V.

ed the world, but as to what province he reigned CHA P. in England, and of his former name, we have no satisfactory information; and where this is wanting, no conjecture, however ingenious, can in history be substituted for it. But of his spirit and subsequent conduct the details are clear and

abundant.

NEOT is described to have been a very meek and mild man to have become a monk at Glastonbury; to have visited Rome seven times; and to have retired to a wild solitude in Cornwall, which he afterwards quitted to build a monastery.35 He died before 878. The principal feature in his moral character is the resolution which he formed of copying the predominant virtue of every person in his cloister that had any, the continence of one man, the pleasantness of another, the suavity of a third;

32 So the Claudius MS. intimates: "Neque enim alienus vel i pso genere inferior sanctus erat Neotus: sed ex eodem sanguine creatus rex,” p. 153. One of the inscriptions on the window in his Cornish church was, "Hic tradidit coronam fratri suo juniori." Whit. Neot. p. 74.

33 Ramsay's prose life implies East Anglia, p. 340., and so Leland understood it. Itin. iv. p. 135.

34 Dr. Whitaker's theory is, that he was Ethelstan, the son of Ethelwulph, and king of Kent, p. 73. It is a very spirited conjecture, and not wholly improbable; but Malmsbury has declared that he did not know what end Ethelstan had; and the Saxon life says of Neot, "He was in his youth addicted to book-like learning, and to religious practices, and diligently enquired about the eternal life, and how he might most firmly live for God." MSS. Vesp. This does not exactly suit with Ethelstan's reign in Kent, and battle in 851 with the Danes. See before, vol. i. p. 477. Fordun, who mentions his death in a conflict with the Scots, does not state his earlier authority for this incident. On the whole, we cannot identify the saint with the king as an historical certainty.

35 See the preceding lives, and Whitaker's account.

V.

BOOK the seriousness, humanity, good nature, and love of singing, and of study, in others. Hence the summary of his character is thus transmitted to us: "Humble to all, affable in conversation, mild in transaction of business, venerable in aspect, serene in countenance, moderate even in his walk, sincere, upright, calm, temperate, and charitable." "

It is not extraordinary that such a man should have led the mind of Alfred to favourable impres sions of sincere religion.

It is an agreeable instance of Alfred's good humour, that after his restoration, he was in the habit of narrating to his friends the adventures of his adversity, with lively pleasantry.

37

THERE is one little incident attached to the memory of Alfred, which, as it exists in an author who seems to have been curious in searching into ancient remains 38, may be mentioned here, that nothing concerning so great a man be lost.

ONE day as he was hunting in a wood, he heard the cry of an infant in a tree, and ordered his huntsmen to examine the place. They ascended the branches, and found at top, in an eagle's nest, a beautiful child, dressed in purple, with golden bracelets, the marks of nobility, on his arms. king had him brought down and baptised, and well educated; from the accident, he named the foundling Nestingum. His grandson's daughter is stated

The

36 Ramsay's life, p. 341.; Whitaker, p. 93.; and see his further account, p. 94, 95.

37 Malmsbury, 43.

38 This is Johannes Tinmuth, whose MSS. have not yet been published, though they appear to contain some curious particulars. I find an extract from his history in the Bodleian library, lib. xxi. quoted by Dugdale, Monasticon, 1. p. 256.

to have been one of the ladies for whom Edgar in- CHAP. dulged an improper passion.

WE will close our account of Alfred's moral character by one remarkable trait. An author who lived at the period of the Norman conquest, in mentioning some of the preceding kings with short appropriate epithets, names Alfred, with the simple but expressive addition of "the truth teller"," as if it had been his traditional character.

39 Hermanni miracula Edmundi script. circa 1070. MS. Cotton library, Tiberius, b. ii. It follows Abbo's life of this king. It is very beautifully written. P. 21, he says "Elueredi Veridici." In his epithets of the kings, he seems to have closely followed their traditional biography, for he calls Edred, “debilis pedibus," which is a very marking trait.

V.

V.

BOOK Composition, becomes superior to any that the world or the closet can singly create. Alfred's Boetius in every part displays these excellencies. Its form of dialogue favoured their union. It is clear, easy, animated, attractive, and impressive. It comes the nearest to our present best English prose style of all the Anglo-Saxon prose writings that have survived to us, and entitles Alfred to be considered as the venerable father of our best English diction, as well as our first moral essayist.

WE may close our review of his intellectual character with remarking, as an additional subject for our admiration, that not above two centuries and an half elapsed, between the first appearance of literature among the Anglo-Saxons, and the formation of Alfred's mind. Has any country, within so short a period, produced in itself an intellect amongst its sovereigns, that combined so many excellencies ?

1

WE

CHAP. V.

ALFRED'S Moral Character.

V.

E have contemplated Alfred as the student, CHAP. and the man of literature, and in his public character. Let us proceed to review his conduct in more interesting relations.

To educate our children in the best improvements and noblest virtues of our times, is to perform a duty the most sacred which we owe to society, and its parent. If as reason hopes, and revelation assures us, He, who called man into being, is interested in his concerns, no event can more propitiate his favour, than the gradual improvement of his creation. If one idea can predominate over others in the divine economy of human affairs, it is reasonable to believe, that it must be the plan of our moral and intellectual progression. Whoever leaves his offspring more informed and more virtuous than himself, accelerates this favourite scheme of supreme goodness, and claims the gratitude of society whom he benefits.

ALFRED was a great example to posterity in this path of duty. He was as solicitous to improve his family as himself. He had several children; some died in their infancy.' Æthelfleda,

1 Asser, mentioning his living children, adds, "Exceptis his qui in infantia morte præveniente præoccupati sunt," p. 42. Rudborne mentions that Edmund was his first-born, whom his father had crowned as his intended successor. He died a little before his father, and was buried in the old monastery at Winchester," as appears," says Rudborne, "by his marble on