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 Cross of iron, that to mock us Is uplifted high in air! O, we cannot! For around it VOICES. All the Saints and Guardian Angels THE BELLS. Laudo Deum verum! Congrego clerum! Longfellow. II. 1 LUCIFER. Lower! lower! Hover downward! Seize the loud, vociferous bells, and All thy thunders Here are harmless! VOICES. For these bells have been anointed, They defy our utmost power. THE BELLS. Defunctos ploro! Festa decoro! LUCIFER. Shake the casements! Break the painted Panes, that flame with gold and crimson; Scatter them like leaves of Autumn, Swept away before the blast! O, we cannot! The Archangel VOICES. Michael flames from every window, Headlong, out of heaven, aghast! THE BELLS. Funera plango! Fulgura frango! Sabbata pango! LUCIFER. Aim your lightnings At the oaken, Massive, iron-studded portals! Sack the house of God, and scatter Wide the ashes of the dead! O, we cannot! The Apostles VOICES. And the Martyrs, wrapped in mantles, THE BELLS. Excito lentos! Paco cruentos! LUCIFER. Baffled! baffled! Craven spirits! leave this labor Onward! onward! With the night-wind, VOICES. 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, sitting alone, ill and restless. Midnight. PRINCE HENRY. I CANNOT sleep! my fervid brain To stony channels in the sun! Come back! ye friends, whose lives are ended, Come back, with all that light attended, Which seemed to darken and decay They come, the shapes of joy and woe, |
