I was desirous of materials wherewith
to exercise the power, that my talents and power should not be forgotten
and concealed. For every craft and every power soon becomes old, and is
passed over in silence, if it be without wisdom: for no man can
accomplish any craft without wisdom. Because whatsoever is done through
folly, no one can ever reckon for craft. This is now especially to be
said: that I wished to live honorably whilst I lived, and after my life,
to leave to the men who were after me, my memory in good works.

ALFRED'S PREFACE TO THE VERSION OF POPE GREGORY'S 'PASTORAL CARE'

King Alfred bids greet Bishop Waerferth with his words lovingly and with
friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very often come
into my mind, what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both
of sacred and secular orders; and what happy times there were then
throughout England; and how the kings who had power of the nation in
those days obeyed God and his ministers; and they preserved peace,
morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their
territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war and with wisdom;
and also the sacred orders, how zealous they were, both in teaching and
learning, and in all the services they owed to God; and how foreigners
came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, and how we should
now have to get them from abroad if we would have them. So general was
its decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber
who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter
from Latin into English; and I believe there were not many beyond the
Humber. There were so few that I cannot remember a single one south of
the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to God Almighty that we
have any teachers among us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I
believe thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as
often as thou canst, that thou mayst apply the wisdom which God has
given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come
upon us on account of this world if we neither loved it (wisdom)
ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love the name
only of Christian, and very few of the virtues.

When I considered all this I remembered also how I saw, before it had
been all ravaged and burnt, how the churches throughout the whole of
England stood filled with treasures and books, and there was als