100% found this document useful (1 vote)
22 views

Foundations of Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and Reversing: Analyze Binary Code, Understand Stack Memory Usage, and Reconstruct C/C++ Code with Intel x64 1st Edition Dmitry Vostokov - The ebook in PDF and DOCX formats is ready for download now

The document promotes various educational ebooks related to Linux debugging, disassembling, and reversing, authored by Dmitry Vostokov. It provides links to download these resources, including titles focused on ARM64 Linux, trace and log analysis, Python debugging, and Visual Studio Code. Additionally, it includes information about the publication and copyright details for the featured works.

Uploaded by

mansiajuste
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
100% found this document useful (1 vote)
22 views

Foundations of Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and Reversing: Analyze Binary Code, Understand Stack Memory Usage, and Reconstruct C/C++ Code with Intel x64 1st Edition Dmitry Vostokov - The ebook in PDF and DOCX formats is ready for download now

The document promotes various educational ebooks related to Linux debugging, disassembling, and reversing, authored by Dmitry Vostokov. It provides links to download these resources, including titles focused on ARM64 Linux, trace and log analysis, Python debugging, and Visual Studio Code. Additionally, it includes information about the publication and copyright details for the featured works.

Uploaded by

mansiajuste
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 51

Visit ebookmass.

com to download the full version and


explore more ebook or textbook

Foundations of Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and


Reversing: Analyze Binary Code, Understand Stack
Memory Usage, and Reconstruct C/C++ Code with
Intel x64 1st Edition Dmitry Vostokov
_____ Click the link below to download _____
https://ebookmass.com/product/foundations-of-linux-
debugging-disassembling-and-reversing-analyze-binary-code-
understand-stack-memory-usage-and-reconstruct-c-c-code-with-
intel-x64-1st-edition-dmitry-vostokov/

Explore and download more ebook or textbook at ebookmass.com


Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

Foundations of ARM64 Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and


Reversing: Analyze Code, Understand Stack Memory Usage,
and Reconstruct Original C/C++ Code with ARM64 1st Edition
Dmitry Vostokov
https://ebookmass.com/product/foundations-of-arm64-linux-debugging-
disassembling-and-reversing-analyze-code-understand-stack-memory-
usage-and-reconstruct-original-c-c-code-with-arm64-1st-edition-dmitry-
vostokov/

Foundations of ARM64 Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and


Reversing Dmitry Vostokov

https://ebookmass.com/product/foundations-of-arm64-linux-debugging-
disassembling-and-reversing-dmitry-vostokov/

Fundamentals of Trace and Log Analysis: A Pattern-Oriented


Approach to Monitoring, Diagnostics, and Debugging 1st
Edition Dmitry Vostokov
https://ebookmass.com/product/fundamentals-of-trace-and-log-analysis-
a-pattern-oriented-approach-to-monitoring-diagnostics-and-
debugging-1st-edition-dmitry-vostokov-2/

Fundamentals of Trace and Log Analysis A Pattern-Oriented


Approach to Monitoring, Diagnostics, and Debugging 1st
Edition Dmitry Vostokov
https://ebookmass.com/product/fundamentals-of-trace-and-log-analysis-
a-pattern-oriented-approach-to-monitoring-diagnostics-and-
debugging-1st-edition-dmitry-vostokov/
Python Debugging for AI, Machine Learning, and Cloud
Computing: A Pattern-Oriented Approach 1st Edition Dmitry
Vostokov
https://ebookmass.com/product/python-debugging-for-ai-machine-
learning-and-cloud-computing-a-pattern-oriented-approach-1st-edition-
dmitry-vostokov/

Visual Studio Code Distilled: Evolved Code Editing for


Windows, macOS, and Linux - Third Edition Alessandro Del
Sole
https://ebookmass.com/product/visual-studio-code-distilled-evolved-
code-editing-for-windows-macos-and-linux-third-edition-alessandro-del-
sole/

Visual Studio Code Distilled: Evolved Code Editing for


Windows, macOS, and Linux 3 / converted Edition Alessandro
Del Sole
https://ebookmass.com/product/visual-studio-code-distilled-evolved-
code-editing-for-windows-macos-and-linux-3-converted-edition-
alessandro-del-sole/

International Swimming Pool and Spa Code 2021 1st Edition


International Code Council

https://ebookmass.com/product/international-swimming-pool-and-spa-
code-2021-1st-edition-international-code-council/

International Fire Code (International Code Council


Series) 2021 1st Edition International Code Council

https://ebookmass.com/product/international-fire-code-international-
code-council-series-2021-1st-edition-international-code-council/
Foundations of Linux
Debugging, Disassembling,
and Reversing
Analyze Binary Code, Understand
Stack Memory Usage, and Reconstruct
C/C++ Code with Intel x64

Dmitry Vostokov
Foundations of Linux
Debugging,
Disassembling, and
Reversing
Analyze Binary Code,
Understand Stack Memory
Usage, and Reconstruct C/C++
Code with Intel x64

Dmitry Vostokov
Foundations of Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and Reversing: Analyze
Binary Code, Understand Stack Memory Usage, and Reconstruct C/C++
Code with Intel x64
Dmitry Vostokov
Dublin, Ireland

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-9152-8 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-9153-5


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9153-5

Copyright © 2023 by Dmitry Vostokov


This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or
part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way,
and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software,
or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark
symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos,
and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no
intention of infringement of the trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if
they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not
they are subject to proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of
publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal
responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty,
express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
Managing Director, Apress Media LLC: Welmoed Spahr
Acquisitions Editor: Celestin Suresh John
Development Editor: James Markham
Coordinating Editor: Mark Powers
Cover designed by eStudioCalamar
Cover image by Eugene Golovesov on Unsplash (www.unsplash.com)
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Apress Media, LLC, 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY
10004, U.S.A. Phone 1-800-SPRINGER, fax (201) 348-4505, e-mail [email protected],
or visit www.springeronline.com. Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member
(owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance
Inc is a Delaware corporation.
For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected]; for
reprint, paperback, or audio rights, please e-mail [email protected].
Apress titles may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook
versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Print
and eBook Bulk Sales web page at http://www.apress.com/bulk-sales.
Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is
available to readers on GitHub (https://github.com/Apress). For more detailed information,
please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code.
Printed on acid-free paper
Table of Contents
About the Author���������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix

