last days. "Bede whom God
loved". 42

CHAPTER V

King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
why. Influence of Rome on Alfred. 48

CHAPTER VI

Decay of learning in England. Revival under Alfred. His translations.
Edits English Chronicle. His helpers. Some of his sayings.
Missionary spirit. "Alfred commanded to make me". 55

CHAPTER VII

Some of greatest pre-Conquest poetry associated with name of Cynewulf.
Guesses about him. Little known. Probably North-countryman, eighth
century, an educated man. Finding of the Cross. Elene, story of St
Helena's mission. Constantine goes to fight invaders. Vision of the
Cross. Victory. Journey of St Helena, and search for the Cross. The
Finding. 64

CHAPTER VIII

The Poet's love of the Cross: how he saw it in a double aspect. The
dream of the Holy Rood. The Ruthwell Cross. 73

CHAPTER IX

"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authorship uncertain.
Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'
banquet as a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage
resistance to Danes and Northmen. 83

CHAPTER X

Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight. 90

CHAPTER XI

The literature of one people owes a debt to that of others.
Help-bringers. Great work of Benedictine monks. Our debt to Ireland.
The English Chronicle's account of the Martyrdom of St AElfeah. 97

CHAPTER XII

Abbot AElfric, writer of Homilies, Lives of Saints, and other works.
Wulfstan, Archbishop of Canterbury. 104

CHAPTER XIII

Love of books is love of part of God's world. In books we commune with
the spirit of their writers. The Church the mother of all Christian
art and literature. Catholic literature saturated with Holy
Scripture. 110

CHAPTER XI