Among you: murder, martyr me if ye will [silent, selfless man Har. Thanks, Gurth! The simple Is worth a world of tonguesters. (To Margot.) Get thee gone! He means the thing he says. See him out safe! Tas fire with curses, Leof. He hath blown himself as red An honest fool! Follow me, honest fool, [folk, But if thou blurt thy curse among our I know not-I may give that egg-bald The tap that silences. Har.

Thead See him out safe. [Exeunt Leofwin and Margot. Gurth. Thou hast lost thine even temper, brother Harold!

Har. Gurth, when I past by Waltham, my foundation [themselves, For men who serve their neighbor, not I cast me down prone, praying; and, when I rose, [lean'd

They told me that the Holy Rood had And bow'd above me; whether that which held it [bound

Had weaken'd, and the Rood itself were
To that necessity which binds us down;
Whether it bow'd at all but in their
fancy;

Or if it bow'd, whether it symbol'd ruin
Or glory, who shall tell? but they were
And somewhat sadden'd me. [sad
Gurth.
Yet if a fear,
Or shadow of a fear, lest the strange
Saints
[power to balk
By whom thou swarest, should have
Thy puissance in this fight with him,
who made
[not sworn-
And heard thee swear-brother-I have
If the king fall, may not the kingdom

fall?

Leof.

I saw her even now:

She hath not left us.
Har.

Nought of Morcar then?
Gurth. Nor seen, nor heard; thine,
William's or his own

As wind blows, or tide flows: beliko he watches,

If this war-storm in one of its rough rolls [land.

Wash up that old crown of NorthumberHar. I married her for Morcar-a sin against [seems, The truth of love. Evil for good, it Is oft as childless of the good as evil For evil.

[times Leof. Good for good hath borne at A bastard false as William. Har.

Ay, if Wisdom Pair'd not with Good. But I am some

what worn,

[God. A snatch of sleep were like the peace of Gurth, Leofwin, go once more about the hill[lac, What did the dead man call it-SangueThe lake of blood?

Leof. A lake that dips in William As well as Harold.

Har. Like enough. I have seen The trenches dug, the palisades uprear'd [wands; And wattled thick with ash and willowYea, wrought at them myself. Go round once more; [man horse See all be sound and whole. No NorCan shatter England, standing shield Tell that again to all. [by shield; Gurth. I will, good brother. Har. Our guardsman hath but toil'd his hand and foot;

I hand, foot, heart and head. Some wine! (One pours wine into a goblet, which he hands to Harold.) Too much! What? we must use our battle-axe today. [we came in? Our guardsmen have slept well, since Leof. Ay, slept and snored. Your second-sighted man [king, That scared the dying conscience of the Misheard their snores for groans. They

are up again

[burg

And chanting that old song of BrunanWhere England conquer'd.

Har. That is well. The Norman, What is he doing?

Leof.

Praying for Normandy; Our scouts have heard the tinkle of their bells. [for England too! Har. And our old songs are prayers But by all SaintsLeof. Har.

day dawn,

Barring the Norman !

Nay. Were the great trumpet blowing dooms[man movesI needs must rest. Call when the NorExeunt all, but Harold. No horse-thousands of horses-our shield wallWall-break it not-break notbreak[Sleeps.

Vision of Edw. Son Harold, I thy king, who came before [ford-bridge To tell thee thou should'st win at StamCame yet once more, from where I am

at peace,

Because I loved thee in my mortal day, To tell thee thou shalt die on Senlac Sanguelac!

[hill

Vision of Wulf. O brother, from my ghastly oubliette [seas

I send my voice across the narrow No more, no more, dear brother, neverSanguelac ! moreVision of Tostig. O brother, most unbrotherlike to me, [life, Thou gavest thy voice against me in my I give my voice against thee from the Sanguelac ! [graveVision of Norman Saints. Ohapless Harold! King but for an hour! Thou swarest falsely by our blessed bones, [heaven!

We give our voice against thee out of Sanguelac! Sanguelac! The arrow, the arrow !

Har. (starting up battle-axe in hand).

Away! My battle-axe against your voices. Peace! [shall die

The king's last word-'the arrow!' I
I die for England then, who lived for
England-

What nobler? men must die.
I cannot fall into a falser world-

I have done no man wrong. Tostig,
Art thou so anger'd?

[poor brother,

Fain had I kept thine earldom in thy hands [wrench'd

Save for thy wild and violent will that All hearts of freemen from thee. I could do

No other than this way advise the king Against the race of Godwin. Is it possible [earthly hates That mortal men should bear their Into yon bloodless world, and threaten us thence [art revengedUnschool'd of Death! Thus then thou I left our England naked to the South To meet thee in the North. The Norseman's raid [of Godwin Hath helpt the Norman, and the race Hath ruin'd Godwin. No-our waking thoughts [pools Suffer a stormless shipwreck in the Of sullen slumber, and arise again Disjointed: only dreams-where mine [a spark Takes part against myself! Why? For Of self-disdain born in me when I sware Falsely to him, the falser Norman, over His gilded ark of mummy-saints, by whom

own self

I knew not that I sware,-not for my For England-yet not wholly- [selfEnter Edith.

Edith, Edith, Get thou into my cloister as the king

Will'd it be safe: the perjury-mongering Count

Hath made too good an use of Holy Church

To break her close! There the great God of truth [ing devil Fill all thine hours with peace!-A lyHath haunted me-mine oath-my wife -I fain [could not:

Had made my marriage not a lie; I Thou art my bride! and thou in after years [mine Praying perchance for this poor soul of In cold, white cells beneath an icy [England, This memory to thee !-and this to My legacy of war against the Pope From child to child, from Pope to

moon

Pope, from age to age, [shores, Till the sea wash her level with her Or till the Pope be Christ's.

Have thy two brethren sent their forces in ?

Ald. Nay, I fear not.

Har. Then there's no force in thee! Thou didst possess thyself of Edward's [loved!

ear

false to thee.

To part me from the woman that I Thou didst arouse the fierce Northumbrians! [to me !Thou hast been false to England and As... in some sort. . . I have been [sides-Go! Leave me. No more-Pardon on both Ald. Alas, my lord, I loved thee. Har. (bitterly). With a love Passing thy love for Griffyth! wherefore now [Go!

Obey my first and last commandment. Ald. O Harold! husband! Shall we meet again? [tle. Go. Har. After the battle-after the batAld. I go. (Aside.) That I could stab her standing there!

[Exit Aldwyth. Edith. Alas, my lord, she loved thec. Har. Never! never! Edith. I saw it in her eyes! Har. I see it in thine. And not on thee-nor England-fall

God's doom!

Edith. On thee? on me. And thou [England art England! Alfred Was England. Ethelred was nothing. Is but her king, and thou art Harold! Har. Edith,

Spear into pruning-hook-the counter way

Cowl, helm; and crozier, battle-axe. Abbot Alfwig,

[boro' Leofric, and all the monks of Peter Strike for the king; but I, old wretch, old Stigand, -and yet With hands too limp to brandish iron I have a power-would Harold ask me I have a power. [for itEdith. What power, holy father? Stig. Power now from Harold to command thee hence And see thee safe from Senlac. Edith.

I remain !

[heads

About the summit of the hill, and And arms are sliver'd off and splinter'd by [Norman flies. Their lightning-and they fly-the Edith. Stigand, O father, have we won the day? [behind the horseStig. No, daughter, no-they fall Their horse are thronging to the barricades;

I see the gonfanon of Holy Peter Floating above their helmets-ha! he is down!

Edith. He down! Who down? Stig. The Norman Count is down. Edith. So perish all the enemies of England!

Stig. No, no, he hath risen again

he bares his face [all their horse Shouts something-he points onwardSwallow the hill locust-like, swarming up. [battle-axe keen Edith. O God of battles, make his As thine own sharp-dividing justice, [ful heads heavy As thine own bolts that fall on crimeCharged with the weight of heaven

wherefrom they fall! Canons (singing).

Jacta tonitrua

Deus bellator!

Surgas e tenebris,
Sis vindicator!
Fulmina, fulmina
Deus vastator!

Be weakened in thy sight, because I love

The husband of another!