About the Technical Reviewer�������������������������������������������������������������xi

Preface����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xiii

Chapter 1: Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic�������������������������1


Memory and Registers Inside an Idealized Computer������������������������������������������1
Memory and Registers Inside Intel 64-Bit PC�������������������������������������������������������2
“Arithmetic” Project: Memory Layout and Registers��������������������������������������������3
“Arithmetic” Project: A Computer Program�����������������������������������������������������������5
“Arithmetic” Project: Assigning Numbers to Memory Locations���������������������������5
Assigning Numbers to Registers���������������������������������������������������������������������������8
“Arithmetic” Project: Adding Numbers to Memory Cells���������������������������������������8
Incrementing/Decrementing Numbers in Memory and Registers�����������������������11
Multiplying Numbers�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������14
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������17

Chapter 2: Code Optimization�������������������������������������������������������������19


“Arithmetic” Project: C/C++ Program�����������������������������������������������������������������19
Downloading GDB�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������20
GDB Disassembly Output – No Optimization�������������������������������������������������������20
GDB Disassembly Output – Optimization������������������������������������������������������������25
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������26

iii
Table of Contents

Chapter 3: Number Representations��������������������������������������������������27


Numbers and Their Representations�������������������������������������������������������������������27
Decimal Representation (Base Ten)��������������������������������������������������������������������28
Ternary Representation (Base Three)������������������������������������������������������������������29
Binary Representation (Base Two)����������������������������������������������������������������������29
Hexadecimal Representation (Base Sixteen)������������������������������������������������������30
Why Are Hexadecimals Used?�����������������������������������������������������������������������������30
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������32

Chapter 4: Pointers�����������������������������������������������������������������������������33
A Definition���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33
“Pointers” Project: Memory Layout and Registers����������������������������������������������34
“Pointers” Project: Calculations��������������������������������������������������������������������������36
Using Pointers to Assign Numbers to Memory Cells�������������������������������������������36
Adding Numbers Using Pointers�������������������������������������������������������������������������42
Incrementing Numbers Using Pointers���������������������������������������������������������������45
Multiplying Numbers Using Pointers�������������������������������������������������������������������48
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51

Chapter 5: Bytes, Words, Double, and Quad Words�����������������������������53


Using Hexadecimal Numbers������������������������������������������������������������������������������53
Byte Granularity��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53
Bit Granularity�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������54
Memory Layout���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������55
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������58

Chapter 6: Pointers to Memory�����������������������������������������������������������59


Pointers Revisited�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������59
Addressing Types������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������59

iv
Table of Contents

Registers Revisited���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65
NULL Pointers�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65
Invalid Pointers���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������65
Variables As Pointers������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66
Pointer Initialization��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������67
Initialized and Uninitialized Data�������������������������������������������������������������������������67
More Pseudo Notation�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������68
“MemoryPointers” Project: Memory Layout�������������������������������������������������������68
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������79

Chapter 7: Logical Instructions and RIP���������������������������������������������81


Instruction Format����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������81
Logical Shift Instructions������������������������������������������������������������������������������������82
Logical Operations����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������82
Zeroing Memory or Registers�����������������������������������������������������������������������������83
Instruction Pointer�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84
Code Section�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������85
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������86

Chapter 8: Reconstructing a Program with Pointers��������������������������87


Example of Disassembly Output: No Optimization����������������������������������������������87
Reconstructing C/C++ Code: Part 1��������������������������������������������������������������������90
Reconstructing C/C++ Code: Part 2��������������������������������������������������������������������92
Reconstructing C/C++ Code: Part 3��������������������������������������������������������������������93
Reconstructing C/C++ Code: C/C++ Program����������������������������������������������������94
Example of Disassembly Output: Optimized Program�����������������������������������������95
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������96

v
Table of Contents

Chapter 9: Memory and Stacks����������������������������������������������������������97


Stack: A Definition�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������97
Stack Implementation in Memory�����������������������������������������������������������������������98
Things to Remember�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������100
PUSH Instruction�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������101
POP Instruction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������101
Register Review������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������102
Application Memory Simplified�������������������������������������������������������������������������105
Stack Overflow��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������105
Jumps���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������106
Calls������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������108
Call Stack����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������110
Exploring Stack in GDB�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������112
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������115

Chapter 10: Frame Pointer and Local Variables�������������������������������117


Stack Usage������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������117
Register Review������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������118
Addressing Array Elements�������������������������������������������������������������������������������118
Stack Structure (No Function Parameters)�������������������������������������������������������119
Function Prolog�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������121
Raw Stack (No Local Variables and Function Parameters)�������������������������������121
Function Epilog�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������123
“Local Variables” Project����������������������������������������������������������������������������������124
Disassembly of Optimized Executable��������������������������������������������������������������127
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������128

vi
Table of Contents

Chapter 11: Function Parameters�����������������������������������������������������129


“FunctionParameters” Project��������������������������������������������������������������������������129
Stack Structure�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������130
Function Prolog and Epilog�������������������������������������������������������������������������������132
Project Disassembled Code with Comments����������������������������������������������������133
Parameter Mismatch Problem��������������������������������������������������������������������������137
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������138

Chapter 12: More Instructions����������������������������������������������������������139


CPU Flags Register��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������139
The Fast Way to Fill Memory�����������������������������������������������������������������������������140
Testing for 0������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������141
TEST – Logical Compare�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������142
CMP – Compare Two Operands�������������������������������������������������������������������������143
TEST or CMP?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������144
Conditional Jumps��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������144
The Structure of Registers��������������������������������������������������������������������������������145
Function Return Value���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������146
Using Byte Registers�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������146
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������147

Chapter 13: Function Pointer Parameters����������������������������������������149


