Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/117

 ALFRED. his example and encouragement, he ufl-d !>is utmoft endea- vours to excite a love for letters amongil hi:, 1'ubjcclj. lie hiin- felf was a fcholar ; and had he not been illuftrious a;, a ',.. would have been famous as an author [oj. When we < iidcr '* were pjrticuhrly eminent for their in- " ftrut>ions,for afting up to their charac- " ter.and difcharglng .ill ;he puts of their " funclion; fotlut Grangers ofed to con. c " hither for learnin'.r, dilciplinp, anil ini- " provcment. But nm -the cafe is mifer- " ably altered, and we have need of tra- 4 ' veiling to learn what we ufrd to tf ach ; " in fhort, knowledge is fo entirely loft " among the Englifli, thjt there are " can either translate a pirce of La in, or " fo much as nnderftand their common 11 prayers in their mother-tongue : there " wrre fo few who could do this, that I do " not remember one on the J'outh fide of " the Thames, when I came to the " crown." Prsef./Elfredi regis, published in Mr. Wife's edition of .Afferius Me- nevenfis, Oxon. 1712. p. 87. f_o] ^Elfred is faid to have been twelve years old be/ore be could read his mother-tongue, and then he was allur- ed to it by the q:esn. She had a book of Saxon poe:ns, beautifully adorned, which happening to (hew to her Ions, and perceiving them mightily pleafed therewith, fhe promifed to beftow them on him who fhould full get it by heart ; this talk /Elfred undertook, and, with- out inftruftor or afiiftant, applied him- felf fo vigoroufly to the book, that he never left oft' till he could read and repeat it to his mother, and thereby gave an early proof of, his indoftry in acquiring knowledge. f AfTJr. Men. p. 16. ) He afterwards arrived at a great proficiency in all forts of learning '. for he was a good grammarian, an excellent rhetori- cian, an acute philofopher, a judicious hiiK'rian, a /kilful niufician, and an able architect. (Marianus, A. D. 884.) Of all this he left ample teftimony to pofterity, by many admirable works and elegant tranflations, uf which we (lull give an account : I. The firlt biok mentioned by Bjle is " Breviirium quoddam collegium ex " viary collected out of the Laws <>1" the " Trojans, Greeks, Britons, Saxons, ' and Danes, in one Book." Leland faw this book in the Saxon tongue, at VOL. I. at Chrifl-chnri.il in Hjmpflmc. Com- ment, de. Script, p. I 50. 2. " Vifi-Saxonimi Leges, lib. I. " The L^ws of the WeQ-Saxonj, in " one Book." Pits tc!!s us, that it i in Benet College Library, at Cam- bridge. 3. " Inflituta quX'lam, lib. I. Crr. " tain Inftitutes." This is mentioned by Pit?, and feerrts to be the fcconn capi- tulation with Guthrum. Croni^i. Clir. Col. 819. 4. " Contra Judices iniquos, lib. f. " An Invertive againft unjuft Judg, " in one Book." 5. " Afta Ma^rllr.Ttuum fuorum, lib. " I. Ads of his M^iftrates, in one ' Book." This is fuppofed to be ihe book of judgments mentioned by Home ; and was, in all probability, a kind of re-> ports, intended for the ufe of fucceed- ing ages. 6. " Rcgum Fortunre variae, lib. I. " The varicus Fortunes of Kings, in " one Book " 7. " Dida Sapientum, Hb. I. Tlie ' Sayings of wife Men, in one Book." S. " Parabola; et Sales, lib. I. P- " rabies and pleaUnt Sayings, in one " Book." 9. ' CoKecliones Chronicorum. Col- " leaions of Chronicles." JO. " Epiftol* ad Wulfsigium Ep : - " fcopum. Epiftlcs to Bi/hop Wuiisig, " in one Book." Ii. " Manuale Meditationum. A ' Manual of Meditations." As to his tw.flatUms, they were theft: li. '' Dialcgus D. Grr^orii. A DiaJ " logue of St. Gregory." 13. " Paftorale ejufdem Gri: " Th^P-iitoralcf Gr:gory." 14. ' Hormeftam Pauli Orofii, I." Of this work an Kn-lifli tranfii-i tion was publi/Tied Iw Mr. Harrington, in I77Z, with ^Ifre.i's Anglo-Saxon. 15. " Boetius dc Conlolatione, lib.' " V. Boetius'? i '], of 1'hilo- " f'jphy, in fivi- Dr. tells us, king /T-'.ltV.l traniljteJ it at Vv'OoUliock, aSllL ' h. N it! Hill, ol Q ftire. chip. x. : 1 3. " /- G
 * ' very few on this fide the Number, who
 * ' Legibus Trojanorum, lib. I. A Cre-