this universal defection, Alfred vainly attempted to remind them of the duty they owed to their country and their king; but, finding his remonstrances ineffectual, he gave way to the wretched necessity of the times. Accordingly, relinquishing the ensigns of his dignity, and dismissing his servants, he dressed himself in the habit of a peasant, and lived for some time in the house of a herdsman, who had been entrusted with the care of his cattle. In this manner, though abandoned by the world, and fearing an enemy in every quarter, still he resolved to continue in his country, to catch the slightest occasions for bringing it relief. In his solitary retreat, which was in the county of Somerset, at the confluence of the rivers Parret and Thone, he amused himself with music, and supported his humble lot with the hopes of better fortune. It is said, that one day being commanded by the herdsman's wife, who was ignorant of his quality, to take care of some cakes which were baking by the fire, he happened to let them burn, for which she severely upbraided him for neglect.

Previously to his retirement, Alfred had concerted measures for assembling a few trusty friends, whenever an opportunity should offer of annoying the enemy, who were now in possession of all the country. This chosen band, still faithful to their monarch, took shelter in the forests and marshes of Somerset, and thence made occasional irruptions upon straggling parties of the enemy. Their success, in this rapacious and dreary method of living, encouraged many more to join their society, till at length, sufficiently augmented, they repaired to their monarch, who had by that time been reduced by famine to extremities.

Meanwhile, Ubba, the chief of the Danish commanders, carried terror over the whole land, and now ravaged the country of Wales without opposition. The only place where he found resistance was, in his return, from the castle of Kenwith, into which the earl of Devonshire had retired with a small body of troops. This gallant soldier, finding himself unable to sustain a siege, and knowing the danger of surrendering to a perfidious enemy, resolved, by one desperate effort, to sally out and force his way through the besiegers, sword in hand. The proposal was embraced by all his followers, while the Danes, secure in their numbers, and in their contempt of the enemy, were not only routed with great slaughter, but Ubba, their general, was slain.

This victory once more restored courage to the dispirited Saxons; and Alfred, taking advantage of their favourable disposition, prepared to animate them to a vigorous exertion of their superiority. He soon therefore apprized them of the place of his retreat, and instructed them to be ready with all their strength at a minute's warning. But no one was found who would undertake to give intelligence of the force and posture of the enemy. Not knowing, therefore, a person in whom to confide, he undertook this dangerous task himself. In the simple dress of a shepherd, with a harp in his hands, he entered the Danish camp, tried all his arts to please, and

was so much admired that he was brought into the presence of Guthrum, the Danish prince, with whom he remained some days. There he remarked the supine security of the Danes, their contempt of the English, their negligence in foraging and plundering, and their dissolute wasting of such ill-gotten booty. Having made his observations, he returned to his retreat, and, detaching proper emissaries among his subjects, appointed them to meet him in arms in the forest of Selwood,-a summons which they gladly obeyed.

It was against the most unguarded quarter of the enemy that Alfred made his most violent attack, while the Danes, surprised to behold an army of English, whom they considered as totally subdued, made but a faint resistance, notwithstanding the superiority of their number. They were routed with great slaughter: and, though such as escaped fled for refuge into a fortified camp in the neighbourhood, yet, being unprovided for a siege, in less than a fortnight they were compelled to surrender at discretion. By the conqueror's permission, those who did not choose to embrace Christianity embarked for Flanders, under the command of one of their generals called Hastings. Guthrum, their prince, became a convert, with thirty of his nobles, and the king himself answered for him at the font.

A. D.

879.

Of the Danes who had enlisted with Hastings, a part returned, contrary to agreement, once more to ravage that country where they had been so mercifully spared, and, landing on the coasts of Kent, advanced towards Rochester, in hopes of surprising that city. They were soon, however, deterred from proceeding, by hearing that Alfred was upon his march to oppose them. That such depredations might be prevented for the future, this monarch equipped a strong fleet, with which he attacked and destroyed sixteen of their vessels in the port of Harwich. There was now but the port of London open to the invaders; and as,that city was weakly garrisoned, he soon reduced it to capitulation. Having augmented its fortifications, and embellished it with a number of new edifices, he delivered it in charge to his son-in-law, Ethelred, and thus secured the whole country from foreign danger.

