A.D. 871. THE CHILDHOOD 07 AL7BED. 423 And tragic bluster, celebrating Gets, That empty god, or showing off their skill/1 Gets was the son of Teathwy, who was the son of Beau, who was the son of Seldua, who was the eon of Seaf. Seaf, as it is related, was driven by sea to a certain island of Gerrnany, by name Scandalin, of which Jordan, the historian of the Goths, speaks, having been placed, while he was a child, in a small boat without any rower, a handful of corn being placed at his head, which we in our native language call a Seaf, but which is called in the language of the Gauls Garba, and in this condition he was found asleep. And from this circumstance he was called Seaf, and was received by the men of the district as a miraculous gift, and was carefully brought up by them. And when he grew up to man's estate, he reigned in the town which was then called Slaswic, but which is now called Haithebi. And that is the district which is called Old Anglia, from which the Anglee came into Britain, and it lies between the Goths and the Saxons. Seaf was the son of Heremod, who was the son of Itemed, who was the son of Hathras, who was the son of Wala, who was the son of Bedwy, who was the son of Sem, who was the son of Noah, who was the son of Lamech, who was the son of Methuselah, who was the son of Enoch, who was the son of Jared, who was the son of Malalehel, who was the son of Cainan, who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God. Alfred, in hie years of childhood, was beloved with exceeding affection by his father and mother, beyond all his brothers, and what was still more, he was greatly beloved by all the kingdom, on which account he was bred up in the king's palace without ever being removed from it, for he was more beautiful in figure and more dignified in countenance than any of his brethren. On which account he appeared more gracious both in language and in manners. But, owing to the neglect of his parents and teachers, he remained quite devoid of all learning, up to the twelfth year of his age. Nevertheless, he was day and night a diligent hearer of Saxon poems, and also a docile repeater of them, so that he retained them in his memory. He was incomparable both for his skill and for his success in the arts of hunting and fowling, as he was also in all other accomplishments. And when, one day, bis mother was showing him and his. brothers a Saxon book