The tide of invasion turned.

From an attitude of attack the northmen were thrown back on an attitude of defence.

The whole reign of AElfred was a preparation for a fresh struggle that was to wrest back from the pirates the land they had won.
[Sidenote: AElfred] What really gave England heart for such a struggle was the courage and energy of the King himself.

Alfred was the noblest as he was the most complete embodiment of all that is great, all that is loveable, in the English temper.

He combined as no other man has ever combined its practical energy, its patient and enduring force, its profound sense of duty, the reserve and self-control that steadies in it a wide outlook and a restless daring, its temperance and fairness, its frank geniality, its sensitiveness to affection, its poetic tenderness, its deep and passionate religion.