Christians. He was moved with pity, and said that if they were Christians, they would be Angels, not Angles.

Gregory afterwards became Pope, and he did not forget the little children he had seen, but sent a priest named Augustine over to this country to teach the people to leave their idols, and to worship the true God.

In the year of our Lord 596, Augustine with forty other priests landed in Kent. The name of the king of that part was Ethelbert, whose wife Bertha was a Christian. Ethelbert allowed Augustine to preach before him in the open air; and very soon he saw how wrong it was to worship idols, and was baptized in the Christian faith.

The Britons soon followed the good example shown them by Ethelbert, and gave up their false gods, and became Christians.

KING ALFRED THE GREAT.

A.D. 871-901.

THE Heptarchy lasted till the year 827, after which time one king only reigned over the whole country. The first was EGBERT, a brave and wise prince. It was in his days that this island was first called ENGLAND.

During the reigns of Egbert and his sons and grandsons, the DANES, a fierce and warlike people, were in the habit of coming in large ships to burn and rob the villages near the coast; and when ALFRED, who was the grandson of Egbert, came to the throne in the year 871, he found he found many of these Danes settled in various parts of the country.

Alfred was a brave king, and a good and a great man. He was born at Wantage in Berkshire, in the year 849. When he was a little boy, the queen showed Alfred

and his brothers a book with beautiful pictures in it, and promised to give it to the first who should be able to read it. Alfred with the greatest ease won the prize.

Alfred in the first seven years of his reign fought no less than thirty battles. In almost all of these he gained the victory; yet the Danes continued to come from their own country in such great numbers, that Alfred's subjects lost all hope and deserted him; and he was obliged to roam about the country without any followers. While thus wandering, he found refuge in the hut of a cowherd, who did not tell even his wife the rank of their guest. One day, the good dame seeing the King sitting by the fireside making a bow and arrows, bade him attend to some cakes that were being baked while she was busy about other duties. The King, as soon as her back was turned, forgot all about what he was told to do; and when

the good dame came back and found her cakes quite burned, she gave the King a good scolding, and told him he was clever enough at eating cakes, but negligent in attending to them.

Shortly after this, Alfred dressed himself as a harper, and went into the camp of the Danes. He did this to find out how he might most easily attack them. He then gathered a number of his own subjects, and leading them against the enemy, gained a complete victory over them.

Alfred now turned his thoughts to the welfare of his own people. He built again the towns that had been destroyed, he made many wise laws, he opened schools, and he translated the Holy Bible into the language of the country.

He reigned thirty years. He was so good and was esteemed so highly, that to this day he is always called ALFRED The Great.