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the civil merits of Alfred are chiefly to be estimated. There are doubts whether Trial by Jury formed any part of the Saxon institutions; but it is sufficiently clear that the modern functions of a jury formed no part of the practice of the public assemblies in which causes were tried. There was a presiding officer in such courts-the ealdorman, the sheriff, or some inferior functionary. Alfred is said to have appointed judges distinct from the general authorities of the shires or hundreds. But the duties of those judges, whether especially selected or otherwise, was simply presidential. There was no evidence to balance, circumstantial or direct. When an accused person was put upon his deliverance, he might choose to rest upon testimony of character. He made oath as to his own innocence, and called upon a certain number of neighbours whose "worth," or money value, was duly assessed, to give the like testimony. If a sufficient number made oath to the same effect, the accused was free. But if the compurgation, as it was called, failed, he had then to appeal to the "judgment of God," in going through ordeals. There were various forms of ordeal. The hand was plunged into boiling water; a red-hot iron was carried nine paces. If no injury appeared after three days, the accused was declared innocent. If compurgation and ordeal failed to acquit him, then was bōt to be made for the lesser offences. For the 'boteles' crimes there was capital punishment. Every offence, and its penalty, were exactly defined. When, therefore, we read, that in the courts of Alfred's earls and officers there was perpetual complaint of their decisions; that all, except the guilty, desired the personal judgment of the king; that the king inquired into all judgments, whether they were just or unjust; that he summoned unjust judges before him, and rebuked them for their misdoings either through corruption or ignorance, telling the ignorant judges that they had neglected the studies of the wise; * we are at a loss to understand how the sagacity of the king or the blindness of the judges could have advanced or retarded the equal administration of laws so narrow and so absolute. There is something behind. The whole system of ordeal was necessarily open to the grossest frauds; and it was, probably, to their detection that Alfred applied his own acuteness, and demanded the vigilance of others, to call forth righteous judgments out of such fallible means of discovering the truth. But there was a difficulty in the administration even of this rude justice, which demanded some sagacity. Various districts and kingdoms had come under the West-Saxon rule, and amongst these, various customary laws had prevailed. There were Kentish laws, Mercian laws, Danish laws, which prevented uniformity of judgment, and were especially embarrassing to judges so ignorant as Asser has described those of Alfred's time to have been. The king's unremitting efforts seem to have been directed,-first, to correct the ignorance of those in authority, to whom he said, "I marvel at your insolence, who, by God's gift and mine, have taken upon yourselves the ministry and rank of wise men, but have neglected the study and labour of wisdom. Now, it is my command that ye either give up at once the administration of those secular powers which ye enjoy, or pay a much more devoted attention to the study of wisdom." If this be despotism, it is a despotism devoutly to be prayed for, even in the nineteenth century. But Alfred knew that, in the general spread of knowledge, the rulers of the people could not remain

See Asser, at the end of the Life,

+ Asser.

110

ALFRED AS AN INSTRUCTOR.

[A.D. 878-894. ignorant. In that interval of rest which followed the submission of the Danes, in 878, the king gathered around him learned men from various districts. They read to him; they interpreted to him. In 884, he induced Asser, a Welsh monk, to reside with him during a part of the year. "I came into Saxony," Asser tells us, "from the extreme limits of western Britain, summoned by the king. After I had set out, I arrived, through many wideintervening ways, in the country of the South Saxons, which is called in Saxon, Suthseaxe (Sussex), guided by some of that nation. There I first saw him in the royal vill called Dene. After being kindly received by him, in the course of conversation he earnestly entreated me to devote myself to his service, to give myself wholly up to him, and for his love to relinquish all my possessions on the other side of the Severn. He promised to compensate me richly, as he actually did." The learned Welshman would not forego his native cloister; but he promised to return, and give half his time to the king's companionship. In one sojourn of eight months, Asser says, "I translated and read to him whatever books he wished, which were within our reach; for it was his peculiar and perpetual custom, day and night, amidst all his afflictions of mind and body, either to read books himself, or to have them read to him by others." In due time Alfred, himself, became a teacher. No one ever devoted himself to the business of authorship with greater earnestness and a higher sense of duty, than this remarkable Saxon. During the fourteen years which had followed the peace with Guthrum, although he was exposed to occasional incursions of the northern pirates, his great works were the establishment of order, the consolidation of his kingdom, and the improvement of his people. With what heart he laboured in building up civilisation upon general knowledge, is best shown by his own Preface to Gregory's Pastorals, one of the works which he translated from Latin into Saxon, a copy of which he sent to each bishop's see, with the injunction that it should remain in the minster, unless the bishop took it with him, " be lent somewhere until somebody write another copy." In the age before printing this was the only practicable method of multiplying books. What Alfred thus did was for example, as well as for the direct improvement to be derived from that particular book. The learning of the clergy had degenerated. He laments that "formerly people came hither to this land in search of wisdom and teaching, and we must now obtain them from without, if we must have them." He then describes the inability of the priests to make their breviaries intelligible to the general population.† He next exhorts Bishop Wulsige, to whom he addressed this Preface, that he bestow the wisdom which God gave him wherever he can bestow it. The mode by which he proposes to make knowledge more general, is that of translation. The Scriptures had been translated from Hebrew into Greek and Latin and other tongues. Therefore, it appears to me better, if you think so, that we also, for some books which seem most needful for all men to understand, that we translate them into that language that we can all understand, and cause, as we very easily may with God's help, if we have the leisure, that all the youth that is now in the English nation of free men, such as have wealth to maintain themselves, may be put to learning, while they can employ themselves in * Supposed to be East Dean, or West Dean, near Chichester.

