med more or less
distinctly, and it is evident that the old desolation, if not quite at
an end, was at least a circumstance worthy of remark. More than one of
these documents speak of the port and of ships resorting to it, and we
see the meaning of Green's allusion to the fact that, while London up to
that time--namely, the end of the eighth century--had played but little
part in English history, its position made it sure to draw both trade
and population. Then came the great Danish invasion, the reign and
victories of Alfred, the repair of the wall and a new London, England's
main bulwark against foreign invasion.

Asser and Stow point out clearly that Alfred's settlement came after a
long period of ruin. This period was brought to an end by the renewal of
the Roman wall. If we date the events as follows, the slow progress of
the re-settlement is apparent. The Danes pervaded London and the
neighbourhood in 872. Alfred drove them out twelve years later, in 884.
In 886 Alfred commenced his repairs, and before his death in 901, the
beginning of the tenth century, he may have seen houses and streets
newly rising, some, it is possible, where Roman buildings had stood, but
for the most part on wholly new lines. It would not have been like
Alfred if he did not leave London with a settled government; and if
there are certain foreign usages which can be traced to his time, they
had probably been brought in with the concourse of foreign merchants who
formed a large part, if not the majority, of the new citizens. A century
and a half later they were described by the Norman conqueror as
"burghers within London, French and English," and from the prevalence of
certain names we find a large Danish element among them, while the term
French indicates that perhaps the largest part were either Normans or
Gauls from the opposite coast. It is possible that a careful survey of
the early history of St. Paul's might bring a few facts to light,
whether directly or by inference; but even after the reign of Alfred we
have very little knowledge of the condition of the city and its port. It
was never taken by the Danes. During the reign of Ethelred "the
Unready," the King seems to have been shut up in London while the
marauders ravaged the country round. Either the Londoners had great
stores of provisions, or they had access to foreign markets. Edgar first
recognised the importance of this trade, and no doubt the ill-advised
Ethelred, his successo