singer, adorned with every kind of ecclesiastical discipline and good morals, and most learned in Holy Scripture. He also obtained from thence John, 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.

"Of his fixed purpose of holy meditation, which, in the midst of prosperity and adversity he never neglected, I cannot with advantage now omit to speak. For, whereas he often thought of the necessities of his soul, among the other good deeds to which his thoughts were night and day turned, he ordered that two monasteries should be built, one for monks at Athelney, which is a place surrounded by impassable marshes and rivers, where no one can enter but by boats, or by a bridge laboriously constructed between two other heights; at the western end of which bridge was erected a strong tower of beautiful work, by command of the aforesaid king; and in this monastery he collected monks of all kinds, from every quarter, and placed them therein.

"For at first, because he had no one of his own nation, noble and free by birth, who was willing to enter the monastic life, except children, who could neither choose good nor avoid evil in consequence of their tender years; because for many years previous the love of a monastic life had utterly decayed from that nation as well as from many other nations, though many monasteries still remain in that country; yet, as no one directed the rule of that kind of life in a regular way, for what reason I cannot say, either from the invasions of foreigners, which took place so frequently both by sea and land, or because that people abounded in riches of every kind, and so looked with contempt on the monastic life. It was for this reason that King Alfred sought to gather monks of different kinds to place in the same monastery. First he placed there as abbot, John the priest and monk, an old Saxon by birth, then certain priests and deacons from beyond the sea; of whom, finding that he had not as large a number as he wished, he procured as

many as possible of the same Gallic race, some of whom, being children, he ordered to be taught in the same monastery, and at a later period to be admitted to the monastic habit. I have myself seen a young lad of pagan birth who was educated in that monastery, and by no means the hindmost of them all.

"Another monastery, also, was built by the same king as a residence for nuns, near the eastern gate of Shaftesbury; and his own daughter, Ethelgiva, was placed in it as abbess. With her many other noble ladies, bound by the rules of the monastic life, dwell in that monastery. These two edifices were enriched by the king with much land, as well as personal property."

The Abbey of Athelney has now completely vanished. No trace remains either of the foundations or of the fortifications said to have been erected on the hill. The abbey is said to have been small, but of great magnificence. Relics and fragments have been from time to time dug up, including the famous Alfred jewel, now preserved in the Bodleian at Oxford. Not far from Athelney is a knoll called Borough Bridge. It is higher and steeper than that of Athelney. There are evident marks of former fortifications. On the top are the remains of a cruciform church containing many details of an ancient character. From the base of the hill a causeway led to another knoll near Othery, on which was another fort. It has been suggested that Borough Bridge. was the true site of Alfred's fortified place. I do not know whether the point has been investigated, but it seems certain that where the fortifications were there would be the monastic house as well.

The nunnery of Shaftesbury, on the other hand, had a much more glorious history. Alfred's daughter was, as we have seen, the first abbess.

Athelstan and Edmund Ironside were benefactors to the House. The body of Edward the Martyr was transferred here from Wanham by Dunstan. Pilgrims resorted to the tomb of the martyr, where miracles were continually wrought. In 1001 Ethelred gave the nuns the town of Bradford for a retreat, if necessary, from the Danes. Canute died here. The abbey became one of the richest in England. After the Dissolution the buildings were destroyed, and gradually razed to the ground. But in 1861 excavations brought to light some of the foundations and walls of the house. It would be interesting to continue these excavations, and to recover, if possible, the tombs of the Saxon princes and queens buried within the church.

The extraordinary difficulty in finding monks for this new monastery is very significant. The life of prayer and meditation was no longer attractive; man's pilgrimage had become earthward, not heavenward. The claustral life is only possible when there is a certain reasonable amount of safety. No one can meditate profitably amid flying rumours of a fierce enemy at a few miles' distance burning and murdering and pillaging. In a time of general danger and continual fighting the young and able monk must take up his pike, tuck up his frock, and fare forth to take his share in the defence as much as any ploughboy. To retreat within the walls of a convent amid the clash of arms, while the rest of the people are fighting in the field, seems to the monk's compeers -doubtless it actually is—an act of treason and cowardice. Therefore, when the Religious Orders were dispersed and their houses burned, we may readily believe that many monks exchanged the

frock for the leathern jerkin, and the Book of Hours for the pike. And we may still more readily understand that when a new monastery was built on the ruins of the old, the fighting men held aloof from it, and refused to enter it. Dunstan, when he rebuilt Westminster, a little later, had the same difficulty.

As regards the laws which concern religion, I will speak of them soon, and as regards the scholars whom he invited to his Court, I will also speak later on.

Returning to Alfred's personal piety, he re

solved, whenever he could-that is, whenever he was not on a campaign-to give to the service of God half the day. It is not quite clear what he meant by the service of God. To modern ideas,

View of Interior, showing very remarkable Chancel Arch
and Entrance.

the daily business of king, judge, and commanderin-chief may be, and should be, a far nobler and higher form of service than a form of prayer in a church, while one can hardly believe that the king could possibly devote twelve hours out of the