Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

As the foam in the moonlight

The two hands were fair,
And they put by the tangles
Of seaweed and hair.

He knew the pale forehead—
A spell to his ear

Was the voice that repeated,
'The sea-wolf is here!'

'I come, Love,' he answered-
At sunrise next day
A fisherman wakened

The Priest in the Bay.

"For the soul of a sinner
Let masses be said—

The sin shall be nameless,

And nameless the dead."

Enter the GREAT CHAMBERLAIN with the Horse-Thane and

other Officers of the Household.

GREAT CHAMBERLAIN.

His Majesty! Make way. His Majesty !

Sound trumpets!

(A flourish of trumpets.)

The KING, wearing his Crown and leading in the QUEEN MOTHER, passes across the back-scene, and is followed by EARL ATHULF leading in ETHILDA, by ODO and DUNSTAN

with SIGERIC and BRIDFERTH, by HARCATHER, CEOLWULF, ETHELRIC, EADBALD, IDA, BRAND, ECFRID, GORF, and TOSTY, all military leaders on the Monastic side; and by CLARENBALD, EARL SIDROC, the BISHOP of ROCHESTER, and divers great Officers of State and Nobles of the King's party. The Procession, when it passes off, enters the Banqueting Hall.

FIRST CEORL.

The King stepped proudly.

SECOND CEORL.

But his countenance

Methought was troubled. Is he well in health?

FIRST CEORL.

Now comes the Primate.

SECOND CEORL.

What, can this be he

That looks so fierce and haughty? Once before

I saw him, when a cripple asked for alms;

So lowly of demeanour was his Grace,

I had not known, but for the mitred head,

Which was the beggar, which the Lord Archbishop.

FIRST CEORL.

He's humble to the poor to spite the rich.

Give me the man that 's humble to his peers.

There's Dunstan.

SECOND CEORL.

FIRST CEORL.

What, is yonder thing alive?

GRIMBALD (the Jester, who has come up behind).

Sir, he 's above ground.

SECOND CEORL.

So we see, my friend.

GRIMBALD.

For this occasion, sir.

A hole i' the earth

Is where he lives, sir, mostly: yea his life

Is of the earth, sir, earthy.

FIRST CEORL.

It was there

That he encountered Sathanas.

GRIMBALD.

'Twas there.

The Devil, sir, one day, grubbing for earth-nuts

A simple fare you'll say, but for his ends

The Devil, you'll find, can be a very hermit

Digging and grubbing-what should his old claws clutch

But Father Dunstan's skull ! 'Ho, ho!' cried he,

'A bigger one than ever;' but thereat

Oh mercy! here is Gurmo! Sirs, I say,

The feasting and the singing and the dancing
Should carry us to midnight-Cockadoodle!

A'song will I sing

Of an excellent king

That carried his crown where a bee has her sting.

[blocks in formation]

In, tag-rag-enter, rabblement—in all !

[ocr errors][merged small]

Put your boots in that place and your crown on your head.'

In, dregs; in, scum; in, commonalty, in!

In, many fools by nature, one by name!

Exeunt into the Banqueting Hall, all but the USHERS
and the SCHOLAR.

FIRST USHER.

The Princess and a certain Earl sit close.

SCHOLAR.

Ah! she is peerless! Happy were that man

That should enthrall her though she were a peasant!
What in another might have seemed amiss

In her was but a freshness and new charm

Loosed from the graceful nakedness of Nature.

She ate but half a pigeon, and did

you mark How with her tiny fingers and her teeth

She gnawed and tore the bones, talking 'twixt whiles,

With such a lively and a pretty action,

That appetite itself and all its ways

Seemed mainly spiritual.

SECOND USHER.

Hush! Hark to that!

(A flourish of trumpets.)

FIRST USHER.

The ladies leave the board.

SCHOLAR.

I'll see her go.

She ever moves as if she moved to music.

Are

ye not wanted? Oh! what's like to her!

[Exeunt.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »