CHAPTER XI 96. King Alfred's Pastoral Charge. ENGLAND IN THE MIDDLE AGES I. KING ALFRED'S INTEREST IN LEARNING King Alfred, in his introduction to the Pastoral Charge, by Gregory the Great, which he translated into Anglo- Saxon, gives a remarkable picture of the conditions of the time. King Alfred bids greet Bishop Waerferth with loving words an( j w ith friendship ; and I let it be known to thee that it nas vei 7 often come into m Y minc * wnat w * se men there lation of the formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secu- lar orders ; and what happy times there were then ; and how the kings who had power over the nation in those days obeyed God and his ministers ; how they preserved peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both in war and in wisdom ; and also the sacred orders, how zealous they were both in teaching and learning, and in all the serv- ices they owed to God; and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, the which we should now have to get from abroad if we were to have them. So general became the decay of learning in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand the rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English ; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few, in fact, that I can- not remember a single person south of the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to God Almighty that we now have some teachers among us. And therefore I com- mand thee to disengage thyself, as I believe thou art willing, from worldly matters as often as thou art able, that thou
