as well as of their wealth, to resist successfully so imminent a
danger. He summoned them to arms, and urged them to contribute the
means necessary to pay the expense of a vigorous prosecution of the
war. These harangues, and the ardor and determination which Alfred
manifested himself at the time of making them, were successful. The
nation aroused itself to new exertions, and for a time there was a
prospect that the country would be saved.

[Illustration: THE FIRST BRITISH FLEET.]

Among the other measures to which Alfred resorted in this emergency
was the attempt to encounter the Danes upon their own element by
building and equipping a fleet of ships, with which to proceed to
sea, in order to meet and attack upon the water certain new bodies
of invaders, who were on the way to join the Danes already on the
island--coming, as rumor said, along the southern shore. In attempting
to build up a naval power, the greatest difficulty, always, is to
provide seamen. It is much easier to build ships than to train
sailors. To man his little fleet, Alfred had to enlist such
half-savage foreigners as could be found in the ports, and even
pirates, as was said, whom he induced to enter his service, promising
them pay, and such plunder as they could take from the enemy. These
attempts of Alfred to build and man a fleet are considered the first
rude beginnings from which the present vast edifice of British naval
power took its origin. When the fleet was ready to put to sea, the
people thronged the shores, watching its movements with the utmost
curiosity and interest, earnestly hoping that it might be successful
in its contests with the more tried and experienced armaments with
which it would have to contend.