posture, holding in each hand a sort of lily-branch in blossom. This figure may be meant to represent St Cuthbert, or even Christ, or it may be simply a king in state attire. The reverse side of the jewel is covered by a plate of fine gold, on which somewhat tastefully and fancifully a flower is engraved. The oval sides are bordered by beaten gold, admirably and durably manufactured, bearing around them the words:

AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN

(Alfred ordered me to be made).

"The letters of this inscription are all capitals, and in their somewhat stiff form agree entirely with the initial letters in the principal parts of the authentic manuscripts of Alfred's time. Still more than the letters the form of the two middle words, by their spelling, bears witness to the age claimed by the motto. At the extreme end, where the crystal and its border join the gold, it is finished by a beautifully worked dolphin's head in gold, whose empty eye sockets must have once contained precious stones, and from whose open jaws a small golden pin protrudes. This probably served as a fastening to a cane, or some ornamental staff, on the point of which the jewel was placed. It may indeed have been a part of the king's sceptre." The perfection 1 This quotation is somewhat abbreviated.

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of workmanship as distinguished from design which is reached in this jewel, gives some justification to the claim that "gold beating and gold gilding with the leaf had been carried in Alfred's time to a perfection never since surpassed." No description quite does justice to the impression made by the jewel. Reproductions almost inevitably make too much of the inlaid design, which is crude and primitive. It is the elaborate and delicate gold work, and the solidity and harmony of the jewel and its setting, which makes it unique and striking. The small jewel close beside it in the Museum shows that it is not a solitary product of the fine workmanship of the period.

We may associate with the goldsmiths' art the coiners'. In the British Museum there are four hundred and fifty-four coins issued in Alfred's reign. Examination of these coins yields some interesting facts which help to fill in the outline of the history of Alfred's people, and to measure the impetus given to the social life of England by the years of peace he secured. The coins give the names of one hundred and thirty-four moneyers. Of these the majority who issue coins in Wessex have Saxon or Kentish names, a few are Frankish and Norse. The king's money is issued at Bath, Canterbury, Exeter, Gloucester, Oxford, Winchester,

1 "Alfred and the Fine Arts." Bowker's "Alfred,” p. 257.

London, and possibly at Lincoln.1 Perhaps Alfred planned what Æthelstan carried out, the multiplication of mint places where his moneyers could go and strike what money was required. Outside Wessex a number of types of coins were produced bearing Alfred's name which witness to the farreaching authority of the king over all of English kin, though they were produced in districts where Alfred cannot have exercised any of the ordinary rights of kingship. These types, produced in East England, Northumbria, and parts of Danish Mercia, may be grouped together as the Wiking coinage. It is of special interest that many of the moneyers who issue these coins appear from their names to be Franks. Such names as Stephen, Walter, Robert, Johannes, Martinus, Remigius, began to appear. probable inference is that the coins were issued by traders, and the majority of these in East England were men of Frankish descent.

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Everything is of importance which points to an increase of commerce, for commerce meant increase of prosperity, increase of communication between one province and another, and the accumulation of sinews of war. It is significant that Alfred first struck half-pence at London, Canterbury, and

1 This is curious if there is no doubt of it. It is suggested that Alfred's family connection with the Gainas may give a clue to the existence of a mint at Lincoln. This is an ingenious suggestion made by Professor York Powell.

Oxford.1 They must have been wanted for some special trade, and are probably due to foreign influence. Alfred's legendary connection with Oxford gives interest to the fact that some of his coins were struck there. The Kentish moneyer of Alfred, Bernwald, opens the series of Oxford moneyers, and nearly all later Oxford moneyers belong to London families. Oxford made an important link in commerce, and place of arms in war, between Mercia and Wessex. When Alfred had rebuilt London, he may very well have done something towards building Oxford. It is probably one of the places which he tried to fortify, but left unfinished, so that, although it cannot be claimed for him that he founded the University, it is quite possible that he was founder of the City of Oxford. His son Edward gave it a fortress, and in less than a century from this time the old line of the city wall, which ran from where New College now stands, past St Michael's, to the tower now within the prison, and then back in the direction of Christ Church and Merton, must have been clearly defined. Two or three of the most interesting types of Alfred's coins may be described:

Type iii.-Inscription arranged to form a cross: in each angle of the cross a compartment containing a trefoil slipped, and the centre square compartment 1 York Powell. Eng. Histor. Review, vol. xi. (1896), p. 765.