+ See p. 87.

or it

A.D. 878-894.]

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nothing else, till at first they can read well English writing. Afterwards let people teach further in the Latin tongue those whom they will teach further and ordain to higher degree. When I thought how the learning of the Latin language before this was decayed through the English people, though many could read English writing, then I began among other divers and manifold affairs of this kingdom to translate into English the book which is named in Latin Pastoralis, and in English Herdsman's Book, sometimes word for word, sometimes meaning for meaning, as I learnt it of Plegmund my archbishop, and of Asser my bishop, and of Grimbold my presbyter, and of John my presbyter. After I had then learnt it so that I understood it as well as my understanding could allow me, I translated it into English." The modesty, the zeal, the common sense of this beautiful specimen of Anglo-Saxon prose (the version being as literal as possible) will be manifest to every reader. Perhaps some may think that if the spirit of this teacher, who lived in what we call a barbarous age, had descended upon those who have governed the people since his times, we, in this so-called civilised age, should not have to lament as he lamented, that "we have loved only the name of being Christians, and very few the duties."

The intellectual labour of this king was incessant. In the narrative of Asser we see the inner life of the diligent student; but we see also the everpresent responsibilities of the unconquerable king. The Danes, under their great leader Hasting, are block

ading the Loire, in 882. Suddenly they turn to England, having concluded a truce with France. Alfred has learned the true defence of the island, and defeats his enemies at sea. In 884 they land in Kent, and besiege Rochester. Alfred is there with his army, and drives them back to their ships. He has again rest. The internal improvement of the country is his chief care. He founds new religious establishments. He establishes schools in the various towns. He builds fortresses.

He repairs roads. He reconstructs cities, especially London, out of the ashes of a desolating warfare. But amidst all this earnest work, he has time for his books. He translates Boetius,† interspersing the original with constant additions from his own rich thoughts. Bede's English History is rendered by him from Latin into Saxon; and so is the ancient History of Orosius, to the geographical portions of which he made interesting additions. Some of

*We take these passages from Mr. Wright's version in "Biographia Britannica Literaria." + This Latin book, "De Consolatione Philosophia," was written early in the sixth century, and was very popular in the middle ages,

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IMPROVEMENT OF ALFRED'S KINGDOM.

