marched to Derbyshire; and there, at the town of Repton, took up their winter-quarters.

In the next year (A.D. 875) an army of Danes, under Halfdane, conquered Northumbria, and divided the mass of its territory among his followers, who, settling there, and intermarrying with the Anglo-Saxons, became so mixed with them as almost to form one people. While Halfdane was thus employed, another army, commanded by three kings as they were called, marched upon Cambridge, which they fortified and made their winter-quarters. By this time the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, and East Anglia were obliterated, and the contest lay between the Danes and Alfred's kingdom of Wessex.

In the year 876 the Danes, who had wintered at Cambridge, took to their ships and carried the war into Wessex. They landed on the coast of Dorsetshire, surprised the castle of Wareham, and desolated the neighbouring districts. In the interval of the peace, however, Alfred had conceived an idea which may be considered as the commencement of the naval glory of England. On establishing themselves in the country the Saxons had neglected sea affairs, but Alfred determined to devote his attention to them. He set afloat a small flotilla, and in its very first encounter with the enemy it proved victorious, attacking a Danish squadron of seven ships, taking one, and putting the rest to flight. The Danes now again treated for peace, and swore by their golden bracelets, which with them was a solemn form of oath, that they would evacuate Wessex. Alfred insisted that they should swear upon the relics of some Christian saints, and they took this double oath; but the very next night they fell upon Alfred unexpectedly near Winchester. He himself had a narrow escape; the horsemen who were in attendance upon him were nearly all dismounted and slain, and the Danes, seizing their horses, hastened towards Exeter. Their plan now was to take Alfred in the rear of his stronghold in the west of England and again to rouse the people of Cornwall against the Saxons. A formidable Danish fleet sailed from the Thames to reinforce the troops in Devonshire, but a storm which arose caused the wreck of half of it, and the other half was destroyed by the Saxon fleet that blockaded the Exe. By this time Alfred had invested Exeter with his land forces, and Guthrun, the Danish king, who held that town, capitulated, gave hostages and oaths, and then marched into Mercia.

By the old writers the Danes were called "truce breakers," and they well deserved their name. No sooner had Guthrun retreated from Exeter than he began to prepare for another war. He fixed his head-quarters at the city of Gloucester; the broad and fertile lands around which he distributed among his warriors. A winter

campaign had been hitherto unknown among the Danes; but on the first day of January, 878, Guthrun gave orders to his warriors to meet him at an appointed place. Alfred was then at Chippenham, a strong residence of the Wessex kings, and on the feast of the Epiphany, or twelfth-night, when the Saxons were celebrating that festival, he heard that Guthrun and his Danes were at the gates. Thus surprised, he could offer but a feeble resistance; many of his followers were slain; the foe burst into Chippenham, and Alfred with a little band escaped to the fastnesses of the moors. The Danes now rode over the kingdom of Wessex in triumph: no army was left to oppose them, and, while numbers of the population fled to the Isle of Wight, the rest submitted to the conquerors,

Alfred sought refuge in Somersetshire; but, although the people of that country generally remained true to his cause, he was obliged to hide in fens and coverts, for fear of being betrayed to his enemy Guthrun. His hiding-place was near the confluence of the rivers Thone and Parret, in a tract of country still called Athelney, or the Prince's Island. This tract was then covered by a dense wood, and was the secluded haunt of deer, wild boars, wild goats, and other beasts of the forest. The sustenance of Alfred and his little band in this wild place depended merely upon hunting and fishing and the spoils they could make by sudden forays among the Danes. Several incidents have been related as having occurred to Alfred while in this seclusion. In one of his excursions, says the monk Asser, he took refuge in the cabin of a swineherd. One day the herdsman led his swine to pasture, and the king remained in the hut. On this occasion the wife of the swain prepared some loaves of bread and set them to bake among the ashes on the hearth. Alfred was busied by the fire, making ready his bows and arrows, when on a sudden the woman beheld her loaves burning. She ran hastily and removed them, and reproaching Alfred for his negligence, exclaimed, "You man! You will not turn the bread you see burning, but you will be glad enough to eat it ;" a reproof to which the king quietly submitted. From his retreat in Athelney Alfred maintained a correspondence with some of his faithful adherents, and by degrees a few bold warriors gathered round his standard in that islet. Between the Easter and Whitsunday following his flight he saw hopes of emerging from his obscurity. The men of Somersetshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Hampshire resorted to him, and Alfred was soon able to meet his foes. An important event, too, favoured his cause. Hubba, a Danish king, in attempting to land in Devonshire, was slain, with many of his followers, and their magical banner, a raven, fell into the hands of the victorious Saxons.

Emboldened by this circumstance, Alfred determined to commence decisive operations, but he desired previously to ascertain the precise force and condition of the army under Guthrun, and to obtain this information he put himself in great peril. The enemy had formed a permanent camp at Yatton, near Westbury, and into this Alfred entered in the habit of a wandering minstrel, and while he amused the Danes with songs he noticed their sloth and negligence, and heard much of their councils and plans. On his return to Athelney he sent messengers to all quarters, requesting the trusty men of Wessex to meet him in arms at Egbert's Stone, which was on the east of Selwood Forest. The summons was obeyed, and in a general battle at Ethundune, now Yatton, which ensued, the Danes were defeated.

Guthrun retreated with the remnant of his army to a fortified position, but in fourteen days he was compelled to accept the conditions offered by Alfred, which were indeed very liberal. Guthrun was to evacuate all Wessex, and to be baptized; on consenting to which, an extensive cession of territory was to be made to him and the Danes. These terms were accepted, and Guthrun was baptized, Alfred answering for him at the baptismal font, loading him with presents, and conferring on him the Saxon name of Athelstane. After being entertained for twelve days as Alfred's guest, he and his followers departed, and were allowed to settle in the eastern part of England as peaceable colonists. Whatever were the inward convictions of Guthrun, or the sincerity of his conversion, he was certainly captivated by the merits of his conqueror, and ever afterwards continued Alfred's faithful friend and ally. The Danes acquired habits of industry and tranquillity, and gradually adopted the manners and customs of more civilised life.

