The love which he won a thousand years ago has lingered round his name from that day to this.

While every other name of those earlier times has all but faded from the recollection of Englishmen, that of AElfred remains familiar to every English child.
[Sidenote: English Literature] The secret of AElfred's government lay in his own vivid energy.

He could hardly have chosen braver or more active helpers than those whom he employed both in his political and in his educational efforts.

The children whom he trained to rule proved the ablest rulers of their time.
But at the outset of his reign he stood alone, and what work was to be done was done by the King himself.

His first efforts were directed to the material restoration of his realm.