Guthrum the Dane
A Tale of the Heptarchy (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Guthrum the Dane: A Tale of the Heptarchy<br><br>Soul of the Last and Mightiest<br>Of all the Minstrels - be thou blest!<br>For that thou hast bequeathed to me<br>A great and glorious Legacy,<br>Such as no other single mind -<br>Save Shakspeare's - ever left behind!<br>One, not of earth, or earth-born gold,<br>In acres broad, or sums untold,<br>Which may by heirs be wasted; may,<br>By lawless force, be swept away;<br>Or meanly filched by legal stealth;<br>But a bequest of mental wealth!<br>Left not to me alone, although<br>As much my own as if 'twere so;<br>And yet, high thanks to art divine!<br>As much the worlds, as it is mine;<br>E'en like the air, or like the sun,<br>Enjoyed by all, engrossed by none;<br>Diffused, unspent; entire, though shared;<br>And undiminished, unimpaired;<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.