THE GOLDEN LEGEND. PROLOGUE. THE SPIRE OF STRASBURG CATHEDRAL. Night and storm. LUCIFER, with the powers of the Air, trying to tear down the Cross. Lucifer. Hasten! hasten! O ye spirits! From its station drag the ponderous Is uplifted high in air! Voices. O, we cannot! For around it All the Saints and Guardian Angels The Bells. Laudo Deum verum! Plebem voco! Congrego clerum! Lucifer. Lower! lower! Hover downward! Seize the loud, vociferous bells, and Here are harmless! For these bells have been anointed, The Bells. Defunctos ploro! Lucifer. Shake the casements! Break the painted Panes, that flame with gold and crimson; Voices. O, we cannot! The Archangel Michael flames from every window, The Bells. Funera plango! Sabbata pango! Lucifer. Aim your lightnings Massive, iron-studded portals? Sack the house of God, and scatter Voices. O, we cannot! The Apostles And the Martyrs, wrapped in mantles, The Bells. Excito lentos! Paco cruentos! Lucifer. Baffled! baffled! Craven spirits! leave this labour Voices. Onward! onward! With the night wind, Over field and farm and forest, Lonely homestead, darksome hamlet, Blighting all we breathe upon! They sweep away. Organ and Gregorian Chant. Choir. Nocte surgentes I. The Castle of Vautsberg on the Rhine. A chamber in a tower. Prince Henry. I cannot sleep! my fervid brain And throws its misty splendours deep A breath from that far-distant shore To stony channels in the sun! Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended, Which seemed to darken and decay When ye arose and went away! They come, the shapes of joy and woe, They made the dark and dreary hours Rest! rest! O, give me rest and peace! Has something in it like despair, A flash of lightning, out of which LUCIFER appears, in the garb of a travelling Physician. Lucifer. All hail, Prince Henry! Prince Henry (starting). Who is it speaks? Lucifer. One who seeks A moment's audience with the prince. A moment since. I found your study door unlocked, You heard the thunder; Prince Henry. What may your wish or purpose be? Your Highness. You behold in me Only a travelling Physician; One of the few who have a mission To cure incurable diseases, Or those that are called so. Prince Henry. The dead to life? Can you bring Lucifer. The storm, that against your casement drives, And there I heard, with a secret delight, Of your maladies physical and mental, Which neither astonished nor dismayed me. Prince Henry (ironically). For this you came! |