The woman you see there on horseback is the Free Election of the Bohemian Crown. That is signified by the round hat and by that fiery steed on which she is riding. The hat is the pride of man; for he who cannot keep his hat on before kings and emperors is no free man. (NEUMANN: But what is the cup there on the banner.) The cup signifies the freedom of the Bohemian Church, as it was in our forefathers' times. Our forefathers in the wars of the Hussites forced from the pope this noble privilege; for the pope, you know, will not grant the cup to any layman. Your true Moravian values nothing beyond the cup; it is his costly jewel, and has cost the Bohemians their precious blood in many and many a battle. (NEUMANN: And what says that chart that hangs in the air there, over it all?) That signifies the Bohemian letter-royal which we forced from the Emperor Rudolph--a precious, never to be enough valued parchment, that secures to the new church the old privileges of free ringing and open psalmody. But since he of Steiermark has ruled over us that is at an end; and after the battle at Prague, in which Count Palatine Frederick lost crown and empire, our faith hangs upon the pulpit and the altar--and our brethren look at their homes over their shoulders; but the letter-royal the emperor himself cut to pieces with his scissors.

Master Of The Cellar Monologue from The Piccolomini: A Play

Rehearse Master Of The Cellar's monologue