“FunctionPointerParameters” Project���������������������������������������������������������������149
Commented Disassembly���������������������������������������������������������������������������������150
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������159

vii
Table of Contents

Chapter 14: Summary of Code Disassembly Patterns����������������������161


Function Prolog/Epilog��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������161
LEA (Load Effective Address)����������������������������������������������������������������������������164
Passing Parameters������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������164
Accessing Parameters and Local Variables������������������������������������������������������165
Summary����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������166

Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������167

viii
About the Author
Dmitry Vostokov is an internationally
recognized expert, speaker, educator, scientist,
and author. He is the founder of the pattern-
oriented software diagnostics, forensics,
and prognostics discipline and Software
Diagnostics Institute (DA+TA: DumpAnalysis.
org + TraceAnalysis.org). Vostokov has also
authored more than 50 books on software
diagnostics, anomaly detection and analysis,
software and memory forensics, root cause analysis and problem solving,
memory dump analysis, debugging, software trace and log analysis,
reverse engineering, and malware analysis. He has more than 25 years
of experience in software architecture, design, development, and
maintenance in various industries, including leadership, technical, and
people management roles. Dmitry also founded Syndromatix, Anolog.
io, BriteTrace, DiaThings, Logtellect, OpenTask Iterative and Incremental
Publishing (OpenTask.com), Software Diagnostics Technology and
Services (former Memory Dump Analysis Services; PatternDiagnostics.
com), and Software Prognostics. In his spare time, he presents various
topics on Debugging TV and explores Software Narratology, its further
development as Narratology of Things and Diagnostics of Things (DoT),
and Software Pathology. His current areas of interest are theoretical
software diagnostics and its mathematical and computer science
foundations, application of artificial intelligence, machine learning and

ix
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
a vast collection of ebooks across various
genres, available in popular formats like
PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, fully compatible with
all devices. Enjoy a seamless reading
experience and effortlessly download high-
quality materials in just a few simple steps.
Plus, don’t miss out on exciting offers that
let you access a wealth of knowledge at the
best prices!
About the Author

data mining to diagnostics and anomaly detection, software diagnostics


engineering and diagnostics-driven development, and diagnostics
workflow and interaction. Recent areas of interest also include cloud
native computing, security, automation, functional programming, and
applications of category theory to software development and big data.

x
About the Technical Reviewer
Vikas Talan is a senior engineer at Qualcomm
(an American multinational corporation). He is
the founder of S.M.A.R.T Solutions, a technical
company. He also worked at MediaTek and
Cadence in core technical domains. He has
in-depth experience in Linux kernel
programming, Linux device drivers, ARM 64,
ARM, and porting of Android OS and Linux
drivers on chipsets. He hails from Delhi
NCR, India.

xi
Preface
The book covers topics ranging from Intel x64 assembly language
instructions and writing programs in assembly language to pointers, live
debugging, and static binary analysis of compiled C and C++ code.
Diagnostics of core memory dumps, live and postmortem debugging
of Linux applications, services, and systems, memory forensics, malware,
and vulnerability analysis require an understanding of x64 Intel assembly
language and how C and C++ compilers generate code, including
memory layout and pointers. This book is about background knowledge
and practical foundations that are needed to understand internal Linux
program structure and behavior, start working with the GDB debugger, and
use it for disassembly and reversing. It consists of practical step-by-step
exercises of increasing complexity with explanations and many diagrams,
including some necessary background topics.
By the end of the book, you will have a solid understanding of how
Linux C and C++ compilers generate binary code. In addition, you will be
able to analyze such code confidently, understand stack memory usage,
and reconstruct original C/C++ code.
The book will be useful for

• Software technical support and escalation engineers

• Software engineers coming from JVM background

• Software testers

• Engineers coming from non-Linux environments, for


example, Windows or Mac OS X

xiii
Preface

• Linux C/C++ software engineers without assembly


language background

• Security researchers without assembly language


background

• Beginners learning Linux software reverse engineering


techniques

This book can also be used as an x64 assembly language and Linux
debugging supplement for relevant undergraduate-level courses.

Source Code
All source code used in this book can be downloaded from github.com/
apress/linux-debugging-disassembling-reversing.

xiv
CHAPTER 1

Memory, Registers,
and Simple Arithmetic
 emory and Registers Inside
M
an Idealized Computer
Computer memory consists of a sequence of memory cells, and each cell
has a unique address (location). Every cell contains a “number.” We refer
to these “numbers” as contents at addresses (locations). Because memory
access is slower than arithmetic instructions, there are so-called registers
to speed up complex operations that require memory to store temporary
results. We can also think about them as stand-alone memory cells. The
name of a register is its address. Figure 1-1 illustrates this concept.

© Dmitry Vostokov 2023 1


D. Vostokov, Foundations of Linux Debugging, Disassembling, and Reversing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9153-5_1
Chapter 1 Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic

Figure 1-1. Computer memory represented as a sequence of memory


cells and locations

 emory and Registers Inside Intel


M
64-Bit PC
Figure 1-2 shows addresses for memory locations containing integer
values usually differ by four or eight, and we also show two registers called
%RAX and %RDX. The first halves of them are called %EAX and %EDX.

2
Chapter 1 Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic

Figure 1-2. Typical Intel x64 memory and register layout

Because memory cells contain “numbers,” we start with simple


arithmetic and ask a PC to compute the sum of two numbers to see how
memory and registers change their values.

