THE LIFE OF ALFRED, OR, ALLURED: The first Institutor of subordinate government in this Kingdom, and Refounder of the University of OXFORD.  
Together with a Parallel of our Sovereign Lord, K. CHARLES until this year, 1634.  
By ROBERT POWELL of Wells, one of the Society of New-inn.  
Printed by Richard Badger for Thomas Alchorn, and are to be sold at the sign of the green-Dragon in Paul's Churchyard 1634.   

REVERENDISSIMO IN CHRISTO PATRI, AC DOMIno Gualtero permissione divina Winton. Episcopo, Sacrae Periscelidis Praesuli, Domino suo honoratissimo.  
Reverendissime Antistes:  
INter publicas, & privatas rerum anxietates, per suffuratas ansam arripui horas, opusculum de antiquis legibus & subdelegatis in hoc regno regendi formulis, ab Aluredo olim praeillustri Angliae principe institutis, & ad Mosaicam moderno tempori deductis imitationem, elucubrandi: non citiùs opus istud peregissem, & honoratissimo juris perito examine suo trutinandum devovissem, cum magnum me incessit desiderium, in illius celeberrimi regis & vitam, virtutes, & gesta penitius inscrutandi, quae omnia quidem accuratiùs perpendenti, tantum mihi in delitiis erant, ut variis sparsim Chronographis reperta, in unum colligere fasciculum non pertaesum fuerit, in illius adimplendi conatu sic unda supervenit undae, mirae (torrentis instar) in animum meum de serenissimo nostro Carolo rege, & ipsius cum Saxonico illo antecessore suo, aequiparabili fere in omnibus assimilatione, meditationes inciderunt; & eò magis mirae, quod tunc temporis insignissimus ille Aetoniae praepositus multas earundem (licet longè concinniori & disertiori idiomatis contextu) in plausibus & votis suis ad Regem è Scotia reducem dilucidè pertextuisset: aetate hac calamorum & typorum prurigine laboranti cum non deerint (haud dicam histriomastiges) insolentes, & insensati Regis, legis, ecclesiae Episcoporum, & totius ditionis hujus gubernationis, mastiges licèt ipsissimis ipsi flagellis pereant; non iniquum mihi (cum nos non nobis solùm natos esse meminerim) hoc minutulum meum in rei-publicae gazophylacium, Regis, & legis ergo immittere visum est: Ad opellam istam de legibus, quod attinet, quantùm naturalem subditorum erga sacram Regis Majestatem, obedientiam, quantum innatam Coronae regalis praeeminentiam, nec non veterum consuetudinum, & novissimorum decretorum scientiam explicatura, quantùm denique emolumenti, ad rerum gerendarum subordinationem allatura videatur, consultissimos appellare judices fas sit: interim ad nobile par Principum sacrorum redeam; quis de talibus talia, qualia perrarò ulla produxit aetas, silendo praeter ire queat? Etenim (ut alibi in Alfredum dicitur) quae delectatio major, quam clarorum virorum studia, res gestas, mores, vitas, ortus & obitus (tanquam tabulas bene pictas) quotidie intueri? Quis fructus uberior quam qui ex istiusmodi rerum lectione percipiatur? Non alium hoc aggrediendo mihi finem destinaveram, quam ut incomparabilia omnium in ij●● praesertim in Alf. nostro superstite) bonorum insignia, quasi totidem exemplaria imitationis commodè singulis accommodentur: qualis haec micula mea, prae grandioribus, apud vulgus hominum estimanda videatur, non multùm interest; modo dominationis vestrae (cui omnia quicquid me penes, immò meipsum debeo) patrocinio, cum omni humilitate dicari digneris. Intimis igitur à te praesul Reverende votis contendo, ut hujus officii pignoris dedicationem acceptare non pigeat, quo ingenti favore fretus, alterum istud de legibus, reipublicae utilitati devotum (quorum intererit prius consultis) alacrius exhibiturus sum. Deus optimus & maximus dignitatem vestram in ecclesiae, et regni ornamentum et adjumentum, diu incolumem praestet, et annorum plenitudine transacta aeterna beatitudine in altissimis coronet.  
Dominationi vestrae omni observantiae officio, studio, & fide devinctissimus Servulus ROB▪ POVELLUS▪   

The Preface.  
HISTORY is the Herald of Antiquity, and the life of time, and well deserves Cicero his appellation, Magistram vitae: it preserves and presents unto our understanding, and knowledge in the book of nature (as it were in a Synoptick glass) the life and light of the boundless and beautiful theatre of the whole world, the heavens, the elements, the glorious lights, the nature of all herbs and plants, and all creatures whatsoever both of sea, and land; yea, even subterraneous things, treasured up in the bosom and bowels of the earth; the variety of all precious gems, and all mineral bodies and materials whatsoever; and not only the life & light of this great universe, but of all persons and actions memorable and worthy to be recorded, either for imitation of good, or eschewing of evil, ever since the world itself had its first created light: it presents our first Parents in their innocence and naked purity, and after their fall, in their sinful 
Gen. 9 21  robes of figleaves. Noah in the Ark (the type of the Church militant) and afterwards uncovered in his Tent.  
It brings to our memories, the gracious and godly government of David, jehosaphat, Ezechias, and many other blessed Kings; and on the contrary, the tyrannical and cruel oppressions of Pharaoh, Astyages, and Herod, and many others, with their woeful and exemplary punishments, the lives of good and bad subjects; an undermining Ziba, and a faithful Mephibosheth, a proud Haman, and a loyal Mordecai, an incorrupted Naaman, and a bribing Gehazi; in a word, a Pharisaical Thraso and a penitent Publican: it presents unto us from the mouth of God, by the hand of Moses the Law of God, or the deca. logue proceeding from the eternal wisdom and rule of justice in God; by which, as by a Rule or Level, all the counsels and consultations, all the actions and enterprises of men are to be directed and squared.  
This great Mistress hath two eyes, and by them she surveys the whole world, topography, and Chronology, and exact knowledge of places, and of times, which like the Cynosura are able to guide and conduct every studious reader in the vast Ocean of the affairs of the world unto the haven of true knowledge.  
History is either universal, describing the whole fabric of the world, or general containing a national or provincial description, Quae mores hominum cognovit & urbes, or special, comprehending the lives and actions of particular Princes or persons; this last I shall walk in.  
To be versed in the knowledge of foreign Countries, and affairs, and to be a stranger at home, were great folly, and a way to forget the legiance and obedience which we owe to our Sovereign and his Laws.  
Under the service of that great Commandress, that yields subjection to none but eternity itself, I shall humbly presume, to present unto the world for the glory of our English Nation such a Prince, as Constantine the great Emperor of Rome, (who rescued the Christians of his time from the persecution,) would have owned and honoured for a Compeer, if he had lived in his time; Alfred, or, as some name him Aelfred, or Allured, the 23. King of the Westsaxons, and the first Monarch of England; who not only rescued and defended his Christian Subjects from Pagan persecutions, but was the Author of reconciling and adopting a Danish King, and many Nobles and others to the Christian faith.   

To the Christian and Courteous READER.  
THere are, who will expect from me some reasons, why I, inter minores minimus, should adventure the labours of my shallow and slender judgement, upon a Subject so Princely and Paramount; Let such accept some few for many.  
In that degree of profession, and employment in the Common laws of this kingdom which I now enjoy, & have done these twenty five years. I had ever a desire to improve my knowledge not, only by traditional and ordinary rules of practice, but by a more exact inquiry, Petere fontes potius quam rivulos, to look into the antiquities and original grounds of those laws wherewith I was to deal.  
My first encouragement therein I received by versing in a learned work compiled and published Anno, 1609. by Master john Skeny a great Senator and privy Counsellor in Scotland, to our late blessed Sovereign of famous memory KING james, entitled Regiam Majestatem, etc. with his marginal annotations touching the Concordance of the divine law, the laws of this land, and the latter Parliamentary laws of Scotland, which ministered an occasion unto me to bestow some stolen hours (amidst many distracting businesses) in the study of our British, Saxon, and English histories, wherein I observe, notwithstanding the many and often permutations of State and government in the time of the heptarchy, as also before, and after, a constant observation of the fundamental rules of our national laws in Tanto, though not in Toto, and I took no mean felicity therein, heartily wishing, that they were not so much neglected and undervalved, as they are by many, who are more conversant in Turkish and other foreign histories, than in our own, in sua republica hospites, in aliena Gives Aliens at home and Citizens abroad.  
From the study of those laws I learned that the body of the common weal subsisteth by an ancient monarchical government, and that the KING is Vicarius Dei and Caput reipublicae, GOD'S Vicegerent and the head of the Commonwealth. The members which make up the structure of our Republic are the LORDS spiritual and temporal, and the commons: the commonwealth hath an interest in every man's actions, In praemium or paenam, either to reward the good or to punish the bad actions of men, crimes of omission, or commission; Interest rei-publicae ne quis re sua malè utatur, It hath such a power over the actions and estates of men, that no man must abuse or mis-imploy the talon of his mind, body, or means: And by the rules of contraries, Every man must well and rightly, order, and employ them for the aid, and defence of the head, and of that great body. Master Crompton in the dedication of his learned Irenarcha, rendereth this motive; for the publication of that book. For that (saith he) the body of the Commonwealth doth consist of diverse parts, and every member ought to endeavour himself according to his calling, for the maintenance thereof; I have studied how I might put my poor talon into the treasury; for the more safe conservation of that body. The same reason raised up some courage in me to enterprise that work which is mentioned in the precedent nuncupation.  
