Page:The Early Kings of Norway.djvu/70

60 EAKLY KINGS OF NORWAY. open to them, turn which way they liked. They burnt and plundered over Kent, over Hampshire, Sussex ; they stormed far and wide ; world lying aU before them where to choose. Wretched Ethelred, as the one invention he could fall upon, offered them Danegelt (16,000/. of silver this year, but it rose in other years as high as 48,000/.) ; the desperate Ethelred, a clear method of quenching fire by pouring oil on it ! Svein and Olaf accepted ; withdrew to Southampton, — Olaf at least did, — till the money was got ready. Strange to think of, fierce Svein of the Double-beard, and conquest of England by him ; this had at last become the one salutary result which re- mained for that distracted, down-trodden, now utterly ^chaotic and anarchic country. A conquering Svein, followed by an ably and earnestly administrative, as well as conquering, Knut (whom Dahlmann compares to Charlemagne), were thus by the mysterious destinies appointed the effective saviours of England. Tryggveson, on this occasion, was a good while at Southampton ; and roamed extensively about, easily victorious over everything, if resistance were at- tempted, but finding little or none ; and acting now