Of earth's wide kingdoms to a line of slaves;

Guilt reigned, and woe with guilt, and plagues came down,

Till the North broke its floodgates, and the waves

Whelmed the degraded race, and weltered o'er their graves.

XIX

 Vainly that ray of brightness from above, That shone around the Galilean lake, The light of hope, the leading star of love, Struggled, the darkness of that day to break; Even its own faithless guardians strove to slake, In fogs of earth, the pure ethereal flame; And priestly hands, for Jesus' blessed sake, Were red with blood, and charity became, In that stern war of forms, a mockery and a name. 

Vainly that ray of brightness from above,

That shone around the Galilean lake,

The light of hope, the leading star of love,

Struggled, the darkness of that day to break;

Even its own faithless guardians strove to slake,

In fogs of earth, the pure ethereal flame;

And priestly hands, for Jesus' blessed sake,

Were red with blood, and charity became,

In that stern war of forms, a mockery and a name.

XX

 They triumphed, and less bloody rites were kept Within the quiet of the convent-cell; The well-fed inmates pattered prayer, and slept, And sinned, and liked their easy penance well. Where pleasant was the spot for men to dwell, Amid its fair broad lands the abbey lay, Sheltering dark orgies that were shame to tell, And cowled and barefoot beggars swarmed the way, All in their convent weeds, of black, and white, and gray. 17

They triumphed, and less bloody rites were kept

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