Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate Under a Charge of High Treason. By John Thelwall |
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| IV. | SONNET IV. TO SIMPLICITY OF MANNERS.
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 | Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate |  |
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SONNET IV. TO SIMPLICITY OF MANNERS.
O for the Spartan Fife, to pierce the earOf slumbering Virtue, and again restore
Those ancient Manners—simple and severe,
That aw'd encroaching Tyranny!—No more
Should'st thou, degenerate Briton! then deplore
Thy desolated villages—thy plains,
(Where Joy no more, nor rural Plenty reigns)
Deserted for the distant, happy shore,
Where smiles thy once-lov'd Liberty: and where
No trampled myriads shed the bitter tear
Of Want, that pamper'd Luxury may lie
Stretch'd on her gorgeous couch, and quaff the strain
Of soul-seducing Flattery, while the train
Of Misery heave unheard the pleading sigh.
Tower, 17th July.
| Poems Written in Close Confinement in The Tower and Newgate | |