introduction, Alfred said, "He who keeps this
shall not need any other law book."

Next, that learning might not utterly perish in the ashes of the
abbeys and monasteries which the Danes had destroyed (S53), the King,
though feeble and suffering, set himself to translate from the Lating
the "Universal History of Orosius," and also Bede's valuable "Church
History of England."

58. Alfred's Navy.

Alfred, however, still had to fight against fresh invasion by the
Danes, who continued to make descents upon the coast, and even sailed
up the Thames to take London. The English King constructed a superior
class of fast-sailing war vessels from designs made by himself. With
this fleet, which may be regarded as the beginning of the English
navy, he fought the enemy on their own element. He thus effectually
checked a series of invasions which, if they had continued, might have
reduced the country to barbarism.

59. Estimate of Alfred's Reign.

Considered as a whole, Alfred's reign (871-901) is hte most noteworthy
of any in the annals of the early English sovereigns. It was marked
throughout by intelligence and progress.

His life speaks for itself. The best commentary on it is the fact
that, in 1849, the people of Wantage, his native place, celebrated the
thousandth anniversary of his birth,--another proof that "what is
excellent, as God lives, is permanent."[1]

[1] R. W. Emerson's "Poems."

60. St. Dunstan's Three Great Reforms (960-988).

Long after Alfred's death, St. Dunstan, then Archbishop of Canterbury
and head of the English Church, set out to push forward the work begun
by the great King. He labored to accomplish three things. First, he
sought to establish a higher system of education; secondly, he desired
to elevate the general standard of monastic life; finally, he tried to
inaugurate a period of national peace and economic progress.

He began his work when he had control of the abbey of Glastonbury, in
the southwest of England. He succeeded in making the school connected
with that abbey the most famous one in the whole kingdom (S45). He
not only taught himself, but, by his enthusiasm, he inspired others to
teach. He was determined that from Glastonbury a spirit should go
forth which should make the Church of England the real educator of the
English people. Next, he devoted himself to helping the inmates of
the monasteries in their efforts to reach a truer and stronger
manhood. That, of course,