is ancient biographer, that he resolutely
set to work by the aid of his wax tapers,[240] and produced some
very respectable compositions; for which I refer you to Mr. Turner's
excellent account of their author:[241] adding only that Alfred's
translation of Boethius is esteemed his most popular performance.

[Footnote 240: The story of the _wax tapers_ is related both
by Asser and William of Malmesbury, differing a little in
the unessential parts of it. It is this: Alfred commanded
six wax tapers to be made, each 12 inches in length, and of
as many ounces in weight. On these tapers he caused the
inches to be regularly marked; and having found that one
taper burnt just four hours, he committed them to the care
of the keepers of his chapel; who, from time to time gave
him notice how the hours went. But as in windy weather the
tapers were more wasted--to remedy this inconvenience, he
placed them in a kind of lanthorn, there being no glass to
be met with in his dominions. This event is supposed to have
occurred after Alfred had ascended the throne. In his
younger days, Asser tells us that he used to carry about, in
his bosom, day and night, a curiously-written volume of
hours, and psalms, and prayers, which by some are supposed
to have been the composition of Aldhelm. That Alfred had the
highest opinion of Aldhelm, and of his predecessors and
contemporaries, is indisputable; for in his famous letter to
Wulfseg, Bishop of London, he takes a retrospective view of
the times in which they lived, as affording "churches and
monasteries filled with libraries of excellent books in
several languages." It is quite clear, therefore, that our
great Alfred was not a little infected with the
bibliomaniacal disease.]

[Footnote 241: _The History of the Anglo-Saxons_; by Sharon
Turner, F.S.A., 1808, 4to., 2 vols. This is the last and
best edition of a work which places Mr. Turner quite at the
head of those historians who have treated of the age of
Alfred.]

After Alfred, we may just notice his son EDWARD, and his grandson
ATHELSTAN; the former of whom is supposed by Rous[242] (one of the
most credulous of our early historians) to have founded the University
of Cambridge. The latter had probably greater abilities than his
predecessor; and a thousand pities it is that William of Malmesbury