THE NEW FOREST.
“About eight hundred years ago, William, Duke of Normandy, aspired to become King of England, and to wear the crown whose rightful claimant was Edgar Atheling. He made Harold, another heir to the English crown, support his claim, and take an oath to be true to him. To make Harold feel how solemn was an oath, he obliged him to swear it over a chest full of dead men’s bones.
“But Harold disregarded the oath that he had taken over the chest of bones in Normandy; and, when old Edward, who was called The Confessor, died, he seized the crown and royal treasure for himself, being counselled to do so by an assembly of nobles called the Witenagemote.
“Duke William was an ambitious and a fiery-minded man. He gathered an army of sixty thousand men, and a fleet of a thousand vessels and transports; and one September day he sailed from St. Valery with his army and fleet, the trumpets sounding and a thousand banners rising to the wind. His own ship had many-colored sails: from its mast floated the banner of the three Norman Lions; and a golden boy, pointing to England, glittered on the prow.
“This fleet came into the harbor of Pevensey. He led his army to Hastings; and there, on a bright afternoon in October, he met the army of Harold.
“Duke William reviewed his army, and caused his men to pray for victory ere they laid down beneath the moon and stars to rest. In the morning, they sung an ode, called the War Song of Roland: then a battle was fought, and the three Norman Lions at night waved triumphantly over the field.
“Harold was slain, and the monks wandered over the battle-ground to find his body. It was discovered at last, a despoiled and discrowned figure, by Edith Swansneck, a beautiful girl who loved Harold and whom the dead king had loved.
“Then William returned to Normandy. Fécamp blazed in his honor, and all the cities received him with loud acclaim.
FINDING THE BODY OF HAROLD.
“A hard king was Duke William. With his great army of Normans, he marched over England, suppressing all who opposed him. The rivers were tinged with blood, the beautiful English towns were reduced to ash-heaps, the land was blackened with fire: he is said to have killed or maimed a hundred thousand people.
THE DEATH OF THE RED KING.
“Having conquered England, he sought enjoyment, and turned his [!-- original location of 'The death of the red king' --] [!-- blank page --] attention to field-sports and to hunting. He had sixty-eight royal forests, full of stags and deer; but he permitted no one but himself and the people of his court to hunt in them.
“At Winchester, he thought it would be a fine thing to have a great hunting-park near his residence. There was a tract of country in the county of Hampshire, very picturesque and beautiful, that he determined to use for this purpose. But there were churches scattered among the hills; and thousands of peasants dwelt here, who had rude but happy homes.
“William cared little for the churches and less for the homes of the peasants; so he sent soldiers to burn the former, and to drive the people away from the latter.
“Nothing was done by the ruthless king to supply the wants of the people, or to relieve their misery. They left their native hills with wailing and weeping and wringing of hands, uttering imprecations on the head of the Conqueror and upon his race.
“The stags multiplied, and the deer increased; and delightful to the Norman was the New Forest, on the golden autumn days.
“One day, one of the king’s sons, a fair-haired youth, named Richard, went to hunt in this New Forest.
“He encountered a stag. The animal, maddened by the attack, rushed upon the prince, and killed him.
“As the dead body was borne from the forest, broken and stained with blood, the people said that this was a beginning of the reckoning God would make with William, and that the New Forest would prove an unquiet place to the Conqueror and to those of his blood.
“Foolish and superstitious stories began to be circulated. The people said that the New Forest was haunted; that spirits were seen, by moonlight, gliding among the dusky trees; that demons revelled there when the tempest arose, and the lightnings flashed, and the rain dashed on the great oaks. The old foresters did not wish to return to it now. They talked of it in low whispers, as of a place accursed.
“At last William died. It was a bitter death. The Conqueror trembled before that Conqueror to whom the princes of the earth must yield.
“It is said that, when he had reached the height of his fame, he declared that he would surrender his crowns and kingdom to know again ‘peace of mind, the love of a true friend, or the innocent sleep of a child.’
“When his last hour drew near, the nobles fled from his bedside. His servants pillaged the apartment where he died, and rolled the dead body from the bed, and left it lying on the floor. A good knight took it up, and carried it to St. Stephen’s Church, at Caen.
ST. STEPHEN’S CHURCH AT CAEN.
ROBERT THROWING HIMSELF ON HIS KNEES BEFORE HIS PROSTRATE FATHER.
“He left three sons, William Rufus, Robert, and Henry. To the first he bequeathed England, to the second Normandy, and to the last £5,000.
“William Rufus now became king of England. He was called the Red King, because he had a red face and red hair; and a red king he proved to be, in another sense.
“The Red King, like his father, quarrelled with everybody, and, like him, sought and found enjoyment by hunting in the New Forest.
“One pleasant day in May, when the leaves were tender, and the ferny hills were sunny and sprinkled with flowers, another Richard, the son of Robert of Normandy, went to hunt in the New Forest. After a merry time, he was accidentally shot by an arrow. Again a mournful retinue came out of the forest, bearing the body of a prince, stained with blood.
“August came, with its young deer and newly fledged birds. The Red King, with his brother Henry and a great court-party, went to the New Forest, to spend some days in hunting and feasting. The first day sped merrily, and was followed by a banquet. It was held at a place called Malwood-Keep, a famous lodge for royal hunting-parties.
“The next night, a man with a coal-cart was riding in the New Forest, when he discovered a body lying by the way, pierced by an arrow in the breast. He laid it in his dirty cart, and jogged on. It was the Red King.
“Many stories are told of the manner in which the king was killed. Some say that he was accidentally shot by Sir Walter Tyrrel, a famous hunter in those days.
“It is said that the king and Sir Walter came upon a stag. The king drew his bow, and the string broke.
“‘Shoot, Walter!’ said the king.
“The arrow flew, struck a tree, glanced, and buried itself in the king’s breast. He died where the poor peasants had foretold he would die, in the New Forest.
“We hope to visit Caen, and its cathedral, an edifice that was founded by the Conqueror, and that has grown for nearly a thousand years. The Conqueror’s tomb is before the altar, but his bones were scattered by the Huguenots in 1562.”
Wyllys Wynn’s story was applauded; and Master Lewis, amid the applause, said audibly,—
“Excellent!”
Frank Gray followed:—
“Our President has told you the history of William the Conqueror and of one of his sons, in his story of the New Forest. I will try to tell you