The most commendable
circumstance of Edward's government was his attention to the
administration of justice, and his compiling, for that purpose, a body
of laws which he collected from the laws of Ethelbert, Ina, and Alfred.
This compilation, though now lost, (for the laws that pass under
Edward's name were composed afterwards,[*]) was long the object of
affection to the English nation.
[* Spelm. in verbo Belliva.]
Edward the Confessor was the first that touched for the king's evil: the
opinion of his sanctity procured belief to this cure among the people:
his successors regarded it as a part of their state and grandeur to
uphold the same opinion. It has been continued down to our time; and
the practice was first dropped by the present royal family, who observed
that it could no longer give amazement even to the populace, and was
attended with ridicule in the eyes of all men of understanding.
HAROLD
{1066.} Harold had so well prepared matters before the death of Edward,
that he immediately stepped into the vacant throne; and his accession
was attended with as little opposition and disturbance, as if he had
succeeded by the most undoubted hereditary title.
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