XVII.
But onward moved the melancholy train,
For their false creeds in fiery pangs to die.
This was the solemn sacrifice of Spain—
Heaven’s offering from the land of chivalry!
Through thousands, thousands of their race they moved—
Oh, how unlike all others!—the beloved,
The free, the proud, the beautiful! whose eye
Grew fix’d before them, while a people’s breath
Was hush’d, and its one soul bound in the thought of death!