opened his code with the ten commandments, a selection from the Mosaic precepts, and clauses of the first apostolic councils. "Do these," he said, "and no other doom-book will be needed." In summing up Alfred's character it would not be fair to seek to hide his faults. His was not that ideal perfection which some of his panegyrists would have us believe. He had his faults and failings, some of which adhered to him during the whole of his life. He continued, for instance, more fond of warfare than was consistent with the duty of a Christian monarch. Still, he possessed within him the only germs of real improvement, a consciousness of his own imperfections and insufficiency. And when we compare him with his contemporaries, after making all allowance for his shortcomings, still the true greatness of his character remains untouched. His achievements stand out all the more markedly, when it is considered that all his bodily and mental activities were carried on under the depressing influences of constant ill-health and physical pain. About the age of twenty, he was affected with an inward malady, the nature of which was beyond the knowledge of the physicians of the times. This disease never quitted him, it haunted him life long. Whatever his minor faults may have been, no monarch who has had the title of "Great" attached to his name, has ever been more worthy of it. All historians combine in representing him as one of the noblest sovereigns that ever wore a crown. The shepherd of his people, "the darling of the English;" whose praises the Laureate has lately sung, the industrious prince, expired in the month of November, 901, on the festival of S.S. Simon and Jude, in the fifty-third year of his age, and was buried at Winchester, in a monastery he himself had founded. His memory is still preserved at his native place, Wantage. The site of the royal palace of the Wessex kings is pointed out in the High Garden, and a magnificent statue of "England's darling," executed by Count Gleichen in Sicilian marble has been presented to the town by Lord Wantage, and erected in the Market Place. Alfred's laurels will not fail while England lasts. The Guilds of Berkshire. BY THE REV. P.H. DITCHFIELD. M.A., F.S.A. In studying the history of our progress and civilization, we find no subject more interesting than the nature and constitution of certain associations which have played no small part in the making of England--the ancient guilds. At one time they exercised almost universal sway, and in small country villages, as well as in the towns and cities, there were few who did not belong to some guild. We find in them the origin of many of the privileges and institutions which we now enjoy; from them arose the municipal corporations of our towns; and by them were our trade and commerce protected in times of lawlessness and oppression.