Scene—The Walls of the City.
Hernandez.—A few Citizens gathered round him.
HERNANDEZ.
Had been worn down in gathering, on the pyre,
Aye, at their household hearths have lit the brand,
Ev'n from that shrine of quiet love to bear
The flame which gave their temples and their homes,
In ashes, to the winds!—They have done this,
Making a blasted void where once the sun
Look'd upon lovely dwellings; and from earth
Razing all record that on such a spot
Childhood hath sprung, age faded, misery wept,
And frail Humanity knelt before her God;
—They have done this, in their free nobleness,
Rather than see the spoiler's tread pollute
Their holy places!—Praise, high praise be theirs,
Who have left man such lessons!—And these things,
Made your own hills their witnesses!—The sky,
Whose arch bends o'er you, and the seas, wherein
