MERCIA, THE ASTRONOMER ROYAL: =A Romance.= BY A. GARLAND MEARS, AUTHOR OF ‘IDYLLS, LEGENDS, AND LYRICS,’ ‘THE STORY OF A TRUST,’ ‘TALES OF OUR TOWN,’ ETC. LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO. LTD. 4 STATIONERS’-HALL COURT. 1895. _All rights reserved._ PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON MERCIA THE ASTRONOMER ROYAL. ‘Whoever knows the origin, the entrance, the locality, and the five-fold power of life enjoys immortality.’ From THE PRASNA, in _Bibliotheca Indica_. CONTENTS PROLOGUE. PART PAGE I. 1 II. 23 III. 31 MERCIA, THE ASTRONOMER ROYAL. CHAPTER PAGE I. 41 II. 73 III. 85 IV. 103 V. 127 VI. 132 VII. 158 VIII. 186 IX. 230 X. 264 XI. 287 XII. 295 XIII. 341 PROLOGUE PART I The year of grace, 2002, had arrived and the world had seen many changes. The kingdoms of the earth had gone through great experiences. Nations had risen and fallen; the boundaries of Empires had been modified; for a serious redistribution of territory had taken place. Petty sovereignties had now become merged into greater ones, having fallen a prey to the strong; for the dominant Powers had divided the spoil by agreement.