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 DESCRIBED IN 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE AND MAXIMS 
 
 OF 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT 
 
 AND HIS COUNSELLORS. 
 FROM THE GERMAN OF ALBERT THALLER. 
 
 TO WHICH ABE ADDED, 
 
 NOTES AND COMMENTARIES 
 
 ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE BRITISH CONSTITUTION. 
 
 BT 
 
 FRANCIS STEINITZ, 
 
 AITHOB OF "THE SHIP, ITS ORIGIN AND PBOGRESS," 
 &C. &C. &C. 
 
 "EXAMINE ALL, ADOPT THE 3 
 
 IlontJon : ^ — ■ — 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN. 
 
 1849. 
 

 LONDON : 
 WOOLLET AND COOK, PBINTERS, ST. BBNE'l PLACE, 
 GRACECHURCH STREET. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 When man attains the age of maturity, the illu- 
 sions of younger years mostly vanish. All that he 
 had ardently desired to acquire in life seems not 
 worthy the exertions ; that which he had formerly 
 cherished with the warmest passion, he now looks 
 upon as transient, like all things in this world ; 
 and, besides religion and domestic happiness, 
 little remains to attach himself to, as in former 
 years. 
 
 Although the enchanting visions of youth — 
 love, fame, and honours — have fled from his sight, 
 the recollections of the grandeur of some ideals, 
 based on history, whom he venerated in his youth, 
 are not wholly extinguished in maturer age. 
 
 Such was the impression which Haller's 
 " Alfred " made upon the translator in his 
 youth, and which has since remained engraved in 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 his memory. Many great characters, pictured in 
 history, and others, within his own recollection, 
 who lived in the turbulent times at the close of 
 the last and the beginning of the present century, 
 although appreciated by him, could not eclipse 
 the juvenile impression of the historical romance 
 now before the reader. 
 
 The fortunate mixture of grandeur, mildness, 
 and severity, religion and domestic virtues, love 
 of the arts and sciences, combined with valour and 
 heroic deeds, in one individual, also celebrated 
 for his romantic adventures, could not fail to win 
 sympathy and universal admiration, and the more 
 so since not the slightest doubt was held of 
 Haller's veracity, as the fame he had acquired as 
 a philosopher, and author of the poem, the "Alps," 
 was at that time spread all over Germany. 
 
 Although this little work, dedicated by Haller 
 to the British nation, in the person of George 
 III., is now out of print, its memory is preserved 
 in every German heart ; it having been written at 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 a time when liberty and the wish for a consti- 
 tutional form of government began to dawn in 
 France and Germany; and a French translation of 
 "Alfred," which appeared almost simultaneously 
 with the original, may, like many a writing of 
 that time, have contributed to hasten the catas- 
 trophe which, in spite of its awfulness, has proved 
 fortunate in its consequences to the world. 
 
 The learned Haller became, in the last years of 
 his life, almost disgusted at all the branches of 
 science,* for which he had done so much during 
 
 * Albert von Haller was a great physician, natural his- 
 torian, and author, in several branches ; and one of the most 
 learned men of his time. His works are very numerous, 
 and his biography, written by Zimmerman, and brought to 
 the year 1755, forms a considerable volume. If Haller was 
 a celebrated lyrical poet, he was also a great statesman, 
 and as such very useful to his country. His character was 
 the purest, and he was as excellent a citizen as a father. 
 Although a free thinker he was very religious, and an oppo- 
 nent of Voltaire, with whom he was in constant strife. The 
 renowned Cassanova, having once wished to visit the sage 
 of Ferney, Haller observed to him, that Voltaire " presented 
 an effect in direct opposition to the laws of physics, being 
 greater when seen from a distance than when seen closely." 
 Upon the " Heloi'se " of Rousseau, he said " that it was the 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 his laborious career, and embraced politics; a 
 proof that the human heart and head do not 
 always feel inclined to give up, even in the most 
 advanced age, all the illusions of life; but still 
 endeavour to contribute, by intellectual power, 
 towards the general weal. The translator — who 
 has not the least ambition of comparing himself 
 to Haller — although not living in Switzerland, 
 nor having, like Haller, preserved the serene 
 views of life, but finding himself bending under 
 hypochondria, and beneath a cloudy sky, he has 
 had the same tendency in translating this work 
 that Haller had in writing it. 
 
 worst of all romances, because it was the most eloquent." 
 He despised Rousseau's eloquence, as anti-thesical and para- 
 doxical, and to his opinion, that fictions were admitted into 
 romances, opposed Petrarch, whose love for Laura was real. 
 He had the courage to say, in a letter to Frederick II., 
 who would entirely suppress the Latin language, " that in 
 the event of a monarch succeeding in banishing the lan- 
 guage of a Cicero and of a Horace from the republic of 
 sages, he would set an eternal monument to the memory 
 of his ignorance," upon which the great monarch renounced 
 his project. Haller's biography and works will be found in 
 almost every Encyclopaedia, but the above observations are 
 not so generally known. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 Haller's purpose was to picture, in one work, 
 absolute monarchy, which he did in his histori- 
 cal romance, entitled "Usong;" then, moderate 
 monarchy in " Alfred ; " and, finally, moderate 
 republic in a third work, entitled, "Fabius and 
 Cato;" but he scorned to occupy himself with 
 democracy, having witnessed the mischief which 
 it caused, almost under his own eyes, in some 
 Swiss cantons. 
 
 In each of these works he has endeavoured to 
 develop the principles of the three several forms 
 of government in their highest degree of perfec- 
 tion ; and in choosing the British constitution as a 
 model of moderate monarchy, the only one which 
 he could, in fact, choose for that purpose, he found 
 that Alfred was the only monarch who combined 
 such virtue, wisdom, and heroism, as rendered 
 him worthy of being acknowledged the founder of 
 that constitution, although historians may not 
 attribute that noble work to him. 
 
 On the occasion of the author's writing his 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 work, "The Ship, its Origin and Progress," he 
 had to make some researches concerning Alfred's 
 ships and history, and found in his library Haller's 
 "Alfred." His youthful reminiscences of that 
 work were immediately revived ; and on once more 
 reading it through, he found therein what he did 
 not seek, namely, the fourth book, (in this work 
 the fifth book,*) containing the principles of the 
 British constitution in so simple and popular a 
 form, that this part, which in his youth he had not 
 the patience to read, and much less to study, made 
 in his advanced age more impression upon him 
 than Alfred's deeds had done in his youth. 
 
 He then resolved upon attempting this trans- 
 lation, for which he thought the present epoch the 
 most appropriate, and on searching for the modern 
 histories of Alfred, found his deeds more or less 
 
 * The Sixth Book of Haller's "Alfred" contained Alfred's 
 love, which, although we do not consider it as worthy of its 
 author, we have given in the Second Book. The Introduc- 
 tion and the Conclusion are not by Haller, but extracted 
 from the works of John von Miiller, another Swiss historical 
 author, almost as celebrated as himself. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 described by British historians, but nothing so 
 complete and so brief as Haller's work. 
 
 In his researches into Alfred's life, he at first 
 studied the sources whence Haller had derived his 
 knowledge, namely: Asser, John Spelman, Hume, 
 and Littleton ; and also used Lappenberg, King, 
 Turner, &c. ; but while the present translation 
 was penning, two works appeared almost simul- 
 taneously, namely, " Six Old English Chronicles," 
 and ** Life and Times of Alfred the Great," which 
 vastly contributed to facilitate his historical re- 
 searches; and he cannot do less than to publicly 
 thank the learned Dr. Giles, who worked out both 
 the above works, which he owns to have made 
 great use of in the historical notes, and which 
 proved to him that most of what Haller related of 
 Alfred was authentic. Notwithstanding the great 
 credit which the translator gives these works, he 
 trusts that this little book will not be considered 
 as superfluous, as, in spite of the Germanisms, 
 which could not altogether be avoided, it presents 
 a brief, pleasant, and romantic history of the life 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 of Alfred, and possesses, besides, a higher ten- 
 dency, developed in the fifth book. 
 
 Small as the work is, it may be divided into 
 three distinct parts : — 
 
 1. Alfred's life and deeds: 2. The principles of 
 the British constitution; and 3. Historical and 
 political notes and commentaries, applying to both 
 the preceding parts. 
 
 These three parts, as they are now composed, 
 have but one tendency; the author and compiler 
 of the apparently heterogeneous notes and com- 
 mentaries has united them for one purpose, which 
 may thus be considered: — The transformation of 
 the life of nations may be observed in their man- 
 ners and customs; but the more that life becomes 
 civilized, the more it loses the irrevocable harmony 
 of its primitive condition, the desire of preserving 
 which, does not expire so speedily in the better 
 part of the nation. This preservation cannot be 
 effected by better means than by warning, and by 
 the recollection of its early stage of perfection. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 The propensities of nations often lose the original 
 purity of their early consecration, and the races, 
 abandoned to themselves, will hardly continue, as 
 they ought, in their primitive state. It is there- 
 fore necessary that they should be led, until their 
 tottering inclinations are once more strengthened 
 and sufficiently purified to be again abandoned to 
 themselves, to procure a life of unconscious truth. 
 
 It is consequently the recollection of the early 
 perfection, and the retrospective view of its 
 former condition, that seem to present the most 
 suitable means of stopping the progress of the 
 commencing corruption. 
 
 In such times as ours, when anomaly has begun 
 everywhere, and even around us, we wish to pre- 
 serve the knowledge of the better situation of our 
 forefathers, that, by reviving it through examples, 
 we may turn the public mind towards it. 
 
 While translating "Alfred," we were induced 
 to study the elements of the British constitution ; 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 and having observed, with an unprejudiced eye, 
 the progress of the civilization of nations, and 
 principally that of the British for the last half 
 century we have perceived the inevitable conse- 
 quences which such civilization must produce on 
 the original character of the people. The simpli- 
 city of manners and customs, and the probity 
 impregnated in English hearts has partly and suc- 
 cessively vanished, and given place to the love of 
 Mammon, which prevails in all classes in this 
 formerly blessed country. 
 
 The love of the arts and sciences, — the train of 
 civilization, — has not yet succeeded in inspiring the 
 minds of the people. On the contrary, they are 
 in England mostly considered as the means of pro- 
 curing money; and ambition, which also attends 
 civilization, and is the great lever of civil and 
 warlike deeds, is equally neutralized by the love 
 of gold and comfort, and does not go farther than 
 making a short speech as a chairman in an as- 
 sembly, or on obtaining a commission.. 
 
PREFACE, Xiil 
 
 Virtue is suddenly awakened by adversity, or 
 acquired when civilization has attained so high a 
 perfection in enlightened minds, as to replace 
 the simplicity and probity of former times. This 
 is not the case at present in England, and much 
 good is birth-strangled by civilization in the mo- 
 ment of nativity. 
 
 Whether a little book, with historical notes, 
 apparently without a systematic order or ten- 
 dency, can contribute to the remembrance of the 
 former grandeur of the British constitution and 
 high standing probity of the nation, or in the 
 slightest degree forward their regeneration, we do 
 not pretend to decide; but trust the reader will 
 believe that the sole and pure design of the com- 
 piler and writer was to do justice to every opinion, 
 and flatter none, that the reader may examine 
 them, and preserve that which he considers the best; 
 a little attention will enable him to discover to 
 which of these opinions the author inclines. 
 
 The author is far from pretending to be a 
 
3£1V PREFACE. 
 
 reformer; the times are not always alike, and 
 the world reforms itself in the different periods 
 through which it passes. It reforms itself in 
 every epoch just according to the contemporary 
 individuals, and they again according to the 
 times; both reciprocally make and reform each 
 other, and both likewise reciprocally change each 
 other. 
 
 When, in the organization of nature, and at 
 the critical moment of decay, a new encheiresis of 
 life is formed; so soon as the positive direction 
 has been given to the inner re-union, all that is 
 external, all that has faded, whether merely 
 spoiled, or rotten to the state of a dead peel, 
 will break and fall asunder; but it may console 
 us, that if the actual time seems to present 
 such a picture of decay or disorganization, it is 
 obliged so to do because the inner encheiresis 
 of life has already begun to form itself. 
 
 FKANCIS STEINITZ. 
 
 London, June, 1849. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface, iii. 
 
 List of Authors, xv. 
 
 Introduction, xxi. 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 AXERED THE HERO, 1. 
 
 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 1. Anglo-Saxons in England, 189. — 2 Genealogy of Al- 
 fred, ib. — 3. Ragnar Lodebrok, 190. — 4. Death of Edmund, 
 King of the East Angles, 191. — 5. Battle of Reading, ib. — 
 6. Alfred's Brethren, 193.— 7. Vide Note 5, ib.— 8 "Battle 
 of Wilton, ib.— 9. Alfred's Vessels, 194.— 10. Defeat of the 
 Danish Fleet, ib. — 11. Chippenham surprised by the Danes, 
 195. — 12. Adventure of the Cakes, ib. — 13. Legend of the 
 appearance of St. Cuthbert to Alfred, and his Visit to the 
 Danish Camp, 197. — 14. Capture of the Standard of the 
 Northmen, 200.— 15. The Magic Standard, 201.— 16. River 
 Stowe, 202. — 17. London Rebuilt, and Erection of Castles, 
 ib. — 18. Various Conflicts with the Danes in 893-94, 203. 
 — 19. Capture of the Danish Fleet on the River Lea, 205. — 
 20. Alfred and Hasting, 206.— 21. Flattery, ib. 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK, 
 Alfred's Love, 29. 
 
 notes, commentaries, etc. 
 22. Alfred's Marriage, 207. — 23. License of Poetical Fic- 
 tion, 208. — 24. Hunting and Falconry, ib. 
 
 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 Alfred the Legislator, 44. 
 
 notes, commentaries, etc. 
 25. Alfred's Firmness undaunted, 209. — 26. A few Re- 
 marks on Juries, ib. — 27. Anglo-Saxon Legislation before 
 Alfred and Alfred's Code, 211.— 28. Division of England 
 into Counties, &c, 215. — 29. Burgraves, 217. — 30. Golden 
 Bracelets hung on Trees>ib. — 31. Ignorance of the Nobility, 
 ib. — 32. Abuse of the Confessions of, and suspicion on, a 
 Culprit, 21 8.— 33. Alfred's absolute Power, 219.— 34. Catho- 
 lic Liturgy read in Latin, ib. — 33. Alfred's Co-adjutors in 
 Instruction, 220. — 36. Pretended Tyranny and Faults of 
 Alfred, 223. — 37. Controversies concerning Oxford Univer- 
 sity, 225.-38. Vide Note 9, 226.-39. Alfred's Military 
 Skill, ib. — £0. Sovereignty of the Seas, ib. — II. Alfred's 
 Artistical and Professional Co-adjutors, 227. — 41a. Alfred's 
 
XV1U CONTENTS. 
 
 Officers, ib.— 42. Parliament in Alfred's time, ib.— 43. Al- 
 fred's severity, 228, — 44. Prerogatives of Earls, 229. 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK. 
 Alfred the Sage, 65. 
 
 notes, commentaries, etc. 
 
 45. City of London rebuilt, 229. — 46. Reluctance of the 
 Saxons to build Castles, ib. — 47. Foundation of Monasteries, 
 230. — 48. Revenues of the Church, 231. — 49. Architectural 
 Works of Alfred, 232. — 50. Division of the King's House- 
 hold, 232.— 51. Vide Note 24, 233.-52. Alfred's skill in 
 Jewellery, and description of his Gem, ib. — 53. Political 
 Levers of Rulers, 235. — 54. Universal Genius and Manual 
 Occupations of Princes, ib. — 55. Alfred's Zeal for Religion, 
 236. — 56. Division of Alfred's Revenues, ib. — 57. Division 
 of Alfred's Time, 237. — 58. Invention of Lanterns, 238. — 
 59. Alfred's Illness, 239.— 60. Alfred'sEducation, 241.— 
 61. Alfred's Books, 244. — 62. Alfred's Embassies to Rome, 
 250.— 63. Education of Alfred's Children, 253.— Translation 
 of King Alfred's Will, 254. — Translation of King Alfred's 
 Proverbs, 260. 
 
 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 Alfred and his Counsellor, 78. 
 
 notes, commentaries, etc. 
 
 64. Alfred's Generosity towards his Female Prisoners,. 263'. 
 — 65. Attachment of Subjects to their Sovereigns, ib. — 
 66. Remarks on Aristocracy, ib. — 67. Silk Garments in Al- 
 fred's time, 267. — 68. Monarchical Power does not originate 
 from Adam, 268. — 69. Honour and its meaning, 269. — 70.. 
 Conscriptions, and Purchased Commissions, ib. — 71. Momen- 
 tary Inspirations in the People, 270. — 72. Nation of Shop- 
 keepers, ib. — 73. Moral Degradation produced by Comfort,. 
 271. — 74. Chinese Sages, 272. — 75. Comfort produced by In- 
 dustry and pure Pleasure, ib. — 76. Linen Garments among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, ib. — 77. Modern Despots, 273. — 78. Pas- 
 time of Sovereigns, 274. — 79. Family Government, ib. — 80. 
 Sovereigns driven from their Thrones, 275. — 81. Aqua 
 TofTana, ib. — 82. Dissipation and False Economy, ib. — 83,. 
 " J'ai le droit et j'en use," ib.— 84. Vide Note 80, 276.-85-. 
 Former and actual Punishment of unjust Princes, ib. — 86.. 
 Beware! beware! beware! ib. — 87. Expression of the unfor- 
 tunate Louis XVI., ib. — 88. Fruitless Lesson, 278. — 89. Best 
 form of Government, ib. — 90. Hereditary Succession, ib. — 
 91. Turbulence of the former Polish Diet, 279,-92. Ele- 
 ments of the British Constitution, ib. — 93. Pretended Origin 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 of Parliament, 280. — 94. [Miniature and other Republics, 281. 
 — 95. Evils produced by Standing Armies, 282. — 96. Royal 
 Domains, ib. — 97. Faults of Elective Power, 284. — 98. Sa- 
 credness and Inviolability of the Person of the Sovereign, ib. 
 —99. Royal Power limited by Laws, 286.— 100. Liberty of 
 the Press, 288. — 101. Justice sacrificed to momentary Wel- 
 fare, 289. — 102. Means of Influence, ib.— 103. Liberty of 
 Opinion, ib. — 104. Limits of the patience of a Nation, 290. 
 — 105. Fines for accidental words, ib. — 106. Legitimacy of 
 Insurrection, ib. — 107. Non-appreciation of Public Opin- 
 ion, 294. — 108. Limits of Transgression, 295. — 109. Tyrants 
 govern by Fear, ib. — 110. Functions of the Nobility in the 
 State, 296. — 111. Right of every Man to a share of Hap- 
 piness, 299. — 112. Landlords and Tenants, ib. — 113. Justice 
 invested in the Nobility, ib. — 114. Knowledge of Judges 
 and their privation of Property, 300. — 115. Prerogative of 
 the King, ib. — 116. Opening and Dissolving of Parliament 
 by the King, 301. — 117. Degrees of Nobility in England, ib. 
 — 118. Ecclesiastical Power in the British Constitution, 302. 
 — 119. Occupations of the Nobility, 306. — 120. Parliamen- 
 tary Eloquence, 307.— 12L Vide Notes 92 and 93, 311. — 
 122. Members of Society are not all alike, ib. — 123. General 
 Happiness, ib. — 124. Does a monarch enjoy perfect Hap- 
 piness? 312. — 124a. Dignities of the State conferred on 
 Children, 313. — 125. Men are not all alike, ib. — 126. Bom- 
 bastical Eloquence,, ib. — 127. Men rising from common 
 occupations to high dignities,, ib. — 127a. (p. 314.) — 128.. 
 Despotism of the People the worst Tyranny, ib. — 129. 
 " Those are real Tyrants who consider their will as the only 
 existing Law," ib. — 130. The King and the People,, 315. — 
 131. Ultra-conservatives, ib. — 132. "Every Countryman 
 should work for himself," ib. — 133. Law of Primogeniture, 
 316. — 134. Vide note 114, ib. — 135. Leagues may be con- 
 sidered as little States in the Realm, ib. — 136. Reformation 
 should be pursued by degrees, ib. — 137. French Deputies 
 under the last Government,, ib. — 138. Fertile Lands 
 changed into Deserts, 317. — 139. Alfred's Registration of 
 Acres, ib. — 140. Population of Alfred's Dominions, ib. — 
 141. Origin of Annual Parliamentary Sessions, ib. — 142. 
 Voluntary Gifts and Taxes, ib. — 143. Assent to the Annual 
 Budget, 319. — Legion of Officers for collecting Taxes, ib. 
 — 144. Right of levying Taxes vested in the House of 
 Commons, 323. — 145. Burden shaken from one to another, 
 324. — 146. Revenue of the Church, 325. — 147. Subjection 
 of all Ranks to Taxes, ib. — 148. Proportion of Taxes,, ib. — 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 149. Illusive Freedom, 326. — 150. Foundation of the British 
 Constitution, ib. — 151. Reforms in Legislation, ib. — 152. 
 Obedience to the Laws, 327. — 153. Men should moderate 
 their desires, ib. — 154. Punishments must be mild but inevi- 
 table, 328. — 155. Public Appointments obtained by favour, 
 ib. — 156. Privy Council, ib. — 157. Surveyance over Coun- 
 sellors, 329. — 258. Voice of the People, ib. — 159. Use of the 
 rejecting power of a King, 330. — 160. Influence practised 
 on Electors, ib. — 161. Such an honest man, who supports 
 with patience the loss of the esteem of his Party, exists even 
 now, ib. — 162. Do Representatives strive to increase their 
 power? 351. — 163. Mischief caused by the power of the 
 People, ib. — 164. Deputies and their Electors, ib. — 165. 
 Members of the Opposition, ib. — 166. Recent Proposals 
 made to Government, 332. — 167. Majority and Minority, 
 333. — 168. Reform of Representation, ib. — 169. Happy 
 situation of Great Britain, 336. — 170. Question of Short or 
 Long Parliaments, ib. — 171 and 172. Representatives should 
 be worthy of sitting at the Rudder of Government, 337. 
 
 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 Alfred and his Navigator, 152. 
 
 notes, commentaries, etc. 
 173. Othar's Voyages, 338. — 174. Othar's success in ob- 
 taining Ships for his Voyages, ib. — 175 and 176. Sociality 
 in a State of Nature, ib. — 177. Cruelty practised towards 
 Children, ib.— 178. Marriages and Filial Piety, 339.— 179. 
 Origin of Property, ib. — 180. History of Five Robinson 
 Crusoes, 341. — 181. Infancy of Man, ib. — 182. Examples of 
 worthy Landowners, 342. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 183. Man in a State of Nature, 344. — 184. Moderate 
 Monarchy, ib. 
 
 %* The Engravings on the Title, and on the Introduction re- 
 quire no explanation. The embossed figure on the Cover, taken 
 from the Coitonian Library, represents, according to StrutCs" Man- 
 ners and Customs of the Ancient Britons," an Anglo-Saxon King, 
 of the ninth century, a sketch of which teas used, with some alteration 
 in the face, which we do not, however, pretend to be an authentic copy 
 of Alfred. The face of Alfred's jewel is represented on the reverse 
 of the Cover, the other side being given in an engraving in p. 1 86. 
 
LIST OF AUTHORS 
 
 CONSULTED BY THE COMPILER. 
 
 AsSER. 
 
 Bacon. 
 
 Bastiat. 
 
 Blackstone. 
 
 bolingbroke. 
 
 Burke (Edmund ) 
 
 De Lolme. 
 
 Ethelwolfe's Chronicle. 
 
 Flower (Benjamin.) 
 
 Giles (the Rev. Dr.) 
 
 Grotius. 
 
 Hugo (Victor.) 
 
 Hume. 
 
 KANG-HE'S (EmPEROR*S 
 
 " Sacred Edict.") 
 King. 
 
 Lappenberg. 
 
 Littleton. 
 
 Locke. 
 
 Lovelace (Earl of.) 
 
 Malmesbury (William 
 of.) 
 
 Montesquieu. 
 
 Mortimer (Sir Thomas.) 
 
 Muller (J. Von.) 
 
 Potter. 
 
 Schomberg. 
 
 Spelman (John.) 
 
 Turner. 
 
 Voltaire. 
 
 Wade. 
 
 Wolfe. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 235 line 26 — For Geni read Genius. 
 „ 307 „ 10 — For perrot-footmen read parrot-footmen. 
 „ 313 „ 32 — For by the president read by one of the 
 
 chiefs. 
 „ 316 „ 3 — For ote read oter. 
 „ 319 „ 5 — For are well read is well. 
 „ 335 „ 33 — For life time read /or « ft/<? time. 
 
XX11 INTEODXJCTION. 
 
 for which the Scots gave them perpetual occasion. 
 The Hebrides were divided between the Scots 
 and the Hibernians, as the island of the -ZEgsean 
 Sea had been shared by the Greeks and Persians. 
 
 The first Belgic Britons in the southern parts 
 of the island lost, by the Roman victories, their 
 liberty, and the strength of character which was 
 necessary to restore it. Pressed by sea and land, 
 they found themselves under the necessity of in- 
 viting a tribe of Saxons, at that time considered 
 as a nation of formidable navigators. 
 
 The English brought with them to Britain the 
 simple and barbarous manners of the German 
 tribes. The followers of Hengist and Horsa, 
 and the other hordes who successively passed 
 over and occupied the country, maintained their 
 national character with the greater purity, as the 
 insular situation of England prevented inter- 
 course with foreigners. They were animated by 
 a love of their country and a spirit of indepen- 
 dence, which were cherished during six hundred 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXlll 
 
 years by the weakness of monarchy, or by im- 
 pediments arising from the various states of 
 public opinion, and the inclination of the nobility 
 and the popular assemblies, which controlled the 
 ambition of the kings. From this long contest 
 there arose, at length, a constitution, which im- 
 parted life and vigour to the state, and which will 
 continue to unite the various advantages of all 
 the forms of government, and to avoid their evils, 
 until the commercial spirit shall finally give rise to 
 habits of thinking, incompatible with the self-devotion 
 of patriotism. 
 
 For the rest, England was divided into seven 
 kingdoms, of which the subjects were chiefly 
 Saxons, or those Britons whom their circum- 
 stances had not enabled to emigrate. The re- 
 mainder of the Britons sought refuge in the 
 mountains of Wales, or crossed the sea, to share 
 the fate of Armorica, to which country they 
 imparted the name of their native land. Eng- 
 land, properly so called, was, long before the 
 time of Alfred, divided into hundreds and coim- 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ties. Every division had its head, who was 
 responsible to his superior, and all were subject to 
 the king. Forty names of such counties serve 
 still for the division of the country ; but there are 
 larger cities which are within the jurisdiction of 
 no county, and districts which give the tenths 
 not to any bishop, but to the king; those towns 
 having been built since the division into counties 
 took place, and such districts having been culti- 
 vated since the revenues of the church were 
 allotted. The institutions of England are in this 
 respect peculiar, that the people have so much 
 reverence for antiquity, as rather to bear with 
 imperfections than to violate the venerable form 
 of the political fabric. Liberty, which is founded 
 on custom and precedent, does not admit of in- 
 novations. 
 
 Every district elected its magistrate, so that, 
 even at that early period, the ambitious had no 
 way of obtaining their gratification but by seek- 
 ing to gain, through popular manners, the affec- 
 tions of the people. Laws were enacted by the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 king, in the council of the nobles and wise men. 
 The latter long retained the impression of the 
 wisdom of ancient Rome, a certain predilection 
 for knowledge, as if the muses had ever sought 
 the land of freedom. This national council was 
 assembled in a regular manner twice every year. 
 Free men held that place in it, which in the 
 records is distinguished by the name of Com- 
 mons. The judgments that were given during 
 these times became the model and foundation of 
 the common law, the traditional remains of ori- 
 ginal customs and rights, as declared in every 
 case by the voice of twelve men of the same 
 rank with the accused. These decisions, handed 
 down from antiquity, formed the favourite law of 
 the country, the foundation of England's liberty, 
 as it had descended from the earliest ages. Those 
 institutions which had not their origin in the 
 primitive manner of the people, were introduced 
 in latter times by violence and craft. 
 
 How the constitution, manners, and religion of 
 a people may undergo frequent alterations, while 
 
XXVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 through all such vicissitudes the love of freedom 
 may still remain inherent in them, and display- 
 proofs of its influence on every occasion; how 
 this general sentiment, exalted by all private 
 interests, may yet in no particular give rise to 
 any excess, but may produce an equilibrium of 
 power in the whole fabric of the state ; how this 
 spirit of independence may find the way of 
 limiting the power of the king, by means of a 
 parliament, and the authority of the latter, by 
 means of the king, and the influence of one 
 house by that of the other; and how these 
 strong and multifarious bonds of liberty may give 
 to all classes of the people a lofty elevation of 
 character; all these great and splendid problems 
 find their solution in the history of the English 
 nation. When we observe the old Albiones in 
 the mountains of Caledonia, the Britons in 
 Wales, and the English themselves all animated 
 with the same spirit, we are obliged to conjecture 
 the existence of some permanent, ever-operative 
 cause, powerful enough to overcome the original 
 characters which these nations brought with them 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV11 
 
 from foreign realms. As the laws of the Chi- 
 nese, Indians, and Egyptians, resisted the effect 
 of repeated vicissitudes over a very lengthened 
 period; and the institutions of Lycurgus main- 
 tained their relation to the rugged feet of the 
 Taygetus ; — the same as the Romans and Cartha- 
 ginians acquired, from local circumstances, those 
 characters which have excited the admiration of 
 posterity; the manners of the Germans remained 
 permanent on their native soil, underwent in 
 Spain a complete reverse, and gave way in 
 France to a more sprightly character; so we 
 may contemplate the British isles, as destined De- 
 nature to become the land of freedom. Finer 
 fruits are the gifts of a warmer climate; but 
 colder regions bring forth hardier bodies; the 
 former enervates and renders its people effemi- 
 nate ; the latter enables them to bear even servi- 
 lity with patience ; the climate of England holds 
 the enviable mean, and moderation is the cha- 
 racter of all its institutions. 
 
 The whole northern region of the world was 
 
XXV111 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 as yet unknown. Scarcely does a faint glimmer- 
 ing break forth by degrees more like the polar 
 lights than the splendour of day. Scandinavia, 
 Russia, Sarmatia, and the land of the Gepidi, 
 to the confines of the eastern empire, were still 
 enveloped in darkness ; but England was destined 
 to become the central point of the civilized south 
 and the rude north ; and she it was who, in later 
 years, through the mighty lever of navigation and 
 commerce, was to propagate universal civilization. 
 
THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 ALFRED THE HERO. 2 
 
 The powerful Egbert governed no more; Ethel- 
 wulf, his son, inherited his crown — but neither his 
 genius nor his courage; and his eldest son, Ethel- 
 wald, extorted from him half his realm, but was 
 himself only for a short time possessor of the vacant 
 throne. Under his reign began the misfortunes of 
 England. 
 
 The inhabitants of England were no more the 
 old warriors of Saxony; for, under the milder cli- 
 mate of England, their manners and customs had 
 become softened ; the contempt of death, and the 
 thirst for victory and conquest, had been eradi- 
 cated by the superior power of the priests. Kings 
 were seen visiting, and coming from afar, to pray 
 at the altars of the holy monks. Of the priests 
 they implored victories, which their ancestors had 
 
 B 
 
2 THE FIRST BOOK, 
 
 expected solely by the power of their swords, 
 Already had they visited Rome as the source of 
 salvation. Already had the whole realm been 
 subjected to a tax, by which they purchased the 
 protection of the chief bishop. They wished to 
 enjoy in peace the fruits of the country their 
 ancestors had acquired at the price of their 
 blood. War was now considered by the Anglo- 
 Saxons as a duty to which they were obliged 
 to recur, but no longer as the beloved exercise of 
 their valour. 
 
 Farther north, in the more severe climate of 
 Scandinavia, the rude old customs were preserved. 
 That country was inhabited by a race of people 
 whose only fear was a woundless death, and who 
 awaited the reward of their courage in eternity, 
 believing the effusion of their own blood to be the 
 only means of obtaining the favour of Odin. Those 
 nations then inhabited the remote regions, where 
 the Romans had never brought their arts or their 
 emollient manners. They considered the peace- 
 ful inhabitants of southern Europe as a booty 
 purposely created by nature for them, as the pigeon 
 is for the sparrow-hawk. 
 
 The Northmen, 3 the inhabitants of the shores 
 of the extensive Scandinavia, cruized in light 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 3 
 
 vessels on all the seas, landed from the rivers, 
 surprised the defenceless villages and the unpro- 
 tected towns, plundered the inhabitants of their 
 wealth, and found a fierce pleasure in destruc- 
 tion and in the murder of the vanquished. They 
 owned no other virtue than the courage of the 
 warrior; the modesty of the peaceful clergy 
 seemed to them a base neglect of the sole duty by 
 which man can be honoured. They despised 
 science as they despised the distaff, considering 
 them merely as the occupation of cowardly natures. 
 When they had devastated a country, when all 
 that surrounded their camp was smoking, and the 
 fruits of the assiduity of the innocent countrymen 
 had been consumed, they returned to their ships, 
 and sought another country, which had not yet 
 felt the effects of their blood-thirsty swords and 
 destructive torches. Thus the savages carried with 
 them death and calamity throughout the world, and 
 the land which bore their footsteps was doomed to 
 misfortune. Tired of killing, and loaded with the 
 booty of the industrious, they returned to their 
 harbours, sung of their feats to the beauties of 
 the country, and enjoyed the general veneration 
 of the inhabitants. The chiefs of the barbarians 
 often carried off some handsome woman, taking 
 her to his rustic castle, where no tears could save 
 her innocence, and all hope was lost of ever again 
 B 2 
 
4 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 breathing the milder air of her country, or hearing 
 the sweet voices of her parents. 
 
 Brought up in armour and amidst combats, these 
 warriors knew no other art than the glorious one 
 of war. They feared no wounds, and looked upon 
 death as the passage to the palaces of the gods. 
 They never considered the numbers of their ene- 
 mies, and singly attacked whole armies. The gal- 
 lant Kagnar sung his funeral hymns with gnawing 
 snakes in his bosom. This courage was accom- 
 panied by a strength acquired by continual exer- 
 cise, and by the most perfect knowledge of the use 
 of their weapons. In their contempt of death they 
 surpassed all other European nations, and their 
 arrival spread terror over the whole realm; the 
 hopeless inhabitants left their homes and fled to 
 the fortified towns, where walls and towers opposed 
 for a while the progress of the enemies, who were 
 not in possession of implements to break down 
 these fortifications. 
 
 The weak Carlovingians could not resist the 
 rushing torrent of the Northmen, and purchased at 
 the price of their silver an uncertain peace. The 
 Scandinavians acknowledged no governor, every 
 chieftain plundered on his own account. When one 
 of the bands, bearing the ransom of the terrified 
 
ALPEED THE HERO. 5 
 
 inhabitants, returned home, the next entered with 
 the same fury, and took the lives of the miserable 
 men, which had been purchased of the former. 
 Resistance and submission were alike dangerous ; 
 for, to those inexperienced in war, the first was in- 
 evitable destruction, and the latter only postponed 
 for some weeks their complete ruin. 
 
 It was under the reign of Ethelbert, brother of 
 Ethelwulf, that Hubba and Hinguar, the sons of 
 RagnarLodobroch, forced their way into England. 
 They surprised York, then already a large town. 
 The princes of the country advanced to their en- 
 counter with a poorly armed multitude of men, but 
 the war-like Scandinavians defeated the enervated 
 Saxons. They killed a part of the nobility, and 
 extorted from the vanquished hard conditions and 
 shameful contributions. They also soon attacked 
 the eastern part of the island: Edmund, Prince 
 of the East- Saxons, was likewise defeated, and 
 made a prisoner. The barbarians killed him, and 
 overran the whole country with their bloody 
 weapons. 4 
 
 Another Saxon army fortified themselves at 
 Reading, 5 not far from London, then only a 
 town of middling class. Ethelred, King of the 
 Anglo-Saxons, son and successor to Ethelwulf, at- 
 
6 THE FIKST BOOK. 
 
 tacked the intrenched Northmen with more cou- 
 rage than fortune, being repulsed with a great loss 
 of men. At Ashdune, not far from Reading, the 
 armies again met; the Anglo-Saxons were divided 
 into two camps, one of which was under the com- 
 mand of the king himself, and the other under that 
 of his younger brother, the active Alfred, who 
 then made his first essay against the enemies of 
 his country. Alfred, the favourite of his father 
 Ethelwulf, and the youngest of his sons, had re- 
 ceived of nature gifts seldom combined in one 
 individual. An agreeable exterior and engaging 
 manner won all hearts to him. He was sent by 
 his father to Rome, then the seat of that little 
 learning which the destructive wars of the North- 
 men in Europe had not buried in oblivion. The 
 young prince was instructed in arts nearly for- 
 gotten in England, and even acquired ecclesiastical 
 dignities, for Leo IV. bishop of Rome, anticipated, 
 from a secret feeling, the future grandeur of the 
 noble youth, and therefore anointed him as king, 
 although three elder brothers existed between him 
 and the throne. 6 
 
 In England Alfred was brought up in the prac- 
 tice of the only exercises then considered noble, 
 hunting, and the art of falconry. He was accus- 
 tomed to support the inconveniences of a labori^ 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 7 
 
 ous life, as well as the sufferings of hunger, heat, 
 and fatigue. He was eighteen years old, when 
 his brother, Ethelred, thought him able to com- 
 mand an army; but not being acquainted with the 
 noble qualities of the blooming young prince, he 
 believed it necessary to induce the youth, by 
 promises of great rewards, to assist him in the 
 threatening circumstances in which England was 
 placed. He therefore promised him half the 
 lands he should subdue. Ethelred afterwards 
 acted unfairly towards the noble Alfred; he not 
 only withheld that part of the realm intended by 
 his father as his hereditary share, but likewise 
 that which he had himself promised him; but 
 the love of his country suppressed in Alfred all 
 feelings of resentment, and he zealously served 
 his unjust brother in the most dangerous cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 Alfred was really virtuous, and an ardent desire 
 to serve his country inflamed his courage. The 
 Northmen advanced to meet him in the field, and 
 compelled him with his weakened and inexpe- 
 rienced army to battle. Ethelred was, during that 
 time, praying in his tent, and neither the entreaties 
 of his Anglo-Saxons, nor the sounds of the chal- 
 lenging trumpets, could induce him to abridge the 
 ceremony by which he hoped to obtain the Divine 
 
8 THE FIKST BOOK. 
 
 assistance. While Ethelred delayed, Alfred was 
 obliged to venture the dangers of a battle., and 
 marched in an open plain against the more numer- 
 ous and dreaded Northmen. His bravery and 
 example excited the most irresolute soldiers to a 
 firm resistance. Their bows of yew-tree, from 
 which flew iron darts, (a system which, some cen- 
 turies after, gave the English a preponderance 
 over the most warlike knights in Europe,) held for 
 a long time the issue of the battle undecided. 
 They slayed a great number of the half-naked 
 Northmen, whose weapons were only dangerous in 
 close combat, but the brave Northmen remained 
 undaunted; wrath inflamed their courage; they 
 forced themselves into the Saxon ranks, whose 
 massive weapons were no longer useful, and com- 
 pelled them to retreat, though not to disperse* 
 The sight and example of the young hero kept 
 them under their standard; but they were sur- 
 rounded by their overpowering enemies, and de- 
 spair replaced courage, just as Ethelred at last 
 approached. Too much time had he devoted to 
 piety in moments so precious for the safety of 
 his people. His army, which had not suffered 
 at all, perceived the near destruction of their 
 brethren, and rushed with more energy to their 
 rescue than the king could hope. One part of 
 them firmly met one wing of the Northmen* 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 9 
 
 another fell on the flanks of the combatting enemy, 
 who, enclosed between the two Saxon armies, 
 became the victims of Alfred's vengeance. The 
 wing which still resisted, on beholding the loss 
 of the other, retreated. The victors pursused the 
 Northmen over the whole environs, until night 
 sheltered the remainder. Thousands lay scattered 
 over the field, and the earth eagerly drank the 
 blood of its furious enemies. 7 
 
 But the north was too fertile in wandering 
 legions, and the courage of its inhabitants too 
 great for one defeat, to prevent them from again 
 attemping the booty they had so often found in 
 England. After a few weeks, their army was 
 reinforced by numerous ships from Scandinavia. 
 They therefore again advanced upon the two 
 Saxon princes. A battle was fought near Merton, 
 in the county of Wilts, in which Ethelred was 
 wounded, and the Saxons forced to have recourse 
 to flight. The greater practice in war, and the 
 riveted contempt of death, gave the Northmen a 
 preponderance, which Alfred's bravery was unable 
 to resist. Ethelred died of his wounds, leaving the 
 realm in a situation which must have paralyzed 
 every desire of possessing the vacant throne. The 
 victorious Northmen occupied the heart of the 
 b3 
 
10 THE FIKST BOOK. 
 
 country, the Saxons were exhausted from their 
 repeated defeats, and more disheartened by their 
 hopelessness than from the reduced number of 
 their soldiers. A king of this people, exposed to 
 the greatest dangers, could foresee nothing but 
 doubtful battles, probable defeats, humiliation, 
 and wounds. 
 
 Alfred was young, but his stability suppressed, 
 even in the most passionate periods of his life, 
 the emotion of lust. He was now, excepting a 
 child, the only possessor of the noble blood, 
 which, from the dignified Woden to the vic- 
 torious Egbert, reigned uninterruptedly over the 
 Saxons. Ethelred had already promised him 
 the succession to the throne, while he deprived 
 him of the estates which were his hereditary share. 
 Alfred fought for his people, and was victorious; 
 and even when defeated, his courage and prudence 
 were irreproachable. The whole country of the 
 Saxons looked up to him, hoping only to be saved 
 from the threatened ruin by his virtues ; but the 
 prudent youth long declined assenting to the press- 
 ing nobility, and the soliciting clergy. At last 
 he unwillingly complied with their request, and 
 consented to ascend the throne at Winchester, 
 which had so often been shaken by the conquering 
 barbarians. 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 11 
 
 Not a month had elapsed before Alfred was 
 obliged to give a general battle at Wilton; 8 he 
 would have preferred to exercise his people pre- 
 viously to war, by little skirmishes, to teach them 
 to look boldly into the furious faces of the North- 
 men, but the murders of the barbarians, and the 
 fires spread by them over the whole country, forced 
 him to submit to uncertain chance, and to oppose 
 the enemy with a limited force. Long did the 
 Saxons contend with equal success against the 
 Northmen, till the sun stood at the meridian ; the 
 wise directions of the king seemed to have given 
 him the victory. The Northmen gave way — they 
 fled not, but retreated. The Saxons imprudently 
 followed them ; many dispersed themselves from 
 the desire of booty, and pressed the enemy to a 
 rising ground, from which they could overlook the 
 thin legions of the Saxons. The brave Northmen 
 also preserved their courage in defeats, they has- 
 tened back and fell upon the Saxons, who were 
 sure of the victory, and wrested from them the 
 honour of the day. Night withdrew them from 
 the swords of the Northmen, and very few fell, 
 but the victory was lost, and the courage of the 
 Saxons again depressed. 
 
 Nevertheless the Northmen purchased the vic- 
 tory with so much blood, and the warlike capacity 
 
12 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 of Alfred had awakened in them such veneration, 
 that they concluded a treaty with him, leaving the 
 kingdom of the West-Saxons, and turned their 
 weapons towards other parts of the island, over 
 which Gurrhead, Prince of Middlesex, reigned. 
 They devastated his dominions, forced him to 
 several battles, and after his death, compelled his 
 realm to submit to their power. The kingdoms 
 of the East-Saxons and of Northumberland w T ere 
 laid in ruins, and the few fortified places were in 
 possession of the Scandinavians. Guthrum and 
 Amund with new legions soon attacked the watch- 
 ful King Alfred, who alone upheld the liberty 
 of the West-Saxons; but the prudent king com- 
 pelled the Northmen to withdraw from his country, 
 and by an oath to their divinities, for ever to leave 
 his dominions ; the perjurers, however, soon after 
 invaded the royal establishment for rearing horses, 
 robbed them, and captured Exeter. 
 
 The king represented to his hopeless and fatigued 
 Saxons, that as neither peace nor oaths could bind 
 the barbarians, there was no other remedy than to 
 trust to themselves and their own courage. Since 
 there was no other means for their safety left, 
 despair should strengthen their arms ; for it would 
 be more glorious to die sword in hand, than to be 
 murdered and robbed, like flying game, without 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 13 
 
 resistance. Encouraged by these representations, 
 the Saxons grasped their weapons and opposed 
 themselves to the Northmen. Seven times in one 
 year was Alfred obliged to combat these robbers ; 
 and the most noble blood of the Saxons flowed 
 like streams on the fields. But the Northmen lost 
 likewise half their legions, and at last agreed to 
 the former conditions — to leave the kingdom of 
 the West- Saxons, and never to bring any new 
 legions from the north to Alfred's realm. 
 
 The victorious Rollo, the ancestor of the Nor- 
 man kings, for whom Providence destined Alfred's 
 throne, kept true to that treaty: he left England, 
 and turned his weapons against Neustria, which 
 he appropriated to himself, and over which country 
 his grandsons reigned with glory and renown. 
 
 As nothing could escape Alfred's judgment, he 
 found it useless to force the Northmen to treaties 
 so long as the open sea was at their command. 
 Their fierce avidity and blood-thirsty desire for 
 fame did not allow them to practise any arts, and 
 to them life was not endurable unless they could 
 hear the clash of weapons, and were aroused by 
 hopes of fresh victories. Alfred perceived what 
 the former kings of Saxony did not, that Eng- 
 land had no other enemies to fear than those who 
 
14 THE FIEST BOOK. 
 
 could attack her by sea. He accordingly ordered 
 vessels 9 to be built in all the harbours, and took 
 into his pay, as volunteers, skilful sailors, selected 
 from the fishermen. He equipped his ships with 
 soldiers, and stationed them at the mouths of 
 the rivers, where the Scandinavians usually dis- 
 embarked. The Saxons then came vigorous and 
 well-armed from their harbours, while the robbers 
 who arrived from Scandinavia were fatigued and 
 weakened by the long voyage necessary to reach 
 England. The Saxons, who were then superior to 
 the Northmen, vanquished two of their squadrons, 
 sunk most of their vessels, and compelled the 
 remainder to fly to their northern regions. Alfred 
 hastened to reach Exeter by land, surrounded the 
 Northmen, who were already on horseback, and 
 forced them to give hostages, and leave the whole 
 country of the West-Saxons. 10 Very few of the 
 Northmen kept their promise, for the greater 
 number could only find their subsistence in plun- 
 der. They again invaded Alfred's dominions, sur- 
 prised Chippenham, the strongest fortified castle 
 of the pressed Saxons, and carried the consuming 
 fire and bloody sword to all corners of the realm. 11 
 
 Fatigued with long wars and repeated defeats, 
 and weakened by their own victories, the Saxons 
 at last lost all hope of preservation. They dis- 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 15 
 
 persed themselves in the woods, in the wildernesses, 
 in Wales, until then unmolested, and sought even 
 among their enemies a security, which no resis- 
 tance could procure them. The unarmed men 
 bowed with despondency under the yoke, and sub- 
 mitted to their oppressors. 
 
 Alfred was abandoned by his people, and saw 
 no means of rallying, or of again raising the spirits 
 of the depressed soldiers. He had, therefore, no 
 other alternative than to save himself, as with 
 his ruin would fall all hopes of re-establishing 
 the kingdom of the Saxons. He cast off the royal 
 garments, arrayed himself in the coarse clothes 
 of the labourer, blackened his rosy cheeks with 
 the juice of fruits, and sought shelter in the hut 
 of an old cowherd, who had been employed by 
 his forefathers; this faithful servant concealed 
 the dignity of his master even from his own wife, 
 who treated the unknown monarch with an un- 
 becoming rudeness, 12 in which Alfred found his 
 security. A whole year the young king remained 
 thus concealed, but his active nature was not idle 
 during that time of oppression. 
 
 The Northmen having erected a scattered camp 
 in the marshy island of Athelney, 13 between two 
 rivers, in the county of Somerset, considered them- 
 
16 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 selves perfectly secure in the elder bushes growing 
 among the moors, from which natural fortifications 
 they directed their excursions into the unfortunate 
 kingdom of the West- Saxons ; and concealed in 
 those impenetrable deserts, captured booties from 
 the tormented English. Alfred often fell, with 
 a few Saxons, or with some armed herdsmen, upon 
 the Danish camp. He slayed single detachments 
 of robbers, and prepared the great act of ven- 
 geance he meditated on the barbarians. He often 
 retook from them the cattle they had stolen, and 
 divided them amongst the volunteers who assisted 
 him to annoy the enemies of the country. The 
 single and abandoned king was to the North- 
 men a whole army, which slew them by hundreds, 
 and yet remained invisible. These petty victories 
 spread his shepherd's name abroad, and Wulf 
 became a dreaded name. 
 
 Alfred awaited with pain and impatience the 
 time when he hoped to free his people from the 
 oppression under which they languished. His 
 faithful host was poor, and the wandering tribes of 
 Danes had already robbed him of his cattle ; he 
 was therefore obliged to share his frugal bread 
 with Alfred, and even that at times failed from 
 unexpected accidents. One day there remained 
 but one loaf for Alfred and his host, when a tra~ 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 17 
 
 veller entered the hut in which Alfred was 
 alone, saying, " I am starving." Alfred could not 
 resist such an appeal, and shared his last loaf with 
 the unfortunate man ; trusting for his future sub- 
 sistence to that Providence which nourishes the 
 ravens. He fell asleep in his solitude, and tradition 
 says, that in the soft slumber which only attends 
 the virtuous, a superior being appeared to him and 
 spoke thus: "Thy misfortunes are at an end, King 
 of the Saxons, thy throne now awaits thee ; be in 
 prosperity what thou hast been in misery." Alfred 
 heard these words, and after a few hours awoke 
 with the dawn of hope. The shepherd had been 
 fortunate in fishing, and the herdsmen had found 
 one of their strayed sheep. But more important 
 news called him to great undertakings. Odun, 
 Earl of Devon, had fortified himself, and retired to 
 Kin with Castle, where a great number of dispersed 
 Saxons had assembled under his banner. Hubba 
 and Hinguar had just returned from Wales, with 
 booty captured from the Saxons, whom they had 
 pursued thither ; and hoped to force Kinwith with 
 little resistance, there remaining but little pro- 
 vision to the besieged garrison, They accordingly 
 surrounded the castle, and cut off the water, 
 thinking thereby to compel them to surrender. 
 
 Alfred's heart burned at the sufferings of his 
 
18 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 people. He left Athelney, and repaired, disguised 
 as a minstrel, to the encampment of the Danes. 
 He sang to the lute old war-songs ; the Northmen 
 listened to him with eagerness, and led him to the 
 tent of their commander. The king remained two 
 days in the enemys' camp, and acquired a perfect 
 knowledge of the whole situation of their army. 
 He observed their carelessness, and their disdain 
 of the Saxons whom they had so often vanquished. 
 He summoned, by faithful messengers, his dispersed 
 Saxons from the counties of Wilts, Hants, and 
 Somerset, assembled them in the forest of Sel- 
 wood, and at Egbert's stone united them under his 
 standard. 
 
 Alfred presented himself before them arrayed 
 in royal garments, and in all the glitter of a con- 
 queror who would lead them, full of hope, against 
 the enemy. He addressed them in a speech, which 
 excited them to a bold attack: — "You have," said 
 he, " the choice of being killed by the barbarians, 
 leaving them your wives as victims, your children 
 as slaves, and your country groaning under the 
 heaviest of yokes ; or to free your country, your 
 children, your wives, and yourselves, by the dan- 
 ger of one day. Do not fear the martial courage 
 and experience of your enemies : I have seen them — 
 seen them as closely as possible, and I can assure 
 
ALFEED THE HERO. 19 
 
 you they are not prepared for battle. They expect 
 no enemy, and are perfectly ripe for a defeat; 
 before the careless are awake, your swords will be 
 in their bosoms." 
 
 The whole Saxon army clashed their shields, 
 and a general shout rose to the skies: Alfred 
 took care not to let such enthusiasm abate, and 
 employed the whole night in approaching the. 
 Danes. At dawn of day, as the fires of the enemy 
 expired, and most of them had sunk fast asleep, 
 Alfred and his army rushed into the unguarded 
 camp. 
 
 Just at that time Odun 14 sallied forth from Kin- 
 with Castle with his garrison, whom despair had 
 inflamed with a contempt for death. The warlike 
 Northmen were beaten without resistance, and the 
 embroidered raven, worked by the three sisters of 
 Hubba, the general standard of the Scandinavians, 
 on whose magic power, according to the super- 
 stitious notions of the Northmen, depended the 
 victory, fell into the hands of Alfred. 15 A few 
 Danes only escaped in their vessels. The greater 
 part of the defeated army found a secure position, 
 which, however, only delayed their destruction for 
 a few days. Alfred surrounded the flying North- 
 men with his victorious army ; and in the second 
 
20 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 week hunger and cold forced the disheartened 
 brigands to surrender themselves to the king, in 
 whose pity alone they still hoped for mercy. 
 Alfred, satisfied with the humility of these dreaded 
 warriors, offered them very moderate conditions 
 of peace; Guthrum, the only commander who had 
 escaped death, and thirty of the noblest warriors 
 accepted baptism ; Alfred himself gave the north- 
 ern prince the name of Athelstan, and distributed 
 among his new converts rich presents, Guthrum 
 obtaining for his share the kingdoms of the East 
 Saxons and Northumberland, in feudal possession. 
 
 Nations only gradually acquire a perfect know- 
 ledge of truth: long do they remain barbarians, 
 and their wishes, like those of animals, are encom- 
 passed within the limits of necessity ; but at last 
 manners and arts begin to dawn, slowly the light 
 increases, and noon succeeds to night, through twi- 
 light and the cooler morning hours. 
 
 Alfred forced the Northmen to baptize, and his 
 object in doing so was of the best. By the ties of 
 religion, he hoped to obtain of the wild warriors 
 adherence to their promises, and to open to them 
 the path by which they could escape eternal per^ 
 dition: but the honest king perceived not, and the 
 mundane priests knew not, that sprinkled water 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 21 
 
 alone cannot make Christians— that the fear of 
 the sword of a conqueror cannot produce con- 
 viction, and that the dignity of baptism^ the sign 
 of incorporation in the society of the faithful, is 
 profaned in a punishable manner, when urged upon 
 individuals who do not acknowledge the truth and 
 spirit of the action, and whose will does not obey 
 the duties of religion. 
 
 No faithfulness to the king was observed by 
 either Guthrum or his warriors, and it was neces- 
 sary to attack them anew; for amongst the Saxon 
 priests, none could be found possessed of sufficient 
 ardour or wisdom to convert so great a mass of 
 warriors, hardened by robbery and bloodshed. 
 The solemn baptism of the formidable Northmen 
 attracted the Saxon nobility to Weadmore. Alfred 
 stepped himself to the altar and pronounced the 
 name Guthrum should bear as a Christian, pro- 
 mising, for the converted, faithfulness to the belief 
 which he accepted. 
 
 The King of the Saxons never neglected the 
 welfare of his people; he projected the laws which 
 should in future govern the Northmen, who settled 
 themselves in the kingdom of the East- Saxons and 
 Northumberland, which were signed by Guthrum. 
 The latter directed himself to the territory ap- 
 
22 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 pointed to him, and the Northmen who would not 
 engage themselves to the Christian faith, shipped 
 over to France, and there destroyed the badly- 
 defended provinces ; but avoided beginning a new 
 war with the Saxons, over whom they could not 
 hope to obtain any advantage. 
 
 Alfred continued his efforts to form a navy, 
 which would enable him to keep oif the foreign 
 robbers from his country; for it was not unknown 
 to him that every bay in the northern regions 
 issued armed vessels with freebooters, who con- 
 sidered every property that could not resist their 
 weapons as their own. Alfred vanquished in the 
 next year a northern fleet, sunk the largest vessels, 
 and compelled the remainder to fly to the other 
 shores, where the weak Carlovingians reigned 
 powerless and without consideration, and left their 
 people a prey to foreigners. Nevertheless another 
 northern army reached near the Thames, and be- 
 sieged Rochester, but the vigilant Alfred soon 
 came to its assistance, when the Northmen fled 
 without venturing a battle, and their plunder fell 
 into the hands of the Saxons. Another squadron 
 was attacked by Alfred at the mouth of the 
 Stour; 16 he burned a part of the ships, and 
 obliged the remainder to a treaty, which was again 
 broken by the treacherous Northmen as soon as 
 
ALFKED THE HEKO. 23 
 
 the presence of the king no longer restrained 
 them. 
 
 Alfred immediately afterwards rebuilt and 
 fortified the destroyed city of London, and 
 to him this immense town owes its rise. 17 The 
 prudent prince likewise fortified many other 
 towns, foreseeing that the northern robbers could 
 not so easily ruin his subjects if those towns were 
 protected by walls and towers, as they did in the 
 defenceless villages, before any assistance could 
 arrive; but another still more important foresight 
 occupied the king. 
 
 A storm awaited him, which he averted by his 
 wisdom and prudence. Arnulf had united the 
 whole power of his realm with the Franks, and 
 forced the Northmen to leave the Seine, after they 
 had besieged the populous island of Paris without 
 success. Three hundred vessels filled with these 
 martial robbers surprised Appledore, near the port 
 of Rye, and fortified themselves at Beamfleet. 18 
 Many of the Scandinavians, who had sworn alle- 
 giance to Alfred, took weapons, and united them- 
 selves, to acquire booty, with the newly-arrived 
 Northmen. Alfred hastened forward to the assist- 
 ance of the distressed East-Saxons, and the citizens 
 of repopulated London joined him. The walls of 
 
24 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 Beamfleet were scaled, and the wife and children 
 of Hastings, the Northern commander, fell, with 
 all their booty, into the hands of the Saxons. 
 Alfred acted with his usual dignity, and expressed 
 himself in these generous words, " I carry no war 
 with women;" and sent back to the astonished 
 Hastings his spouse, with all the other wives of 
 the Northmen. But even this noble action made 
 no impression on the barbarians; they robbed and 
 destroyed in England from the Thames to moun- 
 tainous Wales, and fortified themselves a second 
 time at Buntington, in Shropshire. The starving 
 Northmen were, however, forced to abandon the 
 castle, from which all provisions had been cut off, 
 and hastened to the Thames. They took their ships 
 to the little river Lea, 19 where it flows into the 
 noble Thames, surrounded them with bulwarks, 
 and in that state awaited the watchful Alfred. 
 
 King Alfred regarded these fortifications as 
 insurmountable; but, on an occasion of recon- 
 noitring the enemy's camp on horseback, a scheme 
 occurred to him, which was once executed by 
 Cyrus; he drained off, by his army, the water 
 from the Lea river, and the northern ships were 
 wrecked on the shallow banks. The muddy valley 
 was changed into a fertile meadow, and the dis- 
 tressed Scandinavians were forced to leave their 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 25 
 
 fortified encampment. Many of them were an- 
 nihilated by the swords of the Saxons, and the 
 remainder found ships in the country of the East 
 Saxons, wherewith they tried to injure the British 
 by sea; but even on this element the prudent 
 Alfred was too powerful; and being informed 
 that the vessels of the Normans were very small 
 and badly manned, he built larger ones, and 
 armed them with a great number of mariners. 
 The boats of the Northmen could not resist the 
 superiority of the Saxon ships-of-war ; many of 
 them were shoaled, others were taken ; and they 
 avoided, during Alfred's life-time, to approach 
 the island, where the wisdom of the king was 
 constantly watching over his people. 
 
 Wearied at seeing his kindness thus abused, 
 Alfred invested two Saxon earls with the govern- 
 ment of Northumberland and of the country of the 
 East Saxons, and by these means withdrew every 
 influence from the Scandinavians who had settled 
 in England. The Princes of Wales, whom the 
 great Egbert had been unable to sub,due, were 
 forced to throw themselves on the mercy of 
 Alfred, and seek his protection. He was created 
 the general king of the south of Britain, which, 
 a long time afterwards, assumed the name of 
 England. His power was unlimited, because it 
 c 
 
26 THE FIEST BOOK. 
 
 was founded on the esteem and love of his 
 people. 20 
 
 Alfred's fame also spread beyond the sea. Vic- 
 torious in war, generous to the vanquished, and a 
 father to his people, he enjoyed the admiration of 
 his times. The Saxons, who had escaped from 
 their oppressed country, and dispersed themselves 
 through various parts of Europe, reassembled under 
 the protection of a beloved king. The North- 
 men, who were still in possession of some parts of 
 the British islands, willingly submitted to his just 
 laws. The earth, which had long lain uncultivated 
 and waste, was soon covered with grain and fruits. 
 Peace and abundance were spread over the im- 
 poverished land. 
 
 Godwin, a Saxon nobleman, being a handsome 
 youth, had been many years previously carried 
 away by northern pirates and taken to Scandinavia. 
 He gained, by his faithfulness and bravery, the 
 favour of his robbers, and finally, as the Northmen 
 ceased to attack England, his liberty. After having 
 travelled over a great part of the island, he arrived 
 at Winchester, and was presented to the king. 
 
 The affable king heard with patient interest the 
 narrative of the sufferings which the noble Saxon 
 
ALFRED THE HERO. 27 
 
 had endured in his bondage, and Godwin closed 
 his tale with a speech, in which he bore testimony 
 to the wisdom of the king. " Liberty," said he, 
 "has been doubly agreeable to me, since I have 
 found my country so fortunately changed. When 
 I was carried away, most of the towns of England 
 were lying in ashes; the unhappy inhabitants 
 were eagerly seeking either a hidden corner of 
 the rocks, an impassable bog, or a cavern more 
 fitted for beasts than for men, to conceal them- 
 selves from the fury of the vanquishing robbers. 
 The deserted fields were covered with thistles. 
 The ornaments of gardens were unknown, and 
 nowhere were the shouts of merry harvest heard. 
 Fear and despair reigned on the alarmed coun- 
 tenances of the flying people. The schools in 
 which I was taught the sciences had been burnt 
 down, and the hands, used to work, were forced to 
 repose. The maxims of wisdom were not heard 
 anywhere, and even the worship of the Almighty 
 could only take place clandestinely, for the fury of 
 the infidels pursued with blood-thirsty hatred the 
 exhortations of the servants of God. We neglected 
 the only consolation which might support us in 
 this state of oppression. 
 
 " Extreme is the difference in the state of En£- 
 land at present; towns are rising from ruins in 
 c 2 
 
28 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 redoubled magnificence ; the places for the reunion 
 of Christians have again attained the dignity which 
 the service of God required ; the schools are filled 
 with learned men, and the youth of the realm are 
 trained to wisdom and virtue ; the fields are loaded 
 with the richest seed, the voice of the joyful coun- 
 tryman animates his labour, and resounds as he 
 assembles the gifts of the earth. The desert bogs 
 are changed into gay meadows; the residence of 
 desolation is covered with herds, which nourish the 
 countryman with their abundance. The former 
 conquerers of the Saxons reside now in caverns or 
 ruins, and in heaps of unhewn stone ; their fields, 
 which they neglected to cultivate, are barren, and 
 refuse their gifts. There remains no means for 
 their indolence than to purchase with their blood 
 the subsistence which they do not obtain by their 
 labour. What is the cause of this vast difference 
 between the Saxons and themselves? between 
 England and Scandinavia? It is Alfred ! a single 
 man has changed the face of the earth, and made 
 of a desert a paradise." 21 
 
 With all his modesty Alfred could not help ex- 
 pressing the sincere pleasure he felt at the narra- 
 tion of these truths ; his heart was secretly moved, 
 and he promised himself to watch with even greater 
 zeal over the future happiness of his Saxons. 
 
29 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 ALFKED'S LOVE. 
 
 Serious history gives us no account of Alfred's 
 love. 22 Tradition alone has preserved its memory 
 in an ancient song, entitled " Edgar and Emma," 
 which, even in our times, awaken the sentiments 
 which it then did in the Saxons. This old tra- 
 dition contains nothing injurious to the noble 
 prince. We will therefore not omit it. 
 
 Alfred was still concealed at his father's herds- 
 man's, and known in the country by the name 
 of Wulf. He had disguised his features so skil- 
 fully that even his nobles did not recognize him. 
 From the swamps of Athelney he often fell (with 
 some other Saxons who had fled like himself) upon 
 his enemies the Northmen, and avenged the suffer- 
 ings which his people endured, thus providing them 
 with provisions and arms. But the moment they 
 
30 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 were closely pressed, they dispersed themselves in 
 the lurking places known to every Saxon, and 
 vanished from the sight of the Northmen. 
 
 Wulf often fought with success, but was at 
 length encircled by a legion of enemies, and had to 
 oppose a superior force. He retired to a small spot 
 nearly surrounded by water, which only allowed 
 his opponents a narrow passage, whereby he could 
 with a few men keep off their multitudes. He slew 
 many a bold robber with his cross-bow, which was 
 at that time a new invention, and to which the 
 English of later times are indebted for many vic- 
 tories. At last a northern warrior succeeded in 
 wounding the unknown king with his spear. The 
 loss of blood deprived him of his power, and in the 
 darkness of night, which protected the Saxons, his 
 companions were obliged to bear him away from 
 the danger into a neighbouring castle, within 
 which Ethelred, a Saxon earl, had enclosed himself 
 with a plentiful supply of provisions, and many 
 Saxons who had likewise taken refuge there. 
 
 The Northmen, who dreaded both the valour 
 of the earl, and the strength of his walls, durst 
 not attack it. The sorrowful Saxons arrived at 
 night before the castle gates, and requested admis- 
 sion: — "Wulf," said they, "the dread of the rob- 
 
31 
 
 bers, is wounded." The name of this avenger of the 
 Saxons was known to every friend of the country. 
 The gates opened for him, and Ethelred received 
 him personally as a hero, although he knew nothing 
 of his origin. According to the old customs of the 
 honest Gerrnanians, Elswitha, a maiden of the 
 greatest beauty and most elevated character, 
 accompanied her noble father. Wulf was borne, 
 fainting, into the hall ; a deadly paleness lay over 
 his countenance. His arms, whose strength the 
 Northmen had so often felt, now hung powerless 
 by his couch. Elswitha had observed the 
 wound, and dressed it herself. He was revived 
 by strengthening cordials, and then given over to 
 rest. 
 
 Ethelred and his lovely daughter daily visited 
 the suffering warrior. His wound required the 
 greatest attention, and Elswitha often bound it 
 with her own delicate hands. On such occasions 
 Wulf would open his eyes, and observe the tender 
 exertions of the noble maiden. Her youth, her 
 beauty, and her kind compassion for his misfor- 
 tunes, moved the young king ; and the long time 
 his wound required to heal, allowed love to creep 
 stealthily into his heart. He daily found new 
 causes for admiring her. Her soft voice, her candid 
 innocence, her lovely features, and her becoming 
 
32 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 manners, so completely fascinated him, that he 
 felt he could never leave her without being very 
 unhappy. 
 
 The noble Ethelred was acquainted with the 
 virtues of his daughter. Business often called him 
 suddenly from the castle ; and without suspicion he 
 left the beautiful maiden alone with the king, who 
 was slowly recovering. Alfred's virtues found no 
 cause of alarm in his pure love. He perceived no 
 obstacle to prevent him from uniting himself with 
 the countess, whom, however, he wished to test 
 before taking her as his companion for life. 
 
 Alfred was personally unknown to all his Saxons. 
 They only heard of him by his actions. He con- 
 tinued to conceal his birth, and was believed by his 
 followers to be a common Saxon warrior, brought 
 up in arms. In spite of this abasement he endea- 
 voured to please the maiden. She soon discovered 
 sufficient signs of the love of the unknown ; the 
 innocent proofs of his esteem and his admiration, 
 made him involuntarily betray marks of his supe- 
 rior education, which Elswitha could not har- 
 monize with his coarse garments and appearance. 
 Alfred could not conceal the manners of high life. 
 He was the best poet among the Saxons, of whom 
 none could write in their language with such ele~ 
 
Alfred's love. 33 
 
 gance as himself. He sometimes entertained the 
 lady with short poems, and sometimes with tales, 
 which so charmed her that she was often obliged 
 to prolong the time of her presence. 
 
 Alfred related to her under assumed names, his 
 voyages and wars, and told her that he had been 
 a witness of the great battles, where in reality 
 he had been the commander. He described in 
 vivid pictures the splendour of great Rome, the 
 beauties of happy Italy, with its shrubs of myrtle, 
 and its forests of laurel, and the ever-blooming 
 islands of the Mediterranean. Of her own charms, 
 of her personal attributes, he only spoke as a 
 common servant, 23 who had not the courage to raise 
 his eyes to the elevated princess, but who, never- 
 theless, felt her perfection. He disclosed his own 
 sentiments in ballads which appeared old, but were 
 only composed for herself, and only suitable to 
 their mutual situation. When she blushed, and 
 Alfred feared that she would break off the too bold 
 conversation, he could turn it without restraint 
 upon other topics, or respectful jokes. He accom- 
 panied her singing on his lute, which he played 
 with perfection; and which greatly increased the 
 touching power of his agreeable voice. 
 
 The countess was in the bloom of her youth 
 C 3 
 
34 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 and, according to the customs of those times, 
 was brought up in the paternal castle, where she 
 had opportunities of seeing many hardy warriors, 
 and vigorous knights ; but Alfred's noble deport- 
 ment, and the fascinating spirit of his conversation, 
 had for her all the attraction of novelty. The 
 king's features, partly disguised by artificial colour, 
 could not be completely disfigured ; and the noble- 
 ness of his soul shone through his bright eyes. 
 The innocent beauty became imperceptibly pleased 
 with this intercourse, soon also with the person of 
 the unknown ; and her heart was captured before 
 she was aware that it had surrendered. 
 
 The impression which he made on the fair lady 
 could not be concealed from the penetrating 
 Alfred, and he ventured to let her perceive his 
 love in more explicit words. Without a positive 
 declaration, he sufficiently described the sentiments 
 of his heart to be divined. Elswitha, without 
 knowing how far she was ensnared, had no sus- 
 picions of herself. She became accustomed to 
 return his looks with reciprocal glances; her 
 voice assumed the confidential sweetness which 
 unstained youth grants to them who are inspired 
 with their first love. She had little secrets which 
 Alfred alone should know ; and accompanied him 
 when he sang of love under imaginary names. 
 
alfeed's loye. 35 
 
 The king's wound was now healed, and he found 
 no pretence for remaining any longer in the castle 
 of the earl. Besides, he was preparing himself for 
 the enterprise which was to replace him on the 
 throne of the Saxons, and the young man was 
 already too wise to sacrifice to love the duty which 
 he owed his people and his own dignity. But he 
 could not tear himself from the charming bands of 
 the fair Elswitha, without taking with him the 
 certainty that his image alone occupied her heart. 
 He allowed himself a dissimulation not in his cha- 
 racter, but resolved that the short pain which he 
 would cause the maiden should be recompensed 
 by the most constant love. 
 
 Ethelred was on a journey to a tournament 
 given by another noble, a trial for which Alfred's 
 arm had not yet acquired sufficient strength. 
 Ethelred left him in the castle, which stood on a 
 hill, at the foot of which was a grotto, formed by 
 the rocks, from which descended a cool spring. 
 To this place Elswitha resorted for shelter from 
 the glowing heat of the sun. " Wulf, " said 
 the affable maiden, " has not yet seen the noblest 
 ornament of the castle/' and she led him to the 
 grotto. Alfred had never ventured the least 
 intimacy which could have intimidated her virtue; 
 and although he pleased her, and she could no 
 
36 THE FIRST BOOK. 
 
 longer conceal it, she only took him for a young 
 warrior of ignoble birth, and to whom she would 
 never abase herself, however agreeable his good 
 qualities might be. 
 
 Alfred profited by the moment when he was 
 alone with her, and solemnly said, " It is all over, I 
 must leave this castle, where I have met with so 
 much kindness; but I am ungrateful enough to 
 wish that I had never been received in it." Elswitha 
 seemed surprised at this discourse ; but the dissem- 
 bling king continued, " I cannot possibly conceal 
 that I have seen the fair Elswitha too often, and 
 that the recollection of her charms and her virtues 
 will make me miserable for the remainder of my 
 days." Modestly Elswitha blushed ; the pride of her 
 ancestors revolted at the declaration of a man she 
 thought unworthy of her. But an inward feeling 
 spoke for the unknown, and checked the agitation 
 of her anger: "Wulf forgets," said she, hesi- 
 tatingly, " that he is a wounded man, and that my 
 father's castle received him only as a warrior who 
 needed our assistance, and was not unworthy of 
 it." " Wulf forgets not the dignity of Elswitha," 
 said Alfred, interrupting her ; " he knows best the 
 value of the perfect lady whom he offends. But 
 there are sentiments which no objections of reason 
 can suppress, and no one has ever felt what I do 
 
Alfred's love. 37 
 
 for Elswitha; I can die, and have encountered 
 death, but I cannot conceal how unhappy I should 
 consider myself if Elswitha could disdain me." 
 
