All
delays might be dangerous, and the present occasion must hastily be
embraced, while the Danes, without concert, without a leader, astonished
at the present incident, and anxious only for their personal safety,
durst not oppose the united voice of the nation.
But this concurrence of circumstances in favor of Edward might have
failed of its effect, had his succession been opposed by Godwin, whose
power, alliances, and abilities gave him a great influence at all times,
especially amidst those sudden opportunities which always attend
a revolution of government, and which, either seized or neglected,
commonly prove decisive. There were opposite reasons, which divided
men's hopes and fears with regard to Godwin's conduct. On the one hand,
the credit of that nobleman lay chiefly in Wessex, which was almost
entirely inhabited by English; it was therefore presumed that he would
second the wishes of that people in restoring the Saxon line, and in
humbling the Danes, from whom he, as well as they, had reason to dread,
as they had already felt, the most grievous oppressions. On the other
hand, there subsisted a declared animosity between Edward and Godwin,
on account of Alfred's murder; of which the latter had publicly been
accused by the prince, and which he might believe so deep an offence, as
could never, on account of any subsequent merits, be sincerely pardoned.
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