point of composition, his own, and nearly so in its CHA P. thoughts. It is Alfred's corollary from the preceding dialogue. "Well! O men! Well! Every one of you that be free, tend to this good, and to this felicity: and he that is now in bondage with the fruitless love of this world let him seek liberty; that he may come to this felicity. For this is the only rest of all our labours. This is the only port always calm after the storms and billows of our toils. This is the only station of peace; the only comforter of grief after all the sorrows of the present life. The golden stones and the silvery ones, and jewels of all kinds, and all the riches before us, will not enlighten the eyes of the mind, nor improve their acuteness to perceive the appearance of the true felicity. They rather blind the mind's eyes than make them sharper; because all things that please here, in this present life, are earthly; because they are flying. But the admirable brightness that brightens all things and governs all, it will not destroy the soul, but will enlighten it. If, then, any man could perceive the splendour of the heavenly light with the pure eyes of his mind, he would then say that the radiance of the shining of the sun is not superior to this, -is not to be compared to the everlasting brightness of God." 101 THE last chapter of his Boetius is Alfred's composition. He has taken a few hints from his original 102, but he has made what he has borrowed his own, by his mode of expression, and he has added from his own mind all the rest. It is a fine exhibition of his enlightened views and feelings on that Indus near the heated circle, mingling green with white stones. 101 Alfred, p. 87, 88. 102 How few these are may be seen by those who read the last chapter of Boetius. Lib. v. pr. 6. II. BOOK great subject, which has, in every age, so much inV. terested the truly philosophical mind; and we may add, that no one has contemplated it with more sympathy, rationality, and even sublimity, than our illustrious king. His description of the Deity is entirely his own. — "Hence we should with all our power enquire after GoD, that we may know what he is. Though it should not be our lot to know what He is, yet we should from the dignity of the understanding which he has given us, try to explore it. "Every creature, both rational and irrational, discovers this! that God is eternal. Because so many creatures, so great and so fair, could never be subject to less creatures and to less power than they all are, nor indeed to many equal ones. "Then said I, What is eternity?' "He answered, Thou hast asked me a great and difficult thing to comprehend. If thou wilt understand it, thou must first have the eyes of thy mind clean and lucid. I may not conceal from thee what I know of this. "Know thou that there are three things in this world: one is temporary; to this there is both a beginning and an end: and I do not know any creature that is temporary, but hath his beginning and his end. Another thing is eternal which hath a beginning, but hath not an end: I know not when it began, but I know that it will never end: such are angels and the souls of men. The third thing is eternal without end, as without beginning this is God. Between these three there is a very great discrimination. If we were to investigate all this subject we should come late to the end of this book, or never. "But one thing thou must necessarily know of this previously-Why is God called the Highest Eternity?' "Then said I, 'Why?' "Then quoth he, Because we know very little of that which was before us, except by memory and by asking; and yet we know less of that which will be after us. That alone exists rationally to us which is present; but to HIM all is present, as well that which was before, as that which now is; and that which after us will be. All of it is present to HIM. "His riches increase not, nor do they ever diminish. He never remembers any thing, because He never forgets aught: He seeks nothing, nor enquires, because He knows it all: He searches for nothing, because He loses nothing: He pur II. sues no creature, because none can fly from Him: He dreads CHAP. nothing, because He knows no one more powerful than Himself, nor even like Him. He is always giving, and never wants. He is always Almighty, because He always wishes good, and never evil. To Him there is no need of any thing. He is always seeing: He never sleeps: He is always alike mild and kind: He will always be eternal. Hence there never was a time that He was not, nor ever will be. He is always free. He is not compelled to any work. From His divine power He is every where present. His greatness no man can measure. He is not to be conceived bodily, but spiritually, so as now wisdom is and reason. But He is wisdom: He is reason itself."" 103 We can scarcely believe that we are perusing the written thoughts of an Anglo-Saxon of the ninth century, who could not even read till he was twelve years old; who could then find no instructors to teach him what he wished; whose kingdom was overrun by the fiercest and most ignorant of barbarian invaders; whose life was either continual battle or continual disease; and who had to make both his own mind and the minds of all about him. How great must have been Alfred's genius, that, under circumstances so disadvantageous, could attain to such great and enlightened conceptions! 108 Alfred, p. 147, 148. BOOK CHAP. III. ALFRED'S Geographical, Historical, Astronomical, Botanical, and other Knowledge. 1 ALFRED's translation of Orosius is peculiarly valuable for the new geographical matter His trans- which he inserted in it.2 This consists of a sketch lation of Orosius. of the chief German nations in his time, and an account of the voyages of Ohthere to the North Pole, and of Wulfstan to the Baltic, during his reign. Alfred does in this as in all his translations: he omits some chapters, abbreviates others; sometimes rather imitates than translates; and often inserts new paragraphs of his own. His geographical know ledge. Ir is clear, from these additions, that Alfred was fond of geography, and was active both to increase and diffuse the knowledge of it. Some little insertions in his Boetius implied this fact; for he introduces there a notice of the positions of the Scythians, and derives the Goths from them; and mentions Ptolemy's description of the world. But it is in his Orosius that the extent of his researches is most displayed. The first part of his original is a 1 Orosius ends his summary of ancient history and geography in 416, when he was alive. He quotes some historians now lost; as Claudius on the Roman conquest of Macedonia, and Antias on the war with the Cimbri and Teutones; and appears to have read Tubero's history, and an ancient history of Carthage. 2 The principal MS. of Alfred's translation is in the Cotton library, Tiber. b. i. which is very ancient and well written. A transcript of this, with a translation, was printed by Mr. Daines Barrington in 1773. 3 Alfred's Boet. p. 39. 4 Ibid. p. 1. Ibid. p. 38. He enlarges on Boetius's account of Etna. III. geographical summary of the nations and kingdoms CHA P. of the world in the fifth century. Alfred has interspersed in this some few particulars, which prove that he had sought elsewhere for the information he loved. Having done this, he goes beyond his original, and inserts a geographical review of Germany, as it was peopled in his time; which is not only curious as coming from his pen, and as giving a chorographical map of the Germanic continent of the ninth century, which is no where else to be met with of that period; but also as exhibiting his enlarged views and indefatigable intellect. No common labour must have been exerted to have collected, in that illiterate age, in which intercourse was so rare and difficult, so much geographical information. It is too honourable to his memory to be omitted in this delineation of his intellectual pursuits. "Then north against the source of the Donua (Danube), and Alfred's to the east of the Rhine, are the East Francan; south of them notitia of Germany. are the Swæfas (Swabians); on the other part of the Danube, and south of them, and to the east, are the Bægthware (Bavarians), in the part which men call Regnes-burh 7; right east of 6 Thus, Orosius says, Asia is surrounded on three sides by the ocean. Alfred adds, on the south, north, and east. What Orosius calls "our sea," meaning the Mediterranean, Alfred names Wendel ɲæ. Sarmaticus, he translates repmondisc. O. speaks of Albania. A. says it is so named in Latin, " and pe hý hatach nu Liobene." O. mentions the boundaries of Europe; A. gives them in different phrases, mentions the source of the Rhine and Danube, and names the Cpæn re. Speaking of Gades, he adds, "On them ilcan Wendel ræ on hype Westende is Scotland." He adds also of the Tygris, that it flows south into the Red Sea. Several little traits of this sort may be observed. 7 Ratisbon; the Germans call it Regensburgh. The modern names added to this extract are from J. R. Forster's notes. I |