As illustrations we may refer to the romantic adventures of King Alfred; and to the conquest of Saxon England by William of Normandy--"all as God granted them," says the pious chronicler, "for the people's sins." And he afterward adds, "Bishop Odo and William the Earl built castles wide throughout the nation, and poor people distressed; and ever after it greatly grew in evil: may the end be good when God will." Although for the most part written in prose, the annals of several years are given in the alliterative Saxon verse.
A good English translation of Bede's history, and one of the Chronicle, edited by Dr.Giles, have been issued together by Bohn in one volume of his Antiquarian library.

To the student of English history and of English literature, the careful perusal of both, in conjunction, is an imperative necessity.
ALFRED THE GREAT .-- Among the best specimens of Saxon prose are the translations and paraphrases of King _Alfred_, justly called the Great and the Truth-teller, the noblest monarch of the Saxon period.

The kingdoms of the heptarchy, or octarchy, had been united under the dominion of Egbert, the King of Wessex, in the year 827, and thus formed the kingdom of England.

But this union of the kingdoms was in many respects nominal rather than really complete; as Alfred frequently subscribes himself _King of the West Saxons_.

It was a confederation to gain strength against their enemies.