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BOOK preceding pages; as well as the fact, that he was passing the first twelve years of his life without any education. But although thus neglected, his intellectual faculty was too powerful to be indolent, or to be contented with the illiterate pursuits which were the fashion of the day. It turned, from its own energies and sympathies, towards mental cultivation; and attached itself to that species of it which, without the aid of others, it could by its own industry obtain. This was the Saxon popular poetry. In all the nations of the north, whether from the Keltic or Teutonic stock, persons were continually emerging, who pursued the art of arranging words into metrical composition, and of applying this arrangement to express their own feelings, or to perpetuate the favourite subjects of their contemporaries or patrons. By this verbal rythm, however imperfect; by the emotions which it breathed or caused; or by the themes with which it has been connected, the rudest minds, that have been most adverse to literature, have been always found to be impressible. Hence, before Alfred's birth, Saxon poems had been written; and in the court of his father and brothers, there were men who were fond of repeating them. Wherever they were recited, either by day or night, Alfred is recorded to have been, before he could read, an eager auditor, and was industrious to commit them to his memory. This fondness for poetry continued with him through life. It was always one of his principal pleasures to learn Saxon poems,

3

2 See before, Vol. I. p. 499. Asser, 16. Malmsb. 45. Jam duodenis omnis literaturæ expers fuit.

3 Sed Saxonica poemata die noctuque solers auditor relatu aliorum sæpissime audiens, docibilis memoriter retinebat. Asser, 16.

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and to teach them to others; and we have CHAP. specimens of his own efforts to compose them, in his translation of the metres of Boetius. The memory of his children was also chiefly exercised in this captivating art. It had a powerful effect on Alfred's mind: it kindled a desire of being sung and celebrated himself; it created a wish for further knowlege; and began a taste for intellectual compositions. The muses have in every age had these effects. Their lays have always been found to be most captivating and most exciting to the young mind. They are the most comprehensible form of lettered intellect; and being, in their rudest state, the effusions of the feelings of the day, they excite congenial feelings in those who hear and read them. Poetry is sympathy addressing sympathy; and, if its subjects were but worthy of its excellences, it would lead the human mind to every attainable perfection. Alfred, though young, felt forcibly its silent appeal to the noble nature that lived within him; and when his mother promised the book of poems, already mentioned, to which ever of her sons would learn to read

4 Et maxime carmina Saxonica memoriter discere, aliis imperare. Asser, 43. Many princes were at this period fond of poetry. Eginhard mentions of Charlemagne, that he transcribed and learnt the barbara et antiquissima carmina quibus veterum regum actus et bella canebantur, p. 11. In 844 died Abdalla, son of Taher, a Persian king, in Chorasan, who composed some Arabic poems, and was celebrated for his talents in many elegies, by the poets who survived him. Mirchond, Hist. Reg. Pers. p. 9. In 862, Mustansir Billa, the caliph of the Saracens, died by poison; he wrote verses, of which Elmacin has preserved two. Hist. Sarac. c. xii. p. 154. Wacic, the caliph, who died 845, was a poet. Elmacin cites some of his verses. His dying words were, "O thou, whose kingdom never passes away, pity one whose dignity is so transient," ib. His successor, Mntewakel, was also poetical.

5 Et maxime Saxonica carmina studiose dedicere, et frequentissime libris utuntur. Asser, 43.

V.

State of

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mind.

BOOK it, he sought an instructor, and never ceased his exertions till he had enabled himself to obtain it." THE merit of Alfred in voluntarily attaining the Anglo- this art of reading, now so common, was more peculiar, because not only his royal brothers, and most, if not all, of the contemporary kings were without it, but even that venerated class of the nation, in whom the largest part of the learning of their age usually concentrates, was, in general, ignorant of it. Such facts induce us to consider our ancestors with too much contempt. But we may recollect that literature was not despised by them from want of natural talent, or from intellectual torpidity. Their minds were vigorous, and in great and continual exertion; but the exertion was confined within the horizon, and directed to the objects, around them. The ancient world stood, in its recording memorials, like an unknown continent before them, shrouded from their sight by its clouds and distance, and kept so by their belief of its inutility. It was too unlike their own world, and too little connected with their immediate pursuits, for them to value or explore. They did not want its remains for their jurisprudence; their landed property; the rules of their nobility and feudal rights; their municipal institutions; their religion; their morals; their internal traffic, manners, amusements, or favourite pursuits. On most of these points, and in their legislative assemblies and laws, as well as in their private and public wars, they were so dissimilar to the Greeks and Romans, that the classical authors were as unserviceable to them as those of the Chinese are to us. This may explain that indifference of our

6 Asser, 16. Malmb. 45.

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ancestors to that literature which is really so pre- CHAP. cious. For if a magician could offer us a fairy wand, by which at our own pleasure, we could transport ourselves to the busy streets of Athens or Rome, to hear Demosthenes harangue, or Socrates teach; or Virgil and Horace recite their immortal compositions; or to make all the past ages live again before our sight, with all their applauded characters, and interesting incidents, who, that is not insane, would refuse the stupendous gift? The art of writing, combined with an ability to read, provides us with this wondrous power; and yet the highest ranks of the Anglo-Saxons would not acquire such a fascinating privilege. But their aversion, or their apathy, did not arise from proud ignorance or brutal stupidity. They neglected what we so dearly value, because it neither coincided with their habits of life, nor suited their wants, nor promoted their worldly interests. They had to fight for several generations to win their territorial possessions, and afterwards, from their mutual independence, to defend them against each other. The whole frame of their society, and the main direction of their spirit and education, was essentially, because necessarily, warlike. The continual attacks from the Sea-kings and Vikingr of other countries also contributed to make the preparation for battle, military vigilance, and repeated conflicts, the inevitable and prevailing habits of their life and thoughts. Classical literature could have then been only a subject of speculative curiosity to their retired clergy, inapplicable to any of the daily pursuits of the laity; and, by its pagan mythology, rather impeding than assisting the devotion of their monasteries. For their religion and

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morals they had higher sources in their revered Scriptures; and for their rights and ceremonies they had sufficient teachers, occasionally from Rome, and generally in their native clergy. To these, indeed, a small portion of Latin was necessary for the correct reading and due understanding of their breviaries. But to the rest of society it was not more practically essential, than the scientific astronomy of a Newton or La Place to ourselves. It would have improved their minds, and enlarged their knowledge, and produced beneficial effects; but all the daily business of their lives could be, and was, very ably transacted without it. Hence the intellects of our ancestors are no more to be impeached for their ignorance of classical literature, than ours are for our inability to perform their martial exercises; or for the absence of that great mass of discoveries and improvements, which we hope that a few more centuries will add to the stock we now possess. We may likewise add, that there is no convincing evidence that the AngloSaxon public were much more deficient in the art or habit of reading, than the public of the Roman empire, whom the Gothic nations subdued. It is probable that the bulk of mankind, in the ancient world, was always as illiterate as our Saxon forefathers. We too gratuitously ascribe a literary cultivation to the whole Grecian and Roman population. Many enlightened minds and great authors emerged from the various provinces, and produced that stream of intellect which has so highly enriched the world, and given a new source of happiness to human life. But we must not take the writers in the Latin language that have survived to us, as the general samples of their