The Land of the Muses a poem, In the Manner of Spenser. With Poems on several Occasions. By Hugh Downman |
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| II. |
| III. |
| IV. | SONNET IV.
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 | The Land of the Muses |  |
SONNET IV.
[Now is the feudal vassalage destroy'd]
Now is the feudal vassalage destroy'd,By which the haughty Thane his subject train
Held at his will, and in confinement strong
Fetter'd the servile crew, and with stern reign
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No will they ever of their own enjoy'd,
But bent implicitly to his controul.
Now by degrees they find that Liberty
Opens the narrow foldings of the soul,
And they too dare to boast that they are free.
No more with rapine they the fields infest,
Or seek out Slaughter in her secret den;
But by the laws of equal Justice blest,
Humanely think, and feel that they are men.
| The Land of the Muses | |