 " I know the merits of Wulf," modestly con- 
 tinued Alswitha, "my father honours in him a 
 warrior who has shed his blood for the rescue of 
 the Saxons. It is not disdain, if I must avoid 
 conversations which cannot make any impression. 
 It is not for me to abolish the difference which the 
 wise have made between various classes of men: 
 Wulf will find in his own rank a beauty, who can 
 listen to his love, and reward it." 
 
 "Well! my sentence is pronounced," said Alfred, 
 with a dissimulation in his features expressive of 
 the deepest sorrow; "I unwillingly leave this cas- 
 tle, but Elswitha will not prevent me from bearing 
 with me an unfortunate love; in the danger to 
 which my rank leads me, she will not prevent her 
 image from being present in my last moments, and 
 her name from being my last word." 
 
 " But, Wulf," said the innocent maiden, quite 
 terrified, "can a modest and deserving youth be so 
 unreasonable as to require of a maiden concessions 
 which she cannot grant, without being undeserving 
 of him? Can he hope that Ethelred will approve 
 
38 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 of his love? Can he require of Elswithato disobey 
 her venerable father? Did I, at least, know to 
 whom Wulf owes his birth, and how great the 
 distance is between himself and Elswitha?" 
 
 " Wulf," replied Alfred, " is not of mean birth, 
 but fortune hath refused him her gifts. lie is 
 poor, and was obliged by an inevitable accident to 
 leave his country. Honour has forced him to shed 
 a blood which called for vengeance, and the sword 
 of the law hangs over him." 
 
 Elswitha's pride became a little calmed as she 
 learned that Wulf s birth would not give occasion 
 to insurmountable obstacles. " The gifts of fortune 
 she disdains ! Thousands of noble Saxons have lost 
 their wealth by the hands of the conquering rob- 
 bers, and only preserved their sword, without 
 losing the esteem due to their origin.'' The 
 heart of the damsel felt relieved, but she was too 
 virtuous to give herself up to hopes which secretly 
 and fearfully rose in her. "Oar conversation is too 
 long," said she, "we cannot, this time, prolong it." 
 
 Alfred considered these words as a token of 
 assent, which promised him much, and he thought 
 himself justified in remaining some days longer at 
 the castle. The earl soon after ordered a heron 
 
Alfred's love, 39 
 
 chase, which was to the Saxon noble the most 
 agreeable pastime; he honoured the courageous 
 Wulf too sincerely to deprive him of this pleasure. 
 Falconry having been the chief diversion of his 
 youth, Alfred could very ably govern that bird ; 24 
 from this knowledge Elswitha concluded, and that 
 with pleasure, that Wulf must be of noble origin, 
 as that occupation was only practised amongst 
 the higher classes. 
 
 His falcon captured a rare bird ; he brought it 
 with the noblest attitude to the lady, and begged 
 permission to take his leave. This news was pain- 
 ful, and the more she looked into her heart the 
 more she found it filled with the image of the war- 
 rior. Alfred visited her on the following day, and, 
 after some general formalities, said to her, in an un- 
 observed moment, "I go where my duty calls me; 
 for ever will I venerate the lovely Elswitha ; for 
 ever will I deplore my misfortune, which will not 
 allow my love to disclose itself!" She sighed; his 
 approaching departure aroused in her a painful sen- 
 sation, which she could not conceal. " Oh ! why 
 are such merits banished within a low situation ? 
 Why is Elswitha not rather the daughter of a 
 herdsman ? " 
 
 Alfred replied in an eager tone, " Wulf would 
 
40 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 never have declared his love, had he thought it 
 impossible that Elswitha should be happy with 
 him. His rank is not yet lofty enough to flatter 
 a princely maiden; but if she loved me, my arm 
 might raise me to a station, in which I should be 
 less unworthy of her. Can I flatter myself that 
 the difference of fortune is the only cause of my 
 rejection? Can I hope that Elswitha will love me 
 if I raise myself nearer to her rank?" 
 
 Blushingly, and with down-cast eyes, the maiden 
 responded: " How can Wulf require that I should 
 give an answer on suppositions almost impossible 
 to realize ? How can he awaken deceitful hopes 
 in me? Amid the din of war, he will easily 
 forget a young maiden, with whom accident alone 
 has made him acquainted; but a lady living in a 
 retired castle, without diversion, would be but too 
 unhappy if she gave herself up to a love only ad- 
 missible in a supposed case : Farewell, my worthy 
 Wulf! become as great as thou art virtuous; my 
 best wishes accompany thee." 
 
 Not satisfied with this kind answer, Alfred en- 
 deavoured to move the maiden to a more explicit 
 avowal of her love for him: " Yes, then, I go; the 
 fire which devours me daily increases, and I must 
 quench it. If Elswitha did not disdain me, the dif- 
 
alfked's love. 41 
 
 ference of rank would soon vanish before her; love 
 would guide her down to me, and she would feel 
 that the possession of a true heart has some worth 
 even for the proudest beauty. But Wulf not only 
 awakens no love in her, he does not even excite 
 compassion. Did Elswitha think Wulf s fate 
 worthy of that, she would alleviate it with one 
 word — with one innocent word." 
 
 "The word I am to say," said the blushing 
 countess, "is a word too difficult to pronounce. 
 I well perceive that Wulf will not be satisfied until 
 I have confessed that I love him. But he will not 
 be so unreasonable as not to perceive that my hand 
 depends on a father, and my love shall never be 
 parted from my hand. He who loves virtue, will 
 not require of me an unvirtuous action ; but he will 
 be satisfied when I avow to him that I myself wish 
 that fate would equal our stations; and that I 
 might then pronounce that word which he re- 
 quires." She modestly held out her hand, wil- 
 lingly allowed him to kiss it, and moved to leave 
 him. 
 
 "No," said the generous Alfred, "Elswitha shall 
 not nourish the painful thought that she loves one 
 undeserving of her. No ! she shall not let her heart 
 be torn between a fond inclination, and the resist- 
 
42 THE SECOND BOOK. 
 
 ance to her duty. She will see — shortly see that 
 she does not act against the claims of her birth by 
 being favourable to Wulf ; he will love her doubly 
 because he has only to thank herself for her ten- 
 derness, which overcame the pride of nobility." 
 He once more gladly imprinted a kiss on her hand, 
 and returned to Athelney. 
 
 Some months later, after the celebrated victory 
 over the Northmen, Alfred gave a grand feast to 
 the victors who saved England; Ethelred was 
 among the number. To the tournament given in 
 memory of that victory, the noblest ladies of the 
 rejoiced Saxons were invited. The knights com- 
 batted in the tournament for the prize, and the 
 recognized king sat upon an elevated throne, next 
 to which was another royal seat, adorned with the 
 greatest splendour, for the queen of the feast, who 
 was to distribute the prizes. A noble invited to 
 that distinguished function the fair Elswitha. Her 
 father, being informed of the intention of the king, 
 consented to the pleasure of surprising his daughter 
 by leading her suddenly to the throne, and bade 
 her accept that place. The king descended from 
 his throne, held out his hand to the modest maiden, 
 and led her to her seat. " There is, and for ever, 
 the place of Elswitha." She blushingly raised her 
 eyes, and immediately perceived in the king — 
 
alfked's love. 43 
 
 Wulf, now freed of the disguising colour, and in all 
 the splendour of his high dignity. " May Alfred 
 hope," said he to the frightened maiden, motioning 
 her to sit down, "for that which Wulf could not 
 obtain? May he implore Elswitha's love, without 
 which he cannot live?" She bowed respectfully, 
 cast down her eyes, and said in a loud voice, " She 
 who loved the warrior knows that she should 
 venerate the great Alfred." She then looked upon 
 the tournament, distributed to the worthiest 
 knights the valuable prizes, and on the same 
 evening gave the delighted king her hand, and 
 became his spouse, whom alone he ever loved. 
 
44 
 
 THE THIRD BOOK, 
 
 ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 
 
 During a period of thirty years, Alfred was not 
 able to lay down his sword; he reconquered, 
 gradually, the whole of England; he rejected 
 the tax paid to the foreigners, obtained the domi- 
 nion of the sea, and in fifty-two battles which he 
 fought, acquired, in most of them, the victory, 
 only by his well-calculated directions. At last his 
 objects were attained, and a constant peace was 
 purchased by great labour, and at the price of 
 much noble blood. Alfred was now able to work 
 for the interior amelioration of the kingdom, and 
 a permanent tranquillity. 25 His fame is unex- 
 ampled, for he did not allow victory to seduce 
 him to a love of war. The benevolent king 
 had too often seen how the noblest laurels were 
 sprinkled with the blood of the bravest war- 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 45 
 
 riors, how much misery war scattered over 
 thousands and thousands ; how it snatched away, 
 in the blossom of their years, so many courageous 
 young men, the hope of their country, while 
 others were forced to lead a miserable life, borne 
 with constant pain, or sickness, — the reward for 
 their courageous actions ; how the unchecked fire- 
 brand of war consumed the wealth of millions; 
 and how general poverty, followed by starvation, 
 pressed forward to the destruction of the people. 
 Alfred never attacked ; the wars which he under- 
 took were only for the purpose of repulsing unjust 
 aggressions, and the justice of his cause could alone 
 induce his humane heart to sacrifice the blood of 
 his brethren for the general welfare. 
 
 But Alfred found, after peace was obtained, a 
 disordered realm, in which the sword alone had 
 for so many years governed, that the existing laws 
 had protected no one ; where feeble innocence was 
 forced to suffer, and the property of the inhabi- 
 tants was not more secure than their lives. To 
 extricate his people from this labyrinth the circum- 
 spect king endeavoured to make himself acquainted 
 with the laws of the wisest nations ; first, those of 
 the Hebrews, proceeding from the All-wise, then 
 with those of the Greeks, the Romans, the 
 Danes, and the Saxons. He considered those 
 
46 THE THIKD BOOK. 
 
 different laws as a work which the cleverest men 
 had already prepared for him, and chose from them 
 those which he thought applicable and useful to 
 his people. 
 
 The king was born in the darkest times, when 
 the western nations had forgotten the language 
 and arts of the Romans, when Charlemagne 
 was obliged to borrow from the Arabian Aaron 
 the works of art, when superstition occupied 
 the throne of religion, and the priests began 
 to claim general dominion. The king himself 
 was brought up in those prejudices, and most of 
 his confidants and teachers were priests. The 
 manners and customs of the. Saxons were familiar 
 to him, and served him as a guide. Alfred was 
 a wise legislator; but, from the unavoidable 
 faults of his time, many imperfections arose, from 
 which no human gifts could protect him. Not- 
 withstanding that Alfred was devoted to the 
 Roman bishop who brought him up, he never 
 forgot that he was the king, and that all power in 
 his realm was entrusted to him by the supreme 
 governor. He subjected the clergy to' the same 
 laws which he dictated to his other subjects; he 
 allowed the bishops no judicial authority, and 
 chastised the guilty priests without soliciting their 
 punishment from Rome, as his powerful grandson, 
 the first Plant agenet, was forced to do. 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 47 
 
 Alfred's laws became the laws of Edward, and 
 the true source of English justice, in which 
 a free and victorious people found its noblest 
 privilege. He was the first who gave to each 
 citizen others of the same quality to judge him ; 
 the defendant could not expect any injustice from 
 them whose judge he himself might be, and whose 
 security depended upon the very justice adminis- 
 tered to their brethren. Alfred ordered that the 
 noblemen should be judged by twelve others of 
 the same rank; and to the plebeian he appointed 
 eleven other citizens, under the presidency of a 
 noble, as judges. This prerogative still exists, 
 and till the end of the last century, no other 
 nation had adopted the system of equality of 
 rank of the jury and defendant ; and, in fact, the 
 defendant risks the same danger from the igno- 
 rance of the juryman, from the obstinacy of one 
 of them, or from the artifice of an unjust prince, 
 as in other countries, from an arbitrary judge. 26 
 Alfred dictated this manner of judging the im- 
 peached to his Saxons, and also to the Northmen. 
 
 Like all other laws of the northern people, the 
 punishments which Alfred imposed for offences 
 were very mild, and but few of them extended 
 so far as the effusion of blood. 27 Rebellion, 
 high treason, and the breach of public peace in a 
 
48 THE THIED BOOK. 
 
 burgh, were alone punished with death, and even 
 these could be redeemed, according to the old 
 custom of the German people, by a certain weight 
 of gold. Seduction of a married woman was re- 
 garded in the same light as the above-mentioned 
 offences, and as the most criminal of all, because it 
 destroyed the most sacred bond of society, and 
 divided those whose union was the most intimate 
 and necessary for the hope of the future gene- 
 rations. The priest who committed perjury, or 
 stained his hand with blood, or went beyond the 
 limits of chastity, was punished by the bishops, 
 but forced likewise to present himself before the 
 bar of the royal judges, and pay the king an 
 adjudged fine. Persons who were suspected of a 
 crime were obliged to give bail by others, or be 
 taken into custody. 
 
 The Northern pirates had given so many exam- 
 ples of open violence, that robbing, and seizing of 
 goods, was a general vice spread over the whole 
 island; but this insecurity Alfred also found means 
 to extirpate by a remedy never before known to 
 the most civilized nations. Alfred first divided the 
 kingdom into shires, the boundary of each of which 
 was fixed. Every shire was sub-divided into hun- 
 dreds, which were named according to their capa- 
 bility of taking up weapons, and every hundred 
 
ALFKED THE LEGISLATOK. 49 
 
 consisted of ten housekeepers ; every tithing had 
 to give security, each one for all, and were bound 
 all for one, that no individual should undertake 
 anything against the laws, but appear before the 
 judge when summoned. Xobocly could obtain the 
 protection of the law without being registered in 
 one of the tithings ; all that would not undergo this 
 obligation were expelled that protection, and could 
 be attacked with impunity by any one, robbed 
 of their goods, and even of their lives. If one of 
 the members of these tithings was suspected of a 
 misdeed, and the whole tithing would not give 
 security for him, he was imprisoned; and if he 
 escaped before the warrant against him was put in 
 execution, the tithing to which he belonged, and 
 even the whole hundred, was forced to pay to the 
 king a fine for this negligence. This tithing could 
 avoid paying the fine, if all its members proved by 
 oath their ignorance of the crime, and of the 
 escape ; but such evidence must also have been 
 given by others, and witnessed by the neighbour- 
 ing tithing; and if those would not confirm this 
 evidence, the defaulter was forced to pay a very 
 heavy fine. The goods of the escaped individual 
 were seized, and if the value was not found suf- 
 ficient to pay the fine, the whole tithing was 
 obliged to make up the deficiency, and to take 
 the responsibility of bringing the culprit before 
 
 D 
 
50 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 the judge, as soon as they were able to secure his 
 person. 28 If a traveller visited one of Alfred's 
 subjects, he was considered during two days as a 
 guest, and any grievance that he might commit 
 could not be accounted to his host, provided the 
 latter could swear that he had no knowledge of 
 the crime imputed to his guest ; but if the visitor 
 remained three days, the landlord was answerable 
 for him as a member of his family. 
 
 Alfred would not undertake to attack the here- 
 ditary power of his earls, which was too deeply 
 rooted in the constitution of the state; but he 
 weakened that of the higher nobility, by in- 
 vesting every county with a burgrave, named by 
 himself, who surveyed the country, and fulfilled 
 the same functions that the ambassadors did under 
 the Carlovingians. The king likewise appointed 
 a judge in every county, before whom all judicial 
 cases were brought and settled. Those judges 
 moderated the power of the burgraves as well as 
 that of the earls. 29 
 
 The effect of these regulations was miraculous. 
 Shortly before that time, no one could venture on 
 the highway without being armed, and obliged 
 to defend himself, as the law was powerless, and 
 unable to protect him. But all at once, a general 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 51 
 
 security reigned throughout the whole country. 
 The traveller beheld the approach of night with- 
 out terror. His gold, as well as his life, incurred 
 no danger. The king ordered golden bracelets to 
 be hung on trees, and the attraction of the booty 
 tempted no one to risk the penalty of the laws ; 
 the officers of the king consequently brought back 
 the treasures untouched. 30 So wise was the kind 
 severity of the justice which watched over inno- 
 cence, that it convinced the guilty their crimes 
 were follies. 
 
 The next labour of Alfred was to make a state- 
 ment of all estates and pieces of land throughout 
 the kingdom, with their measurement, revenues, 
 and rent-rolls; this enormous work Alfred ac- 
 complished at Winchester, in a century backward 
 in science, and in a comparatively very short time. 
 William the Conqueror renewed this land-book, 
 and posterity has profited for nearly a thousand 
 years, by the work of the wise Alfred, to fix 
 taxes, as well as to settle contentions. 
 
 On this statistical account of England, and the 
 division of the country into hundreds and tithings, 
 were based the courts of justice, which Alfred 
 instituted in every county, in every hundred, and 
 in every tithing. The obtaining of justice was 
 D2 
 
52 THE THIED BOOK. 
 
 facilitated to every citizen by this measure; and 
 the high right of administering it was in this man- 
 ner withdrawn from the hands of the ignorant 
 grandees, who were only attached to arms. The 
 burgraves and the judges presided in the courts 
 of justice, and every Saxon was obliged to submit 
 himself to the verdict of his tithing, afterwards to 
 that of the court of the hundred, and finally to 
 that of the county. 30 a 
 
 Alfred found but few individuals capable of 
 giving just decisions, but his wisdom was able to 
 create them. He read, with unexampled ardour, 
 all cases on which he was appealed to for his judg- 
 ment ; and if one of his burgraves, or the judge 
 had given an unlawful decision, their punishment 
 was inevitable. Ignorance would not protect them, 
 as every one should know his own abilities, and 
 not claim the office of a judge if he were not qua- 
 lified to fulfil the duty which this office required. 
 If cupidity or hatred was the cause of bending 
 justice to arbitrariness, the punishment was, con- 
 trary to the Saxon custom, — death; and Alfred, 
 who had so often pardoned the rebels and the per- 
 jury of robbers, spared not one of the unjust judges. 
 Forty-four judges having given unlawful decisi- 
 ons, suffered capital punishment in one year, 30b 
 amongst whom was Cadwine, who sentenced a man 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 53 
 
 to death, whom, three members of a jury of twelve 
 had found innocent; Hale paid for his wrongs 
 with his life, because he spared a nobleman who 
 had taken the estates of a Saxon by main force, 
 and added them to the king's exchequer. An- 
 other judge was likewise sentenced to death, for 
 imprisoning an offender without giving him an 
 opportunity of defending himself. Uskitell sen- 
 tenced a culprit to death, who confessed a crime 
 meriting capital punishment, because he could not 
 resist the pain of the rack ; a crime for which no 
 other evidence could be produced. 31 Alfred knew 
 too well that the hardened wretch often derided 
 and mocked justice, which could not condemn 
 him, unless he accused himself; 32 whilst a man of 
 sensitive nerves could not long resist the pain of 
 the rack, and would rather calumniate himself, 
 and pronounce his own sentence of death, than 
 prolong insupportable torments. The torture has 
 often been misapplied to punish the innocent and 
 liberate the guilty. 
 
 The certainty that the king would soon discover 
 any injustice, or the insufficiency of a verdict, 
 and the conviction that those errors would be 
 resented severely by Alfred, compelled the judges 
 to instruct themselves precisely in the law, and 
 judge with strict uprightness — in fact, as though 
 
54 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 the king was always present in the court. After 
 a space of time,, the benches were filled with en- 
 lightened men, who were strongly attached to 
 their duty, instead of ignorant warriors. 
 
 The king devoted himself to the general instruc- 
 tion of his people. He applied his acquaintance 
 with books and his knowledge of poetry to the 
 amelioration of the general manners, and possessed 
 the ability of illustrating his moral doctrines with 
 fables, tales, and ingenious sentences, in order to 
 make them generally useful. He knew that the 
 charms of poetry introduced with more facility 
 the severe thesis of virtue, and that the measure- 
 ment of syllables, and its agreeable sound, im- 
 pressed the laconic commands of wisdom. Alfred 
 was himself the bard of his time, as well as 
 the hero and legislator ; and the extreme favour 
 which he testified towards learned and clever men, 
 made the sciences objects of general veneration, 
 and excited the most serious efforts to acquire 
 them. Posterity has preserved old songs, in which 
 Alfred is represented as teaching his nobles true 
 wisdom, and the path to eternal happiness; he 
 instructed the knight, the bishop, and the judge, 
 in the exercise of their duties, and the dignity 
 resulting from their discharge. We also read his 
 exhortation to the young Edward, his successor^ 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 55 
 
 whom lie educated in a manner worthy of a 
 prince. 33 
 
 Alfred had made the experiment on himself, 
 that science contributes very much towards good- 
 ness, and that the more a man discovers the inner 
 beauty of virtue, the more he is inclined to love 
 it ; but those from whom that beauty is concealed 
 only find their happiness in the illusion of the 
 senses. The books of the wise ancients repre- 
 sent virtue as venerable, and vice as detestable; 
 and the soul of the reader takes delight in the 
 good which they so eloquently praise. The 
 world is a much worse school, for there vice is 
 frequently crowned with success, and timid virtue 
 oppressed, because she detests the paths which 
 alone appear to lead to fortune. Antoninus was 
 formed by the writings of philosophers, and in 
 the dark times, in which all the sciences were 
 concealed, all true virtue, all generosity and 
 humanity, seem to have vanished from the earth. 
 Even under the despotic government of the servile 
 Chinese, are the descendants of wild Scythians 
 inspired by the doctrines of the old sages, and by 
 the brilliant example of the forefathers of their 
 people, for from among these barbarians arose 
 Hangtschi, and Kienlong. 
 
 During the long wars which had raged in 
 
56 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 England, all sciences were utterly destroyed ; ni 
 those times of misfortune man forgot all that was 
 not immediately connected with his daily exist- 
 ence. There was not be found, in the whole 
 kingdom of the West- Saxons, a single person 
 who was able to translate the spirit of a Latin 
 book into his own language ; notwithstanding the 
 whole liturgy of the Saxons was based on Latin 
 books, songs, and lectures ; S4 Alfred was therefore 
 obliged to search, beyond the seas, for the means 
 of instructing his people. In Ireland, which was 
 at that time less ravaged than England, he found 
 John the Hibernian, who had spent many years 
 of his life at Athens and Italy, and understood 
 the long-forgotten languages of the Orientals, a 
 man who was in favour with Charles the Bald, 
 and lived with him in familiarity, a man who 
 knew how to jest in epigram, but was murdered 
 by his own scholars, who were irritated against 
 him. Alfred called from old Saxony, the source 
 of his people, a learned abbot to the convent of 
 Athelingay. Asser of Monmouth was so much 
 devoted to his duties, that the king was not able 
 to keep him longer than half of the year at his 
 court, notwithstanding he had endowed him with 
 the bishopric of Winchester. 35 
 
 Alfred was penetrating and experienced in the 
 knowledge of men. He discovered in a lad 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 57 
 
 driving pigs, his future talents, and having rescued 
 him from his degrading employment, and given 
 him a liberal education, at last raised him to the 
 rank of a bishop. 
 
 Neot, who was born in Cornwall, and canonized, 
 acquired, during his irreproachable life, general 
 veneration. He had educated the king, and was 
 highly esteemed by him. To his remonstrances 
 and counsels, many of the good deeds of Alfred 
 are attributed. 36 
 
 By the assistance of these learned and well- 
 disposed men, Alfred was able to bring, eventually, 
 the general instruction of his people into a better 
 condition. He ascended the throne at a time 
 when there was not in England a bishop who 
 understood the sense of his Latin theological 
 books; and a time arrived, during his life, in 
 which no bishop existed in England who did not 
 know at least the most of the theological matters 
 that the dignity of his office required. The 
 king facilitated the clergy in learning the more 
 necessary of the sciences, by ordering the most 
 useful books to be translated into the Saxon 
 language, and he himself translated a work, in 
 which the duty of a priest was described. For this 
 beneficial purpose schools were absolutely neces- 
 d3 
 
58 THE THIED BOOK. 
 
 sary ; he therefore appropriated his treasury to 
 these charitable establishments. Adult persons 
 are generally inflexible, like old trees, and cannot 
 be bent in another direction; but juveniles can 
 be guided to the purpose to which a wise educa- 
 tion will form them. Their pure nature accepts 
 as readily the love of goodness and truth, as, 
 when deprived of discipline, they are abandoned 
 to their wild inclinations. 
 
 Of all the great undertakings of Alfred, nothing 
 raised his realm higher than the foundation of the 
 Oxford school. Thousands of learned men, thou- 
 sands of teachers of truth and virtue, have been 
 trained at this seat of the muses; and their good 
 actions have owed their first origin to the genero- 
 sity and clemency of Alfred, who founded this 
 seminary of virtue and wisdom. After a thou- 
 sand years nothing was discovered at Oxford — 
 no useful doctrine proved, — no touching discourse 
 delivered, by which men were awakened to im- 
 provement — no part of deep-searching science, by 
 which the human spirit was enlightened — was writ- 
 ten, which may not in part be attributed to Alfred. 
 The erection of this new high school was, indeed, 
 but an imitation of the cloisters, which were, in 
 Alfred's time, the only domicile of science. The 
 king erected three buildings, in which perpetually 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 59 
 
 eighty young men should be brought up, from the 
 interest of the amount devoted to this foundation. 
 He submitted them to certain regulations, which 
 were based on religion and science. This high 
 school served to posterity as a model ; benevolent 
 men and wise monarchs augmented it by several 
 institutions, and it flourishes, even in our corrupt 
 time, principally in respect to the fine arts, lan- 
 guages, and theology. 37 
 
 The spirit of order, which distinguished Alfred 
 from all princes of his time, was extended over 
 all the different branches of his government. He 
 trained all his Saxons as soldiers of the country, 
 without agriculture or domestic maintenance suf- 
 fering by it. All the inhabitants of a county were 
 counted and registered. One part of them was 
 stationed in the towns and castles as garrisons, of 
 which a sufficient number were so strongly for- 
 tified, that every point of the kingdom was pro- 
 tected; the remainder of the inhabitants were 
 obliged to be prepared for sudden attacks, which 
 too often occurred from the rebellious character of 
 the Scandinavians. Half of them were summoned 
 to move to the places where their assistance was re- 
 quired, and the other part served as a reserve, and 
 replaced the former after they had fulfilled their 
 time of the service. Thus the Saxons were prac- 
 
60 TIIE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 tised in arms, and Alfred was no longer forced to 
 lead, with a heavy heart and with little hope of 
 victory, rude and inexperienced countrymen 
 against the practised Northern warriors. Every 
 county possessed its commander, to whom was en- 
 trusted the management of its military concerns. 
 By salutary laws, and constant practice in arms, 
 the Saxons again obtained the lost confidence in 
 themselves, and met the dreaded Northmen with 
 an impatience which their leaders alone could 
 restrain. This great change in the Saxons, for- 
 merly so unfortunate, was a fresh proof that a 
 wise prince can effect anything, and that the 
 hearts of his people are, in his hands, like clay, 
 which he can mould to all his purposes. 
 
 Alfred's vessels were large, and, according to 
 the custom of that time, each vessel was propelled 
 by forty oars, and were twice as high as the ships 
 of the Northmen. The warriors, who threw their 
 javelins and missive weapons upon the enemy, had 
 a great advantage, against which no courage could 
 resist. 38 Alfred consequently attained his aim, to 
 set his kingdom in security against the Northern 
 pirates, who in former times were driven away, 
 after making many thousands unfortunate, and 
 who now feared the shores of his realm, watched 
 as they were by mighty fleets. 39 Alfred obtained 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 61 
 
 more, through Providence, than he himself ex- 
 pected. He, who had formerly lost nearly all 
 his land, attained the dominion of the seas, the 
 innate right of an English kingdom, and which 
 Alfred's descendants have extended to all the seas 
 which flow round the two hemispheres. 40 
 
 Like his great successors, Alfred sought for his 
 subjects new ways and means for fruitful labour; 
 a wiser and more beneficial effort than momen- 
 tary liberality. The latter only nourishes the 
 subject temporarily; but the former enables not 
 only himself, but likewise his descendants, to 
 procure their existence at all times, and without 
 difficulty. 
 
 The arts are sisters, and must assist each other. 
 That of war requires many others : — arts which 
 work in metal, wood, and other vegetable produc- 
 tions : — arts which draw and construct utensils of 
 war: — in all of which England was impoverished, 
 because, during thirty years war, the destructive 
 sword of the Northmen had been hanging over the 
 heads of its inhabitants, and all their power had 
 been required for the single purpose of averting 
 immediate destruction. All these arts Alfred re- 
 called to his country. His liberality promised to 
 the artist a sufficient subsistence ; his affability 
 
62 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 augmented the pleasure of a sojourn in his king- 
 dom; from all parts of Germany, from the realm 
 of the Franks, which was then suffering under bad 
 princes, from jealous Scotland, from Wales, (then 
 reconciled with Alfred,) from the industrious Low 
 Countries, artists and professional men hastened 
 to seek the protection of a recompensing monarch, 
 from whom no unmerited disgrace nor undeserved 
 expulsion was to be feared. England was soon 
 filled with clever men, able to execute perfect 
 works for the king, and to teach the Saxon youths 
 the best manipulations, so as to be, thereafter, as 
 perfect as themselves. 41 
 
 Alfred knew that a king is a man ; that he was 
 unable to overlook all himself; that he could not 
 select in all cases the best methods, and could not 
 find out, for all purposes, the shortest means. He 
 therefore consulted other men, who were fully 
 instructed in the subject, and listened with great 
 attention and patience to all who related to him 
 the results of their experience; he compared the 
 ideas of different wise men, and was then able to 
 select the best advice given to him. 41a Under 
 Alfred, England obtained three regular chambers 
 of senate, in which business was transacted. The 
 great senate of the realm decided the most im- 
 portant concerns of the state, controlled the exist- 
 
ALFRED THE LEGISLATOR. 63 
 
 ing management, and improved the laws. The 
 bishops, the earls, the burgraves, and the judges 
 had their seats in this council, and likewise the 
 thanes, who had obtained hereditary fiefs from 
 the crown, as a recompense for the services of 
 war, which they had to fulfil. A more select 
 council administered the business which required 
 more secrecy or quicker expectations, and took 
 into consideration the matters which the great 
 senate should decide. 42 Alfred selected for this 
 purpose bishops, abbots, and other clergymen who 
 were constantly around his person, whose virtues 
 were known to him, and who were enlightened by 
 science. In the unfortunate time in which Alfred 
 reigned, noblemen, and often princes, were, by 
 reason of their ignorance, excluded from the en- 
 joyment of the use of books, and even from the 
 transaction of important business. Most of them 
 were not able to read, and thought all their duty 
 to the country consisted in bravely fighting, and 
 courageously dying, for it. 
 
 Alfred, nevertheless, neglected no opportunity of 
 obtaining from every part of the country, and 
 from every town, knowledge of that which re- 
 quired amelioration, or which, by negligence, 
 might be dangerous to the general welfare. He 
 created a perpetual law, that twice in every year 
 
64 THE THIRD BOOK. 
 
 the great council of the whole kingdom, the 
 bishops, and the nobles of the realm, should assem- 
 ble near the king; and in this great union the 
 laws, which the king himself gave, should be 
 deliberated. They decided likewise the contests 
 amongst the noblemen, and reflected upon the 
 general welfare of the realm. 
 
 Notwithstanding the darkness of his times Alfred 
 was enlightened enough to perceive how dangerous 
 the importance of the earls was to him. They 
 reached too near his power, and were considered 
 much higher than the thanes; the wise king used 
 several means to weaken the authority of these 
 earls. 43 He decided all great matters himself, 
 amongst which was murder, and allowed his judges 
 to pass sentence for attacks on the highway, and 
 other minor offences which took place in the coun- 
 ties. The less important matters were brought 
 before the justice of the tithing, then that of the 
 hundred, and lastly that of the county court, in 
 which the earls, the bishops, the burgraves, the 
 judges, and the thanes, had their seats and voices. 
 From this court they appealed to the king. The 
 earls preserved the prerogative of the presidency 
 the command of the soldiers, and the duty of 
 making known the king's orders to his subjects. 44 
 
65 
 
 THE FOURTH BOOK 
 
 ALFRED THE SAGE. 
 
 Order was once more restored throughout the 
 realm. The military concerns, arts, sciences, and 
 the constitution of the state were ameliorated, 
 after which Alfred devoted his time in beautifying 
 and improving of his realm, for which he had 
 already prepared the means. The first of these 
 occupations, strictly connected with the protection 
 of the kingdom, was the re- establishment of the 
 burnt towns, which were lying in ruins. London 
 owes to him its rebuilding. 45 From a fortified 
 harbour of the Northmen it was raised to a town, 
 and from these beginnings it successively became 
 the immense seat of commerce, and the metropolis 
 of the whole realm. 
 
 Winchester, which had been levelled to the 
 ground under King Ethelred, was rebuilt with 
 
66 THE FOUETH BOOK. 
 
 more solidity and magnificence by King Alfred. 
 The Saxon towns had been nearly wholly com- 
 posed of huts, and the torches of the wandering 
 Scandinavians could burn them to ashes in the 
 course of one day. Winchester, the principal seat of 
 his realm, Alfred built of hewn and squared stone. 
 
 The mouths of the great streams and the shores 
 of the sea were protected by the king with new 
 castles and fortifications, in which garrisons were 
 constantly kept, who were able to keep off the 
 first attack of the landing robbers, until the 
 Saxons could be assembled and armed, to meet 
 the pirates with sufficient force. This easy method 
 of keeping off the sea robbers had been hitherto 
 neglected by the Saxons, and they had paid for 
 this negligence by their noblest blood. 46 
 
 Alfred lived in times when religion and sciences 
 were only to be found with the monks ; they were 
 wise, and were regarded as saints. The king 
 could not separate himself from the prejudices of 
 his country ; his heart, devoted to the fear of God, 
 mistook the esteem which the word of God merits 
 with the veneration which the servant of that word 
 claimed. He was attached to the priests, who 
 were his most secret and confidential counsellors, 
 He therefore built convents, and founded places 
 
ALFRED THE SAGE. 67 
 
 of refuge for those who wished to retire from the 
 bustle of the world. The first convent which he 
 erected was at Athelingay ; he perpetuated by- 
 it the memory of the degradation which he had 
 there suffered; and on the same bogs which 
 concealed him from the victorious Northmen, 
 he founded a cloister on posts. Another house 
 of God was founded at Shaftesbury, intended 
 as a retreat for the daughters of his nobility ; and 
 a burial place, for himself and his successors, was 
 erected at Winchester, in another convent. 47 
 
 He gifted the bishopric of Durham and other 
 convents with lands in perpetuity. The liberal 
 master did not perceive that with the best inten- 
 tion, by the richness of his donation, he had 
 given a real poison to the priests, a beverage 
 which intoxicated them, and through which, 
 power, pride, and tyranny prevailed in their 
 hearts. 48 
 
 Alfred, devoted as he was to religion, did not 
 forget that external magnificence is essential to 
 princes; the people do not value them by the 
 goodness of their heart, but by the outward signs 
 of their power and grandeur. Alfred, therefore, 
 rebuilt the ruined palaces of the kings with hewn 
 stones, and ornamented the country mansions, in 
 
68 THE FOTJUTH BOOK. 
 
 which the kings sometimes sought a refuge, to 
 recover themselves from the pressure of business. 49 
 
 A general lover of order, he arranged the in- 
 terior of his house on the wisest principles. His 
 servants consisted of three divisions, each of which 
 served four months in the year, and were at liberty 
 the remaining eight. 50 
 
 His virtue was not accompanied by a severe 
 exterior, nor was he reserved in his manners. 
 He admired the effect of music, having acquired 
 his taste for that pleasure during his sojourn in 
 Rome, for which purpose he invited to his court 
 the most clever artists and the most agreeable 
 voices. He knew that continual labour wearies an 
 active mind, and that it should be awakened by 
 ethereal arts, 
 
 Like all Saxons, he was in his youth much 
 given to hunting and hawking. The coolness 
 of the morning, the fresh air, and the exercise 
 of the body rendered this pleasure salutary, and 
 Alfred knew how to adapt it to the general wel- 
 fare, by directing his weapons against the wild 
 beasts, which he extirpated, thereby protecting his 
 subjects against the robbers of their seed. Of all 
 the Saxons, he was most skilful in that practice. 51 
 
ALFRED THE SAGE. 69 
 
 He took care likewise to perfect the produc- 
 tion of the ornaments which contributed to the 
 splendour of his court, and was the first of the 
 Saxon kings who took into his pay artists able to 
 work gold and precious stones ; 52 he was so expe- 
 rienced himself in those arts as to be able to 
 instruct others. To add to the pomp of great 
 solemnities, a royal crown was made under his 
 directions. • 
 
 Of all the kings of Saxony, he was the first 
 who formed the excellent plan of creating knights. 
 This reward of martial service is in the power of 
 princes; it does not diminish his treasures, nor 
 does it produce a tax, which the poor, like the 
 rich, must bear ; it has the same, and even more 
 effect upon those endowed with it than either 
 gold or silver. This reward, when applied to 
 its real purpose, is a public testimony of the 
 esteem of the prince, on which that of the people 
 is generally based, one of the most sensible plea- 
 sures a feeling heart can wish for. Alfred knighted 
 his grandson, Athelstan, by giving him a purple 
 dress, and girding him with a short Saxon sword 
 in a golden sheath. Athelstan afterwards an- 
 swered the expectations of his ancestor, who per- 
 fectly appreciated him, for he became a powerful 
 and respected king. 5 
 
 53 
 
70 THE FOUKTH BOOK. 
 
 Alfred divided his abilities and knowledge 
 among many different branches of arts, in each 
 of which he was distinguished. Of so many 
 thousands of princes there scarcely ever was 
 one who could, with such readiness and energy, 
 partake of and oversee so many different occu- 
 pations, of which there was not a single one 
 but its object was for the general welfare of his 
 people. 54 
 
 But of all his exertions, the principal one was 
 to please God. No one would, even in our 
 present altered times, endeavour to diminish the 
 glory of Alfred, because the divine service of his 
 age still possessed somewhat of the monkish man- 
 ners ; but those who know the human heart will 
 only require of man what he can fulfil in the cir- 
 cumstances in which Providence has placed him, 
 and that will not be considered as a fault in him 
 by the Almighty, or in human eyes. 55 
 
 In the piety of this wise prince the taste of his 
 age was also predominant; but Alfred was too 
 experienced to imitate other princes, by abandon- 
 ing the reins of government, to seek in a convent 
 the tranquillity of his soul. Alfred remained a 
 laborious prince, constantly occupied with the 
 welfare of his people. 
 
ALFRED THE SAGE. 71 
 
 He shared both his wealth and his time with 
 religion. He made two equal divisions of his 
 revenues, the one being intended for acts of bene- 
 volence, and subdivided between the poor, the 
 convents, and the schools. The half which the 
 king kept to himself was distributed in equal 
 parts among his courtiers, artists, professional 
 men, and to strangers who were disposed to 
 reside in his dominions. The maintenance of 
 the king and his court was defrayed by the estates 
 of the crown, which were let to countrymen for 
 a certain supply of the fruits of the season, and 
 the game which they caught. 56 
 
 Time, which is certainly our own property, 
 Alfred divided into two parts, one of which was 
 devoted to the service of the Almighty ; in this 
 he included that which he employed in writing 
 the sentences he extracted from books, or his 
 own thoughts, which he inscribed in his hand- 
 books, from which arose collections with which it 
 was his greatest delight to occupy himself. 57 He 
 was so careful not to withdraw any of his time 
 intended for devotion, (in an age when watches 
 were not extant,) that he weighed and measured 
 some wax candles, and regulated his time by 
 them. The invention of protecting candles by 
 transparent horn when glass had not yet been 
 
72 THE FOURTH BOOK. 
 
 invented, is ascribed to him, but as it was not 
 unknown to the ancients, it must have been lost 
 in the times of disorder and ignorance. 58 The 
 measurement and destination of his time Alfred 
 dedicated to God after his victory at Althelney. 
 
 His desire that illness and constant pain should 
 prevent his giving himself up to sensuality, was 
 indeed carried too far. In his younger years 
 this desire, the fruit of his fear of offending God, 
 was almost fulfilled to too great an extent; for 
 during twenty-five years an internal and unknown 
 complaint caused him great pains, and shortened 
 considerably the days of his inestimable life. 59 
 Can Alfred have doubted the wisdom of the 
 Being of whom he implored this abstemiousness? 
 and had the giver of all gifts no other means than 
 to shorten Alfred's days, and render his life partly 
 unserviceable, by causing pain to overcome all 
 patience ? 
 
 Alfred's sensitiveness to the duties of religion, 
 caused the undiminished tenderness which the 
 king preserved in so many disastrous wars, when 
 perjury and infidelity were so often the rewards 
 of his goodness. Nothing could overcome his 
 resolution to forgive, as he wished himself to be 
 forgiven. Ten times did he grant, even after the 
 
ALFRED THE SAGE. 73 
 
 most troublesome victories, unconditional pardon ; 
 and he never permitted himself to commit an act 
 of vengeance. 
 
 In his private life he was a faithful and amiable 
 husband, a good father, and a gracious master. 
 Although a great portion of his life was devoted 
 to the safety of his people in inevitable wars, and 
 his advantages in chivalry many and superior, 
 he preferred, from his youth, the sciences to 
 war. From the obscurity of the times, he had 
 not learned to read in his twelfth year; but one 
 book interested him to such a degree, that he had 
 no rest until he could perfectly read it, and appro- 
 priate its contents to himself. 00 
 
 Rude as the Saxon language was at that time, 
 from Alfred's lips and pen it became eloquent. 
 He translated into Saxon the works of ancient 
 wisdom, with a fidelity and expression which no 
 other learned man could equal. These efforts he 
 applied to the wisest of ancient laws, to history, 
 sentences and parallels of spiritual works; the 
 whole collection of the revealed writings he trans- 
 lated into his own language. He likewise wrote 
 his own history, and the events of his life, so 
 full of contrarities and troubles; and even in 
 those works of less consequence he preserved the 
 E 
 
74 THE FOURTH BOOK. 
 
 custom of beginning nothing that he was not 
 capable of fulfilling. 61 
 
 Notwithstanding his continual sufferings, the 
 troublesome life which he led, and the many dis- 
 asters which he met with, Alfred was ever good 
 humoured and affable ; no agitation or weariness 
 could disturb his constant serenity, a virtue pos- 
 sessed only by the rarest characters ; common souls 
 alone give way to such impressions, and allow 
 their tempers to be ruffled by the slightest cause. 
 They do not feel, during the momentary annoy- 
 ance, the importance, for other reasons, of pre- 
 serving their equanimity. Little as Alfred was 
 affected by misfortune, still less was he elated by 
 good fortune, or the feeling of his own dignity. 
 He fought, he worked, with intrepid courage, and 
 was as silent about his personal actions, as though 
 they were not his own. Frequently did he keep 
 his wavering people from flight, by exposing his 
 own forehead to the fury of the enemy; and 
 withal he considered the effects of his bravery as 
 accidental and of no merit, because his soul was 
 wholly fixed on God, and in Him alone he trusted* 
 
 His glory flew, in the few years of his too-short 
 life, beyond the limits of Europe. The voice of 
 the people willingly gave him the name of the 
 
ALFKED THE SAGE. 75 
 
 Great Alfred, whilst that title has only been 
 borrowed by many other princes from the flattery 
 of courtiers. Rome venerated his virtues, and 
 the Patriarch of Jerusalem testified over many 
 seas the respect which the inhabitants of this far 
 country bore for the virtues of the King of the 
 Saxons. 62 From all countries various artists and 
 learned men hastened to the throne, whereon sat 
 a Christian, a philosopher, a hero, and a promoter 
 of all useful and fine arts. 
 
 The king had, by the beautiful Elswitha, two 
 sons; Edward, the elder, a wise king and legis- 
 lator, and Ethelward, a learned prince, who died 
 in his youth at Oxford; then the courageous 
 Athelfleda, the spouse of the Earl of Mercia ; after 
 his death she governed his extensive country, 
 vanquished the rebellious Northmen, and founded 
 several towns, amongst which are Chester, Staf- 
 ford, and Warwick ; she likewise subdued a part 
 of Wales, which had previously separated from 
 England, and merited the name of the king, whose 
 virtue she possessed. 63 
 
 Athelswitha was married to Baldwin, the power- 
 ful Count of Flanders, and one of her great-grand- 
 daughters, Matilda, was wife of William the Con- 
 queror. From her originated the Plantagenets, 
 E 2 
 
76 THE FOURTH BOOK. 
 
 by a second Matilda ; and from them, after having 
 governed over England three hundred years, 
 arose the Tudors and the Stuarts, whose rights 
 have now devolved to the house of Guelph. A 
 third Matilda, daughter of the first Plantagenet, 
 was married to Henry the Lion, and was the 
 female ancestress of the Guelphs, in which the 
 blood of the Stuarts, with that of the Plan- 
 tagenets is united ; and by these two progenitors 
 the royal blood of Alfred and Bodan became 
 the powerful governors of mighty Britain. Pro- 
 vidence has granted to their sceptre immense 
 countries in another hemisphere, which at the time 
 of Alfred was quite unknown to the old world. 
 The Niger and the Ganges flow under their domi- 
 nion, and the great empire of Hindostan vene- 
 rates the descendants of Alfred. But far more 
 glory than the possession of all these countries 
 give is due to the inherited virtue, the love of the 
 arts and sciences, which gave beneficial peace the 
 preference over war and triumph; and the matri- 
 monial felicity which is possessed by the succession 
 of the Guelphs and Alfred. Thus has Providence 
 fulfilled, that the seed of those who please God, 
 should reach to fifty generations from their illus- 
 trious predecessor. 
 
 Alfred died from the effects of an illness which 
 
ALFRED THE SAGE. 77 
 
 he had himself prayed for, having only lived 
 fifty-two years. His death occurred just at the 
 end of the ninth century, when the Carlovingians 
 were on the decline, and the grandson of Robert 
 the Powerful approached every day nearer to the 
 frontier of the West Franks. Piety, which had 
 been Alfred's guide during his life-time, did not 
 forsake him at his death. He descended from his 
 throne like a person travelling from one royal 
 seat to another, convinced that he would there be 
 likewise happy. He hoped to obtain, from the 
 Supreme Judge, a better life, in which no terres- 
 trial privileges could attend him : the recompense 
 for a life devoted to the welfare of the people 
 entrusted to him; and no one has ever doubted 
 that with so many good qualities his little in- 
 evitable faults would be veiled by the supreme 
 goodness of the just Judge of the world. 
 
 [His last three years were not distinguished by 
 any particular actions, and historians have recorded 
 nothing of that period of his life but that he 
 devoted it to the already mentioned occupations, 
 and conversations with his counsellors, and prin- 
 cipally with his private counsellor, Amund, a 
 fragment of which will be found in the following 
 book.] 
 
78 
 
 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 
 
 Amund, Alfred's counsellor, was born at the feet 
 of the Seven-mountains, on the shore of the Dale 
 River, and was the oiFspring of Arwid the Hero. 
 He spent his juvenile years, like the northern 
 warriors generally, in gymnastic practices ; he was 
 a powerful wrestler, a clever archer, and a cou- 
 rageous hunter. He would attack the furious boar 
 in his own cavern, and, standing upright before his 
 terrible paws, force his knife into his heart. He 
 sang war ballads, and his heart was elated at the 
 names of old heroes. He burned with the desire 
 to make the name of his paternal castle renowned 
 by his actions, and afterwards to obtain the reward 
 for the blood he had spilt in the hall of Odin. 
 
 Hastings, the northern prince, was going to 
 Byzantium, and was the commander of a legion 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 79 
 
 of Waregern, the only real warriors whom the 
 degenerate Greeks then possessed, and to whom 
 alone they could entrust the protection of their 
 prince. Faithful and inexperienced in the treason 
 of the new Romans, true to their oath, brave and 
 constant, these few combatants were the support 
 of the sinking empire. The young Amund accom- 
 panied the hardy Hastings, and both were enrolled 
 under the Waregern. Many a deed of faithful 
 courage and sturdy resolution was performed by 
 the worthy youth. Enlightened as he was, he 
 acknowledged the advantages which remained to 
 the Greek nation. He studied their history, also 
 the constitution of their court and their state, 
 which Europe long imitated, though it despised 
 the cowardice of the Byzantians. He learned 
 their laws, and enriched his mind with their 
 treasures of ancient wisdom. 
 
 Young and gay, he fell in love with the beau- 
 tiful Theophane, friend of the Princess Eudoxia, 
 who was beloved and married to Hastings. The 
 noble form of the Greek lady, her manners, and 
 even the timid modesty with which she declined 
 his advances, augmented Amund's inclination ; but 
 he gained this beauty at last, by noble actions, 
 and by saving her father, who would have been 
 murdered, on the occasion of a rebellion of the 
 
80 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 Blues and Greens, by the party who was against 
 him. Amund's sword soon opened a path to the 
 unfortunate man, and the faint-hearted Byzan- 
 tians fled before the heavy blows of their op- 
 ponents. Victorious, he restored the liberated 
 father to the beautiful lady. Theophane was not 
 ungrateful to so much merit, and accepted his 
 hand, and the worthy man, who so much loved 
 the bride, adored the spouse. 
 
 An imperial family was brought suddenly to 
 ruin ; and Hastings, who defended it in vain so 
 long as he could handle his sword, was over- 
 powered; nothing remaining for his safety but a 
 ship which was lying in the harbour; thither he 
 brought his princess and his comrade, Amund, 
 with the fair Theophane. They were fortunate 
 enough to reach the mouth of the Niester, by 
 roads at that time daily traversed by the Scandi- 
 navians, and arrived at the friendly Novogorod, 
 returning from thence to Sweden. 
 
 The view of the rough and barren mountains 
 was extremely unpleasant to the fair Greek. She 
 found there no resemblance to the charming cli- 
 mate which the mild south spreads over Byzantium. 
 Huts of immense stone, insufficiently protected 
 against the cold, replaced the magnificent palaces 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 81 
 
 in which Eudoxia had passed her juvenile years. 
 The retarded spring was not free from sharp 
 winds, and the long winter destroyed the orna- 
 ments of the earth. Harvest brought not with it 
 the sweet grape; the rich fruits of Greece glit- 
 tered not on the trees ; and, in the eyes of the 
 delicate princess, the earth appeared always clad 
 in mourning. 
 
 Hastings loved the fair Eudoxia, and promised 
 her that he would with his sword conquer milder 
 countries, in which she should govern. He took 
 her with him to Bemfleet, and likewise the 
 charming Theophane, who were in the fortified 
 camp of the Scandinavians when the Saxons 
 attacked it, while most of their warriors were 
 absent. Hastings' rage was unbounded when he 
 learned this misadventure, and even the brave 
 Amund shed tears of despair when informed of 
 the loss of his Theophane : But the noble Alfred 
 dried those tears. "Go," said he, to the fair 
 spouses of his enemies, "tell the Northmen that I 
 wage no war with women ; and only carry it on 
 forcedly with the oppressors of my people: my 
 greatest desire is to gain their friendship." Alfred 
 had admired the Greek beauty, but his temperate 
 heart was closed to all foreign charms. 64 
 e3 
 
82 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 Hastings requited Alfred's generosity with re- 
 doubled enmity ; but Amund was more noble- 
 minded, and perfectly happy in the arms of his 
 beloved Theophane. He soon acquired the friend- 
 ship of the hero, whom he had to thank for the 
 pleasure of again embracing her. She herself 
 praised to Amund the careful generosity with 
 which Alfred endeavoured to avert from the north- 
 ern ladies any rudeness on the part of the Saxon 
 warriors, and the delicacy with which he alleviated 
 the sufferings of their imprisonment. 
 
 As the Northmen were forced to leave England, 
 and bound themselves no more to molest the 
 Saxons, Amund repaired, fearlessly, to Alfred's 
 court : — " Thanks to thy virtues, thou hast now a 
 combatant more at thy disposal; I am Amund, 
 friend of Hastings, but thine, if thou acceptest 
 me." The name of Amund was not unknown to 
 Alfred; he combined elegant manners with 
 bravery, and wisdom with both. Alfred extended 
 his royal hand to him: — "I accept thy friendship," 
 said he to the Scandinavian, "thou shalt share 
 my fortune." The queen embraced the fair Theo- 
 phane, and Alfred's court became to the married 
 couple a seat of constant pleasure. Amund fol- 
 lowed the king in all his wars, and, of all his 
 friends, was the most ready to avert from his 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 83 
 
 prince the enemy's weapons, presenting his own 
 breast as his shield. 
 
 After Alfred had for ever dispersed his external 
 enemies, he was constantly occupied in estab- 
 lishing order, and increasing the general pros- 
 perity of his Saxons; Amund pursued with a 
 vigilant eye every step of the legislator. He 
 compared the constitution of the Saxon kingdom 
 with that of the monarchy of Byzantium, with 
 those of the Romans, and of the better portion 
 of the Greeks, with whose history he was closely 
 connected. 
 
 The faults of the Saxon constitution did not 
 escape his penetration; and he observed there 
 scarcely remained any of the old liberties of the 
 Germans, but a powerful nobility, near whom the 
 nation languished in ignominous contempt. 
 
 Long had Amund improved his views by fresh 
 information; long had his heart burned to disclose 
 the truth to a king, who loved and listened to it ; 
 at last he was irritated by the infidelity of some of 
 the nobles, whom Alfred had vanquished and 
 pardoned, as he was wont to do. The king had 
 just repaired with Amund to a retired estate, not 
 far from his royal residence, when his kind nature 
 
84 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 deeply felt the necessity, in which he had so 
 often been placed, to arm himself against some 
 rebellious nobles. " I love my people/' said the 
 worthy prince, "and do all that my foresight 
 can imagine to make England happy ; how is it 
 then possible that her sons do not love me ? Me, 
 who love them above everything." Amund bowed 
 to his royal friend : — " Will Alfred listen to his 
 servant, who loves him? will he allow him to be 
 free, and to disclose to him his thoughts as they 
 rise in his faithful heart? The Saxons are not 
 worse than other people. If they are ungrateful, 
 the source lays in the unbalanced constitution of 
 the stated Where there exists no equilibrium, 
 those are always the most discontented on whose 
 side the scale is lightest. Thy nobility are too 
 great, and not subservient enough to the laws; thy 
 commoners are too little, and between the nobility and 
 them the distance is too greats The greatest have 
 but one step more to ascend to become kings; 
 and until that step is made, they never will be 
 quiet. If thy Saxon commoners had remained in 
 their natural dignity, the nobles would have found 
 in them a counterpoise, which would prevent them 
 from too hardily raising their wings aloft. 
 
 "Amund has long seen the world; he is ac- 
 quainted with the constitution of the free north : 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 85 
 
 the Saxons have likewise formerly lived in liberty ; 
 but thy ancestors, the conquerors of Britain, have 
 given up the reins of government to the nobility, 
 and left the commoners as their victims," 
 
 Alfred, who gladly listened to the counsel of 
 faithful friends, replied : " My friend has seen the 
 Orient, what has he there found, whereby the 
 constitution of the Saxons can be improved?" 
 
 "Far from us," said the warrior, "in the east, 
 there is a powerful realm, the greatest on the sur- 
 face of the globe, the empire of the Serens, (North- 
 ern-China,) whence the silk is sent, passing by the 
 source of the Ganges, over the snow-capped moun- 
 tains of India, and through Persia to Byzantium, in 
 the isles of the ^Egean Sea, in the mild Cos ; they 
 produce a web, the work of a kind of caterpillar. 
 Theophane herself has embroidered with this silk, 
 and is now working a veil, which she intends for 
 her kind protectress, the beautiful Elswitha. 67 The 
 empire of the Serens is the seat of arts, the 
 triumph of agriculture, and the mother of in- 
 numerable inhabitants ; for, when compared to 
 the blessed Kathay, the remainder of the earth is 
 but a desert, with a few huts scattered over it. 
 So I have been informed by merchants, who had 
 known in India Scrcn traders, and thence brought 
 
86 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the productions of that intelligent nation to 
 Byzantium. 
 
 " The Serens are, without doubt, the oldest of 
 civilized nations. They had already wise legis- 
 lators and useful arts, when the Greeks subsisted 
 upon rapine and fallen acorns, which nature pro- 
 duced for the inactive savages. Kathay is the 
 seat of order ; the emperor is the father of all his 
 subjects, and governs so many millions with the 
 same veneration as the father of a family governs 
 his children. He receives from them the same 
 love and obedience which they give to their 
 parents. He is the only source of all honour, and 
 under him all his subjects are coins of equal 
 weight, whom the imperial stamp alone can value 
 or distinguish. 
 
 " They acknowledge no nobility; all commands 
 are issued by the emperor, and gradually com- 
 municated from the higher to the lower officers of 
 the empire down to the lowest countryman ; and 
 there are none who resist these orders, or who 
 would dare delay them in the slightest degree. 
 No one brings from his cradle superior rights, which 
 can raise him above the common peopled The only 
 existing nobility in that country are the descent 
 dants of a sage, who, sixteen hundred years ago a 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 87 
 
 taught the virtues in the realm of the Serens, at the 
 time when Pythagoras taught the rude Greek the 
 art of surveying, and the knowledge of divinity." 
 
 Alfred, who had never seen any nation in which 
 the nobility did not form the most venerated part, 
 here interrupted his friendly narrator : — " Such a 
 nation" said he, hastily, " must be cowards, for the 
 delicate sense of honour can alone supersede the love 
 of life, and nowhere can that sense so vividly pre- 
 dominate as in the noble, to whom the least affront is 
 insupportable, and to whom life becomes a burden if 
 spent without honours.*® The noble is, besides, 
 free from common cares, his hands are hardened 
 for the sword, as is his body for riding ; hunting 
 has prepared him for war, and victory is his only 
 vocation, the object of his life. The needy coun- 
 tryman forgets honour in the exertions necessary 
 for his nourishment. Accustomed to humiliation, 
 he feels not the lofty aspirations which a hero 
 must feel. 70 Brought up to mean labour, he has 
 not the knowledge to spur on a spirited horse 
 against the enemy, of pressing with lowered spear 
 among their thickest throngs, of giving wounds, 
 and avoiding them. Often have I experienced 
 that the strength of my armies lay in my nobles." 
 
 Amund replied: — "The well-read Alfred knows 
 
88 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the history of the Greeks ; they had no nobles ; 
 and who was more courageous than a Spartan, who 
 could scarcely name his father, who was only the 
 son of the country, but not the son of the noble ? 
 Too narrowly is the sense of honours encompassed in 
 one class, and that one ichich can never be numerous, 
 because it lives in idleness, and obtains its subsistence 
 by the sweat of those beneath it. Such a constitution 
 is the best, and such nations must be the most vic- 
 torious, in which the sense of honour is spread over the 
 whole population, where every citizen glows for victory 
 with the same ardour that inspires the general. 11 
 It is not the deficiency in the nobility that intimi- 
 dates the Serens ; there are other reasons. The 
 terrible Saracen is a camel-driver ; but who fights 
 more desperately? who has acquired more vic- 
 tories ? who has subdued more countries than the 
 free strollers of Sandy Arabia ? There are, among 
 the Serens, too many shopkeepers and artisans. The 
 greater number of inhabitants consist chiefly of men 
 whose limbs have lost their power, from being employed 
 in sedentary occupations, which do not strengthen 
 their arms by constant exertions. They can neither 
 support inconveniences, rude winds, or wearying night- 
 watches. 12 Another cause of the cowardice of the 
 Serens is the servile treatment which they endure 
 from their superiors. Their immense realm is 
 governed by the whip. The most eminent Seren 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 89 
 
 is subject to the basest punishment, the courage 
 of the nation thus loses its energies. It bends with- 
 out resistance under the yoke, and feels no wish for 
 honour, but merely for the means of subsistence, and 
 the lowest pleasures of the senses.™ The realm of the 
 Serens is certainly less suitable for war than for 
 peace ; but its prince requires not conquests ; he 
 is satisfied with the immense territory which he has 
 inherited of his forefathers, and refuses the volun- 
 tary submission offered him by his neighbours, 
 whom the wealth of the Serens have attracted to 
 seek the protection of their governor, the father 
 of his people. 
 
 "This great realm enjoys, however, the extreme 
 advantage, that none of the great venture to revolt 
 against the emperor, being alone, and not rooted 
 in or related to any powerful nobility. The first 
 storm of imperial disgrace consequently annihi- 
 lates him without resistance. A king of the Saxons 
 cannot punish any of the nobles without, at the 
 same time, injuring his relations, his race, and 
 often the whole nobility, who look upon the 
 humiliation of one of them as the possibility of 
 humiliating the whole body. 
 
 "Warlike courage is less required by the Serens, 
 as they have only dispersed and divided neigh- 
 
90 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 bours, who can, perhaps, disturb their limits, 
 but they cannot dangerously wound the realm. 
 From the beginning of history, the empire of the 
 Serens has always remained invincible. The race 
 of kings has been extinguished, other Serens have 
 soared up to the throne, but no foreign power 
 could subdue the realm. 74 
 
 " Much merit is due to the Serens. If we trace 
 back to great antiquity, to an epoch in which no 
 other realm of the world existed, when we reach 
 the limits of the fabulous, where history com- 
 mences, we always find a well-mannered, indus- 
 trious, and innumerable people, always arts, laws, 
 sages, and great princes, a Yu 9 a Tschung, a Wen- 
 wang, and a Wawang, 
 
 " But," continued Amund, bowing respectfully 
 before the king, " I have not a blind reverence for 
 unlimited power ; lama free-born Goth, whose 
 heart would not subdue itself to a prince, did not 
 veneration lead me to serve him, whom I regard 
 best fitted for command, I will show to the king, 
 from my own experience, the consequences of un^ 
 limited power." 
 
 After some days, the fair Theophane accom- 
 panied Amund to the court, She brought to the 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 91 
 
 noble Elswitha a white veil, woven of glitter- 
 ing silk, in which she had embroidered flowers 
 and animals in the most splendid colours, in 
 the brilliant tints with which nature alone, in 
 mild countries, paints its creations, and which 
 the weaker rays of the sun, in northern regions, 
 is not able to accomplish. The queen admired 
 the art and the beautiful tissue, and requited the 
 present of the charmiug Greek with the finest 
 linen from Flanders, whose slender thread ap- 
 peared almost thinner than could be spun by 
 human hands. "In our frosty country, "said 
 Alfred, " nature promises less, and leaves more to 
 the intelligence of man; but industry likewise can 
 here find treasures, which contribute as much to 
 the happiness of the people as the fertility of 
 nature." 75 Theophane acknowledged that she had 
 seen nothing in that seat of arts, Byzantium, to 
 surpass this work, and with regard to utility, flax 
 would not yield to silk, 76 
 
 Alfred invited Amund to continue the conver- 
 sation: — " The absolute power of the prince is a 
 yoke," said the warrior, "under which no one can 
 be happy. Vainly the favour of the court smiles 
 on us; who can quietly enjoy such uncertain hap- 
 piness, when, without fault, a wrinkle on the brow 
 of the prince is sufficient to disgrace us? 
 
92 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 (i A good ruler certainly employs his great power for 
 the welfare of his people; and does more good, as he is 
 less curbed. He watches over his servants, attracts their 
 attention, and does not allow the lowest of his people 
 to live under unjust oppression.' 11 Such were the 
 first heads of the imperial races of the Saxons ; 
 but those who were generated of them in the 
 purple, who rose to the enjoyment of higher 
 power, without the necessity of performing good 
 actions to merit the throne, soon regarded power 
 as the means of satisfying their desires. They 
 filled their palaces with the fairest women; they lost, 
 by spectacles, the time they owed to their people ; and 
 diversion teas their only business. 7 * Their officers, 
 selected by the advice of miserable eunuchs, or 
 by their concubines, studied no other interest 
 than their own greatness, their consequence, 
 wealth, and pleasure ; every one successively used 
 his subordinate as the instrument of his desires ; 
 and the lowest, the most useful citizen, starved with 
 excessive labour, so that the courtier, the judge, and 
 the officers of the crown, might live in haughtiness 
 and extreme splendour. n The people sighed and 
 prayed to heaven for relief; they soon murmured, 
 and at last death was preferable to their situation ; 
 they gave themselves up to despair; ambition 
 furnished them with leaders; courageous and 
 active rebels drove the degenerate voluptuary 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 93 
 
 from the throne, and extirpated the race, which 
 had become an insupportable burden upon the 
 people. 80 
 
 "Nothing is more dangerous than universal 
 power. He, who can murder his servant by a 
 frown, and can, with impunity, reward years of 
 vices with poison, 81 himself arouses the annihila- 
 ting dagger, from which no one can find himseli 
 secure; he who can punish without the aid ot 
 the law, exile at will, and suspend the functions 01 
 his officers of rank, applies his power to the 
 execution of his desires. When he is driven 
 by his corrupted lusts, he attacks the modesty 
 of the noblest women, the property of the 
 poor, the treasures of the church, the honour 
 of the judges, and the property generally of his 
 subjects, to satisfy them. He strives to tri- 
 umph by unnecessary wars and victories, which 
 his subjects are forced to purchase with their 
 blood, He expends on splendid palaces the sub- 
 stance of the citizen; he dissipates on insigni- 
 ficant solemnities, in spectacles and banquets, 
 the bread and property of his people. 82 Alfred 
 knows what monsters were formed in great 
 Rome, by the philter of unlimited power, from 
 those who in their youth promised to become 
 somewhat better. God alone is All-wise ; to Him 
 
94 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 belongs universal power; but faulty man needs 
 bonds to limit his desires. • 
 
 "As no one prevents the absolute monarch 
 from the fulfilment of his will, so his first minister, 
 his general, judge, and secretary, become despots; 
 the whole nation will sink under the yoke which 
 the powerful always impose on the weak, and its 
 weight will crush the common man, who is not 
 able in his turn to oppress another. 83 
 
 " Such a monarch is beloved by no one. Every 
 citizen is regarded by him as a tool destined by 
 Providence to fulfil his will, whose services he can 
 enjoy without being bound to any obligation to- 
 wards him. The citizen looks with fear and hatred 
 upon the palace in which the dissipator debauches 
 his blood and his property. He takes no interest in 
 the preservation of his prince, and acknowledges 
 no greater misfortunes than that which affects 
 himself. An audacious rebel assaults, with a handful 
 of ruffians, the deserted palace, and no citizen offers 
 to protect the monarch who is the sole cause of his 
 misfortunes. 8 * I have myself witnessed the tragedy 
 which precipitated the unfortunate Michael from 
 the throne. He had neglected the welfare of 
 the realm, was a squanderer, who forgot, over his 
 wine, his duty as father of the people. A man 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 95 
 
 of the lowest class of his subjects arose by his 
 good qualities to the highest dignity. He found 
 a murderous rabble at his disposal; before the 
 Waregern could use their weapons, Michael was 
 killed, and our fidelity no longer found any object 
 to protect; thus fell, under the sword of a few 
 robbers, the successor of the Constantines and the 
 Caesars. The population took so little interest in 
 his fate, that no tears were shed, not a sigh heard, 
 no shop closed, no business disturbed; and after a 
 few hours, the whole of Byzantium shouted long 
 life to the Emperor Basilius, with the same joyful 
 devoutness as though he had been the real heir to 
 the throne. Had Michael bound his crown to the 
 welfare of his people, had the laws been his 
 boundary, or had his fall interfered with the 
 interests of the country, Basilius would never 
 have had the rash thought of rising to the throne 
 over Michael's corpse. 85 But the despot is like an 
 inverted pyramid, an immense weight rests on one 
 point on the overturned top. The breeze of a 
 western wind is sufficient to throw down the non- 
 sensical building. 
 
 " The oppressed subject does not at all times seize 
 the poignard ; he often bends to the yo\e with inactive 
 murmurs. Reliyion may console him in chains, or 
 the fear of a paid army force him to patience ; 86 but 
 
96 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 even then the despotic monarch is unhappy, far 
 more unhappy than the prince who is bound by 
 laws ; the latter has around him a particular body 
 of the state, who report the truth to him ; he has 
 the nobles of the realm who will not obey unjust 
 orders; he has laws which he cannot go beyond 
 without danger and resistance ; all these powers 
 which restrain him, watch at the same time over 
 his security. 87 He becomes not unjust, he does not 
 encroach on the property of his subjects, nor the 
 lives of his servants, because he cannot attain his 
 purpose without dishonouring himself, and incuring 
 insurmountable resistance. He learns from experi- 
 ence, that those inhabitants alone willingly obey who 
 love their master, and to acquire that love he must 
 make them happy; and that he cannot make his people 
 happy without being himself industrious, kind, and 
 just. m The bare thought of many an action, which 
 to the oriental despot is but play and pastime, 
 would trouble the whole soul of a prince, who 
 recollects that his grandeur is based on the gene- 
 ral veneration, which is founded on his virtues. 
 What a tyrant of Byzantium calmly projects and 
 executes in cold blood, as the blinding of an officer 
 of the state, or the mutilation of a suspected noble, 
 has never entered the thoughts of a Scandinavian 
 king." 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 97 
 
 Alfred replied, " I observe that Amund is not 
 favourable to the power of the nobles, nor to the 
 unlimited sway of the king. But does he know 
 of a constitution in which all powers are brought 
 into equilibrium, where the king is secured against 
 disobedience and rebellion, and the people against 
 oppression? I have studied history, and find that 
 government the best, in which a virtuous man reigns; 
 it may be a king — or, as it was at Sparta, the nobles — 
 or, as at Rome, the people. 89 When, on the contrary, 
 the rulers are unjust and spoilt, then is the state 
 likewise unhappy. Thus it was under the bad 
 Caesars at Rome, under the unjust people at 
 Athens, and under the oppressive nobles of the 
 later Sparta ; the constitution of the state cannot 
 prevent the evil consequences of a government 
 which follows its own vicious desires." 
 
 Amund bowed before the king. " Alfred loves 
 truth, and shall hear it, even though it be con- 
 trary to his own thoughts. But that cannot be 
 the case ; for he who seeks the truth will always 
 find it. All that is administered by man is cer- 
 tainly imperfect; but still the influence of the form 
 of the constitution is very great on the morals of 
 the people, and even on the government of the 
 prince. 
 
98 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 "I have proved and experienced the abuse of 
 unlimited power. In the hands of Alfred it is a 
 blissful gift of heaven ; but how seldom does fate 
 give us an Alfred ! The wisdom of a legislator 
 must prevent the unworthy son of a Solomon 
 from destroying all that the sagacity and labour 
 of the father has built. It must not trust the 
 fate of the people to the slight motives which 
 often render the son of a king unable or unwilling 
 to provide for the good of his subjects. 90 The early 
 death of the wisest and most virtuous monarch 
 might leave a minor in the hands of such women, 
 or such courtiers, as would turn the delicate plant, 
 not yet bent to any virtue, in the direction of 
 vice. The unworthy should not be at liberty, 
 nor should it be easy for him to become the flagel- 
 lant of God, he who should be His state holder. 
 I have known a people, generous, and trained to 
 all that is noble, fall gradually and by impercep- 
 tible steps into the situation of an irregular aris- 
 tocracy, which was at the same time the realm of 
 confusion. 91 It had taken to itself the power of de- 
 ciding the general welfare of all ; an obstinate pur- 
 chased mercenary could stop the wheel of govern- 
 ment in its course, at which one hundred thou- 
 sand nobles were uselessly working. At length 
 the laws were worse than vices, and rebellion was 
 the consequence of the laws. All the virtue of 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 99 
 
 the king and the nobility were lost to the people, 
 because disorder was legal, and order a sufficient 
 pretext for rebellion. 
 
 "The neighbouring princes perceived the in- 
 corrigible weakness of that realm, and divided it 
 quietly among themselves, as brothers part the 
 field of their father; and the ungrateful nobles, to 
 whom the bridle of the law had been insupport- 
 able, fell under the yoke of unlimited power. 
 Neither the spoilation of morals nor bad princes 
 was the cause of the misfortunes of that mighty 
 nation : it lay only in the nonsensical constitution 
 of their state. 
 