“ Arithmetic” Project: Memory Layout


and Registers
For our project, we have two memory addresses (locations) that we call
“a” and “b.” We can think about “a” and “b” as names of their respective
addresses (locations). Now we introduce a special notation where (a) means

3
Chapter 1 Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic

contents at the memory address (location) “a.” If we use the C or C++


language to write our project, we declare and define memory locations “a”
and “b” as

static int a, b;

By default, when we load a program, static memory locations are filled


with zeroes, and we can depict our initial memory layout after loading the
program, as shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3. Initial memory layout after loading the program

4
Chapter 1 Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic

“Arithmetic” Project: A Computer Program


We can think of a computer program as a sequence of instructions for
the manipulation of contents of memory cells and registers. For example,
addition operation: add the contents of memory cell №12 to the contents
of memory cell №14. In our pseudo-code, we can write

(14) + (12) -> (14)

Our first program in pseudo-code is shown on the left of the table:

1 -> (a) Here, we put assembly instructions corresponding


1 -> (b) to pseudo-code.
(b) + (a) -> (b)
(a) + 1 -> (a)
(b) * (a) -> (b)

“->” means moving (assigning) the new value to the contents of a


memory location (address). “;” is a comment sign, and the rest of the line is
a comment. “=” shows the current value at a memory location (address).
To remind, a code written in a high-level programming language is
translated to a machine language by a compiler. However, the machine
language can be readable if its digital codes are represented in some
mnemonic system called assembly language. For example, INC a is
increment by one of what is stored at a memory location “a.”

“ Arithmetic” Project: Assigning Numbers


to Memory Locations
We remind that “a” means location (address) of the memory cell, and it is
also the name of the location (address) 000055555555802c (see Figure 1-3).
(a) means the contents (number) stored at the address “a.”

5
Chapter 1 Memory, Registers, and Simple Arithmetic

If we use the C or C++ language, “a” is called “the variable a,” and we
write the assignment as

a = 1;

In the Intel assembly language, we write

mov $1, a

In the GDB disassembly output, we see the following code where the
variable “a” and address are shown in comments:

movl   $0x1,0x2ef2(%rip)        # 0x55555555802c <a>

We show the translation of our pseudo-code into assembly language in


the right column:

1 -> (a)          ; (a) = 1 movl $1, a


1 -> (b)          ; (b) = 1 movl $1, b
(b) + (a) -> (b)
(a) + 1 -> (a)
(b) * (a) -> (b)

Notice movl instructions instead of mov. This is because “a” and “b”
can point to both 32-bit (like %EAX or %EDX registers) and 64-bit memory
cells (like %RAX and %RDX registers). In the registers’ case, it is clear from
their names whether we use 64-bit %RAX or 32-bit %EAX. But in the case
of memory addresses “a” and “b,” it is not clear whether they refer to 64-bit
or 32-bit cells. We use movl to disambiguate and show that we use 32-bit
memory cells that are enough to hold integers from 0 to 4294967295.
0x2ef2(%rip) is how the compiler generates code to calculate the
address “a” instead of specifying it directly. Such code requires less
memory space. We explain this in later chapters.

