of the kingdoms. But even in the handsome and well-built
monasteries, with their stately services and handsome vestments,
learning was at the lowest ebb--so low, indeed, that
when Prince Alfred desired to learn Latin he could find no
one in his father's dominions capable of teaching him, and
his studies were for a long time hindered for want of an
instructor, and at the time he ascended the throne he was
probably the only Englishman outside a monastery who was able
to read and write fluently.

"Tell me, father," Edmund said after the meal was concluded,
"about the West Saxons, since it is to them, as it seems,
that we must look for the protection of England against the
Danes. This Prince Alfred, of whom I before heard you speak
in terms of high praise, is the brother, is he not, of the king?
In that case how is it that he does not reign in Kent, which I
thought, though joined to the West Saxon kingdom, was always
ruled over by the eldest son of the king."

"Such has been the rule, Edmund; but seeing the
troubled times when Ethelbert came to the throne, it was
thought better to unite the two kingdoms under one crown
with the understanding that at Ethelbert's death Alfred should
succeed him. Their father, Ethelwulf, was a weak king, and
should have been born a churchman rather than a prince.
He nominally reigned over Wessex, Kent, and Mercia, but
the last paid him but a slight allegiance. Alfred was his
favourite son, and he sent him, when quite a child, to Rome
for a visit. In 855 he himself, with a magnificent retinue, and
accompanied by Alfred, visited Rome, travelling through the