Por Helena a Asia esclarecida;
Por Cleopatra o Egypto foi vencido,
Assiria por Semiramis perdida,
Por Cava se perdeo a forte Espanha,
E por Anna Bolena a Gram Bretanha.
Destruiçam de Espanha, p. 9.
Inhuman priests with unoffending blood
Had stain’d their country.—[I. p. 1.]
Never has any country been so cursed by the spirit of persecution as Spain. Under the Heathen Emperors it had its full share of suffering, and the first fatal precedent of appealing to the secular power to punish heresy with death, occurred in Spain. Then came the Arian controversy. There was as much bigotry, as much rancour, as little of the spirit of Christianity, and as much intolerance, on one part as on the other: but the successful party were better politicians, and more expert in the management of miracles.