Chronicle of Ethelfled.' BOOK THIRD. ALREADY have I, Ethelfled, recorded, in my unconnected and unwiselike fashion,' that as soon as the winter broke up, we began to be harassed by the Danes. In those evil days, there was no safety to be relied on, in religious houses; for these relentless pagans cared not a whit for consecrated ground, but pillaged and burned abbeys and monasteries all along the coast. When I consider what the state of England then was, I think that, let things hereafter fall out as ill as they may, they can never be much worse than they then were; or at least, not till the end of the world, when we know that a greater contest will ensue between the powers of light and darkness than has ever yet befallen. My father, with the concurrence of Alfred the prince, conveyed my mother and myself, with all our women, to a certain tower or stronghold, built by the Romans, of three stories in height, with a winding stair, such as we have not yet skill to build; and belonging to the Earl of Berks. Herein we found not only the earl's mother and sisters, but our own dear Ethelswitha; together with as many women and children as could be crammed within the walls; to say nothing of sheep, oxen, calves, goats, and fowls, that were the necessary but disagreeable companions of our confinement. Here, however, we were thankful to ensafe ourselves; while the pagans advanced upon the royal vill of Reading, and scoured the country for plunder. They were attacked and beaten by the Earl of Berks in a very fierce battle at Englefield Green, four miles from Windsor; and one of their notable and detestable chiefs was slain by the earl's own hand, to the great elation of us all; I catching the tone from his mother and sisters, and vain-glorying with the best of them. Short was our triumph: four days afterwards, King Ethelred and Alfred the prince attacked them like lions at Reading, but were repulsed; and the brave Earl of Berkshire3 was slain. The grief of his mother and sisters was endless: but, what was very moving, they conceived that my loss was greater than theirs, which in verity it was not, though for company's sake I wept very plentifully. Alfred the prince worked off his grief and rage in the best way possible for us all, by attacking the pagans four days thereafter in the most infuriate manner, at Aston in Berkshire; not supported on this occasion, I am sorry to say, in the way he should have been, by the king his brother, who took to his prayers in a very questionable manner, though quoting the precedent of Moses and the children of Amalek. Sorry should I be, the head of a religious house, and of considerable reputation for my piety, to say anything detrimental to the character and motives of a prince held in so great esteem by the clergy; and the power which an author possesses of bestowing untold-of celebrity or obloquy upon those who come under their judgment, should make him or her extremely careful how it is expressed; especially in a matter so private and sacred as prayer: but the more we hold by the real thing, the more jealous we are of its simulation; and when King Ethelred might have been on his knees all night, and availing himself of many casual opportunities afterwards, 'twas a shame of him, I think and will say, when day brake, to persist in keeping in his tent, and leave his brother to bear the burthen and heat of the day. The end of it was, that as Ethelred would in no case come out, Alfred the prince got all the glory as well as the toil; for he winnowed the Danes like chaff, and though the ground was very disadvantageous to him, he drove them off it completely, and pursued them towards their head-quarters till dark. I shall never forget the glad-like sound of his horn winding under our window that night! He had come all across the country at the price of immense fatigue after such a day, and reached our stronghold a few hours before daybreak.. Ethelswitha, starting from her sleep beside me, cries, "That's his horn!" and puts her head out. He cries from below," Have you a corner in the tower, think you, for me?" She makes answer, "I hardly think we have . . . wait a little while; we will see;"—and, drawing in her head, hastily commences dressing, and I do the same; concerting between us all the while, how we may bestow him with any convenience. Meantime, dogs bark, men begin to wake and start to their arms; and, by the time we gain the common hall, all is astir and in confusion. We unspar the door, Alfred the prince comes in, gay and yet toilworn, and in the first place stumbles over sundry fotha of firewood that lie within the threshold, then salutes Ethelswitha, makes for the hearth, and talks and laughs while we revive the dying embers and warm some cakes and ale: finally, falls asleep on a tressel, without missing pallia or cortinas. We did not see him again of long time. A fortnight after this, King Ethelred and Alfred the prince fought the pagans at Başing, but were routed by them, to our great dismay and sorrow. As one misfortune commonly treads on the heels of another, it came to pass that King Ethelred thereafter fell sick, took to his bed and died, to the great regret of the monks, in spite of their saul-sceat.