to have nothing to live for; he yielded himself up to riotous living to
drown care, while his government became worse and worse. Alas, he never
repented, so far as we can learn, and the following year he died at
Gloucester--some said of a broken heart, others of a broken
constitution--in the twentieth year only of his age.

Poor unhappy Edwy the Fair! Yet he had been his own worst enemy. Well
has it been written:

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine
heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all these
things God will bring thee into judgment."

Edgar succeeded to the throne, and all England acknowledged him as lord;
while under Dunstan's wise administration the land enjoyed peace and
plenty unexampled in Anglo-Saxon annals. Such was Edgar's power, that
more than three thousand vessels kept the coast in safety, and eight
tributary kings did him homage.

Alfred became in due course Thane of Aescendune, and his widowed mother
lived to rejoice in his filial care many a long year, while the
dependants and serfs blessed his name as they had once blessed that of
his father.

"The boy is the father of the man" it has been well said, and it was not
less true than usual in this case. A bright pure boyhood ushered in a
manhood of healthful vigour and bright intellect.

Children grew up around him after his happy marriage with Alftrude, the
daughter of the thane of Rollrich. The eldest boy was named Elfric, and