ance to her duty. She will see-shortly see that she does not act against the claims of her birth by being favourable to Wulf; he will love her doubly because he has only to thank herself for her tenderness, which overcame the pride of nobility.” He once more gladly imprinted a kiss on her hand, and returned to Athelney.

Some months later, after the celebrated victory over the Northmen, Alfred gave a grand feast to the victors who saved England; Ethelred was among the number. To the tournament given in memory of that victory, the noblest ladies of the rejoiced Saxons were invited. The knights combatted in the tournament for the prize, and the recognized king sat upon an elevated throne, next to which was another royal seat, adorned with the greatest splendour, for the queen of the feast, who was to distribute the prizes. A noble invited to that distinguished function the fair Elswitha. Her father, being informed of the intention of the king, consented to the pleasure of surprising his daughter by leading her suddenly to the throne, and bade her accept that place. The king descended from his throne, held out his hand to the modest maiden, and led her to her seat. "There is, and for ever,

the place of Elswitha." She blushingly raised her eyes, and immediately perceived in the king

Wulf, now freed of the disguising colour, and in all the splendour of his high dignity. "May Alfred hope," said he to the frightened maiden, motioning her to sit down, "for that which Wulf could not obtain? May he implore Elswitha's love, without which he cannot live?" She bowed respectfully, cast down her eyes, and said in a loud voice, "She who loved the warrior knows that she should venerate the great Alfred." She then looked upon the tournament, distributed to the worthiest knights the valuable prizes, and on the same evening gave the delighted king her hand, and became his spouse, whom alone he ever loved.

44

THE THIRD BOOK.

ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR.

DURING a period of thirty years, Alfred was not able to lay down his sword; he reconquered, gradually, the whole of England; he rejected the tax paid to the foreigners, obtained the dominion of the sea, and in fifty-two battles which he fought, acquired, in most of them, the victory, only by his well-calculated directions. At last his objects were attained, and a constant peace was purchased by great labour, and at the price of much noble blood. Alfred was now able to work for the interior amelioration of the kingdom, and a permanent tranquillity.25 His fame is unexampled, for he did not allow victory to seduce him to a love of war. The benevolent king had too often seen how the noblest laurels were sprinkled with the blood of the bravest war

riors, how much misery war scattered over thousands and thousands; how it snatched away, in the blossom of their years, so many courageous young men, the hope of their country, while others were forced to lead a miserable life, borne with constant pain, or sickness,-the reward for their courageous actions; how the unchecked firebrand of war consumed the wealth of millions; and how general poverty, followed by starvation, pressed forward to the destruction of the people. Alfred never attacked; the wars which he undertook were only for the purpose of repulsing unjust aggressions, and the justice of his cause could alone induce his humane heart to sacrifice the blood of his brethren for the general welfare.

But Alfred found, after peace was obtained, a disordered realm, in which the sword alone had for so many years governed, that the existing laws had protected no one; where feeble innocence was forced to suffer, and the property of the inhabitants was not more secure than their lives. To extricate his people from this labyrinth the circumspect king endeavoured to make himself acquainted with the laws of the wisest nations; first, those of the Hebrews, proceeding from the All-wise, then with those of the Greeks, the Romans, the Danes, and the Saxons. He considered those

different laws as a work which the cleverest men had already prepared for him, and chose from them those which he thought applicable and useful to his people.

The king was born in the darkest times, when the western nations had forgotten the language and arts of the Romans, when Charlemagne was obliged to borrow from the Arabian Aaron the works of art, when superstition occupied the throne of religion, and the priests began to claim general dominion. The king himself was brought up in those prejudices, and most of his confidants and teachers were priests. The manners and customs of the Saxons were familiar to him, and served him as a guide. Alfred was a wise legislator; but, from the unavoidable faults of his time, many imperfections arose, from which no human gifts could protect him. Notwithstanding that Alfred was devoted to the Roman bishop who brought him up, he never forgot that he was the king, and that all power in his realm was entrusted to him by the supreme governor. He subjected the clergy to the same laws which he dictated to his other subjects; he allowed the bishops no judicial authority, and chastised the guilty priests without soliciting their punishment from Rome, as his powerful grandson, the first Plantagenet, was forced to do.