ecclesiastical authorities and institutions of Rome, and awakened,
reciprocally, in these authorities, a strong interest in him. He made
costly presents to the pope, some of which were peculiarly splendid.
One was a crown of pure gold, which weighed, it is said, four pounds.
Another was a sword, richly mounted in gold. There were also several
utensils and vessels of Saxon form and construction, some of gold and
others of silver gilt, and also a considerable number of dresses, all
very richly adorned. King Ethelwolf also made a distribution in money
to all the inhabitants of Rome: gold to the nobles and to the clergy,
and silver to the people. How far his munificence on this occasion may
have been exaggerated by the Saxon chroniclers, who, of course, like
other early historians, were fond of magnifying all the exploits, and
swelling, in every way, the fame of the heroes of their stories,
we can not now know. There is no doubt, however, that all the
circumstances of Ethelwolf's visit to the great capital were such as
to attract universal attention to the event, and to make the little
Alfred, on whose account the journey was in a great measure performed,
an object of very general interest and attention.

In fact, there is every reason to believe that the Saxon nations had,
at that time, made such progress in wealth, population, and power as
to afford to such a prince as Ethelwolf the means of making a great
display, if he chose to do so, on such an occasion as that of a royal
progress through France and a visit to the great city of Rome. The
Saxons had been in possession of England, at this time, many hundred
years; and though, during all this period, they had been involved in
various wars, both with one another and with the neighboring nations,
they had been all the time steadily increasing in wealth, and making
constant improvements in all the arts and refinements of life.
Ethelwolf reigned, therefore, over a people of considerable wealth