For none so able, and so fit to earn
This crown, the patriarch says, as you.
TEMPLAR.
As I?
FRIAR.
The patriarch here is free, can look about him,
And knows, he says, how cities may be stormed,
And how defended; knows, he says, the strengths
And weaknesses of Saladin’s new bulwark,
And of the inner rampart last thrown up;
And to the warriors of the Lord, he says,
Could clearly point them out;—
TEMPLAR.
And can I know
Exactly the contents of this same letter?
FRIAR.
Why, that I don’t pretend to vouch exactly—
’Tis to King Philip: and our patriarch—
I often wonder how this holy man,
Who lives so wholly to his God and heaven,
Can stoop to be so well informed about
Whatever passes here—’Tis a hard task!
TEMPLAR.