"Such a step," says the historian Lappenberg", "on the part of a monarch of Alfred's character, will excite in us but little surprise, and even that little will be diminished, if we call to mind the pilgrimages that had long been usual to the pillar of Simeon Stylites, and many places regarded as holy, and every doubt obviated by the oriental gems brought back by his envoys, some of which were in existence after a lapse of centuries. The splendid colouring given by later historians to this mission, by making Sighelm bishop of Sherborne, and calling Æthelstan an alderman, has contributed much to create doubts of its reality. Sighelm did not receive the bishopric of Sherborne till the death of Asser, twenty-seven years later."

In 884, Pope Martin died, and was succeeded by Adrian III. It seems as if his communications with Alfred had ended in the more regular transmission of gifts to Rome. Thus in 887 we read in the Saxon Chronicle, "This year Alderman Æthelelm carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome." The next year, also, i. e. in 888, " Beocca the Alderman carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome." The following year we read, "there was no journey to Rome, except that King Alfred sent two couriers with letters:" but in 890 the mission is again mentioned: "This year," says the Chronicle, " Abbat Bernhelm carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of King Alfred to Rome."

↑ Ibid. vol. ii. p. 71.

....

g" W. Malm. ii. 4. Sigelinus . . Indiam penetravit; inde rediens, exoticos splendores gemmarum, et liquores aromatum, quorum illa humus ferax est, reportavit.' Id. de Gestis Pontif. ii. adds, 'Nonnullæ illarum (gemmarum) adhuc in ecclesiæ monumentis visuntur.'

Brompton calls him Comes Wiltoniæ.

A curious anecdote, quite in unison with the superstitions of the age, is related in the Saxon Chronicle, as happening in the year 891. "Three Scots came to King Alfred in a boat without any oars from Ireland, whence they had stolen away, because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of pilgrimage, they recked not where. The boat, in which they came, was made of two hides and a half; and they took with them provisions sufficient for seven days; and then about the seventh day they came on shore in Cornwall, and soon after went to King Alfred. Their names were Dubslane, Macbeth, and Maclinmum."

A remarkable circumstance, illustrative of Alfred's character, must not be passed over in silence, because it shews the king's patronage of merit, wherever it was to be found. The rustic, in whose cottage Alfred passed some time in Somersetshire, made such an impression on the king by his superior abilities, that, when the land had peace, he was invited to Court, received education, and was finally made bishop of Winchesteri.

When we reflect on the extraordinary variety of these cares and pursuits, together with the repeated attacks on the Pagans, his wars, and the daily occupation of carrying on the government, it is impossible too highly to extol the character of Alfred. When we again consider the thorn in the flesh, which he constantly bore about him, that from his twentieth year to the end of his life he "was constantly afflicted with the most severe attacks of an unknown and incurable complaint, and that he had not a moment's ease, either from the pain which it caused him, or from the gloom which was

His name was Denulf. FLOR. WIG. See page 218.

thrown over him by the apprehension of its coming1;" our admiration of his character is lost in astonishment, and we may in vain search all history, ancient or modern, to furnish his parallel.

There is, however, another field of action on which Alfred's merits conspicuously displayed themselves— the science of legislation and government, which, as it is of the highest importance to mankind, because on it in a great measure depends the happiness of our species, we shall reserve for consideration in the next chapter.

i Asser, anno 888.

CHAP. XXIII.

SAXON LAWS OF ETHELBERT, INA, WITHRED, AND OFFA-ALFRED COMPILES A CODE-EXAMPLES OF HIS LAWS QUOTED-HIS STRICT ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE-NUMEROUS APPEALS TO HIM FROM THE INFERIOR COURTS-HIS MODE OF REPRIMANDING AND TEACHING HIS IGNORANT JUDGES-HIS SEVERITY IN PUNISHING THE CORRUPT HIS REFORMS IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF COUNTIES, HUNDREDS, AND TITHINGS-INSTITUTION OF JUDGES AND SHEriffs -THE INSTITUTION OF FRANKPLEDGE-HIS ABSOLUTE POWERDIVISION OF HIS INCOME, AND ECONOMY OF HIS TIME.

THE remains of Anglo-Saxon legislation earlier than the time of Alfred are few and imperfect. Ninety short sentences contain all that has been preserved of the laws of Ethelbert, king of Kent. Sixteen sentences

contain the Dooms of his successors Lothaire and Edric, and twenty sentences comprise all the laws that have survived of Withred, another king of the same province. The subjects to which these ordinances apply are a few of the most obvious injuries that occur in a simple state of society. It is remarkable, that almost every crime, from murder to the smallest petty larceny, had its value, and might be compensated by the payment of a sum of money. Another celebrated legislator was Ina, king of the West-Saxons, and a few

They occupy from p. 1 to 43, of vol. i. of Thorpe's Ancient Laws and Institutes of England.

pages of his laws also have been preserved. It must not however be omitted, that the laws of Ina have come down to us not in a separate and independent form, but appended to those of Alfred, to whose care in collecting and preserving the ancient jurisprudence of his country we are indebted for all that we now know of the subject.

As the West-Saxons owed their principal code of laws to Ina, so was Offa, the legislator of the Mercians: but his laws have not been preserved; and if in later times Alfred published a separate collection for the use of Mercia with the laws of Offa annexed, as those of Ina were attached to the laws of Wessex, that collection also has either perished, or has not yet been discovered. It might be expected that the laws of a people, emerging, under the auspices of the Church, from barbarism, would be strongly tinged with the opinions of the clerks who compiled them. In fact, the whole of these legislative codes are based upon the authority of the Scriptures and of the Church. The first ordinance of Ethelbert enacts, that the abstraction of any property belonging to God or to the Church shall be compensated for by twelve-times its value.

The Laws of Alfred plead the authority of the Apostolic Council held in Jerusalem, and of the Constitutions which the Church had gradually collected since the times of the Apostles.

"Wherefore I Alfred king"-continues the code to which we refer" gathered these together, and commanded many of those to be written which our forefathers held, those which to me seemed good; and many of those which seemed to me not good, I rejected,

b From p. 102 to 151 of the same work; but half of these pages is occupied by the English translation.

· Ibid. p. 59.