 " It is naturally a worthy task of the wise legis- 
 lators to weigh all parts of the state so justly 
 against each other, as to make them all balance ; 
 that the power of one part should not have the 
 preponderance, but the general welfare unite all 
 powers in one common direction. Such a consti- 
 tution would protect the nation against the most 
 powerful revolution, which often brings other 
 states to ruin. It would free the honour and 
 property of each citizen from the danger of being 
 seized upon by a more powerful nation, or by the 
 prejudices of a misled multitude. It would aug- 
 ment the power of the state, by preventing some 
 F 2 
 
100 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 members of it from working in an opposite direc- 
 tion, and draw them together to a central point, 
 which would be the united will of all parties." 92 
 
 " Araund," said Alfred, " seems to me to speak 
 like a physician, who demonstrates how desirable 
 it would be to obtain a medicine which would cool 
 the over-heated, and heat that which has grown 
 cold; which would strengthen the relaxed, and 
 mollify the hardened parts ; and which could cure 
 all opposite evils. He might easily convince me 
 that such a remedy would be the most valuable 
 gift of heaven, but it will be very difficult to 
 discover this medicament." 
 
 " Nature, " said Amund, smiling, " has made 
 the remedy for our maladies to grow in their 
 neighbourhood, and it is the duty of man to find 
 them out and apply them. The constitution which 
 avoids the most general evils originates from the 
 German and northern people. It may be traced 
 to obscure antiquity ; the Cheruskierns, who were 
 anterior to the Romans, were acquainted with it, 
 and it is still preserved in Scandinavia; but the 
 Saxons have departed from that constitution which 
 were a work worthy of an Alfred to re-establish, 
 for under it the ancestors of the Saxons were free, 
 warlike, and too powerful for all their enemies. 93 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 101 
 
 "There are three parts of which a people, a 
 great people, must essentially be formed. In a 
 little state, a monarch is less required, and it may 
 be easily governed in a democratic form; 94 but a 
 large realm has too many occupations to be ma- 
 naged by many governors, or be discussed by many 
 persons, without a prejudicial prolongation of time. 
 A great realm must also bestow too many great 
 offices, and give too much power to a citizen, for 
 the laws to serve as a sufficient bridle. It must 
 keep armies, and these also would soon make the 
 general preponderate over the citizen. Rome lost 
 her equilibrium when she possessed too extended a 
 country, arid too numerous legions. Sylla, Pompey, 
 and CcBsar, were too mighty for the increasing import- 
 ance of the law. 95 
 
 "A great nation should, therefore, be commanded 
 by a king ; the administration of power, the direc- 
 tion of armies, the transactions with other nations, 
 and all that requires prompt resolution, even the 
 choice of war or peace, must be left to his deci- 
 sion. The law reigns under his name; he 
 appoints the judges, he is the source of nobility 
 and honour, he elects members to the offices; 
 and his sanction is required to all alterations 
 of the laws, and all great decisions of the 
 nation. The people must supply him with suffi- 
 cient wealth to maintain the lustre of a court, 
 
102 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 and the dignity of the realm towards his subjects ; 
 and to reward useful arts and suffering merit. 96 
 He must be able to leave the realm in quietness 
 to his heir; in an elective empire every election 
 weakens the reins of the prince, until there remains 
 nothing more than the external splendour of the 
 throned 
 
 "The person of the king must be sacred, 
 secured against all molestation, and protected by 
 the laws against all violence, as on his preser- 
 vation rests the tranquillity of the state; the 
 the agressor of his king offends the majesty of the 
 whole people, as he represents the dignity of the 
 whole society. 98 
 
 "But the laws alone must protect the king. 
 He cannot administer justice for himself; his 
 power would be too far superior to that of every 
 citizen ; he would soon be a despot and a tyrant, 
 if he could punish, if he could seize the goods or 
 the person of him by whom he believes himself 
 offended." He should he, of course, protected by the 
 laws against the attacks of the slanderous, who shake 
 deeper than is believed the pillars of the government, 
 by withdrawing the confidence of the people from him 
 icho is charged with the general welfare. Slowly the 
 calumniators stir the fire, which at last becomes 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 103 
 
 general, and, when the minds of the greater part of 
 the nation are prejudiced, breaks out into an all-con- 
 suming flame; and never is a prince overthrown with- 
 out the state being weakened, and many thousands 
 becoming miserable.™ 
 
 "It is an afflicting acknowledgment, but the 
 history of the world sufficiently proves it, that 
 a bad prince has greater power, and is more pro- 
 tected, than a good one. The virtuous prince is 
 blackened without danger, and rendered suspicious 
 to his people; he suffers what can possibly be 
 suffered, but when he can no longer prolong his 
 patience, he calls, but too late, on the slow assist- 
 ance of the law, from which he receives no relief; 
 when once a great number of citizens are preju- 
 diced, they wish a diminution of his power. A 
 bad prince finds in all constitutions sufficient 
 means to win the laws through the judges ; 101 to 
 purchase the fearful by the example of his revenge ; 
 the greedy, by the dissipation of treasures ; and 
 the ambitious,by raising him in honour. 102 He uses 
 means which the virtuous disdain, but which 
 effect the corruption of men with infallible power. 
 It is therefore necessary that the laws protect the 
 good king, and maintain him in veneration in the 
 eyes of the nation, and suppress, by punishment, 
 the voice of unbridled calumny. The more free the 
 
104 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 people the greater necessity for this protection, icith- 
 Qitt which, it is impossible for the king to preserve 
 the power which is necessary to hold the reins of 
 government" 
 
 Alfred smiled. " Amund seems to provide for 
 my fame after death ; but will he then silence the 
 punishing voice of truth, that voice which raises 
 itself against bad princes, and warns the citizen 
 to oppose attacks against the general security and 
 the increase of a dangerous power?" 103 
 
 " The actions of a bad prince," said Amund, 
 " would speak louder against him than the tongue 
 of hatred. If the principles are unshakably based, 
 if the conditions by which the king is bound are 
 well secured, if the potency of the other powers 
 of the realm are exactly defined, no prince will be 
 able to increase his authority, or raise himself 
 above the laws without offending the other powers 
 of the state, nor violate the boundaries of law 
 without its being seen, even by the lowest citizen. 
 The worst princes are the least calumniated, in- 
 evitable vengeance suppresses the complaints, even 
 of the oppressed. 
 
 " But the more silent a people remains, the more it 
 feels; and there is a limit which the prince cannot 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 105 
 
 transgress without arming against himself every other 
 power of the realm, and without being unavoidably 
 hurled from the throne. 10 * It were not difficult for 
 me to name more than one prince who punished 
 an accidental word with a fine of two thousand 
 pounds of gold, 105 and open complaints even with 
 mutilation ; and in whose realm no other voice was 
 heard than that of flattery. But when he attacked 
 the fundamental laws of the country, the tyrant 
 suddenly fell, by the combined forces of all those 
 parties who had previously pursued each other, but 
 who soon united against the general oppressor." 
 
 " Amund," said the wise Alfred, " here starts a 
 difficult question. When does the king begin to 
 forfeit his right to the throne ? where is the boun- 
 dary he must transgress, that his people should 
 attain the right of hurling him from the throne ? 
 Amund forgets that the faults of a prince differ 
 extremely in magnitude, and that even the people is 
 not an enlightened judge, who can justly weigh these 
 faults. If the people will resent the slightest fault 
 of the prince, no government will be firm, for 
 every prince commits faults; and prejudice or 
 interest may point out to the people faults in the 
 prince, which in reality are virtues. If we admit 
 a convention between the prince and the people, giving 
 the former the right to govern so long as lie fulfils the 
 F3 
 
106 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 conditions; and the people the right to withdraw 
 their obedience, so soon as these are not exactly com- 
 plied with by the ruler ; and if that convention be 
 the fundamental law of all governments, I pity the 
 prince who ascends such a tottering throne. I pity 
 the people, who is continually forced to purchase, by 
 violence and bloodshed, the downfal of one prince 
 and the election of another, of whom sufficient reasons 
 toould soon be found to overthrow him, like the former 
 one. 
 
 " If, on the contrary, the prince can oppress his 
 people with impunity ; if, under the pretence of a 
 general peace, nobody can oppose his acts of 
 violence; if he tears to himself, by dreadful taxes, 
 the most necessary subsistence of the poor, and lets 
 his citizens starve — all for the purpose 01 satis- 
 fying his desires; if he seizes, arbitrarily, the lives 
 of his subjects, incarcerates them without a trial, 
 and executes, through bribed judges, unconvicted ; 
 if he attacks the honour and dignity of the best 
 citizens, voluntarily destroys the ancestorial courts 
 of justice ; if he reluctantly admits, and punishes 
 by branding the representations of working truth, 
 shall then millions be miserable because one mortal is 
 unjust? Has the Supreme Governor created those 
 millions for one man only? Shall the happiness of so 
 many thousands be counterbalanced by the foolish will 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 107 
 
 of a single individual? Shall free citizens allow them- 
 selves to be killed like sheep, and yet kiss the hand of 
 their murderer? A medium must therefore be 
 found by which resistance becomes legal, and 
 by which the prince loses the right to enjoy 
 his privileges; but does Amund know of such a 
 medium?" 106 
 
 "It is difficult, wise Alfred," said the worthy 
 Amund, " it is very difficult exactly to point out 
 this limit, which, however, must be done. Even 
 among the mildest people, even among the cowardly 
 Serens, there is such a limit. Tscheu transgressed 
 it, and was hurled down by the virtuous Wuwang. 
 Wuwang appealed to the voice of heaven : 6 He,' 
 said he, f He, the Tien, commands me to protect 
 the earth against the violence of the tyrant.' The 
 only means of finding out this limit is the exact 
 definition of the fundamental laws, and the boun- 
 daries of the royal power. If the king cannot 
 levy taxes, and nevertheless imposes them ; if he 
 likewise cannot himself acquire the right, and 
 nevertheless arbitrarily imprisons and executes 
 men ; if he gives laws which cannot be sanctioned 
 by the nobility, or the representatives of the 
 people; if he weakens the laws, which have ob- 
 tained their power from the legislative bodies by 
 arbitrary remission of punishments; if he prevents 
 
108 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the liberty of opinion, and the resolutions of the 
 other bodies of the kingdom ; if he, in fine, re- 
 verses the fundamental laws of the realm, he 
 certainly forfeits his claim to general obedience, 
 and has become the enemy of his people, who can 
 themselves reiterate his enmity, and their repre- 
 sentatives are entitled to place him again within 
 the boundaries of the law. 
 
 " So long as he is only faulty without attacking 
 the fundamental laws — so long as he only does 
 injury by badly selected councils — so long as he 
 only misapprehends the wisest expedients in the 
 business of the state — and so long as he is only 
 weak but not tyrannical — so long he deserves the 
 remonstrances of his nobles and the people. He 
 certainly trifles away the general esteem, and can 
 be punished through his officers, and hindered 
 in the execution of his imprudent decisions by the 
 other powers of the kingdom. But to dethrone a 
 prince is so very great an evil, that the bitter remedy 
 should not be tried until there remains no other for the 
 salvation of the country. 
 
 "It is very fortunate for the human race that it 
 does not reach at once the extreme of malignity; 
 that the power of morals, and the fear of the 
 results, prevent a sudden fall from virtue to the 
 
ALFEED AND HIS COUNSELLOE. 109 
 
 abyss of vice; and that great offences are at- 
 tempted only by degrees. A prince can, there- 
 fore, in a moderate constitution, often be stopped 
 in the unfortunate course of his degeneration, 
 mostly by expostulations, by the legal resistance of 
 the powers joined to him, by the tokens of general 
 aversion, or by the resentment shown to his bad 
 officers. 107 Seldom will the sad necessity arise, in a 
 ivell-balanced constitution, of the people being obliged 
 to arm against the individual for whom they would, 
 at other times, think it their duty to lay down their 
 lives. Only in such states where, without fundamen- 
 tal laws, no equilibrium existed, and the whole nation 
 was tottering, have there been such tyrants, in whose 
 blood the people ivere forced to look for their 
 security"™ 
 
 " Thus the Roman dominion was an incubation 
 of warlike power, and hypocritical and political 
 wisdom, in which the exterior of a republic was 
 preserved, and nevertheless all the power was 
 dependent on the swords of the pretorians and the 
 legions. Thus it was at Byzantium, where no 
 limit encircled the power of the prince, whose will 
 was executed without the assistance of the law, 
 where nothing prevented him from risking all, but 
 where, likewise, nothing protected him from the 
 despair of the oppressed. The courtier threatened 
 
110 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 with disgrace, or the general deprived of his dig- 
 nity, knows that he runs no greater risk by rebel- 
 lion than by obedience, that he need not fear either 
 the laws or the people, but solely the prince, who is 
 his enemy ; and if he has but the slightest hope of 
 plunging his dagger into the heart of the prince, 
 before the axe reaches his own head, he will rather 
 risk the almost hopeless enterprise. And the 
 prince often succumbs for the very reason, that 
 he had power over all, because no watchful law 
 limited him, or prevented him from falling in the 
 abyss ; because the laws afforded him no greater 
 protection than they did to his subjects. 109 
 
 " Seldom, and but at distant intervals, does 
 history relate of an absolute monarch having been 
 his own enemy to such a degree as to surmount 
 all obstacles, to break through all laws, and commit 
 such acts of violence as to bring his subjects to 
 despair, without which they would never under- 
 take a dangerous revolution against a legitimate 
 prince occupying his throne. 
 
 " In despotic states, however, such revolutions 
 occur, on the contrary, very often, arising from 
 the most insignificant circumstances. Even in 
 civilized Byzantium, where Christianity teaches 
 patience and obedience, where powerful priests 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. Ill 
 
 are mostly attached to the sovereign, and keep 
 back the agitation of the people, even there sitteth 
 perhaps now the fiftieth dynasty since the first 
 Caesar suppressed liberty; for in the regions of 
 the wild Orientals, one tyrant supplants another, 
 as clouds driven by a storm expel each other in 
 the wide regions of the air. 
 
 " The second power in a moderate constitution is 
 the nobility, Alfred perhaps suspects Amund of 
 not being favourable to them, but Amund were 
 then against himself, for he must thank his birth 
 for the privileges and dignities which the common- 
 ers willingly yield to the nobleman. Nobility is no 
 invention of the Greeks, nor of the civilized 
 Egyptians, nor of the intelligent Serens ; it was 
 attached, even at Home, to only half the descend- 
 ants of the ancient heroes. The privileges of the 
 nobility may be sought in the north. The first 
 nobleman was a valiant warrior; his sons fol- 
 lowed his track, and the only occupation of many 
 succeeding generations was war. By the con- 
 tinued importance which was given to the war- 
 like courage, and the rearing in arms to the de- 
 scendants of the first heroes, the people were 
 accustomed to distinguish the defenders of the 
 nation from the lower class of people who looked 
 after cattle, who cultivated the ground, and were 
 
112 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 less practised in the use of weapons of war, and 
 consequently less dreaded ; which tribes lived in 
 constant strife, and were less fit to protect the 
 nation. 
 
 " The privileges of the nobility became more 
 constant and limited, when, for the first time, the 
 later emperors of the Romans and Byzantians gave 
 pieces of ground to their warriors, who colonized 
 on the boundaries of the wild people, on condition 
 of continuing in the practice of their weapons, 
 and to defend those limits of the realm ; it thereby 
 became the duty of entire generations constantly 
 to practice the art of war ; and an irrecoverable 
 property was given them as a privilege over the 
 other citizens, whose sons very often lost the 
 estates acquired by the toils of their fathers. 
 
 "Greater became the difference between the 
 noble and the plebian, as warlike people subdued 
 others less acquainted with war, whilst frequently 
 whole victorious armies shared amongst them- 
 selves the conquered lands, and only granted life 
 to the vanquished on the hard condition of culti- 
 vating the ground, that the warriors might live 
 without trouble in the diverting exercises of 
 hunting and warfare. Thus the Sarmatians were 
 created nobles, and their knaves are the old and 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 113 
 
 weak inhabitants of the great countries through 
 which I wandered, and which are situated on the 
 northern limits of Europe and Asia. 
 
 " The nobility are certainly useful in a state, 
 as the exemption from all low occupations, the 
 delicate sense of honour, the encouragement 
 which arises from the hope of dignity, even the 
 in-born pride based on the merits of their fore- 
 fathers, raises the spirit of the nobles, and their 
 wealth gives them an independence and impor- 
 tance which an artisan or tradesman can scarcely 
 attain. These privileges must be applied, by a 
 wise legislator, so that the nobility may, in general, 
 defend the state, assist the king, and avert from 
 the commoners all kinds of oppression. 110 
 
 " Alfred will allow his servant liberty to speak 
 the truth. Amongst his Anglo-Saxons the nobility 
 have too many privileges ; they become dangerous 
 to the state ; the commoners, properly speaking, form 
 the people, and if every citizen has the right to claim 
 of the constitution as much happiness as possible, the 
 common Saxon does not enjoy that right He cannot 
 obtain the high places of honour, he cannot even 
 willingly sacrifice his property to the wants of the 
 state, as the king prescribes the taxes to the 
 noble, who keeps it off of himself by imposing 
 
114 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 that burden in proportion to his will on the com- 
 moner. The land is the property of the nobility, the 
 countryman is merely his farmer, 111 The existence 
 of the labourer, the lives of his children, and even 
 their marriages depend on the caprice of the 
 noble. 
 
 "The nobility are equally dangerous to the 
 king. All the weapons are in their hands alone, 
 every earl being the general of his subordinates. 
 The command depends, in the first instance, on 
 the noble, and only through him on the king. 
 The unwillingness of the nobles impedes the 
 mass of the soldiers, paralyzes their services, and 
 deprives the king of the means of subsistence for 
 his armies. One more step, or one more equi- 
 vocal enterprise of the king, by which the nobility 
 think themselves offended, and the earls will 
 turn their arms upon the king himself; and the 
 commoners, who are under the power of the 
 nobility, having obtained from them their fields, 
 expect from them their bread, and will certainly 
 serve the noble against the king, of whom they 
 know nothing, except through the commands of 
 the nobility. 112 
 
 " The nobility have likewise the administration 
 of justice; they, who have not the least connexion 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 115 
 
 with any business, but bunting and war, and who 
 consider their own will as a law, instead of the law 
 governing their will. This prerogative makes the 
 commoner even more subject to the noble. The 
 displeasure of the earl is a condemning verdict for 
 his adherents. His favour alone lays the proper 
 value upon the action of him who has acquired it. 
 Another disadvantage is, that the estates are too 
 immensely great, and give the nobility a too great 
 and not sufficiently divided power. 113 
 
 u They must certainly be placed by a wise legis- 
 lator in a situation wherein they can be useful to 
 the state, to the king, and to the people; and 
 wherein they prove no incumbrance to any mem- 
 ber of the state. The jurisdiction cannot be en- 
 trusted to them ; they have too many matters to 
 settle with their bondsmen, their farmers, and the 
 king, which would greatly influence their deci- 
 sions ; and the Anglo-Saxon nobility have, besides, 
 not been zealous enough in enlightening their 
 minds, as that we may entrust them with the very 
 difficult task of drawing justice from the darkness 
 in which it is oftentimes concealed. For judges, 
 men must be selected who are brought up to read, in 
 the knowledge of the laws, and in the research of 
 principles for every case. The judge must not be 
 settled in the county, wherein he must likewise not 
 
116 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 possess any property, nor any interest ivherefore to 
 turn the scales of justice on any one' party. 114 
 
 " Much less should the power of arms and the 
 command in war be allotted to the earl. The 
 warriors belong to the country and to its father — 
 the king, and are not the property of an earl nor 
 of the county. The noble might certainly be 
 very advantageously employed in commanding 
 hundreds and thousands of soldiers. His experi- 
 ence in arms, his ambition, and even the respect 
 with which the commoners are inspired, fits him 
 for the command. But the general, the colonel, 
 and the captain, must be selected by the king, 
 and no right to dignities in war should be inhe- 
 rited. The king selects the most able and zealous 
 citizens of the state. Some are, from birth, timid or 
 weak; and others, from capriciousness, unjust or 
 evil-minded. 115 
 
 " The common soldier, the captain, and the 
 colonel, must be subject only to the king, and to 
 none else. As England is now administered, 
 every county is the seat of a petty king, who has 
 his own sorrows and his own advantages, and who 
 only studies the general welfare if it be in accord- 
 ance with his own. The king must likewise direct 
 the exercises of war ; he must give orders as to 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOE. 117 
 
 where every legion shall be marched to, and to 
 what purpose they shall serve; he must nourish 
 and arm them ; an unanimous spirit must revive 
 the whole forces of the country, and unite them 
 all to one purpose." 
 
 Alfred listened attentively. He felt the truth 
 of the observations which Amund addressed to 
 him ; but the wise king observed, at the same time, 
 that such a great alteration in the powers of the 
 nobles would produce a general revolt, which 
 could not be easily quelled. He vowed to dimi- 
 nish their too extensive privileges, but acknow- 
 ledged that the execution of this decision would 
 require much time, and should only take place 
 gradually. He withdrew, in fact, the jurisdiction 
 from the nobility, but his early death prevented 
 him from diminishing the power which they had 
 in military matters. 
 
 The king, nevertheless, made an objection to 
 his friend. " Amund withdraws from the nobility 
 the command in warfare, and the seat in the court 
 of justice; but what kind of justice does he reserve 
 for these nobles, that they may be useful to their 
 country." 
 
 " Alfred," said Amund, " assembles yearly the 
 
118 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 nobles of the realm, and considers with them the 
 welfare of the country ; this assembly he only calls 
 at will, but it should be permanent, and moreover 
 founded on the constitution of the state. The 
 three powers of the realm — the king, the nobles, 
 and the delegates of the people, should assemble 
 every year. The day of the opening of this great 
 convention is fixed by the king, and he alone can 
 dissolve it. 116 
 
 " The head of each noble lineage possesses a 
 hereditary and essential voice in the meeting of 
 the states of the empire, and nobility is created by 
 the king, and inherited by all future male genera- 
 tions. This hereditary right, allotted to the noble 
 and independent, would be lost if the granted 
 privilege died with the ennobled and meritorious 
 
 " On the meeting of the diet all great business of 
 the empire, the taxes, and laws, are propounded in 
 the hall where the knights meet, and no decision 
 becomes legally valid unless sanctioned by the 
 nobility. To this assembly the bishops are joined, 
 as they alone possess some of the sciences; 118 the 
 consideration of the business would be an emula- 
 tion for the nobles, which would elevate their 
 minds, by exciting them to use all their power to 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 119 
 
 speak before their co-governors on all questions, 
 with profundity and impression. This is the only 
 method of withdrawing the nobles from the occu- 
 pation of hunting and arms, and to invite them 
 to adorn their minds with a knowledge of the 
 laws and the history of their country. 119 The 
 presence of learned and experienced bishops will 
 increase their ardour, and they will be ashamed to 
 allow themselves to be guided by those who are 
 born far beneath them, and are only approximate 
 to them by the force of their mental faculties. 
 In assemblies in which men can only make 
 impressions by conviction, the preference of birth 
 cannot be allowed a preponderance over equal 
 nobleness of mind; and he who will not submit 
 himself to others' opinions, must learn to support 
 his own by a superior knowledge of the case, and 
 powerful eloquence. This kind of emulation 
 awoke orators and statesmen in warlike Rome; 
 it formed the precise justness of a Csesar, the 
 flowing eloquence of a Tullius, and the manful 
 seriousness of a Cato. 120 
 
 " I would go farther," continued Amund, " I 
 would leave neither to the bishops nor the judges 
 the last decision of justice. I would convert the 
 meeting-hall of the knights into a supreme court 
 of justice, in which disputes should be finally 
 
120 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 decided. The learned men would merely assist in 
 this court, but the nobles judge. I hope, like- 
 wise, that such a right would, from their thirsting 
 ambition for honour and their innate privilege, 
 induce the nobles to strive after that function, and 
 endeavour to merit it by their knowledge of the 
 law, their natural moderation, and the impression 
 and character of their elocution. I have no doubt 
 that the ignorant knights, who commonly attest 
 their credentials with engraved stones, would, after 
 a few years, be able to administer the great busi- 
 ness of the kingdom. 
 
 " Then the king could select from amongst 
 them the chancellors, the ambassadors, the council, 
 and the higher functionaries of the state, who are 
 now selected from the priests and monks. The 
 nobles, who now live as retired princes in their 
 castles, would be drawn to the court, would be 
 more connected with the king, and more united 
 to him by their dignity. The people would per- 
 ceive with pleasure that the king divided his 
 power with such men, beneath whose rank they 
 &re born themselves, and would envy them less 
 than plebians risen from amongst them to these 
 high offices. 
 
 Such a change in the state can be easily effected. 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 121 
 
 It leaves the high functions of the burghers undis- 
 turbed ; but what I now have to demonstrate the 
 king will find more strange ; nevertheless the con- 
 stitution of the state which I will trace is nothing 
 more than the extremely old constitution of all the 
 northern people, the Germanians, the Scandina- 
 vians, the powerful Franks, and even that of the 
 Saxons, although the preponderance of the nobi- 
 lity has successively oppressed the people, and 
 abased it nearly to servitude. 121 
 
 " Our ancestors were all alike ; he who carried 
 weapons, possessed an equal share in the govern- 
 ment of the people, a security he was prepared to 
 purchase with his blood. When great decisions 
 were to be taken, war declared, or peace con- 
 cluded, the whole nation was assembled, the army 
 of free Celts, its shouts, the sound of clashing 
 shields, announced the will of the people, which 
 became a law. They selected their commanders, 
 and even their kin^s. The kino: was a warrior, 
 who acquired the confidence of the people by 
 his bravery. He was a general, but not master of 
 his co-citizen ; even from the fruit of his victories 
 there was no pretence that he could claim for 
 booty in preference to a common citizen. 122 
 
 "All men have the same right to happiness; 
 G 
 
122 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 and a state must be formed to make as many of 
 its inhabitants as possible happy, and that in the 
 highest degree which it is possible to obtain; it 
 is there that a despotic government is faulty. 123 
 It only provides for the power and happiness of 
 the regent, and to that sacrifices the comfort of 
 the subject, who is considered as a mere tool by 
 which the monarch executes his purposes. But 
 wise legislators do not require among many milli- 
 ons that only one should enjoy perfect happiness. 124 
 Nor should the power at any time be separated 
 from the capability of exercising it. To an enlight- 
 ened mind, it seems contradictory to see a knight 
 in a cradle, as his delicate hands may, perhaps, 
 never be strong enough to handle a sword. It 
 seems perfectly ridiculous not to find in the evi- 
 dent advantages of a rational mind, nor in those 
 of manly courage, but only in the privilege of 
 ancestors, sufficient grounds for one to command 
 those, without whose counsels he cannot even 
 lead himself." l24a 
 
 Alfred replied: — "My ancestors acted wisely 
 in changing that portion of the constitution. Men 
 are not all alike : such an equality is a fiction of 
 proud sophists. 125 Yalour raises one citizen above 
 another to a deserved height, but wisdom can raise 
 him above all* He who is able to give counsels, 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 123 
 
 that will lead a whole nation to prosperity, is of 
 greater utility to the people than one of the thou- 
 sands who follow him through the path which he 
 points out, and which they would themselves never 
 have discovered. The value of every citizen con- 
 sists in the portion he contributes towards the 
 general welfare. 
 
 " If men are not all alike, their voices cannot 
 be worthy of a like esteem. The initiated opinions 
 of a thousand ignorant men are not worth more 
 than the wisdom of the one, whom they all follow. 
 The multitude are often misled by yielding to the 
 fiery words of ambition, construed to the taste 
 and prejudice of the people, and ornamented with 
 flattering eloquence. I have studied the cruel 
 effects of the speeches of a discontented tribune, 
 of an ambitious Cleon, and of a seducing Demos- 
 thenes, which neither the serious profundity of 
 Phocion, nor the undisguised virtue of the younger 
 Cato, could resist. 126 
 
 " Like the waves of the seas raised by a heavy 
 gale, the minds of the thoughtless people are 
 agitated by the directions they receive from an 
 agreeable orator. Of all forms of government, I 
 would least approve of that in which the superior 
 power is in the hands of the people. They are 
 G 2 
 
124 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 neither prepared by education for politics, nor 
 have they acquired experience from practice ; how 
 can they, who were raised from common occu- 
 pations, with uncultivated minds, decide on the 
 highest matters of the realm? Neither wisdom nor 
 my friend would wish to do this, he, who has seen 
 so many nations, and who has learned from history 
 how to give advice for the present times." 127 
 
 " I am far/' said Amund, " from drawing the 
 people to the deliberation, and to trust them with 
 the supreme power:— too well do I know how a 
 multitude judges. I have been deputed as ambas- 
 sador from the Byzantian court to the Pazinakes, 
 who live on the banks of the cataracts of Borys- 
 thenes, of which the capital is Setscha. All 
 the warriors of the nation live there without 
 admitting any women ; and from that island they 
 make destructive sallies into the neighbouring 
 Sarmatia, into fruitful Datia, and into wealthy 
 Bulgaria. 127a These warriors assemble every year, 
 and select their leaders and their judges. Every 
 citizen is equal to the other, and the voice of an 
 inexperienced lad is equally valued with that of 
 an old man who had carried on the wars of his 
 people for fifty years, and, as commander, had led 
 them to victories. At the same time an inquiry 
 into the conduct of the leader of the past year is 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 125 
 
 held, and a verdict given. I have witnessed that a 
 general, unheard and unconvicted, was ill-treated, 
 deprived of all his estates, and expelled the rights 
 of the country, merely on a suspicion that he was 
 inclined towards Byzantium. Neither the honour, 
 nor the property, nor the life of a citizen, enjoy 
 the lowest security in a constitution, where the 
 will of the mass is considered the only existing 
 law. 128 After some years other orators arose, and 
 the sage, who, as a traitor to the people, had 
 suffered the severest punishment, was replaced in 
 his seat of honour. The Pazinakes are Scythes, 
 and unlearned ; but did the people of Rome show 
 more justice to the victorious Coriolanus, to his 
 preserver, Camillus, or to Tullius Cicero? Has 
 Athens not banished Aristides, executed Phocion, 
 and sentenced a cup of poison to Socrates, the 
 first man who applied philosophy to promote virtue. 
 If power remains in the hands of the ignorant, if the 
 constitution of the state cannot oppose a dam to the 
 torrent of prejudices, the mass of the people become 
 themselves the tyrants ; for those are the real tyrants 
 who consider their will the only existing laiv. 129 
 
 " But it is easy to give to the people an essen- 
 tial share in government, without slackening the 
 rein to unjust actions. They — the people — have, 
 however, a certain claim to a share in govern- 
 
126 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 ment: they form the chief part of the nation. 
 Their industry nourishes the king and the noble, and 
 their blood purchases security and peace to the mother 
 country.™ Their happiness, indeed, forms the 
 most essential part of the prosperity of the whole 
 state; and to acquire that none can strive with 
 more ardour or more faith than the people them- 
 selves, who long for that happiness. The nobles 
 accustom themselves too easily to look with con- 
 tempt upon the people; they are too much dis- 
 posed to lay the burden of the state upon them, 
 and to free themselves from it. 131 Often, but too 
 often, has a prince thought to become more happy 
 by increasing his power, and found this increase 
 in the abasement of his people, by whose im- 
 poverishment alone he could extricate himself 
 from the abyss into which his desires to triumph, 
 his inclination to lust, and his vanity nourished 
 by pomp, had plunged him. 
 
 " But before the people can have a share in the 
 government, they must be free. This, as yet, the 
 Anglo-Saxons are not. They are farmers of the 
 nobles, who can force them at will from their 
 lands, and deprive them of the means of subsis- 
 tence, of the fruits of the earth, and of their 
 labour. The people must have property, and 
 must possess the land which they cultivate. So 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 127 
 
 long as they only toil for the profit of the landlord — so 
 long as the cultivation of the field only increases the 
 grandeur of the earl, without enriching the countryman 
 — so long will the peasant be unwilling to cure the 
 defects of the earth, or to try to increase its fruitful- 
 ness by his labour. He will not drain the ditches to 
 lead away the polluting water ; he will not put ferti- 
 lizing earth on fields which are not his own ; he will 
 return with avarice and economy to the earth that 
 ivhich the earth has yielded him ; he will find it suf- 
 ficient to enjoy himself without heeding whether, after 
 his lease is expired, the land becomes a desert : a pro- 
 prietor provides for the future fertility of the soil; his 
 ivish is that it should yield to him in his old age his 
 necessary subsistence; that it should nourish his chil- 
 dren and grandsons. He works with zeal and pleasure 
 upon an improvement which shall better his own situ- 
 ation, and risks a present expense and the labour of to- 
 day, that after years, after centuries, the field may pro- 
 duce more sheaves, and the planted forest yield more 
 shade to his descendants. , 132 
 
 " To transfer the possession of lands into the 
 hands of the people, the king must grant them 
 perpetual leases of his dominions, and abolish 
 the law of primogeniture of the nobles. If the noble 
 could sell his estate, or distribute it amongst 
 his children, the immense lands of the earl would 
 
128 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 soon be divided, and would arrive through in- 
 numerable channels into the hands of the labourers, 
 who could then always pay a higher price for land, 
 which would only require a smaller expense from 
 them, and would produce them a larger income 
 than to the noble, who is obliged to divide the 
 fruits of the ground with the farmer. 133 
 
 " Neither can a wisely balanced state admit 
 that one citizen should seek protection from an- 
 other. Only the state itself, its guardian the 
 king, and its will the law, should protect the life, 
 the property, and the honour of every member of 
 the nation. There are amongst the Anglo-Saxons 
 many thousands who have sought protection from 
 acts of violence by the nobles. This usurpation on 
 the rights of the state is inadmissible. The citizen 
 will then be no longer attached to his country, 
 nor to his king, but only to his protector, and 
 expecting from him his preservation, will strive to 
 serve him by his obedience, and will rise with him 
 to rebellion, not because he is oppressed by the 
 king, but merely because he cannot then separate 
 himself from the noble, on whose protection he 
 rests his security. 
 
 "Neither should justice be administered by the 
 noble; nor should he punish crimes ; nor should he 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 129 
 
 shed, in the name of the law, the blood of criminals. 1 ** 
 With the sword of justice, the noble likewise 
 intimidates the citizen, whose property depends on 
 a verdict of the nobles, and his life on their arbi- 
 tration. All powers of the empire must be con- 
 centrated in the state, and none should be allowed 
 to place itself between the state and the people. 
 Still less can prudence approve of citizens and 
 boroughs forming a league among themselves, and 
 the whole union taking upon them to defend each 
 other. 135 If an important member of such a con- 
 federacy happened to consider himself offended, 
 even though it were without cause, and should 
 regard the endured grievance as of more conse- 
 quence than the quietness of the state, how easy 
 were it for the whole league to revolt, unlawfully 
 to oppress the defender, and to kindle a civil war? 
 One confederation might fall out with the other ; 
 whole provinces might sieze their weapons, and on 
 Eugland might they wreak their vengeance. All 
 wrongs should be resented by the law, and to 
 the king alone should be allowed the use of the 
 sword." 
 
 Alfred listened attentively. The wise king 
 
 sufficiently felt that the constitution of his realm 
 
 was not justly balanced ; that the nobles had too 
 
 much power, and himself not enough, and that 
 
 G 3 
 
130 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the people were perfectly impotent. But his 
 experience and reflection convinced him that all 
 these evils were not to be removed by a strong- 
 remedy, and that only a long series of mild 
 measures were necessary to improve the state, 
 without putting it in inevitable danger. 136 He 
 executed what circumstances allowed him, and 
 only after many centuries were all the wishes of 
 Amund fulfilled. But Alfred effected something. 
 He made a law which obliged every master to give 
 freedom to such of his vassals as became Chris- 
 tians, after the space of a year. 
 
 "The people," continued the combatant, at a 
 later period of their intercourse, " are now free, 
 and their chains are broken. It is therefore now 
 possible to give them that share which nature has 
 assigned ; but the unbridled mass must not admi- 
 nister that power. The people must select a great 
 council from amongst them, which, united with 
 the king and the nobles, would represent the 
 third power of the realm, and form one of the 
 states of the empire, in whose united hands the 
 rudder should be placed. The number of these 
 representatives must be so great, that not one, powerful 
 among the few, shall have too much influence; that a 
 bad prince shall not, by presents and lucrative offices, 
 seduce to his interest too great a portion of these repre- 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 131 
 
 sentatives, and make the deputies tools of oppression, 
 instead of intercessors for the people. 111 
 
 " The men who should be selected to represent 
 the people must be men of property, men who 
 cannot be so easily corrupted to accept presents, 
 whose time, devoted to the service of the country, 
 is free from low labour; and icho have received an 
 education that renders them capable to deliberate 
 with knowledge on the high rights of the people, 
 and the welfare of the empire; and to find out the 
 means of promoting the general weal, as well as 
 to avert menacing evils. This inherited wealth of 
 a deputy can be most exactly ascertained by mea- 
 suring the ground, and from it the amount which 
 a representative of the people should possess. I 
 regard the ground as the only positive wealth, and 
 the most secure, which connects a man to his 
 mother-country. Metals and moveables can be 
 bought by a citizen of another country, but his 
 property in land he can nowhere possess and enjoy, 
 except in England. Let the realm be in pros- 
 perity, and his estates will be productive to him. 
 Peace, order, justice, and wise institutions, will 
 make his acres fruitful, and himself wealthy. In 
 time of disturbances, in the decrease of order and 
 trade, and in the misfortunes of the realm, his 
 fields will be changed into deserts. 138 
 
132 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 " According to the book in which the wisdom of 
 Alfred has registered the number of acres of the 
 kingdom, two hundred and forty three thousand 
 herds are recorded. Of these, five hundred men 
 should be selected for the great council of the 
 realm. Those proposed must be in possession of 
 five hundred herds, and every elector should be 
 owner of at least five. 139 
 
 " As six thousand souls live in the realm, three 
 thousand assemble every time to elect the repre- 
 sentatives ; but these electors must also have their lands 
 within the country ; the possessor of the acres has alone 
 a real interest in their welfare. He who possesses 
 nothing can lose nothing in disorder and riot, and 
 he can easily be bribed at a little price, or by the mere 
 satisfying of his sensual desires, to let the country be 
 represented by individuals ivho have neither the will 
 nor the ability to fulfil the duties of that high office. 
 I find that sixteen acres of land qualify the 
 countryman to give his vote at elections of 
 deputies. 140 
 
 " Every year, after the fruits of the earth are 
 housed, the king assembles the nobles and the re- 
 presentatives of the commons. 141 To those deputies 
 by whom the people are represented, the wants 
 of the crown are submitted; for a heavy, long- 
 
ALFEED AND HIS COUNSELLOE. 133 
 
 protracted war, and maintenance of a navy, cannot 
 be supplied by the domains of the king ; and it 
 would be injurious to the state if these royal 
 possessions were too much enlarged. They pos- 
 sess the fault that they are not the property of 
 the individuals who cultivate them, and therefore 
 never obtain the complete attention that the real 
 possessor bestows upon his own estates. To allow 
 to the king the right of arbitrarily fixing the 
 amount of the taxes, were to sacrifice the property 
 of the people to the desires of the prince. To 
 await voluntary gifts, were at all times an inde- 
 finite and uncertain assistance, which would 
 increase the power of the noble, and lessen that 
 of the monarch. 142 
 
 " The greatest attention to the exact distri- 
 bution of burdens, and useful employment of the 
 taxes raised, cannot be expected better than from 
 those who have to bear those contributions. The 
 representatives of the people should therefore take into 
 consideration the requests of the king, and the necessary 
 corresponding sums ivhich they should also levy upon all 
 proprietors in the kingdom^ so that the measurement 
 of tlve fruit-producing territory should form the scale 
 of the contributions." 
 
 Amund could not foresee that the wants of the 
 
134 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 state would be immensely increased ; that future 
 generations of wealthy citizens would arise, whose 
 treasures would not consist in estates, but in 
 vessels, merchandize, wools, stocks of all kinds, 
 and in their commerce. To future ages was 
 reserved the raising of other contributions, be- 
 sides the land tax, on the implements of splendour 
 and merchandize ; the charging of the importation 
 of merchandize with duties and tolls, and the 
 keeping of a special legion of officers for the collection 
 of those taxes. 
 
 " The consent of the nobles to these contribu- 
 tions," continued Amund, "must certainly be 
 obtained, for there are also citizens who are 
 proprietors of lands, and they must likewise bear 
 the burdens which the wants of the state re- 
 quire ; but nothing more than their consent or 
 their refusal is needed, and the regulation must 
 solely depend on the people, because it not only 
 attacks the nobles in their abundance, but the 
 commoners in their comfort, and even in their 
 necessities. 144 The noble would but too soon conceive 
 the idea of shaking the burden off his shoulders on to 
 those of the commoners, if he preserved some power in 
 the distribution of the taxes. ub 
 
 "No estate can be exempted from those general 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 135 
 
 and constant contributions. The lands of the 
 church must, indeed, assist to bear the burden 
 which serves to the maintenance of the state, for 
 their preservation depends also on its welfare. 
 If the estates of the priests were excepted, the 
 remainder of the citizens would succumb under 
 the weight, for the church is a whirlpool, which 
 constantly swallows up, but returns nothing. U( > Alfred, 
 who loves religion, and, for her sake, the church, 
 will gracefully excuse the rough sincerity of a 
 Northman, for even his own estates, those of the 
 crown, must contribute their share of the taxes, for 
 the king also obtains from the taxes the means of satis- 
 fying his wants ." 147 
 
 Alfred was indeed devoted to the church ; he 
 had adopted at Rome a hierarchy, which he at- 
 tributed to the virtues of Leo. His love for arts 
 induced him to bestow his friendship on the 
 priests and monks, who at that time only pre- 
 served some remnants of ancient learning. Nations 
 were not then taught by abuses the dangers which 
 their liberty incurred by submitting to the church; 
 it was willingly: and the well-disposed believed 
 that they worshipped God in worshipping his 
 servants. Amund's words surprised the pious 
 Alfred, but made no impression upon him. He 
 ascribed these too free thoughts to the opinions 
 
136 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 of the many unbelievers among whom Amund 
 had sojourned. 
 
 Amund continued: — " The amount of the con- 
 tributions must be fixed by the wants of the state. 
 In time of peace I would fix it at the tenth part 
 of the annual revenues, and in time of war at the 
 fifth. The statistical description of the country, 
 which Alfred's wisdom has provided, extensively 
 facilitates the calculation and levying of these 
 taxes. 148 
 
 "Another task of the representatives of the 
 people is the legislation ; the laws are always 
 chains, which fetter natural liberty; the citizen 
 bears them willingly, because they also protect 
 him, because he sacrifices with pleasure a portion 
 of his freedom to society, which shelters him 
 from the attacks of other evil-minded citizens; 
 because all laws harmonize in one purpose, which 
 is to increase and secure the happiness of every 
 citizen. But by others than these the free Ger- 
 man will not be bound. In himself alone he 
 trusts not to part with more of his liberty than 
 imperiously required for the general welfare. 149 
 The nobles may 'project the laws, and so may the dele- 
 gates : but they must in either case be approved of by 
 both states of the realm, and sanctioned by the kiny. lb0 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 137 
 
 There is nothing more difficult than to make laivs, 
 
 because they must give an equally just direction-line 
 
 for so many widely different cases, but few of which 
 
 men can foresee. Accordingly, the laws must be often 
 
 considered, and not too hastily adopted; they must, at 
 
 least in many instances, only be given for a limited 
 
 period, that their results may be carefully examined. 1 * 1 
 
 Alfred has prescribed wise laws to his Saxons; 
 
 but posterity may bring forth fresh wants, and 
 
 require new reformations. Since laws should be 
 
 gradually established, they must not be hastily 
 
 abolished; and Amund would advise that the laws 
 
 be made by the majority of voices, but not removed by 
 
 less than two-thirds of the suffrages; for by nothing is 
 
 the strength of laws more broken and weakened than 
 
 by repeated alterations. The legislator who abolishes, 
 
 or even reforms a law, discloses its Heedlessness to the 
 
 public; but the suspicions of error fall with a like weight 
 
 upon the new laic. Why should not the man who erred 
 
 yesterday err to day? But punishment does not invest 
 
 the laics with greater power, than the inner conviction that 
 
 they are also salutary to the individual bound by them. 152 
 
 " Xevcrtheless punishment there must be. The 
 selfishness of man impels him to satisfy his pas- 
 sions, by committing actions against the general 
 welfare. Men should, therefore, in their own 
 interest arm themselves against such selfishness; 
 
138 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 and every citizen should be convinced that the 
 fulfilment of his desires will but make him un- 
 happy. 153 The punishment must be mild but inevit- 
 able. The wisdom of the legislator consists therein that 
 the culprit cannot escape justice ; and that point once 
 attained, double the crime will be prevented, with far 
 less sufferings on the part of the culprit™ 
 
 " Before the delegates of the people all conces- 
 sions of liberties, privileges, and licenses must be 
 brought. The king may too easily be induced, by 
 the skilful eloquence of a favourite mediator, to 
 give privileges injurious to other citizens. 155 As 
 every part of the kingdom has its intercessor at 
 the great assembly, it could not easily occur that 
 a citizen, a village, or a town were favoured at 
 the expense of another. 
 
 " All other business of the realm is likewise 
 submitted to the consideration of the commoners. 
 The king concludes peace and declares war ; but 
 as the latter throws on the shoulders of the people 
 an immense burden, and as, on the conclusion of 
 peace, the welfare of the realm can with the best 
 intentions be overlooked, a wise king will always 
 combine to the inspirations of his own prudence the 
 results of the considerations of his great council ; but 
 if the functionaries of the state neglect so mode- 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 139 
 
 rate a step, the representatives of the people possess 
 a natural right, not to prescribe to the king his 
 decisions, but to weigh the grounds for it, and to 
 represent to the king their doubts, and point out 
 to him the probable consequences of the decision 
 of the court. 156 
 
 "By this surveyance the people can watch over 
 the counsellors of the king, as they will never 
 advise evidently unjust actions, nor assist in 
 resolutions which would be clearly disastrous to 
 the realm. 157 The hatred of the whole nation is 
 too strong for even the most powerful minister. 
 It is likewise founded on the natural order that 
 the people can make representations against all 
 injurious measures of the court, and principally 
 against unwise and unjust councils, as those from 
 which the whole people would have to suffer; and 
 how unwise must be the king who will not listen 
 to the voice of all his people? 158 
 
 " The general assembly must be able to delibe- 
 rate on all subjects, and no power should prevent 
 the lowest of the representatives from frankly pro- 
 posing what he thinks proper for the general wel- 
 fare. The voice of truth should be heard without 
 hindrance, and even false conviction of wrong 
 conclusions should fearlessly be delivered. For if 
 
140 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the unsoundness of an opinion present an obstacle 
 to its utterance, the powerful will soon be able to 
 silence the speech of the weak, by declaring their 
 arguments to be unfounded. The ill advice of 
 the bold ignoramus will not easily pass through an 
 assembly which a powerful people has composed of 
 its most distinguished men, and even should the 
 unwise counsels obtain the applause of the mul- 
 titude, there exists a counter-balance in the 
 approval of the nobles, without which no will of 
 the commons should be carried into effect ; and in 
 case even the nobles followed the commons in 
 their evil ways, the king possesses the supreme 
 power of rejecting whatever he considers contrary 
 to the general welfare." 159 
 
 Alfred had never beheld an assembly of the 
 people, and was only connected with that of the 
 nobles. He was surprised at the great share in 
 the government which his northern friend allowed 
 the people, and objected: " Amund's virtues and 
 wisdom, and the knowledge of many countries and 
 many people, have enlightened him ; an assembly 
 composed of such men as my friend, would soon 
 raise a people to be the most superior on the globe ; 
 but even were such gifts of Providence not so 
 scarce, does Amund hope that the ignorant com- 
 moners would discover and elect such men ? How 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 141 
 
 often would not an exterior affability, a noble birth, a 
 liberal use of great wealth, even isolated great actions, 
 -prompted by ambition, entice the people to elect men 
 whose exertions strive more after their own aggran- 
 dizement than that of their country ? 160 
 
 " Will not even the ambition of these deputies 
 tempt them to use the prejudices which are so 
 easily spread over the people, as instruments of 
 their personal favour ? Will they not adopt the 
 will, the inconsiderate will of the communities, as 
 a direction to their votes, whereby to obtain the 
 favour of their electors? Will not thus arise such 
 a superior power of the people as Amund would 
 surely disapprove of himself; and, which is the worst 
 kind of tyrannies? How has Amund prevented the 
 inhabitants of a hundred, those of a community, or 
 of a county, from prescribing to the deputy who 
 represents them, the decision he is to protect? And 
 where will the honest man be found who will oppose 
 himself to the imprudent will of a misled people ? 
 who will support with patience the loss of their 
 esteem and favour against the feelings of having 
 preferred to it the general welfare ? 161 
 
 " Will not the inexperienced commoners always 
 endeavour to increase their power, without per- 
 ceiving that they annihilate the equilibrium of 
 
142 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the state, when they reduce the share of its admi- 
 nistration allotted to the nobles and the king? 162 
 Did the Roman people, after once tasting the 
 sweetness of freedom, not always thirst for power ? 
 Did they ever cease to revolt against the nobility? 
 Did it not raise their tribunes above the consuls, 
 and even above the dictators? Have those tri- 
 bunes not done all for their own grandeur, and for 
 the people's power ? Have they not even stopped 
 the triumphal car of the victorious when of hated 
 lineage ? Has not the eloquence of selfish tri- 
 bunes brought the republic to the very brink of 
 destruction, from which their filial veneration for 
 Corolianus alone saved them? Did not, at that 
 time, flatterers of the commoners, possessed of a 
 capacity for leading the state, press those from the 
 rudder who led them to victory ? Have not the 
 people preserved this hatred, contrary to the 
 general good, on Scipio, and on Tullus? Have 
 not the people been unjust while the consuls 
 remained generous ? Have they not adjudged to 
 themselves the fertile fields near Ardea, without 
 any right, and stained the glory of justice pre- 
 served by the nobles?" 163 
 
 " A man" said Amund, " who takes his seat in the 
 great council of the nation, is no longer the servant of 
 a borough; he is counsellor of the realm; he no longer 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. ] 43 
 
 represents the interest of some houses, but the business 
 of a powerful state, and the welfare of the country. 
 He has opportunities of viewing the reasons for 
 wise resolutions, and he owes obedience to those 
 who have convinced him, and not to the cries of 
 countrymen who know of business but its super- 
 ficiality, and this only from vague rumour. Those 
 cannot advise or command who have not weighed 
 the grounds, and the counter-grounds, who have 
 not compared the promised advantages to the pro- 
 bable consequence. Never should the advantages 
 of some villages prevent the deputies from pro- 
 viding for the best of the realm in general. 16 * 
 
 " There certainly will always be found among a 
 free nation some discontented. There will always 
 exist some troublesome citizens, who disdain the 
 good because it is not the best. 165 A general pre- 
 judice can pre-occupy the people ; it can, like a 
 contrary wind, carry the ship right against the 
 rocks ; and when the whole nation is misled, no 
 constitution can resist the hurricane. The most 
 terrible despot has, at Rome, in the empire of the 
 Saracens, and in that of the peaceful Serens, not 
 been able to resist the general discontent; and 
 he will be the more exposed to the most cruel 
 insurrection, because his unlimited power induces 
 him to risk more attacks for the general good, than 
 
144 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 the prince whose power is limited. The latter 
 would be stopped by the laws, by the nobles, and 
 by the representatives of the people in the course 
 of his hardy enterprise long before he can have 
 gone so far as to offend and unite the whole nation 
 against him. 
 
 " The interest of a county, the petty advantages 
 of a borough, will, by the opposing interests of 
 other countries and other towns, be kept in equi- 
 librium. If the prince offends not the whole 
 nation, he will always find friends among rational 
 men, who soon discover what is profitable to the 
 whole state ; and were it not better to support 
 some less perfected qualities of the prince, than 
 venture the dangers which the threatened downfal 
 of the sovereign family would produce? The 
 nobles would not yield to the people the ruling 
 power, before which their privileges would vanish. 
 They would oppose to the cries of the populace 
 the influence by which they acquire their wealth ; 
 their luxuries, and even their prejudices. 
 
 "If violent orators incited the people to take de- 
 structive measures, even jealousy would arm other 
 members of the great council of the nation with 
 such eloquence as would obtain an invincible 
 weight from its truth. A whole nation will seldom 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 145 
 
 agree in erroneous notions, as truth alone can pro- 
 duce conviction. 
 
 " I found my hopes on this ground : — the pre- 
 judice of the multitude would certainly bring 
 sorrow upon the king, and often stop the best mea- 
 sures, and could moreover remove the first officer 
 of the state from the rudder ; but to overthrow the 
 throne, the cry of the mass were too impotent, 
 if the prince has not forfeited the general favour 
 by real and important attacks upon liberty. The 
 murmurs of the unreasonably discontented are cer- 
 tainly acts of ingratitude against a good king ; but 
 it were far more dangerous to attempt stifling 
 the voice of the people ; it is the path by which 
 truth gains admittance to the throne: it is a 
 warning call of Providence, which reminds the 
 prince not to pursue the wrong course he has 
 entered." 166 
 
 " Amund then believes," replied Alfred, " that, 
 according to the old constitution of the Celts, 
 the government should be divided between the 
 king, the nobles, and the commoners, in a manner 
 which possesses, perhaps, not every perfection of 
 the unlimited power of a good prince, but which 
 would make the cases very scarce in which the 
 king ventures to be extremely bad. Such a 
 H 
 
146 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 government in his opinion may possess less 
 strength, because the powerful members of the 
 state strive, even then, towards different direc- 
 tions; but it ensures the liberty of the citizens, 
 and the peace of the state. For no other con- 
 stitution unites the people so close to the govern- 
 ment as that in which the people have, through 
 their delegates, a share in the government." 167 
 
 "In the Celtic states," replied the counsellor, 
 " every inhabitant who is settled, and is bound 
 by his property to the welfare of the nation, 
 has a share in the legislature, and nothing is 
 done without the consent of those who repre- 
 sent him. He has, himself, elected his represen- 
 tative, and is consequently elector of the legis- 
 lator ; and the whole people have chosen those in 
 whom the power is vested. This right of election 
 gives every citizen a dignity which even the noble 
 must acknowledge ; because the disfavour of the 
 multitude might exclude him from the govern- 
 ment. 168 Every burgher's house is a castle, watched 
 by the laws, in which even the sovereign power cannot 
 -penetrate, unless they open its doors. Such a country 
 where the property of every citizen is sacred, where 
 every burgher elects his legislator, must be beloved by 
 every inhabitant, who cannot but acknowledge his pri- 
 vileges to be superior to those of the citizens of those 
 
ALFEED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 147 
 
 states, to whom neither their liberty nor their property 
 is guaranteed, and where the government is placed in 
 such hands that the people cannot have the slightest 
 influence upon it, Exterior enemies would hardly 
 find a faction in the former state, and the loud com- 
 plaints would soon he changed into a general cry of 
 war if another power were to attach the state, whose 
 subjection would entail an enormous loss upon every 
 citizen" 1 ™ 
 
 Alfred smiled, and responded : — " Amund lias 
 distributed the power to the people with such 
 liberality that he has left nothing for either the 
 nobles or the king. And yet power, which alone 
 is the spring wheel of all transactions, cannot be 
 removed with speed, importance, and certainty, if 
 another power can with one finger check that 
 wheel and stop the movement of business. An 
 enemy summoned to war offends the honour of the 
 crown. He undertakes conquests by which Eng- 
 land is placed in danger ; he oppresses my allies ; 
 and in such a case there are no means to stop the 
 consequent violences and war. But the people who 
 have allotted me subsidies for one year can with- 
 draw them in the following. If I should displease 
 them, would they not either extort the most 
 unreasonable demands from me, or the state he 
 disarmed and fall a prey to its enemies? I con- 
 II 2 
 
148 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 elude an alliance with the Picts. I promise them 
 subsidies against their restless neighbours, and 
 they assist me faithfully. An orator begins to 
 ridicule the Picts and their assistance ; the people 
 refuse to give the subsidies, by which I have hired 
 those useful friends to give their blood in order to 
 save that of my Saxons. The abandoned allies 
 turn enemies, and such mischief can be caused 
 by a mere pleasing harangue of a favourite de- 
 puty." 
 
 "This objection," replied Amund, "is difficult 
 to answer. That which the wise Alfred fears may 
 happen — nay, it will happen, because it arises 
 from human nature. It was thus the discon- 
 tented Romans refused to conquer for the coun- 
 cils, and rather let themselves be defeated than 
 allow Appius to triumph. Alfred's apprehension 
 is one of the consequences of liberty when not 
 led by wisdom. 
 
 " One means remains, which is, that the deputies 
 be not elected yearly, but represent the people 
 for three or for seven years. The electing them 
 for only one year seems to me, besides, prejudicial ; 
 they will be too dependent on the populace, of 
 whom they ought to be perfectly free. Every 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 149 
 
 election is likewise a fermentation, which had better not 
 be too often repeated, for the people to remain indus- 
 trious, laborious, and orderly. If the power of the 
 representatives is secured for several years, the 
 unchanged deputies would probably not reduce, 
 in case of war, the fruits of the efforts of the first 
 year, by refusing their future assistance. They 
 would not risk the vengeance of the nation, which, 
 as blind as it might be to the merits of its kins;, 
 would implacably abhor those by whose obsti- 
 nacy the dignity and safety of the state were 
 sacrificed. The ally would likewise gain confi- 
 dence in England, if the government were fixed 
 for several years, for, the more new elections 
 take place the more the constitution approaches 
 towards government by the people ; but the 
 longer the great senate remains unaltered, the 
 less influence will the populace preserve. 170 
 
 " This duration of the assembly might, perhaps, 
 be used in future centuries as a spring to accele- 
 rate or check the rudder of government, in pro- 
 portion as it may meet with too much resistance, 
 or be pulled along with too great velocity. 
 
 " Human wisdom possesses no remedy to cure all 
 evils, to prevent every excrescence of liberty, or 
 to give to the prince a power which does not tend 
 
150 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 to the oppression of the people. I nevertheless, 
 believe, that from the danger which the prince 
 incurs through the loss of the love of his people, 
 he would find himself in the useful necessity of 
 preparing to carry his sceptre with prudence — not 
 to let it oppress the citizens too much, nor let it 
 become too heavy in his hands. The prince will, 
 in the first year of his reign, learn to surmount 
 the difficulties of a government composed of 
 jealous parties, and to proceed in such a manner 
 that the wiser and better portion of the people 
 may attach themselves to him. He will have 
 nothing to fear, if he strives to become an 
 Alfred." 
 
 The king reflected — not without sorrow — on 
 the proposition which Amund had made. "Not 
 yet," said the wise king, " are my people able to 
 govern themselves. In future enlightened cen- 
 turies they will be more worthy to sit at the rud- 
 der of government. 171 It will be my care to point 
 out to them the path to those daughters of heaven 
 — sciences, wisdom, and truth. While I govern 
 with the power which I have inherited of my an- 
 cestors, it will be my indefatigable exertion that 
 my people shall not repent to see so much power 
 in my hands; and to apply that power in all ways 
 to their use." 172 
 
ALFRED AND HIS COUNSELLOR. 151 
 
 [Alfred not only endeavoured to fortify his 
 kingdom with laws, embellish the cities and cas- 
 tles, and promote arts and sciences, but likewise 
 to increase navigation, trade, and commerce, by 
 discoveries of foreign countries. He found in 
 Qthar the Northman, an experienced navigator, 
 who vastly assisted him in attaining that aim. 
 A portion of Othar's voyages and discoveries will 
 be found in the following book.] 
 
152 
 
 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 
 
 At the extremity of Heligoland (now a well 
 known island in the North Sea) there lived a 
 wealthy nobleman whose name was Othar. 173 He 
 possessed six hundred rein-deers ; and, in a coun- 
 try where every other kind of cattle was scarce, 
 he ploughed with his own horses and oxen. Othar 
 had read much; his mind was enlightened by 
 narratives of travellers, who cultivated their intel- 
 ligence by comparing the manners and customs of 
 the foreigners with their own, whereby they dis- 
 covered the means of improving the latter; and 
 were able to procure their countrymen comforts 
 hitherto unknown, better implements, and better 
 food. Norway was then governed by Harold 
 with the fine hair, a ruler who subdued the 
 petty princes of his realm, and extended the 
 
ALFKED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 153 
 
 rights of the throne. Othar had increased his 
 inclinations for the enjoyment of the general 
 advantages of human nature, by the knowledge 
 of the old Scalds, who sang to a valiant nation the 
 advantages of liberty. 
 
 Othar, feeling an irresistable wish to travel 
 and discover distant lands, embarked, and arrived 
 at Alfred's court as the latter was occupied in 
 raising a naval power. The king received with 
 pleasure a man whom necessity forced to instruct 
 himself in the art of navigation. 
 
 Northmanland had not (besides its rein-deers and 
 game) been gifted by nature with any other means 
 of nourishing its inhabitants than the sea. Between 
 the cliffs of a shore, broken down in fearful preci- 
 pices, between the rocky isles lying before the land, 
 the sea is filled with an inexhaustible multitude of 
 animals, which the courageous inhabitants pursue 
 through all the dangers of winds and ice, and 
 which supply their wants. Food, wherewith in 
 milder climates grateful earth rewards the labour 
 of the ploughman, must be fetched by the hard- 
 ened Northmen from foreign lands, and brought 
 to their huts by long sea voyages; but every 
 Northman is a fisherman and a navigator. Hence 
 the reason that the inhabitants of the Scandina- 
 h3 
 
154 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 vian shores could easily molest with numerous 
 fleets those of the more fertile countries. 
 
 Othar was presented to the king : — " Alfred," 
 said the Northman, "deserves, from his virtues, 
 that the globe should offer him new countries 
 which no other mortal ever has navigated. I hope 
 to discover countries which will increase England's 
 wealth, where a great number of navigators will 
 find rich cargoes for their vessels, and by which 
 the Saxons will learn to maintain the dominion of 
 the seas. I live in regions over which in summer 
 the sun never sets, rising after a short circulation 
 in the boundaries of the horizon; the seas nourish, 
 in those heights, monstrous fishes, compared to 
 which the elephant is but a small animal. Never- 
 theless, they serve as booty to man ; and one of 
 those fishes is of the value of one hundred pounds 
 of silver. My Northmen know how to conquer 
 these monsters ; to them it is mere play to pursue 
 these giants on the seas with their javelins. On 
 the cliffs of these seas are to be found the sea- 
 horse, whose teeth are more esteemed than ivory; 
 and in the high seas the inestimable unicorn, which 
 produces an antidote confidentially given by phy- 
 sicians against every kind of poison. 
 
 "But Othar has greater designs; he has be- 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 155 
 
 longed to men, whom the desire for booty, or the 
 tempestuous winds, drove into new seas. North- 
 land does not reach the extreme angle of the 
 world; it is bounded by the ocean, and in the 
 East flows an immeasurable sea, of which no 
 mortal knows the limits, which reaches fertile 
 Nippon and industrious Cathay. Immense would 
 the fortunes of the Saxons be, and immeasu- 
 rable Alfred's glory, could I succeed in dis- 
 covering in these rich countries the road through 
 which to bring those treasures into the British 
 islands, which enrich so many nations before they 
 find their way into Europe. The silk garments of 
 queens, the finest steel, the noblest copper, the 
 costliest metals, are found in those distant realms; 
 and that people will occupy the highest rank 
 among all nations, who has first discovered the 
 roads of the sea, and who will appropriate to them- 
 selves by navigation the riches of that unknown 
 world. 
 
 " Othar requests two ships, which he will man 
 with experienced sailors, and provisions for twelve 
 months. He will die or discover new realms for 
 the king." 1 ? 4 
 
 Alfred gladly accepted the proposition. Two 
 ships manned with Northern sailors left for 
 
156 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 Heligoland's shores ; and Othar steered his vessels 
 directly towards the angle of the earth. He pei> 
 ceived the extreme end of the then known world. 
 The sea opened in an immense distance towards 
 the east, and the land retired before him towards 
 the south. Othar advanced farther to the north 
 than any mortal had done before him. The sea 
 was open, and the dangers he had to surmount 
 were only trifles to his courage. He captured 
 unicorns, and brought with him a whole cargo 
 of that inestimable antidote ; but as he had just 
 rounded the point of the globe, beyond which it 
 again sinks to the south, he was overtaken by a 
 heavy gale from the east. Yainly would the bold 
 Othar resist. He was driven on a shore where 
 he found a secure harbour, warm sources, and 
 green meadows. 
 
 The inhabitants of those shores were not unlike 
 the Finlanders, among whom Othar had formerly 
 lived. Little and uncouthly shaped, but prepared 
 to bear all the burthens of life, indefatigable in the 
 most difficult tasks ; they attacked with bad wea- 
 pons, and without the assistance of iron, the fearful 
 whale, which served them for food, and whose 
 bones formed the skeleton of their huts. They 
 sought beneath the ice the coy seal, and slew him 
 with javelins, mounted with bones. Fish was 
 
ALFKED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 157 
 
 their corn, their whole nutriment; for the earth 
 produced nothing that man could subsist upon. 
 The country was covered with rocks, and filled 
 in the interior with lofty snow-capped mountains. 
 Never did a tree shoot forth, nor did the rocky 
 soil produce a single fruit. 
 
 « 
 Othar's ships had sustained great injury in the 
 
 storm; their repair required several weeks. He 
 acquired a knowledge of the people who inha- 
 bited the newly discovered shore. He assisted the 
 savages in their fishery, presented them with iron 
 weapons, and instructed them in fastening har- 
 poons to long ropes, which they flung in the 
 whale. By this rope the whale draws his pur- 
 surers along with a speed no storm can imitate, 
 until he becomes weakened by loss of blood. 
 
 Othar taught them the value of the sea-horse 
 teeth, and the means of subduing it. He let 
 them taste of bread, and promised them to return 
 in the following year with the production of the 
 arts of civilized nations, and to barter with them 
 for the booty of the whale and seal. 
 
 In spite of Othar's love for liberty, he had 
 never before seen a country without a ruler. 
 The whole north was governed by petty princes, 
 
158 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 who themselves venerate the kings of Upsal, 
 Lethra, and Northmanland. The inhabitants of 
 the northern coasts obeyed magistrates and laws ; 
 all paid taxes to the state, and sacrificed to it a 
 portion of their liberty. 
 
 Here, in the western north, Othar found no 
 trace of subjection ; no man raised above another, 
 no law, no punishment, and no reward. Every 
 father is master of his children; but the partner of 
 his hut, who lives near him under one roof, re- 
 quires no obedience from him, and shows him, 
 in return, no subjection, but lives with him, like 
 brothers in equality, around the common lamp. 
 Twenty huts are dug in the earth, close to each 
 other, near a plentiful bay; fifty individuals live 
 in these huts, and not a single one gives or accepts 
 the slightest order ; not one living near the fishful 
 bay acquires more superiority among his co- 
 citizens than that which inevitably follows good 
 advice. The savages assemble themselves in 
 common huts, in small villages ; and, in company, 
 man large boats, in which they journey from one 
 bay to another more plentiful. They Combine all 
 their strength to build such a boat ; they conclude 
 a bond against the whale, wage against him a 
 common war, and share the booty ; but with all 
 these alliances, not one of the inhabitants owes 
 the least subjection to the other. 175 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOK. 159 
 
 Othar was desirous of learning what the effects 
 of this lawlessness could be, if the men were less 
 amiable, or their situation the worse for it. He 
 found but little difference between the freest of 
 men, the inhabitants of the north western coast, 
 and the most civilized Europeans. Like in the 
 European, good was here mixed with evil. The 
 savages lived as peaceably as those watched by 
 the wrath of an avenging law. 
 
 But seldom would one of the savages injure, 
 or beat another, like himself. Many lived in- 
 differently, but amicably, together in one hut. At 
 the division of the common spoils there seldom 
 arises a dispute; even sensual love, which awakens 
 in animals the most bloody conflicts, disturbed not 
 the phlegm of these solitary Northmen. 176 
 
 They are, indeed, extremely cold towards each 
 other in the duties of humanity. A child, whose 
 mother died, must inevitably perish, as no other 
 woman will take care of the miserable being. 177 
 They do not, in case of illness, enjoy those services 
 of their fellow-creatures which civilized nations 
 render each other. As the repeated changes of 
 their habitations makes a burden of the sick to 
 the healthy ;^-as no avenger of the violated laws 
 threatens the criminal, a dispute often leads to 
 
160 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 murder. The furious savage, who meets his enemy 
 alone on the solitary sea, has at times overturned 
 his boat, or secretly hurled him from the cliffs 
 into the deep abyss. But such crimes are not 
 frequent, and not more so than with those nations 
 who live under the strongest discipline of religion, 
 and the punishment of society. 
 
 Marriages are just as constant and harmoniz- 
 ing as with other nations. 178 Unfertility is alone 
 despised, because the children, and principally the 
 sons, are the sole assistance which the parents can 
 hope for in old age, in countries where men are 
 not sufficiently united to assist one another in 
 case of need. 
 
 The sense of honour is as powerful as with the 
 civilized northern nations. It extends even On 
 the glory acquired by wit, after which these 
 savages, likewise, strive in their needy life. But 
 still more powerful is covetousness. Superfluity 
 forms here the only difference which raises one man 
 above another. 179 But these savages are rather 
 more to be excused than civilized nations. Their 
 subsistence is dependant on thousands of dangers 
 and accidents, and even their superfluity exist 
 only in victuals, which may suddenly become a 
 necessity. The want of living socially may be 
 
ALFKED AND HIS NAVIGATOK. 161 
 
 the reason which prevented these savages from 
 taming animals. Nature gave them reindeers, but 
 no one knew how to train them to obedience, and 
 to live in friendship with man: these men thus 
 lost a surer subsistence than that which depends 
 on the waves and winds. 
 
 Othar at length convinced himself, that in a 
 perfectly desert country, where there is super- 
 fluous room for the small population, where the 
 sea is open to all, and furnishes subsistence for all, 
 where there are neither acres nor meadows, no 
 property but that under the immediate survey- 
 ance of its possessor ; that, in fine, in a cold coun- 
 try, where all desires, even the most powerful, 
 (that of love,) are moderate, men can live without 
 authority; that also the common wants and advan- 
 tages can lead such uniform men to a social living, 
 and that the vices will not break out with them 
 in greater crimes, than with those who are under 
 princes and laws, because the desires are, with the 
 former, less powerful, making limited punish- 
 ment less necessary. 
 
 Othar's ships were again prepared and equipped 
 ready to support the dangers of the sea. A 
 favourable north-east breeze guided the hardy 
 mariner round the southern point of the frozen 
 
162 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 coast. The earth now inclined towards the south; 
 a large bay lay before them; a mighty river 
 flowed through different mouths into the sea, and 
 served for a secure harbour. The northmen found 
 those shores, although farther north than those of 
 the savages, inhabited with civilized men. The 
 Biarmians had a king and holy rites ; they lived 
 in warm and comfortable houses, and found in 
 fishery, hunting their numerous herds, and in the 
 fruits of the earth, sufficient nourishment. The 
 people were not unlike the Finlanders of Othar, 
 who acknowledged the use of social living. The 
 northern cold, the long winters, the destructive 
 winds ruled here like by the north-western 
 savages ; but the united forces of man had here 
 alleviated the severity of the climate. Under their 
 hands the earth had become fertile; they were 
 acquainted with the use of implements, and 
 assisted one another in preparing and building 
 their houses. Want did not compel them to wander 
 through the deserted country ; they had gardens 
 and fields; and exchanged their superfluities 
 against the more useful merchandizes of southern 
 nations. They were not exposed to famine, which 
 often swept away herds of savages, from unfavour- 
 able weather. What had been impossible for one 
 man was achieved by the united force of the 
 mass, The sciences of civilized nations cast a few 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 163 
 
 of their rays into these distant regions, where a 
 Supreme Being was acknowledged and venerated. 
 
 Othar found that religion enforces the bonds of 
 humanity, and binds us to duties towards our 
 brethren, which the savage knows nothing of; 
 that we feel more tender compassion, alleviate 
 with greater zeal the wants and sufferings of 
 others; and finally, that unsociable men do not 
 advance in arts or sciences, that they neither 
 improve nor perfect anything; but that, on the 
 contrary, civilized people daily invent more means 
 to alleviate the burden of life, and increase the 
 agreeable impressions; that these people grow and 
 augment, while the savages remain in eternal 
 childhood. 
 
 Othar again unfurled his sails, and a favourable 
 breeze from the south-west guided him to the 
 northern angle of the earth. He passed by an 
 island far beyond the countries inhabited by men, 
 eastward of a great isle perpetually covered 
 with ice, where the little that nature produces 
 only nourished animals. The small island was 
 traversed by deep fords, and around it the sea 
 swarmed with whales. Othar promised himself 
 inexhaustible treasures in those ncver-before navi- 
 gated regions, (Spitzbergen,) and to recompense 
 the liberality of the Saxons with them. 
 