I had no sooner finished and devoted that to the view and examination of an honourable person eminently learned in the laws, but my meditations fell amain upon the lives, laws and memorable actions of our Royal pair of peerless Princes, and especially of our British Alfred, and afterwards perusing that most accurate and learned work of Sir Henry Wootton Provost of Eton College for the gratulation of his Majesty's happy return from Scotland. It bred a wonder in me, that two Subjects, the one noble, the other plebeian should at one and the same time, as near as may be conjectured, concord for most things in their meditations, upon the noble acts and deeds of their most glorious Sovereign.  
It seems to me a strong argument to prevent the sinister conceits and critic opinions of those who will be too censorious upon my publishing of this work: and amongst them some of my own calling, who never had their breeding in any Inns of Court or Chancery, such I must pass by with the Poet,  

Carpere nostra voles? potes hinc jam lector abire  
Quo libet—   
I hear some already censure me, for writing some part of the life of our renowned Monarch in his life time; two precedents instar multorum shall serve to vindicate me therein. Asser who wrote the life of Alfred whilst he lived; And our ever honoured Cambden who wrote part of the life of blessed Queen Elizabeth before her death.  
I shall add a reason, that sithhence by nature we are apt to imitate the worst things;  

— dociles imitandis  
Turpibus & pravis omnes sumus—   
It is most expedient that the lives of good and gracious Princes, being gods on earth, should be set forth unto their people as specula, a supereminent watch-Tower whom their subjects every where might behold afar off, and learn to obey their supreme power; and as speculum, a mirror wherein they might gaze on, and strive to imitate their Sovereign in virtue and goodness.  
Two points in my Parallel, I hear, are already quarrelled with.  
One concerning genuflexion at the saving name of JESUS; the Canonical discipline of our Church ratified by regal authority enjoins it, and I will obey it; and if there were no such injunction, my conscience would warrant me to do it, with freedom from Idolatry.  
The other, concerning recreations on the Lord's day after the end of Evening prayer, for which I refer the Reader to the late translated work of the reverend Divine Dr. Prideux. In either of these I have not presumed to use any arguments; neither needed I, for than I should have walked ultra crepidam: and needless it is, to argue or dispute for that which authority hath commanded, and most insufferable insolence to speak or write against it: know, good Reader, that I have learned the fifth Commandment, which teacheth us, that subjection must attend on superiority; and commands not only a natural obedience from children to parents, but a civil obedience from subjects to their Prince who is Pater Patriae, and to all subordinate Ministers and Magistrates under him. How can any man think himself religious, who will contemptuously violate that Commandment, not only in not obeying the Ordinances and Edicts of their Christian King, but in oppugning them, and perverting others from yielding obedience to them. Let this suffice for matter of apology; I shall conclude with a thankful remembrance of some living Authors, to whom this Treatise of Alfred must especially ascribe a part of its being; Mr. Bryan Twine sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford, for his learned and laborious work, touching the Antiquity of Oxford; out of which I excerpted many things conducible to my purpose; and to Mr. Noel Sparks Fellow, and Greek Lecturer of the same house, for his faithful and careful collections out of Asser. These and many more I consulted with, before I brought it to that contexture and form, wherein it now presents itself to public view. And so beseeching the Almighty to direct all our actions for his glory and the common good, and to bless us with true piety towards him, unfeigned loyalty to our Sovereign, and Christian charity one towards another, I rest,  
Yours howsoever you censure me, ROBERT POWELL.   

THE LIFE OF ALFRED, OR, ALLURED.  
THE light of the Laws of this virtuous & magnanimous Prince, drawn from the first and best pattern of all Laws, did not only minister the occasion of compiling a Treatise to be hereto annexed, but a just encouragement with my unworthy and unpolished Pencil to limb out the life of him, who (though he died seven hundred thirty three years since) doth by the modern practice and imitation of his Laws and Government still live: To speak sufficiently (as one saith) of so noble a Prince 
Holinsh.  as Alfred was, might require eloquence, learning, and a large Volume.  
I must truly say, that tota vita luctamen, all his life was a perpetual warfare against the enemies either of outward, or inward peace, men, or vices. And in this short breviary of his life, I intent not any long discourse of the various and troublesome affairs of his twenty eight years' reign: but what concerns his valour, virtue, and religion, his pious and memorable deeds, his orderly (in the times of war and disorder) course and method of a well disposed government.  
This good King who is styled by one the Mirror of Princes, by another, Moses his imitator, was the Grandchild of Egbert, who first gave this Kingdom the name of England, and the fourth and youngest son of Aethelwolphe by the Lady Ogburgh. In his childhood he was a careful observer, and celebrator of peculiar hours in prayers, and service of God, and so dextrously studious, that he had many Psalms and Prayers by heart, which afterwards being gathered into a book, he did continually night and day carry about with him in his bosom, as his inseparable companion, and as a supply or provision for the worship of God, amidst the manifold changes of those times: he was a sedulous frequenter, and visitor of holy places, Etiam ab infantia, 
Asser.  orandi & eleëmosynam dandi gratia, diu in oratione tacita prostratus (saith mine Author) wherein he followed his Father's steps, who by reason of his monastic education under Swithun a Monk (whom he afterwards made Bishop of Winton,) was a man zealously and piously addicted. And of all his sons, Alfred was most heir apparent to his father's devotion and virtues, though not to his Crown and Kingdom. When he was not above five years old, yet senior virtutibus quam annis Aethelwolphe 
Twine Apol. p. 194.  his father being warned thereto in a dream by the voice of an Angel, Adulphe Rex dilecte Dei quid moraris? mitte filium postgenitum, etc. did upon this vision (if it may receive any credit) by an honourable Convoy of Swithun Bishop of Winton, & other Nobles, send this blessed youngling to the Bishop of Rome, to be anointed King of England: certain it is, he was there, and was humbly presented by Swithun to Pope Leo the fourth, who (as if divining and presaging his future fortune and succession to his father's Crown) did in the year of Christ eight hundred fifty five, anoint him a King in the presence of his Father (saith Rossus,) and it was about the time that Lewis the second succeeded Lotharius 
Chytrae●  in the Empire of Rome.  
Aethelwolphe not many years after his return from Rome died, and his three elder sons Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Etheldred successively reigned, and dying left the Kingdom distracted by continual conflicts with the Danes; and Alfred having faithfully served his brothers, as Viceroy, in each of their several reigns survived, and in the twenty second year of his age, and the nineteenth year of the Emperor succeeded in 
●ewis.  his Kingdom, in a year wherein eight several battles had been given to the Danes by the Saxons; and 
Hellinshead.  himself within one month after his Coronation, forced into the field by the Pagan Danes at Wilton, where the end of the fight was more successful than the beginning, and procured the first truce between the Danes and Saxons; yet so implacable were those Heathens against this pious Prince; that like wild and savage Boars after many overthrows they would continually whet their tusks to give new onsets. After this truce about the year, eight hundred seventy five, Halden the Danish King having▪ the fresh supply and aid of Guthrun, and other Danish Leaders, (Viceroys at least) did both by Sea and Land continually exercise this gracious Prince in a defensive warfare; but not without some perilous imbroylements, he did enforce them to the treaty of a second 
holinsh.  peace; and then (more than ever they did before to any) they took a solemny Oath to depart the Country; but eftsoons perfidiously violated the same, and for further preparation of war, marched with an Army towards Exeter; Alfred approached them in such wise, and so fiercely encountered them, as that they were enforced to deliver pledges for performance of their former agreement of departure: for no oaths would serve to bind the consciences of those lawless Miscreants. Hence they departed and drew into Mercia; and having usurped the government of the Kingdom from the River of Thames forward; no terms, nor ties of truce could contain them from continual incursions, and invasions upon this noble Prince: under the conduct of Guthrun (called by some Gurmund.) The remnant of those disbanded Atheists mustered up themselves, and about the first year of his reign invaded the Country of West-saxia, and pitched their Tents about Chipnam in Wiltshire, where they infested the whole Country▪ and so overlaid King Alfred 
Speed.  with their united forces; that by extremity he was necessitated to make his recess into obscure places almost inaccessible for fens and marshes, having nothing of his great Monarchy left unto him but that part of the Kingdom, since known and distinguished by the Counties of Hampton, Wilts and Somerset.  
In this distress, one of his greatest Courts for residence, was an Island now known by the name of Athelney, in the County of 
Cambden F 〈…〉.  Somerset, anciently in the Saxon called Aethelingarg▪ (that is,) Nobilium insula, so termed, by reason of the King's abode, and the concourse of his Nobles unto him: this place is as famous to us for the shelter of Alfred from the Danish pursuit, as the Minturnian fens were to the Romans for Marius his covert from the persecution of Sylla: In this place he lived poorly disguised in a Cowherd's house, (some would have it in the service of Denwulphus a Hogheard;) Being excellent in music and songs, he oftentimes in the habit and posture of a common minstrel, did insinuate himself in the Danish Camp, where his plausible carriage and skill, gained a freedom of access and passage in the company of their Princes at Banquets and other meetings; and thereby he discovered their conditions, and all their martial counsels and designs.  
