief interval, under some frivolous pretext, with fresh demands or new oppressions, that they may be bought off again with higher pay.  At least Buthred found it so in this case.  Hubba went northward for a time, into the kingdom of Northumberland, and, after various conquests and plunderings there, he came back again into Mercia, on the plea that there was a scarcity of provisions in the northern kingdom, and he was obliged to come back.  Buthred bought him off again with a larger sum of money.  Hubba scarcely left the kingdom this time, but spent the money with his army, in carousings and excesses, and then went to robbing and plundering as before.  Buthred, at last, reduced to despair, and seeing no hope of escape from the terrible pest with which his kingdom was infested, abandoned the country and escaped to Rome.  They received him as an exiled monarch, in the Saxon school, where he soon after died a prey to grief and despair.

The Danes overturned what remained of Buthred’s government.  They destroyed a famous mausoleum, the ancient burial place of the Mercian kings.  This devastation of the abodes of the dead was a sort of recreation—­a savage amusement, to vary the more serious and dangerous excitements attending their contests with the living.  They found an officer of Buthred’s government named Ceolwulf, who, though a Saxon, was willing, through his love of place and power, to accept of the office of king in subordination to the Danes, and hold it at their disposal, paying an annual tribute to them.  Ceolwulf was execrated by his countrymen, who considered him a traitor.  He, in his turn, oppressed and tyrannized over them.

In the mean time, a new leader, with a fresh horde of Danes, had landed in England.  His name was Halfden.  Halfden came with a considerable fleet of ships, and, after landing his men, and performing various exploits and encountering various adventures in other parts of England, he began to turn his thoughts toward Alfred’s dominions.  Alfred did not pay particular attention to Halfden’s movements at first, as he supposed that his treaty with Hubba had bound the whole nation of the Danes not to encroach upon his realm, whatever they might do in respect to the other Saxon kingdoms.  Alfred had a famous castle at Wareham, on the southern coast of the island.  It was situated on a bay which lies in what is now