England. The most glorious period of
Anglo-Saxon prose was during Alfred's reign, 871-901.

Bede.--This famous monk (673-735) was probably the greatest teacher
and the best known man of letters and scholar in all contemporary
Europe. He is said to have translated the _Gospel of St. John_ into
Saxon, but the translation is lost. He wrote in Latin on a vast range
of subjects, from the _Scriptures_ to natural science, and from
grammar to history. He has given a list of thirty-seven works of which
he is the author. His most important work is the _Ecclesiastical
History of the English People_, which is really a history of England
from Julius Caesar's invasion to 731. The quotation from Bede's work
relative to Caedmon shows that Bede could relate things simply and
well. He passed almost all his useful life at the monastery of Jarrow
on the Tyne.

Alfred (849-901).--The deeds and thoughts of Alfred, king of the
West Saxons from 871 until his death in 901, remain a strong moral
influence an the world, although he died more than a thousand years
ago. Posterity rightly gave him the surname of "the Great," as he is
one of the comparatively few great men of all time. E.A. Freeman, the
noted historian of the early English period, says of him:--

"No man recorded in history seems ever to have united so many
great and good qualities... A great part of his reign was taken up
with warfare with an enemy [the Danes] who threatened the national
being; yet he found means personally to do more for the general
enlightenment of his people than any other king in English history."

After a Danish leader had outrageously broken his oaths to Alfred, the
Dane's two boys and their mother fell into Alfred's hands, and he
returned them unharmed. "Let us love the man," he wrote, "but hate his
sins." His revision of the legal code, known as _Alfred's Laws_, shows
high moral aim. He does not forget the slave, who was to be freed
after six years of service. His administration of the law endeavored
to secure the same justice for the poor as for the rich.

Alfred's example has caused many to stop making excuses for not doing
more for their kind. If any one ever had an adequate excuse for not
undertaking more work than his position absolutely demanded, that man
was Alfred; yet his ill health and the wars with the Danes did not
keep him from trying to educate his people or from earning the title,
"father of English prose." Freeman even says tha