The Story of King Alfred Author:Walter Besant Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE STORY OF KING ALFRED. INTRODUCTION. I. The Author's Design. In the following pages I propose to attempt a life of the greatest of all Englishmen that ... more »may be procured by all classes of the English people. I shall present a portrait of Alfred without dissertations on the authenticity of episodes or the trustworthiness of biographers. I desire to write such a history of the great king as shall be accessible and instructive to the great body— every year growing greater—of those who read books and wish to be acquainted with the national history. I shall endeavour not to exaggerate the achievements of the king—they want no exaggeration ; or to over-state the obligations which the posterity of Alfred owe to his memory —they can hardly be over-stated. The plain and unvarnished story should be sufficient. This attempt is, it will be observed, ambitious. It is far harder to win the confidence of the people at large than to attract the attention of those who use circulating libraries. Most books are written for the latter class; they number a few thousands, 9 or tens of thousands. I want, on the other hand, this little book to fall into the hands of the Board Schools, of the Continuation Classes, of those who spend their evenings over books from the free libraries, which are rapidly creating a revolution in the thoughts and standards of the people. To the class which maintains the circulating library belongs the moving panorama of modern literature, in which one book follows another, is read, or looked into, and disappears, while even the critics remember nothing of yesterday's books. To this class new books are like the novelties of fashion in the shops; they present combinations always freshly invented, though of old materials; they offer new colours and new styles; they pass...« less