ingratitude and opposition within, broke the calm
pages of Gregory or Boethius; but the loneliness
that breathes in such words never begot in him a
contempt for men or the judgment of men. Nor
could danger or disappointment check for an hour
his vivid activity. From one end of his reign to
the other every power was bent to the work of
rule. His practical energy found scope for itself
in a material and administrative restoration of the
wasted land; his intellectual energy breathed fresh
life into education and literature; while his capacity
for inspiring trust and affection drew the hearts of
Englishmen to a common centre, and began the up-
building of a new England. Little by little men
came to recognize in Ælfred a ruler of higher and
nobler stamp than the world had seen. Never had
it seen a king who lived only for the good of his
people. Never had it seen a ruler who set aside
every personal aim to devote himself solely to the
welfare of those whom he ruled. It was this grand
self-mastery that won him love and reverence in
his own day, and it is this that has hallowed his
memory ever since. "I desire," said the King, "to
leave to the men that come after me a remembrance
of me in good works." His aim has been more than
fulfilled. His memory has come down to us with a
living distinctness through the mists of exaggeration
and legend which time gathered round it. The in-
stinct of the people has clung to him with a singular
affection. The love which he won a thousand years
ago has lingered round his name from that day to this.
While every other name of those earlier times has all
but faded from the recollection of Englishmen, that
of Ælfred remains familiar to every English child.

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