mity was removed from him, another much more troublesome complaint attacked him, namely a desire for the joys of marriage, which wore him out incessantly from the twentieth to the fortyfifth year of his life. Amid this whirlwind of temptations there were born to him eons and daughters by his before-mentioned queen, whose name was Aswitha, and they were born in the following order ;—his first-born daughter was called Elfieda, who, when the time of marriage arrived, was married to Ethelred, count of Mercia. Then he had a son born, by name Edward, who, after his father, governed the kingdom of England. In the third place a daughter was born to him, by name Ethelgina, who, having been devoted to the rules of monastic discipline, took upon herself a religious habit. Edward and Ethelward were constantly educated in the court of the king, and were carefully taught the. psalms and books of Saxon literature. Ethelwald was the youngest of all, and with the other noble youths of the country, he, by the diligent care of his parent, was instructed in the knowledge of literature, that he might have Uberai knowledge instilled into him before he acquired the strength suitable for manly pursuits and exercises. Moreover, king Alfred, among all the dangers of his wars and the frequent hindrances of this present fife, amid his continual infirmities of body and the invasions of the pagans, began to arrange the affairs of his kingdom, to practise every kind of hunting, and to. train his goldsmiths, and artisans, and falconers, and hawkers. With a genius of his own which was quite novel, he occupied himself in building edifices which were venerable and noble beyond anything that had been attempted by his predecessors. He was careful every day to hear mass, with the Daily Hours. He was fond of psalms and prayers, and constant in alms-giving. Many Frenchmen, and others from distant countries, of their own accord, submitted to his dominion, because he was amiable and affable to all men, pleasant in his manners, and an incomparably strict examiner into discipline in all tilings, and because he honoured, protected, and enriched with treasures and estates all strangers and foreigners, whether noble or low-born, as if they belonged to his own people, according as the rank of each individual deserved. He received with admirable grace all counts, barons, soldiers, servants, and friends ; and embracing their sons who were bred up in the royal palace with no less affection than