Page:The Hastings Guide.pdf/56

Yet their worst defect seems to have been the want of a cavalry equal to that of the Normans. It was their great inferiority in this respect, which made their pursuit of a. flying enemy fatal to themselves. Nevertheless, neither the loss they had suffered in this action, nor even the death of their King, would have finished the war, could they have agreed under whose standard they should endeavour to maintain it : but the divisions which had Jong disturbed the kingdom, now proved fatal to it ; that want of unanimity among the leading men, with the rapid approach of the Duke to London, soon deter mined the Bishops and Nobility to receive him .as their King; and to complete his triumph, Edgar Atheling, the only rightful heir, finding in his mind no resources against his ill-starred fate, delivered up to William his person and kingdom.