III.

"I see them from the mountain-top,How fair their dwellings on the plain ! Like trees that crown the valley's slope, Like waves that glitter on the main ! Strong, strong the lion slumbering thereWho first shall rouse him from his lair?

66

IV.

Crouch, Amalek—and thou, vain King! Crouch by thine altars-vainer still! Hear ye the royal shouts that ring

From Israel's camp beneath the hill? They have a God amidst their tents,— Banner at once, and battlements !

V.

"A Star shall break through yonder skies,
And beam on every nation's sight;
From yonder ranks a Sceptre rise,
And bow the nations to its might:

I see their glorious strength afar-
All hail, dread Sceptre! hail, bright Star!

""

VI.

'And who am I, for whom is flung

Aside the shrouding veil of Time? The Seer whose rebel-soul is wrung

By wrath, and prophecy, and crime :

The future as the past I see,

Woe, then, for Moab! woe for me!"

VII.

On Peor's top the Wizard stood,

Around him Moab's Princes bowed;

He bade- and altars streamed with blood,
And incense wrapped him like a shroud!
But vain the rites of earth and hell-
He spake a mastered Oracle!

St. Giles's Fields. A stake and fagots; crowds collecting around them.

TIME.-Fifteenth Century.

CHARACTERS.

The Martyr: Sheriff and men. A Lollard in disguise. Countryman. Spectators.

COUNT. WHAT news, my friends? what is the happy news

That here hath brought such multitudes together ;

That thus ye for festivities prepare

With bonfire ready to proclaim your joy?

Is there good news? Or do ye celebrate

Some ancient holiday: some day that brought
Victory, fresh liberties, or blest release

From famine, pestilence, or wizard-craft?
Or hath some noble lord, perchance the King,
Found in his heart to glad the citizens—
Pr'ythee, good man, what is 't?

LOL.

Thou 'lt see, anon!

COUNT. Ay, so it seems! If any thing I learn

'T must be by seeing, not by hearing, faith! See! see! what shall I see?-An ox to roast? LOL. An ox?-A man!--Think'st thou these very wise And pious citizens could find delight

In an ox-roasting? Nay, they burn a man! COUNT. A man! a man! My God! what sort of

man,

What hideous malefactor must he be?

I dread to see him!-What deed has he done

So horrible, that he must die by fire?

Is he a thief-a cut-throat, that did creep
Into a midnight house, and murder babes-
Parents and babes, all in each other's blood?
Or is he some lean miser, that has slain
The innocents that fell into his power

By death of relatives-to seize their gold?

LOL. No! none of these; but worse than all, he is
A heretic!

COUNT.

A heretic! What's that?

LOL. (Observing him with surprise)

Just heaven! I thank thee that there yet are left
Some men on earth in ignorance so blest

As not to know that hell-invented word.

[To the Countryman].

Good man! in what close covert hast thou dwelt,
That, while the whole world round thee is on fire,
See'st, hear'st, know'st nothing of the murderous flame?
But here, step yet a little from the crowd,

And I will tell thee what's a heretic.

He is a man that worships not by law:

He is a man with freedom in his soul;

That does not ask of every fool he meets

What he shall think, but thinketh for himself.

COUNT.

Well! where's the harm?-That suits an Englishman.

LOL. Stop! let me tell thee! Say that thou and I Should now compare our doctrines,-it might chance There shewed a difference. Well! suppose that I Think with this crowd-with cardinals—the Pope; And thou with thine ownself-or one, or two,

I should be orthodox-thou, heretic!

COUNT. I heretic, say'st thou? what! and be burnt?
LOL. Ay, if thou wouldst not eat thy words, and lick
From priestly shoes the dust, and be a thing
That dares not lift its eyes to the sweet heavens
Unless man give it leave. But hear again ;—
Suppose the Pope and cardinals should fall,

And other men should build another church

Thou and thy party-and grow very great,

Then, I'm the heretic-thou orthodox!

COUNT. Well, when that comes, I swear we will not burn thee.

But what are things that thus can change and change?
I have been taught that Truth doth never change.
I have been taught that Christ was full of love;
I've heard of Pagans that did Christians slay;
Of Druids that did burn men in their woods;
But never knew 't was in the Gospel said-
Burn one another!-but I deemed it full

Of peace, and charity, and good to all.

LOL. Oh! thou art wrong, art wrong!-go ask the priest,

And he will tell thee that the Gospel is

To pay thy Peter-pence, and mind thy work,

And leave to him to save thy simple soul

For thy good cash, from hell and purgatory.

COUNT. Ay, ay, they say so!-But what says the Book? I've often wished I could but see the Book;

I like not taking such great things on trust!

Is there no means of getting at the Book?

LOL. If thou shouldst see it-thou art a dead man!
COUNT. Why, say they not it is the Book of Life?
LOL. Ay, so they say; but 't is the Book of Death!
If thou dost read, then dost thou see thy shame!
Then dost thou find how grossly they have duped thee,