By this prudent and politic course, being now furnished and prepared not only to prevent, but to surprise his enemies; (Dolus an virtus, quis in host requirat?) He returns to hi● comfortless company, and unmasking himself, and the Danish designs, doth with comfort cheer them up; and with a refreshed power and strength, he suddenly issued forth, and gave a fierce assault upon the secure and careless company of the Danes who were then frolicking in their Tents, and Somno vinoque sepulti; he put such a great number of them to the sword, that the poor remainder of them were utterly disbanded and discomfited, and enforced to a shameful flight for the safeguard of their lives. This victorious surprisal gave a sure overture and hope to King Alfred of regaining his embroiled Monarchy; and so weakened and disheartened the Pagan Rebels, that ●hey could never recollect sufficient courage, or company to renew any fresh encounter against the SAXON forces, who had gathered greater strength unto them.  
In this Isle (whether before or after his victory it much matters not) King Alfred had built a kind of Castle or Fortress to receive him and his Nobles upon return from their sallies and encounters during his wars in those parts.  
About a year after that memorable overthrow, viz. Anno eight hundred seventy nine, in a battle at Kinwich in Devon, Halden, 
Speed.  and some of the chief Leaders of the Danes, received their deaths-wound, and ended their lives; hereupon the daunted and dispersed Danes humbly present their terms of peace to King Alfred, with pledges and hostages, that they would either depart the Land, or become Christians, which was accepted by him; for in him justice and Mercy met together.  
Guthrun their new King upon the death of their other Leaders, with thirty Noble men and almost all his people, received baptism in the new built Castle of Athelney, where King Alfred was Godfather to him, & gave him the name of Athelstane; and upon a confederation between them, Alfred did assign unto him the Provinces of the Eastang'es and Northumberland, 
Cambden  ut eas, sub fidelitate Regis jure hereditatio foveret, quas pervaserat latr cinio: that he might enjoy that by right, which before he usurped by rapine; and unto the new baptised Nobles, he gave many large and rich gifts: This truce or league, must be in time, about the eight or ninth year of his reign, and thus begins: Foedus, quod Aluredus 
Lamb. Archaie● fo. 49.  & Gythrunus reges ex sapientum Anglorum at que eorum omnium, qui orientalem incolebant Angliam consulto ferierunt, in quod praeterea, singuli non solum de seipsis, verùm etiam de natis suis, ac nondum in lucem editis (quotquot saltem misericordiae divinae aut regie velint esse participes) jurarunt: That is, They did by a solemn Oath ratify this league, as well for themselves, as for those that were then borne and unborn, that would be partakers of divine mercy.  
In the Charter, or muniment of this truce; that his Kingdom might be free from the Danish encroachments, he thus bounded his Kingdom. Primo ditionis nostrae fines ad Thamesin fluvium evehuntor, etc. Let the bounds of our Dominion reach unto the River of Thames, and thence forward unto the River of Lee, and Lermouth (this passeth through Ware, Waltham, and Stratford;) then let them reach strait to Bedford; and last of all being extended through the River Isis, let them end in Watling-street.  
Afterwards, certain comitial Laws and Ordinances (Alfred no doubt was the prime mover of 
Lamb. fo. 52.  them) were solemnly made between them, enlarged and amplified by their wise men: before all things they proposed and preferred the strict and holy worshipping of Almighty God, and abandoning all barbarous Idolatry; next, they took care for the enacting, registering, and inrolling of moral Laws, for containing of Subjects in their several duties and due obedience unto Ecclesiastical discipline; & therefore they first decreed, That the peace of the Church within her walls (as it was then delivered by the hand of King Alfred) should be piously and inviolably observed; they proceeded to the promotion and propagation of the Christian faith, and the abolition of all Paganism and heathenish Rites; for coercion of Clerks, & men in holy Orders, if they committed any perjury, fornication, or other offences, or were inconformable in the celebration of Festival days, times of abstinence, or other Orders and injunctions of the Church; prohibiting mercature, and secular negotiations upon the Lord's day. In all wh●ch, the imposition of penalties and punishments upon an Englishman, and upon a Dane were differenced one from the other: they also provided for the exilement of Witches, Wizards, common strumpets, and other lewd and wicked creatures; with other good Laws for avoiding of homicides, and for preservation of peace and government, and maintenance of each man's right of property in this their national commixture.  
This adjured league quieted the civil discords of the Danes and Saxons for the space of four years, until the twelfth year of alfred's reign. And afterwards the continual inroad of the straggling unbaptised Danes, issuing out of France and other places (who like Egyptian Locusts vexed that Eastern part of the Land) gave this good King little time of intermission from a vigilant provision for defensive wars; until not without a holy testamentary preparation, he surrendered both life and Crown, in the eight & twenty year of his happy reign.  
And yet I must not so soon bring him to his grave; I said at first he lived, and still doth live, the Characters of that life which are his virtues, and neverdying well-done deeds: It is my willingness, more than my ableness to express; I will rather hazard my inabilities for such an enterprise to the censorious opinion of this age, than leave his exemplary goodness unpublished to the world.  
In the flower of his youth (a time most subject to entertain pleasure and delights) before he married his wife (who was Aelswida daughter of Etheldred Earl of Mercia;) he was so chary of a chaste and continent course of life, and so studious 
Asser.  to resist and suppress all ebullitions of sinful suggestions, that most days, early at the summons of the morning's Herald, he would privately betake himself from his rest unto sacred Oratories, and places of Divine Service, and there in a prostrate humbleness, with no little expense of time, most devoutly offer up the incense of his prayers to the Throne of Heaven; which course he constantly observed in the silent hours of night, and at all seasons; aswell in the times of prosperity and victorious success, as also in all adverse, and doubtful variations of war or State▪ or afflictions of sickness, and infirmity of body; in all which he had his vicissitude of participation.  
He was the first lettered Prince in this Kingdom, since it had its nomination of England, and had the happiness to be disciplined under the care of Plegmundus, 
●. Godw. ca●. ●o. 17  a man of excellent learning, and eminent parts, who was borne in Mercia; and from the solitary life of an Eremite▪ in the Island of Chester, called to be a Tutor to this noble Prince; who at that time found the number of Learned men to be so scarce and few, by reason of the continual devastations of wars (which are always incompatible with laws and literature) as that with incessant sighs and groans he would not 
Asser.  daily cease to bemoan the want of such men, and with assiduity of earnest prayers to implore a supply from that Omnipotent with soon gave a gracious issue to his desires; for not many months after his inauguration to the Kingdom, he obtained the comfortable service and attendance of Withfrithus, called by some Werefridus (who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester on Whitsunday, 872.) And for his singular learning was had in high estimation by King Alfred, and by his command translated the dialogues of S. Gregory out of the Latin into the Saxon or English dialect; he wanted not all the helps, advise and instructions of Plegmundus his Tutor, who was afterwards, Anno 889. consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. Those he consulted with, night and day, taking sweet comfort aswell in their discourses, as in their lectures and rehearsals of many learned books and works, and never thought himself happy longer than he had the fruition of their or such like pleasing companies; by means whereof he attained the knowledge of most books, and ability to understand them by himself without any of their interpretations: his regal desire of Arts and learning, rested not at home, but extended itself by messages and Embassages beyond the Seas, for men of the most exquisite learning that could be heard of; out of France he obtained Grimbald and 
Asser.  Scotus, men famous in their times for their great & singular learning: out of the remotest parts of Wales he sent for Asser who wrote his life, and diverse others of like parts▪ he drew from other places.  
Asser (as himself affirmeth) abode with the King in his Court by the space of eight months before his return to Wales; in which time he constantly read diverse books unto him: for (saith he) it was his custom both night and day, amidst all other impediments both of mind and body to be ever versed in reading books himself, or hearing them read by others; and took a great felicity to translate books, especially metre, into the vulgar (than Saxon) tongue, and commanded others to do the like, whereby he acquired such perfection therein, as that the Art of Poesy was much honoured, by ascribing to him the title of Poet.  
This religious Monarch out of his immoderate thirst of the Arts and liberal Sciences, modestly conceiving the want thereof in himself, to be more than it was, did apply the greater care for the education of his children: In which charge, Asser being recalled from Wales had the principal employment, and was vouchsafed the name of Schoolmaster to his children, being two sons and three daughters by his one, and only Queen. No less tender was he in the training up and tutor of the children of his Nobility under the same masters, and in the same method of discipline.  
For the perpetual propagation of learning, he revived and repaired the old, and erected, and endowed new Schools and Colleges, as so many seed plots, and nurseries of Religion and virtue. Some write that he did first institute the University of Oxford: the institution of that famous Achademie was doubtless long before: but if vivification and redemption from oblivion and ruin, be proportionable to a work of creation; it is not a grain in the balance, who should deserve the greatest honour of that renowned Seminary, either the first founder, or Alfred the refounder.  
For amidst the many mournful demolitions of stately monuments by the Danish and Saxon wars, Oxford had her deplorable part and sufferance, in the exile of her Muses in her houses and structures; All, by wars, laid waste, and even with the dust, little or nothing left to demonstrate what her former beauty had been, save only the Monastery of S. Frideswide.  
For repairing the wastes and spoils of that sacred place, Alfred bestirs himself; and there for the studies of Divinity, Philosophy and other Arts, did raise up the fabric of three magnificent Colleges then called by the name of his schools, one for divinity, another for Philosophy, and a third for Grammar; one of which three is now known by the name of University College.  
In this revived Seminary he designed and appointed several Readers and Professors, to whom he allotted large and liberal stipends. The first divinity 
Twine Apo.  reader was Neote (the second son of his father by his Queen judith daughter 
Mr. Lytes Geneal.  of Charles the bald Emperor and King of France, whom he married upon his second return from Rome) a man of admired learning; to whose forwardness and direction in the reëdification of this ancient Nursery, that place did owe a special part of her being.  
Asser as propense and 
Asser.  zealous to his power, in advising and furthering the perfection of that work, was the Grammar and Rhetoric reader: hither he sent Aethelward his second son, and first, and last child, who was borne about An. 880. And thereby gave example to all the greatest Nobles of his Kingdom, to send their sons thither, and to honour their education with the company of the young Prince.  
This work of restitution 
Twine Apol.  was begun (saith one) An. Dom. 874. And doubtless it could not be presently finished, and furnished; the government thereof began to flourish between the years 882. & 883▪ about which time Grimbald was made in the presence of that victorious Prince, the first Chancellor of that University; to make this work more absolute, he obtained the grant of many▪ privileges unto the scholars of this place from Martin the 
Twine Apol. fo. 168.  second Pope of Rome, which he confirmed with his own grant of many honourable infranchisements and immunities. From the same Pope he obtained a relaxation of all tribute to the Saxon school at Rome.  
As he was every way royal and magnificent in this ever blessed act of restauration; so he was studious in the preservation thereof in peace and concord: a great dissension and perilous, about the year 886, arose amongst the scholars: the parties in this faction were Grimbald, and such learned men as he brought thither with him, and the old scholars, who had their abode there at the time of Grimbalds' coming & refused to subscribe to, or obey the laws, rules, and form of discipline instituted and prescribed by him: for the space of three years the controversy was not visibly great, but a lurking and intestine hatred, which now taking vent, made its way with the greater fury and fierceness, jamque faces & Saxa volant, furor arma ministrat; it grew so great and dangerous, that none could appease it, but a Regal Arbiter, who being certified of it, upon the complaint of Grambald, hastens thither to accord the controversy, and (saith the Author) summos 
Twine Apo.  labores hausit, etc. he took very great pains with unheardof patience, exactly to hear the differences of each party. The sum of the controversy was touching the orders and constitutions of that place, long before Grimbalds' coming established by Saint Gildas and others; and afterwards allowed by Saint German, who made six months abode there, as he took his journey to preach against the Pelagian heresy; which being deliberately debated on both sides, the good Prince accorded the discord, and with pious and sweet monitions, incessantly exhorted them to join together in peace and unity: what can be more said of his boundless munificence and blessing upon that glorious Garden of Arts and Learning, than the suffrage of the place itself doth ascribe unto him.  Oxonii flores Alured fert iste priores. 
That schools of learning might not be unfurnished of studious Colleagues, he made a law or decree, whereby he straightly charged all the free men of the Kingdom, who were owners of two hides of Land at the least, (being such a portion of land as 
Cambden Brit.  might be yearly manured by two ploughs.) That they should keep and train up their children to learning, until they were fifteen years old; and that in the mean time they should diligently instruct them in the knowledge of GOD, that they might thereby acquire wisdom and goodness.  
For the better promotion 
Asser. Godwin.  of piety, he built a stately Monastery at Winchester; and upon the occasion before mentioned of his enforced retire into the Isle of Athelney, he there out of a 
Twine fo. 196.  local gratitude erected an other like religious house, and a third for a Nunnery at Shaftisbury in the County of Dorset; the prefecture whereof he assigned to Ethelgeda his second daughter, the first Abbess there, all which he enriched with large revenues.  
These and other his edifices by his own former kind of structure were most spacious, sumptuous, and glorious, beyond all the platforms and precedents of his ancestors.  
And because, To every thing (saith Solomon) there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; and, jactura temporis preciosissima, it was the glory of his first invention, to proportion out a certitude of time, in all his best and choicest actions. The use of Clocks and Watches being not then invented; he cast the natural day, consisting of twenty four hours, into three parts; and having solemnly devoted the best and choicest part of his time to the service of God; he apportioned the spaces of the day, by a great wax light or Tapor which was placed in his Chapel or Oratory, divided into three equal distances, and measured his time by the burning thereof, whereof he had notice by his wax-keeper or officer appointed for that purpose; according to this threefold proportion of time, he allotted eight hours for prayer, study, and writing, eight in the service of his body, for his sleep and sustenance, and eight in the affairs of his estate, which as far as humane judgement could discern, his infirm body, and casualties of that mutable time permit, he most accuratly studied to perform; and for the better admeasurement of time for his subjects and common people, six wax candles were appointed for every twenty four hours, and the use of Lanterns first invented by him, to preserve their due time of burning.  
The prime motive of that invention was upon this ground: the Churches than were of so poor and 
Asser.  mean a structure, that the Candles being set before the Relics were oftentimes blown out by the wind, which got in not only, per ostium ecclesiarum, but also, per frequentes parietum rimulas; insomuch, that the ingenious Prince, was put to the practice of his dexterity: and upon that occasion, by an apt composture of thin horns in wood, he taught us the mystery of making a Lantern: he 
Lamb. fo. 54. ca 6.  also made a Law for contribution of money towards the maintenance of candles.  
And in the league between 
Idem. fo. ●● ca 54  him and Gythrun: there were strict and severe Laws made against those who paid not tithes to the Clergy. He was as zealous in enlarging the immunities and privileges of his Churches, as appears by his sanction de immunitate 
Lamb. so  
28  Templi, ca 2. and by another de sacrarum aedium immunitate, 
29  cap. 5. By the first, any person being guilty of any crime (if it did not concern villam Regis, or any honourable family) he had the privilege of refuge to the Temple, and of abode there three nights, without any disturbance or expulsion.  
By the latter; if a man pursued by his enemy did fly to the Temple, no man might take him away, (à nemine abstrahitor) by the space of seven days, if he were able to live for hunger, & viam vinon apperuerit; other, and great immunities the King there granteth to the Church; but with this caution unicuique templo religiose ab Episcopo consecrato hanc pacem concedimus, etc. Every Church must be first haliowed by the Bishop before it could be capable of such a freedom; whence a grave and learned Civilian 
D. Ridley his view. fo. 193.  observes upon that Law ca 5. that the Patron or Founder might bring the stones, and the workman put the materials together, and make it a house, but the Bishop made it a Church; till then, nothing was but the breathless body of a Temple, the soul being yet to come from the diviner influence of the Diocesan.  
As this Princely piety did enlarge itself, in maintenance of the rites and ceremonies of the Church, the necessary and divine dues and duties to the Altar, (Tithes) being the just alimony of the painful ministry; as also in the immunitis of God's houses, so was it munificently extended, to the needful supportations of those consecrated bodies, the material temples themselves. It was not long ere he cured, and closed up those parietum rimulas, the crannies and chinks of those cracked and crazed houses, with the expense of his own estate.  
About Anno 892. Not without long seizing, and many doubtful skirmishes, he recovered the City of London out of the hands of the Danes; restored it to its former liberties, repaired the ruins, and committed the custody thereof to Ethelred Duke of Mercia, who married the Lady Elfed his eldest daughter. And doubtless the Churches in London, and elsewhere, had a principal interest in his pious and prudent provision for restauration, and reparation. And if the first fabric of the Temple of St. Paul (which was about 210. years after his reign, 
Episcu. Lond. Conc. 16●0.  consumed with fire, with no small part of the City) could speak for itself, it would not be silent of his magnificent bounty.  
The revenues of his Kingdom, he was as studious to husband, as his time; which, that he might the better ascertain, and know his own, & (which is the best part of thrift) confine his expenses, unto the provent of his estate: he enjoined a general 
●●niel 〈◊〉.  survey of the kingdom to be made and certified unto him, and that with the particulars of his whole estate, to be deduced into a book, which he committed to safe custody within his treasury at Winchester.  
The one half of his wealth, he faithfully & devoutly resolved to bestow in the service of him whom he ever served: but to avoid the guilt of violating that caution of sacred Scripture, Si recte offeras, recte autem 
Asser.  non dividas, peccas. He studied discreely to divide what he did religiously devote. Therefore by a holy and divine direction, of all the income of his annual revenue, he caused a twofold division to be made; whereof, one part for divine, the other part for secular affairs.  
1 That part for God's service; he commands a quadruple subdivision, to be exactly and carefully made? The first part whereof was to be distributed to the poor of each nation, wherein his hand was ever open to cast his bread upon the waters: his bounty and almsdeeds were not circumscribed at home, but liberally dispersed abroad, and not only to those of his own and neighbouring nations; but to others of foreign and remote parts, as if he should have therein said,  Tros Tiriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur. 
In the year 888: he 
●. Godwin. fo. 164.  sent by Athelmus Bishop of Winton, much treasure of his own; together with a large collection of his well disposed subjects, unto Marianus then Pope of Rome consigning a portion thereof to be conveyed to Jerusalem. 
●lem. fo. 269.  Another time by Sigelmus Bishop of Sherborne a large Alms, or offering of his own into India: there was scarce any Country, where the poor had not a portion of his bounty.  
2 The second part was allotted to his Monasteries, for the support and maintenance of them.  
3 The third part was sequestered, and appropriated for the benefit, and endowment of his great School, or Academy at Oxford which he had stored with many Students.  
4 The fourth he laid aside as a portion for all the bordering Monasteries, in 
Asser.  Saxony, and Mercia, and (in some years) to relieve, and repair several Churches by turns in Britain, France, Ireland, and other places.  
The other moiety of his estate, he did wholly addict to the service of the secular affairs which he carefully commanded to be tripartited.  
1 Whereof the first part was yearly conferred on those of his military employment, whom he highly esteemed; as also upon his menial officers, and Ministers, who guarded his person, and guided his Court; and being lifted into a trinall Company, each of them waited a month by turns, and then had two months recession for their ease and dis●●●ch of their own affairs▪  
2 T●● second part on the Masters and Workmen of his Fabrics, whom he had in great numbers procured, selected, and sent for out of many nations.  
The third portion he reserved, for relief of strangers, whom, the deserved fame of his virtue, goodness, and bounty, drew out of all parts to admire him, and (whether they sought and asked it, or not) to be partakers of his liberal largesse, which to every one according to their dignity and desert, he did abundantly dispose.  
In all this (if virtue and piety were hereditary) he might justly challenge a descent thereof from Aethelwolphe his father a Prince more affected to devotion, than Action, who being a Subdeacon, was by the dispensation of Pope Leo, afterwards made King, and gave the tenth of his kingdom's tribute (with exemption of regal service) to maintain the ministry of God, and his Church. And in his last journey to Rome, did confirm 
Speed.  the pay of peeterpence to Leo IIIIth. then Pope of Rome, and his successors to the end that no Englishman should do penance 
Asser.  in bonds.  
Add unto alfred's then unmatchable piety, his royal gratitude, which (ingratitude being the worst of vices,) is the best of virtues; Asser makes ample relation of his munificence, to him after his eight months abode in his Court, yet with his excuse, Non ideo se dedisse parva illa, quòd sequenti tempore nollet dare majora, which promise he made good shortly after, in bestowing the Bishopric of Sherborne upon him in the year 873.  
His old Host of Athelnry 
Godwin▪ fo. 163.  he afterwards well requited, by advancing him to the Bishopric of Winchester, Anno Christi. 879.  
He was not so careful in apportioning his estate and time, as he was in disposing the local government of his now settled Monarchy (the league between him and Guthrun being so firmly established,) and before he could not do it: he did all things stato & statuto tempore, a precedent for all Princes, yea, and for all persons, in imitation of jethro his council to Moses. He was the first, that reduced this confused Kingdom into an orderly rule of subordinate 
Lam. explic. rerum, etc.  government.  
And observing the old rule of Divide & impera, did divide this land into Shires, hundreds, and tithings; respectively appointing the prepositure of them to several Officers and Ministers, now called Sheriffs, Constables, and Tythingmen.  
But no government could be without Laws; and herein Moses is still his ensample, who having first selected his wisemen, and placed such to be rulers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and ten: then and not before, jura dabat populo, he gave laws to the people from 
Lamb. fo. 19  the mouth of eternity itself.  
Alfred, with a religious majesty begins his Laws, Locutus est Dominus ad Mosem hos sermons, &c. & cities all the decalogue, and then proceeds with the Laws comprised in the 21, 22 and part of the 23 Chapters of Exodus: all which, and the confirmation of these, with the Laws of King Inus and other his Ancestors, I have 
Lam. explic. rerum & verbo.  elsewhere at large expressed.  
He caused a book containing Decreta judiciorum, collected by King Ethelbert, to be written in the Saxon characters, which the injury of times hath utterly suppressed.  
Laws without execution are but Vmbratiles, clouds without reign, shadows without substance; he was therefore prepared jus sacere, as well as jus dicere. He was not sparing to administer justice, and to dispose of affairs of most weight in his own person; Taediosus, or, 
Asser.  districtus examinandae in judiciis veritatis arbiter existebat, & hoc maximè propter pauperum curam, qui in toto regno praeter illum solum nullos aut paucissimos habebant jutores; he was a most solicitous umpire, in examining the equity and verity of judicatory proceedings, and that principally for the cause of the poor, who besides him alone, had none or very few advocates or assistants: he was the Patron and protector of Widows and Orphans.  
As curious he was in reviewing almost all the judgements, decrees & sentences, rendered in his absence throughout his whole kingdom, where he found any ignorant, malevolent, or corrupt deviation from the line of justice: he was discreetly quick in his reprehensions, with a nimium admiror vestram hanc insolentiam, etc.  
He was a most ready composer of differences which commonly arose between his subjects, both noble and plebeian at their comitial centuriate, and other assemblies in his several Counties.  
And because there is so near a conjunction and coherence between the body and the mind, Langueat illius, fessus ut iste malis: and the best cure and comfort of either, is the alternate intermixture of some delights either in objects, or actions.  
Amidst the tempests of 
Asser.  war, the infestations of Pagans, the continual craziness of his infirm body, his watchful providence in government, the ponderous depressure of his state affairs; he disposed some intervalum of retired time for the needful solace, and refection of his tired and toiled spirits: and therefore applied himself to royal recreations, all kinds of hunting, and hawking, wherein his skill and dexterity were so incomparable, that he was able to direct and instruct all his Huntsmen, Fawkners, and all other Officers of his game: the interpositions of these and other recreations added vigour & valour both to his mind and body to support the burden of his state.  
And thus he measured the paces of his earthly pilgrimage, w ●h in the twenty eight year of his reign he cheerfully resigned, leaving behind him Elswich his sorrowful Queen, who survived him four years; Edward signior heir apparent to his Father's valour and virtues, aswell as to his Crown: Ethelward, his second son (but youngest child) to whom by his Will he devised great revenues in the County of Southampton, Somerset, and Devon; a good part whereof the Cathedral Church of Wells, built, or begun by his Ancestor K. Ine doth now enjoy. He also left behind him three daughters Elfleda, Ethelgeda▪ and Elfrtde: he was buried in Saint Peter's Church at Winchester, but removed thence, and buried by the new King's direction in the Monastery there being one of his own edefices.  
His arms are to be seen 
Twine Apol. 20●  in the public Hall of University College in Oxford, and are thus blazoned. A yellow Cross patence, in a field Azure, (the ancient arms of the West-Saxon Kings) And (added by him) at each end or point of the cross, a Saint Martin's bird, called a Martinet, or Martlet; the reason of which addition, whether (because he was a fourth brother) according to the rule of Heraldry, or for what other cause, it is not certainly historied. A fit emblem may be drawn from the nature of these birds, who about the month of November, before the Feast of S. Martin, for avoiding the coldness of the air, do in the Winter time for shelter betake themselves unto secret and covert corners, Latebras quaerunt ubi delitescant; they fly much, because they want the use of feet, and thence are called Apodes.  
It was the case of Alfred, who in the winter of the Danish pursuit and persecution, was forced latebras quaerere, ubi delitesceret, and was kept in such continual agitation, the former part of his reign, that he could not make use for any settled station or abode.  
His Epitaphe is the Epitome of his life, which the happiness of thankful times have dedicated to him as a monument of his eternal fame, and here followeth out of the works of a modern Chronographer.  



Nobilitas inimica tibi probitatis honorem  
(Armi potens Alfred) dedit, probitasque laborem,  
Perpetuumque labor nomen: immixta dolori  
Gaudia semper erant, spes semper mixta timori▪  
Si modò, victor eras, ad crastina bella pavebas,  
Si modò victus eras, in crastina bella parabas,  
Cui vestes sudore jugi, cui sicca cruore,  
Tincta jugi, quantum sit onus regnare, probarunt;  
Non fuit immensi quisquam per climata mundi,  
Cui tot in adversis vel respirare liceret,  
Nec tamen aut ferro contritus ponere ferrum,  
Aut gladio potuit vitae finisse labores.  
jam post transactos regni vitaeque labores,  
Christus ei fit vera quies, sceptrumque perenne.    
Englished by Mr. Fleming. 

Nobility by birth to thee (O Alfred) strong in arms.  
Of goodness hath thy honour given, 
Holinsh.  and honour toilsome harms,  
And toilsome harms, an endless name whose joys were always mixed  
With sorrow, and whose hope with fear, was evermore perplexed:  
If this day thou wert conqueror, the next day's war thou dredst,  
If this day thou wert conquered, to next day's war thou spred'st,  
Whose clothing wet with daily sweat, whose blade with bloody stain,  
Do prove how great a burden 'tis, in royalty to reign.  
There hath not been in any part, of all the world so wide.  
One that was able breath to take, and troubles such abide,  
And yet with weapons weary, would not weapons lay aside,  
Or with the sword the toilsomeness of life by death divide.  
Now after labours passed of Realm, and life (which he did spend)  
Christ is to him true quietness, and sceptre void of end.     