164 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 His resolution to fulfil Alfred's wishes was 
 unshakable, namely, to discover the route to 
 Cathay and Nippon, realms of whose extent and 
 wealth the fame had already reached Europe. He 
 passed, on a clear day, by a small island, from 
 which he perceived some smoke arising. " Even 
 here, then," said Othar, " so near the summit of 
 the world, inhabit men ! " and soon saw some 
 strangers, clothed in furs, walking on the shore, 
 and requesting assistance by signs and praying 
 gestures. 
 
 The generous Othar could not see men suffering 
 without taking part in their misfortunes. He 
 embarked in a skiff, and extended his hand, in 
 token of friendship, to the head man of these for- 
 saken beings. They were Biarmians, and their 
 language was not quite unknown to Othar: they 
 solicited, in the name of the general right of 
 humanity, to be delivered from their loneliness. 
 Othar was at once willing to save them ; but they 
 requested first to enter a hut, in which they had 
 lived for six long years. 
 
 The hut was sunk in a cavity, and erected of 
 timber washed away by the waves from distant 
 forests, and which kind nature had directed to 
 those inhospitable shores. The apertures were 
 
ALFKED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 165 
 
 stopped with moss. A fire burned on the solitary 
 hearth, which was never extinguished. The wealth 
 of these unhappy men was preserved in the huts. 
 Hides of bears, valuable foxes, and reindeers, grease 
 of all these animals, thread, ropes, and tissue of the 
 sinews of bears, and some earthern pots were their 
 treasures. The Biarmians treated their host with 
 meat, and the Northmen once more tasted the 
 long-forgotten juice of the barley. 
 
 After dinner, the few men brought their trea- 
 sures and weapons on board the vessels, and a 
 western breeze favoured their voyage to the ex- 
 tremity of the east. To cheer the solitude of the 
 sea, Othar begged of the strangers to narrate to 
 him their history. 
 
 " We are fishermen," said the eldest of the Biar- 
 mians, "and sailed in search of whales; and near 
 this isle were enclosed by the ice. We stepped 
 on shore, and sought some cavern wherein to 
 secure ourselves against the killing cold; in this 
 fearful solitude we saw nothing but cliffs, split 
 by the frost, and the broken pieces fell with 
 fearful crashes into the sea; deserted fields, with- 
 out trees or plants ; hills covered with snow, and 
 a desert, abandoned by all beings, was our realm. 
 We had brought a little iron and some weapons 
 
166 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 with us from the ships, and without difficulty 
 killed a reindeer, for the inhabitants of that shore 
 had never before beheld men, and had not learned 
 to fly from his ambushes. Night came on, and 
 was short, for during whole months the sun never 
 forsook us; but a strong hurricane raged during 
 the night on the sea, and on the morning the ice 
 was dispersed ; but our ships, our only means of 
 safety, had been cast away, and were irrecover- 
 ably lost. 
 
 " We saw ourselves enclosed in a prison, sur- 
 rounded by immense seas. We were far from all 
 assistance, and almost devoid of means of averting 
 the cravings of hunger, the frost, and the fury of 
 the winds ; still our very wants gave us courage. 
 The reindeer which we had killed nourished us for 
 some days ; we drank the melted snow, and found 
 a stock of stranded wood washed on shore by the 
 sea, which was sometimes increased by the wrecks 
 of ships. A single axe and a knife were all our 
 tools. We worked indefatigably in constructing a 
 hut, before the inexorable winter should surprise 
 us. By rapidly turning a piece of wood, we kin- 
 dled a fire, which we never allowed to go out. Of 
 a few nails which we found in the wrecks of the 
 ships, we forged, on hard stones, a hammer and 
 two irons, with which we armed two spears. Of 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 167 
 
 a root likewise presented us by the sea, we made 
 a bow, and of the nails, iron points for the arrows. 
 
 A white bear, the tyrant of this island, who fed 
 upon what he plundered from the reindeers, at- 
 tacked us ; but we were prepared for war, and 
 killed the cruel animal with our spears. Of his 
 veins we spun threads, and they furnished us with 
 strings for our bows, ropes for different uses, and 
 thread, wherewith we prepared our clothes from 
 the furs of the slayed animals. 
 
 " The bow which slayed in the distance gave 
 us power over the animals, which had before been 
 the sole inhabitants of the island. We killed the 
 bears, shot a great number of foxes, and as many 
 reindeer as we needed for our nurture. With 
 angles, to which we fastened small morsels of 
 meat, we easily deceived the fish, and increased 
 our provisions. We found clay, whereof we 
 manufactured some earthern vessels, wherein we 
 could cook, and formed a lamp, which we nourished 
 with bears' grease, and by which we enlightened 
 the darkness of the perpetual nights during the 
 very long winters. The wicks were made of some 
 ends of rope, which we found, from time to time, 
 on wrecks. A single low-growing herb, uniting 
 good taste to wholesomeness, served as a change 
 for our meals. 
 
168 THE STXTH BOOK. 
 
 " Six times we lived to see the perpetual day 
 of the summer; six times, likewise, we endured 
 the terrible nights, which for many months cover 
 these sad fields. The snow which buried our 
 hut, the insupportable cold of the latter winter 
 months, were alleviated by the hut and the fire, 
 which we preserved. The long hours were short- 
 ened by toilsome labours, in which we advanced 
 so far as to make needles out of nails. 
 
 " These occupations raised our spirits in the 
 dull hours, which we could not avoid. Alas! 
 thought I, we must die, and happy will those 
 be who die first, who will hear the consoling voice 
 of his friends, and who can hope, in his last mo- 
 ments, for their assistance, and have his eyes 
 closed by friendly hands. But what will be the 
 fate of the survivor! who will remain without a 
 friend, without assistance; who cannot acquire 
 or enjoy meals, and cannot quench the greatest 
 want of man — thirst ; who will faint alone, and 
 putrify alive. 
 
 "We were threatened to lose our most neces- 
 sary tools. The axe, on which depended our pro- 
 visions of wood, whereby we protected ourselves 
 from the cold, was used to the hilt; of an only 
 knife, nothing remained, and these losses were 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 169 
 
 irreparable. But He who created man can also 
 save him," said the moral Biarmian, "and his 
 kindness has led others, in whom he has en- 
 trusted our safety, from the extreme west to our 
 
 Othar testified his joy at being found worthy of 
 terminating such undeserved misfortunes. "What," 
 said he, musingly, " would man be without art ; 
 for social life were then impossible ? A little iron, 
 produced by the combined labour of a miner, a 
 collier, a potter, a mason, a carpenter, and innu- 
 merable other artisans, has saved the life of those 
 Biarmians. In social life, they learned how to 
 form the iron into tools, the clay into vessels, the 
 thread into ropes, and the hides into clothes. 
 
 "Unhappy were man, indeed, without sociality. 
 The human race would be extinguished in a few 
 years; for children, longer than any animal, remain 
 powerless, and unable to procure themselves the 
 necessaries of life, were it not for the insurmount- 
 able inclination to society which unites the father 
 and mother to nurse tenderly the new being, who, 
 in return, causes them only pain and sorrow, and 
 prompts them to sacrifice to their children their 
 ambition, their quietness, their desires, their lei- 
 sure, and even their aversion for pain." 181 
 I 
 
170 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 Othar sailed, for a while, towards the east with a 
 favourable breeze ; but as the sun entered the sign 
 of the Virgin, the long days declined, and the 
 winds became stronger. A heavy mist covered the 
 sea, and vast floating islands of ice surrounded 
 the ship. The robust Northmen feared not death, 
 if it encountered them in the shape of a sword or 
 a spear ; but they knew that on the frozen north- 
 ern coast every harbour would be a grave; that 
 no land, for an immense distance, produced the 
 necessaries of life ; that their vessel could not resist 
 the shocks of these floating masses of ice — that it 
 was very uncertain whether any part of the 
 deserted regions were at all inhabited — that a 
 miserable death, hunger, and frost, awaited them — 
 and that no courage could resist such evils. 
 
 Our hero surrendered unwillingly ; but the 
 navigation was no longer safe, from the dense 
 atmosphere ; and they risked at every moment to 
 be shattered to pieces against some imperceptible 
 cliff, or some unavoidable island. Their provisions 
 likewise grew slack, and the hope of a future sub- 
 sistence could only be realized in distant southern 
 regions. Othar was obliged to yield to the hard 
 necessity, and to shift his rudder. He brought 
 the grateful Biarmians back to their native shores, 
 loaded his vessel with the scarce furs and with 
 
ALFKED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 171 
 
 the booty of the northern sea animals, and arrived 
 in the beginning of the winter, after having sur- 
 mounted the greatest dangers, at Heligoland. He 
 wintered with his nation, who heard with surprise 
 the narrative of the companions of the hero, who 
 had travelled over so many never-before navigated 
 seas, who had seen men of other shapes and 
 foreign manners, and who had, in fine, ventured 
 to approach nearer to the angular star than any 
 mortal could ever have hoped. 
 
 In the following spring Othar returned to Eng- 
 land, and brought to the king the presents of the 
 north, the teeth of the sea-horse, the costly furs 
 given to them by the Biarmians and Obdorians, 
 the weapons of the highly estimated unicorn, and 
 the bones of the whales they had killed. 
 
 Alfred listened with pleasure to the adventures 
 of his navigator, and the narrative of the men 
 abandoned to nature alone. He was too kind to 
 expose his courageous seamen to the certain dan- 
 gers of destruction, by farther voyages to the 
 extreme north, and therefore gave to the intrepid 
 Othar another commission, but one much easier 
 to execute. 
 
 The Northman was this time to navigate the 
 12 
 
172 THE SIXTH BOOK, 
 
 eastern seas, which stretch from the great ocean, 
 between Scandinavia and Germany, far to the 
 east. He sailed with a well equipped vessel 
 through the sound which separates the Danish isles 
 from the kingdom of the Goths, and navigated a 
 river which takes its source from the old mother 
 country of the Saxons. The whole nation had 
 embarked for the milder shores of Britain, and the 
 deserted country was now inhabited by the Danes. 
 Othar advanced to the mouth of the Vistula, and 
 to the country whence the amber (washed by the 
 sea on its shores) is exported to the other parts of 
 the world. He took in his ship a quantity of this 
 fragrant rosin, which served as ornaments for 
 women. He visited Ehstland, a country of nobles 
 and slaves ; great forests covered the whole coun- 
 try, only a few isolated parts being cleared; every 
 Sarmatian nobleman held there his court, around 
 which lived his slaves, in miserable huts, who cul- 
 vated his lands, and expected their daily subsis- 
 tence from him on whom depended their lives, 
 and even the honour of their wives. 
 
 The knight knew no other happiness than war, 
 or its imitation — hunting. He searched in the 
 thickest of the woods the wild bull, and aroused 
 the bear in his winter cavern. Neither arts, 
 sciences, nor commerce, had yet penetrated into 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOR. 173 
 
 this seat of wild nature. That his master might 
 live in idleness, the miserable peasant was daily 
 forced to toil, by hard-hearted stewards, at labour 
 of which he could hope nothing for himself, and 
 which only the whip of the inexorable driver could 
 enforce. 
 
 The constant oppression under which these 
 miserable beings succumbed, the bad recompense 
 for their labour, the contempt which rather in- 
 creased than lightened good services, made these 
 servants angry, and enemies of their master. 
 They became idle, because they worked not for 
 themselves; malicious, because they were forced 
 to conceal their ill-will; thievish, because they 
 lacked the most common necessaries of life ; and 
 unchaste, because no virgin remained unstained, 
 and dared not resist the insolent requests of the de- 
 bauched nobles. It was a visible effect of the ser- 
 vility of the oppressed, that they no longer prac- 
 tised any virtues, and that their souls were abased 
 to a level with those of the brutes. The greatest 
 part of the country was a desert, and even the fields 
 of the Sarmatian nobles received no care of the 
 unwilling ploughman to fertilize them. A part 
 of the needless forests were yearly burned down, 
 and some seeds sown in the warmed earth, the 
 growth of which was favoured by the ash; and a 
 
174 THE SIXTH BOOK. 
 
 few harvests were followed by perpetual unfer- 
 tility. Like the beasts which man nourishes for 
 his comfort, the peasant received a common bread 
 and a disgusting beverage, which necessity alone 
 could make endurable. Life was a burden, and 
 death he looked upon as a salvation. Whole and 
 immense realms were placed under the iron rule 
 of a few nobles. 
 
 None of these vast countries possessed any power 
 of their own; but became the booty of every 
 prince, obeyed by his subjects. No bond united 
 the powerful nobles to general purposes. None 
 of them would be commanded by another. None 
 would sacrifice the smallest part of his fortune or 
 liberty to the general welfare. Single, they were 
 subdued without difficulty; their servile subjects 
 having nothing to hope of their hard masters, and 
 nothing to lose by their destruction. 182 
 
 Othar advanced to the end of the eastern seas, 
 and to the mouth of a river, on which stood iso- 
 lated islands, covered with shrubs and game ; a 
 place designed in the book of fate for a town, 
 which should rise after many years to such gran- 
 deur, that hundreds of nations should obey its 
 sway; and whose governors should erect an 
 immense realm, extending from the land of the 
 
ALFRED AND HIS NAVIGATOE. 175 
 
 Serens to the limits of Ehstland. Othar returned, 
 and brought with him the treasures of these dis- 
 tant countries: hides of the innumerable game, 
 the collected amber, and the honey of the wild 
 bees, which in vain often give to man the model 
 of a happy industry. 
 
 Alfred marked with interest the situation of 
 the realm over which Wodan, his ancestor, had 
 governed, and where he had stepped from the 
 throne to the altar; he listened attentively to 
 the description of the evil use which man makes 
 of the gifts of nature, when no wise laws unite 
 their force towards a social direction. He resolved 
 to use his influence to break their chains, which 
 abased even their souls, and by which they lost 
 the great advantages which should make them like 
 unto God. He recompensed Othar royally, and 
 gave him the command of ten ships of war, al- 
 ready equipped. 
 
 [We perceive that the purpose of Othar's 
 voyages, commanded by Alfred, was not merely 
 to discover foreign lands to augment England's 
 wealth by importation of goods, but also to study 
 the manners, customs, and legislation of other 
 nations; and to compare them with each other, 
 and with those then existing in England. The 
 
176 THE FIFTH BOOK. 
 
 result of which, like that of his conference with 
 Amund, was that Alfred's government was the 
 most enlightened of his time, and contained the 
 future British legislation and constitution. The 
 contents of the fifth and sixth book will already 
 have prepared the reader for the following conclu- 
 sion — describing briefly the general principles of 
 all political constitutions.] 
 
177 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 All parts of the universe hold a mutual relation 
 to each other ; and in the whole empire of finite 
 nature nothing exists for itself alone. The 
 universe stands in such a relation to its first cause, 
 that it could not subsist a moment by itself. It 
 belongs to us to study the mutual relation of 
 beings, which are not our work, but the produc- 
 tions of Nature; and the result of this study 
 constitutes our law. The knowledge of this 
 informs us how we may be able to turn every- 
 thing which exists to our advantage. In nothing, 
 indeed, is man more distinguished from the brutes 
 than in the faculty of acquiring this knowledge ; 
 he possesses no other claim to the dominion of the 
 world, but by his superior intellect alone he holds 
 it in subjection. Moreover, as man alone is 
 endowed with the power of elevating himself in 
 communion with the Author of all things, he 
 stands, with respect to all subordinate beings, in 
 I 3 
 
178 CONCLUSION. 
 
 the situation of those (if we may venture to use 
 the expression) who in monarchical governments 
 have the exclusive privilege of entering into the 
 presence of the sovereign. 
 
 The law of nature is the result of our relations 
 to the visible world, and especially to all beings 
 endowed with feeling. The generality of men 
 have comprehended indeed, under this term, (fan- 
 cying that they are under no obligations of duty, 
 except towards their equals,) only that which, 
 after abstracting all personal and local connec- 
 tions, every man owes to his fellow-creatures; 
 but this part of the natural law does not embrace 
 its whole extent, although it is obviously the most 
 interesting to us. 183 
 
 Since all men do not possess the faculties and 
 industry needful for sifting to the bottom these 
 first principles, and since it cannot be expected, 
 from the violence of human passions, that among 
 the various points of view in which each affair 
 may be contemplated, men will always adopt the 
 most generally beneficial result, as the rule of 
 their conduct ; positive regulations were required, 
 in order to support the natural law with a suffi- 
 cient power, and from time to time with effective 
 measures, against the encroachment of ignorance 
 
CONCLUSION. 179 
 
 and self-interest. An endless variety of circum- 
 stances soon diversified these regulations, and 
 greatly multiplied them, by giving rise to an 
 infinite diversity of relations. Moreover, violent 
 changes took place, which quickly gave to human 
 society a new form, different from its primitive 
 and simple state, and from the spirit and design 
 of its first institutions : this was a source of more 
 complex relations, which required new precepts. 
 
 The increasing number of these obtained, 
 according to the objects with which they were 
 conversant, the designation of civil, political, 
 public, and ecclesiastical law. The minutest affairs 
 were regulated by positive laws, since human 
 passions extends to all, and requires, in every con- 
 juncture, a prescribed and distinct limitation. Yet 
 the innumerable multitude of ordinances are 
 capable of being reduced to a few general prin- 
 ciples; it is only necessary to point out the par- 
 ticular applications, in order to confute the sophis- 
 try of those who will not embrace the universal 
 scheme. 
 
 In some instances the laws have either been 
 proposed, or at least ratified, in popular assem- 
 blies; in others, the nation has submitted silently 
 to the commands which one or more individuals 
 
180 CONCLUSION. 
 
 (who by virtue or power have raised themselves to 
 be rulers or lords) have issued, under the character 
 of representatives, or protectors of the people. 
 One man, or a body of men, have also adminis- 
 tered the executive power. The variations thus 
 produced constitute great diversities in the forms 
 of government. Monarchy is that government in 
 which a single person rules, but is subject to limi- 
 tation by the laws, over which a middle power 
 presides, and watches for their conservation. The 
 authority of the latter may flow from the splen- 
 dour of a long succession of dignified ancestors, 
 or from their destination to the defence of their 
 country, or from their qualifications as possessors 
 of land ; they are termed, accordingly the noble, 
 the patrician order, or the parliament. In other 
 instances, superior knowledge in divine and human 
 affairs imparts the privilege, as among the ancient 
 Gauls to the Druids, and for a long period to 
 the tribe of Levi among the Hebrews. Despotism, 
 which knows no law, but the arbitrary will of 
 one man, is a corruption or disorganization of 
 monarchy. 
 
 Aristocracy is the government of ancient fami- 
 lies, and of those who are chosen by them into 
 the senate. This assembly either consists, as was 
 at Venice, of the whole body to whom their birth- 
 
CONCLUSION. 181 
 
 right gives a share in the government, or it is a 
 select number chosen out of them, as in several 
 Swiss cantons. One branch of this form of admi- 
 nistration is Timocracy, or that constitution, in 
 which the laws define a certain property, the 
 possessors of which, alone, are capable of holding 
 offices. This system, and aristocracy in general, 
 degenerate into Oligarchy, that is, into a form of 
 government in which the chief power, by the 
 laws, or by descent, or accident, is confined to a 
 very small number of men. 
 
 Democracy denotes, according to the old signi- 
 fication of the word, that system of government 
 in which all the citizens assembled partake in the 
 supreme power. When all the landholders, though 
 not citizens, join with the latter in the exercise of 
 their high privileges, Ochlocracy prevails. This 
 name is also given to that condition of the demo- 
 cratic form, in which, in consequence of bad laws 
 or the violent commotions, the power, which pro- 
 perly belonged to the people, has been trans- 
 ferred to the populace. 
 
 The best form of government is that which, 
 avoiding the above-mentioned excesses, combines 
 the decisive vigour of monarchy with the mature 
 wisdom of a senate, and with the animating im- 
 
182 CONCLUSION. 
 
 pression of democracy. But it is rarely that 
 circumstances allow that the sagacity of a law- 
 giver has conferred on his nation that good for- 
 tune; and when it has happened to be obtained, 
 violence and intrigue have seldom conceded to 
 it a long duration in a state of purity. Sparta, 
 Rome, and some later republics, but particularly 
 England, have sought more or less to attain this 
 ideal standard of perfection ; but governments 
 of the simple form have always been more nume- 
 rous and more permanent. 
 
 At the same time it very seldom happens that 
 we find a form of government wholly unmixed. 
 Religion and prevailing opinions impose salutary 
 restraints upon despotism ; in monarchies it is not 
 easy for the ruler, without one of these resources, 
 to govern the nobles according to his wishes. An 
 aristocracy is generally indulgent to the people ; 
 it sometimes allows them a participation in the 
 most important conclusions; or in the election to 
 certain high offices of state. In like manner demo- 
 cratic governments are, for the most part, held in 
 check by the influence of a perpetual council, 
 which prepares affairs for the deliberation of the 
 popular assembly. By far the most common form 
 of government is the oligarchical. How can the 
 sovereign exercise his power, let him be as 
 
CONCLUSION. 183 
 
 anxious as he may to govern for himself without 
 confiding on many occasions in the information 
 and proposals of his ministers? A few party 
 leaders govern the senate and the popular assem- 
 bly. The ablest, the most eloquent, or the richest, 
 will everywhere take the lead. The essential 
 difference between the forms of government con- 
 sists in the various pursuits to which a man must 
 direct his endeavours, in order to become powerful 
 in each. Another important consideration relates 
 to the greater or more limited sphere, in which 
 the ruler can exert his arbitrary will. 
 
 With respect to the former circumstance, there 
 are scarcely any governments in which the am- 
 bition of men is directed altogether as it ought 
 to be ; under a wise prince those obtain power 
 who deserved it ; under a sovereign of an oppo- 
 site character, those are successful who possess the 
 greatest skill in the arts of a court. Family influ- 
 ence decides, for the most part, in aristocracies. 
 
 With the multitude, eloquence and corruption 
 often obtain the victory over real merit. The 
 natural desire of self-preservation does not prevent 
 the abuse of power; human passions, full of re- 
 sources, provide for all contingencies; kings have 
 surrounded themselves with standing armies, 
 
184 CONCLUSION. 
 
 against whose accurate tactics, when no conjec- 
 ture of circumstances rouses whole nations to the 
 contest, nothing can prevail. The party leaders 
 know how to put their private wishes into the 
 mouths of the people, and thus to avoid all re- 
 sponsibility ; moreover, the depraved crowd who 
 receive bribes, and do anything for the permission 
 of licentiousness, would sufficiently protect them. 
 An aristocracy is extremely vigilant over the first 
 and scarcely discernible movements: it leaves 
 everything else to its fate, and is willing to impede 
 even the prosperity of a multitude, which is for- 
 midable to it. 
 
 With all this, it appears wonderful that the 
 forms of human society could be maintained in 
 the midst of such various corruptions. But the 
 greater number of men are neither firmly bent on 
 good nor on evil; there are few who pursue 
 only one of the two, and that one with all their 
 might ; and these, moreover, must be favoured by 
 circumstances, in order to carry their endeavours 
 into effect. Certain attempts are only practicable 
 in particular times; and this forms the distinguish- 
 ing character of ages, the regulation of which de- 
 pends on a higher power. 
 
 It is fortunate that even imperfect modes of 
 
CONCLUSION. 185 
 
 government have always a certain tendency to 
 order ; their founders have surrounded them with 
 a multitude of forms, which always serve as a 
 barrier against great calamities, and which impart 
 to the course of affairs a certain regularity, for 
 which the multitude acquire a sort of veneration. 
 The more forms there are, the fewer commotions 
 happen. So great is their authority, that the 
 conquerors of Rome and China have been obliged 
 to adopt the laws of the conquered countries. 
 
 Herein consist also the advantages of the Orien- 
 tal and other ancient lawgivers: they considered 
 as much the nature of men as the circumstances 
 of their particular subjects ; our laws, for the most 
 part, only concern themselves with public affairs. 
 That simplicity of manners, temperance, industry, 
 constancy, those military virtues, which among us 
 each individual must enjoin himself, became 
 among the ancients matter of prescriptive obli- 
 gation. 
 
 In fact, it is only through the influence of 
 manners that society can be maintained ; the laws 
 may form them, but men must give assistance to 
 the laws by their own endeavours. Everything 
 will go well when men shall declaim less on their 
 share in the supreme power, and each individual shall 
 
186 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 seek to acquire so much the more authority over him- 
 self. Let every one aim at attaining a correct esti- 
 mate of things ; for by this means his desires will be 
 very much moderated. Let alterations in the form of 
 government be left to the operation of time;, which 
 gives to every people the constitution of which it is 
 susceptible at each particular period, and a different 
 one when it becomes mature for the change. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
XOTES, COMMENTARIES, 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM DOCUMENTS 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 1. Anglo-Saxons in England. 
 The limited space of this little work has not allowed us 
 to give more than some short outlines of the history of the 
 Anglo-Saxons, from the period of their landing in Eng- 
 land till the reign of Ethelred, (who died a.d. 873,) third son 
 of Ethelwolf, and grandson of Egbert, from which epoch 
 Albert Von Haller begins his narrative of the history of 
 Alfred, which we have given nearly without alteration. More 
 details concerning the Anglo-Saxons in England will be 
 found in well-known works on English history, and prin- 
 cipally in Kemble's new work, entitled " The Anglo- 
 Saxons in England," in " Six Old English Chronicles," and 
 in Dr. Giles' " Alfred the Great." 
 
 2. Genealogy of Alfred. 
 Alfred was the fourth son of Ethelwolf, and grandson of 
 Egbert, through whom his pedigree ascended to Woden, and 
 from thence upwards, through twenty-three generations, to 
 Adam. This pedigree, according to Asser, Florence, and 
 Simeon, is as follows : Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalecl, 
 Enoch, Methusalem, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Bedwig, Huala, 
 Hathra, Itermod, Heremod, Sceldwea, Beaw, Caetwa, Geata, 
 Fingodwolf, Frithwolf, Frealaf, Frithowalde, Woden, Bel- 
 deg, Brond, Gewis, Elesa, Cerdic, Creoda, Cynric, Ceaulin, 
 Cuthwine, Cutha, Ceolwalde, Coenred, In^ild, brother of 
 Ine, Eoppa, Eafa, Elmund, Egbert, Ethelwolf. The mother 
 of Alfred was named Osburga, a religious woman, noble both 
 by birth and by nature ; she was daughter of Oslac, the 
 famous butler of King Ethelwulf, which Oslac was a Goth 
 by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes, of the seed, 
 
190 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 namely, of Stuf and Whitgar, two brothers and counts ; who, 
 having received possession of the Isle of Wight from their 
 uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric, their cousin, slew 
 the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that 
 island, at a place called Gwihtgaraburgh,* for the other in- 
 habitants of the island had either been slain or escaped into 
 exile. — But our readers "doiverit etre un peu en garde contre 
 les historiens qui remontent a la tour de Babel et au deluge." 
 
 3. Ragnar Lodebroh. 
 
 Our author terms the Scandinavians also Normans, and 
 but seldom Danes, perhaps by reason of the more poetical 
 sound in the German language of the word Normans. 
 Most of the English historians have adopted the name of 
 Danes, probably to distinguish them from the Normans, who 
 invaded England under William the Conqueror. We have 
 no reason for altering the expression used by our German 
 author, as it has not yet been proved that the Scandinavian 
 invaders were merely composed of Danes. But to avoid 
 any confusion in our narrative, between the latter Nor- 
 mans and those in Alfred's time, we have adopted the 
 name, Northmen, as a general term for the northern in- 
 vaders. 
 
 Ragnar, or Regner Lodebrok, one of their heroes (men- 
 tioned in p. 4.) was made prisoner by Ella, King of North- 
 umberland, and the unhappy captive was placed in a dun- 
 geon, where he was slowly stung to death by snakes. When 
 the news of Regner' s death reached Denmark, his sons, two 
 of whom were Hingua and Ubba, swore to avenge him. 
 The bards of Scandinavia tuned their harps to the praises of 
 the hero : his actions were chaunted throughout the islands 
 of the north, and the death-song of Regner Lodbroc, a 
 curious remnant of Scandinavian verse, which has come 
 down to our own times, animated his countrymen to battle 
 and to vengeance. This and other heroes have been dif- 
 ferently named by various authors, we can therefore not 
 answer for the accuracy of either name, the more so since 
 one name, as Lodbroc, is spelt in several different manners 
 in one work. 
 
 4. Death of Edmund, King of the East- Angles. 
 "In the year of our Lord's incarnation, 87-0, which was 
 the twenty-second of King Alfred's life, the above-named 
 
 * Carisbrooke, as may be conjectured from the name, which is a combina- 
 tion of Wight and Caraburgh. 
 
BOOK I. 191 
 
 army of Pagans passed through Mercla Into East-Anglia, 
 and wintered at Thetford. 
 
 " In the same year Edmund, King of the East- Angles, 
 fought most fiercely against them ; but, lamentable to say, 
 the Pagans triumphed, Edmund was slain in the battle, and 
 the enemy reduced all that country to subjection." — Asser. 
 
 5. Battle of Reading. 
 
 This battle is described by Asser as follows : — " In the 
 year of our Lord's incarnation, 871, which was the twenty- 
 third of King Alfred's life, the Pagan army, of hateful 
 memory, left the East-Angles, and entering the kingdom of 
 the West- Saxons, came to the royal city, called Reading, 
 situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district 
 called Berkshire ; and there, on the third day after their ar- 
 rival, their earls, with great part of the army, scoured the 
 country for plunder, while the others made a rampart between 
 the rivers Thames and Kennet, on the right side of the same 
 royal city. They were encountered by Ethelwulf, Earl of 
 Berkshire, with his men, at a place called Englefield. ;* both 
 sides fought bravely, and made long resistance. At length 
 one of the Pagan earls was slain, and the greater part of the 
 army destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselves by 
 flight, and the Christians gained the victory. 
 
 "Four days afterwards Ethelred,King of the West- Saxons, 
 and his brother Alfred, united their forces and marched to 
 Reading, where, on their arrival, they cut to pieces the Pa- 
 gans whom they found outside the fortification. But the 
 Pagans, nevertheless, sallied out from the gates, and a long 
 and fierce engagement ensued. At last, grief to say, the 
 Christians fled, the Pagans obtained the victory, and the 
 aforesaid Earl Ethelwulf was among the slain. 
 
 "Roused by this calamity, the Christians, in shame and 
 indignation, within four days assembled all their forces, and 
 again encountered the Pagan army at a place called Ash- 
 dune,! which means the ' Hill of the Ash.' The Pagans had 
 divided themselves into two bodies, and began to prepare 
 defences, for they had two kings and many earls, so they 
 gave the middle part of the army to the two kings, and the 
 other part to all their earls ; which the Christians perceiv- 
 ing, divided their army also into two troops, and also began 
 to construct defences. But Alfred, as we have been told by 
 those who were present, and would not tell an untruth, 
 
 * Englefield Green is about four miles from "Windsor, 
 t Aston, in Berkshire. 
 
192 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 marched up promptly with his men to give them "battle; 
 for King Ethelred remained a long time in his tent in prayer, 
 hearing the mass, and said that he would not leave it till 
 the priest had done, or abandon the divine protection for 
 that of men. And he did so too, which afterwards availed 
 him much with the Almighty, as we shall declare more fully 
 in the sequel. 
 
 " Now the Christians had determined that King Ethelred, 
 with his men, should attack the two Pagan kings, but that 
 his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the chance 
 of war against the two earls. Things being so arranged, the 
 king remained a long time in prayer, and the Pagans came 
 up rapidly to fight. Then Alfred, though possessing a sub- 
 ordinate authority, could no longer support the troops of 
 the enemy, unless he retreated, or charged upon them with- 
 out waiting for his brother. At length he bravely led his 
 troops against the hostile army, as they had before arranged, 
 but without awaiting his brother's arrival ; for he relied in 
 the divine counsels, and forming his men into a dense pha- 
 lanx, marched on at once to meet the foe. 
 
 "But here I must inform those who are ignorant of the 
 fact, that the field of battle was not equally advantageous 
 to both parties. The Pagans occupied the higher ground, 
 and the Christians came up from below. There was also a 
 single thorn-tree, of stunted growth, but we have ourselves 
 never seen it. Around this tree the opposing armies came 
 together with loud shouts from all sides, the one party to 
 pursue their wicked course, the other to fight for their lives, 
 their dearest ties, and their country. And when both armies 
 had fought long and bravely, at last the Pagans, by the di- 
 vine judgment, were no longer able to bear the attacks of 
 the Christians, and having lost great part of their army, 
 took to a disgraceful flight. One of their two kings and 
 five earls were there slain, together with many thousand 
 Pagans, who fell on all sides, covering with their bodies the 
 whole plain of Ashdune. 
 
 " There fell in that battle King Bagsac, Earl Sidrac the 
 elder, and Earl Sidrac the younger, Earl Osbern, Earl Frene, 
 and Earl Harold ; and the whole Pagan army pursued its 
 flight, not only until night but until the next day, even until 
 they reached the stronghold from which they had sallied. 
 The Christians followed, slaying all they could reach, until 
 it became dark. 
 
 "After fourteen days had elapsed, King Ethelred, with his 
 brother Alfred, again joined their forces and marched to 
 
BOOK I. 193 
 
 Basing to fight 'with the Pagans. The enemy came together 
 from -all quarters, and after a long contest gained the victory. 
 After this battle, another army came from beyond the sea, 
 and joined them." To this we only have to add, that "ilfaut 
 se defier de ceux qui particularisent toute Vhistoire, qui vous 
 donnerrt audacieusement la relation exacte de toutes les ba- 
 tailles dont les generaux eux memes auraient eu peutetre bien 
 de la peine a rendre compte a Vepoque on les batailles out eu 
 lieu" 
 
 6. Alfred's Brethren. 
 Ethelwerd, author of the " Saxon Chronicles, " (a de- 
 scendant of King Alfred,) dedicated his work to Matilda, 
 daughter of Otho, the great emperor of Germany. The said 
 " Chronicles," which we shall have occasion sometimes to 
 cite, vary a year or two from other authors. With respect 
 to Alfred's brothers, he relates as follows : — " I will now 
 leave obscurity, and begin to speak concerning the sons 
 of Ethelwulf. They were five in number : the first was 
 Ethelstan, who also shared the kingdom with his father ; the 
 second was Ethelbald, who also was king of the Western 
 English ; the third was Ethelbert, King of Kent ; the fourth 
 was Ethelred, who after the death of Ethelbert, succeeded 
 to the kingdom, and was also my grandfather's grandfather : 
 the fifth was Alfred, who succeeded after all the others to 
 the whole sovereignty, and was your (Matilda's) grand- 
 father's grandfather." 
 
 7. Vide Note 5. 
 
 8. Battle of Wilton. 
 The following is the description given by Asser, of that 
 memorable battle : — "In the same year, (871,) when he had 
 reigned one month, almost against his will, for he did not 
 think he could alone sustain the multitude and ferocity of 
 the Pagans, though even during his brothers' lives he had 
 borne the woes of many, — he fought a battle with a few 
 men, and on very unequal terms, against all the army of the 
 Pagans, at a hill called Wilton, on the south bank of the 
 river Wily, from which river the whole of that district is 
 named, and after a long and fierce engagement the Pagans, 
 seeing the danger they were in, and no longer able to bear 
 the attack of their enemies, turned their backs and fled. 
 But, oh! shame to say, they deceived their too audacious 
 pursuers, and again rallying, gained the victory. Let no 
 one be surprised that the Christians had but a small number 
 
 K 
 
194 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 of men, for the Saxons had been worn out by eight battles 
 in one year against the Pagans, of whom they had slain one 
 king, nine dukes, and innumerable troops of soldiers, besides 
 endless skirmishes, both by night and by day, in which the 
 oft-named Alfred, and all his chieftains, with their men, 
 and several of his ministers, were engaged without rest or 
 cessation against the Pagans. How many thousand Pagans 
 fell in these numberless skirmishes God alone knows, over 
 and above those who were slain in the eight battles above- 
 mentioned. In the same year the Saxons made peace with 
 the Pagans, on condition that they should take their depar- 
 ture, and they did so." 
 
 9. Alfred's Vessels. 
 "Alfred the Great, who turned the energies of his 
 powerful mind to the task of creating a naval force, which 
 should be more than a match for that of his untiring perse- 
 cutors, the Danes, himself superintended the formation of 
 his fleet, and the vessels he designed were much superior to 
 those of the Danes. These vessels were galleys, generally 
 rowed with forty oars, some even with sixty, on each side ; 
 and were twice as long, deeper, swifter, and less " wavy," or 
 rolling, than the ships of the Danes. These vessels were not 
 so well adapted for commercial purposes as for warfare, they 
 having accommodation for a large force, and affording room 
 for fighting ; and this build of ship was mostly used for war, 
 until the introduction of cannon rendered other arrange- 
 ments necessary." — The Ship: its Origin and Progress. 
 
 10. Defeat of the Danish Fleet. 
 " In the year 877, the Pagans, on the approach of autumn, 
 partly settled in Exeter, and partly marched for plunder 
 into Mercia. The number of that disorderly crew increased 
 every day, so that, if thirty thousand of them were slain 
 in one battle, others took their places to double the num- 
 ber. Then King Alfred ordered boats and galleys, i. e. long 
 ships, to be built throughout the kingdom, in order to offer 
 battle by sea to the enemy as they were coming. On board 
 of these he placed seamen, and appointed them to watch the 
 seas. Meanwhile he went himself to Exeter, where the 
 Pagans were wintering, and having shut them up within the 
 walls, laid siege to the town. He also gave orders to his 
 sailors to prevent them from obtaining any supplies by sea ; 
 and his sailors were encountered by a fleet of a hundred and 
 twenty ships full of armed soldiers, who were come to help 
 
BOOK I. 195 
 
 their countrymen. As soon as the king's men knew that 
 they were fitted with Pagan soldiers, they leaped to their 
 arms, and bravely attacked those barbaric tribes : but the 
 Pagans, who had now for nearly a month been tossed and 
 almost wrecked among the waves of the sea, fought vainly 
 against them ; their bands were discomfited in a moment, and 
 all were sunk and drowned in the sea, at a place called 
 Suanewic* 
 
 " In the same year the army of Pagans, leaving Wareham, 
 partly on horseback, and partly by water, arrived at Suane- 
 wic, where one hundred and twenty of their ships were lost ; 
 and King Alfred pursued their land army as far as Exeter ; 
 there he made a covenant with them, and took hostages that 
 they would depart. 
 
 "The same year, in the month of August, that army went 
 into Mercia, and gave part of that country to one Ceolwulf, 
 a weak-minded man, and one of the king's ministers ; the other 
 part they divided among themselves." — Assays Life of Alfred. 
 
 1 1 . Chippenham surprised by the Danes. 
 "In the year of our Lord's incarnation 878, which was 
 the thirtieth of King Alfred's life, the army above-men- 
 tioned left Exeter and went to Chippenham, a royal villa, 
 situated in the west of Wiltshire, and on the eastern bank 
 of the river, which is called in British, the Avon. There 
 they wintered, and drove many of the inhabitants of that 
 country beyond the sea, by the force of their arms, and by 
 want of the necessaries of life. They reduced almost 
 entirely to subjection all the people of that country." — Ibid. 
 
 12. Adventure of the Cakes. 
 
 "At the same time the above-named Alfred, king of the 
 YVest-Saxons, with a few of his nobles, and certain soldiers 
 and vassals, used to lead an unquiet life among the wood- 
 lands of the county of Somerset, in great tribulation ; for he 
 had none of the necessaries of life, except what he could, 
 by frequent sallies, forage openly or stealthily from the 
 Pagans, or even from the Christians who had submitted to 
 the rule of the Pagans, and as we read in the Life of St. 
 Neot, at the house of one of his cowherds. 
 
 " But it happened on a certain day, that the countrywoman, 
 
 wife of the cowherd, was preparing sonic loaves to bake, and 
 
 the king, sitting at the hearth, made ready his bow and 
 
 arrows and other warlike instruments. The unlucky woman 
 
 * Swamvich, in Dorsetshire. 
 
 k2 
 
196 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 espying the cakes burning at the fire, ran up to remove 
 them, and rebuking the brave king, exclaimed : — 
 
 ' Ca'sn thee mind the ke-aks, man, an' doossen zee 'em burn ? 
 * I'm boun thee's eat 'em vast enough, az zoon az 'tiz the turn.'* 
 
 The blundering woman little thought that it was King 
 Alfred, who had fought so many battles against the Pagans, 
 and gained so many victories over them." — Ibid. 
 
 The adventure of the cakes is related differently by 
 various authors. According to one she exclaimed, " Why 
 don't you turn the cakes when you see them burning f You 
 will be glad enough to eat them when they are hot" According 
 to another the excited woman said angrily to the king, 
 " Turn thou those loaves, that they burn not, for I see daily 
 that thou art a great eater." In a Latin Life of St. !Neot, 
 she says, " Why, man, do you sit thinking there, and are too 
 proud to turn the bread? Whatever be your family, with such 
 manners and sloth, what trust can be put in you hereafter ? If 
 you were even a nobleman, you will be glad to eat the bread 
 which you neglect to attend to." 
 
 We will leave it to serious historians and antiquarians to 
 search deeply into this very important matter of history, 
 (which has already been partly done,) as our work is not 
 profound enough to enter into more details regarding such 
 serious facts, but its record by three different authors proves 
 at least somewhat of it to be founded on truth — a fact we 
 cannot assert of many historical traditions. 
 
 Florence, of Worcester, takes no note of the anecdote of 
 the cakes, but the peasant, into whose rustic life fortune 
 interwove this golden episode, was called, according to the 
 above author, Denulf. 
 
 The humble life which Alfred led with the inhabitants of 
 the rustic farm-house in Somersetshire, and with his com- 
 panions in the woods, who subsisted by hunting and fishing, 
 was an admirable school for a prince, who was liable, as is 
 said of Alfred in the first part of his reign, to carry his head 
 on high, and to despise the petitions of his people. A king, 
 moreover, who had gained from books a more extensive 
 knowledge of men and things than was usually acquired by 
 others in that age, must have felt much and reflected deeply 
 upon the degradation to which he was reduced. The prince 
 who had led the West- Saxons so often to battle, was at last 
 brought to so low a condition, that he was beholden to a 
 humble farmer, once his own servant, for his daily bread. 
 
 * The original here is in Latin verse, and may therefore be rendered into 
 English verse, but such as every housewife in Somersetshire would understand. 
 
BOOK I. 197 
 
 The few nobles who had followed him were obliged to dis- 
 perse, to procure themselves food. This was a lesson of 
 practical wisdom, not to be found in any of the books which 
 the king had studied so attentively. It may have been 
 delineated in figurative language in some of the verses of 
 that book of Poems, which his mother had given him seven- 
 teen years before, but it was now brought home to himself 
 by a catastrophe which fell like a thunderbolt upon him. 
 Though we may justly hesitate to ascribe such events to the 
 visible judgments of heaven, or to believe that they occur 
 as direct modes of punishment for transgression, yet to the 
 wise man — and Alfred certainly was one — they will always 
 become real blessings to clear the understanding from vain 
 and unprofitable affections, to dispose the will towards the 
 path of prudence, and to strengthen the heart and hands to 
 struggle more effectually with the difficulties which present 
 themselves in life. Neither did this mental discipline come 
 on Alfred too early or too late for him to benefit by it. He 
 was only twenty-nine years, neither too old and seared to 
 receive the salutary lessons of adversity, nor too young and 
 yielding to retain them, but of that intermediate age, Avhich 
 ushers in the prime and hale period of manhood, when it 
 might be hoped that he would have many years before him 
 to mature his reflections, to bring forth the true fruits of the 
 wisdom which he had gained, and to form that character of 
 himself and of his reign which he would wish to go down 
 to future ages. 
 
 13. Legend of the appearance of St. Cutlibert to Alfred, and 
 his Visit to the Danish Camp. 
 " There is a place," is written in the Life of St. Neot, 
 "on the furthest extremity of the English, towards the west, 
 called Ethelingeye, or the Isle of Nobles, surrounded on 
 every side by marshes, and so inaccessible, that it can be 
 approached only in a boat. The island contains a great 
 grove of alder-trees, wherein are stags, goats, and many 
 animals of that kind: it comprises scarcely two acres of solid 
 ground. To this island came Alfred alone, for in his dejec- 
 tion he left behind him the few soldiers who accompanied 
 him, that he might the better avoid the enemy ; and per- 
 ceiving there a cottage belonging to some unknown indivi- 
 dual, lie went up to it, and asked a lodging, which was 
 granted him. For he remained there some days, a stranger 
 and poor, doing what the peasant and his wife told him, and 
 content witli the merest necessaries. When asked who he 
 
198 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 was, or what business he had in so lonely a place, he replied, 
 that he was one of the king's servants, who had been defeated 
 with him in battle, and had escaped to this spot from the 
 enemy who were pursuing them. The herdsman, trusting 
 to his words, took pity on him, and carefully supplied him 
 with the necessaries of life." 
 
 Ingulfs version of the legend of the appearance of St. 
 Cuthbert to Alfred, (mentioned at page 17,) a legend like- 
 wise mentioned in " Brompton," Simeon of Durham's " His- 
 tory of the Church of Durham," and elsewhere, is as follows: 
 — " The fortress which Alfred constructed in Athelney he 
 afterwards converted into a monastery of monks, in memory 
 of the time which he had spent there, and to the exaltation 
 of the holy church. One day, when the whole household 
 had gone out to fish in the neighbouring marshes, and the 
 king was sitting alone in this fortress, engaged in studying 
 the holy Scriptures, or reading the exploits of illustrious 
 men, as was his constant custom, and the annals of the 
 fathers, he heard a poor man knock at the door, and ask 
 something to eat for the mercy of God. Calling his mother, 
 who was then residing with him, he told her to go to the 
 cellar, and give something to the poor Christian man for the 
 love of Christ. She went to do as he bade her, but finding- 
 only one loaf there, she came and told the king that there 
 was not enough for the household, who would soon return 
 from fishing. The king, hearing this, (that there should be 
 such poverty in a king's larder!) gave devout thanks to God, 
 and commanded that half of the loaf should be given to the 
 poor servant of Christ, adding these words, ' Blessed be God 
 in his gifts ! He is able, if He so will, to increase that half 
 immensely, who, when He so willed it, was able to feed five 
 thousand men on five loaves and two fishes.' He then dis- 
 missed the poor man, and afterwards, fatigued by the Aveight 
 of his cares, or by his protracted reading, he went to rest, 
 and saw the holy Bishop Cuthbert approach to him, and 
 deliver this message in the name of the Lord. 'Pious King 
 Alfred, the Lord is moved to pity at the misery of the Eng- 
 lish, who have mourned long and deeply for their sins : He 
 has, moreover, this day, in the form of a poor man, approved 
 your patience, and gratefully received the morsel which you 
 gave Him in the midst of your own great want. He pro- 
 mises you, through me, that, though you are now a wretched 
 exile, you shall soon be victorious over your enemies, and 
 triumphantly regain the throne of your kingdom. And this 
 shall be a sign to you, that though your household, who are 
 
BOOK I. 199 
 
 gone out to fish, may find great impediment to their success 
 in the winter's ice, yet, by the Divine mercy, they shall gain 
 the object of their wishes, and about the third hour of the 
 day, shall return with a wonderful quantity of fish.' Saying 
 these words, the saint disappeared, and the king awaking, 
 told the vision to his mother, who replied that she also, 
 whilst asleep in her chamber, had seen the same vision, and 
 the same saint, appearing to her in like manner, had ad- 
 dressed her in the same words. As they were speaking, the 
 fishermen came in from the marshes with an abundance of 
 fish, enough to feed a large army." 
 
 The anecdote related in page 18 is confirmed by some, 
 and contested by other writers. William of Malmesbury 
 tells us that ' f King Alfred used often in later days to speak 
 of the time which he spent in the wilds of Somersetshire, of 
 the hardships which he daily suffered, and of the dangers 
 which continually encompassed him. It was now about five 
 months since his troops had been defeated by the enemy, 
 and himself obliged to become a fugitive and an outcast." 
 But it is more likely that the plan which King Alfred 
 adopted was what afterwards mainly conduced to bring 
 about his restoration, and the re-establishment of his coun- 
 try's freedom. Many indications of this appear in the nar- 
 ratives of the old chroniclers. It is probable that the Danes 
 owed their success at Chippenham in a great measure to the 
 suddenness of their attack, and the king now seems to have 
 retaliated upon them by a similar mode of operations. That 
 he kept up a communication with his faithful nobles through- 
 out the three countries, is evident ; for by a hasty summons 
 of a few days, a large army was speedily brought together. 
 Before, however, his standard was again spread to the 
 breezes, it was Alfred's policy to obtain all the information 
 in his power concerning his enemies, to reconnoitre their 
 position, their defences, and to examine where they were the 
 most exposed to attack from negligence, or the conscious- 
 ness of security. The story which is told of Alfred has been 
 credited by some, and rejected as fabulous by others. It 
 certainly is not found in Asser's Biography, nor in the other 
 five early chronicles ; but it is told by Ingulf, who lived at 
 the time of the Norman Conquest, and may have had access 
 to other records which since have perished. It is also found 
 in the " History of the Kings of England," by Malmesbury, 
 who was not prone to listen to fables, unless they were such 
 as rested on the authority of the church. Neither does the 
 anecdote seem to be at all improbable, when we consider the 
 
200 
 
 nature of the times, and the great simplicity of kings, who 
 mixed with their subjects without that affectation of pomp 
 and dignity, which at present are used as a substitute for 
 departed power. It was the king's intention to assemble his 
 troops and to surprise the enemy unprepared, as they had 
 before surprised him at Chippenham. To strike a sure blow, 
 it was necessary that he should be able to depend upon the 
 accuracy of his information. If he failed at this crisis of his 
 fate, a second chance would probably never present itself: 
 he could not trust the eyes or ears of an ordinary spy, and 
 he determined to go himself and inspect the motions of the 
 enemy. Now it was that he derived a practical benefit from 
 the subjects of his early education. The Saxon poems and 
 ballads, which he drunk in with an attentive ear in his 
 youth, were still fresh in his mind, and the harp, which 
 almost every person of decent condition in those days could 
 touch, was not silent in the king's hands. The profession of 
 a minstrel was held in general estimation among the northern 
 nations. Singing the deeds of war, they were themselves 
 exempt from its terrors : the sword and spear were lowered 
 to greet the gleeman who chanced to enter the tent of the 
 warrior, and many a time did the savage chieftain, melting 
 at the plaintive melody of song, verify the words of the poet, 
 who sings that 
 
 " Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast ! " 
 
 To effect his purpose, Alfred adopted the costume of a Saxon 
 minstrel, and set out for the Danish camp, which was still in 
 the neighbourhood of Chippenham; for so total seems to 
 have been the defeat of the English, that the enemy imagined 
 they were annihilated, and gave themselves up to security 
 ancl enjoyment. The king was admitted without difficulty 
 to their camp, and had an opportunity of seeing every thing 
 which was passing within. He, perhaps, may have been 
 brought into the presence of Guthrum himself, and witnessed 
 the ease and confidence which reigned in that chieftain's 
 tent. When he had satisfied himself on all the points which 
 he wished to know, he returned to Athelney, a distance of 
 thirty or forty miles. 
 
 14. Capture of the Standard of the Northmen. 
 Spelman relates that "instead of this battle, there were 
 two ; in the first of which, Odin alone was victorious, and 
 conquered the general standard of the Northmen. In the 
 second, Alfred vanquished the robbers, and soon after com- 
 pelled them to surrender." 
 
BOOK I. 201 
 
 15. The Magic Standard. 
 "This," says Sir Jolm Spelman, "was a banner, with, 
 the image of a raven magically wrought by the three sisters 
 of Hinguar and Hubba, on purpose for their expedition, in 
 revenge of their father, Lodebroch's murder ; made, they 
 say, almost in an instant, being by them at once begun and 
 finished in a noontide, and believed by the Danes to have 
 carried great fatality with it, for which it was highly es- 
 teemed by them. It is pretended, that being carried in a 
 battle, towards good success it would alway seem to clap its 
 wings, and make as if it would fly ; but towards the approach 
 of mishap it would hang down and not move." 
 
 Asser relates that his relative, St. Neot, appeared to him 
 in a dream, and comforted him with the assurance that the 
 next day would end all his calamities : " The next morning 
 he marched to Ethandune, and there fought a fierce and 
 well-contested battle against all the army of the Pagans, 
 whom, with the Divine help, he defeated with great slaugh- 
 ter, and pursued them flying to their fortification. Immedi- 
 ately he slew all the men and carried off all the booty he 
 could find outside the fortress, which he afterwards laid siege 
 to with all his army, When fourteen days were expired, 
 the Pagans, compelled by famine, cold, fear, and lastly by 
 despair, asked for peace, on condition that they should give 
 the king as many hostages as he pleased, but should receive 
 none from him in return, in which form they had never 
 before made a treaty with any one. The king showed them 
 mercy, and received such hostages as he chose, after which 
 the Pagans swore also, that they would immediately leave 
 the kingdom; and their king, G-uthrum, promised to em- 
 brace Christianity, and receive baptism at King Alfred's 
 hands. All of which articles he and his men fulfilled as they 
 had promised. For, seven weeks afterwards, King Guthrum 
 himself, with thirty chosen men of his army, came to Alfred 
 at a place called Aller, near Athelncy, and there King 
 Alfred, receiving him as his son by adoption, raised him 
 from the holy laver of baptism on the eighth day, at the 
 royal villa of Wedmore, where the holy ointment was poured 
 upon him. After his baptism, he remained twelve days 
 with the king, who, with all hi? nobles, gave him many fine 
 houses." 
 
 So brief a narrative of the victory at Ethandune, which 
 
 replaced Alfred more firmly than before on the throne of 
 
 his kingdom, has naturally given much subject for inquiry 
 
 to the critics and commentators, who have endeavoured to 
 
 k3 
 
202 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 trace the movements of the king's army in this rapid and 
 glorious campaign. There is nothing better established in 
 history than the identity of Ethelingeye, where Alfred's 
 fortress in the marshes was constructed, with the modern 
 Athelney. Capricious fortune has mercifully spared the 
 antiquary the greater mortification which a doubt on this 
 point would have produced. A beautiful jewel was found 
 many years ago on the spot ; and the original is still pre- 
 served in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Did the king- 
 drop this gem in the hurry of his frequent sallies on the 
 enemy, and equally hasty retreats to his fortress ? or, was 
 it deposited in the monastery, which Alfred afterwards con- 
 structed there, as a precious personal relic of the great king, 
 and of the heroic stand which he there made to defend the 
 rights of his throne and the liberties of his people ? These 
 are questions which we cannot answer ; for the speechless 
 relic tells us no more than that it is as old as the time of 
 Alfred, which is evident from the style of workmanship, and 
 the Saxon writing, " Alfred had me worked," with which 
 it is. inscribed. An engraving of the reverse of this jewel, 
 with the above sentence, will be found in p. 186, and the 
 face on the embossed cover of this book. 
 16. River Stowe. 
 This river is called by Asser " Sture," and is remarkable, 
 inasmuch that Zocrin, who lived shortly after the death 
 of Brutus, and married Guendolama, the daughter of Cori- 
 neus, was killed there by the shot of an arrow, and his wife 
 afterwards took upon her the government of the whole 
 kingdom. 
 
 17. London Rebuilt, and Erection of Castles. 
 
 "In 868," says Asser, "after the burning of cities and 
 the slaughter of his people, he honourably rebuilt the city 
 of London, and made it again habitable. He gave it into 
 the custody of his son-in-law, Ethelred, Earl of Mercia; 
 for all the Angles and Saxons, who had before been dis- 
 persed everywhere, or were in captivity with the Pagans, 
 voluntarily turned and submitted themselves to his do- 
 minion." 
 
 The king's ministers had previously neglected and partly 
 refused to fulfil their master's commands, concerning the 
 erection of castles, and preferred, with true Saxon blood, to 
 face their enemies in an open field of battle, rather than 
 retire for safety behind the walls of a fortress. The king 
 himself zealously discharged such of these duties which 
 
BOOK I. 203 
 
 came under his own immediate care, and restored the towns 
 and cities that were dilapidated, to more than their former 
 condition ; but when they beheld the king's talent, they 
 with one voice praised the royal wisdom, and tried with all 
 their power to fulfil what they had before refused, namely — 
 the erection of castles, and other things useful to the whole 
 kingdom. 
 
 Spelman seems to have thought that Alfred was the first 
 to construct buildings of hewn stones, which can be judged 
 by the following passage : — " Xeither was the reparation 
 notable in regard of the greatness and universality only, 
 but it was also of an extraordinary kind, both in regard of 
 the materials, and of the new manner ; for, when the walls 
 of towns and castles were but wood, and combustible, (as 
 we may see by those of York and Rochester, that they 
 generally then were,) stone buildings were very rare, till 
 Alfred made them more frequent." 
 
 According to Hearne, he was the founder of Middleton, 
 and Barfbot in Kent, of Devizes in Wilts, and of Alfreton 
 in Derbyshire. Malmesbury, and the city of Xorwich, 
 were also restored, and some additions made to them. 
 
 18. Various Conflicts with the Danes in 893-94. 
 
 "In the year 893, one year after the barbarians fought 
 against King Arnulf, they go to Boulogne, and there build 
 a fleet, and pass over into England. There they station 
 their fleet in the Limnean port, at a place called Apoldre 
 [Appledore, in the eastern part of Kent,] and destroy an 
 ancient castle, because there was but a small band of rustics 
 within, and there they make their winter camp. In the 
 course of this year, a large fleet belonging to Hasten arrives 
 on the banks of the river Thames, and found a citadel on 
 the coasts of Kent, at a place called Middleton [Milton] : 
 they encamp there the whole winter ; and the number of 
 years that had elapsed from the glorious nativity of our 
 Saviour was nine hundred all but seven." 
 
 The Monk of Malmesbury says, that "with his usual 
 activity, the king was present in every action, ever daunting 
 the invaders, and at the same time inspiring his subjects 
 with the signal display of his own courage. He would 
 oppose himself singly to the enemy; and by his personal 
 exertions rally his forces whenever they were wavering; 
 the very places are still pointed out by the inhabitants, 
 where he felt the vicissitudes of his good or evil fortune." 
 
 "Undismayed at the intelligence which arrived from 
 
204 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 Devonshire, the king divided his forces into two bodies, one 
 of which he despatched against the Danes in Bemfleet, 
 whilst he hastened with the other to raise the siege of Exeter. 
 The party which was detached eastward arrived at London, 
 where they were reinforced by a body of the citizens and 
 others from the west of England, after which they pursued 
 their march to Bemfleet The great army which had been 
 at Appledore was now within the Danish lines, but Hasting 
 was absent on a plundering excursion, which he was making 
 for the second time, in breach of his treaty with the brave 
 Ethelred, in Mercia. The English stormed the fortress, and 
 took all the spoil that was therein, besides all the women 
 and children; they broke in pieces or burnt many of the 
 Danish ships : the rest they carried into Rochester or to 
 London, together with all the prisoners and booty. Among 
 the captives were the wife and children of Hasting : and 
 this calamity having its due effect upon the mind of the 
 haughty Dane, a second treaty was entered into, hostages 
 for its observance were given, and the wife and children sent 
 back unhurt to the Danish camp, 
 
 " In the mean time Alfred arrived at Exeter, where he 
 found the enemy laying siege to the city : the Danes 
 decamped at his approach, and fled to their ships. The 
 king was thus at liberty to return into the eastern parts of 
 the kingdom, but from some circumstances which have not 
 been handed down to us, we find that he remained some 
 weeks longer in Devonshire. During this delay in the west, 
 the broken armies of the enemy had rallied from their late 
 defeats, and again entrenched themselves at Shobury in 
 Essex, but soon after being reinforced by a large body of 
 East-Anglian and [Northumbrian Danes, they marched 
 inland, following the course of the Thames ; from thence 
 crossing to the Severn, they marched up the banks of that 
 river to Buttington, probably the small town which is still 
 so called, and is situated on a stream of the same name in 
 Gloucestershire. But their progress through Mercia was 
 not effected without rousing its inhabitants to arms. The 
 brave Ethelred, its ruler, together with the aldermen, 
 Ethelm and Ethelnoth, and the king's thane, who were in 
 custody of the fortresses in those parts, assembled their 
 troops from all the towns of the river Perrot, and joined 
 by some forces from Mercia and Xorth Wales, they shut the 
 Danish army up in their fortified camp. Here they besieged 
 them several weeks, during the time the king's army was 
 still at Exeter. At length the besieged began to be in want 
 
BOOK I. 205 
 
 of food, and were compelled to eat their horses. Some of 
 them died of starvation; the rest, taking courage from 
 despair, sallied out upon the English, who lay upon the 
 eastern side of the Severn, and engaged them in battle. 
 The contest was fierce and bloody ; Orfchelm and many 
 other king's thanes were slain, but the Danes were entirely 
 defeated, and, having lost a large number of men, sought 
 safety in flight. Those who survived this defeat, took refuge 
 at the fortress in Essex ; where before the winter they 
 received such reinforcements out of East Anglia and Nor- 
 thumberland, that they were again able to move, and pursue 
 their ravages as before. Committing their ships, their wives, 
 and all their effects to the guardianship of the friendly East 
 Anglians, they " went at one stretch" — such is the expression 
 of the Saxon Chronicle — " day and night," until they arrived 
 at Chester, at that time uninhabited. This march was con- 
 ducted with such speed, that the English were unable to 
 come up with them : the Danes were already safe within the 
 city, and the troops of Alfred slew all they found without 
 the walls, took all the cattle, and burnt or consumed all the 
 corn in the fields. This happened at the end of 894, not 
 much more than twelve months after Hasting first came over 
 from France." — " Life and Times of Alfred the Great" by 
 Dr. Giles. 
 
 19. Capture of the Danish Fleet on the River Lea. 
 " In the beginning of the year 896, the Danes, sailing 
 up the Thames, turned to the right, and followed the course 
 of the river Lea, until they came to the neighbourhood of 
 the modern towns of Hertford and Ware, about twenty 
 miles from London. Here they constructed their fortifica- 
 tions as usual ; and the citizens of London, alarmed at their 
 proximity, marched out at the approach of summer to attack 
 them. In the battle which ensued the Londoners were 
 worsted, and, with the loss of " some four king's thanes," 
 obliged to retreat. The king now arrived with his troops, 
 and encamped near London, to protect the reapers as they 
 were gathering in the crops. One day the king, riding 
 along the banks of the river, observed a place, where the 
 river might be so obstructed that the ships of the Danes 
 would not be able to pass. The idea was immediately put 
 into effect, and two fortresses constructed on the opposite 
 banks of the river. The English had hardly set themselves 
 down to accomplish this work, before the Danes saw the evil 
 which would inevitably ensue to their shipping. Abandoning 
 
206 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 these to their fate, they hastily left their position on the Lea, 
 and crossing the [country, arrived at Quatbridge, (supposed 
 to be the modern Bridgenorth,) or Quatford, on the Severn. 
 Here they speedily entrenched themselves, and the third 
 year of the campaign passed away with, apparently, little 
 prospect that a war against so active and vivacious an enemy 
 would ev er come to an end. 
 
 "But, in reality, the strength of the Danish invaders was 
 now departed from them. Though often reinforced by their 
 friends, the old Danish settlers, the tide of success was evi- 
 dently setting against them, and the policy or the mercy of 
 Alfred was directed to separate the interests of the Danes 
 located in the island from those of the new coiners. His 
 armies, too, were more than a match for the whole united army, 
 which, by its frequent defeats, were lessened in numbers, and 
 dispirited in courage. Their fleet, also, by Alfred's stratagem 
 on the river Lea, was now lost to them. The citizens of 
 London took possession of the ships in the Lea, whilst 
 Alfred's army gallopped westwards after the enemy : some 
 of the best of the vessels were towed to London, others 
 were destroyed, and the enemy's main dependence in all 
 enterprises, their fleet, was entirely annihilated." — Ibid. 
 
 20. Alfred and Hasting. 
 Alfred can be regarded with impartiality as the cham- 
 pion of a settled society, of equal rights, and of civilized 
 life, while his opponent, Hasting, represents the barbarian 
 roving over the world with no law but that of his sword ; 
 he may inflict for a time the greatest woes upon mankind, 
 but will assuredly fall at last the victim of a ferocious, sys- 
 tem which engulphs all that enter into it. 
 
 21. Flattery. 
 We here perceive, that princes have, at all times, been 
 surrounded with flatterers, to whom they could not resist 
 lending a too willing ear. That intoxicating poison — 
 flattery — had fortunately no effect upon Alfred. But 
 even our author was not free from it ; for although he has 
 not, we are glad to see, employed it in the narrative of 
 Alfred's life, almost wholly founded upon historical facts — 
 yet, in his dedication to George III., he has used a no 
 small dose of that drug, wherefore we have altogether 
 omitted it. 
 
207 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 22. Alfred's Marriage. 
 
 The episode of Alfred's love, which our author has intro- 
 duced in his history, and which there forms the sixth book, 
 seems not at all to be founded upon history, which he 
 acknowledges himself, pretending that tradition alone has 
 preserved its memory in an ancient song, entitled " Edgar 
 and Emma." All our researches in the British Museum, and 
 other libraries, to discover the authenticity of that son^, 
 were fruitless. We will, however, not therefore accuse it 
 of being a mere fiction, although it seems that Haller wished 
 to render his book interesting to the Germans by that episode. 
 His purpose was probably to make his serious doctrines more 
 popular, by giving them a romantic drapery, which he owns 
 himself in his preface. We know not whether such a system 
 is applicable in this country, as the English may be con- 
 sidered as complete professors of gravity, and masters in the 
 art de s'ennuyer. They all like to read that — ivhicJi is in 
 their line; but even in spite of this custom, Walter Scott, 
 Bulwer, and other authors, have succeeded in using his- 
 torical canvasses for romantic tales. 
 
 With respect to Alfred's marriage, history relates, that 
 although Alfred was a very good husband, and Elswitha a 
 very honourable lady, their marriage was not one of passion- 
 ate love, but rather a political calculation of his mother 
 Osburga, who probably, like Rachel in the Holy Writ, wished 
 that her son Alfred might take a wife out of her own coun- 
 try, Mercia. Among the noblemen of that province was a 
 namesake of the West-Saxon king, Ethelred, alderman of 
 the Ganii, surnamed from his size," Mickle," or " the Big." 
 The wife of this Ethelred was Edburga, descended from the 
 Mercian royal family, and probably a relative of Osburga. 
 But Edburga, unlike the former queen of that name, who 
 disgraced her family and rank, was a virtuous, and, in the 
 language of Asser, who saw her a few years before her death, 
 
208 NOTES, COMMENTAEIES, ETC. 
 
 " a venerable lady, who survived her husband, and passed 
 the remainder of her life in widowhood." This lady, by 
 Ethelred, had a daughter named Elswitha, whom Alfred now 
 asked and obtained in marriage. The union was a happy 
 one, as has been inferred by Turner, from the earnestness 
 with which Alfred, in his translation of Boethius, speaks on 
 the subject of connubial affection. 
 
 23. License of Poetical Fiction. 
 Although unlikely that ladies of the highest rank should 
 deign to look down upon common servants, this impro- 
 bability has often been made use of in poetical fiction, 
 and still oftener greatly abused. This privilege has but 
 lately been so far extended by Victor Hugo, in his drama of 
 " Ruy Bias," as to let a queen fall in love with a livery 
 servant. The absurdity of the exaggeration is, however, 
 from the great skill of the author, scarcely perceived by the 
 audience, during the performance of the drama. 
 
 24. Hunting and Falconry. 
 
 Asser thus describes the arts of hunting and falconry 
 among the laborious pursuits of Alfred : — " The Saxons 
 brought with them, out of Germany, a strong liking for the 
 pleasures and dangers of the chase : hunting was held to be 
 a necessary part of a liberal education; it inured the Saxon 
 youth to hardihood, made them active, patient of toil, and 
 prompt to extricate themselves from the dangers into which 
 a headlong pursuit after the wild beasts of the forest might 
 lead them. The king had been bred up from his boyhood to 
 this exercise, and continued to practise it, and to encourage 
 it among his subjects, as a means of raising their manly cou- 
 rage, whilst it added to the state and magnificence of his own 
 court. 
 
 "It may be added, that the breed of English dogs has been 
 remarkable from the days of Neniesian and Oppian : and 
 was not likely to have escaped the attention of the observant 
 king. The extensive marshes also, and the inundations 
 which so frequently deluged the plains on the banks of the 
 English rivers, furnished great temptations and facilities for 
 the successful prosecution of falconry." 
 
209 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 25. Alfred" s firmness undaunted. 
 England had enjoyed comparative tranquillity during 
 fifteen years, namely, from 878 to 893 ; and the reign of 
 Alfred may be divided into three periods, according to the 
 varied character of the events which predominated at diffe- 
 rent times. The first period comprehends seven years, from 
 his accession to the throne in 871, to his defeat at Chippen- 
 ham, and expulsion from his throne in 878. This part of his 
 life is diversified by few occurrences, which were thought 
 worthy to be transmitted to posterity, though it comprises 
 the two last attempts which the Danes made to reduce 
 Wessex to the state of servitude, in which the rest of the 
 island was bound. The short and decisive campaign, which 
 first threw this able wrestler, and afterwards raised him from 
 his fall stronger and more vigorous than before, may be 
 looked on as one of those tests, by which superior talents 
 occasionally are tried. It was a necessary discipline for the 
 king's mind ; for a king must not engross himself too deeply 
 in the arts of peace alone; or devote the whole of his time 
 to learning and religion. If then Alfred had sunk under 
 the trial to which his firmness was exposed in 878, if he had 
 fled to a safer home, and left his kingdom a prey to the bar- 
 barians, his name would have come down to us, not as the 
 focus of glories that will ever dazzle the eye and fill the mind 
 of those who contemplate them, but as the worthy contem- 
 porary and equal of Burrhed, king of Mereia, and other 
 kings, who in the age immediately preceding that of Alfred, 
 made no scruple to abandon the high and useful stations in 
 which Providence had placed them. 
 
 26. A few Remarks on Juries. 
 Our author's remarks on the jurymen should the more 
 be appreciated, since this manner of administering justice 
 
210 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 has, in the present century been, and will still more be intro- 
 duced throughout the whole of Europe, as it has already- 
 been in the United States, France, the Rhenish-Prussian 
 provinces, and other states ; but we fear that it will in reality, 
 in some of those countries, be no improvement of true jus- 
 tice ; for neither the character of the French, nor that of the 
 Germans, are fitted for it. No objection can be made to the 
 publicity given to such trials, as that prevents any of those 
 abuses which took place under the arbitrary manner in 
 which judgments were previously given in other countries, 
 and principally under the Spanish Inquisition, under the 
 tribunal of Venice, and even in France, whereof the unfor- 
 tunate fate of Jean Calas is a sad example, without calcu- 
 lating the many abuses of lettres de cachet, &c. But the 
 foundation of justice, which is impregnated in all English 
 hearts, their coolness and moderation, even when not favoured 
 with a sufficient scientific education, cannot be found in any 
 other nation ; and to that it may be attributed, that these 
 institutions, created since so many centuries, are still pre- 
 served, without having undergone any reform. 
 
 But, like a worn-out coat, all things that have remained 
 unaltered during so long a period, require some repairs. 
 We think that some reforms are necessary, as judges, accu- 
 sers, and defendants, as well as juries, deviate from the 
 functions they were originally intended to fulfil. 
 
 The accuser endeavours to make an impression by his 
 acuteness, whereby he composes, through evidence, sus- 
 picion, and probability, an ensemble, intended to awe the 
 defendant, whilst he should only give a simple narrative of 
 the facts, without any comment on his part. 
 
 The judge who, in former times, was only the leader of 
 the transaction, endeavours, from ambition, to acquire popu- 
 larity and fame, by seeming impartiality, but considering his 
 own opinions and views as supreme as his power, he imparts 
 them to the jury, whilst he should strictly keep to the letter 
 of the law. Sometimes he is too severe, sometimes too 
 mild; but the jury almost always feel, by various means, 
 his preponderance, which often breaks out — not in expound- 
 ing the law — but in jokes and sarcasms. 
 
 The defender who, in former times, sought to affect the 
 judges by his eloquence, now looks upon that means with 
 contempt, and does not take the trouble to prove the greater 
 or lesser extent of the crime imputed to the culprit, but 
 merely to detect some technical flaw in the indictment. 
 
 The jurors, who are not acquainted with the law, and not 
 
BOOK III. 211 
 
 guided by a regular code, judge according to their own 
 impression; they consider far too much the tranquillity of 
 society, and the necessity of warning examples, as to weigh 
 scrupulously the arguments for guilt or innocence, thinking 
 it sometimes their duty to be severe, and at others the reverse. 
 Thus the punishments are generally more severe and cruel 
 in England than in other civilized countries, without the 
 situation of society being thereby improved. It were quite 
 superfluous for us to cite examples of what we assert ; the 
 record of the judgments given during the last epochs is 
 an ample proof. 
 
