provided for him well in his future life. The story was all, very
probably, a fabrication; but the characters of men are sometimes
very strikingly indicated by the kind of stories that are _invented_
concerning them.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF ALFRED.]




CHAPTER XI.

CHARACTER OF ALFRED'S REIGN.


Perhaps the chief aspect in which King Alfred's character has
attracted the attention of mankind, is in the spirit of humanity and
benevolence which he manifested, and in the efforts which he made
to cultivate the arts of peace, and to promote the intellectual and
social welfare of his people, notwithstanding the warlike habits to
which he was accustomed in his early years, and the warlike influences
which surrounded him during all his life. Every thing in the outward
circumstances in which he was placed tended to make him a mere
military hero. He saw, however, the superior greatness and glory of
the work of laying the foundations of an extended and permanent power,
by arranging in the best possible manner the internal organization
of the social state. He saw that intelligence, order, justice, and
system, prevailing in and governing the institutions of a country,
constitute the true elements of its greatness, and he acted
accordingly.