6
Visit https://ebookmass.com today to explore
a vast collection of ebooks across various
genres, available in popular formats like
PDF, EPUB, and MOBI, fully compatible with
all devices. Enjoy a seamless reading
experience and effortlessly download high-
quality materials in just a few simple steps.
Plus, don’t miss out on exciting offers that
let you access a wealth of knowledge at the
best prices!
Other documents randomly have
different content
sure that light and guidance, that renewal of strength and hope, that
certainty as to your side and your road, you are meant to have; they
have been prepared, and are ready, for every man of you, whenever
you will take them. The longings for them are whispered in your
hearts by the Leader, whose cross, never turned back, ever
triumphing more and more over all principalities and powers of evil,
blazes far ahead in the van of our battles. He has been called the
Captain of our Salvation, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb
who was slain for the world; He has told us his name, the Son of
God and the Son of Man; He has claimed to be the redeemer,
deliverer, leader of mankind.
CXX.
My younger brothers, I am not speaking to you the words of
enthusiasm or excitement, but the words of sober every-day
knowledge and certainty. I tell you that all the miseries of England
and of other lands consist simply in this and in nothing else, that we
men, made in the image of God, made to know him, to be one with
him in his Son, will not confess that Son our Lord and Brother, to be
the Son of God and Son of man, the living Head of our race and of
each one of us. I tell you that if we would confess him and lay hold
of him and let him enter into and rule and guide us and the world,
instead of trying to rule and guide ourselves and the world without
him, we should see and know that the kingdom of God is just as
much about us now as it will ever be. I tell you that we should see
all sorrow and misery melting away and drawn up from this fair
world of God’s like mountain mist before the July sun.
CXXI.
I do not ask you to adopt any faith of mine. But as you would do
good work in your generation, I ask of you to give yourselves no
peace till you have answered these questions, each one for himself,
in the very secret recesses of his heart, “Do I, does my race, want a
head? Can we be satisfied with any less than a Son of man and a
Son of God? Is this Christ, who has been so long worshipped in
England, He?”
If you can answer, though with faltering lips, “Yes, this is He,” I
care very little what else you accept, all else that is necessary or
good for you will come in due time, if once he has the guidance of
you.
CXXII.
My faith has been no holiday or Sunday faith, but one for every-
day use; a faith to live and die in, not to argue or talk about. It has
had to stand the wear and tear of life; it was not got in prosperity. It
has had to carry me through years of anxious toil and small means,
through the long sicknesses of those dearer to me than my own life,
through deaths amongst them both sudden and lingering. Few men
of my age have had more failures of all kinds; no man has deserved
them more, by the commission of all kinds of blunders and errors, by
evil tempers, and want of faith, hope, and love.
Through all this it has carried me, and has risen up in me after
every failure and every sorrow, fresher, clearer, stronger. Why do I
say “it?” I mean He. He has carried me through it all; He who is your
Head and the Head of every man, woman, child, on this earth, or
who has ever been on it, just as much as he is my Head. And he will
carry us all through every temptation, trial, sorrow, we can ever
have to encounter, in this world or any other, if we will only turn to
him, lay hold of him, and cast them all upon him, as he has bidden
us.
My younger brothers, you on whom the future of your country,
under God, at this moment depends, will you not try him? Is he not
worth a trial?
CXXIII.
Precious as his love was to him, and deeply as it affected his
whole life, Tom felt that there must be something beyond it—that its
full satisfaction would not be enough for him. The bed was too
narrow for a man to stretch himself on. What he was in search of
must underlie and embrace his human love, and support it. Beyond
and above all private and personal desires and hopes and longings,
he was conscious of a restless craving and feeling about after
something which he could not grasp, and yet which was not avoiding
him, which seemed to be mysteriously laying hold of him and
surrounding him.
The routine of chapels, and lectures, and reading for degree,
boating, cricketing, Union-debating—all well enough in their way—
left this vacuum unfilled. There was a great outer visible world, the
problems and puzzles of which were rising before him and haunting
him more and more; and a great inner and invisible world opening
round him in awful depth. He seemed to be standing on the brink of
each—now, shivering and helpless, feeling like an atom about to be
whirled into the great flood and carried he knew not where—now,
ready to plunge in and take his part, full of hope and belief that he
was meant to buffet in the strength of a man with the seen and the
unseen, and to be subdued by neither.
CXXIV.
Far on in the quiet night he laid the whole before the Lord and
slept! Yes, my brother, even so: the old, old story; but start not at
the phrase, though you may never have found its meaning.—He laid
the whole before the Lord, in prayer, for his friend, for himself, for
the whole world.
And you, too, if ever you are tried—as every man must be in one
way or another—must learn to do the like with every burthen on
your soul, if you would not have it hanging round you heavily, and
ever more heavily, and dragging you down lower and lower till your
dying day.
CXXV.
The English prejudice against Franklin on religious grounds is
quite unreasonable. He was suspected of being a Freethinker, and
was professedly a philosopher and man of science; he was a friend
of Tom Paine and other dreadful persons; he had actually published
“An Abridgment of the Church Prayer-Book,” dedicated “to the
serious and discerning,” by the use of which he had the audacity to
suppose that religion would be furthered, unanimity increased, and a
more frequent attendance on the worship of God secured. Any one
of these charges was sufficient to ruin a man’s religious reputation in
respectable England of the last generation, but it is high time that
amends were made in these days. Let us glance at the real facts. As
a boy, Franklin had the disease which all thoughtful boys have to
pass through, and puzzled himself with speculations as to the
attributes of God and the existence of evil, which landed him in the
conclusion that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world, and
that vice and virtue were empty distinctions. These views he
published at the mature age of nineteen, but became disgusted with
them almost immediately, and abandoned metaphysics for other
more satisfactory studies. Living in the eighteenth century, when
happiness was held to be “our being’s end and aim,” he seems to
have now conformed to that popular belief; but as he came also to
the conclusion that “the felicity of life” was to be attained through
“truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man,”
and acted up to this conclusion, no great objection from a moral or
religious standpoint can be taken to this stage of his development.
At the age of twenty-two he composed a little liturgy for his own
use, which he fell back on when the sermons of the minister of the
only Presbyterian church in Philadelphia had driven him from
attendance at chapel. He did not, however, long remain unattached,
and after his marriage joined the Church of England, in which he
remained till the end of his life. What his sentiments were in middle
life may be gathered from his advice to his daughter on the eve of
his third departure for England: “Go constantly to church, whoever
preaches. The act of devotion in the Common Prayer-Book is your
principle business there, and if properly attended to will do more
toward amending the heart than sermons.... I do not mean you
should despise sermons, even of the preachers you dislike, for the
discourse is often much better than the man, as sweet and clear