That famous Academy 
Twine Apo. 202  of Oxford, retained so grateful a memory of this blessed Prince, that the superstition of that age, ordained a solemn prayer to be celebrated in the Schools yearly, upon the vigils of S. Martin, for the souls of all their Benefactors, and especially, for the soul of King Alfred; which the happy reformation of religion, hath reduced to an anniversary commemoration by way of thanksgiving, and so continueth, and ever may, till the world's end.   

The Preface.  
SOme write the lives of dead Princes, to eclipse the glory of the living; in such, a lawless humour discontented with the present State, over. sways the legiance of a loyal heart. This Treatise aims at no such end, nor other; but only an impartial Parallel of two such Princes, the one dead, yet living in the other, and the living, raised as it were, out of the ashes of the dead, as many ages have not known the like. You have observed in the past discourse, the life of the dead; and now survey the fullness of his virtues surviving in him that lives, CHARLES, our great and dread Sovereign, the Constantine, and Carolus magnus of our age: and if the style of Magnus may seem to be borrowed from CHARLES the great, Emperor of Rome, yet I must add Primus, and I should write but truth, if Primus ante omnes: and none who will observe that sacred rule, In cogitation tua Regi ne detrahas, will harbour so disloyal a thought of his Sovereign, as to think I flatter: adulation, like a false Glass, makes things seem to be what they are not, and exalteth virtue from its proper Sphere; in this subject of Sovereignty there is no need of such imposture, all men's eyes and co sciences may see and know, that the radiant splendour of his gracious goodness doth exceed the expression of any tongue or pen.   

A Parallel of our gracious Sovereign Lord King CHARLES with King ALFRED.  
AS Alfred was, so is he the younger son of a Royal King; and though not anointed King in his younger years, yet then by eternal providence designed to his kingdoms His education, and studious desire of learning, his matchless piety even in his tender age inferior to none; his frequent access to our great provincial Counsels, his sedulous observations there, and in the greatest Courts of justice, did promise of him what now he is: after the death of his most dear brother of famous memory, when the burden of our so great expectation, as his hopeful succession lay wholly on him, though before he seemed not so agile and valid as his brother, yet his care of our welfare (which breathed by the breath of him) did raise up such vigour and spirit in him, that his ability and dexterity in body, and his admirable skill and facility, in equestrial and other corporal exercises, did grow up and increase together.  
He journied not to Rome, to Spain he did, whence (to say no more his thrice happy return, entertained with such wonderful acclamations, and ineffable expressions of joy and gladness (as this kingdom never knew the like before) did quicken and revive the life and spirit of many sad distressed souls.  
Not long after, when by our Solomon his resignation in fullness of time, of both life and Crown Sol occubuit, by his gracious succession nox nulla secuta est; for (as a great Primate observed) 
Epise. Meneu. modo Archiae. Conc. 1625.  by God's grace, and his royal father's prudent education, he was confirmata & aptata columna, a Pillar every way fitted to the State he bears, fitted to the difficulties of the times, fitted to the State, and fitted to the Church, before his Crown was scarce settled on his Royal head; and, ere he was anointed by the hand of the Priest, he was not without his cares, Coronam cura se quitur; the epidemical sins of our Nation, drew from heaven, one of the greatest instruments of God's vengeance, the noisome pestilence, which miserably infested not only our great jerusalem, but many other famous Cities, and almost all the skirts and corners of our kingdom; shortly after seconded with its second, the dread and horror of the sword in the times of 
An 1025  both which, first, in the time of contagion, turn back your eyes upon his strict and careful edict of a general fast and humiliation, by a prescribed form of prayer throughout all his Kingdom: himself, like another Phinees, stood up and prayed and the plague ceased, and in a wonderful manner, that God's great mercies far surpassed the extent of our hopes; his royal thankfulness, expressed 
An. 1625  in an uniformity of common prayer, in like manner publicly edicted followed, nay, (as if both in one divine conception) issued forth with this great deliverance.  
He was not, as Alfred, forced into the field in the very infancy of his reign; nor into any such angustious and distressed recessions: yet for perlustration of his Armies, and the well ordering his military affairs, he forced himself, not in a progress of ease, but by an expeditious toilsome journey, to the remotest and most navigable harbour of his Western Region, exposing himself thereby unto no mean dangers.  
By the space of those few years wherein his preparations of defensive war, were against two of the most potent and mightiest Christian Princes of Europe; he put not his confidence in his Princes, nor in his men of war either by Sea or Land, nor in the child of man; he put not his trust in his bow, neither was it his sword that should help him nor did he trust in his Chariots, nor his Horse, nor in his great Navies of Ships, nor in any Engines of war, nor his warlike provision (of all which his copious supply and store exceeded former times) but in God his strength, and his Redeemer. After the sudden and miraculous deliverance from the Pestilence, look upon no less and in as little distance of time, his form of prayer prescribed, in the year 1626., necessary to be 
An. 1626.  used in those dangerous times, for the safety and preservation of his Majesty and his Realm: the like not long after with a general fast for the preservation of his Majesty, his Realms and all reformed Churches: God heard him, the Lord of Hosts was with us; the God of jacob was our refuge, he made wars to cease, he broke the bow and knapped the spear in sunder.  
He blessed our Alf. and those two great neighbour Princes with a gracious issue of truce and peace: at unity they are, and their Kingdoms in public negotiations, commerce, and affairs of State, and God grant they long may be: and (might they stand with divine providence) in the union of our Church, aswell as our Common wealth.  
By this you see, that upon all occasions, God is his refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble: the best armour of a Christian Prince is prayer and humiliation; the strength and sinews whereof, do consist in the uniformity of religion and conformity of the ministry; upon both these the peace and quiet of the Church, (the Spouse of Christ) do principally depend.  
Our royal Sovereign 
Peace of the Church.  had no sooner by the incense of his prayers drawn from heaven a remission of that great contagion upon this land, but instantly he betakes himself to a regal course for establishing the peace of his Church; and therein agrees with Alfred, who in his sanction of the 
Lamb. A●hai●. fo 5●.  league between him and Guthrun did decree, ut ecclesiae pax & tranquillitas pie inviolateque serventur. And 
Uniformity.  for avoiding all offences, and innovations in religion, our now Alf. with the advice of his reverend Bishops, 
Pro●l. 14. junij. 1620.  did by his edict declare and publish his utter dislike of all those, who did or should adventure to stir or move any new opinions, contrary and differing from the sound and orthodoxal grounds of the true religion here professed and established: and did thereby charge all his subjects, especially Churchmen, that they should not by writing, preaching, printing, conferences, or otherwise, raise any doubts, or publish or maintain any new inventions or opinions concerning religion, other than such as are warranted by the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.  
And that all excuse of ignorance 
Articles of religion reprinted,  might be taken away; his illustrious goodness for avoiding diversities of opinions, and for the stablishing of consent touching true religion; hath caused and commanded the Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of both Provinces, in the Convocation holden at London, Anno 1562: to be reprinted with his royal declaration prefixed thereunto for ratification thereof: what zeal and care he hath had to suppress and recall any books or writings, though published by some of great 
Edict 17 ja. 4. Rs.  learning, that might breed the least doubt and disquiet in points of religion is well known.  
For the conformity of the 
Conformity.  Ministry, I find an old Law ratified by King Alf. de formula 
Lamb fo. 1. ca 1.  vivendi ministrorum Dei; it goes with an inprimis praecipimus, Dei ut ministri constitutam vivendi formulam curent & observent; That the Ministers of God should observe a regular form of living: and certainly it was meant by that Law, as well in their habit and vestiture, as in their condition and gesture; doth not the parallel hold in our times? witness the prudent care of the several Bishops within their Dioceses, by his Highness' gracious and provident directions, that the Ministers in their lives and conversations might be lights and examples to others; and by their clerical and conformable habits, they might with respect to their callings be distinguished from others. God hath 
Godsday.  his proper day and time for the more especial and peculiar advancement of his worship. And albeit his Highness' Ecclesiastical laws are armed with competent power, to redress the transgressing of either; yet he hath given a liberty for unsheathing the sword of his secular justice to propugne and maintain that selected day and time.  
There were good Laws 
Lamb fo. 54 ca  made before the Conquest, one by King Alf. De iis qui die dominico sua negotia agunt, for repressing under a great mulcte all servile and profane works upon the Lord's day; no special law of that subject were ever since made, but in the time of our Alf. in whose first Parliament, the first Law enacted, was for punishing abuses committed on that day: and in the second and last Parliament, the first Law made, was for further reformation of the breaches & profanations of that day by Carriers and others. And 
Liberty of ●●●r●a●●on.  whereas his Highness pursuing the example of his dear Father, directed by the primitive practice of former times, for the ease and comfort of his well deserving people, hath by his Princely declaration vouchsafed a liberty to his subjects, concerning lawful sports to be used that day, without impediment or neglect of Divine Service, prohibiting the same to all wilful and negligent Recusants, that shall not resort to their own Parish Churches to hear Divine Service before their going to the said recreations: this gracious indulgence hath of late disquieted the spirits of some unquiet humorists: But let the consequence be discreetly weighed, and all men will perceive a double benefit arise thereby for the propagation of God's service: 1. In encouraging the younger sort of people (who are most subject to desire of recreations) with more alacrity to frequent their Church, that they might enjoy their harmless pastime: 2. In retaining the Parishioners to the discipline of their own Pastors from straggling abroad to other men's Cures, a thing too frequent and most perilous to conformity.  