 27. Anglo-Saxon Legislation before Alfred and Alfred's 
 Code. 
 
 The Saxon laws of Ethelbert, Ina, Withred, and Offa, 
 which formed the Anglo-Saxon legislation previous to 
 Alfred's time, were few and imperfect. Ninety short sen- 
 tences contain all that has been preserved of the laws of 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent. Sixteen sentences contain the 
 Dooms of his successors, Lothaire and Edric : and twenty 
 sentences comprise all the laws that have survived of 
 Withred, another king of the same province. The subjects 
 to which these ordinances apply are a few of the most 
 obvious injuries that occur in a simple state of society. 
 It is remarkable, that almost every crime, from murder to 
 the smallest petty larceny, had its value, and might be 
 compensated by the payment of a sum of money. Another 
 celebrated legislator was Ina, King of the West- Saxons, 
 a few pages of whose laws have also been preserved. It 
 must not, however, be omitted, that the laws of Ina have 
 come down to us not in a separate and independent form, 
 but appended to those of Alfred, to whose care in collecting 
 and preserving the ancient jurisprudence of his country, we 
 are indebted for all that we now know of the subject. 
 
 As the West- Saxons owed their principal code of laws to 
 Ina, so was Offa, the legislator of the Mercians ; but his 
 laws have not been preserved ; and if in later times Alfred 
 published a separate collection for the use of Mereia, with* 
 the laws of Offa annexed, as those of Ina were attached to the 
 laws of Wessex, that collection also has either perished, or 
 has not yet been discovered. It might be expected that the 
 laws of a people, emergim:, under the auspices of the 
 Church, from barbarism, would be strongly tinged with the 
 opinions of the clerks who compiled them. In fact, the 
 whole of these legislative codes are based upon the autho- 
 
212 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 rity of the Scriptures and of the Church. The first ordi- 
 nance of Ethelbert enacts, that the abstraction of any 
 property belonging to God or to the Church shall be com- 
 pensated for by twelve times its value. 
 
 Alfred's laws were founded upon the Apostolic Council 
 held in Jerusalem, and upon the Constitution gradually 
 collected by the Church since the time of the Apostles. 
 
 The code of Alfred, which is contained in Thorpe's 
 " Ancient Laws," Yol. I. p. 59, and the former ones from 
 p. 1 to 43, and from p. 102 to 151, are as follow: — 
 
 " Wherefore I, Alfred, king, gathered these together, and 
 commanded many of those to be written which our fore- 
 fathers held, those which to me seemed good ; and many of 
 those which seemed to me not good, I rejected, by the coun- 
 sel of my ' witan' [parliament,] and in other wise com- 
 manded them to be holden ; for I durst not venture to set 
 down in writing much of my own ; for it was unknown to 
 me what of it would please those who should come after us. 
 But those things which I met with, either of the days of Ina 
 my kinsman, or of Offa, king of the Mercians, or of Ethel- 
 bert, who first among the English race received baptism, 
 those which seemed to me the rightest, those I have here 
 gathered together, and rejected the others. I, then, Alfred, 
 king of the West- Saxons, showed these to all my witan, and 
 they then said that it seemed good to them all to be holden." 
 
 The nature of all the laws in Alfred's code is peculiar and 
 striking to our present notions. The principle of compen- 
 sation for offences, of values attached to different ranks, and 
 of taking sanctuary in the Church until the compensation 
 could be assessed, engendered a complicated system, which 
 ramified into almost as many precedents as there were cases. 
 An instance or two of these laws will set this in a stronger 
 light. 
 
 " If any one, for whatever crime, flee to any of the mins- 
 ter-hams, &c„ let him have three days to protect himself, 
 unless he is willing to come to terms. If during this space 
 any one harm him by blow or by bond, or wound him, let 
 him make compensation, &c, for each of these, according to 
 regular usage, &c. &c, and to the brotherhood, 120 shillings 
 as compensation for the church-frith [breach of church 
 privilege,'] &c." 
 
 "If a man be born dumb or deaf, so that he cannot 
 acknowledge or confess his offences, let his father make com- 
 pensation for his misdeeds." 
 
 " If a man, kinless of paternal relatives, fight, and slay a 
 
BOOK III. 213 
 
 man ; then if he have maternal relatives, let them pay a 
 third of the ' Aver,' {fine or compensation-money-^] his guild- 
 brethren another third, and for a third let him See. If he 
 have no maternal relatives, let his guild-brethren pay half, 
 and for the other half let him flee." 
 
 The law concerning 'boc-lands' seems to show that a 
 species of entail existed as early as the days of Alfred. 
 
 " The man who has boc-land," — i. e. land held by deeds 
 or writings, — " and which his kindred left him, we ordain 
 that he must not give it from his kinsfolk ; if there be wri- 
 ting or witness that it was forbidden by those men who at 
 first acquired it, and by those who gave it to him, that he 
 should do so ; and then let that be declared in the presence 
 of the king and of the bishop, before his kinsmen." 
 
 The laws of Ina, adopted by Alfred for his own, are of 
 the same general character ; the following examples may 
 suffice : — 
 
 " Let a child, within thirty days, be baptized. If it be 
 not so, let him make compensation with thirty shillings; 
 but, if it die without baptism, let him make compensation 
 for it with all that he has." 
 
 " If any one be guilty of death, and he flee to a church, 
 let him have his life, and make compensation as the law may 
 direct him. If any one put his hide in peril, and flee to a 
 church, let the scourging be forgiven him." 
 
 " If any one steal, so that his wife and his children know 
 it not, let him pay sixty shillings, as compensation ; but if 
 he steal with the knowledge of all his household, let them 
 all go into slavery. A boy of ten years may be privy to a 
 theft." 
 
 It is manifest that such laws as these belong to an infant 
 state of things, and can be of no other use in the present 
 day than as illustrating the steps by which legislation has 
 progressed from its first simple elements, to the long and 
 laborious Acts of Parliament by which our existing society 
 is regulated. 
 
 It is of more importance to the character of Alfred, that 
 the laws, such as they were in his time, were equitably 
 administered. In every country and in every age, those who 
 possess wealth and influence insensibly form themselves 
 into a caste, from which they endeavour to exclude those 
 who have fewer advantages than themselves. Almost all 
 the revolutions which have afflicted the world, have arisen 
 out of the difficulty of adjusting rights between the higher 
 and lower classes of society. It is to be believed, for the 
 
214 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 credit of our nature, that these strifes would have been pre- 
 vented, if the contending parties could have agreed before- 
 hand that each should take charge of the interests of the 
 other. The practice of the truly Christian rule, " to do to 
 others as you would they should do unto you," would sever 
 all the discords which are engendered among mankind. The 
 rich, even those who are most elevated and pampered by 
 their prosperity, have still a spark of kindly feeling towards 
 those who are struggling beneath them, and to whose level 
 they know they themselves, in the vicissitudes of things, are 
 liable to be reduced. On the other hand, the poor in general 
 are unwilling to destroy every thing above them, because, 
 in a moment of accidental prosperity, they may hope to rise 
 to a higher position, and to enjoy a larger portion of the 
 goods of life. If reason could usurp her rights over the 
 minds of men, many of the evils which spring from the 
 collision of classes would vanish. But man is mostly sub- 
 ject to the dictates, not of reason, but of passion, and that 
 which reason would have guided into the harbour of safety, 
 becomes, under the conduct of passion, an entangled maze, 
 out of which nothing but just and equitable laws can extri- 
 cate mankind. In the civil wars, which so long afflicted 
 England in the time of Alfred, the nobles had attained to 
 such a pitch of lawlessness and self-will, that the rights of 
 their inferiors were little respected, and the courts of jus- 
 tice, if not entirely suppressed, were merely legalized forms 
 of injustice, which, dictated from the mouth of ignorance, 
 were carried into effect by the hand of oppression. To 
 remedy this evil was the principal aim and the highest glory 
 of Alfred. He who pronounces a just sentence, unbiassed 
 by the frowns of power or the allurements of favour, exalts 
 himself above his equals, and commands the respect of man- 
 kind. " The poor," says Asser, — and the poor in those days 
 comprehended probably every one but the king, the nobles, 
 and the church, — " had no other protector but the king." 
 What a comprehensive and magnificient idea of kingly 
 power is compressed into that sentence ! With what eager- 
 ness will all men strive to defend the throne, which is built 
 upon such a basis, the basis of equally administering jus- 
 tice, and of protecting those who are unable to protect 
 themselves! 
 
 The king's courts, in those times, were more properly so 
 called than at present. The sovereign himself, like the 
 eastern caliphs, often administered justice in person : Alfred 
 certainly did so ; and Asser records to his praise, that he 
 
BOOK III. 215 
 
 strove, in his own judgments, to hold the scales of justice 
 even between all his subjects, whether noble or ignoble. At 
 the courts held by his earls and prefects, the most unbe- 
 coming quarrels often arose : the suitors seldom acquiesced 
 in the sentence which those officers pronounced ; and sought 
 with the greatest eagerness to carry their causes before the 
 king himself. "If any one," continues Asser, "was con- 
 scious of injustice on his side in the suit, though by law and 
 agreement he was compelled, however reluctant, to go before 
 the king, yet with his own good will he never would consent 
 to go. For he knew that in the king's presence no part of 
 his wrong would be hidden ; and no wonder, for the king 
 was a most acute investigator in passing sentence, as he was 
 in all other things. He inquired into almost all the judg- 
 ments which were given in his own absence, throughout all 
 his dominions, whether they were just or unjust. If he per- 
 ceived there was iniquity in those judgments, he summoned 
 the judges, either through his own agency, or through 
 others of his faithful servants, and asked them mildly, why 
 they had judged so unjustly; whether through ignorance 
 or malevolence ; i. e. whether for the love or fear of any one, 
 or hatred of others ; or perhaps for the desire of money. 
 At length, if the judges acknowledged they had given 
 judgment because they knew no better, he discreetly and 
 moderately reproved their inexperience and folly in such 
 terms as these : ; I wonder truly at your insolence, that, 
 whereas, by God's favour and mine, you have occupied the 
 rank and office of the wise, you have neglected the studies 
 and labours of the wise : either, therefore, at once give up 
 the discharge of the temporal duties which you hold, or 
 endeavour more zealously to study the lessons of wisdom. 
 Such are my commands.' At these words the earls and pre- 
 fects would tremble, and endeavour to turn all their thoughts 
 to the study of j ustice, so that, wonderful to say, almost all 
 his earls, prefects, and officers, though unlearned from their 
 cradles, were sedulously bent upon acquiring learning, 
 choosing rather laboriously to acquire the knowledge of a 
 new discipline, than to resign their functions." 
 
 28. Division of England into Counties, 8fC 
 Alfred, for the better administration of justice, first di- 
 vided the kingdom into counties, each of which was sub- 
 divided into hundreds, and each hundred into tithings. We 
 find no trace of this in the earlier chronicles, and it is un- 
 likely that Asser would have overlooked so important an 
 
216 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 institution, if it had been introduced by the policy of Alfred. 
 It is another strong argument against the theory* that several 
 of the English counties occur in the chronicles long before 
 the time of Alfred : others were evidently carved out of the 
 ruins of the Heptarchy : and all of them came into existence 
 at different times, according to the various circumstances 
 which gave them birth. A striking instance in support of 
 this theory is, that during the whole reign of Alfred, the 
 counties of Norfolk and Suffolk were still undivided, and 
 both formed the kingdom of East-Anglia, whilst the whole 
 of Mercia, or at least the greater part of it, became one large 
 earldom, the several counties, into which it was afterwards 
 parcelled, not being yet in existence. 
 
 But, although several of the English counties are cer- 
 tainly older than the time of Alfred, we must not altogether 
 hastily dismiss the express statement of Ingulf, who is a 
 very respectable chronicler, where he is not misled by the 
 charters of his own monastery. "The king," says he, "wish- 
 ing to check and restrain robbers, was the first who changed 
 the districts and provinces of England into counties." We 
 may perhaps reasonably infer, that though not the original 
 author of the division into counties, yet the king availed 
 himself of that division to promote his own views, and per- 
 haps arranged the administration of these counties on a 
 more regular and systematic plan than before. 
 
 Whatever change he wrought in the counties themselves, 
 it is less a matter of doubt that their subdivision into hun- 
 dreds, and of hundreds into tithings, is one of the features 
 of his administration. Both Ingulf and Malmesbury agree 
 in this statement. The words of the latter may be quoted 
 on this subject : — " Amid the sound of trumpets and the 
 din of war, Alfred enacted statutes by which his people might 
 equally familiarize themselves to religious worship and to 
 military discipline. And since, from the example of the 
 barbarians, the natives themselves began to lust after rapine, 
 insomuch that there was no safe intercourse without a mili- 
 tary guard, he appointed centuries, which they call 'Hun- 
 dreds,' and decennaries, or 'Tithings,' so that every Eng- 
 lishman, living according to law, should be a member of 
 both." 
 
 The custody of each province had been formerly in the 
 care of the earl or alderman, who had under him an assistant 
 officer, called prcefectus, or vicedominus. These officers 
 united the political with the judicial functions. This ano- 
 maly was soon detected by Alfred, who separated their duties, 
 
BOOK III. 217 
 
 and appointed judges, or, as they were called in Ingulfs 
 time, "justices," to decide causes; whilst the sheriffs, as the 
 other officers were named, continued to exercise the duties 
 which properly belonged to them. 
 
 Springing out of the civil division of the county into 
 hundreds and tithings, is another institution, that of Frank- 
 pledge, as it is generally called, which has been ascribed to 
 Alfred, not by any of the earlier chroniclers, but by Ingulf 
 and Malmesbury, from whom succeeding writers have mostly 
 copied. "If any one was accused of any crime, he was 
 obliged immediately to produce persons from the hundred 
 and tithing to become his surety ; and if any one was 
 unable to find a surety, he had cause to dread the severity 
 of the law. If any one who was impleaded made his escape, 
 either before or after he had found a surety, all persons of 
 the hundred and tithing paid a fine to the king." 
 
 29. Burgraves. 
 Our German author has made use of this expression, 
 which we have adopted, and we must acknowledge our un- 
 certainty whether these functions were among those called 
 prcefectus, or vicedominus, which however we do not believe, 
 because the etymology of that word is composed of the 
 German words burg, castle or burg, and graf, earl or count, 
 who, when engaged in lower functions, is also called castellan; 
 but he is then only a steward, or major domo, and not a noble- 
 man. The word burgrave, as used by Haller, seems to us 
 to imply governor of a castle or district. 
 
 30. Golden Bracelets hung on Trees. 
 Nearly similar acts are recorded of King Edwin ; also 
 of Frothi, King of Denmark; of Rollo, Duke of Nor- 
 mandy ; and of Briant, King of Munster. 
 
 31. Ignorance of the Nobdity. 
 It sometimes happened that Alfred's earls and prefects 
 were too old or of too dense intellect to begin learning to 
 read. In such a case, Alfred took their sons, or some more 
 distant kinsman, whom he instructed to read to them ; or if 
 no other person could be found, he made one of his own 
 men, whom he had brought up to reading, undertake the 
 office of teacher, and recite Saxon books before the ignorant 
 noblemen, whenever they could find time for so doing. The 
 result of this useful but to us rather humorous process 
 was, that the nobles, in the words of Asser, " lamented with 
 
 L 
 
218 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 deep sighs, in their inmost hearts, that in their youth they 
 had never attended to such studies ; and they blessed the 
 young men of our days, who happily could be instructed in 
 the liberal arts, whilst they execrated their own lot, that 
 they had not learned these things in their youth, and now, 
 when they were old, though wishing to learn, they were 
 unable." The ignorance and other deficiences of Alfred's 
 judges were, however, leniently dealt with, in comparison 
 with the punishment which the king inflicted on partiality 
 and wilful injustice. His severity on this head has been 
 recorded in general terms by Asser; but we learn from a 
 work, called the "Miroir des Justices," (originally written 
 in Norman-French by Andrew Home, in the reign of 
 Edward II., and translated into English in 1646,) that per- 
 version of justice met with no connivance from this inflex- 
 ibly upright king. " He hanged Cadwine, because he con- 
 demned Hachwy to death, without the assent of all the 
 jurors, in a case where he put himself upon the jury of 
 twelve men ; and because Cadwine removed three who 
 wished to save him against the nine, for three others into 
 whose jury this Hachwy did not put himself." 
 
 " He hanged Markes because he adjudged During to 
 death by twelve men not sworn." 
 
 " He hanged Freberne, because he adjudged Harpin to 
 death when the jurors were in doubt about their verdict; 
 for when in doubt, we ought rather to save than condemn." 
 
 In all, the author of the " Miroir des Justices," has 
 recorded forty-four cases of punishment, more or less severe, 
 which Alfred inflicted on those who had perverted the inte- 
 grity of the judgment-seat. 
 
 Could Alfred return, after a lapse of a thousand years, 
 upon our earth, and behold his simple and mild laws changed 
 and confused, their administration misled, and so many 
 abuses from the tools of their execution — the attorneys — 
 would he find hemp enough in England to punish them ? 
 
 32. Abuse of the Confessions of and suspicion on, 
 a Culprit 
 Haller departs here from the point of the general German 
 country laws, founded upon the ancient Roman laws ; ac- 
 cording to which, the accused was forced to confess his 
 crime; and it was seldom a culprit suffered capital punish- 
 ment without previously making such a confession. This 
 was sometimes wrung from him by torture; but even after 
 the torture was abolished, the same system of justice was 
 
BOOK III. 219 
 
 mostly adopted. A hardened criminal has often endea- 
 voured to escape the insidious question by obstinate denial; 
 therefore the judge could not condemn him without a well- 
 proved evidence, and that real, clear, and beyond doubt; 
 but not such as is sometimes called evidence in England, 
 where the general accuser collects five or six probabilities, 
 or other suspicions, and pronounces them a full and incon- 
 testable evidence, so that the audience, who ought to be con- 
 vinced, as well as the jury, of the innocence or guilt of the 
 accused, are not aware, five minutes before the verdict is 
 given, whether he will be declared guilty or not guilty. 
 
 33. Alfred's absolute Power. 
 When we consider the different occupations with which 
 the busy mind of Alfred was continually engrossed, the 
 question naturally occurs, how he could find time for 
 accomplishing so many things. It may be admitted, that 
 he possessed external advantages which had fallen to the lot 
 of none of his predecessors, but these advantages were all of 
 his own acquirement, and therefore, so far from explaining, 
 they rather add to the credit of his achievements. As he 
 prevailed in a war, which had destroyed all the other king- 
 doms of the heptarchy, there were no surviving rights of 
 any one, against whom he could be a trespasser. And, as 
 there is no authority more complete than that which fol- 
 lows conquest by the sword, so Alfred, having wrested the 
 land which he ruled out of the hands of an enemy, found his 
 authority unbounded, except by the limits of the island itself; 
 and the tenure by which he held it was, in fact, the law of 
 his own will. He was, consequently, not only greater than 
 any of his predecessors, but possessed absolute power, if he 
 thought proper to use it. If, however, he was checked by a 
 sense of what was due to his subjects, and modified his own 
 authority by enacting wise and equal laws, it is a subject for 
 panegyric, and leaves his fame brighter than it otherwise 
 would have been ; for such a mode of administering the 
 kingly authority, so far from enslaving Alfred, made him 
 more truly powerful, and gave him the good will of his 
 people, which was the ablest instrument he could employ for 
 the accomplishment of his great and useful ends. 
 
 34. Catholic Liturgy read in Latin. 
 Now, after a thousand years, the Liturgy of the Catho- 
 lic service is still read in Latin; and if the gothic building 
 of the church, with the sound of instruments and voices 
 l2 
 
220 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC, 
 
 elevate the soul, the manner in which the Liturgy is spoken 
 paralyzes the effect ; and the mere babbling of words, not 
 understood by the congregation, reduces it to a mere form. 
 
 35. Alfred's Co-adjutors in Instruction. 
 
 Of the difficulties which lay in Alfred's path, when he 
 at last saw peace restored, and the opportunity which he had 
 so long desired at last offered, for improving the people 
 whom he was called upon to govern, the isolated position, 
 in which he stood, was by far the most formidable. Since 
 the death of his brothers, he stood alone in the world, and 
 was removed as far above his subjects in the qualities of the 
 mind, as by the regal authority which he held. When he 
 was a boy, he could not find teachers to direct his own 
 studies, and now that he possessed the power to promote the 
 reforms which he meditated, and to improve the social and 
 political condition of his subjects, he had difficulty in finding 
 persons to co-operate with him in this laudable work. This 
 was his first endeavour, which he took every opportunity 
 of promoting, " To procure," as Asser tells us, " coadjutors 
 in his good designs, to aid him in his strivings after wisdom, 
 that he might attain to what he aimed at ; and therefore, 
 like a prudent bird, which, rising in summer with the early 
 morning from her beloved nest, steers her rapid flight 
 through the uncertain tracks of aether, and descends on the 
 manifold and various flowers of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, 
 essaying that which pleases most, that she may bear it to 
 her home ; so did he direct his eyes afar, and seek without 
 that which he had not within, namely, in his own 
 kingdom." 
 
 It was from Mercia, principally, that Alfred obtained the 
 assistance which he sought. "As some encouragement to 
 his benevolent intentions," continues the biographer, " God, 
 listening to his complaint, sent certain lights to illuminate 
 him, namely, Werfrith, Bishop of the church of Worcester, 
 a man well versed in the Divine Scriptures, who, by the 
 king's command, first turned the books of the dialogues of 
 Pope Gregory, and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into 
 Saxon; and, sometimes, putting sense for sense, interpreted 
 them with clearness and elegance. After him was Pleg- 
 mund, a Mercian by birth, Archbishop of the Church of 
 Canterbury, a venerable man, and endowed with wisdom ; 
 with whom came Ethelstan and Werwolf, his priests and 
 chaplains, Mercians by birth, and men of erudition. These 
 four had been invited out of Mercia by King Alfred, who 
 
BOOK III. 221 
 
 exalted them with many honours and powers in the king- 
 dom of the West- Saxons, besides the privileges which Arch- 
 bishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith enjoyed in Mercia. 
 By their teaching and wisdom the king's desires increased 
 unceasingly, and were daily gratified. Night and day, 
 whenever he had leisure, he commanded such men as these 
 to read books to him : for he never suffered himself to be 
 without one of them, wherefore he possessed a knowledge of 
 every book, though of himself he could not yet understand 
 anything of books, for he had not yet learned to read. 1 ' 
 
 But it would seem that Mercia could not supply a suffi- 
 cient number of ecclesiastics and teachers to gratify the 
 "commendable avarice" of the king; the continent of Europe 
 was searched to increase the number ; " he sent messengers 
 to procure teachers out of Gaul, and invited from thence 
 Grimbald, priest and monk, a venerable man, and a good 
 singer, adorned with every kind of ecclesiastical discipline 
 and good morals, and most learned in Holy Scripture. He 
 also obtained from thence John, also a priest and monk, a 
 man of most energetic talents, learned in all kinds of literary 
 science, and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of 
 these men the king's mind was greatly enlarged, and he, in 
 return, gave them much riches, and honoured them with 
 much influence." The ecclesiastics, whom Alfred thus in- 
 vited from abroad, were men who had obtained a high repu- 
 tation for learning in their own country. John of Corvey, 
 in Old Saxony, was the priest and monk so famous both in 
 literature and science, and Grimbald was Provost of St. 
 Omer's, in France. To procure the grant of his services 
 from his ecclesiastical superior, Fulk, Archbishop of Rheims, 
 without whose consent he could not leave France, Alfred 
 despatched an embassy, consisting of several bishops and 
 others, ecclesiastics and laymen. The ambassadors bore 
 with them large presents for the archbishop, and pledged 
 themselves in their master's name, that Grimbald should be 
 well received and highly honoured in England as long as he 
 lived. Fulk, the archbishop, wrote back a letter to Alfred, 
 in which he signified his assent to the king's request, though 
 the loss of the eminent scholar would give much pain to 
 himself. 
 
 Asser was a native of Wales, or, as he calls it, Western 
 
 Britain, and was now invited by the king to take up his 
 
 residence in Saxony.* Accordingly, he traversed the many 
 
 intervening provinces which lay in his road, and, under the 
 
 * Vide note, p. 237. 
 
222 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 guidance of some Saxons, who had no doubt been sent to 
 escort him, he came into Sussex, and first saw the king at 
 the royal villa of Dene. His reception by Alfred, and the 
 sequel of their interview, shall be told in Asser's own words. 
 
 " He received me with kindness, and, among other familiar 
 conversation, he asked me eagerly to devote myself to his 
 service and become his friend, to leave everything I pos- 
 sessed on the left or western bank of the Severn, and he 
 promised to give me more than an equivalent for it in his 
 own dominions. I replied, that I could not incautiously and 
 rashly promise such things ; for it seemed to me unjust, that 
 I should leave those sacred places in which I had been bred, 
 educated, crowned,* and at last ordained, for the sake of any 
 earthly honour and power, unless I was compelled to do so. 
 Upon which he said, ' If you cannot accede to this, at least 
 let me have your service in part : spend six months of the 
 year with me here, and the other six in Britain.' To this I 
 replied, that I could not even promise that too easily or 
 hastily, without the advice of my friends. At length, how- 
 ever, when I perceived that he was anxious for my services, 
 though I knew not why, I promised him that, if my life was 
 spared, I would return to him after six months, with such a 
 reply as should be agreeable to him, as well as advantageous 
 to me and mine. With this answer he was satisfied, and, 
 when I had given him a pledge to return at the appointed 
 time, on the fourth day we left him, and returned on horse- 
 back towards our own country." 
 
 Asser tells afterwards that a violent fever seized him . 
 he made the before-mentioned arrangements, stating in his 
 biography : — " I did as I had promised to the king, and 
 devoted myself to his service, on the condition that I should 
 remain with him six months in every year, either continu- 
 ously, if I should find it possible to spend six months with 
 him at once ; or alternately, three months in Britain, and 
 three in Saxony." 
 
 Asser further says that he saw Alfred after his sickness : 
 " I was honourably received by him, and remained that time 
 with him at court eight months ; during which I read to 
 him whatever books he liked, and such as he had at hand ; 
 for this is his most usual custom, night and day, in the midst 
 of his many other occupations of mind and body, either him- 
 self to read books, or to listen whilst others read them. And 
 when I frequently asked his leave to depart, and could in no 
 way obtain it, at length, when I had made up my mind by 
 * Received the monastic tonsure. 
 
book in. 223 
 
 all means to demand it, he called me to him at twilight on 
 Christmas eve, and gave me two letters, in which was a long 
 list of all the things which were in two monasteries, called, 
 in the Saxon tongue, Ambresbury and Banwell; and on 
 that same day he delivered to me those two monasteries, 
 with all the things that were in them, and a silken pall of 
 great value, and a load for a strong man of incense ; adding 
 these words, that he did not give me these trifling presents, 
 because he was unwilling hereafter to give me greater ; for 
 in the course of time he unexpectedly gave me Exeter, with 
 all the diocese which belonged to him in Saxony, and in 
 Cornwall, besides gifts every day, without number, in every 
 kind of worldly wealth, which it would be too long to enu- 
 merate here, lest they should make my readers tired. But 
 let no one suppose that I have mentioned these presents in 
 thisij place for the sake of glory or flattery, or that I may 
 obtain greater honour, I call God to witness that I have 
 not done so; but that I might certify to those who are ig- 
 norant of it, how profuse the king is in giving. He then 
 immediately gave me permission to ride to those two rich 
 monasteries, and afterwards to return to my own country." 
 Besides the eminent scholars whose attendance on Alfred 
 is confirmed by the testimony of Asser, we are told that the 
 celebrated John Erigena, the Scot or Irishman, came with 
 the rest to adorn the court of Alfred. This John had " long 
 since," writes William of Malmesbury, " from the continued 
 tumult of war around him, retired into France to Charles 
 the Bald, at whose request he had translated the Hierarchia 
 of Dionysius the Areopagite, word for word, out of the 
 Greek into Latin. He composed a book also, which he 
 entitled, 'On the Division of Nature,' an extremely useful 
 work for solving certain perplexing but necessary questions, 
 if we only pardon his having deviated a little in some things 
 from the doctrines of the Latins, out of too great attention 
 to the Greeks." 
 
 36. Pretended Tyranny and Faults of Alfred. 
 An ancient Life of Saint Neot, a kinsman of Alfred, 
 exists in Saxon, which alludes, though vaguely, to some 
 impropriety in the king's conduct. It says, that Neot chided 
 him with many words, and spoke to him prophetically : — 
 "O king, much shalt thou suffer in this life; hereafter so 
 much distress thou shalt abide, that no man's tongue may 
 say it all. Now, loved child, hear me if thou wilt, and turn 
 thy heart to my counsel : depart entirely from thine un- 
 
224 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 righteousness, and thy sins with alms redeem, and with tears 
 abolish." 
 
 Another ancient MS. Life of St. Neot is somewhat stronger 
 in its expressions of reproach. It states, " that Neot, re- 
 proving his bad actions, commanded him to amend ; that 
 Alfred, not having wholly followed the rule of reigning 
 justly, pursued the way of depravity: that one day when 
 the king came, Neot sharply reproached him for the wicked- 
 ness of his tyranny, and the proud austerity of his govern- 
 ment." It declares that Neot foresaw and fortold his mis- 
 fortunes. " Why do you glory in your misconduct ? Why 
 are you powerful but in iniquity ? you have been exalted, 
 but you shall not continue ; you shall be bruised like the 
 ears of wheat. Where then will be your pride ? If that is 
 not yet excluded from you, it soon shall be. You shall be 
 deprived of that very sovereignty, of whose vain splendour 
 you are so extravagantly arrogant." 
 
 It is in full conformity with these lines of Neot, that 
 those others written by Ramsay in the twelfth century 
 expresses also depravities of Alfred. The life composed in 
 prose states, that Neot chided him severely for his iniquitous 
 conduct. " You shall be deprived of that kingdom in which 
 you are swelling ; in which you are so violently exercising 
 an immoderate tyranny. But, if you withdraw yourself 
 from your cruel vices and inordinate passions, you shall find 
 mercy." 
 
 The same author's biography, in Latin verse, reproaches 
 the king's conduct as " dissolute, cruel, proud, and severe." 
 It adds, that the king promised to correct himself, but did 
 not ; but only added to his misdeeds, and became worse ; 
 that Neot again reproved him for " wandering in depraved 
 manners, 7 and announced his impending calamities. 
 
 The same ideas are repeated in the fourteenth century by 
 Matthew of Westminster, in his history, in phrases like those 
 of Ramsay ; and John of Tinmouth, about the same period, 
 reiterates the charge in the language of the Claudius MS. 
 Another writer of a Chronicle, Wallingford, asserts " that 
 Alfred, in the beginning of his reign, indulged in luxury 
 and vice; and that the amendment of his conduct was^a 
 consequence of his adversity." 
 
 Our love for truth compelled us not to omit the preced- 
 ing quotation from St. Neot, on the tyranny and faults of 
 Alfred. The assertions against the character of Alfred were 
 intemperance, voluptuousness, and tyranny. These faults 
 are not completely denied, even by Asser, who expresses 
 
book in. 225 
 
 himself on the occasion of the sudden downfal of the king, 
 when Guthrum, Osketel, and Amund poured their impetu- 
 ous troops into Wessex, in January 878. " The Almighty 
 not only granted to the same glorious king victories over 
 his enemies, but also permitted him to be harassed by them, 
 to be sunk down by adversities, and depressed by the low 
 estate of his followers, to the end that he might learn that 
 there is one Lord of all things, to whom every knee doth 
 bend, and in whose hand are the hearts of kings ; who puts 
 down the mighty from their seat, and exalteth the humble ; 
 who suffers his servants, when they are elevated and at the 
 summit of prosperity, to be touched by the rod of adversity, 
 that in their humility they may not despair of God's mercy, 
 nor in their prosperity boast of their honours, but may also 
 know, to whom they owe all the things which they possess. 
 
 " "We may believe that the calamity was brought upon the 
 king aforesaid, because, in the beginning of his reign, when 
 he was a youth, and influenced by youthful feelings, he 
 would not listen to the petitions which his subjects made to 
 him for help in their necessities, or for relief from those who 
 oppressed them ; but he repulsed them from him, and paid 
 no heed to their requests. This particular gave much an- 
 noyance to the holy man, St. Neot, who was his relation, and 
 often foretold to him, in the spirit of prophecy, that he would 
 suffer great adversity on this account ; but Alfred neither 
 attended to the reproof of the man of God, nor listened to 
 his true prediction. Wherefore, seeing that a man's sins 
 must be corrected either in this world or the next, the true 
 and righteous Judge was willing that his sin should not go 
 unpunished in this world, to the end that He might spare 
 him in the world to come. From this cause, therefore, the 
 aforesaid Alfred often fell into such great misery, that some- 
 times none of his subjects knew where he was, or what had 
 become of him." 
 
 37. Controversies concerning Oxford University. 
 Historians do not agree in their assertions as to whe- 
 ther a university, or public seminary of learning, existed in 
 the days of Alfred, because Asi-er attaches the word "school" 
 to these institutions ; and a violent controversy once dis- 
 tracted the literary world concerning the sense in which the 
 word was to be understood, and whether it was not the 
 beginning or origin of a learned institution still existing. 
 Asser speaks of the schools wherein the sons of the nobility 
 were brought up, like Alfred's sons, in the royal household; 
 l3 
 
226 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 and some learned men adduced these expressions of Asser as 
 militating against the notion that a university, or seminary 
 of public learning, existed in the days of Alfred. Though it 
 is most probable that the several monasteries, and other, 
 societies of monks and churchmen, would employ a portion 
 of their idle time in teaching youth, and prosecuting their 
 own studies; yet there is no proof that an authorized seat of 
 learning, such as the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge, 
 existed in England until many hundred years after the time 
 of Alfred. Yet an attempt was made in the sixteenth 
 century to prove, on the one side, that Cambridge had been 
 founded by Sigebert, King of East-Anglia: and on the 
 other, that the University of Oxford was in full operation in 
 the time of Alfred, who himself went thither to settle one of 
 the religious and literary controversies, which have so often 
 disturbed its tranquillity. 
 
 Our space will not allow us to follow the antiquarians in 
 this learned dispute, Ave therefore refer our readers to Dr. 
 Giles' work, already mentioned. 
 
 38. Vide Note 9. 
 
 39. Alfred's Military Skill 
 
 The system of military defence which Alfred had devised 
 during the interval of peace was now fully tested and its 
 utility developed. The strong position which he had taken up 
 separated the two bodies of the Danes, and prevented their 
 acting in concert. The citizens, also, of the different towns 
 no longer fell an easy prey to those who attacked them, but 
 took measures in their own defence, and even ventured to 
 pursue their aggressors. The wisdom of the king's arrange- 
 ment, by which his army was divided into two parts, so as 
 to relieve one another, now became apparent. Besides the 
 garrisons of the towns, an effective army was always in the 
 field, and the others who, at the end of six months, were to 
 succeed them, were in the meantime occupied in cultivating 
 their lands at home. The Danes' forces, we learn, " did not 
 venture out of their camps with their whole force more than 
 twice ; once when they first came to land, before Alfred's 
 forces were assembled ; and a second time, when they at- 
 tempted to leave their stations" 
 
 40. Sovereignty of the Seas. 
 
 The " Sovereignty of the Seas, " a purpose pursued 
 since Alfred's time by all British rulers, has perhaps con- 
 
book in. 227 
 
 tributed considerably towards the actual grandeur of Great 
 Britain ; but at the same time it has led to many bloody wars; 
 and when we consider the law of nations, England has no 
 more right to the dominion of the seas than any other nation 
 on the surface of the globe, or than a conqueror who invades 
 another country, like the Danes in England. To the pre- 
 sent century was destined the glory of returning to more 
 moderate principles, and of willingly giving up a portion of 
 the usurped rights for her own welfare, as well a-s that of 
 other nations, whereby England will doubtless nourish more 
 than by the old system adopted for so many centuries, 
 when she was constantly at war with all other maritime 
 powers, for which a sufficient pretence was found in the least 
 imaginary umbrage given to England's " Sovereignty of the 
 Seas." 
 
 41. Alfred's Artistical and Professional Co-adjutors. 
 We have already mentioned, in Note 35, the names of 
 eminent ecclesiastics whom Alfred invited to his court, and 
 who assisted him in the execution of his great purposes of 
 instructing others as future teachers for his institutions. But 
 none of the names of those artists or professional men, whom 
 Alfred likewise invited to his shores, have come down to us. 
 It has, however, been amply proved that he was the most 
 skilful artist of his time, having, according to Spelman, made 
 himself the royal crown. We may accordingly presume 
 him to have been equally versed in other arts. 
 
 41a. Alfred's Officers. 
 The names of several of Alfred's officers have been 
 recorded ; some of them having obtained distinctions, like 
 Odun, Alderman of Devonshire, for their victories over the 
 enemy. The division of the kingdom into counties, for 
 military purposes, begins more fully to display itself: thus 
 we read of Ethelelm, the Earl or Alderman of Wiltshire ; 
 Bertwolf, Duke or Earl (for the titles have the same mean- 
 ing) of Essex; Edwolf, the king's minister, in Sussex; Earl 
 Ceolmund, in Kent; Edred, Duke of Devonshire, probably 
 successor to the brave Odun, and several others. 
 
 42. Parliament in Alfred's time. 
 
 We find -no exact indication of those institutions in 
 
 any of the various works on Alfred and his times; our 
 
 readers must therefore be satisfied with Haller's authority. 
 
 That there was a parliament in Alfred's time, wherein the 
 
228 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 people were admitted, is partly proved by Littleton, and 
 again contested by others, whose opinion on the subject we 
 will notice in a future page. 
 
 43. Alfred's severity. 
 
 All authors agree upon Alfred's wisdom, and his skill 
 as a ruler ; but if Haller speaks of " Moderate Monarchy," 
 it seems to us that such an expression is only applicable to 
 the principles developed in the dialogue between Alfred and 
 his Counsellor, given in the Fifth Book. Alfred was the 
 most absolute monarch that ever sat on England's throne, 
 of which, the condemnation to death of fourty-four judges 
 in one year, is a sufficient proof. The difference between 
 such acts and those of Nero is, that the latter acted thus to 
 oppress the people, and gratify his own improper desires ; 
 while Alfred did it for the good of his people, and in a time 
 when such severe means were absolutely necessary. In the 
 " Miroir des Justices," already mentioned in p. 2 18, the author 
 quotes rolls in the time of King Alfred, and among many 
 other inflictions of the king's love of justice, he mentions 
 several executions, which appear to have been both sum- 
 mary and arbitrary, and, according to our present notions, 
 cruelly severe. It is true, that the minds and habits of every 
 part of society were hi those times so violent, that our esti- 
 mation of the propriety of these judicial severities cannot 
 now be accurately just. But yet, even with this recollection, 
 the capital punishments, with which Alfred is stated to have 
 visited judicial errors, corruptions, incapacity, dishonesty, 
 and violence, which are recorded in the Miroir, strike our 
 moral feeling as coming within the expressions of the " immo- 
 derate tyranny," which he is said to have first exhibited. 
 
 That Alfred should desire the improvement of his people, 
 was the natural result of his own improving mind. But, if 
 he at first attempted to effect this by violence, and to pre- 
 cipitate, by pitiless exertions of power, that melioration 
 which time and adapted education, laws, example, and in- 
 stitutions, only could produce, he acted with as much real 
 tyranny as if he had shed their blood from the common 
 passions of ordinary despots ; but his motives must not be 
 confounded with theirs : he meant well, though he may have 
 acted in this respect injudiciously. Yet no motive can make 
 crime not criminal. However men may palter with the 
 question to serve temporary purposes, no end justifies bad 
 means. Cruelty and violence are always evils, and tend to 
 produce greater ones than those they are intended to cor- 
 
BOOK IV. 229 
 
 rect. We may therefore understand from the examples men- 
 tioned bj Home, that even Alfred's better purposes, thus 
 executed, may have attached to the beginning of his reign the 
 charges of tyranny and cruelty, and may have produced the 
 temporary aversion of his people. They could not appreciate 
 his great objects. They saw what they hated. They probably 
 misconceived, for a time, his real character , and by their 
 alienation may have contributed to amend it. Virtue, with- 
 out intending it, will often act viciously from ignorance, 
 prejudice, wrong advice, or undue alarm. Wisdom must 
 unite with virtue to keep it from wrong conduct or deterio- 
 ration; but true wisdom arises from the best human and 
 divine tuition, and the gradual concurrence of experience. 
 Alfred possessed these in the latter part of his life, but in its 
 earlier periods he had not attained them. 
 
 44. Prerogatives of Earls. 
 Of this we find no authority in any of the modern or 
 contemporary works on Alfred. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 45. City of London Rebuilt. 
 "In 886," according to Asser, "after the burning of cities 
 and the slaughter of his people, he honourably rebuilt the 
 City of London, and made it again habitable. He gave it 
 into the custody of his son-in-law, Ethelred, Earl of Mercia; 
 for all the Angles and Saxons, who had before been dis- 
 persed everywhere, or were in captivity with the Pagans, 
 voluntarily turned and submitted to his dominion." 
 
 46. Reluctance of the Saxons to build Castles. 
 "I will say nothing," relates Asser, "of the castles, which 
 he ordered to be built, but which, being begun late, were 
 never finished, because the hostile troops broke in upon 
 them by land and sea, and, as often happened, these thwart- 
 ers of the royal ordinances repented when it was too late, 
 and blushed at their non-perforinance of his commands. I 
 speak of repentance when it was. too late, on the testimony 
 of Scripture, whereby numberless persons have had cause 
 for too much sorrow after many insidious evils had been 
 wrought. But, though by those means, sad to say, they 
 may be roused to sorrow, and bitterly afflicted by the loss 
 of fathers, wives, children, ministers, servant-men, servant- 
 maids, and furniture and househould-stufF, what is the use 
 
230 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 of hateful repentance when their kinsmen are dead, and they 
 cannot aid or redeem those who are captive from captivity ? 
 for they are not able even to assist those who have escaped, 
 as they have not wherewith to sustain even their own lives. 
 They repented, therefore, when it was too late, and grieved 
 at their incautious neglect of the king's commands, and they 
 praised the royal wisdom with one voice, and tried with all 
 their power to fulfil what they had before refused, namely, 
 concerning the erection of castles, and other things useful to 
 the whole kingdom." 
 
 But, whilst the king's ministers neglected to fulfil their 
 master's commands, and preferred, with true Saxon blood, 
 to face their enemies in an open field of battle, rather than 
 retire for safety behind the walls of a fortress, the king him- 
 self zealously discharged such of these duties which came 
 under his own immediate care, and restored the towns 
 and cities, that were dilapidated, to more than their former 
 condition. 
 
 Spelman seems to have thought that Alfred was the first 
 
 construct buildings of hewn stones. 
 
 47. Foundation of Monasteries. 
 Alfred had ordered that two monasteries should be built, 
 one for monks at Athelney, a place surrounded by im- 
 
 Eassable marshes and rivers, where no one could enter but 
 y boats, or by a bridge laboriously constructed between 
 two other heights ; at the western end of which bridge was 
 erected a strong tower, of beautiful work, by the king's com- 
 mand; and in this monastery he collected monks of all kinds, 
 from every quarter, and placed them therein. 
 
 The other monastery, a residence for nuns, was built near 
 the eastern gate of Shaftesbury ; and his daughter, Ethel- 
 giva, was placed in it as abbess. With her many other noble 
 ladies, bound by the rules of the monastic life, dwelt -in that 
 monastery. These two edifices were enriched by the king 
 with much land, as well as personal property. 
 
 Besides the monasteries of Athelney and Shaftesbury, it 
 appears that Alfred built another religious house at Win- 
 chester, called the " New Minster." Though we find no- 
 thing about its foundation in the earlier Chronicles, yet, as 
 Winchester was the principal city of Wessex, and the place 
 where the king held his court, it may be supposed that no 
 pains or expense were spared to construct it with becoming 
 magnificence. As the foundation of this monastery was only 
 commenced a short time before the death of Alfred, it is 
 
BOOK III. 231 
 
 described by the historian, William of Malmesbury, as 
 having been designed, rather than built, by this king. It 
 was placed so near the Cathedral, or Old Minster of Win- 
 chester, that the services which were chaunted in the choir 
 of the one could be easily heard by the singing-men who 
 were officiating in the other ; and King Edward is said to 
 have paid a mark of gold to the bishop for every foot of 
 land that he purchased, in order to have sufficient ground 
 for the offices and out-buildings of the monastery. The 
 inconveniences of this great proximity were soon felt by the 
 inhabitants of both those religious nouses, and before the 
 time of Malmesbury the building was destroyed, and the 
 materials removed to the outside of the city, where was 
 built the abbey of Hyde, of which King Alfred has, in con- 
 sequence, often been described as the founder. 
 
 It has been often vaguely stated by different writers, that 
 Alfred was not only a benefactor to monasteries in general, 
 but also built many new ones : those, however, which we 
 have mentioned are the only ones which can, on good and 
 positive authority, be ascribed to him, though he in a variety 
 of ways made large and valuable gifts to various other 
 religious houses. 
 
 48. Revenues of the Church. 
 
 We will, in a future page, enumerate the gifts of Alfred 
 to the church and monasteries, upon speaking of the divi- 
 sion of his fortune (see Note 56.) Haller's remark upon 
 the wealth of priests is but too well founded, since the whole 
 of Europe, and even a portion of the new world, have suf- 
 fered from their abuses. Even in modern times, and towards 
 the end of the last century, in civilized France, the church 
 having five millions of revenue from tithes, with nearly half the 
 land of the kingdom besides, assigned only £20 a year to 
 the parochial working clergy, while all the rest Avas a prey 
 to the vices of a sinecure and dissolute hierarchy. The 
 landed property in that country was so unequally divided, 
 that one-third of it only was in the hands of the lay common- 
 ality, the churches and the nobles possessing all the rest. 
 
 In regard of the revenue of the Church of England, 
 compared to that of all other Christian churches, we have a 
 document before us, proving that the clergy of the latter, 
 consisting of 203,728,000 hearers, receive £9,949,000 ; and 
 the clergy of England and Wales, consisting of 6,500,000 
 hearers, receive £9,459,565, being nearly as much as the 
 expenses of the whole Christianity in all parts of the world. 
 
232 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 49. Architectural Works of Alfred. 
 " In his own palaces," says Asser, " farms, and country 
 seats, of which he had a large number, the king set a lau- 
 dable example to his neglected earls and thanes ; his archi- 
 tectural taste was lavishly displayed in the restorations and 
 new creations, which his genius called forth in that depart- 
 ment. These works were doubtlessly well known to his 
 contemporaries, but the details of them have perished, or 
 have never been written. The greatest works of man fall 
 into obscurity, and become utterly unknown, when those 
 who saw them with their own eyes, and were dazzled by 
 their brilliancy, have omitted to record those facts, which 
 alone can preserve the memory of them to posterity. What 
 shall I say," continues Asser, " of the cities and towns which 
 he restored, and of others which he built where none had 
 been before ? of the royal halls and chambers, wonderfully 
 erected, by his command, with stone and wood ? of his royal 
 vills constructed of stone, removed from their old sites, and 
 handsomely rebuilt, by the king's command, in more fitting 
 places?" These palaces are enumerated in a future note, 
 containing a translation of King Alfred's will. 
 
 50. Division of the King's Household. 
 The king's household was at all times arranged in three 
 classes. His attendants were most wisely distributed into 
 three companies, so that the first company should be on duty 
 at court for one month, night and day, at the end of which 
 time they returned to their homes, and were relieved by the 
 second company. At the end of the second month, the 
 third company, in the same way, relieved the second, who 
 also returned to their homes, where they spent two months, 
 until their services were again wanted. The third company 
 gave place to the first in the same manner, and also spent 
 two months at home. Such was the threefold division 
 of the companies arranged at all times in the royal house- 
 
 Spelman expresses himself on this subject as follows: — 
 "I should conjecture that the king, for his more honour- 
 able attendance, took this course in point of royalty and 
 state, there being (as it then stood with the state) very few 
 men of quality fit to stand before a king, who by their for- 
 tunes or dependency were not otherwhere besides engaged; 
 neither was there in those times any great assurance to be 
 had of any man, unless he was one of such condition, whose 
 service, when the kins: was fain to use one month in the 
 
BOOK IV. 233 
 
 quarter, it was necessary for the commonwealth, that he 
 should remit them the other two months unto their own 
 occasions. Neither used he this course with some of his 
 officers only, (as there are those that understand it to have 
 been a course taken only with those of his guard,) but with 
 all his whole attendance ; neither used he it for a time only, 
 but for his whole life, as Ingulfus expressly tells us ; and I 
 little doubt but that the use at court at this day, of officers 
 and quarter-waiters, had the first beginning even from this 
 invention of the king's." 
 
 51. Vide Note 24. 
 
 52. Alfred's skill in Jewellery, and description of his Gem. 
 The art of working in gold and silver was a favourite 
 subject for the king's taste and patronage. A beautiful 
 specimen of workmanship occurs in his jewel, which has 
 already been mentioned; and if we are to understand 
 literally his biographer's assertion, that the king himself 
 taught the artist to execute such works as this, it consider- 
 ably augments our respect for the master-mind, which not 
 only entered upon so many different callings, but succeeded 
 so completely in them all. The working in gold and silver 
 must however be interpreted to comprehend a vast extent 
 of art and science. The mere manufacture of a bracelet, or 
 any other ornament of the person, will hardly describe the 
 full operation of this art; the inlaying and setting of pre- 
 cious stones, enamelling in all its branches, and the decora- 
 tive branches of carving and gilding, may all be included in 
 the name, and the introduction or improvement of these 
 elegant embellishments to the residences of the king and his 
 nobles, must have not only improved the taste, but have 
 added to the comforts of his countrymen. 
 
 "I know not," says Spelman, "why we may not con- 
 jecture, that the king (being by the return of his East- 
 Indian ship stored with many eastern stones, and by 
 his especial industry upon that occasion provided also of 
 workmen) probably fell upon the composing of an imperial 
 crown, which, though not of the form, that by way of dis- 
 tinction we at this day call imperial, yet it was of a more 
 august and imperial form than had been formerly of use in 
 this kingdom. For in the arched room in the cloisters of 
 Westminster Abbey, where the ancient regalia of this king- 
 dom are kept, upon a box, (which is the cabinet to the 
 ancientest crown,) there is (as I am informed) an inscription 
 
234 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 to this purpose : Hcec est principalior corona cum qua coro- 
 nabantur reges JElfredus, JEdwardus, Sfc. And the crown 
 (which to this purpose were worth the observing) is of a 
 very ancient work, with flowers adorned with stones of some- 
 what a plain setting. This by the inscription appearing to 
 have been made by him, and that when he was become uni- 
 versal king of the Heptarchy ; in which respect, and for the 
 value of the jewels, (then and long after very rare in these 
 parts,) as also for the venerable esteem which (for the 
 original and author) succeeding ages have ever had of it, it 
 seems deservedly to be accounted the most principal crown." 
 
 The gem formerly worn by King Alfred, and now pre- 
 served in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is made of pure 
 gold, containing coloured stones, cased in a remarkably thick 
 crystal, in perfect preservation, and only looks a little dull 
 and dingy, for the great length of time that has passed over 
 it. The length of the gem is about two inches, and it is 
 about half an inch thick. Round the edge are engraved the 
 words Alfred mec heht gewyrcan, {Alfred had me worked) 
 in pierced gold letters. The narrow end of the gem, at 
 which the first and last words of this inscription meet, is 
 formed into the head of a griffin, the national emblem of the 
 Saxons, having in its mouth a strong gold rivet, to which a 
 chain was doubtlessly attached ; and its flat form indicates 
 that it must have been worn on the breast dependent from 
 the chain that passed round the neck, in a way similar to 
 ornaments which are still worn by kings and queens on state 
 occasions. 
 
 The back of the gem is quite flat, and ornamented with 
 a flower, wrought in gold, without stones. 
 
 The front or principal face of the relic is smaller than the 
 back, in consequence of the edge sloping inwards a little all 
 round, so that the words engraved on it do not stand up- 
 right, a contrivance probably adopted for the purpose of 
 giving more effect to the front of the jewel, and making it 
 stand out in stronger relief. The back-ground is composed 
 of a blue stone, on which appears a human figure clothed in 
 the green Saxon military vest or tunic, and girt with a belt, 
 from which a strap for a sword depends towards the left side. 
 The figure is seated on the throne, with a cyne-helm or crown 
 on its head, and on either hand he holds a sceptre, branching 
 out over the shoulders into fleurs de lis. 
 
 Learned men differ in their opinion : some of them pre- 
 tend that the figure in the gem was a type of Alfred as 
 king; and others assert that it represents Jesus Christ, or St. 
 
BOOK III. 235 
 
 Cuthbert, patron of King Alfred, who assisted him in dis- 
 tress ; but the opinion of the Rev. Dr. Silver, of St. John's 
 College, Oxford, formerly Anglo-Saxon Professor, seems to 
 have the preponderance. According to his view, the figure 
 was an image of the king himself, and symbolical of his 
 kingly office ; and the two sceptres designate the spiritual 
 and temporal authority which were united in the king's 
 hands. 
 
 53. Political Levers of Rulers. 
 
 We perceive that King Alfred employed one of the first 
 levers of rulers to attain his purposes; and to acquire the 
 services of others, without making any real sacrifice, farther 
 than flattering their ambition. The other lever also used by 
 princes for the same purpose, (and at an equally little 
 expense,) and which Philip II. and other tyrants so effec- 
 tively practiced, is fear — a means which Alfred did not 
 neglect, but which, be it said to his glory, he did not, like so 
 many of his descendants and other sovereigns, abuse. 
 
 That Alfred knighted his grandson is not astonishing, 
 since the nearest relations of monarchs are always the first 
 distinguished by that dignity. History informs us that 
 queens and empresses generally knighted their favourites ; 
 but of the most distinguished men, not one was ever proud 
 enough to refuse that distinction, even from the hands of a 
 woman. 
 
 54. Universal Geni, and Manual Occupations of Princes. 
 
 Nature very seldom produces geni capable of successfully 
 practising so many different avocations ; but as we possess 
 sufficient examples in ancient and modern history, and 
 especially in Michael Angelo, Goethe, Frederick the Great, 
 Napoleon, &c. of men who cultivated many different sciences, 
 and naturally excelled in some more than in others, we 
 cannot wonder that Alfred was likewise gifted with those 
 qualities. What is, however, most to be admired, and what 
 we seldom find united in such universal geni, is the tranquil- 
 lity of mind that such a man must have possessed, to occupy 
 himself so extensively and regularly with those different 
 branches of arts and sciences ; and practise them under the 
 very clash of weapons, and amidst the troubles and desola- 
 tion spread by constant warfare. 
 
 The custom that every sovereign should practice one 
 manual occupation, has been preserved in some countries 
 until the end of the last century; the higher sense of that 
 
236 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 custom being probably, that they should not forget that they 
 descend from the people ; forming a striking contrast with 
 the usurped expression, that they obtain their power from 
 the grace of God. 
 
 55. Alfred's Zeal for Religion. 
 
 We must remind the reader that Haller was • a philoso- 
 pher, and lived in the time of Voltaire, Rousseau, &c. ; and 
 that the Atheism which reigned on the continent of Europe 
 at that epoch, can alone excuse his expression. 
 
 Alfred's zeal for religion is described as follows by Dr. 
 Giles:— 
 
 "For the last hundred and fifty years preceding the reign 
 of Alfred, and following the death of Venerable Bede, a 
 great change, and not for the better, had been gradually 
 passing over the Anglo-Saxon mind. In literature an<J 
 religion, which in those days were inseparably united, the 
 zeal which was kindled in the time of Venerable Bede, and 
 fostered by his own bright example, had long waxed cold ; 
 no name of importance occurs during that long period; and 
 when Alfred came to the throne, it was not the least pressing 
 of the arduous duties that devolved on him, to raise his sub- 
 jects from the inglorious apathy into which they had fallen 
 on all that regarded their intellectual and moral culture." It 
 was for this object above all others that Alfred had gathered 
 from every side those pious and learned churchmen, whose 
 names and virtues have been already enumerated. 
 
 56. Division of Alfred's Revenues. 
 He assigned the first half of his revenue to worldly pur- 
 poses, and ordered that one-third of this half should be paid 
 to his soldiers and his ministers, the nobles who resided at 
 his court, where they discharged various duties : for the 
 king's household was at all times arranged in three classes. 
 To these attendants was paid : — the first of the three portions 
 aforesaid, to each according to their respective dignities and 
 peculiar service; the second was for the payment of the 
 operatives, whom he had collected out of every nation, and 
 kept about him in large numbers, men skilled in every kind 
 of construction ; the third portion was assigned to foreigners, 
 who came to him out of every nation far and near ; whether 
 they asked money of him or not, he cheerfully gave to each 
 with a wonderful munificence in proportion to their respec- 
 tive merits, according to what is written, " God loveth a 
 cheerful giver." 
 
book iv. 237 
 
 But the second part of all the revenues, which came yearly 
 into his possession, and was included in the receipts of his 
 exchequer, he, with ready devotion, gave to God, ordering his 
 ministers to divide it again into four parts, stipulating 
 that the first of these parts should be bestowed on the poor 
 of every nation who came to him; and on this subject he 
 said, that as far as human discretion could guarantee, the 
 remark of Pope Gregory should be followed: "Give not 
 much to whom you should give little, nor little to whom 
 much, nor something to whom nothing is due, nor nothing 
 to whom something." The second of the four portions was 
 given to the two monasteries, which he had built,* and to 
 those who therein had dedicated themselves to God's ser- 
 vice, as we have mentioned above. The third portion was 
 assigned to the school, which he had studiously collected 
 together, consisting of many of the nobility of his own na- 
 tion. The fourth portion was for the use of all the neigh- 
 bouring monasteries in all Saxony and Mercia ;f and also 
 during some years, in turn, to the churches and servants of 
 God, dwelling in Britain, Cornwall, Gaul, Armorica, North- 
 umberland, and sometimes even in Ireland, according to his 
 means, he either distributed to them beforehand, or pro- 
 posed to do so afterwards, if life and prosperity should not 
 fail him. 
 
 57. Division of Alfred's Time. 
 With equal exactitude Alfred apportioned his own time 
 between his spiritual and temporal duties ; but his biogra- 
 pher has not been equally minute in describing this parti- 
 cular, as in the division of his income. We will notice in 
 the next note the expedient of wax lights and lanterns, 
 to which the king had recourse for ascertaining the lapse of 
 time. Asser informs us that he dedicated half his service to 
 the world and half to God; but William of Malmesbury 
 says, with more minuteness, that he employed " eight hours 
 in writing, reading, and prayer ; eight in the refreshment of 
 his body; and eight in despatching the business of the 
 realm." This regularity of system must have been of the 
 greatest service to the king, and have enabled him to ac- 
 complish much more than he otherwise could have done ; 
 and it set an example to his subjects, of the utmost import - 
 
 * Athclney and Shaftesbury. 
 
 + Saxony now became the general name for Wessex, Kent, and Sussex 
 combined. Mercia is added, because it was considered no longer a separate 
 kingdom. 
 
238 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 ance to a nation, which was saved from destruction, that it 
 might become a monument to posterity of the greatness of 
 their king. 
 
 58. Invention of Lanterns. 
 There are so many different facts in Alfred's history 
 which make impressions upon the mind, from their poetical 
 aspect, that it is not surprising that his history is and ever 
 will be popular, from his flight, his disguise, the history of 
 the cakes, (whether fictious or not,) his entry into the Danish 
 camp as a minstrel, his architectural knowledge, his skill in 
 jewellery, and even from the presumed invention of lan- 
 terns. Of the latter Asser speaks as follows : — " After long 
 reflection on these things, he at length, by a useful and 
 shrewd invention, commanded his chaplains to provide wax 
 in a sufficient quantity ; and he caused it to be weighed in 
 such a manner, that when there was so much of it in the 
 scale as would equal the weight of seventy-two pence, he 
 caused his chaplains to make six candles out of it, each 01 
 equal length, so that each candle might have twelve divi- 
 sions marked longitudinally upon it. By this plan, there- 
 fore, those six candles burned for twenty-four hours, a 
 night and a day exactly, before the sacred relics of many of 
 God's elect, which always accompanied him wherever he 
 went : but sometimes, when they would not continue burn- 
 ing a whole day and night, till the same hour that they 
 were lighted the preceding evening, owing to the violence 
 of the wind, which blew day and night, without intermission, 
 through the doors and windows of the churches, the fissures 
 of the partitions, the plankings, or of the wall, and the thin 
 canvass of the tents, they then unavoidably burnt out and 
 finished their course before the appointed time ; the king 
 therefore considered by what means he could shut out the 
 wind, and so, by an useful and cunning invention, he 
 ordered a lantern to be beautifully constructed of wood and 
 white ox-horn, which, when skilfully planed till it is thin, is 
 no less transparent than a vessel of glass. This lantern, 
 therefore, was wonderfully made of wood and horn, as we 
 before said, and by night a candle was put into it, which 
 shone as brightly without as within, and was not extin- 
 guished by the wind ; for the opening of the lantern was 
 also closed up, according to the king's command, by a door 
 made of horn. By this contrivance, then, six candles, 
 lighted in succession, lasted four and twenty hours, neither 
 
book in. 239 
 
 more nor less, and when these were extinguished, others 
 were lighted in their places." 
 
 In the above description of Asser, he says, "no less trans- 
 parent than a vessel of glass." Can Asser have employed 
 that expression ? And was glass used in Alfred's time ? 
 And if so, wherefore wanted he lanterns of horn when he 
 could use glass ? The fear of straw, or any other com- 
 bustible matter catching fire, (wherefore horn is now used in 
 stables, &c.,) cannot have existed in palaces. There was 
 accordingly no need of using it if glass could be had. 
 
 59. Alfred's Illness. 
 With respect to Alfred's illness, which began at the time 
 of his marriage, Asser expresses himself as follows : — " His 
 nuptials were honourably celebrated in Mercia, among in- 
 numerable multitudes of people of both sexes ; and after 
 continual feasts, both by night and by day, he was im- 
 mediately seized, in presence of all the people, by sudden 
 and overwhelming pain, as yet unknown to all the physi- 
 cians ; for it was unknown to all who were then present, and 
 even to those who daily see him up to the present time — 
 which, sad to say ! is the worst of all, that he should have 
 protracted it so long from the twentieth to the fortieth year 
 of his life, and even more than that through the space of so 
 many years — from what cause so great a malady arose. For 
 many thought that this was occasioned by the favour and 
 fascination of the people who surrounded him ; others, by 
 some spite of the devil, who is ever jealous of the good; 
 others, from an unusual kind of fever. He had this sort of 
 severe disease from his childhood ; but once, divine Provi- 
 dence so ordered it, that when he was on a visit to Cornwall 
 for the sake of hunting, and had turned out of the road to 
 pray in a certain chapel, in which rests the body of St. 
 Guerir,* and now also St. Neot rests there — for King Alfred 
 was always from his infancy a frequent visitor of holy places 
 for the sake of prayer and almsgiving — he prostrated himself 
 for private devotion, and, after some time spent therein, he 
 entreated of God's mercy, that in his boundless clemency he 
 would exchange the torments of the malady which then 
 afflicted him for some other lighter disease ; but with this 
 condition, that such disease should not show itself outwardly 
 in his body, lest he should be an object of contempt, and less 
 able to benefit mankind ; for he had great dread of leprosy 
 
 * St. Guerir's Church was at Ham Stoke, in Cornwall. 
 
240 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 or blindness, or any such complaint, as makes men useless 
 or contemptible when it afflicts them. When he had finished 
 his prayers, he proceeded on his journey, and hot long after 
 he felt within him that by the hand of the Almighty he was 
 healed, according to his request, of his disorder, and that it 
 was entirely eradicated, although he had first had even this 
 complaint in the flower of his youth, by his devout and pious 
 prayers and supplications to Almighty God. For if I may 
 be allowed to speak briefly, but in a somewhat preposterous 
 order, of his zealous piety to God, in the flower of his youth, 
 before he entered the marriage state, he wished to strengthen 
 his mind in the observance of God's commandments, for he 
 perceived that he could with difficulty abstain from gratify- 
 ing his carnal desires ; and, because he feared the anger of 
 God if he should do anything contrary to his will, he used 
 often to rise in the morning at the cock-crow, and go to pray 
 in the churches and at the relics of the saints. There he 
 prostrated himself on the ground, and prayed that God in 
 his mercy would strengthen his mind still more in his service 
 by some infirmity such as he might bear, but not such as 
 would render him imbecile and contemptible in his worldly 
 duties ; and when he had often prayed with much devotion 
 to this effect, after an interval of some time, Providence 
 vouchsafed to afflict him with the above-named disease, 
 which he bore long and painfully for many years, and even 
 despaired of life, until he entirely got rid of it by his prayer; 
 but, sad to say ! it was replaced, as we have said, at his 
 marriage by another which incessantly tormented him, night 
 and day, from the twentieth to the forty-fourth year of his 
 life. But if ever, by God's mercy, he was relieved from 
 this infirmity for a single day or night, yet the fear and 
 dread of that dreadful malady never left him, but rendered 
 him almost useless, as he thought, for every duty, whether 
 human or divine." 
 
 Dr. Giles speaks on the same subject as follows: — "It is 
 generally believed, on the authority of Asser, who was 
 Alfred's bishop, biographer, and friend, that our great king 
 suffered much, through the whole of his life, from some 
 internal disease, the nature of which was unknown to the 
 physicians of his time. To inquire into the nature of this 
 complaint seems useless, because science alone could explain 
 it to us, and at that time the medical science, perhaps, was 
 at its lowest ebb : and it is more consistent with the dignity 
 of a name, that has always borne on it a halo of reverence 
 in the eyes of mankind, to touch with a gentle hand the 
 
BOOK IV. 241 
 
 infirmities from which even the body of the great Alfred was 
 not exempted by his Creator. Yet such was the vigour 
 of Alfred's mind, such the submission of his body to the 
 control of his powerful intellect and will, that the malady, 
 from which he suffered, seems never, after its first access, 
 to have gained dominion over him, or to have displayed 
 itself in public. On the contrary, his energy of mind was, 
 if possible, sharpened by the warnings of his bodily tor- 
 mentor. Nor does his disease seem to have affected even 
 the vigour of his body. An invalid can with difficulty go 
 through the hardships of an ordinary campaign in war. But 
 what did not Alfred encounter during the many years that 
 he upheld, first by the side of his brave brother, and after- 
 wards alone, the tottering condition of the West- Saxon 
 monarchy ? We have traced his reign, as minutely as our 
 authorities will permit, through seven years, and three 
 Danish invasions, each more formidable than the preceding. 
 Twice the wave of conquest was thrown back from the rock 
 on which it beat ; and though at its third flow that rock was 
 submerged by the increasing mass of waters which assailed 
 it, yet Alfred still floated above the tide, and served as a 
 buoy on which the eyes of his people were fixed, that thev 
 might regain their footing, and repel the hostile inunda- 
 tion." 
 
 There is a legend which informs us that he was cured of 
 his infirmity by Modwen, a female saint in Ireland, whose 
 virtues at this time excited the wonder of the world, and 
 augmented the wealth and influence of the Church. But it 
 is scarcely doubted that Alfred never was in Ireland : avc 
 road of no such connection between the sister islands in his 
 time, as had existed in a previous generation. If Ireland 
 ever was distinguished for learning in very early times, it 
 had again become unknown to the rest of the world, until it 
 was annexed to the English crown by Henry II., and cer- 
 tainly furnished no temptation to the royal family of Ethel- 
 wolf to visit it for any purpose of either religion, learning, 
 or science. 
 
 60. Alfred's Education. 
 
 All authors agree that Alfred's education did not com- 
 mence until he was about twelve years old; and Asser speaks 
 of it as follows: — " He was loved by his father and mother, 
 and even by the people generally, above all his brothers, and 
 was educated altogether at the court of the king. As he 
 advanced through the years of infancy and youth, Vis form 
 
 M 
 
242 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 appeared more comely than that of his brothers ; in look, in 
 speech, and in manners, he was more graceful than they. 
 His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of 
 wisdom above all things, but — with shame be it spoken — by 
 the unworthy neglect of his parents and nurses, he remained 
 illiterate even till he was twelve years old or more ; but he 
 listened with serious attention to the Saxon poems which he 
 often heard recited, and easily retained them in his docile 
 memory. He was a zealous follower of the chase in all its 
 branches, and hunted with great assiduity and success ; for 
 skill and good fortune in this art, as in all others, are among 
 the gifts of God, as we have often also witnessed. 
 
 " Now, on a certain day, his mother was showing him and 
 his brothers a Saxon book of poetry, which she held in her 
 hand, and said, L Whichever of you shall the soonest learn 
 this volume, shall have it for his own.' Stimulated by these 
 words, or rather by the divine inspiration, and allured by 
 the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the 
 volume, Alfred spoke before all his brothers, who, though 
 his seniors in age, were not so in grace, and answered, 'Will 
 you really give that book to one of us, that is to say, to him 
 who can first understand and repeat it to you ?' At this his 
 mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had 
 before said : upon which, the boy took the book out of her 
 hand, and went to his master and read it to him, and in due 
 time brought it to his mother, and recited it." 
 
 Historians vary as to whether the early education of 
 Alfred was conducted by his real mother, Osburga, or by 
 his step-mother, Judith ; but it is proved that the princess 
 Judith retired in 861 to her father's court in France, where 
 she soon married Baldwin II. surnamed Bras-de-fer, Count of 
 Flanders. The preceptress of Alfred must therefore have 
 been his own mother, Osburga, living in retirement, but 
 engaged in training the mind of her young child for the 
 high duties which he was afterwards to fulfil. 
 
 Alfred's biographer, Asser, further says : — " He learned 
 the daily course, that is, the celebration of the Hours ;* and 
 afterwards certain psalms and prayers, contained in a book, 
 which he kept day and night in his bosom, as we ourselves 
 have seen, and carried about with him to assist his prayers, 
 amid all the bustle and business of this present life. But, 
 sad to say, he could not gratify his most ardent wish to learn 
 the liberal arts, because, as he remarked, there were no 
 
 * The services of the church, which belonged to the different divisions of 
 the day and night. 
 
BOOK IV. 243 
 
 good readers* at that time in all the kingdom of the West- 
 Saxons." 
 
 " By the liberal arts," says Dr. Giles, " were implied 
 grammar, music, geometry, and the other sciences, which 
 were at that time to be learnt through the medium of the 
 Latin tongue only ; for, by the universal sovereignty of 
 Rome, the vernacular languages of the conquered nations, 
 however they may have retained their place as the idiom of 
 the people at large, were in every case superseded by the 
 Latin as the language of the court, and of polite literature. 
 Afterwards, also, when the whole of Europe was ruled no 
 longer by the sword of the baron, but by the crozier of the 
 bishop, the same slavery of the mind was continued ; nor. 
 after the lapse of so many centuries, has it entirely been 
 removed, in any country of the civilized world. The Anglo- 
 Saxons, even in the age of Alfred, and indeed earlier, as 
 might be easily shown, if this were the place for the discus- 
 sion, speedily began to emancipate themselves from the 
 trammels of a foreign language, and they aspired, as the 
 numerous MSS. still existing fully prove, to the honours 
 of a national literature, in their own dialect, and conse- 
 quently accessible to all. But learning, like liberty, is a 
 plant of slow growth, and does not easily become rooted in 
 a new soil : and by the storms which assailed the young- 
 shoot, in the age of Dunstan, and afterwards at the time of 
 the Xorman conquest, the Anglo-Saxon literature was 
 stifled even before it had time to acquire maturity. But, 
 when Alfred began first to turn his thoughts towards learn- 
 ing, the level even of Latin literature was so low, that the 
 young prince hardly knew where to find a teacher in all his 
 brother's dominions. The first impulse, which had been 
 given to Latin literature among the Anglo-Saxons by the 
 arrival of Archbishop Theodore, Abbot Hadrian, and the 
 scholars who accompanied them in the seventh century, had 
 been of short duration in proportion to the rapidity of its 
 growth. The most celebrated scholar, who sprung from the 
 seed thus planted in England, was the Venerable Bede ; 
 whose works comprehend almost every branch of the learn- 
 ing of his time. But that which is confined to the cloister 
 never can be popular, nor can those writings which are con- 
 signed to the keeping of a foreign tongue, ever be under- 
 stood by the great mass of the people. We have, therefore, 
 
 * Lectores, literally readers, probably in this passage designate? teachers, 
 professors, or, as they would have been afterwards termed, and are still 
 called, at our Universities, Prtetectores. 
 M 2 
 
244 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 no proof that the school of Theodore produced any sensible 
 effect, such as a vernacular literature always produces, in 
 softening the manners or even in enlarging the comprehen- 
 sion of those whom he came to enlighten. In the next 
 generation learning fled from Britain as rapidly as she had 
 come. The court of Charlemagne was now her favoured 
 resting-place. Thither resorted Alcuin and Dungal, the 
 former from England, the latter out of Scotland or Ireland ; 
 Fridugisus, and a host of ecclesiastics, whilst our own island 
 for many years produced nothing but a tame retinue of 
 monks, whose missals, penitentials, and rituals of every kind, 
 still remain to convince us how unproductive was a soil 
 which had given promise to become so fruitful. 
 
