in the defeat of the Danes at this great battle, it is certain that
the results of it were very momentous to all concerned. Ethelred
received a wound, either in this battle or in some of the smaller
contests and collisions which followed it, under the effects of which
he pined and lingered for some months, and then died. Alfred, by his
decision and courage on the day of the battle, and by the ardor and
resolution with which he pressed all the subsequent operations during
the period of Ethelred's decline, made himself still more conspicuous
in the eyes of his countrymen than he had ever been before. In looking
forward to Ethelred's approaching death, the people, accordingly,
began to turn their eyes to Alfred as his successor. There were
children of some of his older brothers living at that time, and they,
according to all received principles of hereditary right, would
naturally succeed to the throne; but the nation seems to have thought
that the crisis was too serious, and the dangers which threatened
their country were too imminent, to justify putting any child upon the
throne. The accession of one of those children would have been the
signal for a terrible and protracted struggle among powerful relatives
and friends for the regency during the minority of the youthful
sovereign, and this, while the Danes remained in their strong-hold at
Reading, in daily expectation of new re-enforcements from beyond the
sea, would have plunged the country in hopeless ruin. They turned
their eyes toward Alfred, therefore, as the sovereign to whom they
were to bow so soon as Ethelred should cease to breathe.

In the mean time, the Danes, far from being subdued by the adverse
turn of fortune which had befallen them, strengthened themselves in
their fortress, made desperate sallies from their intrenchments,
attacked their foes on every possible occasion, and kept the country
in continual alarm. They at length so far recruited their strength,