Alfred had now attained the meridian of glory; he possessed a greater extent of territory than had ever been enjoyed by any of his predecessors; the kings of Wales did him homage for their possessions, the Northumbrians received a king of his appointment, and no enemy appeared to give him the least apprehension, or excite an alarm. In this state of prosperity and profound tranquillity, Alfred was diligently employed in cultivating the arts of peace, and in repairing the damages which the kingdom had sustained by war. After rebuilding the cities which had been destroyed by the Danes, he established a regular militia for the defence of the kingdom. He took care that all his subjects should be armed and registered; he assigned to them a regular rotation of duty; some were employed to cultivate the land, while others were appointed to repel any sudden invasion from the enemy. He took care to provide a

naval force that was more than a match for the invaders, and trained his subjects as well in the practice of sailing as of naval engagements. A fleet of a hundred and twenty ships of war was thus stationed along the coasts; and, being well supplied with all things necessary, both for subsistence and war, it impressed the incursive enemy with awe. Not but that there succeeded some very formidable descents, which the king found it difficult to repress. Hastings, the Danish chieftain, in particular, appeared off A. D. the coast of Kent, with a fleet of three hundred and thirty 893. sail; and, although his forces were vigorously opposed and repulsed by the vigilance of Alfred, yet he found means to secure himself in the possession of Bamflete, near the isle of Canvey, in the county of Essex. But he was not long settled there when his garrison was overpowered by a body of the citizens of London, with great slaughter, and his wife and two sons made captives. These experienced the king's clemency: he restored them to Hastings, on condition that he should depart from the kingdom. Nor were the East Anglian Danes, or the insurgents of Northumberland, much more successful. These broke into rebellion; and, yielding to their favourite habits of depredation, embarked on board two hundred and forty vessels, and appeared before Exeter. There, however, they met a very bloody reception from Alfred; and were so discouraged, that they put to sea again without attempting any other enterprise. A third body of piratical Danes were even more unsuccessful than either of the former. Great numbers of them, after the departure of Hastings, seized and fortified Shobury, at the mouth of the Thames; and, having left a garrison there, marched along the banks of the river till they came to Bodington, in the county of Gloucester, where, being re-enforced by a body of Welshmen, they threw up intrenchments, and prepared for defence. There they were surrounded by the king's forces, and reduced to the utmost extremity. After having eaten their horses, and many of them perishing with hunger, they made a desperate sally, in which numbers were cut to pieces. Those who escaped, being pursued by the vigilance of Alfred, were finally dispersed or totally destroyed. Nor did he treat the Northumbrian freebooters with less severity. Falling upon them while they were exercising their ravages in the West, he took twenty of their ships; and having tried all the prisoners at Winchester, he hanged them as pirates, the common enemies of mankind.

Having by this vigilance and well-timed severity given peace and total security to his subjects, his next care was to polish the country by arts, as he had protected it by arms. He is said to have drawn up a body of laws; but those which remain to this day under his name seem to be only the laws already practised in the country by his Saxon ancestors, and to which, probably, he gave his sanction. The trial by juries, mulcts and fines for offences, by some ascribed to him, are of much more ancient date. The care of Alfred for the encouragement of learning did not a little tend to