 " When we consider that Alfred had reached his twelfth 
 year before he could even read, it appears surprising that 
 he should ever have become a follower of literature at all. 
 Yet the love of book-learning was so deeply rooted in the 
 mind of Alfred, that it could not be eradicated, even by the 
 violence of the scenes in which so many years of his inter- 
 mediate life were passed. We may conceive the delight 
 with which the king, in 880, at last relieved from his perse- 
 vering enemies the Danes, hailed the opportunity, which 
 peace would bring, for indulging in study, and encouraging 
 his people by his example to do the same. But the ver- 
 nacular literature of the Anglo-Saxons, consisting princi- 
 pally of poems or ballads, was the only portion of learning 
 which as yet was open to the king. He began to learn to 
 read at the age of twelve, but his attempts were still for 
 many years confined to a very narrow field of operations. 
 The main part of learning was contained in the foreign idiom 
 of the Latin tongue, and even the ecclesiastics, in Alfred's 
 time had almost entirely forgotten the language in which 
 they were required to perform all their services, and where 
 all their knowledge was to be gathered." 
 
 61. Alfred's Boohs. 
 
 In 887, when Alfred was thirty years old, he began to 
 read the Latin language, and to apply it to the interpreta- 
 tion of the Scriptures. The following are Asser's own 
 words on the subject : — 
 
 "In the same year (877) Alfred, king of the Anglo- 
 Saxons, began, by divine inspiration, on one and the same 
 day, to read and to interpret ; but that I may explain this 
 more fully to those who are ignorant, I will relate the long 
 delay in beginning. 
 
BOOK IV. 245 
 
 " On a certain day we were both of us sitting in the king's 
 chamber, talking on all kinds of subjects, as usual, and it 
 happened that I read to him a quotation out of a certain 
 book. He listened to it with the utmost attention, and 
 addressed me with a thoughtful mind, showing me at the 
 same moment a book which he carried in his bosom, wherein 
 the daily courses, and psalms, and prayers, which he had 
 read in his youth, were written, and he commanded me to 
 write the same quotation in that book. Hearing this, and 
 perceiving his ingenious benevolence, and devout desire of 
 studying the word of divine wisdom, I gave, though in se- 
 cret, boundless thanks to Almighty God, who had implanted 
 such a love of wisdom in the king's heart. But I could not 
 find any empty space in that book, wherein to write the 
 quotation, for it was already full of various matters ; where- 
 fore I made a little delay, principally that I might stir up 
 the mind of the king to a higher acquaintance with the 
 divine testimonies. Upon his urging me to make haste and 
 write it quickly, I said to him, ' Are you willing that I 
 should write that quotation upon some leaf apart ? For it 
 is not certain whether we shall not find one or more other 
 such extracts which will please you ; and if that should so 
 happen, we shall be glad that we have kept them apart.' 
 ' Your plan is good,' said he ; and I gladly made haste to 
 get ready a sheet, in the beginning of which I wrote what 
 he bade me ; and on that same day I wrote therein, as I had 
 anticipated, no less than three other quotations which pleased 
 him; and from that time we daily talked together, and 
 found out other quotations which equally pleased him, so 
 that the sheet became full, and deservedly so ; according as 
 it is written : 'The just man builds upon a moderate foun- 
 dation, and gradually passes to greater things.' Thus, like 
 a productive bee, he flew here and there, asking questions 
 as he went, until he had eagerly and unceasingly collected 
 many various flowers of the divine Scriptures, with which 
 he thickly stored the cells of his mind. 
 
 " Now, when that first quotation was copied, he was 
 eager at once to read and to interpret in Saxon, and then to 
 teach others ; even as we read of that happy robber, who 
 recognised his Lord, yea, the Lord of all mankind, as he was 
 hanging on the blessed cross, and saluting him with his 
 bodily eyes only, because elsewhere he was pierced all over 
 with nails, cried, ' Lord, remember me when thou comest 
 into thy kingdom ;' for it was only at the end of his life that 
 he began to learn the rudiments of the Christian faith. 
 
246 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 "It was at the sacred solemnity of St. Martin, [Nov. 11], 
 that the king, inspired by God, began to study the rudi- 
 ments of divine Scripture, and he continued to learn the 
 flowers collected by certain masters, and to reduce them 
 into the form of one book, to the best of his ability, though 
 they were mixed one with another, until the book became 
 almost as large as a psalter. This book he called his " En- 
 chiridion, Handbook, or Manual," because he carefully 
 kept it at hand, day and night, and found, as he told me, no 
 small consolation therein." 
 
 The first Latin work that arrested the attention of Alfred 
 was, the " Pastoral Care " of Pope Gregory. The transla- 
 tion of this book was entrusted to Bishop Werefrith, one of 
 the ecclesiastics whom Alfred had invited to his court, but 
 the preface was written by Alfred himself: it is addressed 
 in the form of a letter to Wulfsig, and is a noble specimen 
 of plain and simple thoughts, coming from the anxious 
 breast of a patriot king, and endeavouring to find their way 
 to the hearts of his people. 
 
 Another book which was much valued throughout Europe 
 in the time of Alfred, was the work of Boethius on the 
 " Consolations of Philosophy." Its writer, like Alfred, had 
 been suddenly transferred from prosperity and success to 
 abasement and misfortune. In the prison, to which the 
 capricious tyranny of Theodoric, King of the Goths, con- 
 signed him, he possibly drew that consolation from philo- 
 sophy, which he has embodied in the precepts of his 
 delightful little treatise. Alfred, aware perhaps of the 
 sudden vicissitudes and early death of the author, included 
 the volume on the " Consolation of Philosophy " among the 
 works which might instruct his own subjects. The object 
 of the treatise is to show the vanity of riches, power, dignity, 
 and pleasure, and their inability to confer happiness on 
 their possessor. The construction of the work is singular, 
 being partly in prose and partly in verse. There can be no 
 doubt that the Anglo-Saxon translation of it is due to King 
 Alfred : Ethelwerd, Malmesbury, and others, attest the fact, 
 and the Saxon preface which is prefixed to the work states 
 that " Alfred king was the translator of this book, and from 
 book-Latin turned it into English, as it is now done." Two 
 manuscripts of this work still exist, supposed to have been 
 written soon after, if not during the reign of Alfred, from a 
 collation of which the work has been printed within the last 
 few years, accompanied with an English translation. In 
 one of these manuscripts the metrical part of the original is 
 
BOOK IV. 247 
 
 rendered into Saxon prose ; in the other the verses are 
 translated in Anglo-Saxon metre. 
 
 In rendering this interesting moral treatise accessible to 
 his own subjects, Alfred has by no means shown himself as 
 a mere translator or copyist. His version is rather a para- 
 phrase than a translation, and in many parts, where the king's 
 feelings seem to have been more particularly in harmony 
 with his subject, whole sentences are introduced into the 
 work not to be found in the Latin original of Boethius. 
 
 The next work which claims our notice is Alfred's trans- 
 lation of " Orosius," and is of considerably greater value than 
 either of the preceding. In executing this work, the king 
 has allowed himself even greater latitude than in his version 
 of Boethius. Some parts of the original he has amplified ; 
 others he has compressed ; and others again he has omitted 
 altogether. To compensate, however, for these omissions, 
 he has inserted several new chapters altogether, two of 
 which have attracted considerable notice : they contain a 
 description of the principal tribes of Germany in his own 
 time, and an account of the voyages of Othar towards 
 the north, and of Wulfstan to the Baltic, which were 
 achieved in Alfred's own time, and possibly by his command. 
 These and other minor insertions amount to several pages, 
 and show that Alfred took pleasure in the study of geo- 
 graphy, of which also they show that he possessed a sur- 
 prising knowledge, if we consider the darkness of the age in 
 which he lived, and the distraction occasioned to his mind 
 by the number and variety of his studies. 
 
 The voyages of Othar, or Oththere, towards the north, and 
 those of Wulfsan to the Baltic, are described in the sixth 
 book of this work, translated by Haller, who pretends not 
 to have taken it from Othar's own description. 
 
 The fourth work of Alfred, and perhaps the most useful 
 of all to his subjects, was a translation of " Bede's Ecclesi- 
 astical History of the English Nation." This was an ines- 
 timable gift to those of his countrymen who could read it, 
 as it invested that great national work with what alone it 
 wanted, namely, that it should be written in the language of 
 the country of whose early annals it treated. The trans- 
 lation was executed on the same principles which guided the 
 king in his other works, and is of very great use as a 
 commentary on the original text of Bede. There are 
 several manuscripts of it in existence, and the work has 
 been twice printed, both times as an accompaniment to the 
 Latin original. 
 
248 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 Besides these great works, a variety of shorter writings 
 and tracts have been ascribed to King Alfred. Some of 
 these have perished by time : others are still preserved in 
 our public libraries, and have perhaps not yet received that 
 minute attention which they demand. 
 
 William of Malmesbury says, that Alfred began to trans- 
 late the Psalms of David, but died before it was finished. 
 
 Florence of Worcester also tells us, that Alfred translated 
 the Bible or Testament into Anglo-Saxon, but this state- 
 ment has met with no confirmation ; and we may doubt 
 whether Alfred's labours in this way extended further than 
 to the compilation of his "Enchiridion, Hand-book, or 
 Manual," of which Asser speaks in the passage we have 
 before quoted. 
 
 There is an Anglo-Saxon manuscript in the Cottonian 
 Library, containing some flowers or extracts gathered out of 
 " St. Augustine's Soliloquies." At the end of these flowers is 
 a sentence left imperfect by the abrupt termination of the 
 MS. " Here end the sayings that King Alfred selected from 
 those books which we call ." . 
 
 In the Harleian Library also is a collection of Fables in 
 Anglo-Norman verse. The authoress of this work was 
 Marie, who lived in the thirteenth century. She says, at the 
 end of the work, that Alfred had translated them from the 
 Latin into English, i. e. Anglo-Saxon, from which she had 
 turned them into French verse. Nothing more is known 
 of the Fables which are thus ascribed to the king. 
 
 It appears from a catalogue of the Christ Church Library, 
 in 1315, that among its MSS. was one entitled, "Liber 
 Alured Regis de Custodiendis Accipitribus." " This book," 
 observes Mr. Turner, to whom we are indebted for these 
 notices of Alfred's minor works, " corresponds with the 
 fact mentioned by Asser, that Alfred was accustomed ' to 
 teach his falconers, and hawkers, and hound- trainers.' " 
 
 Mention is also made by ancient writers of the Proverbs 
 and Parables of King Alfred. Something of this kind has 
 heen preserved by Sir John Spelman, from a Cottonian MS. 
 which has been burnt since his time, and is no longer legible. 
 As the precepts which have been preserved are curious and 
 instructive, the following paragraph with which Spelman in- 
 troduces them to the notice of his readers, is worthy of our 
 attention : — 
 
 " There is in that well-known library, now Sir Thomas 
 Cotton's, a manuscript collection of diverse precepts and 
 instructions of King Alfred's, tending to the purpose we now 
 
BOOK IV. 249 
 
 speak of; and by the courtesy of Sir Thomas I am provided 
 with a copy of them. But, as they are, I cannot think it fit 
 to offer them unto the world as an instance of what the king 
 composed. For they are not his very work in the Saxon 
 tongue, but a miscellaneous collection of some later author, 
 who, according to his own faculty, hath, in a broken English, 
 put together such of the sayings of King iElfred, as he met 
 withal, some of them rhyming, and others (as perhaps the 
 original was) in prose : and besides that in their order they 
 somewhat argue the collector's want of judgment. For 
 marshalling them no better, the copy is so faulty and ill — 
 written, in a mongrel hand, (as well as language,) as that, 
 unless I should, without regard, venture to trespass the 
 truth, I dare not publish it according to the copy I have 
 taken. Therefore, whereas there are thirty-one heads of the 
 sayings of the king, all beginning with these words, ' Thus 
 quoth Alfred,' I take them not all, only the beginning of 
 them, and three or four of the first also, (which are the per- 
 fectest,) I have (to show the style and manner of them) set 
 down, in the words that I have copied them, together with 
 the current sense they have in speech at this day. For the 
 residue I have taken such as I presume I read right and 
 understand, and I have only set them down in English, 
 noting them with figures, according to the number or place 
 they hold among the rest. 
 
 " The beginning of them is very much to be considered ; 
 for that it importeth as if there were some assembly of the 
 chief of both orders of the kingdom called together at 
 Siffbrd (or Seaflbrd*) in Oxfordshire, and as if the king had 
 there consulted with his clergy, nobles, and others, about 
 the manners and government of the people, and had there 
 delivered some grave admonitions and instructions concern- 
 ing the same, to be (as one would think) divulged throughout; 
 the kingdom. For its first mentioning the assembly, and 
 commending the king, it saith, that he began to teach those 
 that could hear him how they should lead their lives; and 
 then setteth down those thirty-one heads as particulars of 
 his teaching, confirming thereby that which we have already 
 (from other authorities) alleged, concerning his care and 
 travail for the instruction and reformation of his people." 
 
 * This is a mistake of Sir John Spelnmn. The Anglo-Saxon name of 
 Shiflford is Scifford, which is pronounced, as we still pronounce it, Shift.. n' 
 and means the " shced-ford," not " sea-forl" It is in the parish of Bampton 
 
 M 3 
 
250 NOTES 3 COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 62. Alfred's Embassies to Rome. 
 
 Alfred, who, according to some writers, was not in favour 
 at Rome, (a fact contradicted by his biographers,) sent 
 annually embassies to Rome, and carried on an extensive 
 correspondence. "We have seen and read letters," says 
 Asser, " accompanied with presents, which were sent to him 
 by Abel, the patriarch of Jerusalem ;" and the same writer 
 speaks "of the daily embassies sent to him by foreign 
 nations, from the Tyrrhenian sea to the farthest end of 
 Ireland." Even this was not the limit of King Alfred's cor- 
 respondence with foreign parts. In 883, the year when 
 Pope Martin sent to him the piece of the holy cross, the 
 king sent two of his nobles or ministers on a mission to the 
 East Indies. These emissaries, stopping at Rome, deposited 
 there the alms which the king had vowed, and then pro- 
 ceeding on their voyage, conveyed to India a similar present 
 for the apostles, St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, who were 
 supposed to have evangelized those countries. Such is the 
 brief notice of this embassy in the Anglo-Saxon Chron- 
 icle, which adds, that the king had made a vow to this 
 effect, "when they sat down against the [Danish] army at 
 London," and when, " thanks be to God, they largely 
 obtained the object of their prayer after the vow." " Such 
 a step," says the historian, Lappenberg, " on the part of a 
 monarch of Alfred's character, will excite in us but little 
 surprise, and even that little will be diminished, if we call to 
 mind the pilgrimages that had long been usual to the pillar 
 of Simeon Stylites, and many places regarded as holy, and 
 every doubt obviated by the oriental gems brought back by 
 his envoys, some of which were in existence after a lapse of 
 centuries. The splendid colouring given by later historians 
 to this mission, by making Sighelm bishop of Sherborne, and 
 calling iEthelstan an alderman, has contributed to create 
 doubts of its reality. Sighelm did not receive the bishopric of 
 Sherborne till the death of Asser, twenty-seven years later." 
 
 In the year 884, Pope Martin died, and was succeeded by 
 Adrian III. It seems as if his communications with Alfred 
 had ended in the more regular transmission of gifts to 
 Rome. Thus in 887 we read in the Saxon Chronicle, 
 " This year Alderman iEthelelm carried the alms of the 
 West- Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome." The next 
 also, i. e. in 888, Beocca, the alderman, carried the alms of 
 the West- Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome." The fol- 
 lowing year we read, "there was no journey to Rome, 
 except that King Alfred sent two couriers with letters :" 
 
BOOK IV. 251 
 
 but in 890 the mission is again mentioned: "This year," 
 says the Chronicle, " Abbat Bernhelm carried the alms of 
 the West- Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome." 
 
 Sir John Spelman has remarked, " that when we consider 
 the estimation in which King Alfred was held, even at 
 Rome itself, it appears remarkable that, after his death, his 
 memory was passed over without his receiving the honours 
 and title of a saint; yet if the church of Rome had 
 borne the same good will towards him that they have 
 done towards others, as, for instance, towards the obscure 
 Edmund his contemporary, King of East-Anglia, it would 
 not have been a hard task for them to have detected in 
 the manifold incidents of his life, as good a ground for 
 conferring on him canonization, as they have had for many 
 whom the popes and cardinals have sainted. The very 
 opening of Alfred's life was remarkable, though we have 
 lost the exact particulars ; and a future pope might have 
 with propriety adjudged the honours which he had to 
 bestow on Alfred, if not for the benefits which he brought 
 to mankind, yet as a confirmation of the mysterious cere- 
 mony of unction, which he had received from one of that 
 pope's predecessors. When, also, the king sat in the 
 desolate island, and his affairs seemed to be in a hopeless 
 state, he was assured in a vision, as the monkish writers tell 
 us, that he should again sit upon his throne. Even the 
 malady with which he was bound, partakes of the same won- 
 derful character, and might be taken as a proof that Alfred 
 was a chosen child, whom the Lord would correct with 
 stripes in the flesh, that He might purify him for the 
 posthumous honours of a saint. If more was wanting to 
 prove his aptness for such honours, it might be added, that 
 he had exemplified in his own practice the precept of the 
 gospel, and had given half of his revenues to God, even 
 whilst he still exercised the functions of a king. His whole 
 life was one continued aspiration and struggle after what was 
 good, impeded and kept back by the persecutions of a race 
 of heathens, whose success would have overset the bark of 
 St. Peter with its crew, the pope, and all his cardinals. It 
 seems remarkable that no notice was taken of his career, 
 by those who were so amply benefitted by his virtues ; and 
 it cannot be superfluous to inquire why he was not canon- 
 ized, in an age when this was the highest honour which the 
 head of Christendom could bestow. 
 
 " The king," continues Spelman, "walked with too much 
 knowledge and understanding, and was not so easy to be led 
 
^252 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 by them as his father was ; and, though in spiritual matters 
 he reverenced the pope (according to the doctrine of the 
 times) as universal vicar, yet he understood not the infer- 
 ences that were afterwards built upon that foundation, but 
 exercised his regal authority absolutely, for which cause they 
 seem to have declined striving with him, and therefore, 
 though it had happened that all the bishoprics of West- Sax- 
 ony, viz. Winchester, Cornwall, Sherborne, Wells, and Cridda, 
 were for three whole years vacant, and only under the care 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury, until the time of the 
 king's death ; yet we hear of no offence taken therefore at 
 Rome ; but when after his death they continued as long- 
 vacant in his son Edward's time, the first news of distaste 
 that he heard thereof was a curse and an excommunica- 
 tion." 
 
 Dr. Giles observes hereupon, "that the Roman court 
 never tolerated even learning or virtue itself, if it in any 
 way opposed their own favourite opinions. It becomes, 
 therefore, a matter of the greatest probability, that some of 
 the reforms and ameliorations which Alfred introduced, 
 especially as regards the numerous translations from the 
 Latin into the Anglo-Saxon tongue, which were made by 
 his command, would meet with coldness, if not censure, but 
 certainly not with approbation, from the lips of the sove- 
 reign pontiff. Many of these translations were, in their 
 subjects, closely connected with the Scriptures, which the 
 Romanists have never, but by compulsion, allowed to be 
 communicated to the vulgar by means of versions in the 
 vernacular tongue." 
 
 A curious instance of correspondence occurs in Asser's 
 Biography, under the year 884. " Pope Martin, of blessed 
 memory, died this year ; it was he who, in regard for Alfred, 
 King of the Anglo-Saxons, and at his request, freed the 
 school of the Anglo-Saxons resident at Rome from all 
 tribute and tax. He also sent many gifts on that occasion, 
 and amongst others, a large piece of the holy and venerable 
 cross, on which our Lord Jesus Christ was suspended for the 
 good of mankind." 
 
 " That a king," observes Dr. Giles, " of so enlightened a 
 mind would attach little importance to the worthless bit 
 of wood, which derived all its value from a falsehood, may 
 be easily conceived ; but the exemption from tribute for the 
 English school was a more substantial gift, and that it was 
 granted at the king's urgent request, is in unison with e\nry 
 other feature of his enlarged and thoughtful mind." 
 
BOOK IV. 253 
 
 "As like Solon," says Lappenberg, "he ceased from, 
 learning only when he ceased to live, so he anxiously pro- 
 vided for the education of his children and his subjects." 
 
 63. Education of Alfred's Children. 
 " The sons and daughters," says Asser, " which he had 
 by his wife were, Ethelfied the eldest, after whom came 
 Edward, then Ethelgiva, then Ethelswitha, and Ethelwerd, 
 besides those who died in their infancy, one of whom was 
 Edmund. Ethelfied, when she arrived at a marriageable 
 age, was united to Ethelred, Earl of Mercia; Ethelgiva 
 was dedicated to God, and submitted to the rules of a mo- 
 nastic life ; Ethelwerd, the youngest, by the divine counsels 
 and admirable prudence of the king, was consigned to 
 the schools of learning, where, with the children of almost 
 all the nobility of the country, and many also who were not 
 noble, he prospered under the diligent care of his teachers. 
 Books in both languages, namely, in Latin and Saxon, were 
 read in the school. They also learned to write ; so that, 
 before they were of an age to practise manly arts, namely, 
 hunting, and such other pursuits as befit noblemen, they 
 became studious and clever in the liberal arts. Edward and 
 Ethelswitha were bred up in the king's court, and received 
 great attention from their servants and nurses ; nay, they 
 continue to this day, with the love of all about them, and 
 show affability, and even gentleness, towards all, both 
 foreigners and natives, and are in complete subjection to 
 their father ; nor, among their other studies which appertain 
 to this life and are fit for noble youths, are they suffered to 
 pass their time idly and unprofitably, without learning the 
 liberal arts; for they have carefully learned the Psalms and 
 Saxon books, especially the Saxon Poems, and are continu- 
 ally in the habit of making use of books." The schools of 
 learning, to which Asser alludes in this passage, as formed 
 for the use of the king's children and the sons of his nobles, 
 are again mentioned elsewhere by the same author, as "the 
 school which he had studiously collected together, consisting 
 of many of the nobility of his own nation;" and in a thirl 
 passage, Asser speaks of the "sons of the nobility who were 
 bred up in the royal household." It is clear, then from these 
 expressions, that, the king's exertions to spread learning 
 among his nobles, and to educate his own children, were of 
 a most active and personal nature, unconnected with any 
 institutions of a more public character: the school was kept 
 in his own household, and not in a public seat of learning, 
 
254 NOTES, COMMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 Alfred died, according to the historians, in 901. His 
 military performances are summed up, according to John 
 Hardyne, in the following verses (Chron. f. 108 b.) : — 
 
 " And in the year viii C. lxxx and eighteen 
 
 Then Alured this noble king so died : 
 When he had reigned xxix year clean 
 
 And with the Danes in battles multiplied 
 
 He faughten often, as Colman notified 
 In his Chronicle and in his Catalogue 
 Entitled well, as in his dialogue. 
 That fifty battailles and six he smote, 
 
 Sometime the worse and sometime had the better, 
 Sometime the field he had, as it is note, 
 
 Sometime he fled away, as saith the letter, 
 
 Like as Fortune his cause left unfeter. 
 But nevertheless as oft when so they came, 
 He countered them and kept the land from shame." 
 
 Translation of King Alfred's Will. 
 
 I. " I, Alfred King, with God's grace, and with counsel of 
 ^Ethered, a Archbishop, and all West- Saxon wise [menjs * 
 witness, have thought about mine soul's health, and about 
 mine inheritance, that me God and mine elders [ancestors] 
 gave, and about that inheritance that Athulf, c king mine 
 father us three brothers bequeathed, Athelbolde, and 
 iEthered, and me ; and, which of us soever longest were, 
 that he take to all. 
 
 II. " But it happened that iEthelbold died ;<* and we two, 
 iEthered [and I], e with all West- Saxon wise [menjs wit- 
 ness, our share entrusted to iEthelbirhte king our relation, 
 on the condition that he it returned to us as entire as it 
 there was, when we two it to him entrusted, and he then so 
 did, both that inheritance, and that he with our joint con- 
 currence got, and that he self acquired. 
 
 III. "When it so happened that Ethered succeeded, then 
 bade [prayed] I him before our wise \_men~] all, that we two 
 
 a. Ethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 888. 
 
 b. The words enclosed in brackets are supplied to make sense : the witan 
 were the senate or parliament : witness means testimony or concurrence. 
 
 c. Ethelwolf, father of Alfred, died Jan. 13th, 857-8, leaving four sons ; 
 1.— Ethelbald; 2.— Ethelbert ; 3.— Ethered ; 4.— Alfred ; who were suc- 
 cessively kings of England; and one daughter, Ethelswith, who, in 851, 
 married Burrhed, King of Mercia, and after his death in 873, became a 
 nun at Padua, where she died in 889. 
 
 d. December 20th, 860. 
 
 e. Omitted in original, but necessary to the sense. 
 
BOOK IV. 255 
 
 that inheritance divide, and he me give mine share. Then 
 said he me that he not easily nor might divide, for that he 
 had full often ere [before] taken possession, and he quoth that 
 which he of our joint concurrence enjoyed and [that which 
 he] /acquired, after his days he to no man rather would give 
 it than me, and I therewith then was well content. 
 
 IV. " But it happened that we all of heathen folk spoiled 
 were. Then spake we two about our bairns, that they some 
 support would require from us of those estates, as to us was 
 given. Then were we in meeting at Swinburg : then declared 
 we two, in West- Saxon wise [men]'s witness, that which 
 soever of us longest were, that he give other's bairns these 
 lands that we two self got, and those lands that to us Athulf 
 king gave in Athelbolde's life-time ; but [except] those that 
 he us three brothers bequeathed. And of this, of us two 
 either to other his pledge gave, whether of us longest lived, 
 that he should take both to the land and to the treasures, 
 and to all his possessions, but that part that of us either to 
 his bairns bequeathed. 
 
 V. " But it happened that iEthered king died when nor 
 shewed to me no man no inheritance-writing, nor no witness, 
 that it any other was but as we two of witness ere [before] 
 declared. Then heard we now many inheritance-suits : now 
 then led IAthulfs king's inheritance-writing into our meet- 
 ing at Langdene, and it they read before all West- Saxon 
 wisemen. When it read was, then bade I them all for mine 
 love, (and them mine pledge bade, that I of them never to 
 none would bear ill will for that they of right speak,) and 
 that of them none would neglect, neither for mine love nor 
 for mine fear, that they the folk-right declare, lest any man 
 quoth [say] that I mine kinsfolk, either elder, either younger, 
 with wrong exclude. And they then all for right declared 
 and quothed [said] that they no righter right conceive might 
 nor in the inheritance-writing hear of. 'Now it all delivered 
 is there into thine hand : wherefore thou it bequeath and 
 give as [well to] a relation as to a friend, whether to thee 
 liefer be.' And they all me thereon their pledge gave, and 
 their hand-setting, that by their life, no man never pervert 
 in none other wise, but so as I it self should say at the 
 next day. 
 
 VI. "I, Alfred, West-Saxon King,£ with God's grace, and 
 
 /. Omitted in original, but necessary to the sense. 
 
 g. Alfred being king at the time he made his will, it must have been made 
 between 871, when he came to the crown, and H*~>, in which Bishop Esne, 
 one of the legatees therein mentioned, died. 
 
256 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 with this witness, declare how I about mine inheritance will 
 after mine day. 
 
 VII. " First, I give^ to Edward, mine elder son, the lands 
 at Strsetneat,* in Triconshire,i and Heortigtune,* and the 
 book-land all that Leof heah holds, and that land at Carum- 
 tune/ and at Cilfantune,™ and at Burnhamme," and at Wed- 
 mor,° and I am a claimant to the families at Ceodre/ that 
 they him choose on the condition that we ere [formerly] 
 expressed had; with the land at Ciwtune,? and that that 
 thereto belongeth. And I him give the lands at Cantuc- 
 tune/ and at Bedewind,* and at Pefessigge,' and Hysse- 
 burn, K and at Suttune, and at Leodride, w and at Aweltune.^ 
 
 VIII. " And all the book-lands that I in Cent have, and 
 at the Nether-Hisseburn/ and at Ciseldene,^ give they to 
 Wintanceastre, on the condition that it mine father ere 
 gave, and that mine sundry fee [estate] that I Ecgulf gave 
 in trust at the Nether-Hisseburn. 
 
 IX. " And the younger mine son- that land at Eadering- 
 tune," and at Dene, 6 and at Meone, c and at Ambresbury, d 
 and at Deone, c and at Stureminster,/ and at Gifle,^ ancl at 
 Cruasrn, A and at Whitchurch,* and at Axanmouth,i and at 
 
 h. " I give — [the lands," &c] Alfred describes most of the estates which lie 
 devises as "land," but in some places he uses the word "ham." 
 
 *. Probably Stratton in Cornwall. 
 
 j. Doubtlessly Cornwall. 
 
 A-. Perhaps Hardington, in the County of Somerset. 
 
 /. Carhampton, in the County of Somerset. 
 m, Chilhampton, County of Wilts. 
 
 n. Burnham, County of Somerset. 
 
 o. Wedmore, County of Somerset. 
 
 p. Cheddar, County of Somerset. 
 
 q. Chewton, County of Somerset. 
 
 r. Quantock, County of Somerset. 
 
 s. Beduin, County of Wilts. 
 
 t. Pewsey, County of Wilts. 
 
 u. Hussebourne, County of Hants 
 
 v. Probably Leatherhead, in Surrey. 
 
 w. Most probably Aulton, in Wilts. 
 
 x. Nether Hussebourne, in Hants ; which was afterwards given by Edward 
 to the Cathedral at Winchester. 
 
 y. Chiseldon, or Chistleton, in Wilts. 
 
 %. Ethel ward. 
 
 a. Adrington, County of Somerset. 
 
 b. There are places of this name both in Hants and Wilts, as well as in 
 many other counties. 
 
 c. East and West-Meon, County of Hants. 
 
 d. Ambresbury, County of Wilts. 
 
 e. Down, County of Dorset, or Devon. 
 /. Sturminster, County of Dorset. 
 
 g. Gidley, County of Devon. 
 k. Crewkerne, County of Somerset. 
 i. Whitchurch, County of Hants. 
 j. Axmouth. 
 
book iv. 257 
 
 Branscescumbe,* and at Colunitune,* and at Twyford,™ and 
 at Milenburn, w and at Exannrinster, and at Sutheswerthe, 
 and at Liwtune^P and the lands that thereto belong, that are 
 all that I in Weal-district have, except Triconshire. 
 X. " And mine eldest daughter,? the ham at Welewe.*' 
 XL " And the midmost 5 at Cleare/ and at Cendefer." 
 
 XII. " And the youngest,** the ham at Welig,"' and at 
 iEsctune,* and at Cippanhamme.^ 
 
 XIII. " And iEthelrne,* mine brother's son, the ham at 
 Ealdingburn, fl and at Cumtune,* and at Crundell, c and at 
 Beading,^ and at Beadinghamme/ and at Burnham,/ and at 
 Thunresfeld/f and at iEsceng.s 
 
 XIV. " And Athelwolde, A mine brother's son, the ham at 
 Godelming/ and at Gildeford,./ and at Staening.* 
 
 XV. " And to Osferth my cousin, the ham at Beccanlea/ 
 and Hritheranfeld,™ and at Dicceling, 7 * and at Suthtune, and 
 at Lullingimnsteiy and at Angmaering,? and at Felh- 
 hamme/ and the lands that thereto belong. 
 
 k. I. Branscomb, and Collumpton, County of Devon. 
 
 m. Twyford, County of Hants. 
 
 n. Milbourn, County of Dorset or Somerset. 
 
 o. Axminster, County of Devon. 
 
 p. Litten, of which name there is one in Dorset, and one in Somerset. 
 
 q. Ethelfled. 
 
 r. Wellow, County of Hants. 
 
 s. His " midmost " daughter was Ethelgiva, the nun. 
 
 t. Kingsclere, County of Hants. 
 
 u. Probably one of those places in Hampshire which still bear this addition 
 to their name, viz. Preston Candever, Chilton Candever. 
 
 v. His youngest daughter was Elfrida, who married Baldwin IT., Earl of 
 Flanders, and dying on June the 7th, 929, was buried in the monastery of St. 
 Peter at Ghent. 
 
 w. Willey, County of Wilts. 
 
 x. Ashton, County of Wilts. 
 
 y. Chippenham, County of Wilts. 
 
 z. .flSthelm, the eldest son of King Ethelbert, elder brother of Alfred. 
 
 a. Aldingbourn, County of Sussex. 
 
 b. Compton, County of Sussex. 
 
 c. Crundal, County of Hants. 
 
 d. Beden, County of Sussex. 
 
 e. Bedingham, County of Sussex. 
 /. Barnham, County of Sussex. 
 
 //. The manor of Thunderfield, in the parish of Horsey, near Ryegate in 
 Surrey, where was formerly a castle of considerable strength. 
 
 g. Probably Eashing, in the parish of Godalming, in Surrey, the manor of 
 which also belonged to Alfred. 
 
 h. The youngest son of King Ethelbert, who died in arms against his 
 cousin Edward, the son and successor of Alfred, in 905. 
 
 i.J. Godalming and Guildford, both in Surrey. 
 
 k. Steyning, in Sussex. 
 
 /. m. n. Beckley, Kotherfield, and Dichling, all in Sussex. 
 
 o. p. q. r. Sutton, Lullington, Angmering, and Felphame, all in Sussex. 
 
258 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 XVI. " And to Ealhswith/ the ham at Lamburn,' and at 
 Waneting," and at Ethandune. 1 ' 
 
 XVII. " And to mine two sons a thousand pounds, to 
 each five hundred pounds. 
 
 XVIII. " And to mine eldest daughter, and to the mid- 
 most, and to the youngest, and to Ealhswithe, to them four, 
 four hundred pounds, to each a hundred pounds. 
 
 XIX. " And to mine aldermen,"' to each a hundred man- 
 cuses,* and to JEthelin, and Athelwolde, and Osferthe, 
 eke so. 
 
 XX. " And to iEthered alderman a sword of a hundred 
 mancuses. 
 
 XXI " And to the men that me follow, that I now at 
 Easter- tide fees gave, two hundred pounds : let them give 
 to them, and divide them between, to each as to him to 
 belong they shall judge; after the manner that I to them 
 now have distributed. 
 
 XXII. "And to the archbishop,^ a hundred mancuses, 
 and to Esny z bishop, and to Werferthe a bishop, and to the 
 [bishop] at Sherborne. 6 
 
 XXIII. " Eke so let them distribute for me, and for mine 
 father, and for the friends that he forethought for, and I 
 forethink for, two hundred pounds ; fifty to the mass-priests 
 over all mine kingdom, fifty to God's poor servants, fifty to 
 the distressed poor ; fifty to the church that I at rest [rest 
 at]. And I know not certainly whether fees [money] so 
 much is, nor I know but that thereof more may be : but so 
 I ween [think]. If it more be, be it to them all common 
 that I fee [money] bequeathed have. And I will that my 
 aldermen and my ministers there all together be, and this 
 thus distribute. 
 
 XXIV. " When had I ere [formerly] in other wise written 
 
 s. Ethelswitha, the wife of Alfred, and daughter of Ethelred the Great, 
 Earl of Mercia. She survived. 
 
 t. u. Lamburn and Wantage, in Berks, at the latter of which places Alfred 
 was born. 
 
 v. Edingdon, near Westbury, in Wilts, where Alfred defeated the Danes 
 in 878. 
 
 w. The king's aldermen were his justices itinerant, and other great officers 
 of his own appointment. 
 
 x. Mr. Manning says, the " mancus was about 7s. 6d. of our present 
 currency." 
 
 y. Ethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury, who died in 888. 
 
 z. Esne, Bishop of Hereford, who died, according to Godwin, in 885. 
 
 a. Werweth was Bishop of Worcester, a man of singular learning, and 
 employed by Alfred in translating the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I. into the 
 Saxon language. 
 
 b. The Bishop of Sherborne was Asser, the great friend and favourite of 
 Alfred : he wrote the Annals of that monarch's reign down to the year 893. 
 
BOOK IV. 259 
 
 relations, and had to many men the writings intrusted, and 
 in [before] the same witnesses they were written. Then 
 have I now burned those old [deeds'] that I recover might. 
 If of these any found should be, let it stand for nothing : for 
 that I will that it now thus be with God's help. 
 
 XXV. " And I will the men that land have, the words 
 to list that in mine father's inheritance-writing stand, so as 
 they firmest [soonest] may. 
 
 XXVI. " And I will, if I to any men any fee unpaid 
 have, that mine relations that at least repay. 
 
 XXVII. " And I will the men to whom I my book-land 
 bequeathed have, that they it not give from mine kin, over 
 [after] c their day, that it go unto the nighest-hand to me; 
 unless of them any one bairns have ; then it is to me most 
 eligible that it go that issue on the male side, the while that 
 any of it worthy be. Mine elder father [grandfather] hath 
 bequeathed his land to the spear-half, and not to the spindle- 
 half.tf Wherefore if I have given to any female what he had 
 acquired, then let redeem it my relations if they it while she 
 is living have will : if it otherwise be, let it go after their 
 day, so as we before determined have. For this reason I 
 ordain that they it pay for, because they will succeed to my 
 [estate] that I give may, or to female hand, or to male hand 
 whether I will. 
 
 XXVIII. " And I beseech in God's name, and in his 
 saints', that of my relations none, nor of my heirs none, do 
 obstruct none of the freedom of those that I have redeemed. 
 And for me the West- Saxon nobles as lawful have pro- 
 nounced that I them may leave either free either or bond 
 whether I will. But I for God's love, and for my soul's 
 advantage, will that they be of their freedom masters, and 
 of their will, and I, in God the living's name intreat that 
 them no man do not disturb, neither by money-exaction, nor 
 by no manner of means, 6 that they may not choose such man 
 as they will. 
 
 XXIX. " And I will that they restore to the families at 
 Domerham their land-deeds and their free liberty such 
 
 c. The word "ofer " appears to have been omitted in the original. 
 
 d. " Spere-healfe.. . . spinl-healfe." The sexes are here denominated from 
 the implements peculiar to their respective occupations ; the male from the 
 spear, the female from the spindle. 
 
 e. Alfred having manumitted divers " theowas " and put them into the 
 condition of " ceorles," desires that his heirs would not abridge them of that 
 liberty, but leave them to choose such man for their landlord as they wished ; 
 which all "ceorles," by the Saxon constitution, might do. 
 
260 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 person to choose, as to them most agreeable may be ; for 
 me, and for Elfleda, and for the friends that she did inter- 
 cede for, and I do intercede for. 
 
 XXX. " And seek they also, with a living price, for my 
 soul's health, as it be may, and as it also fitting is ; and as 
 ye me to forgive shall be disposed." 
 
 Translation of King Alfred's P?werbs, given at Shifford, 
 a.d. 890. 
 
 From an ancient Anglo-Saxon MS. formerly in the Cottonian Library, and 
 quoted by Spelman in his Life of Alfred : but now supposed to be lost. 
 
 At Shifford sat thanes many, 
 Many bishops, and many book-learned [men]. 
 Earls wise and knights awful. 
 There was Earl Alfric, of the law so wise, 
 And eke Alfred, England's herd['s-man], England's darling; 
 In England he was king ; them he began [to] learn, 
 So him they might hear, how they their life should lead. 
 
 Alfred, he was in England a king well so strong. 
 He was king and clerk : well he loved God's work. 
 He was wise in his word, and wary in his speech. 
 He was the wisest man that was in England. 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred, England's darling : — 
 " Would ye now live and long after your Lord ! 
 And He would you [make to] know wise things, 
 How you might world's worship obtain. 
 And eke your souls unite to Christ ! " 
 Wise were the quotations that said the King Alfred. 
 " Mildly I mind you, my dear friend, poor 
 And rich, loving, that ye all dread your 
 Lord Christ, love Him and like, for He is 
 Lord of life : he is one God over all goodness. 
 He is one bliss over all blessedness. 
 He is one man, mild master : He one folk's father [common 
 
 father], 
 And darling : He is one right wise and rich king, 
 That him not shall fail naught of his will 
 Who Him here in world worship and honour." 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred, England's comfort. 
 " He may no right king be under Christ's self, 
 But [unless] he be book-learned, and wise of law, 
 And he his writs well know, and he can 
 Letters look himself, how he shall his land 
 Lawfully hold." 
 
BOOK IV. 261 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred, England's comfort : — 
 " The earl and the atheling too be under the king, 
 The land to lead with lawful deed ; 
 Both the clerk and the knight with evenly right : 
 For after that the man soweth, 
 Thereafter he nioweth ; 
 And every man's doom to his own door cometh." 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " The knight behoveth 
 Cunningly to mow for to work the land 
 Of hunger, and of death. 
 That the church have grith [quiet], and the churl be in frith 
 
 [freedom], 
 His seeds to sow, his meads to mow, 
 His ploughs to drive to our all behoof: 
 This is the knight's law to look that it well fare." 
 
 So far the translation is equivalent to the original, which 
 may be found in Dr. Giles' " Life and Times of Alfred the 
 Great." Of that which follows, Spelman has not given the 
 original. 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " Without wisdom wealth is worth 
 little. Though a man had a hundred and seventy acres 
 sown with gold, and all grew like corn, yet were all that 
 wealth worth nothing, unless that of an enemy one could 
 make it become his friend. For what differs gold from a 
 stone, but by discreet using of it?" 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred: — "A young man must never give 
 himself to evil, though good befals him not to his mind, nor 
 though he enjoys not everything he would : for Christ can 
 when lie will give good after evil, and wealth after grace. 
 Happy is he that is made for it." 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " A wise child is the blessing of his 
 father. If thou hast a child, while it is little, teach it the 
 precepts that belong to a man ; and when it is grown up it 
 will follow them ; then shall thy child become such as shall 
 recompense them ; but if thou lettest him go after his own 
 will, when he cometh to age it will grieve him sore, and he 
 shall curse him that had the tuition of him : then shall thy 
 child transgress thy admonition, and it would be better for 
 thee that thou hadst no child; for a child unborn is better 
 than one unbeaten." 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " Tf thou growest into age, hast 
 wealth, and canst take no pleasure, nor hast strength to 
 govern thyself, then thank thy Lord for all that he hath 
 
262 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 sent thee, for thy own life, and for the day's light, and for 
 all the pleasures he hath made for man; and whatsoever 
 becometh of thee, say thou, come what come will, God's will 
 be welcome." 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " Worldly wealth at last cometh to 
 the worms, and all the glory of it to dust, and our life is 
 soon gone. And though one had the rule of all this middle 
 world, and of the wealth in it ; yet could he keep his life 
 but a short while. All thy happiness would but work thy 
 misery, unless thou couldst purchase thee Christ. Therefore, 
 when we lead our lives as God hath taught us, we then best 
 serve ourselves. For then be assured that He will support 
 us ; for so said Solomon, that wise man : — ' Well is he that 
 doeth good in this world, for at last he cometh where he 
 findeth it.' " 
 
 Thus quoth Alfred : — " My dear son, set thee now beside 
 me, and I will deliver thee true instructions. My son, I 
 feel that my hour is coming. My countenance is wan. 
 
 My My days are almost done. We must now part. 
 
 I shall to another world, and thou shalt be left alone in all 
 my wealth. I pray thee (for thou art my dear child) strive 
 to be a father and a lord to thy people, be thou the children's 
 father and the widow's friend, comfort thou the poor and 
 shelter the weak ; and with all thy might, right that which 
 is wrong. And, son, govern thyself by law, then shall the 
 Lord love thee, and God above all things shall be thy 
 reward. Call thou upon Him to advise thee in all thy 
 need, and so He shall help thee the better to compass that 
 which thou wouldst." 
 
209 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 64. Alfred's Generosity towards his Female Prisoners. 
 We find no indication of this act of generosity in any of 
 the ancient records. 
 
 65. Attachment of Subjects to their Sovereigns. 
 
 This general thesis, applied by Haller to the Saxons, 
 saying that they " are not worse than any other people ; and 
 if they are ungrateful [to the sovereign] the source lays in 
 the unbalanced constitution of the state," may equally well 
 be applied to all such nations as are obliged to rise in open 
 revolt — an action it is not our purpose to defend — as was 
 the case not only in France, but throughout the whole con- 
 tinent of Europe. We are fully aware of the attachment 
 which the Prussian and Austrian subjects bore, and may 
 still bear, to every offspring of the imperial houses ; and also 
 their moderation and long forbearance before actually break- 
 ing out. We are also perfectly assured that they will, in 
 spite of the acquired privileges and strenuous exertion of 
 the ultra-liberal faction, return to their monarchs that love 
 which, in a moment of agitation, they have withdrawn from 
 them, and the more so if sovereigns will but appreciate the 
 spirit of the time more than they now seem to do. 
 
 The same may be said of any government that does not 
 keep pace with its time. 
 
 66. Remarks on Aristocracy. 
 A government, founded upon aristocratic principles, 
 where the administration of the state is committed into the 
 hands of a few leading men, if more feasible, is more dan- 
 gerous than any other form, for tyranny always has been, 
 and is, indeed, its necessary result, and of the worst kind, 
 because its tyrants are multiplied; for if the very end of 
 government is to protect man from the rapacity of his 
 
264 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 fellows, and if the stronger will ever take from the weak 
 that which he possesses, if it falls in with his desires, it is 
 evident that the same principle will apply to any number 
 not identical with the community. What is applicable to 
 an individual is applicable to several ; and if powers are put 
 into the hands of even a small number, which renders them 
 stronger than the rest of the community, they will wrest 
 from it whatever they shall think necessary for the gratifi- 
 cation of their desires. By this means the end of govern- 
 ment would be defeated: the unfitness, therefore, of such a 
 mode of government rests on the basis of demonstration ; 
 its distinctive advantage is wisdom in council, which is more 
 likely to be found in this species of government than any 
 other, but there is less honesty than in a republic. 
 
 We find an excellent article in a little work lately pub- 
 lished, which expresses itself on natural and artificial aristo- 
 cracy as follows : — 
 
 " There is a natural aristocracy of ability and desert that 
 has a constant tendency to rise into power, however it may 
 be repressed or levelled down for a time by political consti- 
 tutions. It is in truth the principle of progress, and its 
 development neither can nor ought to be resisted. Industry 
 and skill will accumulate property, that is the aristocracy of 
 wealth; probity and honour beget confidence, that is the 
 aristocracy of character ; talent and acquirements inspire 
 admiration and deference, which constitute the aristocracy 
 of intellect. These elementary differences pervade every 
 walk and division of civil life, and no dozen men can be 
 found associated in any pursuit or occupation in which one 
 at least does not evince superior claims to precedence and 
 direction. It is the order of nature, part of its consti- 
 tution; just as a sprinkling of gold and rubies in the 
 mineral world ; and the virtue is almost as great in yielding 
 to such legitimate superiorities as in the possession of them. 
 " But an aristocracy of prescriptive or hereditary privi- 
 leges admits of no such defence. It may have been useful and 
 just in its first foundation ; but the rendering it perpetual is 
 an infringement of the common rights and interests of men. 
 It is seeking to make a property of that which, from its own 
 nature, cannot be appropriated, any more than the light of 
 the sun or the universal atmosphere. If public worth and 
 services could be made transmissible, then might the rewards 
 which society willingly annexes to them be made transmis- 
 sible also. But this is impossible. Honour or shame, 
 intellect or hebetude, competence to serve the common- 
 
book v. 265 
 
 "wealth or the contrary, form attributes of mind and dispo- 
 sition, that can be as little interdicted as guaranteed, as the 
 exclusive inheritance of any order, family, or individual. 
 Clearly then, honours, distinctions, and political ascendancy, 
 ought not to be tied up in perpetuity in any class ; they are 
 the prizes of life, the stimulus to laudable acts and noble 
 deeds, and ought to be free to reward the most deserving. 
 Any other arrangement is inimical to social meliorations, 
 fixes an artificial aristocracy in place of the natural one of 
 desert, with which it is for obvious reasons in antagonism, 
 and whose active competitions, that really tend to the 
 advance of civilization, it constantly tries to stifle or para- 
 lyze, for the sake of perpetuating its own usurpation." 
 
 We do not altogether partake of the latter remark. It 
 is true that it would flatter the opinions of a great many 
 philanthropists, if privileges and distinction attained by 
 birth were to cease, and equality resume its place among all 
 men. But would those subjected to these nobles be the 
 more happy for it ? No. Other kinds of aristocracies would 
 form themselves, and oppress them even more than the 
 nobles by birthright. This judgment is the more impartial, 
 since we have witnessed, in former years, (while sojourning 
 in the various countries,) the arrogance of Hanoverian 
 nobles, and of the young Prussian chivalry, and also 
 observed other German noble races, as the proud but well- 
 educated Saxons, the simple and good-tempered Pomera- 
 nians, the intelligent Silesians, the civilized Courlanders, 
 the quarrellous Poles, the hnouting Russians ; and, in the more 
 southern parts, the innocent low — and spoiled high — nobles 
 of Austria, the bigoted Bohemians and Belgians, the bragging- 
 Italians, and the beggarly pride of inflated Hungarian 
 hussar-nobles, and grave Spanish hidalgos. But we have 
 also been acquainted with highly distinguished members of 
 British aristocracy, and of the faubourg St. Germain; and 
 we are perfectly convinced that a part of the nobler inspi- 
 rations of these individuals may be attributed, not only to 
 their superior education, but to their hereditary reputation, 
 the honour of which they are obliged to preserve. Without 
 pretending that they are possessed of more virtue than any 
 other class of men — less might even be a more appropriate 
 term — they mostly act with a delicacy that conceals their 
 faults and makes them less felt. 
 
 It is, besides, mere prejudice to believe that the nominal 
 descendants of most of the ancient houses are really con- 
 sidered as succeeding generations, or that they have enjoyed 
 
266 NOTES, COMMENTKIES, ETC. 
 
 their privileges for so many centuries past; for merit and 
 circumstances have long since raised new houses to replace 
 them. 
 
 As the members of the aristocracy in most of the Euro- 
 pean states are employed by the nation in war, and ven- 
 ture their lives and limbs for the defence of their country, 
 the nation owes more gratitude to their patriotism, their 
 delicate sense of honour, and enlightened minds, than to the 
 blind multitude whom they lead, and who are only used as 
 tools ; it can therefore, with justice, allow them some privi- 
 leges. Mirabeau defines the nobility as " that part of the 
 nation to which the prejudice of valour and fidelity has been 
 particularly entrusted;" and another French author says 
 that " the world has fought for seven hundred years almost 
 constantly for political or religious motives. Men fight 
 in France, Spain, Italy, Sicily, England, Germany, and 
 Flanders, from castle to castle, from town to town, from 
 country to country, by land and by sea, everywhere and 
 unceasingly, with a ferocity that alarms, and a perseve- 
 rance that astonishes." And, noticing the reproach of 
 privileges, he adds, "there is one of which the French 
 aristocracy has always shown itself particularly jealous, it is 
 that of shedding its blood for its country — a celui-ld, elle n'y a 
 jamais fait forfait." 
 
 Four of the Chatillon fell at St. Jean D'Acre in the 
 second Crusade; five of the same house on the single field 
 of Agincourt, where nearly ten thousand French of gentle 
 blood were slain. At Courtray, four thousand five hundred 
 knights, and at Cressy, twelve hundred fell. Our own wars of 
 the roses were murderous to the princes and nobles engaged 
 in them. In the reign of Henri IV. it was a matter of record 
 that, during the eighteen years preceding, seven or eight 
 thousand gentlemen had been killed in duels, as would 
 appear from the lettres de grace, expedited from the chancery 
 in that period. There were often six seconds of a side, all of 
 whom engaged on these occasions. Nor were the wars of 
 Louis XIV. without fatal effect upon more modern houses. 
 
 The average duration of the elder branches of the male 
 line of the French nobility, of three hundred and eighty 
 noble houses, appears to have been about three hundred 
 years ; the average number of descents in these three hun- 
 dred years is ten. Out of two hundred and thirty houses 
 there were but twenty in which nine or ten descents took 
 place through the elder sons, and only seven where such 
 descents amounted to eleven or twelve. 
 
 " Man, being in honour, abideth not," wrote the Psalmist. 
 
book v. 267 
 
 It might be transposed, " Being in honour, he will not abide, 
 except in it and with it." He will not marry to condemn 
 his issue to a discreditable poverty ; he will neither impose 
 existence on others, nor submit his own to conditions which 
 depress his sense of the position in which he was born. 
 
 Say what we will, men who have filled a distinguished 
 position in society, or in the world, feel the wish of surviving 
 beyond the grave, and of leaving behind them some living 
 representative of their name and race, which shall not de- 
 scend into the tomb with themselves. And yet, in spite of this 
 desire, so strongly implanted in the bosoms of men of everv 
 nation and belief, one finds the lineage of great historical 
 names in most countries have long ceased to exist. In Spain, 
 France, Holland, and Zealand, the old families are nearly all 
 extinct. In Switzerland, William Tell's female descendants 
 became so in 1720. In France, in order to prevent it, 
 nothing was more common than the adoption of collaterals, 
 the issue of females, on condition that the name of the family 
 should be assumed and continued. " Perhaps there was in 
 this excusable desire a secret sympathy with the national 
 pride ; for the prince found in it an additional ornament to 
 his throne, and the country became identified with the glory 
 of its chiefs." 
 
 If it be natural that the last representative of an illus- 
 trious house should regret its extinction with his demise, 
 and try all means of perpetuating it, it is not less so that a 
 whole nation should lament the loss of the men whose pen, 
 or whose sword have ennobled or defended it — that deprived 
 of their presence, it should still fondly attach itself to their 
 name, and that the fiction which preserves them in the 
 midst of their countrymen should be equally agreeable to 
 the memory and the gratitude of the country. 
 
 These remarks on the French nobility are applicable to 
 most of the European states, but whether they are likewise 
 so to that of Great Britain and the British army, is a ques- 
 tion which we leave to the reader's own judgment to decide. 
 
 67. Silk Gar merits in Alfred's time. 
 Haller allows Amund to speak of silk as of an unknown 
 tissue to Alfred ; but historians, whose veracity may be 
 relied upon, inform us, that that material was in use among 
 the Anglo-Saxons soon after their establishment in Britain ; 
 but so expensive an article, we may reasonably suppose, 
 must have been confined to the highest rank of the people. 
 Coronation vestments and mantles, the external garments 
 n2 
 
268 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 of the dignified clergy, and the robes of the queens and 
 princesses were often made of this valuable material, it was 
 also used for the adornment of altars, and for other religious 
 purposes. 
 
 68. Monarchical Power does not originate from Adam. 
 
 Ancient Christian writers pretend that "monarchical power 
 originated from Adam, and his title of sovereignty was 
 founded by creation, and also by donation, and likewise the 
 inheritance of monarchy." This origin of monarchy was not 
 a moderate one, but an absolute monarchical power allotted 
 to Adam. And an author of the end of the 17th century 
 endeavours to prove : " Firstly, that this power of Adam 
 was not to end with him, but was, upon his decease, con- 
 veyed entire to some other person, and so on to posterity. 
 Secondly, that the princes and rulers now on earth are pos- 
 sessed of this power of Adam by a right way of conveyance 
 derived to them." 
 
 We have extracted these sentences from Locke's " Two 
 Treatises on Government," wherein he contradicts "the 
 false principles and foundations of Sir Robert Filiner and 
 his followers" with great spirit and philosophical reasons. 
 We regret that our space does not allow us to give as many 
 extracts from it as it were otherwise our wish to do, and will 
 therefore at present confine ourselves to the paragraph 105 
 of his "Essay on Civil Government:" — 
 
 " I will not deny, that if we look back as far as history 
 will direct us towards the origin of commonwealths, we 
 shall generally find them under the government and admi- 
 nistration of one man. And I am also apt to believe, that 
 where a family was numerous enough to subsist by itself, 
 and continue together, without mixing with others, as it 
 often happens where there is much land and few people, the 
 government commonly began in the father, for the father 
 having, by the law of nature, the same power with every 
 man else to punish, as he thought fit, any offences against 
 that law, might thereby punish his transgressing children, 
 even when they were men and out of their pupilage ; and 
 they were very likely to submit to his punishment, and all 
 join with him against the offender in their turns, giving 
 him thereby power to execute his sentence against any 
 transgression, and so in effect make him the law-maker and 
 governor over all that remained in conjunction with his 
 family. He was fitted to be trusted ; paternal affection se- 
 cured their property and interest under his care, and the 
 
book v. 269 
 
 custom of obeying him in their childhood made it easier to 
 submit to him rather than to any other. If, therefore, they 
 must have one to rule them, as government is hardly to 
 be avoided amongst men that live together ; who so likely 
 to be the man as he that was their common father, unless 
 negligence, cruelty, or any other defect of mind or body 
 made him unfit for it. But when either the father died, 
 and left his next heir, for want of age, wisdom, courage, 
 or any other qualities, unfit to rule; or, where several 
 families met and combined together; there, 'tis not to be 
 doubted, but they used their natural freedom to set up him 
 whom they judged the ablest and most likely to rule well 
 over them. Conformable hereunto we find the people of 
 America, who living out of the reach of the conquering swords 
 and spreading domination of the two great empires of Peru 
 and Mexico, enjoyed their own natural freedom, through 
 coteris paribus, they commonly prefer the heir of their de- 
 ceased king ; yet if they find him any way weak or incapa- 
 ble, they pass him by and set up the stoutest and bravest 
 man for their ruler." 
 
 69. Honour and its meaning. 
 It is an established fact, that comfort produces cowardice, 
 and that " the delicate sense of honour " exists and must 
 exist to a far greater extent with warriors, the nobility, 
 their descendants, and with those nations where every man is 
 obliged to be a soldier, and is destined to begin his career in 
 the practice of arms, than with such as are given to domestic 
 occupations only; but the word "honour" is not more ac- 
 curately defined than the word " beauty," varying according 
 to country and taste ; nor is it clearly demonstrated whether 
 it implies external distinction or the inner worth of man. 
 "The delicate sense of honour" which characterizes some 
 nations is too often confounded with amour-propre, which 
 makes a duel the immediate consequence of the slightest 
 offence ; and although that exaggeration has certainly its 
 share of good, we maintain that probity, impregnated in the 
 heart of man, should be far more esteemed than the feeling 
 of' false honour. By the expression which our author attri- 
 butes to Alfred, that "life becomes a burthen if spent without 
 honours,''' it is manifest that external honour alone is meant. 
 
 70. Conscription, and Purchased Commissions. 
 We cannot agree with Alfred here, as we have many 
 examples of the most valiant warriors rising from mere 
 
270 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC, 
 
 countrymen. Such can naturally seldom be leaders, since 
 they fail in the knowledge required thereto. Yet we 
 believe that in every state men should be brought up so 
 as to be able to defend the country in case of necessity, 
 whereby standing armies might be reduced. (Is it from fear 
 that such a system has not been used in the latter times in 
 England ?) We are not defenders of general conscription, 
 as it was introduced into France by Napoleon ; for we have 
 closely witnessed its evils, even in France, and in some parts 
 of Germany subdued by the French emperor ; but we have 
 also witnessed the very great advantages that arise from 
 the three years' military service every Prussian must per- 
 form, which, however, does not prevent him from following 
 his eivic occupation, and gives to young men a regularity in 
 employing their time, and a physical and moral education 
 which otherwise many would not acquire. 
 
 On the whole continent of Europe the custom of becom- 
 ing a hero by paying down a sum of money has been 
 abolished, and military commissions are only now sold in 
 England. 
 
 We leave it to others to make more ample commentaries 
 on this subject. 
 
 71. Momentary Inspirations in the People. 
 In note 69, we have given our opinion upon " the sense 
 of honour spread over the whole population ;" and, alas ! 
 our terrestrial world does not at all seem to be fitted for that 
 feeling to be spread over the whole population ; and if it does 
 for a short time, and " every citizen glows for victory with 
 the same ardour that inspires a general," (of which the 
 history of ancient and recent times furnishes us with many 
 examples ;) human nature and human wants are so con- 
 structed that it cannot continue for any lengthened period. 
 The heroical inspiration in the lower classes soon evaporates 
 or takes false directions, therefore it is better (as they 
 mostly do) for them to return to their own peaceable occu- 
 pations. 
 
 72. Nation of Shopkeepers. 
 Amund observes, that " among the Serens there are too 
 many shopkeepers and artisans." And Napoleon called the 
 British " a nation of shopkeepers." Both had probably the 
 same idea in using those expressions ; for the lower kind of 
 trade admits, in truth, of no elevation of mind, which varies 
 in man according to his occupation ; and notwithstanding 
 
BOOK V. 271 
 
 our esteem for men in general, (to whatever class they may 
 belong,) we cannot deny that constant occupation in minor 
 matters, with the apparent necessity of practising a little 
 fraud, abases man so low as to disregard probity; and 
 for that reason we consider a working man as much higher 
 than a shopkeeper. But Napoleon, who very well under- 
 stood military tactics, politics, and something of fine arts, 
 does not seem to have — nor that he ever would have — con- 
 ceived the poetical and superior side of high trade. It is not 
 profit alone that induces men to undertake great mercantile 
 enterprises. There is a charm in the combination and 
 execution of extensive mercantile transactions, in which 
 one man employs innumerable branches. Foreign settle- 
 ments, productions, ships, circumstances of war and peace, 
 famine and abundance, are all instruments for the execution 
 of his will ; and he holds the thread of all the different means 
 which he employs, and calculates their strength and effects as 
 well as Napoleon did that of his different corps oVarmees. 
 The high trade is really a grand occupation, but its abuses 
 alone abase man ; and a nation as England was at the end 
 of the last century — the highest in the world — cannot be 
 compared to one of " shopkeepers." 
 
 But with all the credit that we give to the high station of the 
 merchant in society, we cannot deny that while he remains 
 in commercial activity, he is unfit for public business ; his 
 mind is wholly engrossed with fear and hope, not only in 
 business time, but in every moment that he is awake — in 
 his dreams — in the circle of his family and friends — in places 
 of public amusement, and perhaps even of worship ; as it is 
 almost impossible for a man, whose existence depends partly 
 on chance, to suppress these ideas, which constantly occupy 
 him : and if merchants rise to high public functions, and 
 remain at the same time in mercantile business, examples 
 have already proved that the latter must suffer from it. As 
 concerns shopkeepers, Montesquieu relates that, " Tout bas 
 commerce etait infame chez les Grecs. II aurait fallu qu'un 
 citoyen eut rendu des services a un esclave, a un locataire, a 
 un etranger : cette idee choquait Tesprit de la liberte grecque. 
 Aussi Platon veut-il, dans ses lois, qu'on punisse un citoyen 
 qui ferait le commerce." 
 
 73. Moral Degradation produced by Comfort. 
 Notwithstanding our observations on the high trade in 
 the foregoing note, we cannot conceal that almost every 
 trading nation sinks to the degree expressed by the words 
 
272 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 in page 89, as history informs us of the Carthagenians, 
 Venetians, &c. The acquired wealth of some individuals 
 weakens and enervates their nobler minds ; and competition 
 compels others to think " merely of the means of subsis- 
 tence." Both consider comfort as of essential, and honour 
 of secondary importance, to human existence ; and both must 
 be aroused by adverse circumstances to consider them in 
 any other light. 
 
 74. Chinese Sages. 
 
 We must remind the reader, that this was written in 
 the last century, and before the last Chinese war had taken 
 place ; a war which, notwithstanding the cruelties the Euro- 
 peans then thought themselves obliged to commit, and which 
 we would never defend, has been productive of much good 
 to the trade of Europe and other countries. 
 
 To the sages and great princes mentioned in page 90, we 
 must add the name of the Emperor Kang-he, the second of 
 the present dynasty, who wrote the sixteen maxims, entitled 
 "The Sacred Edict;" on which his son, Yoong-Ching, wrote 
 an amplification, which he published in the second year of 
 his reign, and ordered to be read publicly to the people 
 on the first and fifteenth of every month. This work may 
 be considered as of very high rank in the light of political 
 morality; and we will, for that reason, sometimes have to 
 refer to it. 
 
 75. Comfort produced by Industry and pure Pleasure. 
 By importing from all parts of the globe the rich produc- 
 tions of nature and culture, industry might indeed produce 
 treasures beneath a cloudy sky, which creates a comfortable 
 home and a social assembly around the humble hearth, that 
 replaces the felicity afforded by countries more favoured by 
 nature. While we acknowledge all this, and endeavour to 
 deceive our imagination by brilliant gas-light and the warm 
 tint of a brush, which represents to us, in the opera-house or 
 diorama, the charming features of a southern scenery, we 
 cannot, however, suppress the ardent desires of living under 
 a milder zone, and breathing the balmy odour of the country 
 " in which the lemon grows," and where the sky almost 
 constantly shines in brilliant azure. 
 
 76. Linen Garments among the Anglo-Saxons. 
 Linen certainly formed a very large part of the Anglo- 
 Saxon habits : it was an article indiscriminately worn by 
 
BOOK V. 273 
 
 every class of people whose circumstances allowed them to 
 purchase it, and was particularly appropriated to such gar- 
 ments as were worn next the skin. The use of linen is of 
 high antiquity among the Saxons; for a writer of their 
 own, who flourished in the eighth century, informs us that 
 the militia tunic in his time consisted of linen. Another 
 ancient writer, describing the manners of the Longobards, 
 says their vestments were loose and flowing , that they con- 
 sisted chiefly of linen, like those of the Anglo-Saxons, and 
 were ornamented with broad borders, woven and embroi- 
 dered with various colours. 
 
 Our German author attributes the perfection of embroi- 
 dery, and that to the very highest degree, to a southern 
 princess; we must however here observe, that he makes 
 an historical error if he does not admit that art to have been 
 excelled in by the Anglo-Saxon ladies, for it is certain that 
 garments ornamented with needlework were held in the 
 highest estimation by the Anglo-Saxons: and it is equally 
 certain that the Saxon ladies excelled in the performance of 
 these elegant manufactures. " The French and Normans," 
 says an ancient author, " admired the beautiful dresses of 
 the English nobility; for," adds he, "the English women 
 excel all others in needlework, and in embroidery with gold : 
 gesta gulielmi ducis apud ducken," p. 21. Another writer 
 tells us, that "The Anglo-Saxon ladies were so famous for 
 their skill in the art of embroidery, that the most elegant 
 productions of the needle were called, by way of eminence, 
 the English work? — Strutt, 74. 
 
 77. Modern Despots. 
 Our author has pictured such an absolute monarch in 
 " Usong," a Persian despot, who carefully watches over all 
 his servants, holding the reins of government in his own 
 hands, and knowing how to bridle the power of his officers, 
 so that no injustice or oppression towards his subjects can 
 be committed without being severely punished. " Usong" 
 is not a mere fiction, for that prince lived in the fifteenth 
 century. In modern history we find Peter the Great, 
 Frederick II., and Napoleon, rulers, who from their sagacity 
 have done as much for their people, and have governed as 
 well as the best constitution where all classes are repre- 
 sented. The faults of Napoleon, as a monarch, paralyze to 
 a certain degree his valour as a hero, and consequently 
 place him, in many instances, below the two former sove- 
 reigns. We however see, in the dynasties of the Chinese 
 n 3 
 
274 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 emperors, many a ruler who possessed all the attributes of 
 severity and lenity, and who exerted himself to the utmost 
 in order to spread happiness throughout his over-populated 
 dominions. But as nature seldom produces men who com- 
 bine all the requisite qualities of a regent, (and history 
 pictures to us by far more weak monarchs than such as 
 deserved to be placed at the head of a nation,) it is naturally 
 better for European countries that their power be checked 
 by parliament and other governmental bodies, if not to do 
 good, at least to prevent evil. 
 
 78. Pastime of Sovereigns. 
 We do not envy the leisure of sovereigns, and the diver- 
 sions which they permit themselves ; it is a curious vanity 
 of a people whom we need not seek far, governed under a 
 constitutional form, to prefer bearing the heaviest burdens, 
 (believing that they govern themselves,) rather than allow 
 their sovereign to meddle with the government ; neither do 
 we envy the function of the reporter of the " Court Circular," 
 who presents to the eyes of a laborious people trifling actions, 
 which are in reality not worth mentioning in newspapers; 
 and which it were perhaps far better to pass under silence, 
 as is done in other countries. 
 
 79. Family Government. 
 
 Montazgo. (has a Ubilla.) 
 
 " Je vous ai demande sur la caisse aux reliques 
 De quoi payer l'emploi d'alcade a mon neveu." 
 
 Ubilla. (has.) 
 
 " Vous, vous m'aviez promis de nommer avant peu 
 Mon cousin Melchior d'Elva bailli de l'Ebre." 
 
 Montazgo. (se recriant.) 
 
 " Nous venons de doter votre fille. On celebre 
 Encore sa noce. — On est sans relache assailli . . ." 
 
 Ubilla. (bas.) 
 
 " Vous aurez votre alcade." 
 
 Montazgo. (bas.) 
 
 " Et vouz votre bailli." 
 (i7.s se serrent la main.) 
 
 [" Buy Blas," Act iii. Scene I.] 
 
BOOK V. 275 
 
 80. Sovereigns driven from their Thrones. 
 Comme Part oVennuyer est celle de trop dire ; we will not 
 quote examples of such princes driven from their thrones in 
 the latest epoch. 
 
 81. Aqua Toffana. 
 We may congratulate ourselves that modern history does 
 not present us with instances of governors like Nero and 
 the family Borgia, but we deplore that the aqua toffana has 
 been, even to the end of the last century, a political vehicle 
 employed both in an imperial and a royal court of Europe. 
 
 82. Dissipation and False Economy. 
 It is a false application of economy that blames the dis- 
 sipation of money in pageants, banquets, and insignificant 
 solemnities. The money spent in that way returns more 
 directly to the people than by any other channel ; and it is 
 better for the court to spend more than its income, than to 
 hoard it up, or purchase foreign stocks, in which consists a 
 dead capital, of no use whatever to the nation, whose 
 members have, at the sweat of their brow, contributed to 
 the civil list. If we suppose that sovereigns consume 
 the rarest dishes and the choicest wines, what they consume 
 themselves can be but very little. And all that is spent in 
 splendid buildings, rich paintings, fetes, and even with their 
 maitresses, (who seldom treasure up the money) returns in 
 some way or other to the nation, even if that money be 
 spent in foreign countries, it cannot be considered as thrown 
 away. All nations are in direct or indirect commercial tran- 
 sactions with each other, and hence such capital returns in 
 general traffic. The only evil is, that the amount of the civil 
 list is mostly contributed by those upon whom it falls heaviest, 
 and who must bear the greatest sufferings ; and it is the dis- 
 proportion which exists between the receipts and the expenses 
 that produces the evil, and not the expenses themselves. The 
 words of a French king that " chaque paysan devoit avoir le 
 Dimanche un poulet dans son pot-au-feu" are really greater 
 than they are generally considered to be ; and we only wish 
 they were everywhere realized. 
 
 83. " Tax le droit etfen use.''' 
 Everywhere, and even in countries subjected to a consti- 
 tutional government, and perhaps there more than in others, 
 public officers abuse the maxim, " J'ai le droit et fen use" 
 and this is the source of many evils. There is no sufficient 
 and powerful control over them. The blame, which in very 
 
276 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 rare cases falls upon others through the public papers, and 
 in still rarer cases through the legislative body, is not suf- 
 ficient to check these abuses, for in most instances there is 
 no majority to censure them, and none to punish them, 
 for " eine Krahe hackt der andern keinAuge aus." In absolute 
 monarchies, the sovereign sometimes punishes the abuses of 
 power, and the fear of it contributes still more to prevent 
 them. 
 
 84. Vide note 80. 
 
 85. Forme?' and actual Punishment of unjust Princes. 
 Modern history gives us similar examples in the deplor- 
 able events that took place under Charles I., King of Eng- 
 land ; Paul, Emperor of Russia ; Gustavus III., King of 
 Sweden ; and Louis XVI., King of France ; but human 
 progress in civilization prevents us from acting with such 
 cruelty, and we are satisfied when princes abuse their 
 power, de les chasser, as was done with Charles X., and 
 others. 
 
 86. Beware ! beware ! beware ! 
 
 87. Expression of the unfortunate Louis XVI. 
 
 The British constitution represents, in truth, that barrier 
 to the absolute will of princes, which at the same time 
 watches over his security ; and there is no doubt that the 
 despotic monarch is far more unhappy than the prince who 
 is bound by laws. 
 
