himself. After AElfred's day the Chronicle varies much in value. Through
the reign of Eadward the Elder it is copious, and a Mercian Chronicle is
imbedded in it: it then dies down into a series of scant and jejune
entries, broken however with grand battle-songs, till the reign of
AEthelred when its fulness returns.

Outside the Chronicle we encounter a great and valuable mass of
historical material for the age of AElfred and his successors. The life of
AElfred which bears the name of Asser, puzzling as it is in some ways, is
probably really Asser's work, and certainly of contemporary authority.
The Latin rendering of the English Chronicle which bears the name of
AEthelweard adds a little to our acquaintance with this time. The Laws,
which form the base of our constitutional knowledge of this period, fall,
as has been well pointed out by Mr. Freeman, into two classes. Those of
Eadward, AEthelstan, Eadmund, and Eadgar, are like the earlier laws of
AEthelberht and Ine, "mainly of the nature of amendments of custom." Those
of AElfred, AEthelred, Cnut, with those which bear the name of Eadward the
Confessor, "aspire to the character of Codes." They are printed in Mr.
Thorpe's "Ancient Laws and Institutes of England," but the extracts given
by Professor Stubbs in his "Select Charters" contain all that directly
bears on our constitutional growth. A vast mass of Charters and other
documents belonging to this period has been collected by Kemble in his
"Codex Diplomaticus AEvi Saxonici," and some are added by Mr. Thorpe in
his "Diplomatarium Anglo-Saxonicum." Dunstan's biographies have been
collected and edited by Professor Stubbs in the series published by the
Master of the Rolls.

In the period which follows the accession of AEthelred we are still aided
by these collections of royal Laws and Charters, and the English
Chronicle becomes of great importance. Its various copies indeed differ
so much in tone and information from one another that they may to some
extent be looked upon as distinct works, and "Florence of Worcester" is
probably the translation of a valuable copy of the "Chronicle" which has
disappeared. The translation however was made in the twelfth century, and
it is coloured by the revival of national feeling which was
characteristic of the time. Of Eadward the Confessor himself we have a
contemporary biography (edited by Mr. Luard for the Master of the Rolls)
which throws great light on the personal history of th