About the time that Alfred effected the conquest of his old enemy he invited Asser, the monk of St. David's, to his court o camp, that he might profit by his learning; and arrangements were made between them that Asser should pass half his time in his monastery and the rest of the year at court. With Asser the king conversed and read all such books as he possessed; their friendship continued unbroken till death; and when Alfred died the honourable testimony was read in his will, that Asser was a persoi. in whom he had full confidence.

It was some time before Alfred could give himself up to quie enjoyments and to the improvement of his people; for, though. Guthrun was faithful, hosts of marauding Danes continued to cross from the Continent and infest our island. In 879 a large army came and wintered at Fullanham, or Fulham; but finding no encouragement from their kindred, they passed in the spring over to Flanders. In the year 885, while the Danes were besieging the city of Paris,

D

Alfred rebuilt and fortified the city of London, which he committed to the care and custody of his son-in-law Ethelred. For seven years his country enjoyed tolerable repose; and during this time he was employed in strengthening it and bettering the condition of his people. In the year 893, however, the Danes once more turned the prows of their vessels towards the British shores. A famine raged in Flanders, where they had been employed, and they longed for the corn and fatted beeves which then abounded in England.

The Danish fleet consisted of 250 ships, every one of which was full of warriors and horses. The invaders landed near Romney Marsh in Kent, on the eastern side of a great wood; and, after towing their ships four miles up a small river and taking a fort, they proceeded to Apuldre, or Appledore, where they intrenched themselves in a strongly-fortified camp. About the same time Hasting, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, entered the Thames with another division of ships, and landed at Milton, where he also threw up strong intrenchments. For some time the Danes contented themselves with scouring the country in foraging parties, and Alfred, who had made every exertion to meet the danger, could not bring them to a battle, though he took up his position between Hasting and the other division of the Danes, and by this means kept asunder the two armies, watching for an opportunity of attacking either, should they quit their intrenchments. The Danes were by his vigilance confined to their camp, and Hasting at last resolved to make his escape. By a sudden manœuvre he passed Alfred and penetrated into Surrey; but he was defeated at Farnham, and the remains of his forces fled for refuge to the Isle of Mersey. In this position the Danes remained blockaded for some time, but Alfred was called away from them by an invasion of the Danes of East Anglia, who with two fleets had proceeded along the coast as far as Devonshire and laid siege to Exeter. Leaving a part of his army on the confines of Essex, he mounted the rest on horses and hastened to the west, whither victory followed him; and the Danes were driven to their ships with great slaughter.

During Alfred's absence Ethelred, his son-in-law, laid siege to the Danish fortified post of Benfleet in Essex, broke into it, and took captive the wife of Hasting and his two sons. Alfred, on his return, was advised to put them to death; but, with Christian magnanimity, he set them at liberty, and sent them back to the Danish chief. Hasting, however, could not appreciate this generous conduct. By this time he had thrown up another intrenchment at South Showbury in Essex, and being reinforced, he sailed up the Thames, and thence spread the mass of his forces into the heart of the kingdom. From the Thames he marched to the Severn, and fortified himself at Buttington. Here he was surrounded by Alfred,

who was joined by the men of North Wales, and in a short time the supplies of the Danes were cut off. Famine stared them in the face, and Hasting was compelled to issue from his intrenchments and meet his enemy. A terrific battle took place, in which the Danes were defeated: hundreds were slain in the attempt to break through Alfred's lines; many were drowned in the Severn; and the rest, headed by Hasting, effected their escape, and took refuge in their ships on the coast of Essex.

During the winter that followed his defeat on the Severn Hasting was reinforced, and in the spring he again burst into North Wales; but, after ravaging part of that country, he was met by a royal army and compelled to march to the north-east. After traversing Northumbria, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, he regained his fortified post at South Showbury in Essex, where he wintered. Early in the spring he drew his ships up the River Lea, securing them by a fortress erected about twenty miles to the north of London. Here he successfully resisted the attacks of Alfred during the summer, but in the autumn Alfred contrived to turn the channel of the Lea, and Hasting's fleet was left aground and useless. Hasting fled, and, while the citizens of London seized his grounded fleet, Alfred followed him. Alfred found his enemy in a fortified position at Quartbridge in Shropshire, and he was compelled to leave him there during the winter. By this time Hasting had learned that his power was of no avail against the genius and energy of Alfred, and in the following spring of 897 he abandoned his camp; and, while some of his followers sought shelter among their brethren in Northumbria, Norfolk, and Suffolk; some sailed for the Scheldt and the mouth of the Rhine, and others, adhering to Hasting, passed over to France. A small fleet was equipped on the eastern coast, and the humbled chieftain crossed the channel without having obtained either profit or honour.

After the departure of Hasting the Danes of Northumbria and East Anglia resumed their piratical enterprises; but in these they were defeated by the Saxons, who, under the direction of Alfred, constructed larger vessels than those of the enemy. By this means he conquered the sea-kings, as the Danes were called, on their own element. Alfred was the first British monarch who possessed an efficient navy; at the end of his reign his fleet exceeded the number of one hundred sail. These vessels were divided into squadrons, and stationed at different ports round the island, while some kept constantly cruising round the coasts.

During the excursions of Hasting England suffered greatly from his ravages. Nor were these the only calamities which the country endured at this period. "For three years the land was vexed with three manner of sorrows, — with war of the Danes,