 A man of talent, and possessed of a knowledge of the 
 world, has attributed the following words to Louis XVI., 
 at the time of the French revolution of 1789, his object 
 being more ironical than real, but by ridiculing the inac- 
 tivity and the limit of a constitutional monarch, he has, in 
 truth, described the happier situation of such a sovereign, 
 compared to that of him who has to bear almost alone the 
 whole weight of the governmental power. 
 
 " You may," said Louis XVI., " be in future the legisla- 
 tors, and I will provide for the execution of your laws, if 
 you will only give me sufficient absolute power to force the 
 contumacious, and this you can do, as you are now the 
 masters. You can tear them to pieces with your teeth, even 
 quarter them, without any legal proceedings. For what 
 power in the world can oppose your will ? You will, as 
 soon as you have taken my place, really reign and govern. 
 The nobility and the clergy will indeed object to it, but 
 
BOOK V. 277 
 
 their proportion is only as one to twenty-five. You must 
 clip their rights, so that they shall be no longer able to draw 
 you within the circle of their power and do you injury. To 
 obtain this object, reduce the pride of the priests, thereby 
 granting the offices of the church to your equals, and allow 
 them no more than is strictly necessary for their subsistence. 
 
 " With regard to the nobles, you need not take the 
 trouble to impoverish them, it will be sufficient that you no 
 longer respect their inherited titles and dignities, to make 
 their prerogative vanish totally. Take an example from the 
 wise contrivances of the Turks : as soon as those noble sirs 
 cease to bear the titles of a duke or marquis, they will, to 
 distinguish themselves, dissipate their fortunes in splendour 
 and magnificence, which will conduce to the profit of the 
 nation. Then their wealth will enter into general circula- 
 tion, and advance trade. My ministers will in future be 
 forced to a wiser conduct, when they are answerable to you 
 for their actions, and it cannot be longer my duty to examine 
 their capabilities. I certainly appoint them according to the 
 exterior form, but, as soon as you please, I immediately drive 
 them away. Thus will that tyranny also cease, which these 
 ministers employed even against myself, by requiring that I 
 should follow their counsels, and by exposing me consider- 
 ably, inasmuch as they made use of my name in circum- 
 stances which involved the state into difficulties. I submitted 
 quietly for a long time, but at length it became impossible, 
 and I am now liberated from them. 
 
 "My spouse, my future children, my brothers, and my 
 cousins, who call themselves princes of the blood, will cer- 
 tainly, I know it, condemn me, but only in silence ; and 
 they cannot say so to myself. Now that I am placed under 
 your high protection, I can oppose them better than when 
 they were only mine, and only considered my protection 
 and my defence. But 7 have now done my duty in as- 
 sisting you to lay before the world the superfluity of this 
 protection. The discontented, who have taken their domi- 
 cile on the other side of the realm, will return, sooner or 
 later, as they think proper. They call themselves my real 
 friends, but that I must laugh at. My true friends can only 
 be those who accommodated their manner of thinking to 
 mine. To the former, nothing in the world is of importance 
 and worthy of consideration but the old right of my house, 
 in which the royal dignity is enchained with the dignity of 
 the regent. But, in my present situation, nothing can 
 interest me more than my own peace ; the annihilation of 
 the tyranny, which my ministers formerly practised against 
 
278 
 
 me, and finally your satisfaction. Were I a charlatan, I 
 might also tell you, that I bestow care upon the welfare and 
 wealth of the country; but nothing in the world concerns 
 me less now, and it is your duty alone to take care of 
 this, which can only occupy you, and no one else. 
 
 " For henceforth the kingdom is no longer mine ; I have, 
 thanks to heaven, ceased to be King of France : I have 
 become instead, as you very properly say, King of the 
 French. I have only to propose to you that you advance in 
 your management, and that, since by the present face of things 
 I no longer occupy myself with any business or preserve 
 any influence, you will have no objection if I often give 
 myself to hunting, (or to walk in the pleasure grounds.)" 
 
 The French constitution of that period was really a 
 masterpiece of legislation, but so many short lived consti- 
 tutions have since been baked, that we may consider the 
 British as the best, not only from its form, but also from 
 its possessing the quality of seniority. 
 
 88. Fruitless Lesson. 
 The great lessons given to princes in 1848, so pregnant 
 with important events, seems as yet to have been almost 
 disregarded; and notwithstanding their proclamations ad- 
 dressed to their " beloved subjects," it is to fear they think 
 themselves forced to employ severity, instead of pacific 
 means, to appease the people, for which ultra-liber alists 
 unfortunately give the most occasion. 
 
 89. Best form of Government. 
 
 We refer our readers to the Introduction and Conclusion 
 of this little work, to the treatises of Locke, the works of 
 Edmund Burke, "L'Esprit des Lois" of Montesquieu, the 
 works of Baron de Wolf, and many ancient writers on this 
 subject. 
 
 90. Hereditary succession. 
 
 " The hereditary succession to the throne of England is not 
 of such indefeasible nature as not to be altered or modified. 
 The constitution has lodged this power in Parliament — a 
 power which, it is evident, must be vested somewhere — to 
 meet cases of peculiar emergency, (6th Anne, c. 7.) Indeed, 
 it is considered penal to call in question the right of the 
 supreme legislature — crown, lords, and commons — to direct 
 and modify the descent of the crown, by particular entails, 
 limitations, and provisions, to the exclusion of the immediate 
 heir ; and this is so extremely reasonable, that, without such 
 a power lodged somewhere, any national polity would be 
 
BOOK V. 279 
 
 very defective : for, to adduce one instance, should the heir 
 apparent be a lunatic or an idiot, how inconvenient would it 
 be to the nation, if there was not the power of some ar- 
 rangement? On the other hand, the inheritance of the 
 crown, the royal dignity, would be very precarious indeed, 
 if this power were expressly lodged in the hands of the sub- 
 ject, only to be exercised whenever prejudice, caprice, or 
 discontent should rouse the public mind. Consequently, it 
 can nowhere be so properly vested as in the two houses of 
 parliament, with the consent of the reigning sovereign, who, 
 it is to be supposed, will not agree to any improper diversion 
 of the inheritance prejudicial to his own descendants ; and, 
 therefore, in the hands of the sovereign, lords, and commons, 
 the constitution has lodged it. And it is far from impossible 
 to reconcile, if we do not suffer ourselves to be entangled in 
 the mazes of metaphysical sophistry, the use both of a fixed 
 rule and an occasional deviation — the sacredness of an here- 
 ditary principle of succession in our government, with a 
 power of change in its application in cases of extreme emer- 
 gency. Even in that extremity, the change is to be con- 
 fined to the peccant part only — to the part which produced 
 the necessary deviation. A state without the means of some 
 change is without the means of its conservation. An irre- 
 gular convulsive movement may be necessary to throw off 
 an irregular convulsive disease. But the course of succes- 
 sion is the healthy habit of the British constitution. — Schom- 
 berg's " British Constitution.' 1 '' 
 
 91. Turbulence of the former Polish Diet. 
 Our author here manifestly alludes to Poland, whose diet 
 the world will recollect to have been the most turbulent ever 
 recorded in the annals of history. Its example ought to 
 serve as a warning to the members of recently formed 
 similar institutions, to unite themselves as closely as possible 
 for the purpose of securing the welfare of all states subjected 
 to them, to reap the fruits of the people's efforts, and to 
 preserve the privileges acquired by them, in a moment when 
 the princes yielded, more through fear than conviction, which 
 they already seem to repent, for many reasons, the ultra- 
 liberal faction being one of the most important. 
 
 92. Elements of the British Constitution. 
 
 The elements of the British constitution unite all the 
 
 advantages which Arnund required, and its practical working 
 
 is as beneficial as its theoretical principle is sound. The 
 
 executive power of the law is lodged in a single person ; 
 
280 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 and, from this circumstance, derives all the advantages of 
 strength and despatch that belong to the most absolute 
 monarchy. In the making of laws, which is the supreme 
 power of the state, legislation possesses, in the House of 
 Lords, all the wisdom and counsel of an aristocracy, whilst 
 in the Commons it possesses all the advantages of a demo- 
 cracy ; and it is worthy of observation, that the English form 
 of government has not attained its present form from the 
 theories and the speculations of individuals, but has grown 
 out of those immutable laws by which the moral world is 
 regulated ; and is founded, in its essential provisions, by a 
 happy series of providential events, on the present necessi- 
 ties of man. It is removed from the two extremes, which 
 are alike injurious to the interests of society — the despotism 
 of the monarch and the despotism of the multitude. It is 
 a monarchy directed by laws, " controlled and balanced by 
 the hereditary wealth and dignity of the nation ; and both, 
 again, controlled by a judicious check from the reason and 
 feeling of the people at large, expressed by a suitable and 
 permanent organ;" so that no mischief can be attempted 
 by any of the three branches, but may be withstood by one 
 of the other two — each being armed with a negative power, 
 which, if honestly exercised, is amply sufficient to resist any 
 innovation which it may consider inexpedient or dangerous. 
 
 This constitution, composed apparently of three powers, 
 consists in reality of seven : 
 
 The monarchical power. 
 
 The legislative power. 
 
 The checking power. 
 
 The judicial power. 
 
 The ecclesiastical power. 
 
 The executive power, and 
 
 The administrative power. 
 But several of these may be considered as united together 
 in one body, the legislative and checking powers, the monar- 
 chical and executive powers, the judicial and administrative 
 powers, and the ecclesiastical may, as far as mundane matters 
 go, be considered as belonging to the first. 
 
 93. Pretended Origin of Parliament. 
 Littleton asserts that already, in the time of the Saxons, 
 the people assembled in the form of a parliament, and at 
 least the magistrates of towns and boroughs had their seats 
 therein. This assertion he founds upon the claims of some 
 boroughs in later years to that right, for the validity of which 
 they quoted the manners of the times, as convincing proofs. 
 
BOOK V. 281 
 
 The same author cites quotations therein, where the assem- 
 bly of parliament is called " the people." Barnstaxte even 
 pretends this to be mentioned in a charter of Athelstan, 
 And the antiquaries, who attended at the assembly at Claren- 
 don, were considered by Littleton as aldermen, or old magis- 
 trates of every county ; but all this seems not a sufficient 
 proof of the people having had a share in the government 
 as they had under Henry III., and as it was afterwards 
 constituted. It has never been accurately defined, either 
 in law or history, that a member should be called from 
 every county and every borough, nor is there any mention 
 made of any particular person being nominated for that 
 purpose; for among the few free plebians it would have 
 been no easy matter to find out a sufficient number that 
 were, from their estates, or bills of protection, independent 
 of the nobility. Littleton owns himself, that the business 
 of the realm was often settled in parliament by the nobility 
 alone, without the presence of the people; and that the 
 power of the people was by far too little to form an 
 equilibrium between that of the monarch and that of the 
 aristocracy. 
 
 94. Miniature and other Republics. 
 
 Minor republics, as the Hanseatic Towns, and some can- 
 tons in Switzerland, have long enjoyed felicity. Among the 
 former, Hamburg may be cited as a real model of a little 
 republic. The legislative and executive powers consist in 
 a senate of twenty-four members, one half of whom are 
 learned, and the other private men, four burgomasters, 
 a certain number of aldermen, churchwardens, a selected 
 body of the citizens, and the whole body that have acquired 
 the right of citizenship, which consists in being a house- 
 holder, or obtaining the right by paying a considerable 
 fee. Every law, or important decision, is only valid when 
 it has been sanctioned by the senate and the citizens. 
 
 The taxes are extremely moderate, so that every possible 
 right of individual liberty, personal security, and happiness 
 and wealth, has been preserved for many hundred years by 
 the inhabitants of that town ; and the government gene- 
 rally act with such wisdom, and the inhabitants are so 
 laborious, that wealth has been proportionately speedily res- 
 tored, even after the oppression of the French invasion, the 
 cruelty of Davoust, and the great fire of 1842. 
 
 Venice possessed a very small territory in proportion to her 
 immense power, but abuses were more frequent there than 
 in smaller republics. 
 
282 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 The Netherland republic existed for a long period, 
 but the moderation of the cooler Dutch, together with their 
 true patriotism, (compared to that of other nations,) contri- 
 buted vastly towards it. 
 
 The United States have, with an extensive territory, 
 already peacefully enjoyed the fruits of a well-formed re- 
 public, and of a legislation founded by a Washington and a 
 Franklin, for three quarters of a ceutury ; but the inhabi- 
 tants are tradesmen and agriculturists, not troubled with 
 ambition, and the country is too distant and too extensive 
 to be easily overwhelmed by invading European demagogues . 
 
 95. Evils produced by Standing Armies. 
 The evil produced by keeping great armies, which give to 
 the generals a preponderance over the magistrates has not 
 been extinguished in modern times, and not even since the 
 time of Napoleon's abdication. Neither the holy alliance, 
 nor the system of non-interference, preserved for a certain 
 length of time, could contribute sufficiently to diminish this 
 canker, which gnaws the welfare of all great European 
 nations, and everywhere increases the national debt. If 
 there is anything that we may envy of the Americans, it is 
 that they have as yet kept that evil off themselves. 
 
 96. Royal Domains. 
 It is the duty of a great and faithful minister, while he 
 advises the king to yield to the wishes of the people, at the 
 same time to bestow his greatest care upon strengthening 
 the king's power by preserving, not only his territorial pos- 
 sessions, but likewise his private domains. He must exert 
 himself to the utmost, and sacrifice his property, and even 
 his life, to prevent the situation which ensures those posses- 
 sions to his master from being changed into one wherein the 
 prince is merely the first man in the nation, and the term, 
 "royal domains," from being considered synonymous with 
 that of " national property ;" as the sovereign only remains 
 what he should be — a real monarch — so long as he re- 
 mains in possession of his royal domains. He can even 
 yield with the more facility to the will of the people, since 
 the possession of these domains ensures him security and 
 permanence; and in such a situation his compliance is 
 noble and worthy. All that the regent thus allots is con- 
 sidered as a free gift, and does not only preserve but even 
 increases the esteem and consideration of the people to- 
 wards him. He then remains an uncompelled and wealthy 
 donor; and the monarch who can with safety maintain 
 
book v. 283 
 
 such a function will not be deprived of the veneration, 
 gratitude, and obedience of his subjects. 
 
 But what is a regent deprived of his domains, who 
 receives his income from the same multitude by whom he is 
 often opposed? And even were the civil list doubled or 
 trebled, the prince still remains impoverished in a country, 
 the trade of which is not its principal resource; a man with- 
 out property, and in the most abject dependance on those 
 whom he should meet with generosity, and who have short- 
 ened his own property. The word "majesty"* loses its force, 
 and the agitated populace feel that the regent can give no- 
 thing more to those from whom alone he receives. 
 
 The regent who remains in full possession of his domains, 
 even if they be indebted, can alone present himself before 
 his people as a father and a benefactor. He can do this 
 without putting on a mask or performing a false part, at 
 which the spectator would secretly smile. Such a prince 
 can alone grant graces and compliances to the nation, he 
 alone can with real and effective power paralyze, if not 
 altogether avert, by concessions to general wishes, the evil 
 consequences of bad direction, and all this with royal 
 dignity. 
 
 But the minister who does not oppose, with all his might, 
 the realization of domains, even if he thinks himself answer- 
 able to the nation alone, does not his duty, for he does not 
 only deprive his monarch of his dignity, and his master's 
 race of existence, but he injures the people by impoverish- 
 ing him who, in times of insurrection, could coolly, and with 
 impartiality witness the storm, and even yield to it without 
 having to fear for himself. 
 
 " Formerly the kings of England, as of other European 
 states, were supported from the soil, and not by the system 
 of revenue organised in later times. Commerce and manu- 
 factures were then almost unknown ; of money there was 
 little, and scarcely any imposts. Gradually the sovereign 
 found out the means of supplying his wants by burdening 
 his lieges with taxes, which rendered the revenues derived 
 from his private domains of less importance. Hence, con- 
 temporaneously with the progress of national burdens, may 
 be dated the neglect and alienation of the hereditary pos- 
 sessions. The chief remains of these are the crown lands, 
 consisting of parks, forests, chases, manors, fisheries, and 
 royalties, extensive estates, numerous leaseholds, church 
 livings, fee-farm rents, light-house dues, and mineral trea- 
 
 * The word "majesty" was not used in England until the reign of 
 Henry VIII. 
 
284 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 sures. The property is scattered in almost every part of 
 the kingdom, but principally in the metropolis and vicinity ; 
 much of it is in Wales, and there are large estates in 
 Ireland." 
 
 The above lines are taken from Mr. John Wade's recently 
 published work ; and with respect to the employment of the 
 revenues of the royal domains, we refer the reader to the said 
 work, the title of which he will easily discover if he feels any 
 interest in it ; with all the good which that book contains, 
 we do not like to recommend it from its very inflammable 
 character. The existence of that work, although very recent, 
 and the little injury which it has committed until the present 
 moment, corresponds with the remarks of Montesquieu, that 
 the climate very much contributes towards the patience of 
 the inhabitants of England ; " La servitude commence tou- 
 jours par le sommeil ; mais un peuple qui n'a de repos dans 
 aucune situation, qui se tate sans cesse, et trouve tous les 
 endroits douloureux, ne pourrait guere s'endormir." 
 
 97. Faults of Elective Power. 
 This thesis is proved by the examples of the Emperors of 
 Germany, who were elective; and notwithstanding their 
 repeated elections, and that they originally united the 
 Roman imperial crown to that of Germany, a power they 
 mostly inherited from Charles V., that dignity has almost 
 continually remained m one family, that of the descend- 
 ants of Habsburg, (not Hapsburg, as we often see it 
 printed in the " Times") Their power has successively de- 
 clined, for the most insignificant prince permitted himself 
 resistance, until Napoleon put a stop to it by obliging those 
 crowned heads to be satisfied with a title they had themselves 
 decided upon — that of Emperor of Austria. The election 
 appertaining to the old dignity was not the sole cause of its 
 decline, but rather the circumstance of emperors not being- 
 possessed of sufficient executive power, nor of the right of 
 using Austrian troops against revolting German princes. 
 For that purpose they possessed a little German army, 
 called " Reichsarmee" which was ridiculed by everybody 
 and almost considered like Falstaff's troop of recruits. 
 
 98. Sacredness and Inviolability of the Person of the 
 Sovereign. 
 The law enacting that the person of the sovereign is 
 sacred and inviolable is in just accordance with the authen- 
 ticated revelation of the Supreme Governor of the world, 
 who announces to the tribes of men the important truth : — 
 
BOOK V. 285 
 
 "By Me kings rule, and princes decree judgment." It is 
 but just, then, that the supreme magistrate should be thus 
 dignified : and our constitution has not only followed the 
 voice of nature, which makes the public head the represen- 
 tative of the majesty of the nation, but what, in this case, is 
 still more audible — the voice of God — by awarding to them 
 those attributes, and covering them with their defence, as 
 with a shield of celestial strength. The royal person is 
 sacred, set apart and consecrated to a high and responsible 
 office, for ends of the highest importance, and fraught with 
 results of the most important character. The monarch is to 
 be considered as the vicegerent of heaven. The divine 
 oracle makes the announcement — The sovereign is " the 
 minister of God." Necessarily the immediate servant of the 
 Most High, who shall dare to invade prerogatives which are 
 held under such a charter ? It must be either folly or mad- 
 ness, seeing that it is attended with such a sanction as that 
 contained in the following declaration : — " He that resist- 
 eth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." 
 
 The above lines, quoted from the Rev. E. D. Schomberg's 
 work, form the basis and immutable principle upon which the 
 personal dignity of the British sovereigns was founded ; and 
 it was the policy of our forefathers to use the sanction of 
 religion in building up the safeguard of the state ; and the 
 fundamental maxim, that the king can do no wrong, neces- 
 sarily follows the principle, that the person of the sovereign 
 is sacred and inviolable ; for had our forefathers declared 
 the one without the other, the royal person, although sacred 
 and inviolable in appearance, would have been exposed to end- 
 less accusation and perpetual dangers ; not that the transcen- 
 dant station of the British monarchs elevates them above the 
 infirmities and errors incident to human nature; but, because 
 the practical wisdom of our ancestors thought it expedient 
 that such a defence should be thrown around them, and have 
 so ordained it that not they, but their ministers, should be 
 responsible for the errors of the administration. If the 
 sovereign, who is a branch of the legislature, were to be 
 Bubject to the will, and liable to the impeachment of the 
 other branches, it is evident that all the elements of discord 
 would be let loose to disorder the state. It has, therefore, 
 by a bold and almost superhuman effort, surrounded that 
 sacred person with a wall of adamant : it has given the 
 monarch a kind of political perfection ; and, as the civil 
 head represents the collective body of the nation, it has 
 determined that, politically speaking, the crown cannot err; 
 and though at first sight, this may appear a dangerous posi- 
 
286 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 tion, yet we shall afterwards see, when we come to treat of 
 the limitations of the monarchy, how completely it is neu- 
 tralized, as to any tendency to evil. At present, without 
 having recourse to the doctrine of "the divine right of 
 kings," we must repeat that it is the essence of wisdom, and 
 the groundwork of our political existence. But the doc- 
 trine of "divine right," when soberly interpreted, can 
 scarcely admit of controversy, viz., that the monarchical 
 power, to which such important trusts have been committed, 
 is under the peculiar sanction of that Divine Providence 
 which extends its care to every individual of the human 
 race, however ignoble or mean. 
 
 This right of inviolability of the person of the monarch 
 has been preserved from the most remote to the latest times ; 
 and even the French nation has acknowledged, in chap.ii.p.ll, 
 of the constitution which Louis XVI. was compelled to give 
 them, that " the person of the king is sacred and inviolable :" 
 which however did not prevent them from executing the 
 same unfortunate king a year after. 
 
 In the most recent times nations seem, however, to have 
 shown disregard for that fundamental law of monarchical 
 power, but there is no doubt they will soon return to it, as 
 common sense must acknowledge, that no monarchical power 
 can subsist without that maxim. 
 
 99. Royal Power limited by Laws. 
 Locke expresses himself on this subject as follows : — 
 "Though the legislative, whether placed in one or more, 
 whether it be always in being or only by intervals, though 
 it be the supreme power in every commonwealth; yet it is 
 not, nor can possibly be, absolutely arbitrary over the lives 
 and fortunes of the people. For it being but the joint of 
 every member of the society given up to that person, or 
 assembly, which is legislator, it can be no more than those 
 persons had in a state of nature before they entered into 
 society, and gave it up to the community. For nobody can 
 transfer to another more power than he has in himself; and 
 nobody has an absolute arbitrary power over himself, or 
 over any other, destroy his own life, or take away the life or 
 property of another. A man, as has been proved, cannot 
 subject himself to the arbitrary power of another; and 
 having in the state of nature no arbitrary power over the 
 life, liberty, or possession of another, but only so much as 
 the law of nature gives him for the preservation of himself, 
 and the rest of mankind ; this is all he doth, or can give up 
 
book v. 287 
 
 of the commonwealth, and by it to the legislative power, so 
 that the legislative can have no more than this ; their power, 
 in the utmost bound of it, is limited to the public good of 
 the society. It is a power that hath no other end but pre- 
 servation, and therefore can never have a right to destroy, 
 enslave, or designedly to impoverish the subject ; the obli- 
 gations of the law of nature cease not in society, but only 
 in many cases are drawn closer, and have by humane laws 
 known penalties amerced to them to enforce their observa- 
 tion. Thus the law of nature stands as an eternal rule to all 
 men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make 
 for other nations must be conformable to the law of nature, 
 i. e. to the will of God, of which that is a declaration, and 
 the fundamental law of nature being the preservation of 
 mankind, no human sanction can be good or valid against it. 
 
 " The legislative, or supreme authority, cannot assume to 
 itself a power to rule by extemporary arbitrary decrees, but is 
 bound to dispense justice, and decide the rights of the subject 
 by promulgated standing laws, and known authorized judges. 
 For the law of nature being unwritten, and so nowhere to 
 be found but in the minds of men, they who, through passion 
 or interest, shall miscite or misapply it, cannot so easily be 
 convinced of their mistake where there is no established 
 judge : and so it serves not as it ought to determine the 
 rights, and fence the properties of those that live under it, 
 especially where every one is judge, interpreter, and execu- 
 tioner of it too, and that in his own case : and that he has 
 right on his side, having ordinarily but his own single 
 strength, hath not force enough to defend himself from 
 injuries, or to punish delinquents. To avoid these incon- 
 veniences which disorder men's properties in the state of 
 nature, men unite into societies, that they may have the 
 united strength of the whole society to secure and defend 
 their properties, and may have standing rules to bound it, 
 by which every one may know what is his. To this end it is 
 that men give up all their natural power to the society they 
 enter into, and the community put the legislative power into 
 such hands as they think fit, with this trust, that they shall 
 be governed by declared laws, or else their peace, quiet, and 
 property, will still be at the same uncertainty as it was in the 
 state of nature. 
 
 " Absolute arbitrary power, or government without settled 
 standing laws, can neither of them consist with the ends of 
 society and government, which men would not quit the free- 
 dom of the state of nature for, and tie themselves up under 
 were it not to preserve their lives, liberties, and fortunes, 
 
288 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 and by stated rules of right and property to secure their 
 peace and quiet. It cannot be supposed that they should 
 intend, had they a power so to do to any one or more, an 
 absolute arbitrary power over their persons and estates, and 
 put a force into the magistrate's hand to execute his 
 unlimited will arbitrarily upon them. This were to put 
 themselves into a worse condition than the state of nature, 
 wherein they had a liberty to defend their right against the 
 injuries of others, and were upon equal terms of force to 
 maintain it, whether invaded by a single man, or many in 
 combination. 
 
 " The supreme power cannot take from any man any part 
 of his property without his own consent. For the preserva- 
 tion of property being the end of government, and that for 
 which men enter into society, it necessarily supposes and 
 requires that the people should have property, without which 
 they must be supposed to lose that by entering into society, 
 which was the end for which they entered into it, too gross 
 an absurdity for any man to own. Men therefore in society, 
 having property, they have such a right to the goods, which 
 by the law of the community are theirs, that nobody hath a 
 right to take them, or any part of them from them, without 
 their own consent ; without this they have no property at 
 all. For I have truly no property in that which another 
 can by right take from me when he pleases, against my con- 
 sent. Hence it is a mistake to think that the supreme or 
 legislative power of any commonwealth can do what it will, 
 and dispose of the estate of the subject arbitrarily, or take 
 any part of them at pleasure." 
 
 100. Liberty of the Press. 
 
 The truth of this observation cannot be contested. Even 
 the liberty of the press needs to be moderated by some sound 
 limits ; for that which at first is the liberty of the press, 
 too often degenerates into the licentiousness of the press. 
 This is the reason why all legislators, who surrendered the 
 gift of that inflammable phlogiston into the hands of the 
 people, have soon been obliged to retract it: in the hands 
 of the English only has it been supported for a length 
 of time ; but, " si cetle nation avait encore recu du climat un 
 certain caractere d impatience qui ne lui permit pas de souffrir 
 longtemps les memes choses"* the abuses of the press would 
 be considerably greater than they actually are. 
 
 Although the British legislators have thought themselves 
 
 * Montesquieu. 
 
BOOK Y. 289 
 
 obliged to limit (by a recent law) printed and verbal free 
 expressions, we believe that to appease turbulence they had 
 at their disposal other and better means than the violation 
 of one of their fundamental laws ; as at present, of all na- 
 tions, the English and the daughter country are, from their 
 moderation, the only ones worthy of possessing, unlimited, 
 that golden fruit of liberty. With respect to verbal expres- 
 sions, see Note 165. 
 
 101. Justice sacrificed to momentary Welfare. 
 The means of winning the laws through the judges exist 
 in all countries, not excepting the freest; and when these 
 judges are of too high a rank, or too well paid to be influ- 
 enced by bribery, it is done by misleading their views, and 
 by it being represented to them that the security of society 
 partly depends on their judgment ; whereby justice is often 
 sacrificed to general welfare; examples of what we now 
 advance occurred not a century back. 
 
 102. Means of Influence. 
 
 The creation of peers, and the nomination of court func- 
 tionaries, belong to this category, as well as the increasing 
 number of civil servants of government. "In 1847," says a 
 recently published work, " the number of persons employed 
 by the English government in the capacity of civil servants 
 was estimated at twenty-five thousand, with salaries short of 
 three millions. In France, in the same year, the number of 
 employes of the government was nearly six hundred thou- 
 sand ; and as the number of registered electors amounted 
 only to two hundred thousand, it left three places for each 
 voter to aspire to. Here was a resource for influencing the 
 elections, and securing a majority in the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties ! each member in consequence became the centre of a 
 constellation of government dependants, who had bartered 
 the electoral franchise for place and profit." 
 
 On honour, used as a lever in government, Montesquieu 
 speaks as follows : — " Comme il faut de la vertu dans une 
 republique, et dans une monarchic de Thonneur, il faut de la 
 crainte dans un gouvernement despotique : pour la vertu elle 
 rCy est point necessaire, et Vhonneur y serait dangereux." 
 
 103. Liberty of Opinion. 
 
 Haller here permits the most absolute monarch, Alfred, to 
 defend the rights of the liberty of the press, or rather, (as 
 no newspaper existed in his time,) those of speaking the 
 
290 NOTES, COMMENTAKIES, ETC. 
 
 truth, and freely expressing one's opinions ; while in the fol- 
 lowing paragraph, (p. 104,) the free-thinking Amund recom- 
 mends some boundaries to that unlimitted liberty. We refer 
 our readers on this subject to Note 100. 
 
 104. Limits of the patience of a Nation. 
 It is quite superfluous to cite examples here, the reader 
 will find sufficient ones by looking back into the events of 
 1848. 
 
 105. Fines for accidental words. 
 
 We rather suspect that when Haller made use of that 
 number he was thinking of the gold mines of Mexico, as 
 those of California were not then discovered. 
 
 106. Legitimacy of Insurrection. 
 
 This medium is exceedingly difficult to find ; for every 
 insurrection, even those against the most despotic prince, is, 
 after all, a criminal action, an attack of individuals against 
 society in general, and the existing laws ; but as the revo- 
 lutionaries, who act from true patriotism, are well aware of 
 their actions, and know that they begin with high treason, 
 and that the result alone can sanction their efforts, they 
 in general believe that the purpose excuses the means ; 
 and as our head must condemn, and our heart defend 
 them, we are glad to find in the following words of Locke a 
 wiser defender than we can, or wish to, pretend to be: — 
 " What then, can there no case happen wherein the people 
 may of right, and by their own authority, help themselves, take 
 arms, and set upon their king, imperiously domineering over 
 them ? None at all, whilst he remains a king. Honour the 
 king, and he that resists the power, resists the ordinance of 
 God; are divine oracles that will never permit it. The people 
 therefore can never come by a power over him, urdess he does 
 something that makes him cease to be a king. For then he 
 divests himself of his crown and dignity, and returns to the 
 state of a private man, and the people become free and supe- 
 rior ; the power which they had in the interregnum, before 
 they crowned him king, devolving to him again. But there are 
 but few miscarriages which bring the matter to this state. After 
 considering it well on all sides, I can find but two. Two cases 
 there are, I say, whereby a king, ipso facto, becomes no king, 
 and loses all power and regal authority over his people, which 
 are also taken notice of by Winzerus. 
 
 "The first is, if he endeavour to overturn the government* 
 
BOOK V. 291 
 
 that is, if he have a purpose and design to ruin the kingdom 
 and common-wealth, as it is recorded of Nero, that he re- 
 solved to cut off the senate and people of Rome, lay the city 
 waste with fire and sword, and then remove to some other 
 place. And of Caligula, that he openly declared that he 
 would be no longer a head to the people or senate, and that 
 he had it in his thoughts to cut off the worthiest men of 
 both ranks, and then retire to Alexandria ; and he wished 
 that the people had but one neck, that he might despatch 
 them all at a blow. Such designs as these, when any king 
 harbours in his thoughts and seriously promotes, he imme- 
 diately gives up all care and thought of the commonwealth, 
 and consequently forfeits the power of governing his sub- 
 jects, as a master does the dominion over his slaves whom 
 he hath abandoned. 
 
 "The other case is, when a king makes himself the depen- 
 dant of another, and subjects his kingdom which his ances- 
 tors left him, and the people put free into his hands, to the 
 dominion of another. For however, perhaps, it may not be 
 in his intention to prejudice the people, yet because he has 
 hereby lost the principal part of regal dignity, viz. to be 
 next and immediately under God, supreme in his kingdom, 
 and also because he betrayed or forced his people, whose 
 liberty he ought to have carefully preserved, into the power 
 and dominion of a foreign nation. By this, as it were, alien- 
 ation of his kingdom, he himself loses the power he had in 
 it before, without transferring the least right to those on 
 whom he would have bestowed it, and so by this act sets the 
 people free, and leaves them at their own disposal. One 
 example of this is to be found in the Scotch Annals. 
 
 "In these cases Barclay, the great champion of absolute 
 monarchy, is forced to allow, that a king may be resisted, 
 and cease to be a king. That is, in short, not to multiply 
 cases, in whatsoever he has no authority, there he is no king, 
 and may be resisted : for wheresoever the authority ceases, 
 the king ceases too, and becomes like other men who have 
 no authority. And these two cases he instances differ but 
 little from those above mentioned, to be destructive to 
 governments, only that he has omitted the principle from 
 which his doctrine flows, and that is, the breach of trust, in 
 not preserving the form of government agreed on, and in 
 not intending the end of government itself, which is the 
 public good and preservation of property. When a king 
 has dethroned himself, and put himself in a state of war with 
 his people, what shall hinder them from prosecuting him who 
 o2 
 
292 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 is no king, as they would any other man, who has put him- 
 self into a state of war with them ; Barclay, and those of his 
 opinion, would do well to tell us. This farther I desire may 
 be taken notice of out of Barclay, that he says, ' The mis- 
 chief that is designed them, the people may prevent before 
 it be done,' whereby he allows resistance when tyranny is but 
 in design. Such designs as these, (says he) when any king 
 harbours in his thoughts and seriously promotes, he imme- 
 diately gives up all care and thought of the commonwealth ; 
 so that, according to him, the neglect of the public good is 
 to be taken as an evidence of such a design, or at least for a 
 sufficient cause of resistance. And the reason of all he gives 
 in these words, because he betrayed or forced his people, 
 whose liberty he ought carefully to have preserved. What 
 he adds into the power and dominion of a foreign nation 
 signifies nothing, the fault and forfeiture lying in the loss of 
 their liberty which he ought to have preserved, and not in 
 any distinction of the persons to whose dominion they were 
 subjected. The people's right is equally invaded, and their 
 liberty lost, whether they are made slaves to any of their 
 own, or a foreign nation ; and in this lies the injury, and 
 against this only have they the right of defence. And there 
 are instances to be found in all countries, which show that 
 it is not the change of nations in the persons of their gover- 
 nors, but the change of government that gives the offence. 
 Bilson, a bishop of our church, and a great stickler for the 
 power and prerogative of princes, does, if I mistake not, in 
 his treatise of Christian subjection, acknowledge that princes 
 may forfeit their power and their title to the obedience of 
 their subjects; and if there needed authority in a case where 
 reason is so plain, I could refer my readers to Bracton, For- 
 tescue, and the author of the Mirror, and others ; writers, 
 who cannot be suspected to be ignorant of our government, 
 or enemies to it. But I thought Hooker alone might be 
 enough to satisfy those men, who relying on him for their 
 ecclesiastical polity, are by strange fate carried to deny those 
 principles upon which he builds it. Whether they are 
 herein made the tools of cunning workmen, to pull down 
 their own fabric, they had best look. This I am sure, 
 their civil policy is so new, so dangerous, and so destructive 
 to both rulers and people, that as former ages never could 
 bear the broaching of it, so it may be hoped those to 
 come, redeemed from the imposition of those Egyptian 
 under-taskmasters, will abhor the memory of such servile 
 flatterers, who, whilst it seemed to serve their turn, 
 
book v. 293 
 
 resolved all government into absolute tyranny, and would 
 have all men born to what their mean souls fitted them, 
 slavery. 
 
 " Here, 'tis like the common question will be made, who 
 should be judge, whether the prince or legislative act con- 
 trary to their trust ? This, perhaps, ill affected and factious 
 men may spread amongst the people, when the prince only 
 makes use of his due prerogative. To this I reply, the 
 people shall be judge; for who shall be judge whether his 
 trustee or deputy acts well, and according to the trust 
 reposed in him; but he who deputes him, and must, by 
 having deputed him, have still a power to discard him, 
 when he fails in his trust. If this be reasonable in par- 
 ticular cases of private men, why should it be otherwise in 
 that of the greatest moment, where the welfare of millions 
 is concerned, and also where the evil, if not prevented, 
 is greater, and the redress very difficult, dear, and dan- 
 gerous. 
 
 " But farther, this question (who shall be judge ? ) cannot 
 mean, that there is no judge at all. For where there is no 
 judicature on earth, to decide controversies amongst men, 
 God in heaven is judge : He alone, 'tis true, is judge of the 
 right. But every man is judge for himself, as in all other 
 cases, so in this, whether another hath put himself in a state 
 of war with him, and whether he should appeal to the 
 Supreme Judge, as Jeptha did. 
 
 " If a controversy arise betwixt a prince and some of the 
 people, in a matter where the law is silent or doubtful, and 
 the thing be of great consequence, I should think the proper 
 umpire, in such a case, should be the body of the people. 
 For in cases where the prince hath a trust reposed in him, 
 and is dispensed from the common ordinary rules of the law; 
 there, if any men find themselves aggrieved, and think the 
 prince acts contrary to, or beyond that trust, who so proper 
 to judge as the body of the people, (who at first lodged that 
 trust in him,) how far they meant it should extend ? But 
 if the prince, or whoever they be in the administration, 
 decline that way of determination, the appeal then lies 
 nowhere but to heaven. Force between either persons, who 
 have no known superior on earth, or which permits no 
 appeal to a judge on earth, being properly a state of war, 
 wherein the appeal lies only to heaven, and in that state the 
 injured party must judge for himself, when he will think fit 
 to make use of that appeal, and puts himself upon it. 
 
 " To conclude, the power that every individual gave the 
 
294 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 society, when he entered into it, can never revert to the 
 individuals again, as long as the society lasts, but will always 
 remain in the community ; because, without this, there can 
 be no community, no commonwealth, which is contrary to 
 the original agreement. So also when the society hath 
 placed the legislative in any assembly of men, to continue 
 in them and their successors, with direction and authority 
 for providing such successors; the legislative can never 
 revert to the people whilst that government lasts ; because, 
 having provided a legislative with power to continue for 
 ever, they have given up their political power to the legisla- 
 tive, and cannot resume it. But if they have set limits to 
 the duration of their legislative, and made this supreme 
 power in any person or assembly only temporary; or else, 
 when, by the miscarriages of those in authority, it is for- 
 feited, upon the forfeiture of their rulers, or at the deter- 
 mination of the time set, it reverts to the society, and the 
 people have a right to act as supreme, and continue the 
 legislative in themselves, or place it in a new form, or new 
 hands, as they think good." 
 
 107. Non-appreciation of Public Opinion. 
 
 The legal resistance of the powers joined to the sovereign 
 is, in our times, mostly paralyzed by the majority on the side 
 of the ministers ; and, in parliamentary debates, terminates, 
 ninety-nine times out of a hundred, in pompous words, with- 
 out any result. The observations proposed by the oppo- 
 sition, in the form of amendments, are, if they contain the 
 slightest tinge of blame, suppressed by the majority; and the 
 debates themselves, in which that blame is reported, are 
 probably not read, or even, perhaps, despised by the monarch, 
 as coming from the opposition. 
 
 The tokens of general aversion are, in most cases, not 
 visible to the prince and his entourage, who generally stand 
 between the people and himself — unless he ranges through 
 the streets unknown, and in disguise, as Peter of Aragon, 
 Joseph II., many caliphs of Bagdad, and other princes 
 from the middle ages till the last century, (this method of 
 discovering the truth has long been out of fashion,) — for the 
 vivats exclaimed by the people on the public appearance of 
 the monarch cannot give a just idea of the affection which 
 the populace bear to their sovereign ; as these exclamations 
 are mostly commanded, or shouted to practise their voices, 
 and would be abandoned by many did it cost them as much 
 as the value of a pint of beer, or a canon of wine. 
 
BOOK V. 295 
 
 The resentment shown to bad officers is also void of suc- 
 cess, as Us ne s'en soucient pas, and endeavour to remain with 
 their " nichts durchbohrendem Gefuhle " as long as they can 
 in their functions and dignities. Their responsibility to the 
 nation is generally illusive, and their answers to the political 
 questions addressed to them are mostly superficial; having 
 secured the majority on their side, they do not even take 
 the trouble of giving reasonable excuses for the abuses and 
 errors they commit. 
 
 108. Limits of Transgression. 
 
 In Note 106, in which we have quoted an extract from 
 " Locke's Maxims," the limits of transgression on the part of 
 the king, which authorize the people to revolt, will be found; 
 but we are glad to observe that our progress in civilization 
 has advanced so far, that in all the recent events and 
 revolutions, the people were not forced to seek their security 
 in the blood of the tyrants. 
 
 109. Tyrants govern by Fear. 
 
 The action of Charles XII., of writing to his senate that 
 he would send one of his boots to represent him, was fear- 
 fully avenged on himself.* And Montesquieu says that 
 " Lorsque dans le gouvernement despotiqwe le prince cesse 
 un moment de lever le bras, quand il ne peut pas aneantir a. 
 Tinstant ceux qui ont les premieres places, tout est perdu." 
 And the worst is, that a despot cannot stop in his course of 
 tyranny, even if he would. — " Le sophi de Perse, detrone 
 par Miriveis vit le gouvernement perir avant la conquete, 
 parce qu'il n'avait pas verse assez de sang ;" — but as in the 
 hands of Providence all means, even evil, lead to good, — 
 " L'histoire nous dit que les horribles cruautes de Domitien 
 effrayerent les gouverneurs au point que le peuple se retablit 
 un peu sous son regne. C'est ainsi qu'un torrent qui ravage 
 tout d'un cote laisse de l'autre des campagnes ou l'ceil voit 
 
 * This fact is founded on the authority of historians, who pretend that 
 Charles XII. was killed by his own subjects through the medium of Siquier, 
 his aide-de-camp, a man of spirit and execution, engaged in his service in 
 Turkey, who was particularly attached to the Prince of Hesse ; but it is not 
 unknown to us that Voltaire contradicts this opinion in Siquier's own words: 
 — " J'aurai pu tuer le rot de Suede; mats tel ctait mon reaped pour ce hetus, 
 que si je I'avais voulu,je n'aurais pas ose~." The same author attributes to 
 Charles XII. so many virtues, that we should do wrong to call him a despot, 
 did not Voltaire acknowledge that his justice was sometimes extended to 
 cruelty, and that in his last years, the maintenance of his authority ap- 
 proached to tyranny. 
 
296 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 de loin quelques prairies." Even in the most recent epochs 
 we have experienced that fear, combined with reason, have 
 fulfilled the difficult task of preventing anarchies, which the 
 latter alone would not have been capable of doing. 
 
 110. Functions of the Nobility in the State. 
 We have in a former note spoken of the nobility and their 
 advantage to the state. The British nobility, which form, in 
 conjunction with the bishops of the Church of England, 
 sixteen peers elective for Scotland, and twenty-eight for 
 Ireland, the members of the House of Lords, may be con- 
 sidered as the natural guardians of the constitution, — the 
 hereditary legislators of the land. The perpetuation of 
 property in succession is the most valuable arrangement and 
 most interesting consideration connected with its possession, 
 and contributes most to the perpetuation of society itself. 
 The possessors of family wealth, and of the distinctions which 
 attend hereditary possessions, as most concerned in it, are 
 the natural securities for this transmission. The House of 
 Peers is formed upon this principle : — it is wholly composed 
 of hereditary property and hereditary distinction, and made 
 therefore the third of the legislature ; and, in the last event, 
 the sole judge of all property in all its subdivisions. They 
 are eminently the great council of the sovereign ; and are, 
 as a body, the most exalted and independent in the state. 
 In this house, indeed, is combined all that is illustrious in 
 rank, splendid in talent, elevated in soul, and ample in 
 fortune. No state of things could at once create such an 
 assembly as the British House of Lords. It has been created 
 by a long train of circumstances, over which, as it were, our 
 ancestors had no control — it has grown, as all great institu- 
 tions must, out of the necessity of things — it represents at 
 once the wealth, the knowledge, the honour, and the ancient 
 blood of the country — it may be destroyed, but not created. 
 Fresh blood is constantly infused into the House of Lords 
 from the ranks of the army, the navy, and the law; and under 
 our happy constitution, the humblest man in the realm may 
 aspire to the highest rank amongst the nobility as the reward 
 of his talents and industry. Although confessedly the aris- 
 tocratic part of the legislature, and inheriting all the feelings 
 of their high birth, yet they have never wanted men of the 
 noblest genius, and of the most enlightened and liberal views, 
 who preferred the glory of their country to the elevation of 
 their own order. There was a time, indeed, when the 
 
book y. 297 
 
 very lustre that surrounded their rank dazzled and over- 
 powered the multitude : but, in these days of free and 
 unrestrained inquiry, the once sacred barrier of rank has 
 been completely invaded and broken through ; and, as is 
 always the case, the triumph in one instance has rendered 
 the whole phalanx less inviolable ; and we every day find 
 their public conduct as freely canvassed and animadverted 
 upon as that of any other individual class in the state ; 
 nor are we left to doubt but that very great advantages 
 are likely to arise from such a scrutiny. It was not desi- 
 rable that the very name, devoid of other circumstances, 
 should produce its effects on the community. This influen- 
 tial body have been taught that title alone, like all other 
 earthly distinctions, is vain, unless allied to more transcen- 
 dant qualities. The attainments of the understanding, and 
 the virtues of the heart, are, assuredly, the only true power. 
 Without these, whatever may be the external splendour of 
 the House of Lords, it must degenerate in its character, and 
 its efforts for good become powerless ; it would sink from its 
 proud elevation and defeat the design for which it was made 
 a constituent part of the legislature. But it must not be so. . 
 Any polished ruffian, dressed in robes, may personate a 
 prince or a nobleman ; but true dignity of mind, integrity 
 of purpose, and purity of manners, united with the endow- 
 ments of the mind, can alone furnish an hereditary legis- 
 lator of England. What, then, if the coronet shines more 
 feebly amidst the blaze of science, the splendour of learning 
 and the diffusion of knowledge, yet there is a vast majority 
 of the thinking and respectable portion of the community 
 who are fully prepared to give honour where honour is due, 
 and in whose eyes the British peer, adorned with the graces 
 of Christian virtue, is worthy of the highest respect and 
 admiration. Nor can one behold, without exultation, the 
 high moral tone and mental vigour which of late years have 
 distinguished this privileged class of society, inasmuch as 
 from this circumstance, we cannot but augur well for the 
 institutions of our country, which, in a great measure, must 
 stand or fall with them: and we may hope that the whole 
 body shall be led to see that their power was not conferred 
 upon them by the Supreme Governor of the world, to foster 
 their own self-indulgence, and to increase their means of 
 gratification, but for the good of the community at large; 
 and that, by befriending the poor, protecting the innocent, 
 succouring the indigent, and, in parliament, defending the 
 rights, and securing the prosperity and happiness of the 
 o3 
 
298 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 people, they will show themselves worthy of the high trust 
 reposed in them by the constitution. 
 
 " You do not imagine," says the immortal Burke, "that I 
 wish to confine power, authority, and distinction to blood, 
 and names, and titles. No : there is no qualification for 
 government but virtue and wisdom, actual or presumptive. 
 Wherever they are actually found, they have, in whatever 
 state, condition, profession, or trade, the passport of heaven 
 to human place and power. Woe to the country that would 
 madly and impiously reject the service of the talents and 
 virtues, civil, military, or religious, that are given to grace 
 and to serve it ; and would condemn to obscurity everything 
 formed to diffuse lustre and glory around a state. Woe to 
 that country, too, that, passing into the opposite extreme, 
 considers a low education, a mean contracted view of things, 
 a sordid, mercenary occupation, as a preferable title to com- 
 mand. Everything ought to be open, but not indifferently, 
 to every man : no rotation, no appointment by lot, no mode 
 of election operating in the spirit of sortition or rotation, 
 can be generally good in a government conversant in exten- 
 sive objects, because they have no tendency, direct or 
 indirect, to fit the man for duty. I do not hesitate to say 
 that the road to eminence and power, from obscure con- 
 dition, ought not to be made too easy, nor a thing too much 
 of course. If rare merit be the rarest of all rare things, it 
 ought to pass through some sort of probation ; the temple of 
 honour ought to be seated on an eminence. If it be open 
 through virtue, be it remembered, too, that virtue is never 
 
 tried but by some difficulty and some struggle Let those 
 
 large proprietors, such as compose the House of Lords, be 
 what they will (and they have their chance of being amongst 
 the best,) they are, at the very worst, the ballast in the 
 vessel of the commonwealth. For though hereditary wealth, 
 and the rank which goes with it, are too much idolized by 
 creeping sycophants, and the blind abject admirers of power, 
 they are too rashly slighted in the shallow speculations of 
 the petulant, assuming, short-sighted coxcombs of philo- 
 sophy. Some decent regulated pre-eminence, some prefer- 
 ence (not exclusive appropriation) given to birth, is neither 
 unnatural, nor unjust, nor impolitic." 
 
 Haller gives to the nobility the honourable function of 
 "defending the state," "assisting the king," and averting 
 "from the commoner [the people] all kinds of oppression." 
 We heartily wish that on this last point they may bestow 
 their utmost care and most ardent exertions. 
 
BOOK V. 299 
 
 ;i Abollissez dans une monarchie les prerogatives des seig- 
 neurs, duclerge,de la noblesse, etdes villes,vous aurez bientotun 
 etat populaire, ou bien un etat despotique" — Montesquieu. 
 
 111. Right of every Man to a share of Happiness. 
 
 The propagation of the ancient principle, " that every 
 citizen has a right to the claim of the utmost amount of 
 happiness being guaranteed him by the constitution, although 
 very seldom acted upon by governments, has, in the latest 
 epochs, provoked many evils. We will rather give up a 
 portion of the little share of happiness allotted by Provi- 
 dence to every man, than preserve it, or acquire it through 
 the false doctrines of socialism, and their application. 
 
 Where the land is the property of the nobility, and the 
 countryman is merely his farmer, as is the case in England, 
 the latter reaps, perhaps, as much prosperity from the land 
 he cultivates, as the former (we only wish this were the case 
 also in Ireland,) — prosperity to which the free trade system 
 will never present a real obstacle. 
 
 112. Landlords and Tenants. 
 At the present time, the commoners would not assist the 
 nobility against the king, as they did centuries back ; and 
 by referring the reader to the former note, we may say, that 
 the commoners are, principally in England, more attached 
 to the royal dynasty than to their own landlords. 
 
 113. Justice invested in the Nobility. 
 
 " The nobility have likewise the administration of jus- 
 tice ;" and even now, the House of Lords is considered the 
 highest course of judicature in the land; and in it all 
 appeals from other courts find their termination. To be a 
 good judge, the title of baron seems to be indispensable, 
 making almost the same impression upon the audience as the 
 large curled wig. 
 
 Montesquieu says, " qu'il ne suffit pas qu r il y ait dans une 
 monarchie des rangs intermediates ; il faut encore un depot 
 de lois. Ce depot ne peut etre que dans les corps politiques, 
 qui annoncent les lois lorsqu'elles sont faites, et les rappel- 
 lent lorsqu'on les oublie. L'ignorance naturelle a la no- 
 blesse, son inattention, son mepris pour le gouvernement 
 civil, exigent qu'il y ait un corps qui fasse sans cesse sortir 
 les lois de la poussiere ou elles seraient ensevelies. Le con- 
 seil du prince n'est pas un depot convenable. II est, par sa 
 nature, le depot de la volonte momentance du prince qui 
 
300 NOTES, COMMMENTAEIES, ETC. 
 
 execute, et non pas le depot des lois fondanientales. De 
 plus, le conseil du monarque change sans cesse ; il n'est 
 point permanent : il ne saurait etre nombreux ; il n'a point 
 a un assez haut deger la confiance du peuple : il n'est done 
 pas en etat de l r eclairer dans ies temps difficiles, ni de le 
 ramener a 1'obeissance." 
 
 The British legislation is in such a condition that it ought 
 to have " un corps (d'armee) qui fasse sans cesse sortir les 
 lois de la poussiere ou elles sont ensevelies" Two hundred and 
 thirty-four Acts of Parliament are now inaccurately called 
 obsolete, but no Act is obsolete until repealed, and any of 
 these two hundred and thirty-four statutes may be put in 
 force by any one choosing to take advantage of them. Seven 
 hundred and eighty statutes have expired, and three hundred 
 and seventy-six have been repealed, and supposed to have 
 been repealed by implication, but of these it is doubtful 
 whether one hundred and forty-two have been so repealed, 
 or are still in force. No lawyer, therefore, nor any judge 
 could tell at this moment whether these hundred and forty- 
 two statutes are or are not the law of the realm. 
 
 114. Knowledge of Judges and their privation of Property. 
 When Haller wrote na'ivement " that the judges must be 
 brought up in the knowledge of the laws, and in the research 
 of principles for every case" he did not probably think of 
 the equivocation of his words, which may be taken as irony 
 upon English practice of justice, based on examples existing 
 in a chaos of isolated acts and judgments, and not on a regu- 
 lar code of laws as we mentioned in a former note. 
 
 " The judge must not be settled in the county, wherein he 
 must likewise not possess any property ;" we must accord- 
 ingly presume, that if he judges in Middlesex, he has his 
 country seat in Surrey, and only possesses a leasehold 
 property, having too much respect for the above maxim as 
 to possess a freehold estate, which would also come too ex- 
 pensive, his income having only been more than doubled 
 from 1792 till 1848. 
 
 115. Prerogative of the King. 
 If we are not mistaken, the East India Company share 
 that prerogative with the king on some occasions. It would, 
 however lead us too far from our subject to investigate the 
 pro and con of that maxim. 
 
BOOK V. 301 
 
 116. Opening and Dissolving of Parliament by the King. 
 
 The day of the opening of that great convention is fixed 
 by the king, then postponed once, twice, and often three 
 times, till it really takes place with great solemnity and 
 splendour. The crowned head reads aloud a skilfully com- 
 posed harangue, the best quality of which is that it is not 
 composed by himself; but he presides, in fact, full ten 
 minutes over the powers of the realm, unless he prefers 
 fulfilling that solemnity by proxy. 
 
 On proroguing the Parliament, the formality is repeated, 
 bating the reading of a speech ; but on dissolving it much 
 less trouble is taken, as this is generally merely done by a 
 decree. 
 
 117. Degrees of Nobility in England. 
 
 In Note 110 we have already spoken of the necessity 
 of granting to the nobility the privileges of prolonging, by 
 hereditary right, the prerogatives obtained by their merit. 
 The British nobility possess five degrees, distinguished by 
 the titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. The 
 dignity of the duke is created by patent, cincture of the 
 sword, mantle of state, imposition of a cap and coronet of 
 gold, and a verge of gold placed in his hand. The sword is 
 to remind him that he is bound to defend the crown and his 
 kingdom in time of war ; the crown of gold is a counsellor 
 to the state and kingdom in time of peace ; and the verge of 
 gold is given to him as an emblem of his authority as a 
 legislator. He is styled " his grace," and his eldest son, 
 "lord marquis;" the younger sons only, "lord," and his 
 daughters, "lady." 
 
 The marquises and earls are created like the dukes, with 
 slight differences in their ornaments and garments. All 
 their sons are "lords" by the courtesy of England; and all 
 their daughters, " ladies." The eldest son of an earl bears 
 the title of " viscount," but the younger sons are but 
 " esquires." 
 
 Viscounts and barons are made by patents, and the lat- 
 ter sometimes by writ, when called to the House of Lords. 
 Their garments and crests differ somewhat from the former, 
 and their children are without titles. 
 
 The number of the lords temporal is indefinite, and may 
 be increased at the pleasure of the crown. The sixteen 
 peers chosen for Scotland hold their seats only during the 
 term of each Parliament ; and the twenty-eight peers of 
 Ireland are elected for life* 
 
302 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 The lords spiritual are the two archbishops and twenty - 
 four bishops of England, and four of Ireland. The right by 
 which the English bishops enjoy seats in the upper house 
 arises from holding, or being supposed to hold, certain 
 baronies under the crown. 
 
 Two peers are sufficient to constitute a House of Lords ; 
 but as forty are needed to form a House of Commons, 
 we perceive that here quality replaces quantity. This 
 may also account for their sessions being so very short in 
 comparison to those of the commons, in which we are so 
 often obliged to seek " der langen Rede kurzen Sin" 
 
 Our impartiality compels us to quote the following words 
 from Schomberg's " British Constitution :" — " It is but jus- 
 tice to this noble house to say, that for a long series of years, 
 it has exhibited a degree of liberality, justice, and patriotism, 
 which has never been equalled by any assembly that ever 
 existed. It has never refused to give up the privileges of 
 its members, wherever it has been shown that they stood in 
 the way of public justice. They have, by their own free 
 consent, so far reduced these privileges, that they have now 
 the enjoyment of no more than is necessary for the due 
 maintenance of the constitutional design of their house." 
 
 118. Ecclesiastical Power in the British Constitution. 
 As the bishops alone possessed in Alfred's time some of 
 the sciences, other and more weighty reasons have influenced 
 them to preserve the ecclesiastical power in the British 
 constitution; for, it will scarcely be denied that this great 
 institution, the church of England, is a part of it, and as 
 a national establishment it is a bulwark of no common 
 power. " It is worse than trifling to say that it is a creature 
 of the state, or a mere engine for carrying on the purposes 
 of government. It is as much a part of the constitution as 
 the House of Lords or Commons, or even the monarchy 
 itself. It has been said that the state could go on without 
 it : so it undoubtedly would — so it would, without the House 
 of Lords, or even the monarchy. It would go on, because 
 the course of society must proceed. But the question is — 
 how would it go on ? The constitution of England would 
 have lost an integral part of its subsistence. If it be 
 inquired, what part in the constitution it sustains ? — let it 
 be answered, the most beneficial, the most benevolent, the 
 most powerful. The legislative power acts for the general 
 welware, by the enactment of beneficial laws ; the judicial 
 power, by the just application of them ; the executive, by 
 
BOOK V. 303 
 
 duly and impartially enforcing them ; but the ecclesiastical 
 power, by informing the understanding, enlightening the con- 
 science, infusing the moral vigour of Christianity amongst 
 the mass of the citizens, and training them as candidates 
 for immortality. It is impossible to calculate the influence 
 of such an institution upon all ranks of society : it acts as 
 a consolidating principle: it binds together the different 
 parts of the body politic : it is, indeed, the citadel of the 
 constitution. If God be the originator, founder, and pre- 
 server of society, it is the altar that sanctifies the temple of 
 the social system : it strengthens the throne, nerves the arm 
 of the magistrate, supports the laws, and blesses the people. 
 It has been said that the church is allied to the state — an 
 expression too often used without reflection. It is allied to 
 the state in the same way that the monarchy is allied to 
 the state, or the House of Commons : it is one of the ele- 
 ments of the constitution : it has been argued, that her 
 churches and emoluments belong of right to the Romanists, 
 by whom they were built and endowed. With as much 
 truth might it be said, that the throne belongs to them, St. 
 Stephen's Chapel, and the House of Lords. All have passed 
 through their hands, and for each we have had equally to 
 contend. It has also been asked why the present church, to 
 the exclusion of all others, has been chosen to fill up this 
 part of our constitution ? It is answered — the present 
 church has not been chosen : it is the oldest institution of 
 the country : it existed before the monarchy, or the lords, 
 or commons, or the Popish church : it is nearly coeval with 
 Christianity itself. The church of England we may con- 
 sider as the true apostolical episcopacy, which has devolved 
 to us through successive generations, delivered, at the 
 Reformation, from the abuses imposed upon it during a long 
 season of darkness, and, in a great measure, restored to its 
 pristine excellence and beauty. The present ecclesiastical 
 establishment is, therefore, in its own proper place in the 
 constitution. It is not there by preference : it has usurped 
 no other church : it is not there by permission nor by com- 
 pulsion: it is its own witness — its own legitimatizer : it has 
 fulfilled and is now fulfilling the duties of its function in the 
 constitution, if not with all the efficiency which might be 
 expected from its resources, yet with admirable consistency 
 and advantage to the community. Its Liturgy is above all 
 human praise; and, its enemies being judges, is nearly a 
 perfect composition. But, whilst we hold that the church 
 of England is the national church by ancient prescription 
 
304 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 and right, yet, as adopted and authorized by the state as the 
 legal organ for the administration of religion, it may be 
 necessary, in a work of this kind, to lay down the argument 
 on which such authority is exercised by the state. The end 
 of government is to secure the existence of the body politic 
 — to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who comprise 
 it, with the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquillity, 
 their social rights and the blessings of conventional exist- 
 ence. This end government effects, first, directly — by pro- 
 viding for the appointment and compensation of public 
 officers in all departments, and for the making and adminis- 
 tering of such laws as bear immediately upon personal 
 security, liberty, and property; and, secondly, indirectly — 
 by conducting such operations and appointing such insti- 
 tutions as shall have a tendency to make men better citizens : 
 facilitate the enjoyment of their rights and property, extend 
 the means of intellectual acquirements, and secure their 
 social intercourse and happiness." 
 
 The above is quoted from Dr. Schoraberg's "British 
 Constitution;" but it would lead us too far to enter further 
 into the arguments of the reverend author for maintaining 
 that superior power. 
 
 Whether that superior power should be maintained at so 
 extraordinary an expense by the British nation, we will not 
 take upon ourselves to decide, but content ourselves with 
 some lines from a work by Benjamin Flower, on the French 
 constitution, in which the necessity of a reformation in the 
 church and state is explained : — 
 
 " The principle articles which we find in the constitution, 
 respecting the church, are those which relate to the property, 
 by which it has been hitherto supported, and to that pro- 
 perty by which it is to be supported in future. 
 
 " Property, destined to the expense of worship, and to all 
 services of public utility, belongs to the nation, and shall at 
 all times be at its disposal. The salaries of the ministers of 
 the Catholic religion, who are paid, preserved, elected, or 
 named in virtue of the decrees of the National Constituent 
 Assembly, form a part of the national debt. 
 
 "To those whose minds are not tainted with prejudice, 
 little need be said to prove the justice of the National 
 Assembly on this occasion. If the legislative power of any 
 country forms a church establishment, if the ministers of 
 that establishment are paid like other servants of the public, 
 it follows of course, that the same legislative power has the 
 absolute right to all the public property by which the church 
 
BOOK V. 305 
 
 is at any time maintained. As this has been disputed, and 
 as the assembly have been much reviled for thus declaring 
 all church property the property of the nation, it may not 
 be amiss if we inquire a little into the nature of ecclesi- 
 astical possessions ; which inquiry may, perhaps, enable us 
 properly to understand the subject. 
 
 " With regard to the property of the church of France, 
 or any other established church, it may be divided into two 
 classes: the first comprises that part which is immediately 
 paid by the public ; such as tithes, lands, or estates of any 
 kind, appropriated by the supreme power for the main- 
 tenance of the said establishment. As to all this species of 
 property, surely no one can dispute that the same power 
 which gave, has a right to resume it. The clergy in all 
 countries, have done, it is to be hoped, with the nonsense of 
 Jus Divinum, and that they are too wise to talk of inherent 
 right, or to claim any public property, without the express 
 and declared permission of the government they are under. 
 All property granted by the supreme power, for the support 
 of any public body of men, may be regulated, or resumed, 
 just as circumstances render eligible, and no one can with 
 justice complain. All religious establishments are supposed 
 to be formed and continued for the benefit of the people; 
 and that power which has a right to form them, has the 
 right in all respects to regulate them, so that they may best 
 answer the grand end proposed. 
 
 " The other species of property by which the church has 
 been supported is: gifts or grants from individuals, either 
 in their lifetime, or by bequest after their death. I shall 
 not here inquire (although it may be worth the inquiry) 
 how this property has been in different ages and countries 
 acquired. Everybody knoAvs what an admirable contri- 
 vance the religion of Rome has been for picking of pockets, 
 and for gulling people out of their estates, to the great loss 
 of their families and relatives. Had it not been for our 
 Statute of Mortmain, it was thought the clergy would have 
 shortly been in possession of the greater part of the landed 
 property in the kingdom. Whatever methods were made 
 use of to compel men to part with their substance, I will 
 venture to maintain that this species of property from the 
 moment it was acquired by the church, was public property 
 to all intents and purposes, and that it mingled with the 
 general mass appropriated to one and the same end." 
 
 Montesquieu acknowledges the benefit of the power of 
 religion in the constitution of the state, and principally in 
 
306 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 despotic states, in the following words : — " II y a pourtant 
 une chose que Ton peut quelquefois opposer a la volont£ 
 du prince : c'est la religion. On abandonnera son pere, on 
 le tuera meine si le prince l'ordonne mais on ne boira pas de 
 vin s'il le veut et s'U l'ordonne. Les lois de la religion sont 
 d'un precepte superieur, parce qu'elles sont donnes sur la 
 tete du prince comme sur celle des sujets. Mais, quant au 
 droit naturel, il n'en est pas de meme : le prince est suppose 
 n'etre plus un homme." 
 
 The same author also pretends that the laws of religion 
 correct the inconveniences of the political constitution. He 
 says : — " Ainsi lorsque l'etat est souvent agite par des guerres 
 civiles la religion fera beaucoup si elle etablit que quelques 
 parties de cet £tat restent toujours en paix;" this he proves 
 by examples of the customs of different countries ; of the 
 Greeks, Japanese, Arabian tribes, ancient Germans, &c. ; and 
 further proves that the laws of religion have had the effect 
 of civic laws, before these were established. He next proves 
 that the terrible laws and actions of the Spanish inquisition 
 had their useful side in moderating the power of the despot 
 of that country : — " Autant que le pouvoir du clerge est 
 dangereux dans une republique, autant est il convenable 
 dans une monarchic, surtout dans celles qui vont au des- 
 potisme. Ou en seraient l'Espagne et le Portugal depuis 
 la perte de leur lois, sans ce pouvoir qui arrete seul la 
 puissance arbitraire? Barriere toujours bonne lorqu'il n'y 
 en a point d' autre: car, comme le despotisme cause a la 
 nature humaine des maux effroyables, le mal meme qui le 
 limite est un bien." 
 
 119. Occupations of the Nobility. 
 It will, however, be found that the one does not prevent 
 the other, since hunting, steeple chases, and races, (which 
 probably did not all exist in Alfred's time,) form a pro- 
 minent part of the occupations of the nobles. These public 
 diversions have been preserved, and almost encouraged by 
 government, in the political point of view, of favouring the 
 rearing of horses, and movement of money on those days. 
 They probably have no idea of introducing the ancient tour- 
 naments, with the heavy-mailed knight, in place of the 
 races and far-famed light jockeys. They have also rather 
 overlooked the inconsequence of prohibiting lotteries, and 
 permitting sweeps, &c. of the abuses of which we have many 
 examples. The best side of the races is the fraternizing of 
 many members of the aristocracy with the lower standing 
 
BOOK V. 307 
 
 class in horse traffic, although produced by motives of inte- 
 rest. This amalgamation may be but momentary, but even 
 then it proves useful to society. 
 
 " Si le faste et la splendeur qui environnent les rois font 
 une partie de leur puissance, la modestie et la simplicite des 
 manieres font la force des nobles aristocratiques. Quand ils 
 n'affectent aucune distinction quand ils se confondent avec 
 le peuple, quand ils sont vetus comme lui, quand ils lui 
 font partager tous leurs plaisirs, il oublie sa faiblesse." — 
 Montesquieu. 
 These principles are followed a la lettre, 8fgT perrot-footmen, 
 
 120. Parliamentary Eloquence. 
 
 Eloquence has been practised in great perfection in modern 
 times, and principally in the British parliament ; and as the 
 memory of the great orators is engraved in every heart, it 
 would be quite superfluous to mention their names. The 
 agitated time of the French revolution of '89 has also pro- 
 duced a number of clever orators ; but the passionate cha- 
 racter of their speeches has contributed to a greater extent 
 to mislead the auditors, than to produce sound and reason- 
 able principles or results. But in the present century, some 
 orators of the French Chamber of Deputies have even sur- 
 passed those of the British parliament. In our opinion, 
 France possesses at present but one clever orator ; he con- 
 vinces by sound reasons and superior eloquence whenever he 
 wishes to do so ; and be it said to his glory, he has had the 
 courage, even in the present year, of being the first to defend 
 moderation, in a time when it was difficult to render the 
 voice of reason audible. 
 
 English orators prefer to convince by statistical argu- 
 ments, than by clear and sound grounds, and to delude the 
 auditors by a number of figures and returns, often erroneous. 
 Like the French ex-minister, whom we have alluded to above, 
 there is likewise one in England, represented on the right 
 side of our vignette, who also possesses these oratorial quali- 
 ties, and many more than the French ex-minister. He 
 speaks now very seldom ; but when he does, conviction 
 is the result of his discourse. He is now in a passive state, 
 but the power which he has preserved is even greater 
 than that of the active leaders of the rudder of the state. 
 
 As an example of a convincing harangue, we quote that 
 of Sir Francis Burdett, addressed to his electors in May 
 1837, which we think it our duty to give in its full extent. 
 
 11 1 always was a devoted supporter of the constitution of 
 England, from the deepest conviction that there never was 
 
308 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 a system of government so admirably balanced as it is — so 
 excellently tempered in every part — so harmoniously com- 
 bining the advantages of every species of government. Many 
 systems of government, it is true, have some particular fea- 
 ture to recommend them; but none of them have that coun- 
 terbalancing power peculiar to our happy constitution : they 
 all have some drawback which renders them inferior to our 
 system of government. Our forefathers, in their prudence, 
 courage, and good sense, erected for us a political fabric of 
 that high degree of perfection which has been considered by 
 the most learned of our philosophers* and statesmen as being 
 the perfection of human policy, but which they considered 
 so difficult of attainment as to be looked upon more as an 
 agreeable dream than of national practicability ; and which, 
 if indeed attainable, could be of no duration. Now, in this 
 great country, not only has such a system of government 
 been carried out, but it has existed among us for six hun- 
 dred years. I admit that we had, as our forefathers had, 
 grievances which had grown up, and which required a 
 remedy : we had the grievance of an imperfect represen- 
 tation in the House of Commons — boroughs were in the 
 gift of individuals who trafficked in them : the remedy for 
 this was a great but still a definite object. It did not involve 
 anything by which all the great and glorious institutions of 
 this country were to be subverted ; but had in view a posi- 
 tive good, and that good within the limits of the constitution, 
 which, indeed, it had in view to preserve and hand down, in 
 all its excellence, and with all its blessings, to posterity, and 
 (as I could wish) to all eternity. I was for that reform. 
 We have attained this great end, and yet there are those who 
 are still crying out for further reform. Their language is 
 still ' Reform, reform, reform ! ' What, have we had no 
 reform? Was the measure of which I speak no reform ? It 
 appears to me that every reasonable man would say, ' Let 
 us, at least, have a little respite after this — let us, after the 
 excitement produced in the course of a protracted struggle 
 for reform, have a little breathing time, and have the pru- 
 dence to see how it may be practically applied to the reme- 
 dying of the abuses, for the correction of which it was 
 introduced.' In explanation of my feelings on this ground, 
 it is quite unnecessary for me to state that I am for the 
 monarchical form of government, in preference to the rule 
 of an elective council, or the control of a chief magistrate. 
 The wisest of men have left it to us as the result of their 
 experience, and the history of elective government confirms- 
 * And also by those of other countries. 
 
