XII.

“Thus spoke the general voice--thus Spain believed, And, Heaven and Earth approving, rushed to arms. The web of Tyranny was swift unweaved, The land was soon o’erspread by War’s alarms; For Freedom’s fire once lit intensely charms! But terrible at first in dire excess Rude license many a timid patriot harms. If perished tyrant-tools yet, ah, not less Good men, too, slaughtered fell in butchery’s helplessness.