Egbert

“ Egbert, the founder of this sovereignty, grand-nephew of king Ina, by his brother Ingild, of high rank in his own nation, and liberally educated, had been conspicuous among the West Saxons from his childhood. His uninterrupted course of valour begat envy, and as it is almost naturally ordained that kings should regard with suspicion whomsoever they see growing up in expectation of the kingdom, Bertric, as before related, jealous of his rising character, was meditating how to destroy him. Egbert, apprised of this, escaped to Offa, king of the Mercians. ”

“ Or else he says: “No, I will not bother about others. If I have lusts, they are my own, and I prefer them to other people’s virtues.” So, a waster, a scamp, takes a sort of stand. He exposes himself to opposition and final castigation: at any rate in story-books.
But Egbert! What are you to do with a man like Egbert? He had no vices. He was really kind, nay generous. And he was not weak. If he had been weak Winifred could have been kind to him. ”

“ He has summoned you from Radefeld----do you know why?"
"I suspect so, at least. Has he spoken to you about it?"
"Yes, and from him I heard the first word on the subject, Egbert--for heaven's sake, be on your guard. You know my father, and are aware that he will never tolerate such a bent in his works."
"In general he tolerates no other bent than his own," rejoined Egbert coldly. "He never can nor will comprehend, that the boy, who has to thank him for education and culture, has become a man, who presumes to have his own views, and go his own way." ”

“ From afar we descried its smoke, and presently in the doorway observed Cousin Egbert himself, who waved cheerfully at us. His appearance gave me a shock. Quite aware of his inclination to laxness, I was yet unprepared for his present state. Never, indeed, have I seen a man so badly turned out. Too evidently unshaven since his disappearance, he was gotten up in a faded flannel shirt, open at the neck and without the sign of cravat, a pair of overalls, also faded and quite wretchedly spotty, and boots of the most shocking description. ”

“ Men might well pray as they did, “From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us,” for the invader knew nothing of mercy, and his enterprise and desperate valour were only equalled by his fiendish delight in cruelty. Egbert struggled long, and, on the whole, successfully, against these foes. In 839 he died, after a reign of thirty-seven years, and his bones are still preserved in a mortuary chest in the Cathedral of his capital. ”

“ Egbert quite often, and he was one of those fair, sleek, smooth people that I don’t like, with little pig’s eyes. They never like me, either.
Then everything was very uncomfortable. Mr. Egbert, who was Lord Elstead now, sent word mother was to go in a month, and there was to be a sale at the Hall. Mr. Egbert was going to let the Hall, and sell the furniture, and go and spend the money in Paris, and at a place called Bridge, where he’d lost a lot of money before. Ellen told me this. ”

“ This year king Egbert died; before he was king, Offa king of the Mercians, and Bertric, king of the West-Saxons, drove him out of England into France for three years; and Bertric assisted Offa, because he had his daughter for his queen. And Egbert reigned thirty-seven years and seven months: and Ethelwulf the son of Egbert succeeded to the kingdom of the West-Saxons; and he gave his son Athelstan the kingdoms of the Kentish-men, and of the East-Saxons, and of the men of Surrey, and of the South-Saxons. ”

“ Egbert alone seemed thoughtful and preoccupied; his assembled relations thought him reserved and cold; some said a foreign education could be no good to an Englishman, and he would never be popular in the country; others thought he would marry abroad, some said he would turn Roman Catholic, and the sporting squires wondered whether he would ride and would subscribe to the hunt. ”

“ An hour passed, and then seeing that no one else approached the table, Egbert, taking Edmund by the hand, led him forward and knelt before the royal table.
"Whom have we here?" the king said. "This youth is by his attire one of noble race, but I know not his face."
"We have come, sir king," Egbert said, "as fugitives and suppliants to you. This is Edmund, the son of Ealdorman Eldred, a valiant cyning of East Anglia, who, after fighting bravely against the Danes near Thetford, joined Earl Algar, and died by his side on the fatal field of Kesteven. ”

