The work for which Alfred was raised up was at last accomplished.  He had stayed the inundations of the Northmen, defended his kingdom of Wessex, and planted the seeds of a higher civilization in England, winning the love and admiration of his subjects.  The greatness of Alfred should not be measured by the size of his kingdom.  It is not the bigness of a country that gives fame to its illustrious men.  The immortal heroes of Palestine and Greece ruled over territories smaller and of less importance than the kingdom of Wessex.  It is the greatness of their characters that preserves their name and memory.

Alfred died in the year 901, at the age of fifty-two, worn out with disease and labors, leaving his kingdom in a prosperous state; and it had rest under his son Edward for nine years.  Then the contest was renewed with the Danes, and it was under the reign of Edward that Mercia was once more annexed to Wessex, as well as Northumbria.  Edward died in 925, and under the reign of his son Aethelstan the Saxon kingdom reached still greater prosperity.  The completion of the West Saxon realm was reserved for Edmund, son of Aethelstan, who ascended the throne in 940, being a mere boy.  He was ruled by the greatest statesman of that age, the celebrated Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and Archbishop of Canterbury,—­a great statesman and a great Churchman, like Hincmar of Rheims.

Thus the heroism and patience of Alfred were rewarded by the restoration of the Saxon power, and the absorption of what Mr. Green calls “Danelagh,” after a long and bitter contest, of which Alfred was the greatest hero.  In surveying his conquests we are reminded of the long contest which Charlemagne had with the Saxons.  Next to Charlemagne, Alfred was the greatest prince who reigned in Europe after the dissolution of the Roman Empire, until the Norman Conquest.  He fought not for the desire of bequeathing a great empire to his descendants, but to rescue his country from ruin, in the midst of overwhelming calamities.  It was a struggle for national existence, not military glory.  In the successful defence of his kingdom against the ravages of Pagan invaders he may be likened to William the Silent in preserving the nationality of Holland.  No European monarch from the time of Alfred can be compared to him in the service he rendered to his country.  The memorableness of a war is to be gauged not by the number of the combatants, but by the sacredness of a cause.  It was the devotion of Washington to a great cause which embalms his memory in the heart of the world.  And no English king has left so hallowed a name as Alfred:  it was because he was a benefactor, and infused his energy of purpose into a discouraged and afflicted people.  How far his saint-like virtues were imitated it is difficult to tell.  Religion was the groundwork of his character,—­faith in God and devotion to duty.  His piety was also more enlightened than the piety of his age, since it was practical and