waters come through very dirty earth. I am the more particular on
this head as you seem to express some inclination to leave our
church, which I would not have you do.” As an old man of eighty, he
reminded his colleagues of the National Convention (in moving
unsuccessfully that there should be daily prayers before business)
how in the beginnings of the contest with Britain “we had daily
prayers in this room.... Do we imagine we no longer need
assistance? I have lived now a long time, and the longer I live the
more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God rules in the
affairs of men.” Later yet, in answer to President Yates, of Yale
College, who had pressed him on the subject, he writes, at the age
of eighty-four: “Here is my creed: I believe in one God, the Creator
of the universe; that he governs it by his providence; that he ought
to be worshipped; that the most acceptable service we render to him
is doing good to his other children; that the soul of man is immortal,
and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct
in this.” These are his “fundamentals,” beyond which he believes that
Christ’s system of morals and religion is the best the world is ever
likely to see, though it has been much corrupted. To another friend
he speaks with cheerful courage of death, which “I shall submit to
with less regret as, having seen during a long life a good deal of this
world, I feel a growing curiosity to be acquainted with some other;
and can cheerfully, with filial confidence, resign my spirit to the
conduct of that great and good Parent of mankind who has so
graciously protected and prospered me from my birth to the present
hour.” One more quotation we cannot resist; it is his farewell letter to
his old friend David Hartley: “I cannot quit the coasts of Europe
without taking leave of my old friend. We were long fellow-laborers
in the best of all works, the work of peace. I leave you still in the
field, but, having finished my day’s task, I am going home to bed.
Wish me a good night’s rest, as I do you a pleasant evening. Adieu,
and believe me ever yours most affectionately,—B. Franklin.”
As to his relations with Paine, they should have reassured instead
of frightened the orthodox, for he did his best to keep the author of
“The Rights of Man” from publishing his speculations. Franklin
advises him that he will do himself mischief and no benefit to others.
“He who spits against the wind, spits in his own face.” Paine is
probably indebted to religion “for the habits of virtue on which you
so justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent
talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby
obtain a rank amongst our most distinguished authors. For among
us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be
raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by
beating his mother.”
CXXVI.
Of course, it is more satisfactory to one’s own self-love, to make
every one who comes to one to learn, feel that he is a fool, and we
wise men; but, if our object is to teach well and usefully what we
know ourselves there cannot be a worse method. No man, however,
is likely to adopt it, so long as he is conscious that he has anything
himself to learn from his pupils; and as soon as he has arrived at the
conviction that they can teach him nothing—that it is henceforth to
be all give and no take—the sooner he throws up his office of
teacher the better it will be for himself, his pupils, and his country,
whose sons he is misguiding.
CXXVII.
“When one thinks what a great centre of learning and faith like
Oxford ought to be—that its highest educational work should just be
the deliverance of us all from flunkeyism and money-worship—and
then looks at matters here without rose-colored spectacles, it gives
one sometimes a sort of chilly, leaden despondency, which is very
hard to struggle against.”
“I am sorry to hear you talk like that, Jack, for one can’t help
loving the place after all.”
“So I do, God knows. If I didn’t, I shouldn’t care for its
shortcomings.”
“Well, the flunkeyism and money-worship were bad enough, but I
don’t think they were the worst things—at least not in my day. Our
neglects were almost worse than our worships.”
“You mean the want of all reverence for parents? Well, perhaps
that lies at the root of the false worships. They spring up on the
vacant soil.”
“And the want of reverence for women, Jack. The worst of all, to
my mind!”
“Perhaps you are right. But we are not at the bottom yet.”
“How do you mean?”
“I mean that we must worship God before we can reverence
parents or women, or root out flunkeyism and money-worship.”
“Yes. But after all can we fairly lay that sin on Oxford? Surely,
whatever may be growing up side by side with it, there’s more
Christianity here than almost anywhere else.”
“Plenty of common-room Christianity—belief in a dead God.
There, I have never said it to any one but you, but that is the slough
we have got to get out of. Don’t think that I despair for us. We shall
do it yet; but it will be sore work, stripping off the comfortable wine-
party religion in which we are wrapped up—work for our strongest
and our wisest.”
CXXVIII.
Everybody, I suppose, knows the dreamy delicious state in which
one lies, half asleep, half awake, while consciousness begins to
return after a sound night’s rest in a new place which we are glad to
be in, following upon a day of unwonted excitement and exertion.
There are few pleasanter pieces of life. The worst of it is that they
last such a short time; for nurse them as you will, by lying perfectly
passive in mind and body, you can’t make more than five minutes or
so of them. After which time the stupid, obstrusive, wakeful entity
which we call “I,” as impatient as he is stiff-necked, spite of our
teeth will force himself back again, and take possession of us down
to our very toes.
CXXIX.
The sun was going down behind the copse, through which his
beams came aslant, chequered and mellow. The stream ran dimpling
down, sleepily swaying the masses of weed, under the surface and
on the surface; and the trout rose under the banks, as some moth or
gnat or gleaming beetle fell into the stream; here and there one
more frolicsome than his brethren would throw himself joyously into
the air. The swifts rushed close by, in companies of five or six, and
wheeled, and screamed, and dashed away again, skimming along
the water, baffling the eye as one tried to follow their flight. Two
kingfishers shot suddenly up on to their supper station, on a stunted
willow stump, some twenty yards below him, and sat there in the
glory of their blue backs and cloudy red waistcoats, watching with
long sagacious beaks pointed to the water beneath, and every now
and then dropping like flashes of light into the stream, and rising
again, with what seemed one motion, to their perches. A heron or
two were fishing about the meadows; and Tom watched them
stalking about in their sober quaker coats, or rising on slow heavy
wing, and lumbering away home with a weird cry. He heard the
strong pinions of the wood pigeon in the air, and then from the trees
above his head came the soft call, “Take-two-cow-Taffy, take-two-
cow-Taffy,” with which that fair and false bird is said to have beguiled
the hapless Welchman to the gallows. Presently, as he lay
motionless, the timid and graceful little water-hens peered out from
their doors in the rushes opposite, and, seeing no cause for fear,
stepped daintily into the water, and were suddenly surrounded by
little bundles of black soft down, which went paddling about in and
out of the weeds, encouraged by the occasional sharp, clear,
parental “keck—keck,” and merry little dabchicks popped up in mid-
stream, and looked round, and nodded at him, pert and voiceless,
and dived again; even old cunning water-rats sat up on the bank
with round black noses and gleaming eyes, or took solemn swims
out, and turned up their tails and disappeared for his amusement. A
comfortable low came at intervals from the cattle, revelling in the
abundant herbage. All living things seemed to be disporting
themselves, and enjoying, after their kind, the last gleams of the
sunset, which were making the whole vault of heaven glow and
shimmer; and, as he watched them, Tom blessed his stars as he
