are given in the alliterative Saxon verse.

A good English translation of Bede's history, and one of the Chronicle,
edited by Dr. Giles, have been issued together by Bohn in one volume of
his Antiquarian library. To the student of English history and of English
literature, the careful perusal of both, in conjunction, is an imperative
necessity.


ALFRED THE GREAT.--Among the best specimens of Saxon prose are the
translations and paraphrases of King _Alfred_, justly called the Great and
the Truth-teller, the noblest monarch of the Saxon period. The kingdoms of
the heptarchy, or octarchy, had been united under the dominion of Egbert,
the King of Wessex, in the year 827, and thus formed the kingdom of
England. But this union of the kingdoms was in many respects nominal
rather than really complete; as Alfred frequently subscribes himself _King
of the West Saxons_. It was a confederation to gain strength against their
enemies. On the one hand, the inhabitants of North, South, and West Wales
were constantly rising against Wessex and Mercia; and on the other, until
the accession of Alfred upon the death of his brother Ethelred, in 871,
every year of the Chronicle is marked by fierce battles with the troops
and fleets of the Danes on the eastern and southern coasts.

It redounds greatly to the fame of Alfred that he could find time and
inclination in his troubled and busy reign, so harassed with wars by land
and sea, for the establishment of wise laws, the building or rebuilding of
large cities, the pursuit of letters, and the interest of education. To
give his subjects, grown-up nobles as well as children, the benefits of
historical examples, he translated the work of Orosius, a compendious
history of the world, a work of great repute; and to enlighten the