BOOK V. 309 
 
 it, that it is better for the public tranquillity and the en- 
 during peace of the state, that the highest office of the 
 country should not be the object of periodical contention. 
 You hear people frequently talk of the liberty of the United 
 States of America; but I say that the people of that country 
 do not possess anything like that freedom and independence 
 of mind, that toleration and freedom of action, which we 
 enjoy in this country. For here there is no man, however 
 humble he may be, who may not perform any political act 
 not prescribed by the law as prejudicial to his fellow man. 
 As an example of the excellence of our institutions, and the 
 state of civilization in this country, I would direct your at- 
 tention to the gentleman who has come forward as the hero 
 of the radical party, so called, and the advocate of the 
 objects which they have in view, and which they have the 
 effrontery to avow as well, whose co-operation ministers have 
 received with compliance, and, I might add, with thankful- 
 ness. I do not know whether that gentleman's father was 
 the great coach-master ; but if he was, he could not have a 
 better-hearted man for a father. (An elector observed that 
 the person alluded to was Mr. Leader's grandfather.) His 
 grandfather ! I have no doubt that the grandson is perfectly 
 well educated, and fit for any station ; indeed he has already 
 filled the highest station to which an Englishman can aspire 
 — that of a representative of the people ; and the career of a 
 laudable ambition is as open to him as the proudest noble of 
 the country. This is the advantage of being an Englishman, 
 and living under our much-calumniated system of govern- 
 ment ; and yet this advantage is what could not happen in 
 any other country ; but I am proud to say that instances of 
 this nature happen every day in this free country. One of 
 the greatest men now in England, the leading man in the 
 House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel, is another example of 
 what can be effected by great talents, united with activity 
 and perseverance ; and, when people talk of the aristocracy 
 monopolizing all the honours of the country, it is so much 
 stuff and nonsence. When, I ask, did the English aris- 
 tocracy evince fastidiousness, or disdain — or, indeed, when 
 have they refused to associate themselves familiarly with 
 talented and deserving men of humble descent upon such 
 occasions ? There is nothing mischievous in the privileges of 
 the aristocracy: if they have privileges, they were instituted 
 for the benefit of the people at large, and they are necessary 
 to, and congenial with, an enlightened, a free, and liberal 
 government. I therefore maintain that the House of Lords, 
 
310 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 and their independence and privileges, should be as dear to 
 every friend of England, as are freedom of action and im- 
 punity in the expression of opinion in the House of Com- 
 mons ; and, for my part, I cannot conceive a system of 
 tyranny more terrible than that which will ensue, if the 
 House of Commons had the power and the will to subvert 
 the privileges of the House of Lords. 
 
 " It has also of late been much the fashion to asperse 
 another venerable institution — that of the national Church 
 of England. Now, I do not believe that so wise, so good, 
 and so liberal a system of religious government, and so free 
 in its results, exists on the face of the earth ; nor is there 
 another set of men in the aggregate — for here and there, as 
 in every other community, bad members will be found — 
 equally numerous, pious, learned, moral, kind, and benevo- 
 lent as the clergy of this country. It is a blessing to the 
 country that so many members of that sacred order are 
 devoted to a country life ; for they impart a blessing to the 
 land — not interfering with any, but assisting the poor with 
 the aids of charity and religious consolation, and delighting 
 the rich by refined companionship and good instruction. I 
 do not know a greater blessing in the country than that 
 derived from the system of the Church of England. Many 
 persons cast an envious eye on the wealth of the church. 
 The church does not appear to me to be over-wealthy ; but 
 I look upon the wealth of the clergy as a fund belonging to 
 the poorest peasant in England, if he manifest a peculiar 
 talent for learning, a disposition for liberal acquirements, 
 and an intellect beyond the common run, might derive the 
 best education. This is another advantage attributable to 
 the pious liberality of our forefathers. I could cite many 
 instances in illustration of this fact, showing how children of 
 the humblest origin have, by good conduct and attainments, 
 raised themselves to the highest stations, after having been 
 educated out of the wealthy endowments of the established 
 church. I should like to know how much better the people 
 would be if the wealth of the church were administered by 
 any other body? A great deal has been said about the 
 self-interestedness of the clergy. But surely they must, as 
 well as other men, take care of their families. They do not 
 put up for that exuberancy of virtue which the Roman 
 Catholic priests profess ; but they spend a great part of 
 their income in hospitality and charity — advancing the pro- 
 gress of science, and encouraging the progress of literature, 
 in several ways. There may be abuses in the church, but 
 
BOOK IV. 311 
 
 whatever the abuses are they do not harm the people. If 
 the people think that a clergyman can live upon £200 a 
 year, reading prayers every Sunday, visiting amongst the 
 poor, and dwelling in a cottage, they are much mistaken. 
 A clergyman is obliged to fill a certain station, which he 
 never could sustain out of that scanty income. I do not see 
 any good that can result out of so-called church reforma- 
 tion. I do not see what good it has done in Ireland. I am 
 nothing — Mr. Leader is nothing — we are as but straws ; but 
 if the principle which I struggle for should be victorious, 
 you will have achieved a great triumph for the English 
 constitution, and the glorious institutions of the country." 
 
 Some of the orator's remarks can only be applied to his 
 own time, but others to ours also. 
 
 121. Vide Notes 92 and 93. 
 
 122. Members of Society are not all alike. 
 Every man in society abdicates the right of being his own 
 governor ; he abandons even the right of self-defence, the 
 first law of nature, to the leader or king whom he has 
 selected. It matters not whether it be a temporary general, 
 or an hereditary king, to whom he gives up the state of 
 equality wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, 
 and none have a greater share than another; but like at 
 Rome or at Sparta, the power given to the general ceases 
 after the campaign is over. 
 
 123. General Happiness. 
 
 The maxim of all men having the same right to happiness, 
 founded on the law of nature, has produced great evils from 
 its false application by the socialists ; for the idle cannot 
 pretend to the same share of happiness as the industrious ; 
 and when Locke said, that " Creatures of the same specie and 
 rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, 
 and the use of the same faculties, should also be equal one 
 amongst another, without subordination or subjection;" he at 
 the same time made it evident that this quality of men by 
 nature forms the foundation of their obligation to mutual 
 love, and the duties that they owe one another, from whence 
 is derived the great maxims of justice and charity. This is 
 more clearly expressed by Hooker in the following words : — 
 
 " The like natural inducement hath brought men to know 
 that it is no less their duty to love others than themselves, 
 for seeing those things which are equal, must needs all have 
 
312 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 one measure ; if I cannot but wish to receive good, even as 
 much at every man's hands, as any man can wish unto his 
 own soul, how should I look to have any part of my desire 
 herein satisfied, unless myself be careful to satisfy the like 
 desire, which is undoubtedly in other men. We all being 
 of one and the same nature ; to have anything offered them 
 repugnant to this desire, must needs, in all respects, grieve 
 them as much as me, so that if I do harm, I must look to 
 suffer, there being no reason that others should show greater 
 measure of love to me, than they have by me showed unto 
 them ; my desire therefore to be loved of my equals in 
 nature, as much as possible may be, imposeth upon me a 
 natural duty of bearing to themward fully the like affec- 
 tion ; from which relation of equality between ourselves and 
 them, that are as ourselves, what several rules and canons, 
 natural reason hath drawn for direction of life, no man is 
 ignorant." — Eccl. Pol. lib. i. 
 
 " A state must be formed to make as many as possible 
 happy." This is rather difficult; and mostly so in exten- 
 sive realms. The example that we have given of the little 
 republic of Hamburg cannot be easily imitated in great 
 monarchies, for nature seems very steril in producing men 
 capable of preserving such general happiness; but the 
 question is, what do we really understand by happiness ? Is 
 it the possession of large estates, considerable stocks, vain 
 pleasures, &c. ; or, the acquirement of the necessities of life 
 by constant labour and exertion, and fulfilment of our duty ? 
 In our opinion, those who bear the latter fate are as happy 
 and more so than the former, whom they fatten by the 
 sweat of their brow, and who from their spleen are generally 
 the most unhappy of the two. In this point of view, Eng- 
 land surpasses every other country in the world, for no- 
 where else is there a population so laborious, and who fulfil 
 their duty to their families and the state to such a degree. 
 And if education could reduce the number of idlers and 
 criminals, and their expenses were brought to a level with 
 their income by an improved national economy, England 
 would in reality be the happiest country in the world. 
 
 124. Does a Monarch enjoy perfect Happiness ? 
 We cannot understand why Haller, as a philosopher, 
 could commit such an error as to think for one moment that 
 a monarch can enjoy perfect happiness. This he can only 
 after he has returned to private life, and even then we 
 cannot believe that he can be compared to a sage who has 
 
BOOK V. 313 
 
 renounced all terrestrial enjoyments. No man enjoys per- 
 fect happiness, and least of all a monarch ; and we doubt 
 whether, with all his virtues, even Alfred enjoyed it; for 
 in doing good our ardent desire of doing more than is within 
 our power is continually aroused; certainly it does not appear 
 to be the destination of man to enjoy perfect happiness. 
 
 124a. Dignities of the State conferred on Children. 
 We have, in a former note, defended the rights of the 
 aristocracy, and of their privileges by birth ; but never 
 would we go so far as to defend the ridicule and flattery of 
 appointing a child the governor of a province, or an admiral. 
 In a German country, which was not so fortunate as to 
 possess a constitution until 1848, every prince began his 
 military career as a common soldier, and only acquired 
 higher grades by advancement. 
 
 125. Men are not all alike. 
 The truth of this thesis has been sufficiently proved by 
 philosophers of all times, and it was a folly of the present 
 epoch that a class of men pretended the contrary. As the 
 qualities and capacities of all men are not alike, we cannot 
 allot them all the same advantages. Men found in wilder- 
 nesses, even under our climate, were not intellectual enough 
 to understand not only human sounds, but even signs, being 
 as shy as they were ferocious. Can we pretend that such 
 beings are equal to civilized men ?* 
 
 126. Bomhastical Eloquence. 
 In Note 120, we have acknowledged the advantages of 
 eloquence; but the eloquence of statesmen, based on prin- 
 ciples and realities, cannot be compared to that which 
 merely contains pomp of words, beautiful sentences, com- 
 posed of poetical fiction, and Machiavelian thesis, as were 
 distributed in 1848 by the president of a republic, whose 
 political career was but of short duration. 
 
 127. Men rising from common occupations to high digraties. 
 We perceive here that our Swiss author belongs to the 
 aristocracy, and that this was written before the French 
 revolution of '89. Modern times have proved the contrary; 
 and, not to cite many examples, we will only mention Joseph 
 Hume, who was "not prepared by education for politics," 
 
 • Proved by the savage who was found in the forest of Hanover, and 
 brought to England during the reign of George I. 
 P 
 
314 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 but has " acquired experience from practice," and is a very 
 useful defender of the people's liberties, notwithstanding his 
 unsuccessful efforts and rhetorical blunders. 
 
 127a. 
 The word "Daeia" has here been incorrectly spelt "Datia." 
 We beg the reader will excuse, if in a few instances, such 
 words have escaped the attention of the reviser. 
 
 128. Despotism of the People the worst Tyranny. 
 In democracies the people are, according to Montesquieu, 
 k 'A certain egard le monarque a certain autre le sujet;" but if 
 the people forget that both essential qualities must at all 
 times be amalgamated, and will play the sovereign, they are 
 the worst despots that can be imagined ; for their unbounded 
 will, as has been proved by recent events, produces even 
 more evil than that of the worst Koman emperors, not 
 excluding Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Otho, Vitellius, Corn- 
 modus, Heliogabalus, and Caracalla. 
 
 129. " Those are real Tyrants who consider their will as the 
 only existing Law" 
 Tyranny has been practised by despots, in republics, where 
 the aristocracy prevailed, and in democracies, where the 
 people overcame every power. But there is another tyranny 
 which we consider no better, but rather worse than these, 
 and that is the tyranny over public opinion, which in former 
 times was practised by the clergy, and principally by the 
 Jesuits, and in modern times by public papers. The power 
 of the press is really greater than any other ; and although 
 it may be checked by newspapers of other tendencies and 
 opinions, government possesses too many means of influencing 
 one or two of the leading papers, thereby obliging the public 
 to share their opinion almost reluctantly. 
 
 There is one such a paper — the only one in the world — 
 which possesses greater power than either the British govern- 
 ment, the upper or lower house, or any monarch, republic, 
 or even standing army on the globe. Impartiality calls upon 
 us to acknowledge that the independence of that paper, and 
 its immense power, are in most instances employed to defend 
 right, attack injustice, and censure the slightest grievance 
 that may threaten society; but truth at the same time forces 
 us to state that it too often abuses its power, and employs 
 it to overwhelm every opinion contrary to its own design. 
 If we look upon it as a government paper only, its course 
 
BOOK Y. 315 
 
 may be accounted for; but as it takes the appearance of 
 standing above the government, and having only the general 
 welfare in view, it is the more to be blamed, as its influence 
 is greater ; for it is below its dignity to deafen the ears of 
 the public to truth, and to weaken the sounds of good reason 
 by sarcasm and personality, which it is not their place to be 
 in. If any individual be so unfortunate as to have offended 
 that power which creeps in the dark, and can only be recog- 
 nized by the flashes which it darts against its opponents, it 
 revenges itself most cruelly, and does not cease until it has 
 brought him so low, that he can never more rise. It is 
 that which we call " Tyranny of the Press," and the more 
 so since not only governmental but personal influence can 
 operate upon this power, which " vend son sceptre au poids" 
 What good could such a powerful institution not produce, 
 if, instead of its Machiavelian principles, it only listened to 
 those of real patriotism, right, and humanity ? 
 
 130. The King and the People. 
 The sense of the words in italics is but too often forgotten 
 or disregarded by the courtiers and public officers. Every one 
 of them should have them engraved on a plate on his breast, 
 or his arm. In the words " Dieu et mon droit,'''' the comma is 
 omitted. No man can object to a monarch using this device, 
 as implying to adore God and defend his right ; but they 
 should not be united, because the monarch has obtained his 
 right from the nation. 
 
 131. Ultra-conservatives. 
 
 132. "Every Countryman should work for himself." 
 It is eighty years since those words were written by our 
 German author. What would the condition of Ireland now 
 be had they been appreciated by the Irish landlords and the 
 legislators of Great Britain ? There is nothing new in them, 
 and the thesis or principle is universally known, and was 
 probably originally written more for Germany than for 
 England. The estate holders in Germany and other coun- 
 tries have since become enlightened enough to give up a 
 part of their privileges, and increase their incomes by 
 dividing their property. The same was done in France, and 
 it is to be regretted that, from the blindness of the Irish, who 
 have obstinately resisted every kind of amelioration, and 
 lowered their country to such a degree, the number of crimi- 
 nals is altogether disproportionate to that of the inhabitants. 
 p 2 
 
316 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 133. Law of Primogeniture. 
 Haller is here more liberal in his views than Montesquieu, 
 who says that — " Les lois doivent ote entre les nobles, afin 
 que, par le partage continuel de succession, les fortunes se 
 remettent toujours dans l'egaliteV But this he only applies 
 to the aristocracy of a republic like Venice, &c. But 
 of monarchical governments, he says : — " On peut permettre 
 de laisser la plus grande partie de ses biens a un seul de ses 
 enfans : cette permission n'est meme bonne que la." We 
 will not take upon ourselves to decide this question, — "dans 
 une nation ou la republique se cache sous la forme d'une 
 monarchic" 
 
 134. Vide Note 114. 
 
 135. Leagues may be considered as little States in the 
 Realm. 
 This occurred in Alfred's time, and the physical powers 
 of cities and boroughs were employed to attain that purpose. 
 The same still exists, excepting that other means are 
 applied, and principally that of influencing the public 
 opinion ; for, cotton leagues, shipping leagues, agricultural 
 leagues, chartist, and other leagues form themselves now as 
 then, and combat for their private interests, under pretence 
 of the general welfare. 
 
 136. Reformation should be pursued by degrees. 
 All men who have moderated their opinion by study and 
 experience will think, like Alfred, that "most evils should 
 not be removed by a strong remedy;" and that "only a long 
 series of mild measures are necessary to improve the 
 state, without putting it in inevitable danger." But the 
 high officers of government do not, for the most part, remain 
 long enough in their functions to execute these gradual 
 improvements ; even the British minister, whom we alluded to 
 in Note 120, had a too short political existence for his efforts 
 to be justly appreciated ; his successors do not appear to 
 possess sufficient energy, but totter in the execution of their 
 plans, (if they have any,) and notwithstanding their wishes 
 of doing all parties justice, often do too much, and often too 
 little. 
 
 137. French Deputies under the last Government. 
 We need hardly observe in what manner a portion of the 
 French deputies were mis-used under the last French 
 
BOOK V. 317 
 
 monarchy, and were made tools of oppression, instead of 
 being intercessors for the people. 
 
 138. Fertile Lands changed into Deserts. 
 It would be doubting the reader's capacities to cite 
 examples of this. 
 
 139. Alfred's Registration of Acres. 
 We must here excuse an error which occurred in the 
 fourth line, page 132, herds having been written for hides. 
 This measure of ground is calculated by Spelman as one 
 hundred acres, and by Littleton otherwise. According to 
 the former, the space is so great, that it could not be ploughed 
 in less than one year. According to the latter, it was a space 
 of land that produced enough to nourish a noble family with 
 their attendants. 
 
 140. Population of Alfred's Dominions. 
 The figure of six thousand souls, which Haller mentions as 
 having lived in England in Alfred's time, seems rather small, 
 and may be subjected to correction, even if we admit Al- 
 fred's realm to have then been only composed of the counties 
 known under the appellation of Wessex. 
 
 141. Origin of Annual Parliamentary Sessions. 
 This appears to have been the origin of the annual 
 sessions of parliament in the autumn ; but the custom has 
 since been for preparatory business alone to be done in par- 
 liament at such epochs, unless the sittings were, as they now 
 are, postponed to the month of January. 
 
 142. Voluntary Gifts and Taxes. 
 
 Voluntary gifts to the crown have taken place both in an- 
 ient and modern times. All good-hearted people are ready 
 to make, at any moment, a sacrifice, when they behold the 
 country in danger. We find examples of this as far back as 
 the time of the Carthaginians : — 
 
 " In the third Punian war, the Romans claimed all the 
 ships that the Carthaginians had built since the last peace, 
 under pretence of an armament destined for a breach of 
 peace. They gave them up, and saw them burnt before their 
 own eyes. The Romans then ordered them to quit the coast, 
 and to build a new town in the interior of the country, and 
 far from the sea. 
 
 " The Carthaginians upon receiving this information were 
 
318 NOTES, COMMENT ARIES, ETC. 
 
 struck with terror; but, rather than accede to this, they 
 unanimously declared themselves for war, with the exception 
 of one of the Suffetians, who was stoned to death. They 
 then resolved to bring all wooden moveables, even furniture 
 and huts, to the docks, to build a new fleet. All the gold 
 and silver, the metal of the grandees, the sepulchral orna- 
 ments of magistrates and heroes, the sacred vessels, the 
 treasures of the temples, the ploughs, scythes, and all spare- 
 able implements were melted and cast into weapons. The 
 whole feminine sex cut off their hair to twist into cords and 
 ropes. All the inhabitants, without regard to rank, age, or 
 sex, contributed every thing in their power to defend their 
 old city." — The Ship : its Origin and Progress. 
 
 Many instances of similar generosity in modern times, 
 and even the latest epochs, might be cited from the English 
 and other nations, and especially in Prussia in 1813, to free 
 Germany from the French yoke ; and in Paris after the revo- 
 lution of 1 848. It is lamentable that these voluntary gifts are 
 often mis-used ; but such is the lot of all gifts and contribu- 
 tions, whether voluntary or enforced. When society shall 
 have attained such perfection that the amount of all revenues 
 may be considered as well employed, we may indeed pre- 
 tend to have reached the pinnacle of civilization. At present 
 the budget presents heavy figures, unbalanced by light argu- 
 ments, and against which all objections are regarded as 
 chicanery of the opposition ; the questions addressed to the 
 leaders of the state, concerning these expenses, are but 
 vaguely argued. The Chinese, sauvent mieux les apparences, 
 and if taxes are there most strictly enforced, in the four- 
 teenth maxim of the Emperor Kang-he, (in which he recom- 
 mends to his subjects " to complete the payment of the taxes, 
 in order to prevent frequent urgency ;") he gives explanatory 
 reasons of the destination of the taxes, namely : " for the 
 expenses of the salaries of the mandarins, that they may rule 
 our people ; to pay the army, that they may protect our peo- 
 ple ; of preparing for years of scarcity, that our people may 
 be fed ; as these are all collected from the empire, so they 
 are all employed for its use. How then can it be supposed 
 that the granaries and treasury of the sovereign are intended 
 to injure the people that he may nourish himself? Since our 
 dynasty established the tripod until now, the proportions of 
 the revenue have been fixed by an universally approved 
 statute ; and all the other unjust items have been completely 
 cancelled : a thread or a hair too much is not demanded 
 from the people." 
 
BOOK V. 319 
 
 We will not take trop a la lettre this last promise ; but still 
 find it very condescending of a Chinese despot to express 
 himself in such terms. Our European governors do not 
 trouble themselves so far, but leave us blindly to believe 
 that the revenue of all taxes are well employed. A rule of 
 Montesquieu on taxes, "qu'on peut lever les tribus plus 
 forts a proportion de la liberte du sujet," is exactly followed 
 in England ; and as freedom is very dear to every English 
 heart, we do not mind it so much if it costs a little dear. 
 This spirited author afterwards confirms that maxim as 
 follows : — " II y a dans les etats moderes un dedomagement 
 pour la pesanteure des tribus : c'est la liberte. II y a dans 
 les etats despotiques un equivalent pour la liberte : c'est la 
 modicite des tribus."* 
 
 143. Assent to the Annual Budget. 
 We refer the reader to the preceding note, having only to 
 add, that besides some few exceptions of the opposition, the 
 remainder nicken mit dem Kopfe und sagen "„/«." 
 
 Legion of Officers for collecting Taxes. 
 
 Haller speaks here of indirect duties and their faults, the 
 opinions on which are divided everywhere. Most of the 
 inhabitants of all countries are inclined towards the philan- 
 thropical system, and believe it would be better for every 
 one to bear a heavy but direct burthen ; for if all hands take 
 up the weight at once, although one may receive a greater 
 and another a lesser share, and the whole weight is the same, 
 yet each thinks the burthen lighter. 
 
 In England the partizans of each opinion are directly 
 opposed by free trade and protectionists. We, the author, 
 incline neither to the one nor the other side ; we hate, in- 
 deed, the degrading vexations of the customs' officers in all 
 countries, and really think that their power ought to be con- 
 siderably checked, and the duties for the most part lessened, 
 or even abolished, yet our love for truth and impartiality 
 forbids us to admit the following maxims of Montesquieu, 
 which require the greatest attention, and form a considerable 
 weight in the scale on the side of the opponents of free 
 trade : — " L'impot par tete est plus nature! a la servitude ; 
 l'impot sur la marchandise est plus naturel a la liberte, 
 parce qu'il se rapporte d'une maniere moin directe a la 
 personne." He further says, that in despotic governments 
 
 * In Russia the taxes were very moderate, but they have been increased 
 since the despotism has been somewhat moderated. 
 
320 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 the prince grants lands to his military and his officers, 
 because he imposes but light taxes. We will pass over this 
 portion, and come to his other remark, which seems to us 
 of the greatest import. " Le tribut naturel au gouverne- 
 ment modere est l'impot sur les marchandises. Cet impot 
 etant reellement pay6 par l'acheteur, quoique le marchand 
 l'avance est un pret que le marchand a deja fait a l'acheteur: 
 ainsi il faut regarder le negociant et comme le debiteur 
 general de l'etat, et comme le creancier de tous les par- 
 ticuliers. II avance a l'etat le droit que l'acheteur lui 
 payera quelque jour; et il a paye, pour l'acheteur, le droit 
 qu'il a paye pour la marchandise. On sent done que plus 
 le gouvernement est modere\ que plus l'esprit de liberte 
 regne, que plus les fortunes ont de surety, plus il est facile 
 au marchand d'avancera l'etat, et de preter au particulier 
 des droits considerables. En Angleterre, un marchand prete 
 reellement a l'etat cinquante ou soixante livres sterling a 
 chaque tonneau de vin qu' il recoit. Quel est le marchand 
 qui oserait faire une chose de cette espece dans un pays 
 gouverne" comme la Turquie ? et, quand il l'oserait faire, 
 comment le pourrait il, avec une fortune suspecte, incer- 
 taine, ruinee ? " 
 
 We cannot deny that the above maxim, although written 
 a hundred years ago, contains much truth ; but the question 
 is, whether it be really applicable to our time ? We observe 
 that it is a forced and very expensive loan from merchants 
 to government, all kinds of loans bear something pernicious 
 with them, but this, we think, more than any, from the 
 present manner of levying the duties, from the expense of 
 a " legion of officers," and from the small degree of bonne 
 foi trusted to the payers of these taxes. 
 
 When Montesquieu wrote these lines, he was probably 
 far from supposing that towns would be connected, and 
 the vast distances reduced, by means of railways and steam 
 navigation, and thus many obstacles to the human enjoy- 
 ment of the produce of the globe are removed. Whether 
 such obstacles are favourable to trade in general or not, is a 
 question already decided by economists and men of expe- 
 rience; and if the old school pretends that commerce is 
 favoured by secrecy and obstacles, (as fishing in troubled 
 water,) and that Mercury, its patron, protects it as being 
 placed between bonne foi and fraud ; we have now a better 
 opinion of it, and have experienced that publicity and the 
 removal of obstacles do not injure trade so much as con- 
 servatives fear. Many objections have been made to the 
 
BOOK V. 321 
 
 cheapness which free trade and abundance produces, and a 
 political one, lately suggested by a talented writer, that " in 
 a heavily taxed country a general rise in price must be a 
 public benefit, and a fall in price a public calamity," requires 
 also some attention : " The value of the annual produce of 
 the United Kingdom, including everything raised or manu- 
 factured by our twenty-nine millions of people, has been 
 recently estimated to amount to about £448,000,000. 
 Assuming our revenue, with all the costs of collection, to 
 be £56,000,000 — and a lower sum cannot suffice for the 
 necessities of the country — then one-eighth of the whole 
 national produce is swept into the imperial exchequer. 
 But, suppose such a general rise of prices to take place, 
 as that the national produce, instead of being worth 
 £448,000,000 in money value, became worth double that 
 sum ; then, as the charge of taxation remained fixed, 
 only one sixteenth part of the produce raised by our 
 toiling millions would go into the exchequer, instead of 
 one-eighth. On the other hand, suppose that, by a general 
 fall of prices, the whole annual produce of the country 
 only realized £224,000,000 in money value, then the 
 the £56,000,000 of taxation would be equal to one- 
 fourth of it. Thus, the per centage charge of taxation 
 becomes heavier as prices decline, and lighter as prices 
 advance." 
 
 Most of the French papers also pretend, that it is a 
 sound policy to raise legislatively the prices of all things by 
 the operations of the tariffs ; but tariffs only raise the prices 
 of things because they diminish the quantity offered in the 
 market; and ought abundance, indeed, to be dreaded and 
 scarcely to be desired? We shall try to trace this illusion to 
 its source. " It is seen that a man becomes rich in propor- 
 tion as he draws a greater profit from his work, that is to 
 say, according as he sells at a higher price. He sells at a 
 higher price, in proportion to the rarity or scarcity of the 
 kind of product which is the object of his industry. Hence 
 it is concluded that, with regard to him at least, scarcity 
 enriches him. Applying successively that reasoning to all 
 manufacturers and producers, the theory of scarcity is 
 deduced. Hence we pass to the application; and, in order 
 to favour all classes of producers, dearness is artificially 
 excited, the scarcity of everything is brought about by pro- 
 hibition, restriction, the abolition of machines, and other 
 analogous means. The same reason may be pursued in the 
 case of abundance. It is observed, that when any particular 
 p3 
 
322 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 produce abounds, it is sold at a low price, then the producer 
 gains less. If all producers are in the same situation, they 
 are all miserable ; it is their abundance which ruins society. 
 And as all conviction seems to be embodied in fact, it is 
 seen that in most countries the laws of men are opposed to 
 the abundance of things. This sophism, if clothed in a 
 general form, would, perhaps, make little impression ; but 
 applied to a particular order of facts, to such or such 
 branch of industry, to any given class of producers, it is 
 extremely specious, which may be thus explained. It is a 
 syllogism, not false, but incomplete. But whatever there 
 may be which is true in a syllogism, is always and necessarily 
 present to the mind. On the other hand, incompleteness is 
 a negative quality, an absent datum, which it is very possible, 
 and even very easy, to hold of no account. Man produces 
 in order to consume. He is at the same time a producer 
 and a consumer. The reasoning which I have just esta- 
 blished considers him only under the first of these points of 
 view. Under the second, we should have arrived at an 
 opposite conclusion. Might it not in truth be said, — the 
 consumer is inasmuch more rich, as he buys all things 
 cheaper; he buys things cheaper in proportion to their abun- 
 dance; their abundance enriches him; and this reasoning, 
 extended to all consumers, would conduct to the theory of 
 abundance. It is the imperfectly comprehended notion of 
 exchange which produces these illusions. If we consult our 
 personal interest, we distinctly recognise that it is two-fold. 
 As sellers, we are interested in the dearness of the article, 
 and by consequence in its rarity; as buyers, in a cheap 
 market, or, what is the same, in the abundance of things." 
 
 We have extracted the last paragraph from the articles 
 on scarcity and abundance, in Mr. Potter's clever trans- 
 lation of M. Bastiat's " Sophismes Economiques ; " and we 
 regret that our space does not allow us to give more of that 
 article. We will therefore merely add Mr. Potter's note on 
 the same : — " The error into which the author has here 
 allowed himself to fall, is beginning to be understood in 
 England, where large profits are made by means of low 
 prices. It is found that greater gains are made by catering 
 for the million, than by providing for the demands of the 
 affluent. Weekly journals, which if sold at prices until 
 lately general, would certainly not pay their expenses, are 
 made to yield handsome incomes to all connected with them, 
 when sold at prices that bring them within the reach of the 
 many. For the extensive application of this discovery, which 
 
book v. 323 
 
 is not now confined to matters of literature, but is fast 
 being extended to a great variety of objects, in a way that 
 adds most importantly to the comfort and enjoyment of the 
 labouring classes, we are under much obligation to the 
 Messrs. Chambers, of Edinburgh, and to the able and inge- 
 nious publisher of the ' Penny Magazine.' " 
 
 Mr. Potter further says, in his note : — " We cannot sim- 
 plify and cheapen any article of use or consumption without 
 adding to the sum of human enjoyment. Even in the case, 
 if any such case can be found, of articles, the use of which 
 cannot be increased by making them cheaper, the consumer 
 will, when they shall be cheaper, have greater means left at 
 his disposal for procuring other objects of desire, while the 
 capital of the producer will be in part set free, and will be 
 employed for the preparation of the increased quantities of 
 objects so demanded."* 
 
 144. Right of levying Taxes vested in the House of 
 Commons. 
 
 According to this principle the House of Commons pos- 
 sesses entirely the means of granting supplies for the public 
 service ; and from this important privilege a truly gigantic 
 power is intrusted to them (on which, indeed, hangs the 
 great balance of the constitution,) — the sole right of levying 
 taxes, and supplying subsidies to the executive. 
 
 It is known that every bill, whether private or public, 
 which has for its object the raising of money, must originate 
 in the House of Commons ; and whatever bills of this nature 
 are sent up to the House of Lords, the Lords are only 
 allowed simply to reject or to pass them. 
 
 This power has come to be invested in the Commons, not 
 from abstract theory, or by the abgregation of reason, a 
 priori ; for it is very difficult, indeed, to show its consistency 
 with the general principles of the law of nature, or with the 
 deductions of reason; but it has intermixed with the consti- 
 tution in the course of its experimental working. It cannot 
 arise from the circumstance, that the money is voted by 
 the Commons independent of the Lords ; for the taxes are 
 supplied from the whole property of the kingdom. The 
 Commons do not furnish the supplies, and have no power 
 whatever to collect them : this rests with the executive ; 
 but it has been found expedient, in the practice of govern- 
 ment, that the power of measuring the expenses of the 
 
 • We beg the reader will decide whether it is better to have cheap or dear 
 productions, as we are not convinced by either of the arguments. 
 
324 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 state, and voting the amount proper for sustaining the 
 different branches of public management, should rest in one 
 assembly, in order that no dissension may arise on a subject 
 which might clog the wheels of government by delay. No 
 question can arise with the Sovereign or Lords as to the 
 supply being too much or too little ; the vote of the House 
 of Commons at once decides the amount; and thus the 
 money transactions of the state proceed with regularity and 
 despatch. This high trust has been confided to the House 
 of Commons undoubtedly for the benefit of the whole 
 nation, and not for the purpose of being converted into an 
 engine of destruction to the other branches of government. 
 In confiding this trust, the constitution has not left it with 
 them to decide as to whether there shall or shall not be a 
 supply, but, generally, to say what shall be the amount of 
 that supply. This power is very properly vested in the 
 elective body of the legislature, because it represents all the 
 interests of the community, and must be supposed to have 
 the closest sympathy with the various classes of society, and 
 not so easily to be influenced by private motives : but, 
 though the elective body be thus distinguished, it has no 
 legal warrant or moral power, by the exercise of it, to 
 contravene the laws of the constitution under which they 
 have been elected. They have no more power to refuse all 
 supplies than they have to declare the constitution to be at 
 an end. They are the assessors, in many cases, within certain 
 limits, and, under particular statutes, of the compensations 
 and payments to be awarded and paid to public functiona- 
 ries, in order that the existing authorities may not lack the 
 immediate means of carrying on the affairs of the country to 
 the country's honour : but to refuse any part of these 
 means, for the purpose of coercing the constituted autho- 
 rities into measures in no way connected with the monetary 
 affairs of the state, would be a high crime and misdemea- 
 nor in law, and a gross fraud and malversation of autho- 
 rity in conscience. 
 
 145. Burden shaken from one to another. 
 If this hypothesis be true, it is not astonishing that most 
 of the aristocracy are conservatives ; but a recent case 
 has proved that their resistance to all great measures for 
 the welfare of the state is very moderate, even if such mea- 
 sures have not won their approbation. They hate disunion 
 and political changes, and therefore yield when necessity 
 requires. 
 
book v. 325 
 
 146. Revenue of the Church. 
 We beg to refer our readers to some former notes on this 
 subject 
 
 147. Subjection of all Ranks to Taxes. 
 Some examples in executions for poor-rate prove that 
 persons of the highest rank are subjected to that rule. 
 
 148. Proportion of Taxes. 
 The proposition of Amund seems at first sight somewhat 
 paradoxical, as the state needs in time of war greater 
 sacrifices than in time of peace; and were that not the 
 case, the national debts of most countries would not be so 
 augmented as they actually are. But probably he set out 
 from the principle, that in time of war the incomes of in- 
 dividuals are considerably less than in time of peace ; and 
 on that account the equilibrium which a man can bear is 
 re-established. We are, however, very glad that Amund is 
 satisfied with the twentieth, and, at most, the tenth part of 
 the public income ; for if we calculate all the direct taxes 
 that every man is obliged to pay to the state by indirect 
 ones, (which it would be superfluous to enumerate,) we can 
 boldly assert that he pays to the state half his income. 
 There would be no harm in it if those forced gifts were only 
 well employed. But as it is, we are reminded of the 
 paternal Chinese imperial edict, which says — "That the 
 taxes should be paid at the term, and a man should not 
 want to be urged ; then you may take what is over and 
 nourish your parents, complete the marriage ceremonies of 
 your sons and daughters, satisfy your morning and evening 
 wants, and prepare for the annual feasts and sacrifices." 
 In the amplification of that maxim in the sacred edict, 
 the matter is not more plausibly explained : — " It is neces- 
 sary that you first complete the payment of your taxes, 
 and with the little money which you have over you may 
 buy some good things, by which to manifest filial piety to 
 your parents, the authors of your life ; and to show your 
 affection to your brothers and sisters, who lay in the same 
 womb, and sucked the same breasts. Again, you may also 
 be able to complete the great things, viz. the marriage of 
 your daughters and sons ; your own daily food and clothing, 
 and the [ceremonies of the] times and seasons. All these 
 you may be able by degrees duly to regulate." Englishmen 
 pay taxes, and then take what is over ! 
 
326 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 149. Illusive freedom. 
 " The free German [the descendant of the German] will 
 not be bound." He consequently likes to bear iron fetters 
 enveloped in flowers. He willingly gives, and more than 
 he ought, to society, imagining that he is free ; and if this 
 illusion makes him happy, why should we deprive him of it? 
 
 150. Foundation of the British Constitution. 
 We have in a former note already explained the basis and 
 most important pillars of the British constitution, which 
 consist in the application of that principle. 
 
 151. Reforms in Legislation. 
 
 About the end of the last century, Romilly, Bent-ham, 
 Mackintosh, Michael Angelo Taylor, and other reformers, 
 proved that the laws of England were not what they assumed 
 to be. In 1828, Lord Brougham, in a masterly address, 
 brought the subject of legal abuses before parliament; and 
 that extraordinary effort of luminous and convincing elo- 
 quence proved not wholly fruitless to the nation. The author 
 lived from that time mostly in England, and what he saw, 
 heard, and experienced in law matters, has convinced him 
 that nothing essential has been done in the way of reform. 
 
 Certainly, if a foreigner, after reading Blackstone, was 
 informed that the judges of England met together on cer- 
 tain occasions, to discuss questions so difficult, as to be 
 reserved for their united wisdom, he would form to himself 
 a notion of all that was most wise, venerable, and imposing. 
 At such a gathering of sages, he would naturally think must 
 be congregated all that practical wisdom, the fruit of grey 
 experience and exact theory, the result of long and intimate 
 acquaintance with the treasured wisdom of ages, that could 
 bear upon the conflicting and shifting phenomena of life. 
 At such a meeting, all the great doctrines upon which the 
 fabric of society, whatever be its form, must ultimately rest, 
 must needs be sifted, examined, and illustrated. 
 
 But great would be the disappointment of the stranger 
 when he learned that the time of so august an appeal has 
 been wasted in discussions of trifling objects in the form, 
 and not in the spirit of the law. The new example of late 
 court-sittings attests what an uncertain lottery the British 
 judicature is ; how the innocent may be punished, and the 
 guilty escape, under favour of a system, in which the worst 
 precedent often overrules all reason, and retards all justice. 
 But cruelty, delay, and uncertainty, are not the only public 
 
book v. 327 
 
 hardships resulting from the retention of old laws, usages, 
 forms, and obsolete or questionable institutes. Other evils, 
 moral as well as legal, flow from the same deleterious source. 
 Oath-making, affidavit-making, solemn affirmations of reli- 
 gious belief, declaration against bribery at elections, or on 
 the property qualification of members of parliament, against 
 corruption in the disposal of civil offices of East India 
 patronage, against the supremacy of the pope, and in favour 
 of the Protestant succession and the Protestant Church 
 establishment, — all these, in many cases, are held to be 
 forms only, but they are pernicious forms, the superfluous 
 observance of which has tended to undermine the security of 
 public and private transactions, and impair immeasurably 
 the general integrity and veracity of the community. We 
 therefore heartily wish that Amund's observation may be 
 appreciated by those whose occupation it is to give laws to 
 the country. 
 
 152. Obedience to the Laws. 
 We are convinced that there is no country in the world 
 where the prescription of the laws in general are more 
 obeyed and considered than in England. The great number 
 of criminals must here be set aside, and cannot be opposed 
 to our observation, which concerns civil rights and peaceable 
 men, who acknowledge their laws are made to be obeyed; 
 while in other countries they are partly considered as having 
 been made to be evaded : and it is the more astonishing, 
 since most of the inhabitants of Great Britain confess that 
 the existing laws are not satisfactory, and their application 
 still less so. The middle classes, who often speak "wie ihnen 
 der Schnabel gewachsen ist" say, " I don't like law ; I hate 
 lawyers, &c." because they know but too well the abuses of 
 the law, and have not judgment enough to have the inner 
 conviction that the "laws are also salutary to the individual 
 bound by them." 
 
 153. Men should moderate their desires. 
 It is very difficult to convince man that " the fulfilment 
 of his desires will but make him unhappy." Many philo- 
 sophers pretend that men in a state of nature are inclined to 
 evil. Others, that they are timid; and others again, like 
 Hobbes, that their natural state is that of war, and that they 
 are inclined to subject each other. It is only by education 
 that they can be brought to conquer their passions ; and to 
 attain this, the most effectual education is that which Rous- 
 seau has employed in his " Emile " — experience. It is only 
 
328 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 by experience, and sometimes by very hard experience, that 
 man learns that " the fulfilment of his desires will but make 
 him unhappy." 
 
 154. Punishments must be mild hut inevitable. 
 
 How can the punishment be inevitable when the con- 
 clusion of law-suits are enigmas, even to the most experienced 
 men ? The punishment for capital crimes is known by all ; 
 but those of a lesser degree vary in countries where no 
 positive code exists, as we have already mentioned, according 
 as the case may be considered by the judges. As concerns 
 the mildness of punishments, we have already given our 
 opinion in a former note. 
 
 155. Public Appointments obtained by favour. 
 
 We here perceive that liberties, privileges, and licenses 
 could only be obtained by the commoners ; but as appoint- 
 ments are granted by the crown, and most of its officers, 
 that law is paralyzed ; and we boldly ask, whether favour 
 does not often displace merit? To give examples of this is not 
 our task. 
 
 The British constitution itself possesses a remedy in the 
 stipulation that the sovereign may create new offices, and 
 affix new titles to them, but cannot create new fees for their 
 support ; nor can the crown annex new fees to old offices, 
 as this would be a tax on the subject, which cannot be 
 imposed but by parliament. 
 
 156. Privy Council. 
 
 The sovereign of Great Britain is assisted by the privy 
 council, of which the number in ancient times was limited to 
 twelve ; afterwards it increased to so large a number that it 
 was found inconvenient ; and in the reign of Charles II. its 
 number was limited to thirty; but since that time the 
 number has been gradually augmented, and now continues 
 indefinite. 
 
 As it is evident that among so many secrecy and despatch 
 could not always be secured, nor responsibility effectually 
 exacted, the sovereign is advised and attended by another 
 council, the members of which, ex officio, are members of the 
 privy council, and which is " The Cabinet Council." The 
 eminent individuals who compose this council are intrusted 
 with all the important affairs of government, both domestic 
 and foreign, and with the highest administrative power in 
 the state : hence, with their colleagues in office, it is called 
 
BOOK V. 329 
 
 "The Administration." The members of this council 
 receive their appointment from the prime minister, who is 
 selected by the sovereign, and empowered by royal autho- 
 rity to form the council and the whole administration, 
 by choosing such individuals as coincide with him in prin- 
 ciple, and who are likely to co-operate with him in carrying 
 out the system of government which he has adopted. 
 
 157. Surveyance over Counsellors. 
 
 This surveyance over the counsellors of the king is not 
 always effectual in its practice, as they seldom render an 
 account of their actions until it is too late to repair them ; 
 and the representatives of the people must very often be 
 satisfied with being informed that the matter is not ripe for 
 communication : but even that responsibility is a check to 
 their unbridled will, and, in some cases, does not fail in it? 
 result. 
 
 158. Voice of the People. 
 
 It is very difficult for the sovereign to discover what the 
 " voice of the people " really signifies. Public addresses to 
 the monarch or his government are for the most part con- 
 structed by some leader, bearing the signatures of a great 
 number of individuals, who cannot be considered as compe- 
 tent in the matter, and with whom quantity cannot replace 
 quality. But it is, at the same time, very unpopular to 
 ridicule such addresses, even if they are " monstrous." The 
 right of openly speaking and petitioning should never be 
 oppressed, not even in a critical moment Speaking, though 
 ever so free, is not a crime, unless accompanied by action. 
 " Les paroles," says Montesquieu, " ne forment point un 
 corps de delit, elles ne restent que dans l'idee. La plupart 
 du temps elles ne signifient point par elle-memes, mais par 
 le ton dont on les dit. Souvent, en redisant les memes 
 paroles, on ne rend pas le meme sens : le sens depend de la 
 liaison qu'elles ont avec d'autres choses. Quelquefois le 
 silence exprime plus que tous les discours. II n'y a rien de 
 si equivoque que tout cela. Comment done en faire un crime 
 de lese-majeste ? Partout oh. cette loi est £tablie, nonseule- 
 ment la liberte nest plus, mais son ombre meme." . . " Les 
 actions ne sont pas de tous les jours, bien des gens peuvent 
 les remarquer ; une fausse accusation sur des faits peut etre 
 aisement eclaircie. Les paroles qui sont jointes a une action 
 prennent la nature de cette action. Ainsi un homme qui va 
 dans la place publique exhorter les sujets a la revolte, 
 devient coupable de lese-majeste, parce que les paroles sont 
 
330 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 jointes a Taction et y participent. Ce ne sont point les 
 paroles que Ton punit, mais une action commise, dans la- 
 quelle on emploie les paroles. Elles ne deviennent des 
 crimes que lorsqu' elles preparent, qu' elles accompagnent ou 
 qu'elles suivent une action criminelle. On renverse tout, si 
 Ton fait des paroles un crime capital, au lieu de les regarder 
 comme le signe d'un crime capital." 
 
 " Les ecrits contiennent quelqe chose de plus permanent 
 que les paroles ; mais, lorsqu'ils ne preparent pas au crime de 
 lese-majeste ils ne sont point une matiere de lese-niajeste." 
 
 Satirical writings and caricatures, even if personal, are 
 not considered as libels in England, for the political motive, 
 that they are usually directed against the powerful, that 
 they natter general malignity, comfort the discontented, 
 lessen the desire for high offices, and impart such patience 
 to the people as to make them laugh at their own sufferings. 
 
 159. Use of the rejecting power of a King. 
 This right has lately been used (or abused) by an Euro- 
 pean monarch ; and although it may be contrary to the opinion 
 of philanthropists and philosophers, we wish that this remedy, 
 perhaps an evil of itself, would be sanctioned by success in 
 appeasing the disordered states of Germany, and the re- 
 mainder of Europe. But monarchs and ministers have no 
 right to oppress liberty, even for the purpose of maintaining 
 peace and preventing anarchy. All good-hearted men will, 
 however, rather suppress their feelings and give up some of 
 their privileges than favour the latter. 
 
 160. Influence practised on Electors. 
 We do not see how this can be prevented, since the 
 speeches and letters of candidates to electoral bodies are so 
 very frequent and lead to so many abuses. They flatter the 
 electors, confess principles which their hearts are not at all 
 disposed to follow ; and if they happen to be at the same time 
 members of the government, they promise heaven and earth, 
 golden mountains, and arcadian felicity; and, after all, 
 generally " strive more after their own aggrandizement than 
 that of their country." 
 
 161. Such an honest Man, who supports with patience the loss 
 of the esteem of his Party, exists even now. 
 The deputies of our time do, for the most part, the con- 
 trary to that which Alfred feared. Their electors have 
 little power over them, and they strive more after the 
 
BOOK V. 331 
 
 applause of the premier than after that of the people. But 
 modern history has shown to us in other countries many 
 " honest men who opposed themselves to the imprudent will 
 of the misled people," and to them may be attributed the 
 restoration of peace. 
 
 162. Do Representatives strive to increase their power ? 
 This also took place lately in other countries, where the 
 constitutions were but shortly established. The young 
 deputies were not cool enough for their functions, and lost 
 their newly acquired right by requiring too much. The 
 British representatives consequently keep to the opposite 
 extreme, and require too little. 
 
 163. Mischief caused by the power of the People. 
 Example: The 1st of June, 1848, in Paris; Rome in 1849; 
 and the errors and crimes recently committed in many other 
 cities and countries. 
 
 164. Deputies and their Electors. 
 The "honourable member for " is an expression adop- 
 ted in parliamentary debates, instead of the personal name 
 of the member,which should be abolished, because it is quite 
 useless to remind a deputy at every opportunity that he has 
 been elected for such a county, town, or borough, as he is 
 considered more as the representative and defender of the 
 rights of the nation, than of those who elected him. Once 
 elected, the power of the electors is no more until a new 
 election takes place : this point of view, which we think is 
 the right one, cannot be brought too often before the notice 
 of the members and the electors. 
 
 165. Members of the Opposition. 
 
 The opposition is generally composed of troublesome 
 citizens, whose motives we may, however, consider as very 
 laudable, when they only " disdain the good because it is not 
 the best." Such men should not be morally killed by sarcasm, 
 even if they do not succeed, and are overpowered by the 
 majority. Great Britain possesses two of them at present, 
 of whom one has acquired an undoubted claim to our esteem 
 by his seniority, and the other, although somewhat of a 
 charlatan, has still done much good. 
 
 British tyranny, to which we have alluded in Note 129, has 
 adopted a bad system : it does not wait until a man has 
 spoken, in order to oppose and ridicule his speech, but does 
 
332 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 it even before he has begun. This was the case on the 
 occasion of the motions of the old and of the young member. 
 With the first it did not disdain to give some grounds ; but 
 with the latter it threatened " with the writ point of the 
 sheriff's officer, the truncheon of the police, and a body of 
 men in scarlet garb with glittering steel ;" but at the same 
 time it advised him not to meddle with that matter, stating 
 that it was of no use — 
 
 " de faire sur tout un bruit d^mesure, 
 
 Un mechant million, plus ou moins devore, 
 
 Voila-t-il pas de quoi pousser des cris sinistres ! 
 
 Mon cher, les grands seigneurs ne sont pas de vos cuistres. 
 
 lis vivent largement. Je parle sans ph£bus. 
 
 Le bel air que celui d'un redresseur d'abus 
 
 Toujours bouffi d'orgueil et rouge de colere ! 
 
 Mais bah ! vous voulez etre un gaillard populaire, 
 
 Adore des bourgeois et des merchands d'esteufs. 
 
 C'est fort dr61e. Ayez done des caprices plus neufs. 
 
 Les interets publics ? Songer d'abord aux votres. 
 
 Le salut de l'Espagne est un mot creux que d'autres 
 
 Feront sonner, mon cher, tout aussi bien que vous. 
 
 La popularity ? C'est la gloire en gros sous. 
 
 Roder, dogue aboyant, tout autour des gabelles ? 
 
 Charmant metier ! je sais des postures plus belles. 
 
 Vertu ? foi ? probite ? c'est du clinquant deteint. 
 
 C'etait us£ deja du temps de Charles -Quint." — [Ruy Blas.] 
 
 166. Recent Proposals made to Government 
 Amund says here, that " the murmurs of the unreasonably 
 discontented are certainly acts of ingratitude against a good 
 king ; but it were far more dangerous," continues he, " to 
 attempt stifling the voice of the people ; it is the path by 
 which truth gains admittance to the throne ; it is a warning 
 call of Providence, which reminds the prince not to pursue 
 the wrong course he has entered." 
 
 That warning has been disregarded by most of the Euro- 
 pean governments, and has consequently produced the un- 
 fortunate conflicts which every feeling man must deplore. 
 By applying it to England we find that sufficient attention 
 is not even paid to the voice of the people. We will not 
 pretend that the expressions of the Peace Society, the meet- 
 ings at Manchester, and elsewhere, are the voice of the whole 
 nation ; they were merely brought forth by some ambitious 
 leaders. Nevertheless, as the proposals of the individuals 
 who represent that part of the nation are patriotic and 
 
book v. 333 
 
 peaceful, they should not be looked upon with contempt, 
 by tyrannical papers. We will admit that one of these 
 proposals is erroneous in its form, and that the new scholar 
 in diplomacy is not able to prescribe the steps which 
 experienced diplomatists should follow ; but, considering the 
 purpose by itself, which is to produce and maintain peace, 
 and to reduce standing armies, whereby the burthen of 
 nations may be lessened, it is the most laudable object that 
 policy can attain. 
 
 167. Majority and Minority. 
 The actual position of the commoners with government 
 resembles a strong tissue, wherein the commoners represent 
 the double web, and the government the woof. One por- 
 tion of the web is the majority, and the other the minority ; 
 but the strong thread of the woof passes between the two, 
 and imparts strength to the tissue. This metaphor is the 
 more applicable, since the threads of the upper and lower 
 web remain united in one constant direction, except when 
 one of them perchance departs from them. Just the 
 same may be said of the majority and minority, who always 
 remain stationary in their number Their voices do not 
 move from their party, even for the best and most patriotic 
 motions, which have nearly always the same result, in being 
 adopted or rejected, a system which alone can excuse the 
 late unparliamentary expression, of a very honourable mem- 
 ber who found that "he was sold." 
 
 168. Reform of Representation . 
 
 The Reform Act, 2nd William IV., c. 45, orders, " That 
 no person shall be entitled to vote for a county member, in 
 respect of any freehold, who shall not be in actual occupa- 
 tion of the lands or tenements, unless such lands, &c, have 
 come to hiin by devise, marriage, or promotion to any bene- 
 fice or office ; or unless they shall be of the clear annual 
 value of £10 above all charges to which they may be liable." 
 The privilege of voting is extended to copyhold property on 
 the same conditions as to holders of freehold property. The 
 existing rights of forty-shilling freeholders are secured. 
 
 The elective franchise is also extended to every person 
 holding Lands or tenements, as lessee or assignee, originally 
 created for a term not less than sixty years, on the same 
 conditions as to holders of freehold or copyhold property ; 
 and this privilege is further extended to lessees or assignees 
 for a term not less than twenty years, provided the property 
 
334 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 shall be to them of the clear annual value of .£50. Mort- 
 gagees are entitled to vote if they be in actual possession, or 
 in receipt of the rents and profits of the estate. 
 
 But, if such property gives a right to vote in the election 
 of a member or members for any city or borough, it dis- 
 qualifies the person, whether he be a freeholder, copyholder, 
 lessee, or mortgagee, for voting for a county member. 
 
 It further enacts that every such person intending to 
 exercise the elective franchise for such property must be 
 duly registered ; and that in respect to lands or tenements 
 of freehold, copyhold, or customary tenures, the individual 
 must have been in possession, or in the receipt of the rents 
 and profits, for six calendar months previous to the last day 
 of July in such year, in order to registration ; and that no 
 individual shall be registered in respect of lands or tene- 
 ments, held by him as lessee or assignee, who has not been in 
 possession, &c, for twelve calendar months next previous to 
 the last day of July in such year : but this enactment does 
 dot extend to any lands or tenements which would otherwise 
 entitle the owner, holder, &c. to vote in any such election, 
 which shall come to any person at any time within such res- 
 pective periods of six or twelve calendar months by descent, 
 succession, marriage, devise, or promotion to any benefice or 
 office. 
 
 With respect to the election of members for cities or 
 boroughs, or any place sharing in the election for cities and 
 boroughs, the elective franchise is extended to every indivi- 
 dual who occupies, as owner or tenant, any house, ware- 
 house, counting-house, or shop, of the clear annual value of 
 £10, provided he shall have been in possession twelve 
 calendar months, and resided in the city or borough six 
 months next previous to the last day of July in the year in 
 which he tendered his registration. 
 
 Nor is it necessary that it should be the same house, &c, 
 but different premises in immediate succession will entitle 
 him to vote. But the act provides that every person enti- 
 tled to vote for the member or members of any city or town, 
 being a county of itself, shall in future be entitled to vote, 
 provided he be duly registered, and if in the receipt of the 
 rents for twelve months from 31st of July. 
 
 The existing rights of freemen are reserved, but they 
 must be resident six months. The reason assigned for 
 requiring any qualification in voters with regard to property 
 is, to exclude all those persons who are in so dependant a 
 situation as not to be in a position to exercise a will of their 
 
BOOK V. 335 
 
 own. This would necessarily place them at the disposal of 
 others, and an ambitious and wealthy man, by an improper 
 influence, might obtain a larger share in elections than 
 might be consistent with general liberty. "We do not, how- 
 ever, altogether acquiesce in the validity of this reason; 
 for, if this were the ground upon which the limitation of 
 suffrage proceeded, nothing is more evident than that it 
 ought to be curtailed within a much narrower boundary. 
 Votes never have been and never will be independent to a 
 very great degree. We should rather conceive that it arises 
 from the necessity of controlling the natural right to bring 
 it into a just accordance with social right. The natural 
 rapacity of man is to possess himself, when he stands in 
 need, of the property of others. In society the majority 
 are poor, and there is a natural tendency in the mass of 
 every community to possess themselves of the property of 
 the wealthier classes. If this natural bias be not repressed, 
 it will overflow, to the ruin of society. But, if there were 
 no qualification, it is easy to perceive that numbers would 
 prevail, pursue their natural bias, and trample on social law. 
 
 At all events, all popular governments have been obliged 
 to resort to some standard of qualification. The British 
 constitution steers a middle course between the two ex- 
 tremes of numbers and property ; and, in adhering to it, 
 our safety depends. 
 
 Other forms of representation have lately been demanded 
 for Great Britain. We will not permit ourselves to give a 
 judgment in so difficult a subject, which requires to be 
 studied for life-time, and must confide in the enlightened 
 reasons of members who have had forty years' experience 
 in parliament. General suffrage now admitted in various 
 countries should be rejected ; as the people may be easily 
 misled, and experience, which imparts to them moderate 
 opinions, is sometimes purchased at great sacrifice. How- 
 ever we hope that British legislators will discover when 
 this question comes a Vordre du jour, the right ways and 
 means of complying with the wish of the nation, in the 
 best and most peaceable manner.* 
 
 * In a little work which the author has under his pen, (but not intended 
 for England, being in a foreign language) he endeavours to explain his 
 opinion that the people might be represented in a different manner than 
 that based on landed property and income. It is true that land has 
 been, and is still, the greatest and most real scale of property ; but many 
 others have, in modern times, competed with it, as we have already said : as 
 manufactures, ships, mines, railways, &c, which all now represent almost 
 as secure property as land. We have seen that in times of general distrust 
 the value of estates diminished momentarily in the same proportion, and 
 
336 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 169. Happy situation of Great Britain. 
 Great Britain enjoys that fortunate situation, and stands 
 higher in that respect, than any other nation. The character 
 of its institutions has been fearfully tried, and their worth 
 triumphantly established. Exterior enemies will never find 
 a faction to trouble the country ; and there is no fear of an 
 attack from abroad, even in such an improbable case, means 
 of defence would be speedily found, without having so great 
 a number of armed vessels and scarlet garbs ready. 
 
 170. Question of Short or Long Parliaments. 
 Amund rejects here the election for a short period, but 
 admits those for three or for seven years. This is a question 
 of the present day, and requires great consideration. The 
 short duration of one year is, at all events, rejectable, even 
 if it be for the pompous and illusive dignity of a lord mayor, 
 the maintenance of which is an honourable tribute of the 
 aristocracy to the citizens ; and its sudden change has, per- 
 haps, been introduced, in order that every alderman may 
 be able to enjoy that momentary grandeur ; but the good 
 that such a magistrate could produce, if his functions were 
 greater than those of a magistrate in a police court, and a 
 host of public dinners, and if he remained longer in office, and 
 were, from longer study and knowledge, the true represen- 
 tative of the citizens, is extinguished by his short duration 
 as lord mayor. As regards the three and seven years' par- 
 liament, the advantage of the shortest period would be that 
 
 almost more, than other goods and chattels. The mentioned opinion of the 
 author is, that representation might be effected as well by the corporations 
 of the different branches of industry, namely, by " labour ;" of which 
 Locke explained one hundred and fifty years ago, that " of the products of the 
 earth useful to the life of man, nine-tenths are the effect of labour : nay, if 
 we will rightly estimate things as they come to our use, and cast up the 
 several expenses about them, what in them is purely owing to nature, and 
 what to labour, we shall find, that in most of them ninety-nine in a hundred 
 are wholly to be put to the account of labour." The author has also endea- 
 voured to show in what way the bodies, which should represent the general 
 industry of the country, should be formed. This does not imply that the 
 army, the navy, the clergy, and the fine arts, should not likewise have their 
 representatives. But with respect to industry, he developes at the same time 
 the principle that " every individual who enjoys a revenue, or a function in 
 any manufacturing, or railway establishment, whether as proprietor, manager, 
 administrator, or shareholder, should be considered as a member of a " Poly- 
 technic Confederation," towards the prosperity of which he should contribute 
 (besides his other duties as a citizen,) a portion of his intelligence as well as 
 of his fortune. Every one of these individuals who occupies a lofty position, 
 should descend some degrees in order to raise his subordinates nearer his 
 own station. This would constitute real fraternity, without abolishing sub- 
 ordination." But protesting against any idea of modern socialism, the author 
 also fears that his project would not sound well to the ears of the British 
 industrial aristocracy. 
 
BOOK V. 337 
 
 the electors might change their representatives sooner than 
 at present if they found them not fitted for the task intrusted 
 them. But, again, it should be considered that every func- 
 tion must be studied and practised. A member who is not 
 fitted for parliamentary purposes in the first or even in the 
 second year, may acquire the necessary qualities in the 
 course of a longer period, and then develop his hitherto un- 
 known talents. As parliament assembled at the end of the 
 mournful year 1847, the result of their very long session was 
 very little. In the present session, more active spirit has 
 been developed, and praiseworthy attempts for the general 
 welfare made. If such men were longer in function, the 
 golden time of British parliaments might return with Perei- 
 vals, Wilberforces, Burdetts, &c. ; but if they are altered 
 after a year's time, it will really be a pity for such eminent 
 talents as the above to be stifled at their birth, and a new 
 education of members to be made. 
 
 171 and 172. Representatives should be worthy of sitting at 
 the Rudder of Government. 
 
 The time which Alfred prophecied arrived six hundred 
 years ago ; during which, the people were more or less able 
 to govern themselves, and the representatives more or less 
 worthy of sitting at the rudder of government. 
 
 Our purpose in publishing this little work is free from 
 any self or factious interest ; and it is to awaken the sacred 
 original principles, and remind the representatives by warn- 
 ings, to be at all times "worthy to sit at the rudder of 
 government;" for Montesquieu, who bestows the greatest 
 praise upon the British constitution, concludes thus : — 
 " Comme toute les choses humaines ont une fin, l'etat dont 
 nous parlons perdra sa liberte, il perira. Rome, Lacede"- 
 mone et Carthage ont bien peri. II perira lorsque la puissance 
 legislative sera plus corrompue que l'executrice." 
 
 The same opinion is expressed by Sir. T. Mortimer in the 
 following words: — "If ministerial influence in parliament 
 should prevail so far as constantly to assure a majority in 
 the House of Commons in favour of every measure indis- 
 criminately, which the reigning administration thinks proper 
 to adopt and to persist in, then farewell to the political pre- 
 eminence of the British empire ! for glory dwells not with 
 slaves, but increases or diminishes with the liberty of the 
 people." 
 
338 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 173. Othar's Voyages. 
 Haller has joined to Othar's real voyages those to the 
 shores of East Greenland and Spitzbergen, which were 
 effected by Wulfstan. Both are positively authentic, although 
 he pretends not to have taken them from Othar's own de- 
 scription. Whether Alfred's work was the source where- 
 from he derived his knowledge, or whether there are other 
 authentic works on Othar's voyages, may be explained better 
 by those learned in the Anglo-Saxon history, which we do 
 not pretend to be. 
 
 1 74. Othar's success in obtaining Ships for his Voyages. 
 
 Othar was animated by his prophetical ideas, like Colum- 
 bus in a similar circumstance. We cannot suppose him to 
 have been gifted with more eloquence than the genial and 
 instructed Columbus, and must therefore attribute to Al- 
 fred's enlightened mind that Othar had not to apply to all 
 the different sovereigns in Europe before he succeeded in 
 obtaining a few ships for his great undertaking. 
 
 175 & 176. Sociality in a State of Nature. 
 In a former note we have already explained the state o 
 society in that of nature. Here, however, we see that of 
 sociality and equality practised in its original purity ; but 
 we doubt whether such a kind of social living, produced 
 rather by bestiality than by philosophy, might be transferred 
 to more populous countries and warmer climates, where 
 passion prevails over stoicity. 
 
 177. Cruelty practised towards Children. 
 This custom, as cruel as it is, is even surpassed by the 
 Chinese, who kill a number of their children when they can- 
 not bring them up. The latter cannot be excused, as their 
 
BOOK VI. 339 
 
 country is far more civilized than that of these savages, and 
 because they are enlightened by wholesome laws. The 
 shadow of justification for such cruelty, which lies in the 
 scarcity of food in these overpopulated dominions, cannot 
 be admitted as a sufficient reason for such cruelty ; for, were 
 we to do so, how could we, with justice, condemn similar 
 actions in European countries. 
 
 178. Marriages and Filial Piety. 
 
 " Marriages are just as constant and harmonizing as with 
 other nations." That depends upon what other nations 
 Haller meant. Probably not the French or Italians ; but 
 the German and English. We do not, however, know 
 whether the soft sounding word, " harmony," can at all be 
 applied to married life, and whether " unity " would not be 
 more appropriate, as so many disonancies in married life 
 prevent the effection of any complete harmony. 
 
 The reason why unfertility is despised is very well ex- 
 plained. The " Sacred Edict " says : " Bring up a child, 
 and then you will know the kindness of a father and 
 mother. 1 ' . . . " Filial pity is [founded on] the unalter- 
 able statutes of heaven, the corresponding operation of earth, 
 and the common obligations of all people. Have those who 
 are void of filial piety never reflected on the natural affec- 
 tion of parents to their children ?" . . . "The son of man 
 that would recompense one in ten thousand of the favours 
 of his parents, should at home exhaust his whole heart, 
 abroad exert his whole strength." 
 
 179. Origin of Property. 
 
 " Superfluity forms there the only difference which raises 
 one man above another." The superfluity alluded to is 
 pecuniary ; and whoever contests that right to superfluity 
 also contests the right to property. A celebrated French 
 political author lately wrote a treatise on property, wherein 
 he does not reach Locke, who speaks on this subject as 
 follows : — 
 
 " God, who hath given the world to men in common, hath 
 also given them reason to make use of it to the best advan- 
 tage of life and convenience. The earth, and all that is 
 therein, is given to men for the support and comfort of their 
 being. And though all the fruits it naturally produces, and 
 beasts it feeds, belong to mankind in common, as they are 
 produced by the spontaneous hand of nature ; and nobody 
 has originally a private dominion, exclusive of the rest of 
 Q 2 
 
340 . NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 mankind, in any of them, as they are thus in their natural 
 state : yet being given for the use of men, there must of 
 necessity be a means to appropriate them some way or other 
 before they can be of any use, or at all beneficial to any 
 pacticular man. The fruit, or venison, which nourishes the 
 wild Indian, who knows no inclosure, and is still a tenant in 
 common, must be his, and so his, i. e. a part of him, that 
 another can no longer have any right to it, before it can do- 
 him any good for the support of his life. 
 
 " Though the earth, and all inferior creatures be common 
 to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person. 
 This nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of 
 his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are pro- 
 perly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the- state 
 that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his 
 labour with it, and joined to it something that is his own, 
 and thereby makes it his property. It being by him re- 
 moved from the common state nature placed it in, it hath by 
 this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the com- 
 mon right of other men. For this labour being the unques- 
 tionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a 
 right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is 
 enough, and as good left in common for others. 
 
 " He that is nourished by the acorns he picked up under 
 an oak, or the apples he gathered from the trees in the weod, 
 has certainly appropriated them to himself. Nobody can 
 deny but the nourishment is his. I ask then, When did they 
 begin to be his ? When he digested ? Or when he ate ? Or 
 when he boiled? Or when he brought them home? Or when 
 he picked them up? And it is plain, if the first gathering 
 made them not his, nothing else could. That labour put a 
 distinction between them and common. That added some- 
 thing to them more than nature, the common mother of all, 
 had done ; and so they became his private right. And will 
 any one say he had no right to those acorns or apples he 
 thus appropriated, because he had not the consent of all 
 mankind to make them his ? Was it a robbery thus to 
 assume to himself what belonged to all in common ? If 
 such a consent as that was necessary, man had starved, not- 
 withstanding the plenty God had given him. We see in 
 commons, which remain so by compact, that it is the taking 
 any part of what is common, and removing it out of the state 
 nature leaves it in, which begins the property; without 
 which the common is of no use. And the taking of this or 
 that part, does not depend on the express consent of all the 
 
BOOK VI. 341 
 
 commoners. Thus the grass my horse has bit ; the turfs my 
 servant has cut ; and the ore I have digged in any place, 
 where I have a right to them in common with others, become 
 my property, without the assignation or consent of anybody. 
 The labour that was mine, removing them out of that com- 
 mon state they were in, hath fixed my property in them. 
 
 " By making an explicit consent of every commoner, 
 necessary to any one's appropriating to himself any part of 
 what is given in common, children or servants could not cut 
 the meat which their father or master had provided for them 
 in common, without assigning to every one his peculiar part. 
 Though the water running in the fountain be every one's, 
 yet who can doubt but that in the pitcher is his only who 
 drew it out l His labour hath taken it out of the hands of 
 nature where it was common, and hath thereby appropriated 
 it to himself" 
 
 180. History of Five Robinson Crusoes. 
 This history of a steersman (whose name is said to have 
 been Himkoff) and his companions, is quite authentic. 
 
 181. Infancy of Man. 
 
 "Children," says Locke, are not born in the full state 
 of equality [of men] though they are born to it. Their 
 parents have a sort of rule and jurisdiction over them when 
 they come into the world, and for some time after, but it is 
 but a temporary one. The bonds of this subjection are like 
 the swaddling clothes they are wrapped up in, and supported 
 by in the weakness of their infancy. Age and reason as 
 they grow up, loosen them till at length they drop quite off, 
 and leave a man at his own own free disposal. 
 
 " Adam," continues Locke, as a tradition of the holy 
 scriptures, " was created as a perfect man. His body and 
 mind in full possession of their strength and reason, and 
 so was capable from the first instant of his being to pro- 
 vide for his own support and preservation, and govern 
 his actions according to the dictates of the law of reason 
 God had implanted in him. From him the world is peopled 
 with his descendants, who are all born infants, weak and 
 helpless, without knowledge or understanding. But to sup- 
 ply the defects of this imperfect state, till the improvement 
 of growth and age hath improved them, Adam and Eve, and 
 after them all parents were by the law of nature under an 
 obligation to preserve, nourish, and educate the children 
 they had begotten, not as their own workmanship, but the 
 
342 NOTES, COMMENTARIES, ETC. 
 
 workmanship of their own Maker, the Almighty, to whom 
 they were to be accountable for them." 
 
 182. Examples of worthy Landowners. 
 
 The reader will already have discovered these descriptions 
 to apply to Poland, and the various countries now forming 
 the empire of Russia. 
 
 Our author says, — " Their servile subjects have nothing 
 to hope of their hard masters, and nothing to loose by their 
 destruction." This state may in some degree be compared 
 to that of Ireland, for the Irish peasantry are also in certain 
 points the slaves of their masters, although not to the same 
 extent. Legislation is now occupied in ameliorating the laws 
 of the Irish landlords and tenants, as well as the Irish poor 
 rate, and assisting them with money through labour ; but 
 then can the landlords do nothing themselves without being 
 assisted or forced by government ? we will believe that, for 
 want of capital, that country is not fitted for manufactures 
 in general ; but there are many manufactures which could 
 very well be combined with agriculture, and which produce 
 almost greater real wealth and felicity than those executed 
 by manual labour and machinery in populous districts ; we 
 mean those closely connected with agriculture, as brewing, 
 distilling, brick-making, &c. We have known in Germany 
 an individual, originally a merchant, who bought several 
 estates, and erected upon them a model agriculture estab- 
 lishment, with the adjoining branches, as the rearing of sheep 
 and horned cattle, horses, botanical gardens > nursery, a 
 brewery, distillery, steam engine, and rural implements, 
 manufactory, pottery, and many other industrial branches. 
 We can easily conceive that one man could not administer 
 at all these different establishments, not even through clerks, 
 that is, if it should be faithfully done; but he employed other 
 means ; he engaged young men of education, knowledge, 
 and energy, (although not possessed of capital,) and entered 
 with them into partnership, (en commandite,) bound them to 
 a central office, and to deliver up the cash to a general bank, 
 from which they could receive the required supplies. By 
 this very simple mode of organization, he not only secured 
 and increased his own fortune, but made that of his 
 directors and a great number of families. This man was a 
 plebeian, and could therefore be reckoned among the aris- 
 tocracy of money and knowledge ; but we have a similar 
 example in an aristocrat from birth, a count in the Silesian 
 
BOOK VI. 343 
 
 mountains, who followed the same steps on a larger scale, 
 and occupied in his different manufacturing establishments 
 an immense number of individuals. Are such examples 
 not worthy of imitation ? But we have no doubt that Eng- 
 land possesses likewise land-holders who fulfil, if not all, at 
 least a portion of the task of making their peasants happy 
 by giving them sufficient occupation. 
 
344 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 183. Man in a State of Nature. 
 The state of man in nature, and the law of nature, are 
 extremely well described by Locke and other authors ; from 
 the former we have already given several extracts in pre- 
 ceding notes, but our space does not allow us to quote that 
 work farther, as we otherwise would wish to do. 
 
 184. Moderate Monarchy . 
 
 [The reference to this Note was inadvertently omitted in the text.] 
 
 A compound of monarch, aristocracy, and democracy, has 
 been framed by the German States into a new form of 
 government, which gave it originally the title of a composite 
 system. It was afterwards adopted by the Gothic nations ; 
 and writers of those days give it the name of "Gothic balance" 
 (a balance wherein England has sought, more or less, to 
 attain the ideal standard of freedom,) but in modern times 
 it has been universally known and understood by its proper 
 definition of mixed, regulated, or 
 
 3GElnfotrah Bnttarrtnj. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
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