“ Yet I believe Cousin Egbert was the only invited one to decline. He did so with evident distress at having to refuse.
"I like your little woman a whole lot," he observed to his lordship, "but Europe is too kind of uncomfortable for me; keeps me upset all the time, what with all the foreigners and one thing and another. ”

“ This snake is particularly addicted to bull-frogs, and, judging from the earnest manner in which he was making for the pond, Egbert was not blind to this trait in its character.
"You may imagine my agony of mind. There was I, helpless. My injured leg made it impossible for me to pursue the snake and administer one where it would do most good. And meanwhile the unequal race was already drawing to its inevitable close. Egbert, splendid as were his other qualities, was not built for speed. He was dignified rather than mobile. ”

“ Egbert now had no real home. Winifred with the children and nurse was tied to the little flat in London. He could not live there: he could not contain himself. The cottage was shut-up—or lent to friends. He went down sometimes to work in his garden and keep the place in order. Then with the empty house around him at night, all the empty rooms, he felt his heart go wicked. The sense of frustration and futility, like some slow, torpid snake, slowly bit right through his heart. Futility, futility: the horrible marsh-poison went through his veins and killed him. ”

“ Then thou may’st take service under some true lord as a plowman or a soldier as thou wilt. From this day forth thou art a freeman.”
Egbert gazed at Cedric with tears streaming down his face. Then he fell on his knees before him; but my comrade raised him almost roughly.
“Up with thee, Egbert! Thou’rt a freeman now, and should do utter homage to none but God. And there’s work to do if thou wilt keep thy freedom. Thou must be far away from Gilroy before another morn.”
Egbert, among his sobs of joy, could say no word. I found in my pouch a little purse of gold and gave it him. ”

“ Instead of this he closed by saying: "And I advise you, if you grow up to be a man and ever become the general of an army, never to trust any captain or colonel with the charge of an important enterprise, unless they are men that know how to obey." Egbert answered very gravely that he was "determined that he wouldn't."
Soon after this George bade him good-night and went away. The next day he told Egbert not to be discouraged at his not having yet learned to obey. "There are a great many boys older than you," he said, "who have not learned this lesson; but you will learn in time. ”

“ Egbert was formerly celebrated in the diocese of Utrecht. Some authors maintain that St. Egbert never took monastic vows, but was a priest living in the monastery; others say, and with good reason, that he was a bishop.
25—St. Cunibert, Bishop, A.D. 699.
This saint was entrusted by his parents for his education to some monks living in a monastery near the Tay, whose site cannot now be identified. He became a priest, and afterwards bishop. Towards the end of his days he retired into solitude as a hermit, and thus finished his earthly course. ”

“ Believe me, Egbert, if you ever regain the world's lost favor, which you value so highly, you will discover the first earnest of it in your own changed and purified character. The world will pay no heed to any amount of self-assertion, and will remain equally indifferent to appeals and upbraidings; but sooner or later it will find out just what you are in your essential life, and will estimate you accordingly. I have dwelt on this phase of your misfortune fully, because I see that it weighs so heavily on your heart. ”

“ It makes a mystic monastic chain of Greek learning from Theodore to Bede, Bede to Egbert, Egbert to Alcuin, Alcuin to Hrabanus Maurus, the monks of St Gall and so on. It is flattering to insular pride, as it makes England the mother of all continental schools. But the chain breaks at the second link. Egbert was neither a pupil of Bede’s, nor Alcuin’s master. Nor was Egbert ever a monk, and Alcuin only became one late in life. ”

“ Wildenrod's lips were tightly compressed, as though he wanted to force back an angry rejoinder, at last he said slowly: "Herr Dernburg, for the first time, I do not understand you."
"Maybe so, but you can always trust to this, that I shall not be the one to throw a firebrand into my Odensburg, with my own hand. If Egbert continues obstinate in his present convictions, then all is over between me and him. But he will not do so. Free course in life is what he needs, he will struggle and strive upward at any price: but also build up, create and finally be ruler over that which he has created. ”

