his life was spent in the bustle of camps, and amidst the tumults of war, he applied himself intensely to study. He was esteemed the best Saxon poet of his time, and was also well skilled in grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, architecture, geometry, and history. He also wrote several works, which were considered as excellent specimens of composition. In his youth, he had passed a whole year at Rome. He had received from nature an extensive capacity. This he improved by the best education, which that age could afford, and spared no pains to cultivate his mental powers. Indeed, no person any situation, public or private, ever portioned out his time with more exact regularity. Of the twenty-four hours in the day, he always devoted eight to the duties of religion; eight to the administration of public affairs; and the remaining eight, were allotted to the different purposes of study, refreshment, &c. It would far exceed our limits, to enter into a particular detail of the actions of this prince; but abundance of collateral evidence demonstrates him to have been one of the greatest princes of all those, whose names are recorded in the annals of royalty.

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His regulation of the police, not only shews the sagacity of the legislator, but also developes the social circumstances of those calamitous times. The multipled scenes of violence and depredation, which had extended to every corner of the country, had given rise to an unexpected and singular species of disorder. The Saxons were frequently plundered by banditti of their own countrymen, disguised in the habit of Danes; and it was customary among both nations to steal not only cattle, but also men and women, and to sell them to each other. For this reason a law was enacted, which prohibited the sale of cattle or slaves without a voucher. But for the prevention of those, and many other disorders of a similar nature, nothing could be better calculated than the system of general responsibility, which Alfred established. Every householder was answerable, not only for his own family, but also for any stranger who lodged more than two nights in his house. The vil lage, or town, was answerable for each householder; the hundred for each town of its district; and the county for each

hundred which it comprised. By this responsibility of the divisions and subdivisions, numberless evils were repressed; social order was re-established; the trifling inconveniences under which it laid the people, were amply compensated by the public tranquillity and private security which it produced. The regulations of Alfred were productive of national and individual benefits, superior to any which the kingdom had ever before enjoyed. If trial by juries was not first established, it appears to have been first regulated in this reign. This monarch may be regarded as the great legislator of the country, and the father of the Anglo Saxon constitution.

A prince, so attentive to every circumstance of improvement, would not overlook the importance of navigation and commerce; and accordingly, we find that he assiduously employed himself in advancing these great foundations of national greatness. He rendered his fleet so formidable, that he defeated the Danes in several naval engagements. Historians also inform us, that he caused many ships to be constructed for the purpose of being let out to merchants, who, as they relate, traded to India.

We have been somewhat diffuse in our view of the character and conduct of this monarch, the glory of the Anglo Saxon race for his reign constitutes a remarkable and illustrious epoch in the annals of England. He died A. D. 900, in the fifty-second year of his age, after a reign of thirty years unblemished by any vice or weakness, during which, without ever being elated with success or depressed by misfortune, he proceeded with a steady progress in his glorious career, and established an immortal reputation.

Alfred was succeeded by his son Edward. This prince, who steadily adhered to his father's maxims, supported himself with firmness against all his enemies. He fought many successful battles against the Danes; and in the end, had the good fortune to restore peace to the kingdom. Afterwards he repaired many old, and built some new towns, which he peopled promiscuously with Saxons and Danes, towards whom he acted with strict impartiality. By this conduct, he not only repeopled and improved the country, but conciliated so much

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the affections of the Danes of the East Anglian kingdom, that They voluntarily submitted to his dominion. Although a great part of his time was spent in the field, he assiduously cultivated the arts of peace, and all possible means to civilize his subjects. He promulgated a variety of laws, from the tenor of which it appears, that those who committed offences for which they were unable to pay the penalty, expiated them by the forfeiture of their freedom. This seems to have been one of the principal sources of personal slavery among the Saxons. He reigned twenty-four years with distinguished reputation, and left, by three wives, a numerous posterity.

Athelstan, his eldest son, succeeded him A. D. 925. This prince convened several general assemblies, in which many laws which breathe a true spirit of patriotism, were enacted; but his attention to civil affairs, was soon interrupted by the alarm of war. The Northumbrian Danes had joined their forces with those of the Scots, and made an incursion into the English territories; but their measures were soon broken, by the vigorous and successful efforts of Athelstan. Shortly after, the kingdom was greatly endangered by a general confederacy of the Welch, the Northumbrians, the Scots, the Irish, and Danes, under the command of their king Anlaff. These nations had prepared a formidable naval and military armament in the northern parts of the island, for the purpose of effecting an invasion, at the same time, by land and by sea. But Athelstan anticipated them, by marching with a powerful army; while a competent naval force advanced along the coast. Having brought the confederates to action, he gained, A. D. 938, a decisive victory. After this important event, Athelstan immediately turned his arms against the Cornish Britons, dispossessed them of Exeter; and drove them beyond the river Tamar. He also obliged Ludwald, king of Wales, to pay him a tribute of twenty pounds weight of gold, 300 of silver, 25,000 oxen, and as many hounds and hawks, as he should require. His various and splendid successes, carried his fame into foreign countries. Presents of gems, of horses with superb furniture, and various other articles of splendid ornament, were made to him by foreign potentates.

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This monarch enacted a law, which conferred on every merchant who made three voyages to the Mediterranean the honours and privileges of a gentleman. This circumstance shews how much Athelstan was sensible of the importance of commerce. Having repulsed all his enemies, and considerably aggrandized the power of the Anglo Saxon kingdom, sixteenth he died unmarried, A. D. 941, in the fourteenth year of a glorious reign. Edmund, his brother, who succeeded him, had not long enjoyed the regal dignity, before his talents were called into exertion by a revolt of the Danes, which he punished, by dispossessing them of several towns of Mercia which, till then, they had been permitted to hold. He also chastised the Northumbrians, and reduced a great part of their country, together with Cumberland, which was then an independent sovereignty. Edmund bestowed the last on Malcolm, king of Scotland, on condition, that he should defend the northern part of the Anglo Saxon kingdom, against any future attacks of the Danes: thus, by a wise policy, he detached the Scots from their Danish alliance, and interested them in the defence of the country, which had so often been desolated by their ravages. This monarch, after having considerably enlarged his dominions, and increased the prosperity of his subjects, unfortunately fell by assassination.

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The two sons of Edmund being yet in their infancy, he was succeeded by Edred his brother, who, during a reign of nine years, maintained the tranquillity of the kingdom with few interruptions.

Edwy, the eldest son of Edmund, succeeded his uncle Edred. He was only fourteen years of age at his ascension, and he seems to have been unfortunate in ascending the throne at a time, when the dissensions which prevailed between the monks and the secular clergy convulsed the state. The king adhered to the latter; and having banished Dunstan, who headed the monks, the disgraced party had so great an influence in the kingdom, as to invest his younger brother, Edgar, with the regal authority over Northumberland and Mercia. Edwy died about two years after this event.

In consequence of his death, Edgar his brother, at the age of sixteen, became king of all England. He attached himself to the interests of the monks, to whom he owed his first elevation; and in the succeeding part of his reign found them a powerful support. His political conduct was prudent, and his reign pacific and prosperous. He perfectly understood and vigilantly maintained his superiority over the Danish and Welch princes, his neighbours, and tributaries; but made few or no conquests, contenting himself with the voluntary submission that was readily paid to his paramount authority; while he maintained the tranquillity of the kingdom, by keeping constantly in readiness a more formidable naval and military force, than had ever been seen in the reigns of his predecessors.

From the prosperous and peaceable state of the kingdom, during the reign of this prince, it is easy to conceive, that commerce flourished more than in any other period of the Anglo Saxon monarchy. His shining qualities were intermixed with some considerable vices. The luxury of his court was excessive. He was too lavish of his favours, especially to the monks, and his attachment to their party was one of the distinguishing characteristics of his reign. He built or repaired upwards of forty religious houses, in different parts of the kingdom. He also recalled Dunstan from exile, and successively promoted him to the bishopricks of Worcester and London, and afterwards to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. This celebrated monk was his principal favourite and counsellor. This monarch being very young at his accession, his judicious conduct must have been the effect of wise counsel, which no man was better qualified to give than Dunstan, who possessed extraordinary abilities, and to the advantages of an excellent education, added an uncommon skill in managing the minds of the people. The attachment of this king to the monks must, in his circumstances, be considered as a mark, both of gratitude and policy; for they were the architects of his fortune; the supporters of his authority; and the trumpeters of his fame. Edgar had the good fortune to terminate in the arms of victory, a reign of glory and peace;