The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol. I., Part A.: From the Britons of Early Times to King John
David Hume · en
The circumstances of his marriage with this lady were more singular
and more criminal. Elfrida was daughter and heir of Olgar, earl of
Devonshire; and though she had been educated in the country, and had
never appeared at court, she had filled all England with the reputation
of her beauty. Edgar himself, who was indifferent to no accounts of this
nature, found his curiosity excited by the frequent panegyrics which he
heard of Elfrida; and reflecting on her noble birth, he resolved, if he
found her charms answerable to their fame, to obtain possession of her
on honorable terms. He communicated his intention to Earl Athelwold, his
favorite, but used the precaution, before he made any advances to her
parents, to order that nobleman, on some pretence, to pay them a visit,
and to bring him a certain account of the beauty of their daughter.
Athelwold, when introduced to the young lady, found general report to
have fallen short of the truth; and being actuated by the most vehement
love, he determined to sacrifice to this new passion his fidelity to his
master, and to the trust reposed in him. He returned to Edgar, and told
him, that the riches alone, and high quality of Elfrida, had been the
ground of the admiration paid her, and that her charms, far from being
any wise extraordinary would have been overlooked in a woman of inferior
station. When he had, by this deceit, diverted the king from his purpose
he took an opportunity, after some interval, of turning again the
conversation on Elfrida; he remarked, that though the parentage and
fortune of the lady had not produced on him, as on others, any illusion
with regard to her beauty, he could not forbear reflecting, that she
would, on the whole, be an advantageous match for him, and might, by her
birth and riches, make him sufficient compensation for the homeliness of
her person. If the king, therefore, gave his approbation he was
determined to make proposals in his own behalf to the earl of
Devonshire, and doubted not to obtain his, as well as the young lady’s,
consent to the marriage. Edgar, pleased with an expedient for
establishing his favorite’s fortune, not only exhorted him to execute
his purpose but forwarded his success by his recommendations to the
parents of Elfrida; and Athelwold was soon made happy in the possession
of his mistress. Dreading, however, the detection of the artifice, he
employed every pretence for detaining Elfrida in the country, and for
keeping her at a distance from Edgar.