 | Alfred |  |
Each replied. ‘Most wise! the thought
‘Well was conceived.’—Alfred thus answer made;
‘If one must go to meet the Danes, and learn,
‘By many wiles, their state, clad in some guise
‘That bars suspicion; learning when they mean
‘Next to assault us; where their weakness lies;
‘With other knowledge, needful to be known,
‘Yet only learnt among them, who around,
‘So proper as your king?’
‘Well was conceived.’—Alfred thus answer made;
‘If one must go to meet the Danes, and learn,
‘By many wiles, their state, clad in some guise
‘That bars suspicion; learning when they mean
‘Next to assault us; where their weakness lies;
‘With other knowledge, needful to be known,
‘Yet only learnt among them, who around,
‘So proper as your king?’
| Alfred | |