4.] [**** W.Malms, lib.ii.cap.

4.] Alfred had, by his wife Ethelswitha, daughter of a Mercian earl, three sons and three daughters.

The eldest son, Edmund, died without issue, in his father's lifetime.

The third, Ethelward, inherited his father's passion for letters, and lived a private life.

The second, Edward, succeeded to his power, and passes by the appellation of Edward the Elder, being the first of that name who sat on the English throne.
EDWARD THE ELDER.
This prince, who equalled his father in military talents, though inferior to him in knowledge and erudition,[*] found immediately on his accession, a specimen of that turbulent life to which all princes, and even all individuals, were exposed, in an age when men, less restrained by law or justice, and less occupied by industry, had no aliment for their inquietude out wars, insurrections, convulsions, rapine, and depredation.
[* W.Malms, lib.