of their countrymen, supported another combat with the English at Merton,* and, after a well-disputed contest, remained masters of the field. In this battle Ethelred was mortally wounded; and his death, which shortly followed, removed the barrier which precluded Alfred from the throne. Some children of his elder bro ther were still alive; but the crisis was too awful for the nation to permit the sceptre to be wielded by the hand of a trembling infant. The nobility assembled, and, with the approbation of the people, chose Alfred for their King. It is intimated, that he acceded to the request of becoming his brother's successor with hesitation; and, indeed, every evil which can corrode human happiness, seemed about to surround the proffered diadem. It was a crown taken up from the field of defeat, dropping with a brother's blood; and accordingly, when Alfred accepted it, he began a new life of anxiety, shaded for some time with the deepest gloom of misfortune. The fiercest and most destructive succession of conflicts which ever saddened a year of human existence, distinguished that of Alfred's accession with peculiar misery. The circle of destruction which environed him, began to contract, and all the causes of ruin were accumulating to overwhelm him. The West Saxons had maintained eight pitched battles against the Danes, with their own population, besides innumerable skirmishes. Many thousands of the invaders fell, but their ranks were as continually recruited by fresh arrivals. Within a month after Alfred had accepted the crown, the Danes attacked his troops at Wilton with such a superiority of force, that all the valor of patriotism was unable to prevent defeat. Wearied with these depopulating conflicts, Alfred made peace with his enemies, who quitted his dominions, and marched to London. The conduct of Alfred during the seven succeeding years of his reign was inexplicably strange. An unwise, temporising policy appears to have governed his actions. He saw the Danes in motion every where around him, successively subduing and laying waste the fairest portions of the island, without taking those mea sures * Probably Merton in this county. See Turner's Anglo Saxons, Vol. II. sures of precaution which reason must have suggested to be necessary. He was witness to their frequent breach of engagements, and yet had the weakness to confide in their protestations. Every. new insult, and every additional act of perfidy, was commuted by fresh oaths, and an increase in the formalities of abjuration. The Monarch at this season appears to have been deficient both in vigi lance and vigor; and the only plan discernible in his conduct, was. to gain momentary repose. An interval of tranquillity was certainly. obtained, but it was a delusive slumber upon the precipice of fate. The time, however, was arrived, when all the latent energies of the hero's character were to be roused into action. The dormant powers of his soul were to be awakened by adversity, and the dazzling rays of his incomparable genius were to shine upon the world in the full glow of meridian splendor. ALFRED was compelled to become a fugitive and a wanderer. The circumstances which led to this extremity are so extraordinary, that it is difficult to comprehend them. The Danes invaded Wessex; and the country of an active, powerful Monarch falls undefended into their hands. They take possession of Chippenham, in Wiltshire, in January; and between that month and the Easter following, the kingdom was subjugated, and Alfred in concealment. The gloom that hangs over this event is too thick to be dispersed; but, from the admissions of some of his biographers, it appears, that Alfred at this time was not in possession of the confidence of his people. Sir John Spelman, Hume, and others, have intimated, that the population of Wessex was exhausted by the frequency of contest, and "the seven desperate battles" fought in the year 876. But these battles are placed by the unanimous agreement of every repu table chronicler in the last year of Ethelred's reign, and the first of Alfred's. Since that period the King had sometimes headed armies; but no sanguinary conflict is mentioned to have ensued in Wessex; and as seven years had elapsed without an important struggle, a third of the juvenile population at Alfred's accession, would, at this period, have obtained the age of courageous manhood. The event, therefore, must have proceeded from other causes. Asser Asser avows his belief that the King's adversity was not unmes rited. The reason which he adduces for his opinion is, “that in the first part of his reign, while yet a young man, and governed by a youthful mind; when the men of his kingdom, and his subjects, came to him, and besought him in their necessities; when they who were oppressed by power, implored his aid and patronage, he would not hear them; he conceded no assistance; he treated them as of no estimation." When Alfred turned a deaf ear to the complaints of his people, he sapped the foundation of his throne. His contempt alienated their affections, and they deserted him in the hour of his need. Alfred vacated the seat of royalty in the garb of a common soldier: he knew not whither to go, nor whom to trust. In his wanderings, he beheld the humble cottage of a swineherd, which he entered, a lonely exile. The feelings of the peasant were interested by his intimations of distress; he gave shelter to the unknown Monarch, and treated him with