* They buried him in Wimborne Minster, within the walls; which, indeed, was once a common privilege enough, though, now, from a regard to common sense and care for the general health, it hath become restricted to the clergy, and to persons of notable godly lives. Much people assembled to accompany his excquies, and many tears were shed for him by the priests. If I should also add, by the people, it would sound well, but would not be the truth, which a woman of my notorious sincerity is bound to speak at all times unless she holds her peace. Nor can I aver that his death was more regretted by myself than the demise of any crowned head must needs be (4) Money paid to the clergy when a death occurred. L by every loyal subject, which sometimes is very little; | sow a little wheat during the open weather, and even our affections not being under our own control, but to make merry a little; but above all, to look up to depending greatly on the conduct and character of heaven and pray. It seemed as though heaven were others. This event was indeed one of those dispen-listening to us, now that the earth was silent, and sations which deserve much more thankfulness than that the voice of devout supplication had all the sorrow, both from the kingdom in general and my greater means of being heard. About this time, own family in particular; for hereupon, Alfred the Ethelswitha brought forth the first of her many prince became Alfred the king, and my mother's children, who was called Ethelfleda, after myself, dream respecting the exaltation of Ethelswitha was which I always held to be a very pleasing compliment. verified, which I mentioned at the beginning of this Alfred the king now began to feel himself a king in chronicle, and which, surely, no one reading with the right earnest; and the court being more like a court least attention can have forgotten; but if they have, than it had behoved to be for some time, and my they had better look back for it. That the honour long-promised visit to it being remembered, I was and glory of this accession to the throne might not summoned by my good sister to hold my god-daughter puff us up with dangerous exultation, it was wisely at the font, and spend the remainder of the winter in ordained that the honour and glory should for a time Winchester; which summons I right readily obeyed. be extremely little, and that no other advantage whatever should come of it, but on the contrary, harassing cares, deadly danger, and oppressive responsibility. For the pagans, like snakes that have been scotched but not killed, were now swarming round us with horrid fury; and, possessed with the idea that Alfred the king could make no head against them, now that his brother was defunct, did absolutely substantiate the same by giving him a desperate beating at Wilton Hill. I have heard clerkly men who had studied at Rome tell of some famous heathen prince or deity, I forget which, who every time he was thrown to the ground gathered fresh strength; and thus it seemed to fare with Alfred the king, who, in the words of the prophet Micah, might exclaim, "Rejoice not over me, O mine enemy! when I fall, I shall arise." However, the wicked and unholy answer which the Danes would seem to make in their hearts was, And if you do, you shall fall again;" so the only question to be settled was, who should hold out the longest; or, as we say in playing at scaccorum, which should get the last move. This most tiresome warfare, which might have been settled as well by one trial of strength as by fifty, to the great saving of life, trouble, time, temper, arms, and wearing apparel, continued throughout the summer and great part of the autumn; when some providential successes accorded to Alfred the king, who by this time had learnt feelingly enough that victory came not by his own arm, since that he never spared, -some providential successes, I say, enabled him to get the upper hand of the pagans for a while, and to make his own terms with them, which were, that they should immediately depart out of his coasts. And though they, with that disregard for all good faith, and habitude of mendacity for which these unbaptized wretches are above all unconverted people distinguished, only drew off to London, to ensconce themselves there comfortably through the winter, till the fighting season returned; yet this pause, this breathing-time, was very refreshing to our souls. As sayth good Zacharye, we had "helth fro' oure enemyes, and fro' the honde of alle men that hatiden us;" and we had time to look about us and recover ourselves, and lay our plans, and thresh our corn, and Having lived a removed life the greater number of my days, which were none of the longest, I