The Life and Times of Alfred the Great

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G. Bell, 1848 - 417 pages

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Page 328 - I, then, Alfred, king, gathered these together, and commanded many of those to be written which our forefathers held, those which to me seemed good ; and many of those which seemed to me not good I rejected them, by the counsel of my
Page 77 - He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the people, above all his brothers, and was educated altogether at the court of the king. As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his brothers ; in look, in speech, and in manners he was more graceful than they. His...
Page 277 - For all his bishops, earls, nobles, favourite ministers, and prefects, who, next to God and the king, had the whole government of the kingdom, as is fitting, continually received from him instruction, respect, exhortation, and command; nay, at last, when they were disobedient, and his long patience was exhausted, he would reprove them severely, and censure at pleasure their vulgar folly and obstinacy; and in this way he directed their attention to the common interests of the kingdom.
Page 329 - ... if there be writing or witness that it was forbidden by those men who at first acquired it, and by those who gave it to him, that he should do so ; and then let that be declared in the presence of the king and of the bishop, before his kinsmen.
Page 360 - North-humbria; and they who were moneyless procured themselves ships there, and went southwards over sea to the Seine. Thanks be to God, the army had not utterly broken down the English nation ; but during the three years it was much more broken down by the mortality among cattle and among men ; and most of all by this, that many of the most eminent king's thanes in the land died during the three years...
Page 264 - John, t also priest and monk, a man of most energetic talents, and learned in all kinds of literary science, and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of these men the king's mind was much enlarged, and he enriched and honoured them with much influence.
Page 310 - On a certain day we were both of us sitting in the king's chamber talking on all kinds of subjects, as usual, and it happened that I read to him a quotation out of a certain book. He heard it attentively with both his ears, and addressed me with a thoughtful mind, showing me at the same moment a book which he carried in his bosom, wherein the daily courses and psalms, and prayers which he had read in his youth, were written, and he commanded me to write the same quotation in that book.
Page 332 - ... gratify their desire. But if any one was conscious of injustice on his side in the suit, though by law and agreement he was compelled, however reluctant, to go before the king, yet with his own good will he never would consent to go. For he knew, that in the king's presence no part of his wrong would be hidden...
Page 340 - The third portion was assigned to the school, which he had studiously collected together, consisting of many of the nobility of his own nation. The fourth portion was for the use of all the neighbouring monasteries in all Saxony and Mercia, and also during some years, in turn, to the churches and servants of God dwelling in Britain...
Page 311 - Martin (Nov. 11), and he continued to learn the flowers collected by certain masters, and to reduce them into the form of one book, as he was then able, although mixed one with another, until it became almost as large as a psalter. This book he called his ENCHIRIDION or MANUAL, because he carefully kept it at hand day and night, and found, as he told me, no small consolation therein.

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