noblest good, by winning over his enemies to embrace Christianity as the price of his friendship; whilst, by exhibiting to his subjects the fruits of that Religion in his diligent example, he completed the perfection, by manifesting the sincerity, of his character. All these things this great prince did, at a period when the natives of England were universally dwelling in an ignorance, of which we, in these times, have no adequate conception; and when the duties of Government, and the happiness of society, were so imperfectly understood, that it required the utmost virtue, genius, and perseverance, to compel the people, whether freemen or slaves, (for in those days twothirds of the nation were born vassals), to perceive the value of the benefits which this King bestowed upon them, and to acknowledge the extent of his love and the greatness of his mind.

Alfred was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, in the year 849. He was the youngest son of Ethelwolf, a king of the Anglo-Saxons. In his childhood he was distinguished for the vivacity of his temper. His mother, amidst the dearth of knowledge which marked that time, gave the first impulse to the noble and patriotic spirit of her son, by reciting to him the heroic songs of his native bards; and his mind was still further expanded by two visits to Rome, where the magnificent temples and palaces of the people that had once governed the world, might have contributed to fix his attention on the comparative barbarism of his own nation, and to stimulate his desire for its advancement in the arts and conveniences of life. Upon the Death of his parents his education was neglected; and most of his acquirements in learning were derived from the labour of his advanced years. He married at the age of twenty. Historians have alluded to his early profligacy. Many such stories of those ancient chroniclers may have originated in unworthy motives. Be that as it may, it is certain that at a later period he manifested a deep impression of religious obligations; and if those chroniclers be correct, it may be inferred that his habitual piety dis

closed to him the miseries and degradations of a sinful course, however shielded by the security, or excited by the temptations, of power; while in his maturer years it sustained him in that career of undeviating excellence, which has commanded the admiration of all succeeding ages.

He ascended the throne in the year 871, at the age of twenty-two. A fierce and remorseless enemy, the Danes, held possession of part of the kingdom;-the first duty of the young king was to give them battle. His entrance into the contest was unfortunate, and he was compelled to purchase a peace of his invaders. The terms of accommodation were not respected by his perfidious opponents; and he was again and again exposed to the attacks of new swarms of adventurers, that poured forth from the North of Europe to seize upon the fertile soil of Britain. These invaders had more the character of bands of robbers, than of regular armies; their warlike habits were directed by the love of plunder, and unrestrained by any pity or compassion. They were heathens. After a variety of good and evil fortune, which he bore with an unchangeable mind, Alfred was at length driven from his throne, by a sudden attack of his enemy. He laid aside the outward marks of Royalty, and, in mean attire, fled to a place of security.

This was the most adventurous and romantic period of the monarch's fortune. He entered into the service of a cowherd, and submitted to the most menial offices. History has painted the great founder of the English Constitution, as patiently bearing the illhumour of the peasant's wife, who was ignorant of his quality; and a highly interesting story has been told us of his humility and his nobleness of mind. Alfred the Great, at this period of calamity, was set by his mistress to roast cakes, and received something worse than hard words for suffering them to burn. How true is it that adversity is one of the best means by which the Divine Ruler conducts his creatures to excellence, by subduing our passions, strengthening our reason, and confirming our piety.

But if Alfred was thus externally occupied with humble duties, his thoughts were incessantly directed to the perilous task of freeing his country. He had collected around him some few trusty friends, who communicated with many faithful adherents in various parts of the kingdom. His retreat was in the fens of Somerset, in a place since called the isle of Athelney. During this period of his seclusion, a fresh band of invaders assaulted the western provinces, and appeared to shut out all hopes of deliverance. But Alfred was still full of trust and watchfulness. It is said that in the disguise of a harper he penetrated into the Danish camp; and whilst he charmed these barbarians by his music, obtained the secrets of their designs by his sagacity. At this period a chieftain of the Saxons gained a great triumph over the invaders; and the news of this success filled every British heart with fresh courage. Alfred seized upon the opportunity, and dispatched trusty messengers to his friends to meet him in Selwood Forest. On the appointed day the men of Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somerset, gathered round their king;-the wood rang with the shouts of these brave defenders of their country; and the monarch again appeared as the leader and avenger of his people. The two armies met;-the shock was tremendous;-but Alfred, in the end, completely triumphed. This great event happened in the year 897. The terms which the conqueror imposed were as wise as they were noble; it was that the invaders, upon leaving his dominions, should embrace Christianity. Their leader became a sincere convert; and with the outward forms of the Gospel he put on its spirit. He preserved that peace which enabled Alfred to retain his throne in safety, and to establish those glorious Institutions which were to become the blessings of his own generation, and the foundations of that system of Laws, to which England owes her greatness, in deriving from them her freedom.

