Godwin positively asserted his innocence, and brought witnesses to prove that he was entirely free from all participation in the affair.

He took also a much more effectual method to secure an acquittal, by making to King Hardicanute some most magnificent presents.

One of these was a small ship, profusely enriched and ornamented with gold.

It contained eighty soldiers, armed in the Danish style, with weapons of the most highly-finished and costly construction.

They each carried a Danish axe on the left shoulder, and a javelin in the right hand, both richly gilt, and they had each of them a bracelet on his arm, containing six ounces of solid gold.