As the service of God 
God's time.  hath its principal dependence on devout prayer, so the devotion of prayer is quickened and much improved by fasting and abstinence 
Fasting.  at times prefixed by the Laws, which may be termed God's time.  
Alfred made a Law de 
Lamb. fo. 55.  jejunijs; Liber si indictum jejunium cibo sumpto dissolverit, & mulcta, & ipsa legis violatae paena plectitor, etc. A Freeman for the violation of a Fast was to pay a penalty (some say five marks) a servant to be beaten or to redeem it with money.  
His Majesty ever since his reign hath had a most watchful eye, by orders and Proclamations yearly, published to revive and command the due execution of his Laws, made against eating and selling of flesh in Lent, and other times prohibited▪ and finding that diverse Officers and Ministers were remiss in the punishing and prevention of such abuses, did by a strict edict command all 
27. jam. 7. Rs.  his people that his Laws should be duly executed upon all that should offend, either in eating or venting of flesh at times inhibited, or not fasting upon the days by his Laws appointed.  
God hath also a name 
God's name.  which must not be taken in vain: our Sovereign, for his pious observation of that, may be proposed for imitation to all the Princes and people of the world, no rash oaths, nor temerous execrations breathe out of his sacred mouth; and that saving Name, by which God owns our redemption, is had in high esteem with him. It is said 
〈…〉 erius M●n.  of K. Alfred, that God sometimes permitted his adversaries an insultation over him, ut sciret (saith mine Author) unum esse omnium Dominum, cui curvatur omne genu, that he might know that there was one JESUS CHRIST to whom all knees should bow: It is God's precept or rather protestation, Isay 45. ver. 23. In memet ipso juravi, I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, Unto me every knee shall bow: it is the practice of our Church, 
Canon.  and still may it continue, Ad nomen jesu curvetur omne genu, Let every knee bow at the name of jesus.  
As God hath his days and times, so his Places, 
God's places.  Churches, and sacred Oratories for his adoration and invocation of his great Name: the wisdom and munificent piety of ancient times, hath within this Island erected such stately and magnificent Churches, as do far surpass all other places in the Christian world: were it not then great pity that such famous fabrics should by the injury of times be suffered to moulder away, and be demolished for want of timely reparations? And here let me pause a while, and admire his Highness' tender zeal for supporting the Houses and Temples of GOD; and his beginning with that goodly and glorious structure, which was first begun in our Kingdom, and dedicated to St. Paul, the great threshing-floore of th●s Dominion, purchased and erected by the pious Davids of former Ages and consecrated for a Temple to the GOD of jacob; and herein his Majesty doth inherit his Father's Royal intentions.  
It is said of London; That it is Camera Regis, Cor reipublicae, & tanquam Epitome totius regni. The King's chamber, the heart of the Commonwealth, and as it were 
Saint Paul's.  a Summary of the whole kingdom. What shall I then term this holy place, which is the very centre of that imperial chamber, but Sanctum Sanctornm, the Mother-church of the whole land, where all public benedictions are first rendered, all appreciations for blessings, and all deprecations of public calamities are resounded and echoed out unto the ears of Heaven. Twice hath his Highness vouchsafed his presence at several Auditories in that place: Once as a glorious Star that followeth the Sun, He attended his Royal Father about thirteen 
Mart. 26 1620.  years since, to hear a holy and a powerful embassage on the behalf of that Ancient Temple, delivered by the mouth and meditations of a learned Prelate upon a foundation laid, a Text chosen out of a Kingly Prophet.  Psalm 102. VER. 13. 
Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favour her, yea the set time is come.  VER. 14. 
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.  
And in such an assembly was it, that to use his own words, He never spoke in such an Auditory, never should again. What would he have said (if he had been living) upon his Majesty's second coming 
2 Time▪  to the blessing of that place, when the birth of his and our hope the most illustrious Prince Charles ushered into the world by a light from Heaven, Stella oriens in oriente manifested in the Meridian of the day was not without a solemn thanksgiving, in such a confluence, and throng of all sorts of Subjects, as no eye ever saw the like in this land; And as it was said of the first, so may it be of this last, worthy to add a Rubric more to our Almanac, and make a new holy day amongst us, for such a Prince borne to the union of so many Kingdoms was here never known, non sic contigit ulli.  
The precious ointment 
Other Churches.  of his Majesty's zeal doth not only fall upon and drench the beard of this aged Hermon, but descends and runs down upon all the skirts of Zion, all other Churches within his Majesty's Realm of England, whereof he hath given an 
Edict. 〈…〉▪ Rs.  evident remonstrance, aswell by his proclamation edicted in the first year of his reign, for preventing the decays of Churches and Chapels for the time to come, and prescribing and commanding thereby a speedy reformation in all such cases: as also by his Highness' late letters and directions to his Bishops within their several Dioceses; that either by themselves in person, or by their officials or other persons of worth and trust, they take view and survey of the Churches and Chapels in their several jurisdictions; and where they find aught amiss to cause a speedy redress thereof.  
Our Saxon Alfred was 
Their gratitude  never more grateful, nor more studious to prefer his Plegmund, Grimbald, Asser, Scotus, and others his learned Chaplains, than our British Alfred hath been, and is, to advance and privilege his sacred Hierarchy of Bishops, and others of the Tribe of Levi. Who was ever more tender and indulgent unto them? Who more sedulous and speedy in the donation of Ecclesiastical dignities? scarce do any fall, but presently he fits a person for the place, no Episcopal Sees have (as in former times) seen any triennial vacancies. His Princely gratitude hath not only honoured some of them in their lives, but survived after their death. That late dead Bishop of Winton, a man of most ample and eminent learning shall witness instar omnium: his accurate works published by the reviewing of two his reverend Colleagues by his Majesty's special command, have raised up an eternal monument of his goodness, and not for his glory only, but (as in the 
B. Andrew's misc.  dedication) utilitati simul & honori tum Ecclesiae tum Reipublicae futura; and what is there further said of him I cannot conceal, Non habuit Regia majestas servum fidelem magis, non habuit Ecclesia antistitem magis eruditum. It is to be wished that his Highness' honourable gratefulness to him might incite others to deserve the like. His Majesty's frequent 
Piety▪  and fervent exercise of piety in his own person is not inferior to that of Alfred. The often and serious frequenting his Chapels, his reverend attention in hearing his unfeigned devotion in praying, and his religious comportment every way conformable, may be deservedly proposed to our little world; an optative rule, that in this as in other things,  Regis ad exemplum totus componeret orbis. 
Let my meditations of 
Works of justice  his unmatchable goodness in and to his Church, pass unto his works of justice in the Common wealth: behold him in the chair of Moses sitting amidst his people; nay, his selected ones, è sacris & arcanis consiliis, jethro his Counselor's men of courage, timentes Deum & amantes veritatem; and there you shall observe his meekness and patience in hearing, his acuteness in discerning, and his maturity in deciding whatsoever comes before him. The 
Ecclesiastical & Secular justice.  two edged sword of justice Ecclesiastical and Saecular, one side whereof was heretofore (scarce an age since elapsed) rebated by papal accroachment, is full and absolute in his hands, and veils power to none but the supreme head of all. Look upon his unspeakable wisdom in the sincere and upright swaying of that sword; his royal care to fence and conserve his Ecclesiastical and municipal laws, from collisions and contestations, and to bind and bond them up in judgement and justice, prohibiting in cases for reparation of God's houses and such like the too much profuseness of prohibitions.  
The concurrence of both these Laws is necessarily required, in the supportation of his regal government. And therefore his excellency as a regal pillar, doth his office in balancing and upholding their jurisdictions as in a just and impartial equilibre: he fits his judges for the places of his judicature: where he finds virtue and goodness, he is not sparing of his honourable guerdons; where he finds any aberration, out of the way of righteousness, his discerning judgement hath been and is as ready to reprove, even the greatest of them, with as heroic increpations, as ever Alfred did his judges, with his quapropter aut terrenarum potestatum 
Asser.  ministeria, quae habetis illico dimittatis, aut sapientiae studiis multo ut devotius studeatis, impero.  
His grave and learned 
Directions to the judges.  judges for preventing the causes of such rebukes want not sufficient premonitions either from his own sacred mouth, or from his honourable Lord Keeper by his directions, of cautionary dictates, and remembrances for the due execution of his Laws aswell in their semestriall circuits as at other judicatory times; and at this time I dare boldly say that his Majesties solium or tribunal justiciae, & his Cathedra, & chorus Ecclesiae can more glory of their learned, able, and incorrupt possessors than in former ages. But Ministers and Magistrates are mortal, statutum est omnibus semel mori, and therefore a continual succession must be supplied from Schools, and Seminaries of Arts and learning, whereof the two most famous seed-plots are Oxford 
Oxford & Cambridge.  and Cambridge.  