The first object of Alfred, after the deliverance of his country, was to re-build his ruined cities; his second, to establish a military force as well as a

Navy to preserve his kingdom from future attacks; his third, to perfect the administration of justice; his fourth, to render the punishments of laws less necessary, by diffusing amongst his subjects the principles of sound religion and useful knowledge. In the latter part of his reign he was again disturbed by new bodies of piratical Danes; but he successfully resisted them, and finally established his throne in complete security.

In this brief view of the history of Alfred, his qualities of an heroic warrior have been principally displayed. During this eventful period he fought fifty-six battles. But even in this career of danger and hardship he was continually engaged in the cultivation of his mind, and was never seen without a book in his bosom. Upon his restoration to a peaceful throne, the milder graces of his character were principally unfolded, as a legislator, an encourager of science, a diligent student, and a devout Christian. His life was not extended to a great length, and his health was constantly delicate: yet he accomplished the performance of his manifold duties, and made himself master of the learning of his time, with a success that would be truly astonishing, had not the secret been transmitted to us by his historians. He was strictly exact in the arrangement of his business. He usually divided his time into three equal portions: one was employed in sleep, and the refreshment of his body in diet and exercise; another in the dispatch of business; a third in study and devotion. Clocks were then unknown, and Alfred therefore regulated his time by burning tapers of an equal length. To his care for preserving these tapers from the effect of the wind, we owe the invention of lanterns. His private studies were directed for the benefit of his subjects, in the translation of many valuable works from the Latin into the British tongue.

This great prince was fully sensible that the happiness of a state is best preserved by diffusing Christian Knowledge amongst the people. He therefore rebuilt or restored all the religious edifices that had been destroyed or injured by the invaders; and he

encouraged wise and pious instructors by every liberality. As a proof of his zeal for Christianity, as well as his adventurous spirit, in those days when there was little intercourse between nations, it is related, that by means of a correspondence, in which he engaged with a patriarch of Jerusalem, having heard of a sect of Christians who lived in great poverty on the South Eastern coast of Asia, he dispatched an active priest with sumptuous gifts for the benefit of this distant colony;-his agent returned with tokens of their gratitude.

The following account of the Civil Institutions for which his country was indebted to Alfred the great, is abridged from a description in Hume's History of England:

That he might render the execution of justice strict and regular, he divided all England into counties; these counties he subdivided into hundreds; and the hundreds into tithings. Every householder was answerable for the behaviour of his family and slaves, and even of his guests, if they lived above three days in his house. Ten neighbouring householders were formed into one corporation, who, under the name of a tithing, were answerable for each other's conduct, and over whom one person, called a tithingman, was appointed to preside. Every man was punished as an outlaw who did not register himself in some tithing. And no man could change his habitation, without a warrant or certificate from the tithing to which he formerly belonged.

When any person in any tithing was guilty of a crime, the tithingman was summoned to answer for him and if he were not willing to be surety for his appearance, and his clearing himself, the criminal was committed to prison, and there detained till his trial. If he fled, either before or after finding sureties, the tithing and tithingman became liable to inquiry, and were exposed to the penalties of law. By this institution every man was obliged for his own interest to keep a watchful eye over the conduct of his neighbours; and was in a manner surety