a Latin life of St. Neot, which still
exists in manuscript, and is of great antiquity:

"Alfred, a fugitive, and exiled from his people, came by chance and
entered the house of a poor herdsman, and there remained some days
concealed, poor and unknown.

"It happened that, on the Sabbath day, the herdsman, as usual, led his
cattle to their accustomed pastures, and the king remained alone in
the cottage with the man's wife. She, as necessity required, placed a
few loaves, which some call _loudas_, on a pan, with fire underneath,
to be baked for her husband's repast and her own, on his return.

"While she was necessarily busied, like peasants, on other offices,
she went anxious to the fire, and found the bread burning on the other
side. She immediately assailed the king with reproaches. 'Why, man! do
you sit thinking there, and are too proud to turn the bread? Whatever
be your family, with your manners and sloth, what trust can be put in
you hereafter? If you were even a nobleman, you will be glad to eat
the bread which you neglect to attend to.' The king, though stung by
her upbraidings, yet heard her with patience and mildness, and,
roused by her scolding, took care to bake her bread thereafter as she
wished."

There is one remaining account, which is as follows:

"It happened that the herdsman one day, as usual, led his swine to
their accustomed pasture, and the king remained at home alone with the
wife. She placed her bread under the ashes of the fire to bake, and
was employed in other business when she saw the loaves burning, and
said to the king in her rage, 'You will not turn the bread you see
burning, though you will be very glad to eat it when done!' The king,
with a submitting countenance, though vexed at her upbraidings not
only turned the bread, but gave them to the woman well baked and
unbroken."

It is obvious, from the character of these several accounts that each
writer, taking the substantial fact as the groundwork of his story,
has added such details and chosen such expressions for the housewife's
reproaches as suited his own individual fancy. We find, unfortunately
for the truth and trustworthiness of history, that this is almost
always the case, when independent and original accounts of past
transactions, whether great or small, are compared. The gravest
historians, as well as the lightest story tellers, frame their
narrations for _effect_, and the tendency in all ages to shape and
fashion the na