Page images
PDF
EPUB

1

PREFACE.

IN the year 1849 a festival was held at Wantage to celebrate the Thousandth year since the birth of KING ALFRED THE GREAT. In consequence of that meeting the whole works of that great king were published in English, with Preliminary Essays, illustrative of English History during the Ninth Century. A limited number of that JUBILEE EDITION having been issued to suit the number of Subscribers, the work is now out of print; but as many persons, who had not procured a copy of the Works, were desirous of obtaining the Preliminary Essays, the most important of these are now issued in this volume. They will be found to contain a perfect and authentic history of the fifty years of King Alfred's life, and to furnish an insight into the literature and manners of that age which the greater brevity of complete Histories of England, written by modern authors, fails mostly to convey.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »