Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem in two books. By the author of sympathy [i.e. S. J. Pratt] |
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| I. |
| II. |
 | Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem |  |
Thus thro' the globe in Nature's earliest dawn,
For Freedom only was the arrow drawn,
The plain rough ancient at his threshold stood,
And held that freedom dearer than his blood;
Whate're the forest or the lakes bestow,
Fruits of his lance, his angle and his bow,
The fur that warms him or the hut that shields,
The scanty harvest which his culture yields,
Earn'd by his strength, was by his strength maintain'd,
He felt his own, what honest labour gain'd,
Part of himself his liberty he thought,
And reason sanctified what nature taught,
Nor force of bribes nor frauds of gold he knew,
For life and liberty the sword he drew;
Corruption was the growth of later times,
When Avarice reconcil'd the polish'd crimes,
A gentle modern of the Christian kind
That rose and flourish'd as vice grew refin'd,
An European, which in search of gain,
Taught free-born men to bear and hug the chain.
For Freedom only was the arrow drawn,
The plain rough ancient at his threshold stood,
And held that freedom dearer than his blood;
Whate're the forest or the lakes bestow,
Fruits of his lance, his angle and his bow,
The fur that warms him or the hut that shields,
The scanty harvest which his culture yields,
Earn'd by his strength, was by his strength maintain'd,
He felt his own, what honest labour gain'd,
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And reason sanctified what nature taught,
Nor force of bribes nor frauds of gold he knew,
For life and liberty the sword he drew;
Corruption was the growth of later times,
When Avarice reconcil'd the polish'd crimes,
A gentle modern of the Christian kind
That rose and flourish'd as vice grew refin'd,
An European, which in search of gain,
Taught free-born men to bear and hug the chain.
| Humanity, or the rights of nature, a poem | |