recover London from the Danes. No details are given either by Asser or the Chronicle, which would enable us to judge how long it took, or at what cost it was done. But in 883 Alfred "sat down against the army at London." The siege was probably long, and evidently of doubtful issue, for during it he vowed that he would send alms to Rome, and to St Thomas, and St Bartholomew in India, in the event of success.1 It was three years later before the king was so far master of the situation as to begin to rebuild London. In the year 886 "Alfred," says Asser, "after the burning of cities and the slaying of the people, honourably rebuilt the city of London, and made it again habitable. And all the English submitted to him, except those who were under the bondage of the Danish men; and then he committed the town to the keeping of Æthelred, the ealdorman of Mercia."2

Alfred's work of restoration left its mark on the city. The Roman walls had been partly destroyed and allowed to fall into decay. He had them rebuilt with the material he found nearest to his hand, for his quarry appears to have been the church of St Alban, which an earlier Saxon king had built. He reconstructed the bridge which

1 English Chronicle, 883.

2 English Chronicle, 889. Æthelred was husband to Alfred's daughter Æthelflaed, the Lady of the Mercians.

joined the northern and southern shores of the river, and to defend the bridge built a tower at the south-east corner of the restored wall. It was on the site of this tower that William the Conqueror, approving Alfred's judgment, established what is still known as the Tower of London. One road was driven diagonally from the bridge across the market to Westgate, now Newgate, and a second to a gate opening towards the north and east, still known as Bishopsgate. The corn market, where there was a weighing stone for wheat, stood to the west of the Cheap, or market - place, and a road was laid out along the north side of the Cheap, which is still called Cheapside.

The effects of this bold constructive piece of work were manifold. London defended by walls became impregnable against the Danes. Instead of being the starting-point of an attacking force and a place of retreat in case of need, as it had been, from that day to this London has never been taken by a foreign power. The Thames was only a little less important to England than the Nile is to Egypt; it was a great water highway into the heart of the country. The possession of London made it easy to hold the Thames, and to hold the Thames was to protect Kent, Wessex, and Mercia.1 It was all-important for England that

1 Cf. Article "Alfred and the Arts." Bowker's "King Alfred."

London was now brought into connection, commercial and racial, with Wessex; and that it began to assume its destined position as the commercial centre of English life. The service which a king renders to his people by giving them a national capital is inestimable. It is another item in Alfred's claim to be the King David of England. The service by which David, more than any other king, helped to create in Israel a vivid national consciousness was the capture which gave it Jerusalem for its brain and heart. London has had all the perils of Jerusalem, and has fallen into most of them, but it has also had a good many of its glories. Its history and geographical position marked it out for England's capital; to Alfred belongs some of the credit of giving it the opportunity to fulfil its destiny.

§ 4. SHIPS

"The founder of a navy is not the man who builds ships so much as the man who makes seamen."-The Note-Book.

"On sea-power and school-power the future of this nation depends."

During the years of peace Alfred never forgot that he must prepare to defend Wessex at sea as well as on land. Every year hammer and saw were kept busy along the coast, and sea-going Frisians were employed to teach the men of Wessex

There

how to build and manage their craft. The king's quick grasp of a situation had suggested to him that even on their own element he might outdo the Northmen. Their boats were built for carrying their crew of Wikings, not for fighting at sea. they were safe, for hitherto no nation had ventured to meet them, except on land. Alfred saw that with larger and heavier ships, high enough to overreach them, and strong enough to bear them down, his men, though inferior seamen, might be more than a match for the Wikings.

Under the year 897 the English Chronicle records that "King Alfred commanded long ships to be built to oppose the ashes [Danish ships]. They were fullnigh twice as long as the others; some had sixty oars, and some had more; they were both swifter and heavier, and also higher than the others. They were shapen neither like the Frisian, nor the Danish, but as it seemed to him they would be most efficient."

The other events recorded under this year indicate that the ships had been built before, and were ready to go to sea at short notice. As this is the first naval engagement recorded in detail in English History, and the account may have been dictated by Alfred, and was certainly written under his immediate direction, it is worth giving the entry in the Chronicle in full:

"Then there came six ships to the Isle of Wight, and there did much harm, as well as in Devon, and elsewhere on the sea coast. Then the king commanded nine of the new ships to go thither, and they obstructed their passage from the port towards the outer sea [they caught them in the Solent, and blocked the exit]. Then went they with three of their ships out against them; and three lay in the upper part of the port in the dry for the men were gone ashore. Then took they two of the three ships at the outer part of the port, and killed the men. [So far they were entirely successful.] And the other ship escaped; in that also the men were killed except five: they got away because the other ships (i.e. Alfred's) were aground. And they were aground very awkwardly: three lay aground on that side of the deep on which the Danish ships were aground, and all the rest upon the other side, so that no one of them could get to the others. But when the water had ebbed many furlongs from the ships, then the Danish men went from their three ships to the other three which were left by the tide on their side, and then they fought against them. [This was a spirited and skilful move for the Danes to take the offensive, and evidently threw Alfred's men into confusion. The Danes loved a fight. Alfred's men had relied on their ships, but had not somehow been able