CHAPTER IV.
REIGN OF KING ALFRED.
[Sidenote: A.D.

871] [Sidenote: A.D.

875] It was in the midst of these distractions that Alfred succeeded to a sceptre which, was threatened every moment to be wrenched from his hands.

He was then only twenty-two years of age, but exercised from his infancy in troubles and in wars that formed and displayed his virtue.
Some of its best provinces were torn from his kingdom, which was shrunk to the ancient bounds of Wessex; and what remained was weakened by dissension, by a long war, by a raging pestilence, and surrounded by enemies whose numbers seemed inexhaustible, and whose fury was equally increased by victories or defeats.

All these difficulties served only to increase the vigor of his mind.