obsolete spelling of proper names; he has not, e. g., spelt Edwy, Eadwig
or Elgiva, Aelfgifu. Custom has Latinised the appellations, and as he
has rejected obsolete terms in conversation, he has felt it more
consistent to reject these more correct, but less familiar, orthographies.

The title, "First Chronicle of Aescendune," has been adopted, because
the tale here given is but the first of a series of tales which have
been told, but not yet written, attaching themselves to the same family
and locality at intervals of generations. Thus, the second illustrates
the struggle between Edmund Ironside and Canute; the third, the Norman
Conquest; etc. Their appearance in print must depend upon the indulgence
extended to the present volume.

In conclusion, the writer dedicates this book with great respect to Mrs.
Trevelyan, authoress of "Lectures upon the History of England;" whose
first volume, years ago, first taught him to appreciate, in some degree,
the character of St. Dunstan.

All Saints' School, Bloxham,

Easter 1874.


CHAPTER I. "THIS IS THE FOREST PRIMEVAL."

IT was a lovely eventide of the sunny month of May, and the declining
rays of the sun penetrated the thick foliage of an old English forest,
lighting up in chequered pattern the velvet sward thick with moss, and
casting uncertain rays as the wind shook the boughs. Every bush seemed
instinct with life, for April showers and May sun had united to force