The Slave, and Other Poetical Pieces Being an Appendix to Poems by The Rev. Richard Mant |
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TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, Esq. M. P. ONE OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE SIERRA LEONE COMPANY, &c. |
 | The Slave, and Other Poetical Pieces |  |
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TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, Esq. M. P. ONE OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE SIERRA LEONE COMPANY, &c.
Why bows the Muse to Mercy's favourite son?
Why flows the verse to Wilberforce's name?
'Tis not that aught, her feeble skill may frame,
Can swell the glorious guerdon he hath won.
For what to him, who th' onward course hath run,
Is breath of human praise? His nobler aim
Th' approving voice of conscience, and th' acclaim
Of quiring angels, and his Lord's “Well done.”
Why flows the verse to Wilberforce's name?
'Tis not that aught, her feeble skill may frame,
Can swell the glorious guerdon he hath won.
For what to him, who th' onward course hath run,
Is breath of human praise? His nobler aim
Th' approving voice of conscience, and th' acclaim
Of quiring angels, and his Lord's “Well done.”
Yet is it meet (since not for pastime vain
The heav'nly Muse th' Almighty Father gave)
To grace desert she breathe her loveliest strain;
And hail the man, who long hath toil'd to save
Britannia's crown from foul oppression's stain,
His country's friend, and patron of the slave.
The heav'nly Muse th' Almighty Father gave)
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And hail the man, who long hath toil'd to save
Britannia's crown from foul oppression's stain,
His country's friend, and patron of the slave.
| The Slave, and Other Poetical Pieces | |