266

HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

the constant and uninterrupted foes to Britain ; so that the reign of the peace-able arid simple Ethelwolf, sou to Egbert, was perpetually disturbed by thosebold invaders. Naval actions were frequent, but they are so variously de-scribed, that the truth cannot be discovered. A remarkable instance of thisuncertainty occurs in the different accounts of a victory gained by Ethelstan,the king’s brother, near Sandwich, in Kent, in which he took nine of theenemy’s ships. Of the writers who have mentioned it, one asserts, that theDanish fleet consisted of fifty sail, to which number another adds three hun-dred. To complete the wonders of this tale, a third very gravely declares, that. the vanquished invaders immediately sailed up the Thames, and sacked Canter-bury and London.

Naval intelligence is in vain searched for through the successive reigns ofthe three elder sons of Ethelwolf. The number of the Danes, in spite ofcontinual carnage, had increased so formidably, that the Saxons quitted, for atime, the system of offensive war, that they might fortify their towns anddwellings; and the history of those reigns exhibits only a succession of paltryskirmishes, and thievish depredations. Well might Milton, fatigued with re-gistering such trifles, exclaim, “ These bickerings to record, what more worthis it than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows, flocking and fighting inthe air.” Such, however, must be, occasionally, the painful task of the histo-rian.

Alfred, the fourth son to Ethelwolf, at length ascended the throne in theyear 871. Transactions more important, and therefore handed down withSomewhat more clearness, now present themselves. Among those excellentmeasures, in praise of which historians have exhausted the usual terms ofcommendation, this prince’s naval regulations, perhaps, stand foremost. Con-vinced, by the fatal experience of a tedious and bloody warfare, that the expul-sion of the Danes could never be effected by military operations, he at lengthturned his attention almost entirely to his navv, through the aid of whichhe would, doubtless, have accomplished that great object, had his reign beensomewhat prolonged. His ships, twice the size of the largest ever seen beforehis time, built on new principles, and in a new form, were executed aftermodels contrived by himself, and astonished the enemy as much by their ap-pearance, as their strength. Conscious of a superiority which defied retalia-tion, his first instruction to the commanders of these vessels are said to havebeen that they should give no quarter ; and thus his mode, as well as his

means,