improve the morals and restrain the barbarous habits of the people. When he came to the throne, he found the English sunk into the grossest ignorance and barbarism, proceeding from the continued disorders of the government, and from the ravages of the Danes. He himself complains that, on his accession, he knew not one person south of the Thames who could so much as interpret the Latin service. To remedy this deficiency, he invited over the most celebrated scholars from all parts of Europe; he founded, or at least re-established, the university of Oxford, and endowed it with many privileges. He gave in his own example the strongest incentives to study. He usually divided his time into three equal portions; one was given to sleep, and the refection of his body, diet, and exercise; another to the despatch of business; and the third to study and devotion. He made a considerable progress in the different studies of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, architecture, and geometry. He was an excellent historian, understood music, and was acknowledged to be the best Saxon poet of the age. He left many works behind him, many of which remain to this day. He translated the Pastoral of Gregory I., Boetius de Consolatione, and Bede's Ecclesiastical History, into the Saxon language. Sensible that his illiterate subjects were not much susceptible of speculative instruction, he endeavoured to convey his morality by parables and stories, and is said to have translated from the Greek the Fables of Esop. Nor did he even neglect the more mechanical arts of life. Before his time the generality of the people chiefly made use of timber in building. Alfred raised his palaces of brick, and the nobility by degrees began to imitate his example. He introduced and encouraged manufactures of all kinds; and no inventors or improvers of any ingenious art were suffered to go unrewarded. Even the elegancies of life were brought to him from the Mediterranean; and his subjects, by seeing these productions of the peaceful arts, were taught to respect the virtues of justice and industry, by which alone they could be procured. It was after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years, thus spent in the advancement of his subjects' happiness, that he died, in the vigour of his age, and the full enjoyment of his faculties, an example to princes, and an ornament to human nature. To give a character of this prince would only be to sum up those qualities which constitute perfection. Even virtues seemingly opposite were happily blended in his disposition; persevering, yet flexible; moderate, yet enterprising; just, yet merciful; stern in command, yet gentle in conversation. Nature also, as if desirous that such admirable qualities of mind should be set off to the greatest advantage, had bestowed on him all bodily accomplishments, vigour, dignity, and an engaging, open countenance. In short, historians have taken such a delight in describing the hero, that they have totally omitted the mention of his smaller errors, which doubtless he must have had in consequence of his humanity.

A. D.

901.

Alfred had, by his wife Ethelswitha, the daughter of a Mercian

D

earl, three sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Edmund, died without issue, during his father's life-time. His third son, Ethelward, inherited his father's passion for letters, and lived a private life. His second son, Edward, succeeded him on the throne. Edward was scarcely settled on the throne when his pretensions were disputed by Ethelward, his cousin-german, who raised a large party among the Northumbrians to espouse his cause. At first his aims seemed to be favoured by fortune; but he was soon after killed in battle, and his death thus freed Edward from a very dangerous competitor. Nevertheless the death of their leader was not sufficient to intimidate his turbulent adherents. During the whole of this prince's reign there were few intervals free from the attempts and insurrections of the Northumbrian rebels. Many were the battles he fought, and the victories he won; so that though he might be deemed unequal to his father in the arts of peace, he did not fall short of him in the military virtues. He built several castles, and fortified different cities. He reduced Turketul, a Danish invader, and obliged him to retire with his followers. He subdued the East Angles, and acquired dominion over the Northumbrians themselves. He was assisted in these conquests by his sister Ethelfleda, the widow of Ethelred, earl of Mercia, who, after her husband's death, retained the government of that province. Thus, after Edward had reduced the whole kingdom to his obedience, and begun his endeavours to promote the happiness of his people, he was prevented by death from the completion of his designs.

To him succeeded ATHELSTAN, his natural son, the illeA. D. gitimacy of his birth not being then deemed a sufficient 925. obstacle to his inheriting the crown. To this prince, as to the former, there was some opposition made in the beginning. Alfred, a nobleman of his kindred, is said to have entered into a conspiracy against him, in favour of the legitimate sons of the deceased king, who were yet too young to be capable of governing themselves. Whatever his attempts might have been, he denied the charge, and offered to clear himself of it by oath before the pope. The proposal was accepted; and it is asserted, that he had scarcely sworn himself innocent, when he fell into convulsions, and died three days after. This monarch received also some disturbance from the Northumbrian Danes, whom he compelled to surrender; and resenting the conduct of Constantine king of Scotland, who had given them assistance, he ravaged that country with impunity, till at length he was appeased by the humble submissions of that monarch. These submissions, however, being extorted, were insincere. Soon after Athelstan had evacuated that kingdom, Constantine entered into a confederacy with a body of Danish pirates, and some Welsh princes who were jealous of Athelstan's growing greatness. A bloody battle was fought at Brunsburg, in Northumberland, in which the English monarch was again victorious. After this success, Athelstan enjoyed his crown in tranquillity; and he is regarded as one of the ablest and most active of the Saxon