264 A. D. 871-900. 



ation probably furniihed the prefent made by Alfred to Afler his bio- 

 grapher, which confifted of a very pretious robe of filk, and as much 

 incenfe as a flrong man was able to carry. [^Jerii Vita jEIfredi, p. 50, 

 e4. 1722.] 



All foreigners, who excelled in any ufeful branch of knowlege or in 

 manual trades, were fure of a welcome reception and liberal encourage- 

 ment from Alfred. By their help he rebuilt the towns, which were 

 generally in a ruinous condition ; and he took that opportunity to in- 

 ti'oduce a fafer and more elegant flile of building by fubflituting Hone 

 or brick for timber, which hitherto had been almofl the only material 

 ufed in building. 



Although glafs for windows was introduced in Northumberland fo 

 long ago as the year 628, and amanufa6iory of glafs was even eftablifh- 

 ed in that kingdom by the care of Benedid Bifcop in 674, as already 

 obferved, the ufe of that noble convenience had either not extended in- 

 to the fouth parts of England, or was now loft in the convullions of the 

 Daniih invafions. So it was, that the churches in King Alfred's domi- 

 nions were deftitute of glafs windows ; and the wax candles, which he 

 burnt day and night for meafuring the time, were expofed to the wind, 

 which made them burn irregularly. He therefor invented lanterns, 

 which he furniflied with plates of horn fcraped fo thin as to be pellu- 

 cid, glafs being apparently inaccellible, though it could not be unknown 

 to him *. 



For the more fpeedy and equal diftribution of juftice, Alfred divided 

 the whole of his kingdom into diftrids called hundreds, and each of 

 thefe into ten tithings. He is alio fuppofed the author of the divifion 

 into fhires or counties ; but thefe appear to have been as antient in his 

 hereditary kingdom of Weflex as King Ine, if we may depend on the 

 genuinenefs of the laws of that monarch f. Alfred may perhaps have 

 extended that kind of divifion to the other parts of England fubjed: to 

 him. He ordered a general furvey of his kingdom, the particulars of 

 which were recorded with the greateft accuracy in the book of Win- 

 chefter, which appears to have furnifhed the model of the celebrated 

 Domefday book of William the Conqueror. He revifed the laws of 

 the Anglo-Saxons, and feleding the beft of them, and thofe of other 



probably got a pafTage from feme of tlie Italian the nature of glafs, for he compares horn to it for 



ports to Altxaiidria or Pliccnicia. It is not im- lianfpavcncy. 



pofliblt (tiiough very diificuk for a Chrillian) that Lanterns are fuppofed to be alluded to by 



lit may have made his way to the fouth coall of Plautus, who niintions carrying fire in a horn. 



Arabia, or to Baffora, and have pioccedcd even But their being known in antient Rome does not 



to India. But if he purthafed Oriental commodi- hinder them from being alfo a new invention of 



tics in Alexandria, Arabia, or Ballora, any of AJfted's. 



thefe placet would be confounded with India by f In the 3gth law of King Inc we find • feirc' 



his countrymen, who were ignorant of the geo- as a divilion of the kingdom, and in the 36" it is 



giapliy ol tountrics much nearer to them. mtntiojicd as the dillricl or province of an ' ealdor- 



• His bio^r»phcr Aifcr wa» atqunintcd with man,' apparently the fame kind of officer, \\lic i» 



, culled fcirman (or fhirrcf) in the 8'". 



