leads others astray, it were better for him to end his life in a humble station and in earthly works, for if he do well in these he will have a good reward for it; if he do ill he will suffer less torment in hell if he arrive there alone, than if he bring another with him." So, line upon line, precept upon precept, the great Pastor teaches that Christian character is the sign-manual of the Head of the Church upon His followers, and the true miracle by which the Church lives the miracle of the transubstantiated character.

The passage in the king's introduction to his book which refers to the teaching of young men of gentle birth is of great interest. Asser tells us that in the division of that half of the royal revenue which was devoted to the service of God was a "portion assigned to the school, which he had studiously collected together, consisting of many of the nobility of his own nation." This was obviously, like the school of Charles the Great, a Palatine school which moved about with the king from place to place, for the young men attached to the court. It would be often at Winchester, under the shadow of the old and new foundations already there. Two of Alfred's own children were educated at this court school. "Edward and Ethelswitha, we are told, were bred up in the king's court, and received great attention from their attendants and nurses;

nay, they continue to this day, with the love of all about them, showing affability and even gentle ness towards all; nor among their other studies which appertain to this life, and are fit for noble youths, are they suffered to pass their time without learning the liberal arts, for they have carefully learned the Psalms and Saxon books, especially the Saxon poems, and are continually in the habit of making use of books."1

Something more systematic and organised than the court school seems to be implied in what Asser says about Æthelward, the king's youngest son. He "was consigned to the schools of learning where, with the children of almost all the nobility of the country, and many also who were not noble, he prospered under the diligent care of his teachers. Books in both languages, namely Latin and Saxon, were read in the school. They also learned to write." It is just possible to connect this determined effort of the king to enforce the duty of education with a later development. When the canonical rule came to be recognised, and the secular clergy were ejected from the cathedrals in the tenth century, a special officer was appointed and charged with the instruction of the younger

1 Asser, p. 69. The names of Alfred's children usually given are Eadward, Æthelgifu, Ælfryth, Æthelweard, Æthelflaed. Asser prob. ably means to indicate with Edward the second daughter who afterwards married Baldwin II. of Flanders.

clerks and the young men who were taught along with them. This official is known as the Scholasticus, or schoolmaster, and when he adds to that office the secretaryship of the whole body of canons he is known as the cancellarius or chancellor. As the importance of the school increases, the cancellarius has the right to nominate assistants, who bear the title "rector scholarum," or "magister scholarum." An ingenious suggestion has been made by Dr Hatch that the survival of these names in the University of Oxford may point to the fact that "the dignified position of the Chancellor of the University of Oxford is only the historical continuation of the schoolmaster and secretary of the canons of St Frideswide." 1 Unfortunately, this

suggestion does not help to assign a date for the origin of the hypothetical schools, but it makes it at least possible to maintain that a school of some kind had existed under the shelter of the monastery long before it had any independent existence which could be recognised in official documents.

1 Hatch, "Growth of Church Institutions," pp. 172 and 187.

Chapter VI
Laws

"He found the laws powerless, and he gave them force."

Inscription on Count Gleichen's Statue of Alfred at Wantage.

"In early times the quantity of government is much more important than its quality. What you want is a comprehensive rule binding men together, making them do much the same things, telling them what to expect of each other-fashioning them alike, and keeping them so. What this rule is does not matter so much. A good rule is better than a bad one, but any rule is better than none; while for reasons which a jurist will appreciate, none can be very good." Walter Bagehot.

"Law, order, duty, and restraint, obedience, discipline."

Rudyard Kipling.

"Those counsels to which time has not been called, time will not ratify."-Bacon.

THE most important duty of a king towards the laws in a community in the stage of Wessex in Alfred's time is not to make laws or to alter them, but to secure the keeping of those already in existence. Posterity likes to have a Solon to look back upon as the author of its laws and constitutions; but, in fact, constitution-making, in the strict sense of the word, plays a very small part in the history of mankind. If we are to have a Solon at all in

England, Alfred will do very well as a claimant for the part, but he is essentially an English Solon, believing only in cautious and wary innovations, because "he does not know how much of his work will please those who come after him."

Alfred's contribution to the growth of England's laws can best be understood by reference to the conditions of society which he found. As the men were the laws must be. He has left us striking witness that the actual land he ruled was far removed from the ideal community which he believed possible. It is evident that his mind was haunted by the ideal of a perfect social order, a community obedient to the laws of the kingdom of God, in which the spiritual order of life, which is the consummation of human relations, might be achieved. His actual work is a fine illustration of how practical and useful the legal work of a man inspired by the noblest ideals for society may be, how it may deal with intractable facts and persons, and always deal with them so as to modify them in the direction of the ideal.

In the society with which he had to deal the prevalent crimes were witchcraft, man-slaying, assault and battery, rape, robbery, cattle-lifting, and slavestealing; private feuds were common, and were handed on from one generation to another. The type of life was coarse, animal, and semi-barbarous.