a third party, as formidable at least as
any of the others. To counterbalance their royal descent, he had courage,
activity, energy, and, above all, that devoted attachment to the cause which had
procured him the epithet of THE SAXON, and his birth was inferior to none,
excepting only that of Athelstane and his ward. These qualities, however, were
unalloyed by the slightest shade of selfishness; and, instead of dividing yet
farther his weakened nation by forming a faction of his own, it was a leading
part of Cedric's plan to extinguish that which already existed, by promoting a
marriage betwixt Rowena and Athelstane. An obstacle occurred to this his
favourite project, in the mutual attachment of his ward and his son; and hence
the original cause of the banishment of Wilfred from the house of his father.
    This stern measure Cedric had adopted, in hopes that, during Wilfred's
absence, Rowena might relinquish her preference, but in this hope he was
disappointed; a disappointment which might be attributed in part to the mode in
which his ward had been educated. Cedric, to whom the name of Alfred was as that
of a deity, had treated the sole remaining scion of that great monarch with a
degree of observance, such as, perhaps, was in those days scarce paid to an
acknowledged princess. Rowena's will had been in almost all cases a law to his
household; and Cedric himself, as if determined that her sovereignty should be
fully acknowledged within that little circle at least, seemed to take a pride in
acting as the first of her subjects. Thus trained in the exercise not only of
free will, but despotic authority, Rowena was, by her previous education,
disposed both to resist and to resent any attempt to control her affections, or
dispose of her hand contrary to her inclinations, and to assert her independence
in a case in which even those females who have been trained up to obedience and
subjection, are not infrequently apt to dispute the authority of guardians and
parents. The opinions which she felt strongly, she avowed boldly; and Cedric,
who could not free himself from his habitual deference to her opinions, felt
totally at a loss how to enforce his authority of guardian.
    It was in vain that he attempted to dazzle her with the prospect of a
visionary throne. Rowena, who possessed strong sense, neither considered his
plan as practicable, nor as desirable, so far as she was concerned, could it
have been achieved. Without attempting to conceal her avowed preference of
Wilfred of Ivanhoe, she declared that, were that favoured