enemies, and, commanding them in an authoritative tone, ordered them to go to the royal city; but he was slain on the spot by them, and all who were with him."

Ethelwulf and his sons.

16. After this first visit they came again and again, and we have once more to fancy massacres, ravages, burning villages, burning churches, just as there had been so long before. Only the English now made a better defence than the poor Britons had done, and did not get exterminated nor driven off into the wild western regions. On the other hand, they never could drive the Danes quite away. Numbers of them settled down in the land, and took root there; but as they spoke nearly the same language, and came of the same stock, they soon mixed with the English and became one with them. But we have not got so far as this yet; it was still hard fighting for many years to come. 17. After Egbert's death his son Ethelwulf became king. He was, as his father had been, the principal king or over-lord of England, with under-kings in different parts. He had not an easy time of it. He was beset on both sides. The Danes came up the Thames; they spent a whole winter in the Isle of Sheppey; they brought great army and 350 ships to the mouth of the Thames, sacked the city of Canterbury and the city of London, and put to flight an army which came from Mercia to oppose them. On the western side it was almost worse. The Danes made friends with the Britons, who were living in Devonshire, and there was a great deal of fighting and misery there also. At last, however, the Danes got the worst of 858. it, for the time, and went away for eight years, during which time Ethelwulf died in peace, leaving four sons, who were all kings in turn. To show, however, what misgivings he had as to the future, we will read one little extract from the account of his will. "For the benefit of his soul, which he studied to promote in all things from the first flower of his youth, he directed through all his hereditary dominions that one poor man in ten, either native or foreigner, should be supplied with meat, drink, and clothing by his successors until the Day of Judgment; supposing, however, that the country should still be inhabited by men and cattle, and should not become deserted."

18. The three elder of his sons were Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred. Many of the names of our ancestors had interesting meanings. Egbert means "Bright-eye." Ethel means “Noble," and was a very favourite beginning for a name.

The noblest of all, however, was not named Ethel, but Alfred or Ælfred, which means an elf or fairy in counsel. "Red" meant “counsel" or wisdom; and we shall hear of another Ethelred in due time, who did not at all deserve so grand a name.

St. Edmund.

19. The three Ethels had very short and troubled reigns. The Danes came back, and the fights began again. The Danes grew stronger and stronger. They seized on much of the eastern part of England, and settled down there. There was at this time an under-king in East Anglia named Edmund. One of the old writers of this period, Asser, of whom we shall soon hear more, tells us of him: "In the year 856 Humbert, Bishop of the East Angles, anointed with oil and consecrated as king the glorious Edmund, with much rejoicing and great honour, in the royal town called Burva on a Christmas Day." How he came to be so glorious and so beloved he does not tell us (he was only fifteen then, but the glory and the love came afterwards); we will, however, read what Carlyle says about him. Asking in what way Edmund rose to such favour and won such affection, he answers himself, "Really, except it were by doing justly and loving mercy to an unprecedented extent, one does not know. The man, it would seem, had walked, as they say, humbly with God,-humbly and valiantly with God,-struggling to make the earth heavenly as he could; instead of walking sumptuously and pridefully with mammon, leaving the earth to grow hellish as it liked."

20. When the Danes invaded East Anglia, Edmund was taken prisoner (so the story goes) and led before the heathen chiefs. They offered him his life and liberty if he would give up Christianity and reign under them. He refused. "Cannot we kill you cried they. Cannot I die? answered he." So they bound him to a tree and shot him to death with arrows.

21. "Edmund was seen and felt by all men to have done verily a man's part in this life's pilgrimage of his, and benedictions and outflowing love and admiration from the universal heart were his meed. Well done! well done! cried the hearts of all men. They raised his slain and martyred body, washed its wounds with fast-flowing universal tears-tears of endless pity, and yet of a sacred joy and triumph. In this manner did the men of the eastern counties take up the slain body of

their Edmund, where it lay cast forth in the village of Hoxne, seek out the severed head, and reverently re-unite the same. They embalmed him with myrrh and sweet spices, with love, pity, and all high and awful thoughts."

