e child,
his mother had brought to him and his brothers a handsomely illuminated
book, saying,--

"I will give this to that one of you four princes who first learns to
read."

Alfred won the book; so far as we know, he alone sought to win it, for
the art of reading in those early times was confined to monks, and
disdained by princes. Ignorance lay like a dismal cloud over England,
ignorance as dense as the heart of the Dark Ages knew. In the whole land
the young prince was almost alone in his thirst for knowledge; and when
he made an effort to study Latin, in which language all worthy
literature was then written, we are told that there could not be found
throughout the length and breadth of the land a man competent to teach
him that sealed tongue. This, however, loses probability in view of the
fact that the monks were familiar with Latin and that Alfred succeeded
in acquiring a knowledge of that language.

When little more than a boy Alfred became king. There was left him then
little time for study, for the Danes, whose ships had long been
descending in annual raids on England's shores, gave the youthful
monarch an abundance of more active service. For years he fought them,
yet in his despite Guthrum, one of their ablest chiefs, sailed up the
Severn, seized upon a wide region of the realm of Wessex, made
Gloucester his capital, and defied the feebly-supported English king.

It was midwinter now, a season which the Danes usually spent in rest and
revelry, and in which England gained some relief from their devastating
raids. Alfred, dreaming of aught but war, was at home with his slender
store of much-beloved books in his villa at Chippenham. With him were a
few of his thanes and a small body of armed attendants, their enjoyment
the pleasures of the chase and the rude sports of that early period.
Doubtless, what they deemed the womanish or monkish tastes of their
young monarch were objects of scorn and ridicule to those hardy thanes,
upon whom ignorance lay like a thick garment. Yet Alfred could fight as
well as read. They might disdain his pursuits; they must respect his
prowess.

While the king lay thus in ease at Chippenham, his enemies at
Gloucester seemed lost in enjoyment of their spoils. Guthrum had divided
the surrounding lands among his victorious followers, the Saxons had
been driven out, slain, or enslaved, and the brutal and barbarous
victors dwelt in peace and revelry on their new lands, spending the