and ſtates, and the other loſes them; the latter entirely aſſimilates or is melted down in the former, and muſt adopt it’s laws and cuſtoms[1]. And in purſuance of this maxim there hath ever been, ſince the union of the heptarchy in king Egbert, a general acquieſcence under the hereditary monarchy of the weſt Saxons, through all the united kingdoms.
From Egbert to the death of Edmund Ironſide, a period of above two hundred years, the crown deſcended regularly, through a ſucceſſion of fifteen princes, without any deviation or interruption, ſave only that king Edred, the uncle of Edwy, mounted the throne for about nine years, in the right of his nephew a minor, the times being very troubleſome and dangerous. But this was with a view to preſerve, and not to deſtroy, the ſucceſſion; and accordingly Edwy ſucceeded him.
King Edmund Ironſide was obliged, by the hoſtile irruption of the Danes, at firſt to divide his kingdom with Canute, king of Denmark; and Canute, after his death, ſeiſed the whole of it, Edmund’s ſons being driven into foreign countries. Here the ſucceſſion was ſuſpended by actual force, and a new family introduced upon the throne: in whom however this new acquired throne continued hereditary for three reigns; when, upon the death of Hardiknute, the antient Saxon line was reſtored in the perſon of Edward the confeſſor.
He was not indeed the true heir to the crown, being the younger brother of king Edmund Ironſide, who had a ſon Edward, ſirnamed (from his exile) the outlaw, ſtill living. But this ſon was then in Hungary; and, the Engliſh having juſt ſhaken off the Daniſh yoke, it was neceſſary that ſomebody on the ſpot ſhould mount the throne; and the confeſſor was the next of the royal line then in England. On his deceaſe without iſſue, Harold II uſurped the throne; and almoſt at the ſame inſtant came on the Norman invaſion: the right to the crown being all the time in
- ↑ Puff. L. of N. and N. b. 8. c. 12. §. 6.
