authority of bretwalda. His subjects had scarcely begun to enjoy the blessings of a regular government when they had to suffer from the incursions of Scandinavian pirates, and to experience all the bitterness of a conquest similar to that by which they had reduced the ancient Britons.

INVASIONS OF THE DANES.-The Saxons of the fifth century, the Danes of the ninth, and the Norman conquerors of the eleventh, were one race of people, belonging to the great Scandinavian tribes, who, under different names at different epochs, re-composed most of the states of Europe on the downfal of the Roman empire. The Saxons of the Rhine and Germany, fleeing from the terrible persecutions of Charlemagne, had fixed their abode in the peninsula of Jutland, which had been nearly evacuated by the Jutes and Angles, who went to conquer England. Here, uniting with their maritime neighbours, and merged in one common name, they retaliated in a fearful manner upon all the coast of France. Being confirmed in their idolatry by the cruelty of Charlemagne, they soon became a mere horde of savages, whose chief purauits were piracy and bloodshed, and whose only home was the stormy ocean. "The might of the tempest aids the arms of our rowers," said they; "the hurricane is our servant, and drives us wherever we desire to go." Nothing could resist men whose courage and audacity bordered on madness. On land they spared no one; and with feelings imbittered by recent persecution, they treated the Saxons as renegades who had deserted the faith of their common ancestors. They particularly delighted in shedding the blood of priests, whenever their incursions carried them into a Christian land. "We have sung them a spear mass," they would say in derision; "it began with the dawn and lasted until sunset."

In their first incursions into England, the Danes were assisted by the ancient population, who gladly seized the opportunity of avenging themselves on their conquerors. In 834, they found numerous allies in Devonshire and Cornwall; but their decisive defeat at Hengsdown Hill for a time put a stop to their inroads. This was Egbert's last warlike exploit, and two years afterwards a peaceful death terminated his long and eventful reign.

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836.

It was

2. Egbert was succeeded by his son ETHELWULF. not long before the Danes began to renew their piratical incursions, ravaging all the southern coasts of Wessex and Kent, and pillaging London, Rochester, and Canterbury. They were

met at Okely, in Surrey, by the king and his son Ethelbald, and routed with immense slaughter; they suffered a similar defeat at Sandwich in Kent, and at Wenbury in Devonshire. But although these severe checks compelled the Danes to suspend their attacks, so great was the terror they inspired, that every Wednesday was set apart as a day of public prayer to implore the assistance of Heaven against them.

During the reign of the worthless ETHELBERT, the Danes made a permanent settlement in the isle of Thanet. In 866, he was succeeded by ETHELRED, who in the course of one year had to fight nine pitched battles against the invaders. Assisted by his younger brother Alfred, he drove them from the centre of Mercia, into which they had penetrated; but while he was engaged with the enemy in the west and south, the Mercians and Northumbrians withdrew from his allegiance, and left him to contend against the Danes with his West Saxons alone, his hereditary subjects. Several battles were fought with various success. On one occasion, Ethelred had divided his army into two bodies, one of which was commanded by his brother Alfred, then only twenty-two years old, who was tempted impetuously to attack the enemy, and with his division was in great danger of being destroyed, when Ethelred and his troops appeared, and the Danes fled. It is related that Ethelred was at mass when the battle began, and that he said no mere human object should call him from the service of God. The victory was naturally attributed to his piety rather than to the courage of his soldiers. Such was the battle of Aston. The Danes, however, reinforced with fresh troops from the north, continued to gain ground; and their victories at Basing and Mereton wiped away the disgrace of Aston. Ethelred died in consequence of a wound received in battle, and left his crown to Alfred, the only surviving 871. } and the most renowned of all the sons of Ethelwulf. 3. ALFRED, the glory of our Saxon monarchs, had scarcely time to follow his brother to the grave, before he was called on to fight for the crown to which he had succeeded. A desperate engagement took place at Wilton in Wiltshire, where, although the young monarch was defeated, so serious was the loss of the enemy, and such their dread of Alfred's military prowess, that they readily concluded a treaty, and left him in undisturbed possession of his kingdom of Wessex during a period of three years. For some time afterwards, the Danish incursions were principally directed to the north of England,

A. D.

a large portion of which the invaders divided among them. selves, and intermarrying with the Saxon population, the distinction between the two races was gradually obliterated. Mercia and East Anglia also no longer existed as Saxon kingdoms, so that Alfred with his men of Wessex, had to sustain almost the whole brunt of the contest with the Danes.

He employed the brief interval of peace in fitting out a few ships to prevent the landing of the pirates, and to cut off their means of being supplied with food. His first fleet, though small, attacked a squadron of seven Danish ships, one of which was taken and the others put to flight. Such was the effect of this victory, that the Danes, who had landed in Devonshire and surprised the Castle of Wareham, agreed to treat for peace, and to evacuate that district. The treaty was ill kept, for on the very next night Alfred nearly fell into the hands of a marauding party, as he was riding with a small force to Winchester. He soon afterwards, however, defeated another formidable squadron, which so dispirited the Danish king Guthrun, who kept possession of Exeter, that he capitulated, gave hostages, and withdrew his army into Mercia. He did not, however, retire farther than Gloucester, from which city A. D. he suddenly issued on New Year's day, and surprised Alfred at Chippenham. The king escaped with a small band into the woods; but his subjects were so wearied out, that they gave way to despair. Some retreated into Wales, others to the isle of Wight and to the shores of the opposite continent, while the majority submitted to their ferocious conquerors.

878.

He

Alfred was now compelled to yield to circumstances. took refuge in the island of Athelney, a tract of country near the confluence of the Thone and Parret, in the midst of a dense wood and almost impassable marshes, where he is said to have adopted the disguise of a cow-herd. An interesting anecdote referring to this period has been transmitted to us by Asser, his confessor, and repeated by almost all the old chroniclers. They tell us, that one day the honest herdsman's wife, in whose house he resided, had set some cakes to bake on the fire. Leaving the room for a while, she thought her cakes would be safe in the presence of Alfred, who would have nothing better to engage his attention. But the dethroned

monarch's mind was busy with high thoughts of victory over the heathen Danes, and a peaceful reign over a united people, and thus occupied, he let the cakes burn unnoticed. The

worthy woman, when she saw his carelessness, cried out, "Man! what are you thinking about-can you not turn the cakes ?-you'll be glad enough to eat them." Here he lay for some time concealed, waiting for a favourable opportunity to recover his throne and liberate his people. His retreat was known only to a faithful few, and by degrees a bold and resolute band gathered around him.

4. Alfred had spent several months in his hiding-place, when he learned that Hubba, a Danish chief, had been slain with nearly a thousand followers in an attempt to land in Devonshire, and that their magical banner, a raven embroidered in one noontide by the hands of the three daughters of the great Lodbroke, had been taken. This favourable omen inspired him with confidence; but, before taking any decisive step, he resolved to examine in person the position of the Danes. Disguising himself as a wandering musician, he strolled into Guthrun's camp, where, without suspicion, he was permitted to amuse the soldiers with his music. While thus occupied, he observed all that passed; he noticed the negligence of his enemies, and became acquainted with their plans. On returning to Athelney, he summoned his faithful subjects to meet him in arms at Egbert's Stone, near Selwood Forest. They cheerfully obeyed his call, and, taking the Danes by surprise, thoroughly defeated them at the battle of Ethandune, a few miles from Chippenham. Within a fortnight they were compelled to accept the conditions offered by Alfred, namely, that they should evacuate Wessex, and that their king should submit to be baptized. Guthrun was chrisA. D. tened, under the Saxon name of Athelstan, at the royal 878. town of Wedmor, Alfred being his sponsor. On his profession of Christianity, he received an accession of territory, the whole eastern country from the Thames to the Tweed being formally ceded to him under the name of Danelagh or Danelaw, by which it was known even to the time of the Norman conquest. Guthrun's subjects gradually acquired peaceful and industrious habits. Engagements were made by their rulers to promote Christianity and punish apostasy, and they were brought under laws for the protection of property and the enforcement of bargains.

The time, however, had not yet arrived when the kingdom was to enjoy the blessings of peace, or its sovereign that leisure he was so anxious to devote to the welfare and improvement of his people. Although Guthrun remained faithful to

his engagements, new swarms of Danes, not bound by them, continued to infest the shores of England. Alfred's infant navy, however, proved very serviceable in repelling their incursions. He now rebuilt and fortified the city of London, and also employed himself in strengthening the other portions of his kingdom,—a salutary precaution, for the severest struggle was yet to come. In 893, a fleet of 330 ships, under the command of Hasting, the most renowned of the Danish leaders, landed on the coast of Kent; and at the same time the people of the Danelagh, whose king, Guthrun, was dead, rose in insurrection and joined their marauding brethren. During three years almost every part of South Britain became in turn the scene of devastation and bloodshed; but the military genius of the British monarch ultimately prevailed, and the remainder of his reign was passed in comparative tranquillity.

5. At the period of Alfred's accession, the English people were sunk in the grossest ignorance. The monasteries, then the only seats of learning, had been destroyed by the Danes, the monks dispersed, and their libraries burnt; so that, in the preface to his translation of Pope Gregory's tract on the Duties of Pastors, the king lamented that there was not one priest south of the Thames, and very few north of the Humber, who could interpret the Latin service. And although he supplied the means of instruction for his subjects, so little inclination was manifested to profit by them, that a law was enacted by which all freeholders, possessed of not less than two hides of land, were enjoined to send their children to school. Alfred is said to have founded the University of Oxford, and to have endowed it with many privileges. The nobility followed their sovereign's example, and he had reason erelong to congratulate himself on the improvement of the habits of his people. His own example was well worthy of imitation: he devoted one-third part of his time to the affairs of government, onethird part to study and devotion, and the remainder to sleep and recreation. On all sides a spirit of industry prevailed; cities, castles, and monasteries rose from their ruins, and the dwellings of the inhabitants assumed an air of comfort and convenience before unknown.

Alfred was a shining light in an age of darkness: he is equally celebrated for his conquests, his wisdom in legislation, and his exertions to promote the civilisation of his people. At his court were entertained some of the most learned men of his time: the Welshman Asser, who wrote his life, Grim