 | Alfred the Great ; or, The Minstrel King |  |
- ALFRED THE GREAT (the Minstrel King of England: author of Trial by Jury, the Candleclock, &c., and translator of the Works of Boethius and Paulus Orosius: so old and dear a friend, that we may safely venture on a few harmless jokes at his expense) Mr. F. Robson.
- OSWITH (his Aide-de-camp, who, as a portion of his duties, aids His Majesty in decamping; an English Officer in the Blues; a pure Saxon, but a remarkably true Briton notwithstanding) Miss Herbert.
- EDRIC (an unfavourable view of the Anglo-Saxon character; a Thane of the highest rank and birth, but who, nevertheless, unites in his own person the basest attributes of the Churl and the Villein) Mrs. W. S. Emden.
- ODDUNE (Earl of Devon: a very fine specimen of the Old English Gentleman; Commander-in-Chief of the British Army during King Alfred's retirement) Mr. F. Vining.
- CEOLWULF (a Renegade from the Saxon cause, described in Pauli's Alfred the Great as a “weak-minded Thane of the exiled King's;” but whose corporeal attributes will be found liable to no objection whatever) Miss Cottrell.
-
DUNULF (corrupted into Dunup, a not particularly Neat-herd, and a by no means Fancy Baker; a Striking Example of the unsettled state of the times) Mr. Horace Wigan
[_]
N. B.—This historical personage is reported by William of Malmesbury to have been educated by King Alfred subsequently to the events of our Drama, and elevated to the dignity of Bishop of Winchester, At the time of our making his acquaintance he gets his living more by hook than by crook—while the idea of such a subject having ever been dipped into a See, looks improbable on the face of it.
- HEADRED (a Hind—who, as he will have some up-hill work in the piece, may also be described as a Panter) Mr. H. Cooper.
- ELSWITH (an Heiress, by no means apparent; Daughter of Ethelred Mucel, Earl of the Gaini, and betrothed to King Alfred, but quite unable to find her match) Miss E. Nelson.
- MAUDE (The Neatherd's Wife of our earliest infantile recollections; supposed Authoress of the celebrated Legend, “Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake, Baker's man;” believed also, from her having been the first Baker and the first great Rebel in English history, to have been an early Member of the Crumb-well family) Miss Stephens.
SAXONS.
- MERLIN (the Old English Enchanter—by the kind permission of Alfred Tennyson, Esq., L. L. D., Poet-Laureate, &c., &c.) Mr. H. Rivers.
- THE APPARITION OF A GOVERNMENT CLERK Mrs. Charlton.
- THE APPARITION OF AN ARMED RIFLEMAN Mr. James.
- THE APPARITION OF A NAVAL VOLUNTEER Miss Charles.
SAXON AUXILIARIES.
- GUTHRUM (Leader of the Danish Forces—“He was by far the most powerful Viking who had yet appeared in England,” Pauli: a singular paradox, a man who is constantly finding whatever he wants, but who, nevertheless, has always to be a Sea-king for it; a northern Chieftain, who, having been frost-bitten from his childhood, is naturally an enthusiastic worshipper of Thor) Mr. G. Cooke.
- HALDANE (a Viking of a single size smaller) Mr. F. Charles.
- OTHO (a Viking of the Class Letter C, No. 3, officiating, among other duties, as Priest of Odin) Mr. Franks.
- INA (the Sea King's Daughter) Miss Hughes.
- Chieftains, Warriors, Attendants, &c.
DANES.
| Alfred the Great ; or, The Minstrel King | |