had indulged in many a dream by day and by night of the deliciousness of a court life, the which I now looked to see verified; but it turned out quite differently from what I had expected, save as regarded Ethelswitha's affection and kindness. In the first place, Alfred the king was king after a very different sort from King Ahasuerus, of whom we are told that he gave a feast unto his people that lasted a hundred and fourscore days; after which, he and his intimates did nothing but drink the sweet and eat the fat for seven days more, under heall-wahrifts of blue, fine linen, and purple. Alfred the king ruled after a very different fashion. Gladlike would he have been, such was now the largeness of his heart and his tenderness for the poor, to have had the wherewithal to feast his subjects, from the greatest unto the least, for a hundred and eighty days, or even for one day,-to have set the wine and ale running, and had an ox roasted whole in every town and thorp. No such days for lavish expenditure had he; more the pity! Every man was thankful for a meal when he got it, without inquiring too curiously when he should have another. Holy Neot, indeed, who was then much at court and for ever preaching to and at the king, did enlarge much on his hardness of heart in not relieving every case of distress that came in his way, and whensoever he had an ache or pain, insisted that it was a judgment upon him; but I trow the good man, who could be both sweet and bitter, rather exceeded in this matter, though with perfect good intention; and, had he himself been in the young king's place, would have found it hard to do more than he did. In truth, who ever did as much, one way and another? He was ever wakeful, ever careful, ever afoot, ever crowding into his little breathing time whatsoever he could for the benefit of his kingdom. When I reached Winchester, I found houses building and rebuilding on all sides; not after the old, rickety fashion, but good, substantial edifices of wood and stone. Every isern-smith and treow-whirta' that was craftlike was secure of full employment and (1) Blacksmith and carpenter, i. e. tree-worker. good wages. Goldsmiths, seolfersmiths, glaziers, and artificers of every description were in high request; and in spite of the troubled times, many came from beyond seas. The certitude and readiness of the king's payment made his integrity esteemed of all. His credit stood high; for even kings are in good or bad credit, like the veriest merchants, according as they pay their bills and keep their promises; and though there was at the outset a hard run upon his exchequer, yet the money went in a circle and came round again. For why? the isernsmiths and stone-masons being punctually paid, could in their turns pay for their meat and drink, instead of running up scores at the ale-thelun; the bakers, brewers, and so forth could pay their taxes and fines in due season, without reviling the collectors or slipping out of sight to hide among their stuff; people that had buried their money and plate dug it up again; and thus, as I say, the coin of the realm was current, and the more fitly for being round instead of clipped, ran merrily back into the treasury. "The rolling halfling doubles as it goes." This is the true end and course of money, in pursuing which, it blesses both giver and receiver. And thus it fell, that all his doings being ordered in the same wise-like and honest spirit, the king came of all men to be relied on; and the confidence in him shortly became such, that most, and at length all the Saxon kings round about him, voluntarily put themselves in subjection under him, ⠀⠀ and made him, in fine, head and master of all England. This bloodless victory over their hearts and minds was dearer to him, I wot, than many a victory over the Danes. He conquered the pagans by the assistance of others: he won his brother kings entirely by what he was. How beit, the more he deserved men's confidence and commendation, the less he seemed to think of his own merits. He never appeared to measure himself by this and that person, or to think, "Of how much | more worth arm I than King Buhred?" or king any other; but to have some invisible, indwelling standard, to which he never could come up. As to his devotions, he not only attended all the daily services of the church, and received the holy communion every morning, but he often arose by night to pray alone and unseen. Now this course of life, so full of | business, care and forethought, had in the space of a few months already made King Alfred a very different man from what he was when he kissed Ethelswitha at the castle gate; and the incessant strain on his mind made him look many years older than he was; so that I was altogether disappointed of regaining the merry companion who had helped me to empty the honey-pot and to tell stories of Morvidus and Goemaggot. In place of this was some one wiser, busier, graver, yet far dearer to those who knew him, of whom it might literally be said, that happy were his men, happy were his servants, which stood continually before him and heard the words of his mouth. As to (1) "Even in the seventh century, Boniface, abbot of Weremouth, procured men from France, who not only glazed church windows, but taught the Anglo-Saxons the art of making glass for windows, lamps, drinking vessels, &c."