contrasted the river-side with the glare of lamps and the click of
balls in the noisy pool-room.
And then the summer twilight came on, and the birds
disappeared, and the hush of night settled down on river, and copse,
and meadow—cool and gentle summer twilight, after the hot bright
day. He welcomed it too, as it folded up the landscape, and the trees
lost their outline, and settled into soft black masses rising here and
there out of the white mist, which seemed to have crept up to within
a few yards all round him unawares. There was no sound now but
the gentle murmur of the water, and an occasional rustle of reeds, or
of the leaves over his head, as a stray wandering puff of air passed
through them on its way home to bed. Nothing to listen to, and
nothing to look at; for the moon had not risen, and the light mist hid
everything except a star or two right up above him. So, the outside
world having left him for the present, he was turned inwards on
himself.
CXXX.
The nights are pleasant in May, short and pleasant for travel. We
will leave the city asleep, and do our flight in the night to save time.
Trust yourselves, then, to the story-teller’s aërial machine. It is but a
rough affair, I own, rough and humble, unfitted for high or great
flights, with no gilded panels, or dainty cushions, or C-springs—not
that we shall care about springs, by the way, until we alight on terra-
firma again—still, there is much to be learned in a third-class
carriage if we will only not look while in it for cushions, and fine
panels, and forty miles an hour travelling, and will not be shocked at
our fellow-passengers for being weak in their h’s and smelling of
fustian. Mount in it, then, you who will, after this warning; the fares
are holiday fares, the tickets return tickets. Take with you nothing
but the poet’s luggage,
“A smile for Hope, a tear for Pain,
A breath to swell the voice of Prayer,”
and may you have a pleasant journey, for it is time that the stoker
should be looking to his going gear!
So now we rise slowly in the moonlight from St. Ambrose’s
quadrangle, and, when we are clear of the clock-tower, steer away
southwards, over Oxford city and all its sleeping wisdom and folly,
over street and past spire, over Christ Church and the canons’
houses, and the fountain in Tom quad; over St. Aldate’s and the
river, along which the moonbeams lie in a pathway of twinkling
silver, over the railway sheds—no, there was then no railway, but
only the quiet fields and foot-paths of Hincksey hamlet. Well, no
matter; at any rate, the hills beyond, and Bagley Wood, were there
then as now: and over hills and wood we rise, catching the purr of
the night-jar, the trill of the nightingale, and the first crow of the
earliest cock-pheasant, as he stretches his jewelled wings, conscious
of his strength and his beauty, heedless of the fellows of St. John’s,
who slumber within sight of his perch, on whose hospitable board he
shall one day lie, prone on his back, with fair larded breast turned
upwards for the carving knife, having crowed his last crow. He
knows it not; what matters it to him? If he knew it, could a Bagley
Wood cock-pheasant desire a better ending?
We pass over the vale beyond; hall and hamlet, church, and
meadow, and copse, folded in mist and shadow below us, each
hamlet holding in its bosom the materials of three-volumed novels
by the dozen, if we could only pull off the roofs of the houses and
look steadily into the interiors; but our destination is farther yet. The
faint white streak behind the distant Chilterns reminds us that we
have no time for gossip by the way; May nights are short, and the
sun will be up by four. No matter; our journey will now be soon over,
for the broad vale is crossed, and the chalk hills and downs beyond.
Larks quiver up by us, “higher, ever higher,” hastening up to get a
first glimpse of the coming monarch, careless of food, flooding the
fresh air with song. Steady plodding rooks labor along below us, and
lively starlings rush by on the look-out for the early worm; lark and
swallow, rook and starling, each on his appointed round. The sun
arises, and they get them to it; he is up now, and these breezy
uplands over which we hang are swimming in the light of horizontal
rays, though the shadows and mists still lie on the wooded dells
which slope away southwards.
This is no chalk, this high knoll which rises above—one may
almost say hangs over—the village, crowned with Scotch firs, its
sides tufted with gorse and heather. It is the Hawk’s Lynch, the
favorite resort of Englebourn folk, who come up for the view, for the
air, because their fathers and mothers came up before them,
because they came up themselves as children—from an instinct
which moves them all in leisure hours and Sunday evenings, when
the sun shines and the birds sing, whether they care for view or air
or not. Something guides all their feet hitherward; the children, to
play hide-and-seek and look for nests in the gorse-bushes; young
men and maidens, to saunter and look and talk, as they will till the
world’s end—or as long, at any rate, as the Hawk’s Lynch and
Englebourn last—and to cut their initials, inclosed in a true lover’s
knot, on the short rabbit’s turf; steady married couples, to plod
along together consulting on hard times and growing families; even
old tottering men, who love to sit at the feet of the firs, with chins
leaning on their sticks, prattling of days long past, to any one who
will listen, or looking silently with dim eyes into the summer air,
feeling perhaps in their spirits after a wider and more peaceful view
which will soon open for them. A common knoll, open to all, up in
the silent air, well away from every-day Englebourn life, with the
Hampshire range and the distant Beacon Hill lying soft on the
horizon, and nothing higher between you and the southern sea,
what a blessing the Hawk’s Lynch is to the village folk, one and all!
May Heaven and a thankless soil long preserve it and them from an
inclosure under the Act!
CXXXI.
In January, 878, King Alfred disappears from the eyes of Saxon
and Northmen, and we follow him, by such light as tradition throws
upon these months, into the thickets and marshes of Selwood. It is
at this point, as is natural enough, that romance has been most
busy, and it has become impossible to disentangle the actual facts
from monkish legend and Saxon ballad. In happier times Alfred was
in the habit himself of talking over the events of his wandering life
pleasantly with his courtiers, and there is no reason to doubt that
the foundation of most of the stories still current rests on those
conversations of the truth-loving king, noted down by Bishop Asser
and others.
The best known of these is, of course, the story of the cakes. In
the depths of the Saxon forests there were always a few neat-herds
and swine-herds, scattered up and down, living in rough huts
enough we may be sure, and occupied with the care of the cattle
and herds of their masters. Amongst these in Selwood was a neat-
herd of the king, a faithful man, to whom the secret of Alfred’s
disguise was intrusted, and who kept it even from his wife. To this
man’s hut the king came one day alone, and, sitting himself down by
the burning logs on the hearth, began mending his bows and
arrows. The neat-herd’s wife had just finished her baking, and,
having other household matters to attend to, confided her loaves to
the king, a poor, tired looking body, who might be glad of the
warmth, and could make himself useful by turning the batch, and so
earn his share while she got on with other business. But Alfred
worked away at his weapons, thinking of anything but the good
housewife’s batch of loaves, which in due course were not only
done, but rapidly burning to a cinder. At this moment the neat-herd’s
wife comes back, and flying to the hearth to rescue the bread, cries
out, “D’rat the man! never to turn the loaves when you see them
burning. I’ze warrant you ready enough to eat them when they’re
done.” But beside the king’s faithful neat-herd, whose name is not
preserved, there are other churls in the forest, who must be Alfred’s
comrades just now if he will have any. And even here he has an eye
for a good man, and will lose no opportunity to help one to the best
of his power. Such a one he finds in a certain swine-herd called
