whether of his own free will I know not,--‘Let the English make either the Duke or Harold king, as they please; I consent.’ So he let the barons have their own will.”[64] This narrative bears all the marks of probability, and is quite consistent with the representations of the Tapestry. The circumstance of the dying monarch’s having been clamorously assailed, at a time when peace is most required, by the adherents of Harold, in order to induce him to alter the arrangements he had already made respecting the succession, was calculated to win for the Duke the sympathy of all right-minded persons. Still, the question remains, why should Harold have been so anxious to be nominated the successor of the Confessor? Three circumstances seem to have constituted a legal claim to the throne among the Anglo-Saxons--heirship, the appointment of the departed monarch, and the election of the nobles. That heirship alone did not constitute a valid claim to the throne is plain from the will of King Alfred, which has been preserved by Asser. He there styles himself king of the whole of Wessex, by the consent of the nobility, _nobilitatis consensu pariter et assensu rex_; and in the same public act declares that he inherited the kingdom, after his two brothers Ethelbald and Ethelred, by the will of his father, _de hereditate, quam pater meus Ethelwulphus ... delegavit_. It is quite evident, therefore, that a thoroughly valid claim to the crown was of the triple nature now represented. As neither Harold nor William belonged to the royal line of England, the remaining sources of right became of the more importance to them. Let us now revert to the Tapestry. The feeble condition of the King is well represented. An attendant is supporting him behind with a pillow, whilst he makes an attempt to speak. The blackness of death has settled upon his shrunken countenance. A priest dressed in canonicals stands by, whose uplifted hand and sorrow-stricken face seem to say that the grand climax is at hand. A lady at the foot of the bed weeps; she is doubtless the wife of the Confessor, the sister of Harold. Harold is eagerly pressing his claim. The legend here is, HIC EADWARDUS REX IN LECTO ALLOQUIT: FIDELES--Here King Edward on his bed addresses his faithful attendants. Underneath is a scene, which the inscription explains, ET HIC DEFUNCTUS EST--And here he is dead. A priest in canonicals is again present, probably the one we saw above, and two attendants wrap up the body for burial.