The Complete Poetical Works of Shelley including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems Edited with textual notes by Thomas Hutchinson |
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FRAGMENT: ‘WHAT MEN GAIN FAIRLY’ |
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 | The Complete Poetical Works of Shelley including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems |  |
636
FRAGMENT: ‘WHAT MEN GAIN FAIRLY’
What men gain fairly—that they should possess,And children may inherit idleness,
From him who earns it—This is understood;
Private injustice may be general good.
But he who gains by base and armèd wrong,
Or guilty fraud, or base compliances,
May be despoiled; even as a stolen dress
Is stripped from a convicted thief, and he
Left in the nakedness of infamy.
| The Complete Poetical Works of Shelley including materials never before printed in any edition of the poems | |