THE CASTLE OF VAUTSBERG ON THE RHINE. A chamber in a tower. PRINCE HENRY, sitting alone, ill and restless. PRINCE HENRY. I CANNOT sleep! my fervid brain A breath from that far-distant shore Come back! ye friendships long departed! And now are dwindled, one by one, 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, The dreams and fancies known of yore, They make the dark and dreary hours I would not sleep! I love to be Alas! our memories may retrace Each circumstance of time and place, Ourselves we cannot re-create, Nor set our souls to the same key Rest! rest! O, give me rest and peace! 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? Who and what are you? LUCIFER. One who seeks A moment's audience with the Prince. PRINCE HENRY. When came you in? LUCIFER. A moment since. I found your study door unlocked, And thought you answered when I knocked. PRINCE HENRY. I did not hear you. LUCIFER. You heard the thunder; It was loud enough to waken the dead. You should not have heard my feeble tread. PRINCE HENRY. What may your wish or purpose be? LUCIFER. Nothing or every thing, as it pleases One of the few who have a mission And, what is a wiser and better thing, |