Israel Bruna An Historical Tragedy in Five Acts

brother Capistrano, who, the King says, has been gifted with miraculous powers, and who, the King says, is an instrument in the hands of Providence, to stamp out this heresy which has already disgraced his Majestys dominions too long. FIRST C OUNCILLOR.-W e certainly ought to do our gracious Lords wishes, all the more so because we will be honoring a great Saint whose presence will be a blessing to our city. SECOND C OUNCILLORA.-blessing which will result in a bloody civil war. FIRST C OUN.-Not if we stand united and have the support of the Saints prayers. SECOND C OUN.-His prayer has not kept the Hussites from burning the city hall of Neustadt, when the council refused to expel that Italian trouble maker. Shouts. - Bar the gates against the Welcher . 6 ISRAEL BRUNA BURG.-Peace, gentlemen He comes with the Kings safe conduct, and we cannot refuse him admittance without incurring the ill-will of his Majesty, who has once before expressed his dislike of the citys attitude in an internal complication. SECOND C OUN.-His Majesty is in the hands of fanatics who din malicious lies into his ears. FIRST C OUN.-This means that they report truly when they say that in the council of this city men are sitting who still nourish in their hearts a veneration for that arch-heretic, John Huss, whom the holy Council, with the approval of King Sigismund, of blessed memory, ordered to be burned at the stake as an enemy of our holy religion and as a rebel against the sacred person of our King. SECOND C OUN.-John Huss was a saintly man. . I was in Constance as a page to my Lord of Rokitzan, and I saw Huss smile as he was led out to the stake, and I saw him kneel down in prayer, praying , that the Lord would forgive those who had sentenced him to die. I would like to see how that Italian fiend would act, were he placed at the stake, for that is where he ought to go. Shouts.-Burn him Stone him Huss was a Saint Shouts from the other side.-He was a rebel and an infidel. Through him we have been living in a state of tvar for forty years. Shouts from the first side.-Because you have been persecuting Gods chosen ones. BURGOMASTER. P-eace, gentlemen It will not do for us to quarrel on a question which the masters of holy lore have nct been able to settle. The ISRAEL BRUNA, question which confronts us is what we shall do with regard to the Kings letter, SECONDC OUN.-Give that monk three days to stay here, and in the mean time the cityguards shall watch him, lest he do mischief. FIRST C OUN.-Let the Burgomaster, the Council, the heads of the guilds, and the clergy with the school children meet him at the city boundary line...