University of Virginia Library

XLIV.

Ælla, Bertha, Celmond, Messenger.
Mess.
Ælla, the Danes are thund'ring on our coast,
Like shoals of locusts, cast up by the sea;
Magnus and Hurra, with a doughty host,
Are raging, to be quenched by none but thee;
Haste, swift as lightning, to these rovers flee,
Thy dogs alone can tame this raging bull.
Haste quickly, for anigh the town they be,
And Wedëcester's roll of doom is full.
Haste, haste, O Ælla, to the bicker fly,
For in a moment's space ten thousand men may die.