arance of
Alfred upon their frontiers, made anew the most humble submissions to
him; and he thought it prudent to take them under his immediate
government, without establishing over them a viceroy of their own
nation [a]. The Welsh also acknowledged his authority; and this great
prince had now, by prudence, and justice, and valour, established his
sovereignty over all the southern parts of the island, from the
English channel to the frontiers of Scotland; when he died [MN 901.],
in the vigour of his age and the full strength of his faculties,
after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half [b]; in which
he deservedly attained the appellation of Alfred the Great, and the
title of Founder of the English Monarchy.
[FN [a] Flor. Wigorn. p. 598. [b] Asser. p. 21. Chron. Sax. p. 99.]

The merit of this prince, both in private and public life, may with
advantage be set in opposition to that of any monarch or citizen which
the annals of any age or any nation can present to us. He seems
indeed to be the model of that perfect character, which, under the
denomination of a sage or wise man, philosophers have been fond of
delineating, rather as a fiction of their imagination, than in hopes
of ever seeing it really existing: so happily were all his virtues
tempered together; so justly were they blended; and so powerfully did
each prevent the other from exceeding its proper boundaries. He knew
how to reconcile the most enterprising spirit with the coolest
moderation; the most obstinate perseverance with the easiest
flexibility; the most severe justice with the gentlest lenity; the
greatest vigour in commanding with the most perfect affability of
deportment [c]; the highest capacity and inclination for science, with
the most shining talents for action. His civil and his military
virtues are almost equally the objects of our admiration; excepting
only, that the former, being more rare among princes, as well as more
useful, seem chiefly to challenge our applause. Nature also, as if
desirous that so bright a production of her skill should be set in the
fairest light, had bestowed on him every bodily accomplishment, vigour
of limbs, dignity of shape and air, with a pleasing, engaging, and
open countenance [d]. Fortune alone, by throwing him into that
barbarous age, deprived him of historians worthy to transmit his fame
to posterity; and we wish to see him delineated in more lively
colours, and with more particular strokes,