separate code of laws, and it was his desire to arrange a new code which could be used in all parts of his dominions. In doing this, he says, "I durst not venture to set down in writing much of my own, for it was unknown to me what of it should please those who should come after us." But he tells us exactly what his work was in the following words: “These many dooms, I, Alfred the King, gathered together; and commanded many to be written of those our forefathers held which seemed to me good; and many of those which seemed to me not good, I rejected them by the counsel of my wise men.”

Thus Alfred's new Doom-book was a selection from the old laws of the various tribes together with an addition of new laws framed by himself. The king thus proved himself a true legislator, ready to move with the times, yet anxious to preserve the best work of his predecessors. He did not act rashly, for, besides his own consideration, he acted on the counsel of his Witenagemot.

Alfred was determined to impress his own religious ideas upon the new code of laws, which begins with the Decalogue and extracts from the Bible. There is no other collection of laws of that period with so much Biblical matter as in this; and there is no other which has adopted so much of the Mosaic law. After a long religious introduction, forty heads of law follow on the most important subjects of law, and all tending to increase the national civilisation.

It is impossible to do more than glance at a few of these wise laws. The one offence to which no

mercy was assigned was treason to a lord; because God adjudged no mercy to those who despised Him, nor did Christ adjudge any to him who sold Him to death. There was a system of money payments for almost every offence. Here are the money payments regulating the offences of dogs, which were then great and dangerous beasts: "If a dog bite or tear a man, for the first misdeed, 6s; for the second, 12s; for the third, 30s. If the dog do more misdeeds, the owner is to go on paying, or must repudiate the dog."

The dooms relating to Sundays and Holy-days are worth quoting. "He who steals on Sunday, or at Christmas, or Easter, or on Holy Thursday, or on Rogation Days, or during Lent, shall pay a double fine." Holidays were given on a liberal scale, for, besides Sundays, no less than forty-two days were allowed in the course of the year. Here is the list:

"To all freemen, 12 days at Yule, and the day on which Christ overcame the devil, and the Commemoration Day of St. Gregory, and 7 days before Easter and 7 after, and one day at St. Peter's tide, and one day at St. Paul's tide, and in harvest the whole week before St. Mary-mass, and one day at the celebration of All Hallows, and the 4 Wednesdays in Ember Weeks." This is truly a liberal scale of holidays, and goes to show that our forefathers would not have been content with our meagre list of four Bank Holidays.

The chief crimes that were common in Alfred's days were wounding, murdering, and cattle-slaying, and against these some of the dooms are directed.

To see that justice was done, the king kept a watchful eye on his servants, some of whom he removed from office. Indeed, we are told that he

hanged no fewer than forty-four unjust judges for their scandalous conduct. But if he was thus severe

with some, he adopted a milder policy with others. It sometimes happened that a judge would acknowledge his ignorance, whereupon Alfred thus addressed him: "I am astonished at your rashness, that you, who, by God's favour and mine, have been entrusted with the office and rank of the Wise, should have entirely neglected the studies and labours of the Wise. Either, therefore, resign your temporal power or endeavour endeavour more zealously to acquire

wisdom."

Thus many officers of high rank would frequently set themselves in their old age to gain the knowledge they neglected to acquire in their youth. Asser gives us a picture of some of these nobles submitting themselves to instruction, and, like schoolboys, beginning at the rudiments of learning, "lamenting, with deep sighs, that in their youth they had never attended to such studies."

The judges were sent on circuit through the shires, and before them all cases were brought and settled. Over each shire the king placed an alderman, who was president of the Shire Gemot and chief judge of the County Court. The king also appointed an important officer in each shire, who was called the sheriff, and whose function was to see that the king's laws were carried out. The shires were further divided into hundreds and tithings, each

of which had its own court, so held that every freeman could easily have his case determined.

The result of all this legal reform was, in due course, a great improvement in the character of the people. Before Alfred's time no one could venture on the highway without being armed, and was obliged to defend himself, as the law was powerless and unable to protect him. But now, we are assured, security reigned throughout the whole country. Indeed, an old chronicler says, the king ordered bracelets to be hung on trees, and no one ventured to steal them, so that the officers of the king brought back the treasures untouched. Whether this story be true or false, it points to the fact that Alfred's laws were rigidly enforced, and that the poor had a protector in their great king. Although

we do

not now observe King Alfred's Dooms, or any

thing like them, yet we

owe it to the work of Alfred that England was saved to become a great nation, and that our ideas of justice have survived all other changes. We recognise now, as Alfred did in his day, that justice is essentially public; and that judges are the proper men to interpret the rules of law.

We cannot close this chapter better than by giving

Alfred's own opinion as to his desires to see justice truly administered: "For this purpose I desired materials to employ that power with, that my skill and power might not be given up and concealed. But every virtue and every power will soon become oldened and saddened if they be without wisdom. Therefore no man can bring forth any virtue without wisdom hence, whatsoever is done through folly, man can never make that to be virtue. This I can now most truly say, that I HAVE DESIRED TO LIVE WORTHILY WHILE I LIVED, AND AFTER MY LIFE TO LEAVE TO THE MEN THAT SHOULD BE AFTER ME MY REMEMBRANCE IN GOOD WORKS." These are

noble words, and in them we have a key to the king's character.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ALFRED AND HIS FRIENDS.

If we would understand the character of a great ruler such as Alfred, it is necessary to know something of his friends with whom he associated in his hours of leisure, as well as of the statesmen whom he chose to fill the offices of government. And from the character of the men who gathered around Alfred, we can form a shrewd estimate of the wide sympathies of the king himself. His friends were chosen from all classes of society, and embrace prince and peasant, student and craftsman, bishop and soldier, all of whom had a welcome at Alfred's court. Not only did