Historical Causes and Effects Author:William Sullivan 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 Lord love thee, and God, above all things, shall be thy reward. Call thou upon him to advise thee in all thy need, and so shall he help thee the better to co... more »mpass that which thou wouldst." CHAPTER XII. Social and Political Condition of the Saxons after Alfred's Death.— Saxon Language. In Alfred's time the Saxon people were, as they long had been, thus classed; the king, princes, nobles, ecclesiastics of all grades, free men, freed men, and slaves, who were such from birth, and who were sold or disposed of by will, like cattle. The proportions of the different classes cannot be ascertained. Females were not excluded from the society of the other sex, as in the east, nor did such cnstom exist among any of the northern nations. They were at liberty to move abroad, as is customary among their descendants, and they met their husbands, brothers, sons, and guests at the same table. The princes, nobles, and wealthy, of both sexes, wore ornaments of gold, and were proud of personal decoration. All the males, at an early age, were trained to hunting and to arms, except those who were held to servile labor. As they had horses, cattle, sheep, abundance of swine, which lived in the woods, and fish, among which eels make a prominent article, and also wheat and barley, they fared well. Drinks of various kinds were prepared from honey; mead was the drink of luxury, hut wine and cider are spoken of; what kind of wine, and whence it came, does not appear, as none was made in England. Their places of abode were rude and inconvenient, their furniture simple and heavy. Some of their interior apartments were adorned with hangings against the walls, part of which were ornamented with needle-work. Silk is said to have been in use, which is remarkable, as silk was a rare and precious article ...« less