-Sharon Turner. 3 his thirst for knowledge, it was insatiable. I must confess, that in all this time, he had not yet found leisure to learn to read with anything like fluency, save from a little Psalter he had carried in his bosom from boyhood, the words in which, from continual application to them, he knew at sight. Howbeit, he caused others to read to him continually, myself among the rest, whom he thought fit to commend for a pleasant voice; and hence it cometh that there is no word, even the longest, that I cannot with the utmost certainty read off. This is an accomplishment that Ethelswitha would gladly have shared with me; however, she never gave the same time and mind to it, having so many other ways of pleasing herself and the king, and so many other duties to attend to; nor is there need for a queen to read at sight, or have stæfen-craft like a bishop or abbess. Those wiselike clerks, however, who behoved to be the most frequently exercised in this office, not only on account of their fluency, but of their natural and acquired wisdom, beyond what a woman has any opportunity of ascer taining, whether she has in her or not,-were Werefrith, bishop of Worcester, a man most excellently skilled in holy writ, whom the king employed to translate Pope Gregory's Dialogues into Saxon;-Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, a devout and scholarick man ;— Ethelstan and Werewolf, the king's chaplains, both of them erudite and pious, and of great service to myself in many things, especially in acquiring the rudiments of Latin; howbeit, they were too exclusively churchlike, if an abbess may say so; all, Mercian men ;-Grimbald, provost of St. Omer's;-John the priest;—and last, not least, the king's cousin, holy Neot, who was frequently about the court, scattering seed, as he said, by the way-side, and trying to make the dry bones live. I remember, in special, one evening, when the king was indisposed and lying on his couch, after having been bled by advice of his leech, we heard a bustle without, and, on asking at the king's desire what it meant, were told that Neot had just arrived. He had come, not with any pomp or retinue; but afoot, like the holy apostles, after preaching by the way in towns, villages, castles, and in the open country: as it is written, “A mule for the priest, a mare for the bishop, and his own sandalled feet for the saint." There was never any assumption of sanctity about him, but the good man had a kind of natural dignity of carriage, and a mien which carried with it the beauty of holiness whether he would or no; add to which, he had a penetrating yet gentle look, a clear skin, a good eye, and something in his general aspect that was very engaging. Though he took no more heed to his looks than a man of his age and profession was likely to do, yet nature kept her own; and the goodness of his aspect, which spare living improved rather than impaired, was the true counterpart of the disposition that dwelt within. He was wont, by reason of his constant prayerfulness, (2) "Clerc he was good enow, an' yet, as telleth me, He was mo' than ten years old ere he conned his a, b, c." (3) The art of letters. (4) We have no means of comparing this account with the life of Neot in the Cottonian Manuscripts.. wherever he sate, unconsciously to hold his hands turned | to a man, animated with faith and courage. up on his knees; as, indeed, I have read, was the habitude of another good man, to wit, King Oswald, who died praying for his enemies: whence the common and well-known proverb, "Lord, have mercy on their souls! as quoth Oswald, falling to the ground." Holy Neot, being brought, at the king's commandment, into the royal chamber, cried, "My son, I am grieved to find you ill at ease; they have acted indiscreetly to use the ader-seax1 on the fourth day of the new moon, which, we have Archbishop Theodore's word for it, is highly dangerous. However, our prayers may avert the evil consequences, as did those of good Bishop John in the case of the nun Coenberga. I had hoped to find you sufficiently at ease to take pleasure in hearing me read some portion of the manuscript of the venerable Bede, which you charged me to procure for you." "Have you brought it?" cries the king, half raising himself on his couch, "begin at once then, if it liketh you; for, if it doth not find me easy, it may leave me so. Let me look at it, and handle it a little, though I cannot read it." Thereupon Neot took the book, which was a thick one, from his vest, and stepped with it to the king, who turned it over