r из 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 Æsop. 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 ga 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 A.D. died, in the vigour of his age, and the full en- 901. joyment 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 quali,\\_\ ties 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 alfred's Söhne the hero, that they have totally omitted the mention of his smaller errors, which doubtless he must have had in consequence of his humanity. Alfred had, by his wife Ethelswitha, the daughter of a Mercian 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 scarce settled on the throne when his Edupretensions 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 A. D. Ri König son, the illegitimacy of his birth not being then 925. Athelstan deemed a sufficient obstacle to his inheriting the crown beaut Vielfältige To this prince, as to the former, there was some oppo-Aufalle sition made in the beginning. Alfred, a nobleman of seinen Ihren 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 scarce 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 kings. During his reign the Bible was translated into the Saxon language; and some alliances also were formed by him with the princes of the continent. He died at Glou- A.D. cester, after a reign of sixteen years; and was 941. succeeded by his brother Edmund. Edmund, like the rest of his predecessors, met with Brig Edmund 翼翼 disturbance from the Northumbrians on his accession vefund to the throne; but his activity soon defeated their attempts. The great end, therefore, which he aimed at, Lebensap during his reign, was to curb the licentiousness of this people, who offered to embrace Christianity as an atonement for their offences. Among other schemes. for the benefit of the people, he was the first monarch. who, by law, instituted capital punishments in England. Remarking that fines and pecuniary mulets were too gentle methods of treating robbers, who were, were, in general, men who had nothing to lose, he enacted, that in gangs of robbers, when taken, the oldest of them should be (condemned to the gallows. This was reckoned a very severe law at the time it was enacted; for, among our early ancestors, all the penal laws were mild and merciful. The resentment this monarch bore to men of that desperate way of living was the cause of his death. His virtues, abilities, wealth, and temperance, promised him a long and happy reign; when, on a certain day, as he was solemnizing a festival in Gloucestershire, he remarked that Leolf, a notorious robber, whom he had sentenced to banishment, had yet the boldness to enter the hall where he was dining, and to sit at the table among the royal attendants. Enraged at this insolence, he commanded him to leave the room; but, on his refusing to obey, the king, whose temper was naturally choleric, flew against him, and caught him by the hair. The ruffian, giving way to rage also on his side, drew a dagger, and lifting up his arm, with a furious blow stabbed the monarch to the heart, who fell down on the bosom of his murderer. The death of the assassin, who was instantly cut in pieces, was but a small compensation for the loss of a king, loved by his subjects, and deserving their esteem. und Did ermordet. The late king's sons were too young to succeed him in the direction of so difficult a government as that of any line England: his brother Edred was therefore appointed to succeed; and, like his predecessors, this monarch found himself at the head of a rebellious and refractory people. The Northumbrian Danes, as usual, made several attempts to shake off the English yoke; so that the king was at last obliged to place garrisons in their most considerable towns, and to appoint an English governor over them, who might suppress their insurrections on the first appearance. About this time the monks, from being contented to govern in ecclesiastical matters, began to assume the direction in civil affairs; and, by artfully managing the superstitions and the fears of the people, erected an authority that was not shaken off by several succeeding centuries. Edred had blindly delivered over his conscience to the guidance of Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, who was afterwards canonized; and this man, under the appearance of sanctity, concealed the most boundless ambition. The monks had hitherto been a kind of secular priests, who, though they lived in communities, were neither separated from the rest of the world nor useless to it. They were often married; they were assiduously employed in the education of youth, and subject to the commands of temporal superiors. The celibacy of the clergy, as being a measure that would contribute to their independence, and to the establishment of the papal power in Europe, was warmly recommended by Colibe the see of Rome to ecclesiastics in general, but to the monks in particular. An opportunity of carrying this measure in England arose from the superstitious character of Edred, and the furious zeal of Dunstan. Both lent it all the assistance in their power; and the order of Benedictine monks was established under the direction of Dunstan. Edred implicitly submitted to his |