His sovereignty hath had a most special regard, not only to preserve the respective privileges, order, and government of these renowned Sisters, but their peace and unity each with the other; in the laborious Antigraphies for their eldership, he hath owned no side, vetustas virtute honaratur, virtue crownes antiquity with honour: Grimbald, 
Twy●●i Apo. pro Oxo.  a great Divine (but a stranger) was the first Chancellor of Oxford created by Alfred. A greater than he, and of our own Nation, and of her education was the first Chancellor there, and the first Metropolitan of Canterbury that was invested by King CHARLES since his reign. Alfred and Grimbald were not more zealous in appeasing the civil broils of that honourable Academy, Anno 886. 
886.  than our now living Alfred, and his most reverend and honourable Chancellor in the year 1631.  
Amidst his Highness 
Exacted fees.  many acts of preventing justice, I shall only insist on two, and but perfunctorily.  
The first a Proclamation 
12 Octo. 1627.  in pursuance of his Father's wise and just directions, for protecting his people from exactions and oppressions in any his Courts of justice, either Ecclesiastical or temporal, and his royal intention concerning his Commission then lately granted to inquire of new Offices erected, and new fees exacted in his Courts; His Majesty hath not only intended, but acted a course of reformation, and it was high time; the common appellation of such crimes is extortion or expilation, & is one of those Cardinal sins that cry aloud to God for vengeance, vox oppressorum; this sin of extortion, is no other than robbery, but more odious, because that is apparent, and in possibility to be avoided: And this is done colore officij, under the mask or visage of a legal verity, and pretext of a due demand; and the poor subject must either yield to such exaction, or redeem it in some cases, with a more expensive waiting.  
The second; his Majesty's 
Procla. 28. Sep. 8 Rs. cum Articulis  watchful eye of providence by his orders & public edict, for preventing the dearth of corn and victual, and his just and speedy proceedings in his high Court of Star-chamber against Forestallers and Engrossers, the common Caterpillars of our Kingdom, termed by our ancient laws depressores pauperum & totius communitatis & patriae publici inimici, who if a seasonable and timely occurrence of justice had not suppressed them, would like the Egyptian Locusts have covered the face of the whole earth, and have bred a dearth without a scarcity.  
His impartiality in justice: 
impartiality. Injustice.  where he meets with the scarlet sins of Murder, or with the crimes of open rebellion, unnatural abominations, or such like; no interpellations of favour or greatness, dare implore any hope of pardon from him: His regal inflexibility in the case of a mutinous (which always implies a malicious) homicide, by the only Champion of his highness' Noble and faithful Convoy in his Spanish voyage would admit of no mediation for redeeming of prolonging of life. In another case (I cite but two) of a dishonourable and ignominious capital crime, he spared not one of the greatest and Ancientest Cedars of his Nobility. Let a word suffice; He doth not in the distribution of justice in capital, or criminal causes, accept the persons of men; And yet, He is not without his multitude of mercy: Mercy and 
Mercy.  Truth preserve the King, and his Throne is upholden by mercy: where the crime is any way dispensable with hope to reclaim the offendor for a future good to public, or private services, and without any injurious example to his government. Est piger ad paenas; No Prince more prone to a merciful relaxation, of legal rigour; here you might recount numbers of condemned Malefactors delivered out of several Prisons, not to their demerited execution, but for some Marshal and other serviceable expeditions: but let such offenders beware of relapse (which is most dangerous as well in civil as natural diseases.) They never then scape with impunity.  
I must not sever Mercy, and Truth, In verbo veritas. 
Truth.  To use our English adage, His royal word is a Law, His promises and performances are twins, conceived together, though produced in birth one after the other. He is constans verbi custos, either in foreign intercourses, or domestic pollicitations; his immobility in the one is sufficiently attested to other Princes and States, and in the other, to his own servants and subjects.  
His eleemosynary largesse 
Almsdeeds.  either at home, or abroad is not behind alfred's, though not to Rome, jerusalem, nor India, yet nearer and more needful, for the relief of the Palatinate, the distressed Clergy of the reformed Churches. For whose supply and succour, His highness by his own example drew a general benevolence from his subjects.  
Add unto this, his great 
Embassage.  and chargeable disbursments and diminution of his treasure, in the expensive emissions and addresses of honourable embassages, to pacify the fury of almost all the Christian Continent, was it not most expedient? what danger might not we justly dread, Cum proximus ardet ucalegon, when neighbour Nations are all in combustion, and religion the pretext?  
The magnificent decoration 
Buildings.  of his structures and edifices in all symmetrical proportions, with his prescript form of building strictly enjoined, do far surpass all former times: they are such and so patterned by the most glorious Architectures of all Europe, that a man would think Italiam, in Ilium, Italy translated into England.  
Though his Majesty did 
Care of subord.  not divide the Kingdom into centuries and decuries, nor was the first Author of that subordinate kind of government in this famous Monarchy, yet his restless vigilancy hath ever been, to preserve and propagate the true and ancient uses of that division. For which 
5 Ianu. 1630.  purpose his highness in his commission directed to the then Lord Archbishop, and others of his honourable Counsel, amongst many gracious directions is pleased 
〈…〉 direct.  to descend to the Stewards of Leets and to charge them, what they shall give in charge in their turns and halfeyearely views of Franckpledge touching Forestallers, Regrators, and other the most obvious and enormous offences of the Country.  
It is said of Alfred, that ad 
Warlike preparation.  crastina bella victor pavebat, victus parabat; If unjust peace is to be preferred before just war, we having the happy fruition of a just and honourable peace with all the Christian world, and having no need in the times of conquest, to dread adverse approaches, or of defeatures to prepare for fresh onsets, may glory in his Majesty's assiduous and vigilant supervising of his military munition and provision both by Sea and Land, remonstrated by his frequent visiting his greatest Storehouse of his Ordnance, and other martial supply, as also his goodly number of Ships in several harbours.  
Amidst the coacervations 
Recreations.  of his many and multifarious cares, He hath like Alfred his statuta reficiendi tempora, his convenient times of royal recreations, and no less skill & promptness in the use and exercise of them: What insensate subject can envy so gracious a Sovereign that liberty, which his clemency indulgeth to the least of us? Must Princes only, be like heathen Idols? must they have eyes, and not see the objects of lawful oblectations? ears, and not hear the sweet harmony of vocal and instrumental music? Of such murmuring miscreants I will only say, Dij regno tales nostro divertite pests.  
Time in somethings doth difference the parallel; Alfred lived in the infancy of the English Church, when the fire at the Altar was but newly kindled; and his zeal was by sending to foreign parts for learned men, and by other means to raise up the fabric of Religion: We live in the height in, the Meridian of the Church her Glory; And because, altitudo semper declinationi proxima, his now Majesty's principal aim is for the work of preservation, to keep the fire upon our Altar burning, which is magnum opus: It was high time for his goodness to put to his own helping hand, or else by the fanatical schisms and aversions of non-conformists, Religion, and her houses would both have melted together, and Parlours and Groves been exalted and preferred before the beautiful Temples, and sacraries of the God of Israel.  
I have now presented to your favourable view, a pair of Peerless Princes, who for their religion, piety, devotion, institution and renovation of good laws, government, justice, mercy, truth, meekness, temperance, patience, abstinence, conjugal castimony, and all other virtues, may be precedents of imitation to all Princes and people. And what a reverend Archbishop in his Preface upon the life of Alfred commendeth unto the Reader for him, I must say for both, Ista quidem historia non mediocrem 
Archbishop Parker in preaes. Asseri.  menti tuae voluptatem infundet, neque minorem adferet cum voluptate utilitatem si in praeclarissimarum rerum contemplatione defixus, te ad eorum imitationem, & quasi imaginem, totum effinxeris; and to proceed for both, as he doth for him, Etenim cum vide as regem summo splendore, & tanta, quantum illa praerarò vidit aetas, dignitate regentem, etc. Quo te Lector animo esse oportebit, etc. In brief, where▪ there are such glorious Sovereigns, would it not well become their people to be gracious subjects? As I began, I shall close up my Parallel and not unfitly with the time.  CaroLVs ALVreDo, Charo 
1634.  ALVreDVs In CaroLo re VIVIsCIt. 
You have seen the twenty eight years reign of the one, beyond that you can hear no more; and but nine years of the other, of him we shall with incessant prayers to heaven expect much more; numbers of days & numbers of deeds, a numerous issue by a most ennobled illustrious Queen, equal in blood, and equal in good: that as one of alfred's, many of their royal Offspring, may with their princely education honour both our Universities: and let all true hearted subjects humbly and thankfully consider GOD'S ineffable mercy towards us in his Majesty's happy birth, his virtuous education, the Almighty's provident designing, and fitting him to our our state and government; his royal match, his sweet Olive-branches, and their and our hope of many more; his peaceable reign with his exemplary goodness and virtue, which we all see and know, and have just cause humbly and heartily to supplicate and implore the omnipotent Author of this so great happiness for the long life of his Highness and his most dear consort: And that whilst the Sun and Moon do endure, there never may one be wanting of their thrice Royal Line to sway the Sceptre of great Britain, Amen.   
FINIS.  

Perlegi hunc Librum, cui Titulus, (The life of Alfred) in quo nihil reperio, quò minùs, cum utilitate publicâ, imprimatur.  
THO. WEEKS, R. P. D. Episc. Lond. Cap. Domest.