LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Alfred Jewel in four aspects, with separate Figure of Enamel _Frontispiece_ The Inscription on the Jewel 1 The Minster Lovel Jewel _to face_ 47 Illumination from the _Book of Kells_ ” 77 The Isle of Athelney ” 92 Fairfield House 141 Inscription on the Ring of Æthelwulf 149 The Ring of Æthelwulf 150 The Ring of Queen Æthelswith, the bezil 151 Inscription within the Ring of Queen Æthelswith 152 The Ring of Queen Æthelswith showing niello 153 Inscription on Æðred’s Ring 154 The Jewel, Front and Back _to face_ 174 Sculptured Bosses found at Athelney Abbey 189, 191 Tower of North Newton Church _to face_ 192 Map of the Isle of Athelney _At end_ THE ALFRED JEWEL CHAPTER I DESCRIPTION OF THE ALFRED JEWEL The subject of this Essay is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, which has been its home for a period of time now approaching two hundred years. It is there installed under glass in such a manner that every side of it is plainly exhibited to the eye of the visitor. It bears an inscription in conspicuous lettering which sets forth that by Alfred’s order it was made, and this is the ground upon which it is known as THE ALFRED JEWEL. [Illustration] The Alfred Jewel has been compared to a battledore, not untruly for the matter of shape; but the wide diversity of size makes the comparison seem incongruous. The extreme length of the Jewel is a very small fraction under two inches and a half; its greatest width is just one inch and a fifth; its thickness barely half an inch. It contains a sitting Figure enamelled on a plate of gold which is protected in front by a slab of rock crystal, and at the back by a gold plate engraved; the whole enshrined in a golden frame of delicately executed filigree work. The picture is visible through the rock crystal, making the obverse of the Jewel; while the reverse is formed by the gold plate which is at the back of the enamelled plate. Upon this gold plate is engraved an allegorical design. Both these surfaces (obverse and reverse) are flat, but in every other part of the Jewel the surface is rounded.