lation, forming the higher classes of the Danish warriors."

By these measures they commanded Northumbria and Mercia, and then attacked Lincolnshire, or Lindesey, as it was then called.

A town in that county still bears a name which it took after a terrible battle, in which the men of Lincoln fought bravely, and killed three Danish kings. It has since been called Trekingham. But, as we have seen before, bravery was of no avail when directed against the vast multitudes who were ready at once to fill the places of the slain. Five more kings, and five jarls, or earls, shortly after arrived, and they and their followers ravaged Lindesey without pity. It had five monasteries: Croyland, Medhamstede (afterwards Peterborough), Thorney, Ramsay, and Ely: all these were levelled with the ground, and who can tell the terror and misery suffered by those who dwelt in them, or the alarm throughout England which must have been felt, where

ever the news was carried by those who had escaped alive out of Lindesey.

One story of the bravery of an East Anglian chief, and of the pitiless cruelty of his heathen enemies, will be enough to show the horrors of this warfare. Edmund of East Anglia, after defending his subjects with great valour, was made prisoner. An old man, who had always attended him as his sword-bearer, gives an account of his death. The Danes bound him to a tree, and after scourging him, shot arrows at him, cruelly taunting him all the while, and tempting him to deny his faith in the Christian religion. Edmund was unshaken by his torments; and at last, one of his persecutors, more pitiful than the rest, gave orders that he should be beheaded. His people were allowed to have his dead body. They buried it privately, and marked the spot. In the course of time, Canute-a Danish king, who renounced heathenism and professed Christianity-had the remains of Edmund moved to a town once called Bad

richesworth, but afterwards St. Edmund's Bury, from a monastery built by King Canute's orders in honour of Edmund.

The sons of Ethelwulf had succeeded their father in regular order. By the year 871, when Ethelred was reigning, the Danes had reached Wessex. Furious battles were fought there; and though the English were often victorious, their victories did them no good, on account of the constant arrivals of fresh reinforcements of the enemy. Ethelred died of a wound received in battle; and now Alfred, Ethelwulf's youngest son, who had so long ago been anointed king, succeeded rightfully to his father's throne.

CHAPTER XV.

ALFRED'S VISIT TO ROME.-ETHELWULF.-QUEEN JUDITH.— MODWENNA OF IRELAND.-ALFRED'S LOVE OF LEARNING. -IGNORANCE AMONG THE PRIESTS.-REASONS FOR THIS IGNORANCE.

ALFRED'S BODILY ACTIVITY. — ALFRED'S

PRAYER AT LISKEARD: HE GATHERS LEARNED MEN AROUND HIM; BEGINS TO TRANSLATE THE SCRIPTURES; ENCOURAGES TRAVELLERS; REGULATES HIS TIME.

ALFRED's first visit to Rome when he was

but five years old, was in nobles of his father's court.

company with He was a child

of much intelligence, besides being good and affectionate; and what he saw in that city of the fine buildings and remains of ancient art, no doubt impressed his mind even at that early age. He would remember, too, the solemn ceremonial in which he knelt before the Pope, and was anointed with oil as a future king-how grave and venerable men stood by, and solemn music sounded, and incense was wafted through the air, and a Power greater than all that his eyes

saw filled his young heart with awe and wonder. And if these impressions faded away, they were revived by another visit to Rome made in company with his father when Alfred was seven years old.

Ethelwulf on this occasion brought a valuable present to the Pope of "a crown of pure gold, two golden vessels called baucas, a sword adorned with pure gold, two golden images, four Saxon dishes of silver gilt, besides valuable dresses."

Ethelwulf was fond of learning, and more fitted for a quiet life than to battle with the Danes. He rebuilt the Saxon school at Rome (founded by Ina) which had been burnt down. "One act which he did at Rome evinces his patriotism and influence, and entitles him to honourable remembrance. He saw that the public penitents and exiles were bound with iron, and he obtained an order from the Pope that no Englishman, out of his country, should be put into bonds for penance.

The next change that Alfred had, was a