22. Afterwards this Edmund, who seems to have been about thirty years old when he died, was "canonized" or proclaimed a saint, and a great abbey called St. Edmund's Bury, or Bury St. Edmund's, was built over his grave, where the ruins of it may be seen to this day in that town of Suffolk.

23. Thus the Danes got possession of East Anglia. They burned down the wealthy abbeys of Peterborough, Ely, and Crowland, and killed or drove away the monks. After a time, however, those abbeys rose again, and two of our finest cathedrals are at Peterborough and Ely.

LECTURE IX.-ALFRED.

King Alfred. His education. His wars with the Danes. The treaty of Wedmore. The time of peace. Alfred's work in law, justice, religion, and education. His books.

1. THE last lecture left England in a very pitiable condition, ravaged and plundered by the Danish heathen. We heard of Ethelwulf's four sons, who were all kings in turn. Alfred. The youngest and the greatest of them was Alfred,

who has left such a beloved and glorious name behind him, and who was, perhaps, the best and wisest king England ever had. We must pass hastily over his three elder brothers, that we may have more time for Alfred, "England's darling," as the people loved to call him, even centuries after his death.

Authorities.

2. Our knowledge of Alfred's life is mainly derived from four sources. The first and principal authority is a Welsh clergyman, Asser, whose work has been already quoted; it was in it that Ethelwulf's will was described. It has been stated already that the Welsh (or Britons) preserved a love of learning even after the English had persecuted and driven them away far west; so that some of our old histories, and many old poems, were written by them. This Asser, who seems to have been a good and clever man, was a great friend of Alfred, and wrote his life, which is very interesting, because he tells us many little things that he heard and saw himself, and makes us feel as if we knew and loved his king and friend as much as he did. The life he wrote has not been all preserved, and of what we have, part seems to have been added by some other writer at a later time, but a great deal of it is genuine, and very pithy and quaint, as well as hearty.

3. Besides Asser, we have a 'Chronicle' by a man who was descended from the royal family, and who wrote a short history of England for the instruction of a cousin Matilda of his in Germany. He says Ethelred, the third son of Ethelwulf, was his grandfather's grandfather, and that Alfred was grandfather to Matilda's grandfather. He seems to have had a misgiving that

she would find his book rather dry (which it must be confessed it really is), and makes an apology for it, saying, " Although I may seem to send you a load of reading, dearest sister of my desire, do not judge me harshly, but as my writings were in love to you, so may you read them." And so will we also read a little of them.

4. Again, and principally, as far as Alfred's wars are concerned, we have the first and oldest true history of England, written by Englishmen, which is commonly called, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,' and will be referred to again later on.

5. Lastly, we have his own words, which show forth his noble character better than any one's words about him can do, and of which a few shall be quoted.

6. Both Asser and the Anglo-Saxon chronicler give us his whole pedigree. Of course he was descended (as all the English kings were supposed to be) from Woden; and as they now look upon Woden as a man, they also tell us who his father and grandfather were, and so back and back to “Sceaf, who was born in Noah's ark," and thence to Noah and Adam as in Genesis, ending with "our Father, that is Christ." Thus we see that they did not give up the idea of the Divine descent of man.

7. It need hardly be said that this pedigree is not at all to be trusted. But Asser tells us what is more to the purpose, that Alfred had a very good mother, "a religious woman, noble both by birth and nature."

8. Almost every one has heard the pretty story of the beginning of Alfred's education. Unfortunately, some learned men now say the story is not and cannot be true, but as

Education. others give reasons for believing it which sound very

fair, we will take it as Asser tells it. He first describes how Alfred was more comely, more graceful, and more beloved by his parents and by all the people than any of his brothers, and that "his noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things," and by and bye tells how his mother trained him. "On a certain day his mother was showing him and his brothers a Saxon (or English) book of poetry, which she held in her hand, and said, 'Whichever of you shall the soonest learn this volume shall have it for his own.' Stimulated by these words, or rather by the Divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully-illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, he spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age, were not so in grace, and answered, 'Will you really give that book to one of us, that is to say, to him who can first understand and repeat it to you?' At this his mother smiled with satisfac