BOOK V. "THOU," quoth Alfred, "my dear son, set thee now beside me, and I will deliver thee true instructions. My son, I feel that my hour is coming. My countenance is wan. My days are almost done. We must now part. I shall to another world, and thou shalt be left alone in all my wealth. I pray thee (for thou art my dear child) strive to be a father, and a lord to thy people. Be thou the children's father, and the widow's friend. Comfort thou the poor, and shelter the weak; and, with all thy might, right that which is wrong. And, son, govern thyself, by law; then shall the Lord love thee, and God above all things shall be thy reward. Call thou upon him to advise thee in all thy need, and so shall he help thee, the better to compass that which thou wouldest." tongue, but a miscellany collection of some later author, who, according to his own faculty, hath, in a broken English, put together such of the sayings of king Alfred, as he met withal.” p. 125. Wanley says, the fragment is in Norman Saxon, "circa tempus Henrici II. aut Richardi I. conscriptum in quo continentur quædam ex proverbiis et apothegmatis Ælfredi regis sapientissimi," p. 231. A copy of the Galba MS. of this work is stated to exist in MS. at Oxford, in the Bodleian Library. 6 Spelman, p. 131. This collection begins thus: "At Sifford seten Thaines manie, Fele Bircoper and fele boc leɲed, Eples prude Knihter egloche. Then pær Єple Alppich of the lage rputh pire, Spo him hepen mihten, hu hi hepe lip leben rcolden. Ibid. p. 127. ÆTHELWEARD became a man celebrated for his CHA P. learning. ALFRITHA obtained an honourable We have mentioned, in a preceding 9 marriage. Baldwin, with the iron arm, count of Flanders, who carried off, with friendly violence, Judith, the widow of Ethelwulf, and of Alfred's brother Ethelbald. The son of this marriage, which the king of France at last sanctioned, was Baldwin the Bald. It was he who obtained the hand of Alfritha; their offspring was Arnulf, 10 who is mentioned with expressions of celebrity, and who succeeded his father in 918." From a descendant of Arnulf was born Mathilda, the wife of William the Conqueror. V. IT is the invariable dictate of benevolence, His arnever to be inattentive to the comforts of others. rangement The 5th article is worth quoting in Spelman's translation. “Thus,” quoth Alfred, "without wisdom, wealth is worth little. Though a man had an hundred and seventy acres sown with gold, and all grew like corn, yet were all that wealth worth nothing unless that of an enemy one could make it become his friend. For what differs gold from a stone, but by discreet using of it?" p. 130. 7 To this son, Alfred, by his will, devised land in seventeen places, beside that of the Weal district, and 500 pounds. 8 Alfred bequeathed to her 100 pounds, and three manors. 9 Vol. i. p. 486. 10 Her relation Ethelwerd, thus speaks of this marriage: "Alfred misit Alfthrythe filiam suam ad partes Germaniæ Baldwino in matrimonium qui genuit ab ea filios duos, Athulfum et Earnulfum; duas filias quoque, Ealshwid et Earmentruth." Prologus Ethelw. p 831. The Chronicon Sithense in Bouquet's Recueil, tom. ix. p. 74., places the marriage in 898. The Chronicon Alberici mistakes both the name and parentage of the lady, for it calls her Ethelwinda, and makes her Alfred's grand-daughter, filiam filiæ suæ. Bouq. tom. ix. p. 61. 11 Bouquet's Recueil, tom ix. p. 152. BOOK Alfred displayed this accomplished temper in his V. arrangement of his household. He divided all his of his offi- noble attendants into three bodies, and he regu cers. He ex lated their personal services with a kind regard to ONE of his allotments, a sixth of his income, he set apart for his warriors and noble attendants; he gave to each according to his dignity and to his services. Another sixth he devoted to the workmen in architecture, whom he collected from several nations. Another sixth he appropriated to foreigners who came to him, whatever might be their country, whether remote or near, whether they claimed his bounty, or awaited its voluntary descent; they received each a portion according to their worthiness, which was given with admirable discretion. 13 THE other half of his revenue was consecrated to religious objects. This he also separated again, and commanded his officers to put it into four shares. One of these, being one-eighth of his whole 12 Asser, 65. 13 Asser, 65, 66. Florence. V. income, was prudently administered to the poor of CHA P. every nation who came to him. In distributing this, he remembered the axiom of pope Gregory; "Give not little to him who needs much, nor much to him who needs little; refuse not to the man who should have something, and give not to him who deserves nothing." Another eighth was paid to the two monasteries he built, for their maintenance. Another eighth was for the school which he had diligently made up from many nobles of his nation. Another eighth was dispersed among the neighbouring monasteries of West Saxony and Mercia. In some years he made donations to the churches and clergy in Wales, Cornwall, France, Bretagne, Northumbria, and Ireland, according to his ability.1 ALFRED was an exact economist of his time, without which indeed nothing great can be achieved. He had not those heralds of its lapse which we can make so minute and exact; but he was sensible, that to do all he projected, he must divide his day, and appropriate every part. THE darkness of the night afforded him no natural means of measuring the progress of the revolving globe; and as clouds and rain often concealed the sun, which is the only chronometer of uncultivated man, he was compelled to frame some method of marking his day into regular intervals. 15 Mechanics were then so little known, 14 Asser, 67. 15 The king of the Francs had an advantage in this respect above Alfred; for, in 807, Charlemagne was presented by the king of Persia with a superb clock. "Horologium ex orichalco, arte mechanica mirifice compositum, in quo duodecim horarum cursus ad clepsydram vertebatur, cum totidem æreis pilulis, quæ ad completionem horarum decidebant V. BOOK either in theory or practice, that Alfred had not the aid of this science, from which most of our comforts, both domestic and political, have arisen. He used a simple expedient: his chaplains, by his orders, procured wax, and he ordered seventy-two denarii of it to be made into six equal candles, each candle to be twelve inches long, which were separately marked. These candles, successively used, lasted through the whole twenty-four hours, and of course every inch marked the lapse of twenty minutes; but sometimes the wind rushing in through the windows and doors, the numerous chinks of the walls 16, or the slender covering of the tents, consumed the candles with undue celerity. To cure this evil, which confused his calcu lation, he thought skilfully and wisely, says Asser"; and the result of this skill and wisdom was the invention of lanthorns. He found that the white horn became pellucid like glass 18, and with this and wood, a case for his candle was (mirabiliter) admirably made. By these schemes, which our clocks and watches make us deride, he obtained what he wanted, an exact admeasurement of the lapse of time. We have not a correct detail of its appropriation. Asser's general statement, that he consecrated half his time to God 18, gives no distinct idea, because we find, that his liberal et casu suo subjectum sibi cymbalum tinnire faciebant ; additis in eodem ejusdem numeri equitibus qui per 12 fenestras completis horis exibant et impulsu egressionis suæ totidem fenestras quæ prius erant apertæ, claudebant." Annales Car. Mag. Astron. p. 35. Reuberi. 16 This is curious language of a royal palace. 17 Consilio que artificiose atque sapienter invento, p. 68. |