Alfred An Heroic Poem, in Twenty-Four Books. By Joseph Cottle: 4th ed. |
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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 | ||