“ But the iron grip of Egbert's powerful hand upon his shoulder awoke him to a sense of pain and fear for his safety, and he hurried away.
"The descendants of Egbert and Bettina still live happily in their ancestral home," added Carlton, "and often relate the story of the manner in which the famous bandit Petard was foiled by the gallant and daring stratagem of Egbert Hosfeldt."
"This is a happy ending, indeed," said Florinda.
CHAPTER VIII.—A RIVAL.
Excellent! I smell a device.
-Twelfth Night.
EVERY picture has its dark side-no scene is all sunshine ”

“ The later life of Egbert exemplifies the way in which God chooses and preserves the instruments for accomplishing His Will. Entering the monastery of Iona when already advanced in years, he spent the last thirteen years of his life in untiring efforts to induce the monks to give up the Celtic traditions to which they clung, and to conform to the Roman computation of Easter. ”

“ Now then who was so happy as the crafty Egbert? in the full exultation of triumph he was persuaded, that the papers which he lost no time in committing to the flames, were the only proofs of his nephew’s existence. But in this respect he was deceived. When Henry departed for the army, Melthal charged him to seize the first favourable opportunity of laying his case before 15the emperor; for which purpose he furnished him with the authentic documents of his real birth, and those which fell into Count Egbert’s hands were nothing more valuable than mere copies. ”

“ Egbert Floud assures us that the “Judge,” as he affectionately calls him, is “sure some mixer.” If this be true, the gentleman has selected a community where his talent will find ample scope, and we bespeak for his lordship a hearty welcome.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I must do Cousin Egbert the justice to say that he showed a due sense of his responsibility in meeting the Honourable George. By general consent the honour had seemed to fall to him, both the Belknap-Jacksons and Mrs. Effie rather timidly conceding his claim that the distinguished guest would prefer it so. ”

“ Throughout the repast Cousin Egbert was constantly attentive to my needs and was more cheerful of demeanour than I had ever seen him. The hunted look about his eyes, which had heretofore always distinguished him, was now gone, and he bore himself like a free man.
"Yes, sir," he said, as we smoked over the remains of the meal, "you stay with me and I'll give you one swell little time. I'll do the cooking, and between whiles we can sit right here and play cribbage day in and day out. You can get a taste of real life without moving." ”

“ Both Ealdormen were slain, but victory is said to have rested with the men of Wiltshire. With this exception, the first thirteen years of Egbert’s reign passed in peace. Cenwulf of Mercia, whose dominions, including, as they did, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Essex, wrapped Wessex all round to the east, was too powerful to be lightly assailed. When Egbert’s old patron, Charlemagne, died in 814, there was nothing to betoken that the exile whom he had befriended would achieve anything more than a petty and precarious West Saxon royalty. ”

“ The monks of Hii, at the teaching of Egbert, adopted the catholic manner of conversation, under Abbot Dunchad, about eighty years after they had sent Bishop Aidan to preach to the English nation.994 The man of God, Egbert, remained thirteen years in the aforesaid island, which he had thus consecrated to Christ, as it were, by a new ray of the grace of fellowship and peace in the Church ”

“ Egbert formed an alliance with his old enemies, the Welsh, and gained a great victory over the Northmen; but when he died and left Ethelwolf, his son, in charge of the throne, he made a great mistake. Ethelwolf was a poor king, "being given more to religious exercises than reigning," says the historian. He would often exhibit his piety in order to draw attention away from His Royal Incompetency. ”

“ So I remember this hidden evil of Egbert Floud's and that the crowd has gone there; and while I'm deciding to give in and gratify my morbid curiosity, here comes Cousin Egbert himself, romping along in his dinner-jacket suit and tan shoes, like a wild mustang.
"What was I telling you?" he demands. "Didn't I tell you the rest of this show was going to die standing up? Yes, sir; she's going to pass out on her feet." And he waved a sneering arm round at the deserted booths. "What does parties want of this truck when they can come down to my joint and get real entertainment for their money? ”