King Arthur, in the year 518, almost expelled the Saxons from the island; but after the death of this monarch, the Saxons again prevailed under various leaders, and the island was divided into seven kingdoms. Thus was established the Heptarchy, Shropshire being included in the kingdom of Mercia, which reached from London to the Mersey. In the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, an exact rule of succession was either unknown or not strictly observed, and thence the reigning prince was continually agitated with jealousy against all the princes of the blood, whom he still considered as rivals, and whose death alone could give him entire security in his possession of the throne. From this fatal cause, together with the admiration of the monastic life, and the opinion of merit attending the preservation of chastity, even in a married state, the royal families had been entirely extinguished in all the kingdoms except that of Wessex; and Egbert was the sole descendant of those first conquerors who subdued Britain, and who enhanced their authority by claiming a pedigree from Woden, the supreme divinity of their ancestors. The Mercians, before the accession of Egbert, had very nearly attained the absolute sovereignty over the Heptarchy. He had reduced the East Angles under subjection, and established tributary princes in the kingdoms of Kent and Essex. Northumberland was involved in anarchy, and no state of any consequence remained but that of Wessex, which, being much inferior in extent to Mercia, was supported by the great qualities alone of its sovereign. Egbert led his army against the invaders, obtained a complete victory, and, by the slaughter executed on them in their flight, gave a mortal blow to the power of the Mercians. Egbert, however, allowed Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumberland the power of electing a King, who paid him tribute, and was dependent on him. Thus were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, in the year 823, in one great state, near 400 years after the first arrival of the Saxons in Britain. The fortunate arms and prudent policy of Egbert at last effected what had been so often attempted in vain, by other princes. Union in the government gave the people hopes of settled tranquillity, but these fair expectations were speedily blasted by the re-appearance of the Danes, who for some ages had kept the Anglo-Saxons in a state of perpetual alarm. For upwards of forty years, and through five successive reigns, the Danes continued the struggle, and, at the death of Etheldred, his brother Alfred, the successor to the throne, was obliged to abandon the field, and seek an asylum as a swine-herd. Emerging afterwards from his retreat, he expelled the invaders, and contributed essentially to lay the foundations of those institutions on which the glorious superstructure of English liberty, was finally erected. Alfred soon perceived that an army without a maritime force, must ever be at the mercy of every piratical plunderer, determined to store his ports with shipping; and vessels larger than those in use in the surrounding nations were built, many of which carried sixty oars. The unremitting attention of this illustrious prince to the navy, contributed to increase the blessings of his reign, and has obtained for him the title of “Father of the British Navy.”