WALTER. 
My hopes are high, my heart is proud,
And like a trumpet long and loud,
Thither my thoughts all clang and ring! 
My life is in my hand, and lo! 
I grasp and bend it as a bow,
And shoot forth from its trembling string
An arrow, that shall be, perchance,
Like the arrow of the Israelite king
Shot from the window towards the east. 
That of the Lord’s deliverance!

PRINCE HENRY. 
My life, alas! is what thou seest! 
O enviable fate! to be
Strong, beautiful, and armed like thee
With lyre and sword, with song and steel;
A hand to smite, a heart to feel! 
Thy heart, thy hand, thy lyre, thy sword,
Thou givest all unto thy Lord;
While I, so mean and abject grown,
Am thinking of myself alone,

WALTER. 
Be patient; Time will reinstate
Thy health and fortunes.

PRINCE HENRY. 
                       ’T is too late! 
I cannot strive against my fate!

WALTER. 
Come with me; for my steed is weary;
Our journey has been long and dreary,
And, dreaming of his stall, he dints
With his impatient hoofs the flints.

PRINCE HENRY, aside. 
I am ashamed, in my disgrace,
To look into that noble face! 
To-morrow, Walter, let it be.

WALTER. 
To-morrow, at the dawn of day,
I shall again be on my way. 
Come with me to the hostelry,
For I have many things to say. 
Our journey into Italy
Perchance together we may make;
Wilt thou not do it for my sake?

PRINCE HENRY. 
A sick man’s pace would but impede
Thine eager and impatient speed. 
Besides, my pathway leads me round
To Hirsehau, in the forest’s bound,
Where I assemble man and steed,
And all things for my journey’s need.

They go out.

LUCIFER, flying over the city. 
Sleep, sleep, O city! till the light
Wake you to sin and crime again,
Whilst on your dreams, like dismal rain,
I scatter downward through the night
My maledictions dark and deep. 
I have more martyrs in your walls
Than God has; and they cannot sleep;
They are my bondsmen and my thralls;
Their wretched lives are full of pain,
Wild agonies of nerve and brain;
And every heart-beat, every breath,
Is a convulsion worse than death! 
Sleep, sleep, O city! though within
The circuit of your walls there be
No habitation free from sin,
And all its nameless misery;
The aching heart, the aching head,
Grief for the living and the dead,
And foul corruption of the time,
Disease, distress, and want, and woe,
And crimes, and passions that may grow
Until they ripen into crime!

SQUARE IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL

Easter Sunday.  FRIAR CUTHBERT preaching to the crowd from a pulpit in the open air.  PRINCE HENRY and Elsie crossing the square.