and over, and then gazed on it awhile, with much complacence; and I observed the contraction of his brow gradually disappear as he did so; nor did it return all the while Neot was with us. So precious is the love of letters, even though it be a love without knowledge, in its power of taking us out of ourselves! The good Neot, after a little prefatory discoursing, commenced reading with great unction: the king insisting on his sitting upon a set at his side. The outset I did not much note; there was somewhat, I remember, about the pains the venerable man had been at to secure information, orally and in writing; and much about the shape and size of this our island, its being stocked with game and fowls, grain, vines, and all manner of trees; and its being engirt with salt seas, containing seals, dolphins, whales, and all manner fishes. After this, came somewhat about the landing of Julius Cæsar; and this and that battle; and this and that heresy; and at length the writer behoved to tell how the Britons, sore prest by their enemies the Picts and Saxons, (that's ourselves,) sent to Gaul to request aid of good Bishop Germanus. What followed, was very savoury and edifying. It seems that it was about Lent, when the good Bishop came over; and he took advantage of that holy season to ply the people much with exhortations and sermons; insomuch that they, pricked at heart for their ungodliness and departure from the faith, flocked in crowds to him to be baptized. A little rusticall church was hastily erected of wattles and green boughs in the midst of the camp; the soldiers were foremost among the newly converted; and, whereas they were of late the victims of despondency and despair, they now were, (1) Vein-knife, i.e. larcet, which they used very clumsily. The scouts announcing the immediate approach of the enemy, Germanus declared to the Britons that he himself would be their leader. He viewed the country round about, and drew up his inexperienced troops in a hilly field, still known as Maes Garmon, the field of Germain. A multitude of fierce enemies soon appeared, whom, as soon as Germanus descried, making for the field in orderly array, he instructed his men simultaneously to repeat his war-cry, whatever it might be, in a loud voice, directly he should give the word; and, the enemy advancing securelike, as thinking to take them by surprise, the bishop thrice cried out "Hallelujah!" The hills immediately sent back the echo of his men's voices on all sides, which reverberated from rock to rock, and made it seem as though every cleft and chasm held its ambush of warriors; nay, as though the very skies took up the cry: and the enemy, struck with sudden dread, and believing themselves hemmed in by an innumerable multitude, fled in disorder, casting away their arms as they went, that they might run the lighter. Many were swallowed up by the river which lay across their path, into which they madly cast themselves in their precipitate and witless flight; and their spoils were gathered up by the Britons, who remained masters of the field, without the loss of a single man. "I think, my son," says Neot, closing his book, that, not to speak irreverently, here is one of the finest victories related in history, since Jehoshaphat went forth with his people against the army that was like the sand on the sea-shore for multitude. And yet how little we hear it talked of, now! Just because the Britons beat us, and we Saxons were beaten. May many such a victory as this,-undertaken, I mean, in the same faith and spirit, be written in our annals!" "And did the Saxons make no head against them afterwards?" inquired the king. "By no means," returned Neot. "The man of God, having thus won the day by faith without force, settled the affairs of the island and established general tranquillity. He then left the country, followed by the blessings of a re-converted and grateful people. Is it not in Bede ?" "I wish I could beat the Danes as easily," quoth the king. "I believe I might cry Hallelujah to them throughout the longest day, without making any impression on them." "Germanus did not cry Hallelujah to them," returned Neot, "it was in a very different quarter, my son, that he looked to make an impression. We read, in Chronicles, of the sun's ruddy shining on pools of water being made the instrument of salvation to a people that called on their God. Another time, a great host was discomfited by the sound of a going in the tops of some mulberry-trees." "What was that other victory you were speaking of," interrupted the king, "that was obtained by a man with a long name?" 1 "Jehoshaphat, king of Judah," returned Neot. | knowledge, much holiness, must sleep little, cat little, "A man of God obtained access to him, and bade him have no fear of the multitude that was coming up against him; for,' quoth he, the quarrel is not yours, but the Lord's. To-morrow morning, go down against them, as they come up by the cliff:-you will