“But, Hereward, is not all the country, save this most fenny part of it, quietly submitting to the Conqueror! Doth not Lanfranc the archbishop give assurance that no lasting usurpation of the goods of the church is contemplated, and that it is his wish and intention only to improve the Saxon church and the great and rich Saxon houses of religion by bringing over from foreign parts some more learned priests, and more learned and more active monks? And are not these broad lands enough for thee and me? Nay, frown not! and might not thine own lands at Brunn be secured if thou wouldst submit and take the peace of the Norman ruler? Forgive me if I err, as the error all proceeds from the love I bear thee and the dread I have of losing thee. England, we are told, was happy under the dominion of Canute the Dane, and what was King Canute in England but a conqueror? And if Englishmen were happy under one foreign conqueror, might they not be happy under another?” “Not so, sweet Alftrude. Canute was contented to govern according to the old Saxon laws. When he gave some new laws, they were the freest and best that were ever given until those of Edward the Confessor, and they were given with counsel of his Witan, a free and honoured assemblage of Saxon lords and Saxon bishops, Saxon abbats and priests, and Saxon eldermen.[152] And in those dooms or laws King Canute, speaking with and for the Saxon Witan, said that just laws should be established, and every unjust law carefully suppressed, and that every injustice should be weeded out and rooted up from this country; and that God’s justice should be exalted; and that thenceforth every man, whether poor or rich, should be esteemed worthy of his folk-right, and have just dooms[153] doomed to him. And likewise did Canute, in these dooms, which were conceived in the mild Saxon spirit, raise his voice and set his face against death punishments and all barbarous penalties. ‘And we instruct and command,’ said he, ‘that though a man sin and sin deeply, his correction shall be so regulated as to be becoming before God and tolerable before men; and let him who hath power of judgment very earnestly bear in mind what he himself desires when he thus prays—Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And we command that Christian men be not, on any account, for altogether too little, condemned to death, but rather let gentle punishments be decreed, for the benefit of the people; and let not be destroyed, for little God’s handiwork, and his own purchase which he dearly bought.’ Thus said King Canute in his dooms, and in his days men in power were made to act according to those mild laws. But how is it now, under the Normans? My gentle-hearted bride, I would not wring thy heart and bring tears into thine eyes, but is it not true that for any wrong done or offence given—nay, for the allowable deed of defending their own, and standing up for their country, Saxons of all degrees are