CHAPTER V
King Alfred, first layman to be a great power in literature; man of
action; of thought; of endurance. Freedom first great possession;
afterwards learning and culture. Alfred a loyal Son of the Church.
Founder of English prose. Earliest literature of a nation in verse;
why. Influence of Rome on Alfred.
"Let us praise the men of renown," says Holy Scripture (Ecclesiasticus,
44), "and our fathers in their generations.... Such as have borne rule
in their dominions, men of great power and endued with their wisdom ...
ruling over the present people, and by the strength of wisdom
instructing the people in most holy words."
We have to think now of a man of renown who bore rule in his dominions;
a man of great power, and endued with wisdom; who by strength and wisdom
instructed his people in most holy words. We have hitherto spoken of
work done in the dedicated life of religion: to-day we direct our
attention to the work of a great layman; the first English layman whom
we know to have been a great power in literature; less as a "maker,"
poet or proseman, than as an opener out to "makers" of precious store; a
helper and encourager; a fellow-student; a learner and a teacher of whom
it could be said, as Chaucer says of his Clerk of Oxford, "gladly would
he learn and gladly teach.
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