Denewulf, whom he gets to know, a thoughtful Saxon man, minding
his charge there in the oak woods. The rough churl, or thrall, we
know not which, has great capacity, as Alfred soon finds out, and
desire to learn. So the king goes to work upon Denewulf under the
oak trees, when the swine will let him, and is well satisfied with the
results of his teachings and the progress of his pupil.
But in those miserable days the commonest necessaries of life
were hard enough to come by for the king and his few companions,
and for his wife and family, who soon joined him in the forest, even
if they were not with him from the first. The poor foresters cannot
maintain them, nor are this band of exiles the men to live on the
poor. So Alfred and his comrades are soon foraging on the borders of
the forest, and getting what subsistence they can from the Pagan, or
from the Christians who had submitted to their yoke. So we may
imagine them dragging on life till near Easter when a gleam of good
news comes up from the west, to gladden the hearts and strengthen
the arms of these poor men in the depths of Selwood.
Soon after Guthrum and the main body of the Pagans moved
from Gloster, southwards, the Viking Hubba, as had been agreed,
sailed with thirty ships of war from his winter quarters on the South
Welsh coast, and landed in Devon. The news of the catastrophe at
Chippenham, and of the disappearance of the king, was no doubt
already known in the west; and in the face of it Odda the alderman
cannot gather strength to meet the Pagans in the open field. But he
is a brave and true man, and will make no term with the spoilers; so,
with other faithful thegns of King Alfred and their followers, he
throws himself into a castle or fort called Cynwith, or Cynnit, there
to abide whatever issue of this business God will send them. Hubba,
with the war-flag Raven, and a host laden with the spoil of rich
Devon vales, appear in due course before the place. It is not strong
naturally, and has only “walls in our own fashion,” meaning probably
rough earth-works. But there are resolute men behind them, and on
the whole Hubba declines the assault, and sits down before the
place. There is no spring of water, he hears, within the Saxon lines,
and they are otherwise wholly unprepared for a siege. A few days
will no doubt settle the matter, and the sword or slavery will be the
portion of Odda and the rest of Alfred’s men; meantime there is spoil
enough in the camp from Devonshire homesteads, which brave men
can revel in round the war-flag Raven, while they watch the Saxon
ramparts. Odda, however, has quite other views than death from
thirst, or surrender. Before any stress comes, early one morning, he
and his whole force sally out over their earth-works, and from the
first “cut down the Pagans in great numbers;” eight hundred and
forty warriors (some say one thousand two hundred), with Hubba
himself, are slain before Cynnit fort; the rest, few in number, escape
to their ships. The war-flag Raven is left in the hands of Odda and
the men of Devon.
This is the news which comes to Alfred, Ethelnoth the alderman
of Somerset, Denewulf the swine-herd, and the rest of the Selwood
Forest group, some time before Easter. These men of Devonshire, it
seems, are still staunch, and ready to peril their lives against the
Pagans. No doubt up and down Wessex, thrashed and trodden out
as the nation is by this time, there are other good men and true,
who will neither cross the sea or the Welsh marches, nor make
terms with the Pagan; some sprinkling of men who will yet set life at
stake, for faith in Christ and love of England. If these can only be
rallied, who can say what may follow? So, in the lengthening days of
spring, council is held in Selwood and there will have been Easter
services in some chapel, or hermitage, in the forest, or, at any rate
in some quiet glade. The “day of days” will surely have had its voice
of hope for this poor remnant. Christ is risen and reigns; and it is not
in these heathen Danes, or in all the Northmen who ever sailed
across the sea, to put back his kingdom, or enslave those whom he
has freed.
The result is, that, far away from the eastern boundary of the
forest, on a rising ground—hill it can scarcely be called—surrounded
by dangerous marshes formed by the little rivers Thone and Parret,
fordable only in summer, and even then dangerous to all who have
not the secret, a small fortified camp is thrown up under Alfred’s
eye, by Ethelnoth and the Somersetshire men, where he can once
again raise his standard. The spot has been chosen by the king with
the utmost care, for it is his last throw. He names it the Etheling’s
eig or island, “Athelney.” Probably his young son, the Etheling of
England, is there amongst the first, with his mother and his grand-
mother Eadburgha, the widow of Ethelred Mucil, the venerable lady
whom Asser saw in later years, and who has now no country but her
daughter’s. There are, as has been reckoned, some two acres of
hard ground on the island, and around vast brakes of alder-bush, full
of deer and other game. Here the Somersetshire men can keep up
constant communication with him, and a small army grows together.
They are soon strong enough to make forays into the open country,
and in many skirmishes they cut off parties of the Pagans, and
supplies. “For, even when overthrown and cast down,” says
Malmesbury, “Alfred had always to be fought with; so then, when
one would esteem him altogether worn down and broken, like a
snake slipping from the hand of him who would grasp it, he would
suddenly flash out again from his hiding-places, rising up to smite
his foes in the height of their insolent confidence, and never more
hard to beat than after a flight.”
But it was still a trying life at Athelney. Followers came in slowly,
and provender and supplies of all kinds are hard to wring from the
Pagan, and harder still to take from Christian men. One day, while it
was yet so cold that the water was still frozen, the king’s people had
gone out “to get them fish or fowl, or some such purveyance as they
sustained themselves withal.” No one was left in the royal hut for the
moment but himself and his mother-in-law, Eadburgha. The king
(after his constant wont whensoever he had opportunity) was
reading from the Psalms of David, out of the Manual which he
carried always in his bosom. At this moment a poor man appeared at
the door and begged for a morsel of bread “for Christ his sake.”
Whereupon the king, receiving the stranger as a brother, called to
his mother-in-law to give him to eat. Eadburgha replied that there
was but one loaf in their store, and a little wine in a pitcher, a
provision wholly insufficient for his own family and people. But the
king bade her, nevertheless, to give the stranger part of the last loaf,
which she accordingly did. But when he had been served, the
stranger was no more seen, and the loaf remained whole, and the
pitcher full to the brim. Alfred, meantime, had turned to his reading,
over which he fell asleep and dreamed that St. Cuthbert of
Lindisfarne stood by him, and told him it was he who had been his
guest, and that God had seen his afflictions and those of his people,
which were now about to end, in token whereof his people would
return that day from their expedition with a great take of fish. The
king awaking, and being much impressed with his dream, called to
his mother-in-law and recounted it to her, who thereupon assured
him that she too had been overcome with sleep, and had had the
same dream. And while they yet talked together on what had
happened so strangely to them, their servants came in, bringing fish
enough, as it seemed to them, to have fed an army.
The monkish legend goes on to tell that on the next morning the
king crossed to the mainland in a boat, and wound his horn thrice,
which drew to him before noon five hundred men. What we may
think of the story and the dream, as Sir John Spelman says, “is not
here very much material,” seeing that whether we deem it natural or
supernatural, “the one as well as the other serves at God’s
appointment, by raising or dejecting of the mind with hopes or fears,
to lead man to the resolution of those things whereof he has before
ordained the event.”
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and


personal growth!

ebookmass.com

You might also like