Hereward, the Last of the English — Text and Context

I. HOW HEREWARD WAS OUTLAWED, AND WENT NORTH TO SEEK HIS FORTUNES

II. HOW HEREWARD SLEW THE BEAR

III. HOW HEREWARD SUCCORED A PRINCESS OF CORNWALL

IV. HOW HEREWARD TOOK SERVICE WITH RANALD, KING OF WATERFORD

V. HOW HEREWARD SUCCORED THE PRINCESS OF CORNWALL A SECOND TIME

VI. HOW HEREWARD WAS WRECKED UPON THE FLANDERS SHORE

VII. HOW HEREWARD WENT TO THE WAR AT GUISNES

VIII. HOW A FAIR LADY EXERCISED THE MECHANICAL ART TO WIN HEREWARD’S LOVE

IX. HOW HEREWARD WENT TO THE WAR IN SCALDMARILAND

X. HOW HEREWARD WON THE MAGIC ARMOR

XI. HOW THE HOLLANDERS TOOK HEREWARD FOR A MAGICIAN

XII. HOW HEREWARD TURNED BERSERK

XIII. HOW HEREWARD WON MARE SWALLOW

XIV. HOW HEREWARD RODE INTO BRUGES LIKE A BEGGAR-MAN

XV. HOW EARL TOSTI GODWINSSON CAME TO ST. OMER

XVI. HOW HEREWARD WAS ASKED TO SLAY AN OLD COMRADE

XVII. HOW HEREWARD TOOK THE NEWS FROM STANFORD BRIGG AND HASTINGS

XVIII. HOW EARL GODWIN’S WIDOW CAME TO ST. OMER

XIX. HOW HEREWARD CLEARED BOURNE OF FRENCHMEN

XX. HOW HEREWARD WAS MADE A KNIGHT AFTER THE FASHION OF THE ENGLISH

XXI. HOW IVO TAILLEBOIS MARCHED OUT OF SPALDING TOWN

XXII. HOW HEREWARD SAILED FOR ENGLAND ONCE AND FOR ALL

XXIII. HOW HEREWARD GATHERED AN ARMY

XXIV. HOW ARCHBISHOP ALDRED DIED OF SORROW

XXV. HOW HEREWARD FOUND A WISER MAN IN ENGLAND THAN HIMSELF

XXVI. HOW HEREWARD FULFILLED HIS WORDS TO THE PRIOR OF THE GOLDEN BOROUGH

XXVII. HOW THEY HELD A GREAT MEETING IN THE HALL OF ELY

XXVIII. HOW THEY FOUGHT AT ALDRETH

XXIX. HOW SIR DADE BROUGHT NEWS FROM ELY

XXX. HOW HEREWARD PLAYED THE POTTER; AND HOW HE CHEATED THE KING

XXXI. HOW THEY FOUGHT AGAIN AT ALDRETH

XXXII. HOW KING WILLIAM TOOK COUNSEL OF A CHURCHMAN

XXXIII. HOW THE MONKS OF ELY DID AFTER THEIR KIND

XXXIV. HOW HEREWARD WENT TO THE GREENWOOD

XXXV. HOW ABBOT THOROLD WAS PUT TO RANSOM

XXXVI. HOW ALFTRUDA WROTE TO HEREWARD

XXXVII. HOW HEREWARD LOST SWORD BRAIN-BITER

XXXVIII. HOW HEREWARD CAME IN TO THE KING

XXXIX. HOW TORFRIDA CONFESSED THAT SHE HAD BEEN INSPIRED BY THE DEVIL

XL. HOW HEREWARD BEGAN TO GET HIS SOUL’S PRICE

XLI. HOW EARL WALTHEOF WAS MADE A SAINT

XLII. HOW HEREWARD GOT THE BEST OF HIS SOUL’S PRICE

XLIII. HOW DEEPING FEN WAS DRAINED

HEREWARD, THE LAST OF THE ENGLISH.

The heroic deeds of Highlanders, both in these islands and elsewhere, have been told in verse and prose, and not more often, nor more loudly, than they deserve. But we must remember, now and then, that there have been heroes likewise in the lowland and in the fen. Why, however, poets have so seldom sung of them; why no historian, save Mr. Motley in his “Rise of the Dutch Republic,” has condescended to tell the tale of their doughty deeds, is a question not difficult to answer.

In the first place, they have been fewer in number. The lowlands of the world, being the richest spots, have been generally the soonest conquered, the soonest civilized, and therefore the soonest taken out of the sphere of romance and wild adventure, into that of order and law, hard work and common sense, as well as--too often--into the sphere of slavery, cowardice, luxury, and ignoble greed. The lowland populations, for the same reasons, have been generally the first to deteriorate, though not on account of the vices of civilization. The vices of incivilization are far worse, and far more destructive of human life; and it is just because they are so, that rude tribes deteriorate physically less than polished nations. In the savage struggle for life, none but the strongest, healthiest, cunningest, have a chance of living, prospering, and propagating their race. In the civilized state, on the contrary, the weakliest and the silliest, protected by law, religion, and humanity, have chance likewise, and transmit to their offspring their own weakliness or silliness. In these islands, for instance, at the time of the Norman Conquest, the average of man was doubtless superior, both in body and mind, to the average of man now, simply because the weaklings could not have lived at all; and the rich and delicate beauty, in which the women of the Eastern Counties still surpass all other races in these isles, was doubtless far more common in proportion to the numbers of the population.