d and noble kind; far from being a prejudice to his
government, it seems to have been the principle that supported him in so
many fatigues, and fed like an abundant source his civil and military
virtues. To his religious exercises and studies he devoted a full third
part of his time. It is pleasant to trace a genius even in its smallest
exertions,--in measuring and allotting his time for the variety of
business he was engaged in. According to his severe and methodical
custom, he had a sort of wax candles made of different colors in
different proportions, according to the time he allotted to each
particular affair; as he carried these about with him wherever he went,
to make them burn evenly he invented horn lanterns. One cannot help
being amazed that a prince, who lived in such turbulent times, who
commanded personally in fifty-four pitched battles, who had so
disordered a province to regulate, who was not only a legislator, but a
judge, and who was continually superintending his armies, his navies,
the traffic of his kingdom, his revenues, and the conduct of all his
officers, could have bestowed so much of his time on religious exercises
and speculative knowledge; but the exertion of all his faculties and
virtues seemed to have given a mutual strength to all of them. Thus all
historians speak of this prince, whose whole history was one panegyric;
and whatever dark spots of human frailty may have adhered to such a
character, they are entirely hid in the splendor of his many shining
qualities and grand virtues, that throw a glory over the obscure period
in which he lived, and which is for no other reason worthy of our
knowledge.

[Sidenote: A.D. 897.]

The latter part of his reign was molested with new and formidable
attempts from the Danes: but they no longer found the country in its
former condition; their fleets were attacked; and those that landed
found a strong and regular opposition. There were now fortresses which
restrained their ravages, and armies well appointed to oppose them in
the field; they were defeated in a pitched battle; and after several
desperate marches from one part of the country to the other, everywhere
harassed and hunted, they were glad to return with half their number,
and to leave Alfred in quiet to accomplish the great things he had
projected. This prince reigned twenty-seven, years, and died at last of
a disorder in his bowels, which had afflicted him, without interrupting
his designs or