find them at the end of the brook, hard by the wilderness—and ye shall have no need to fight your own battle. You have kept unto God, and he will keep unto you. Stand still, when you have set yourselves in array, and ye shall see what is the manner of his salvation, when he takes a matter in hand.' So the king did as he was bidden. In the grey of the morning, he stood by the wayside overlooking his host, as it filed past him, twelve hundred thousand strong, in orderly array, every man hearty, faithful, and full of cheer; and, quoth he, 'Hear me now, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and so shall ye be established: believe also in his prophets, and so shall ye prosper.' And so, then he placed in advance of them the singers unto the Lord, who went forward praising the beauty of holiness; and when the enemy came in sight, the singers burst forth in a chorus that was re-echoed by twelve hundred thousand men, For his mercy endureth for ever!' With one accord fled their chemies. Happy the land that has a godly king!" "And happy the king, Jew or Christian," rejoins King Alfred, "that has the Lord for his God. If I ever obtain any considerable advantage over these poor pagans, for as evil as they be, I will baptize every head of them, and stand sponsor for them myself. I would sooner they were converted than confounded." Another time, I remember the king said he should like his people to hear the Scriptures read in their own torgue, at every market-cross; nay, to be able to read them for themselves, beside their own hearths; and he thought the time might come, though not in his days, yet sooner or later, nevertheless. Holy Neot and he argued this point at some length. If I went into their various discourses at large, I should never have done. Also many of his briefer and more familiar colloquies with myself are all in my heart, but need not to be set down, save here and there by the way. For example, I remember expressing unto him one day my surprise that he was up and doing, so many hours in the twenty-four; and said, "How is it, my brother, that you need sleep so little?" After a moment's thought, he replied, "Perhaps, because I eat so little!" "But how is it you need to eat so little?" drink little, and moreover, talk little of foolish matters: howbeit, to talk with such men as Neot and Plegmund is nearly or quite as good as reading wiselike books. Hold it for sooth, Ethelfleda, that we Saxons commonly feed too heavily, women as well as men: and, if you would neither sleep heavily, nor pray heavily, nor have heavy eye, heavy tongue, heavy thought, heavy heart, nor heavy foot, continue to fare as lightly as you do now. And this I say," added he laughing, "not out of regard to saving my bread and cheese!" It is not to be thought strange of me, that I should dwell somewhat at large on the history of this winter, which, for happiness and unhappiness, was the most eventful of my whole life. I read and studied much under the king's chaplains, and learned by rote many long Saxon and Latin poems, both sacred and secular; to wit, some of Bede's hymns and epigrams, Aldhelm's Acrostic in hexameters to the Abbess Maxima; certain portions of his poem wherein he describes and lauds forty-four female characters, who led single lives; a few rhymed hexameters addressed to Boniface by an Anglo-Saxon lady, named Leobgitha, and chiefly remarkable, I think, for being written by a woman; some verses by Cœna, which rhyme in the middle of each line-an ingenious trick, and no more-some much prettier and simpler rhymes to Aldhelm, by a pupil who loved him much, running thus,— "Vale, vale, fidissime, Also that pleasing religious sonnet of Alcuin's, beginning, "Qui cœli cupit portas intrare patentes;" and another on death, beginning, "O mortalis homo," which I admire as much now, as I did then; but, prettiest of all, his address to his cell, on leaving it for the world. I think his description of his reluctance to leave that peaceful retreat, embowered in lilies and roses of his own planting, with apple-trees in blossom, full of singing birds, and with meadows gently sloping to the water-side, spread with fishermen's nets, and shut in by a little wood-had something to do with my falling in love with the idea of a religious life. I also read the Song of Judith, the life of St. Cuthbert, and of sundry pious women. . . a little, but not much of the Bible, which I have since deeply regretted I was not then put in the way of reading more of. But I read whatever my tutors chose for me: at first, chiefly to please the king; and afterwards, to relieve my mind of certain dull thoughts and useless wishes, for which, indeed, there is no remedy like study. If I were to mention all the good offers of marriage I had during this winter at court, you, whoever you may be, who are now reading this Chronicle, would certainly be surprised. In truth, I never had a grain of vanity in my composition; or else, when I have |