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An History of England (1); In a Series of Letters From a Nobleman to His Son
An History of England In a Series of Letters From a Nobleman to His Son - 1 Author:Oliver Goldsmith Volume: 1 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1788 Original Publisher: T. Barrois Subjects: Great Britain History / General History / Europe / Great Britain Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General... more » Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: " - ' LETTER VIIL fllSTOHIANS and critics are fond of reprefem!n| die period which fucceeded Alfred as entirely bai i)arous; yet there are many traces of both erutli tion and politenefs in thofe very ages which hav keen particularly called obfcure. In the reign c his fucceffor, Edward, we find gallantry, whic is one of the beft marks of politenefs in any cour try, not entirely unknown : his amours with Eg wina , who, though by birth a fhepherds daughtei received an education becoming a princefs, an at length , fubdued the heart of Edward, is a re markable inftance of the power the fair fex the enjoyed. In this reign, too, the univerfity c Cambridge was founded. The famous Scotus flour iihed at this time: a man whofe learning appeal amazing, even to an age which prides itfelfupo its erudition. In the reign of Athelftan , who fucceeded Ed ward, the Bible was translated into 4 T) Saxon ; a work which evinces how ' ' ' jnft the opinion is with regard to the religion , and tt learning of that age. Alliances alfo on the com ncnt were formed by this monarch : it is faid 1 was equally feared by his neighbours, and lovi by the greateft prince's of Europe. We find little remarkable in the reign of Edmui I. but that the firft capital punifhment was inftitut by him. He had remarked, that fines and pecu ary punifhments were too genrfe methods of treat! thofe -who were convicted of robberies, who gei rally were men who had nothing to lofe; he thi /ore ordered, that, in gangs of robbers, the oli ...« less