Friar Cuthbert. Peace!  I say, peace!  Will you never cease!  You will rouse up the Abbot, I tell you again!

Friar John. No danger! to-night he will let us alone, As I happen to know he has guests of his own.

  Friar Cuthbert. Who are they?

Friar John. A German Prince and his train,
Who arrived here just before the rain. 
There is with him a damsel fair to see,
As slender and graceful as a reed! 
When she alighted from her steed,
It seemed like a blossom blown from a tree.

  Friar Cuthbert. None of your pale-faced girls for me!

          (Kisses the girl at his side.)

Friar John. Come, old fellow, drink down to your peg! do not drink any farther, I beg!

  Friar Paul (sings). In the days of gold,
        The days of old,
        Cross of wood
        And bishop of gold!

Friar Cuthbert (to the girl). What an infernal racket and din!  No need not blush so, that’s no sin.  You look very holy in this disguise, Though there’s something wicked in your eyes!

  Friar Paul (continues.) Now we have changed
        That law so good,
        To cross of gold
        And bishop of wood!

Friar Cuthbert. I like your sweet face under a hood.  Sister! how came you into this way?

Girl. It was you, Friar Cuthbert, who led me astray. 
Have you forgotten that day in June,
When the church was so cool in the afternoon,
And I came in to confess my sins? 
That is where my ruin begins.

Friar John. What is the name of yonder friar, With an eye that glows like a coal of fire, And such a black mass of tangled hair?

Friar Paul. He who is sitting there,
With a rollicking,
Devil may care,
Free and easy look and air,
As if he were used to such feasting and frollicking?

  Friar John. The same.

Friar Paul. He’s a stranger.  You had better ask his name, And where he is going, and whence he came.

  Friar John. Hallo!  Sir Friar!

Friar Paul. You must raise your voice a little higher, He does not seem to hear what you say.  Now, try again!  He is looking this way.

Friar John. Hallo!  Sir Friar,
We wish to inquire
Whence you came, and where you are going,
And anything else that is worth the knowing. 
So be so good as to open your head.

Lucifer. I am a Frenchman born and bred,
Going on a pilgrimage to Rome. 
My home
Is the convent of St. Gildas de Rhuys,
Of which, very like, you never have heard.

  Monks. Never a word!