[A.D. 878-894. the original copies of these works are still preserved. Other translations are ascribed to him. He evidently laboured upon a systematic principle in the diffusion of knowledge. He saw what the great body of his countrymen required; and he also knew what would interest them. The Pastorale of Pope Gregory was a plain treatise on the duties of the parochial clergy. It was not addressed to the learned; but was a practical manual for those who were the natural instructors of the laity. It was, in English, "The Herdsman's Book." For the people themselves he prepared works of history and geography. Orosius gave him a summary of ancient history, from the earliest times to the Roman age of Honorius, A.D. 416. But that history was written by a Christian, and Orosius constantly holds up the Christian virtues, in opposition to the violations of justice and humanity, which are rarely blamed by the Heathen historians. Bede's Ecclesiastical History furnished Alfred with the most authentic record of the past annals of his own country. In Orosius there is a short summary of geographical knowledge, to which Alfred made some valuable additions, of especial interest to his countrymen. Two northern navigators came to the king, and from their personal relations he prepared a clear and concise statement of the northernmost countries, from which the Saxon race sprang. He tells, on their authority, of the waste lands which the Fins inhabit, obtaining a precarious subsistence by hunting and fishing; of wealthy men, whose possessions consisted of rein-deer; of seas where the walrus and the whale were in abundance; of Eastland and the Esthonians, where there are many towns, and where the rich drank mare's milk, and the poor and the slaves drank mead. He describes the coasts of Scandinavia with singular precision. How true all this is we know at the present day. The royal teacher published no wild stories, such as are found in other Saxon writers who came after him, of people with dogs' heads, boars' tusks, and horses' manes; of headless giants, or those with two faces on one head. Truth was in itself, as it always will be, the best foundation for interesting narrative. Add to these books the pure morality which Alfred disseminated in his Boetius, and we have the model of a just system of popular instruction. Works such as these, large and general in their views, were especially adapted to an insular people, and were wisely added to their national legends and songs. The king himself held communication, as much as it were possible, with the distant world. He corresponded with Rome, by ambassadors and by letters. He maintained a communication with the patriarch of Jerusalem; and, what strikes us as most remarkable, he sent a bishop, with bounteous gifts, to the Syrian Christians in India. The overland journey to the coasts of Malabar was not an easy undertaking in those days. When we regard this man's manifold exertions, we naturally ask how these tasks were accomplished. The answer is given by the familiar story of his lantern-clock. He strictly apportioned his time to the performance of his several duties. To note the progress of the day and night, he caused wax-candles to be made of equal weight and size, so that six candles would burn for twenty-four hours. Minuter divisions of time were marked on each candle. But the wind blowing through the churches in which he worshipped, and the halls and tents in which he studied, made the exposed tapers irregular monitors. He remedied the difficulty by inventing the horn-lantern.

A D. 894.]

RENEWED ATTACKS OF THE DANES.

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Thus passed, in comparative tranquillity, the life of the industrious king, from his thirtieth to his forty-fourth year. Children were growing up around him. Ethelfled, his eldest daughter, who was married to the Earl of Mercia, inherited the heroic spirit of her father. Edward, the elder son, succeeded to his father's throne. There was another son, and two other daughters. Asser describes the great care bestowed on their education. Alfred provided amply for his children, both on "the spear side and the spindle side," as his will expresses. But he made an especial provision for the preponderating wealth and power of the eldest son. That great inheritance of kingly dominion, built upon național independence, was preserved for a century by Alfred's courage, sagacity, and perseverance. His work was not ended when Guthrum, the Dane, who had made several ineffectual attempts to shake off his allegiance, died in 890. There was another Northman even more dangerous than the piratical King of East Anglia. During the few years of rest which England had won by Alfred's exertions, France was purchasing exemption from plunder by paying tribute. At the same period the countries of the Rhine, the Scheldt, and the Meuse, were overrun by the invaders. The opulent towns were pillaged and burnt. Trèves, Cologne, Maestricht, Tolbiac, Liege, Aix-la-Chapelle, and many other strong and rich cities, that had flourished from the Roman times, were sacked and destroyed. The whole country of the Netherlands suffered in the same way. The wide-spreading ruin was again threatening England. But Alfred was at his post. No more quiet studies. No more friendly colloquies with Asser about ancient literature. No jotting-down of striking passages in his daily note-book. In 894, Alfred was, substantially, the king of all England. In that year the Danes, who had previously established a landing in the mouth of the Thames, effected another landing in Kent. Alfred was not unprepared. He did not call out the whole adult population to meet the invaders, but had made a wise provision for the due cultivation of the land, by calling out half the population for military service, leaving the other half in their homes. Each half, in its turn, exercised the duties of war and of industry. During the interval of peace he had also created a navy. There were two Danish armies to encounter. The one was posted on the Swale, near Milton; the other was on the coast. The whole fertile lands of Kent lay exposed to their ravages. On the Essex coast were the doubtful East Anglians, who would follow the fortunes of Hasting if they led to victory. Alfred threw himself between the two armies. The Dane saw his danger, and resorted to negociation. He agreed to leave the country, and sent to the king two of his sons as hostages. But he meditated treachery. The hostages had been returned by the confiding Saxon. Then the army which had been landed in Kent suddenly marched across the country; and before a junction could be effected, Alfred pursued that army to Farnham, and defeated the Northmen in a general engagement. The enemy fled through Essex, and finally took refuge in the Isle of Mersey, at the mouth of the Colne. The king blockaded the fugitive remnant; but, in the meanwhile, some of the colonists of East Anglia fitted out a great armament, and, sailing along the southern coast, attacked Exeter. Another fleet, coasting round the northern parts of the island, reached the Bristol Channel. Hasting, who had remained in the Swale, now sailed up the Thames, and