<SPAN name="preface"></SPAN>
<h3> PREFACE </h3>
<P CLASS="noindent">
MY DEAR LADS,</p>
<p>Living in the present days of peace and tranquillity it is difficult to
picture the life of our ancestors in the days of King Alfred, when the
whole country was for years overrun by hordes of pagan barbarians, who
slaughtered, plundered, and destroyed at will. You may gain, perhaps, a
fair conception of the state of things if you imagine that at the time
of the great mutiny the English population of India approached that of
the natives, and that the mutiny was everywhere triumphant. The
wholesale massacres and outrages which would in such a case have been
inflicted upon the conquered whites could be no worse than those
suffered by the Saxons at the hands of the Danes. From this terrible
state of subjection and suffering the Saxons were rescued by the
prudence, the patience, the valour and wisdom of King Alfred. In all
subsequent ages England has produced no single man who united in
himself so many great qualities as did this first of great Englishmen.
He was learned, wise, brave, prudent, and pious; devoted to his people,
clement to his conquered enemies. He was as great in peace as in war;
and yet few English boys know more than a faint outline of the events
of Alfred's reign—events which have exercised an influence upon the
whole future of the English people. School histories pass briefly over
them; and the incident of the burned cake is that which is, of all the
actions of a great and glorious reign, the most prominent in boys'
minds. In this story I have tried to supply the deficiency. Fortunately
in the Saxon Chronicles and in the life of King Alfred written by his
friend and counsellor Asser, we have a trustworthy account of the
events and battles which first laid Wessex prostrate beneath the foot
of the Danes, and finally freed England for many years from the
invaders. These histories I have faithfully followed. The account of
the siege of Paris is taken from a very full and detailed history of
that event by the Abbe D'Abbon, who was a witness of the scenes he
described.</p>
<P CLASS="noindent">
Yours sincerely,<br/>
G. A. HENTY<br/></p>
<br/><br/><br/>
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