the nobles, or thanes; the freemen, or ceorles; and the servile, or slave class.

The thanes, who at the beginning had derived their nobility from the Crown, were in fact the chief landowners of the nation. They enjoyed the largest share in the government; as all offices were reserved for them in time of peace, and all posts of command in time of war. The ceorls were for the most part free farmers, who held their lands as freeholds of the thanes. Such lands being called boc-land, that is book or charter land, and so distinguished from folc-land, that is, state or common land. They formed the mass of the population, and were a bold, outspoken race of men. The class of slaves, or thralls, included the farm labourers and household servants, who belonged to the estates on which they were born. These consisted mainly of war prisoners or freemen reduced to bondage for crime or debt. A slave could be made free only at the pleasure of his master, but there was nothing to prevent a ceorl, or freeman, from becoming a thane, if he should become possessed of five hides of land. King Athelstan enacted also that a merchant who had made three voyages should be made a noble.

When Christianity was introduced, many of the harsher features of slavery gradually disappeared. Ægbert of York punished with excommunication the child-stealer, and forbade the sale of children by parents after seven years of age. Æthelstan went further by giving the slave class the same civil rights which were enjoyed by the free. But notwithstanding these efforts on the part of the Church and the king, slaves continued to be held, and were even exported in large numbers. Many of the nobles acquired wealth by the traffic, and it was not until

the reign of the first Norman king, that by the efforts of Wulfstan and Lanfranc, the trade was suppressed, even in its last stronghold, the port of Bristol.

An important institution which prevailed among the Anglo-Saxons was that of frank-pledge. By it every freeman was made, to some extent, his brother's keeper. The whole population was grouped together first into tithings, then into hundreds, and lastly into shires. If a murder, robbery, or other crime were done, the whole tithing was held responsible either to bring the offender to justice, or to make just compensation according to the offence.

Justice was administered regularly in the folk-moot, or court of the hundred, and in the shire-moot, or county-court. In the latter, which was held twice a year, and often in the open air, sat the earl, or governor, of the shire, and sometimes with him the bishop; and all matters were done in the presence of the assembled thanes and freemen, and with their general consent.

Sometimes, when a man was charged with some serious offence, and he still declared himself innocent, he was allowed to make appeal to the ordeal. The accused was either made to carry a piece of red-hot iron for a certain distance, or to plunge his hand into a caldron of boiling water, or to swallow an "accursed morsel" of bread. If he passed through the ordeal uninjured, he was considered innocent; but if otherwise, as condemned by Heaven itself.

It is said that when King Alfred amended the laws of the Mercian king Offa, he prefixed the Ten Commandments and other parts of the law of Moses, which were thus acknowledged as part of the law of the land. In the administration of justice, too, this king

seems to have been a model ruler, for he was never so severe with any, as he was with such of his officers as refused or perverted judgment to any of his subjects. To him, not only was the king "the Lord's anointed," but one so anointed for the good of his people.

Although commerce was encouraged by some of the later kings, yet agriculture was the main occupation of the people. They had large flocks of sheep, as well as herds of horned cattle and swine. Their implements were comparatively few and rude. They used a light onehandled plough; and the barley, of which their bread was mostly made, was ground by a handmill, chiefly by the housewife or her maidens.

The houses were plain but roomy; the walls were generally framed of wood, filled in with plaster or clay. The interior walls were sometimes covered with needlework, the production of the gentlewomen of the household of the thane. The furniture was of a very primitive style. Still, some taste and skill were displayed in wood-carving; they also were expert in the manufacture of trinkets in gold and silver; while their artisans were as expert in making good sword-blades as their warriors were in using them.

Both sexes dressed simply, but in good taste. Their garments were of linen, woollen, and even silken fabrics, and were loose, flowing, and adorned with broad borders, and fastened tastefully by brooches, buckles, and other home-made ornaments. Few head coverings were worn by the men, save the helmet of the warrior. The women paid great attention to their long and flowing hair.

At meals, both sexes sat round the common board. Plainly dressed animal food was that mainly eaten, but

vegetables were not wanting. Ale, mead, and wine-the latter considered a luxury-were freely quaffed. The ale-horn and wine-cup passed rapidly from guest to guest, as each in turn, with voice or harp sang or played for the enjoyment of the company. Hunting and hawking were the amusements of the higher class, as jugglery and rude athletic sports were of the people generally.

Before the time of Alfred, learning was but little cultivated or esteemed. Gildas, Alcuin, Johannes Scotus, but especially the good monk Bedas, or Bede, and King Alfred stand out both as scholars and promoters of learning. Gradually the love of learning grew, especially that of poetry; and it is said that some of our early English kings valued the laurel wreath of the poet as highly as they did their crown. The harp was the national musical instrument, but the pipe and flute were also in use, and some of the richer churches seem to have had a primitive kind of organ; for Bede tells of a tower of pipes, from which, by the blowing of bellows sounds issued as the keys were pressed by the player.

EXERCISES.-I. Define,-Retained, commonwealth, derived, nobility, population, folk-moot, trinket, and assembled. 2. Describe how the English lived a thousand years ago. 3. Say how the laws were administered by the Anglo-Saxons.

A well there is in the west country,

And a clearer one never was seen;
There is not a wife in the west country
But has heard of the well of St. Keyne.

An oak and elm-tree stand beside,
And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below.

A traveller came to the well of St. Keyne;
Joyfully he drew nigh,

For from cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not a cloud in the sky.

He drank of the water so cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he,

And he sat down upon the bank

Under the willow-tree.

There came a man from the house hard by,

At the well to fill his pail ;

On the well-side he rested it,

And he bade the stranger hail.

"Now art thou a bachelor, stranger ? " quoth he,
"For an' if thou hast a wife,

The happiest draught thou hast drunk this day,
That ever thou didst in thy life.