hospitality. In this retirement, the mind of Alfred was busied in retrospection. He revolved the important events of his life, and contemplated the miseries of his bleeding country. He beheld his people enslaved; himself, an outcast; and, with all the emotions of indignant sensibility, began to meditate on schemes of deliverance, and future security. The place of his retreat was peculiarly fitted to become a military post of the most defensible nature. It was a small spot of firm land, a few acres in extent, environed by water, and impassable marshes,* which had been produced by the conflux of the Perrot and the Thone. Here, assisted by some of his people, to whom he had made himself known, and who acquiesced in his plans, he constructed a long bridge, and upon its western end built a strong fort, which made hostile approaches impracticable. Having secured the place of his residence, and increased the number of his associates, he began an excursive warfare against the enemy. His small band, formidable from union and vigor, assailed * In Somersetshire, since called Æthelingey, and Athelney. assailed the invaders whenever opportunity offered; and though their first attempts were not crowned with success, defeat only augmented their prudence, and called new energies into action. Retiring into their asylum, with a celerity which baffled pursuit, when repulsed by a superior force, they soon harrassed the enemy with hostility in a different quarter. By these expeditions, Alfred furnished himself and his party with sustenance, inured himself to war and skilful generalship, improved in his knowledge of the country, secured the attachment of his friends, provided new resources of character for his future life, collected perpetual intelligence of the motions of the Danes, revived the spirit of the country, and prepared it for that grand exploit which was soon to crown his labors. After several months obscurity, lofty achievements began to occupy the mind of Alfred, and an auspicious incident occurred at this juncture, to fortify his courage, and give reason to his hopes. He was informed that Odun, Earl of Devon, had defeated and killed the daring Hubba, who had blockaded his castle at Kynwith. An immense booty rewarded the victors; but the capture of the magical standard of the Danes, the famous REAFAN, was, to the eye of ignorant superstition, a more fatal disaster than the death of Hubba, or their own destructive defeat. Inspired by this fortunate omen, Alfred formed a scheme for surprising the great Danish army, which still continued in Wiltshire; but, previous to the attempt, inspected their encampments disguised as a harper. His talents excited notice; he was admitted to the royal tables, heard the secret councils of his foes, and beheld their exposed situation, undiscovered. Having regained his retreat, he dispatched messengers to his principal friends in the adjacent counties, announcing his existence, and requiring them to collect their followers, and meet him in military array on the east of Selwood Forest. As the Anglo-Saxons had suffered severely in his absence, the tidings of his re-appearance filled every breast with rapture. All who were entrusted with the secret, crowded enthusiastically to the place of meeting. Having encamped two nights in the field, they rose VOL. I. L on on the third day with the first gleams of the morning, and marched rapidly to Eddington, near Westbury, where the Northern myriads overspread the plains. The Anglo-Saxons rushed on their enemies with an impetuosity which disordered valor was unable to withstand. It was ALFRED who led on the bands of punishment; ALFRED, who seemed to have risen from his grave, to destroy them in his wrath. Astounded at his name and presence, and surprised in all the carelessness of fancied security, the Danes could only oppose the fierceness of the attack, by hasty assemblages of wild tumultuous numbers. But these fell before the skilful assault of the English King. The plain was strewed with their hosts: part fled to a neighbouring fortification, and Alfred was left the master of that important field, which exalted him from the marshes and penury of Æthelingey to the throne of England. The King, with vigorous judgment, followed the Danes to their fortress, and surrounded it so closely that every reinforcement was precluded. Fourteen days the besieged lingered in unavailing distress, and then, oppressed with hunger and famine, and worn down by fatigue and dismay, humbly supplicated the mercy of the conqueror. The clemency of Alfred was equal to his valor; and on this occasion it appears to have been governed by the most refined policy. His comprehensive genius had conceived the magnanimous design of binding them to the peaceful obligations of civilization and Christianity. The immediate conditions which he imposed, were oaths that they should leave his dominions; the delivery of hostages; and an agreement to abandon Paganism, and embrace the tenets of the Christian religion. Gothrum, or Gothrun, the Danish chief, readily acceded to his terms, and was baptized with thirty of his principal officers. Alfred then permitted him to colonize East-Anglia, and settled the limits of their respective territories by a treaty which still exists. The reign of Alfred from his restoration to his death, was wise and prosperous. The great object of his care was to fortify his kingdom against hostile attacks. He rebuilt the cities and castles 1 which |