“I say that I am useful to the king, and to ealdermen, and to the rich, and to the people. I ascend my ship with my merchandise, and sail over the sealike places, and sell my things, and buy dear things which are not produced in this land, and I bring them to you here with the great danger of the sea, and sometimes I suffer shipwreck, with the loss of all my things, scarcely escaping myself. What do you bring to us?—Skins, silks, costly gums and gold, various garments, pigment, wine, oil, ivory, orichalcus, copper, tin, silver, glass, and such like. Will you sell your things here as you brought them there?—I will not, because what would my labour benefit me? I will sell them here dearer than I bought them there that I may have some profit to feed me and my wife and children.” So you see the Saxon merchant was an enterprising skipper, who owned his ship, and having filled it with a cargo of English produce, took it over to some foreign port and exchanged it for a cargo of foreign goods, of all sorts and kinds, which he brought back and sold at a high price in England. THE FISHERMAN. We have a sketch of a fisherman of the Saxon period, drawn by no less a personage than Alfric, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was living in the 11th century and was the wisest man of his time, according to the Saxon chronicle. He wrote some colloquies for his pupils to turn into Latin. One of them treats of the fisherman:— “What gettest thou by thy art?—Big loaves, clothing, and money. How do you take fish?—I ascend my ship, and cast my net into the river; I also take a hook, a bait, and a rod. Suppose the fishes are unclean?—I throw the unclean out, and take the clean for food. Where do you sell your fish?—In the city. Who buys them?—The citizens; I cannot take so many as I can sell. What fishes do you take?—Eels, haddocks, minnows, eel-pouts, skate, and lampreys, and whatever swims in the river. (The Archbishop rather mixed his fresh-water and saltwater fish). Why do you not fish in the sea?—Sometimes I do, but rarely because a great ship is necessary there. What do you take in the sea?—Herrings, salmon, porpoises, sturgeons, oysters, crabs, muscles, winkles, cockles, flounder, plaices, lobsters, and such like. Can you take a whale?—No, it is dangerous to take a whale; it is safer for me to go to the river with my ship than to go with many ships to hunt whales. Why?—Because it is more pleasant to me to take fish which I can kill with one blow. Yet many take whales without danger, and then they get a great price, but I dare not for the fearfulness of my mind.” These whale catchers were Norwegians and Danes, who, when they were not raiding in England, employed themselves in whale fishing off the Norwegian Coast. INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF OUR ANCESTORS.