der an English king. Though the English
people never again had to struggle for its very existence as a
political body, yet, in =886=, after a successful war, AElfred wrung
from Guthrum a fresh treaty by which the Danes surrendered London and
the surrounding district. Yet, even after this second treaty, it might
seem as if AElfred, who only ruled over a part of England, was worse
off than his grandfather, Ecgberht, who had ruled over the whole. In
reality he was better off. In the larger kingdom it would have been
almost impossible to produce the national spirit which alone could
have permanently kept the whole together. In the smaller kingdom it
was possible, especially as there was a strong West Saxon element in
the south-west of Mercia in consequence of its original settlement by
a West Saxon king after the battle of Deorham (see p. 35). Moreover,
AElfred, taking care not to offend the old feeling of local
independence which still existed in Mercia, appointed his son-in-law,
AEthelred, who was a Mercian, to govern it as an ealdorman under
himself.

[Illustration: An English vessel. (Harl. MS. 603.)]

7. =AElfred's Military Work.=--AElfred would hardly have been able to do
so much unless his own character had been singularly attractive. Other
men have been greater warriors or legislators or scholars than AElfred
was, but no man has ever combined in his own person so much excellence
in war, in legislation, and in scholarship. As to war, he was not only
a daring and resolute commander, but he was an organiser of the
military forces of his people. One chief cause of the defeats of the
English had been the difficulty of bringing together in a short time
the 'fyrd,' or general levy of the male population, or of keeping it
long together when men were needed at home to till the fields. AElfred
did his best to overcome this difficulty by ordering that half the men
of each shire should be always ready to fight, whilst half remained at
home. This new half-army, like his new half-kingdom, was stronger than
the whole one had been before. To an improved army AElfred added a
navy, and he was the first English king who defeated the Danes at sea.

[Illustration: A Saxon house. (Harl. MS. 603.)]

8. =His Laws and Scholarship.=--AElfred was too great a man to want to
make every one conform to some ideal of his own choosing. It was
enough for him to take men as they were, and to help them to become
better. He took the old laws and cu