a member of their own royal house. He was deeply religious. His
life was pure and simple, and although all his tastes and sympathies
were with the land in which he had been brought up, Englishmen
forgave him this because at least he was a Saxon, while his
predecessors had been Danes. But while they respected Edward, for
Harold, their real ruler, they felt a passionate admiration. He was
a worthy representative of all that was best in the Saxon character.
He possessed in an eminent degree the openness of nature, the frank
liberality, the indomitable bravery, and the endurance of hardship
that distinguished the race. He was Earl of the West Saxons, and
as such had special claims to their fealty.

London, it was true, did not lie in his earldom, but in that of his
brother Leofwyn, but Leofwyn and Harold were as one--true brothers
in heart and in disposition. The gentleness and courtesy of manner
that, although natural, had been softened and increased by Harold's
contact with foreigners, was not only pardoned but admired because
he was England's champion against foreigners. He had fought, and
victoriously, alike against the Norwegians, the Danes of Northumbria,
and the Welsh, and he struggled as sturdily, though peacefully,
against Norman influence in England. Already the dread of Norman
preponderance was present in the minds of Englishmen. It was no
secret that in his early days Edward had held out hopes, if he had
not given an actual promise, to William of Normandy that he should
succeed him. Of late the king had been somewhat weaned from his
Norman predilections, and had placed himself unreservedly in Harold's
hands, giving to the latter all real power while he confined himself
to the discharge of religious exercises, and to the supervision of
the building of his abbey, varied occasionally by hunting expeditions,
for he still retained a passionate love of the chase; but men knew