Poems, Volume 2

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Page 27 - Slaves cannot breathe in England ; if their lungs Receive our air, that moment they are free ; They touch our country, and their shackles fall. That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud And jealous of the blessing. Spread it then, And let it circulate through every vein Of all your empire ; that, where Britain's power Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.
Page 35 - Must stand acknowledged, while the world shall stand, The most important and effectual guard, Support and ornament of Virtue's cause. There stands the messenger of truth: there stands The legate of the skies! — His theme divine, His office sacred, his credentials clear. By him the violated law speaks out Its thunders ; and by him, in strains as sweet As angels use, the gospel whispers peace.
Page 78 - Made vocal for the amusement of the rest ; The sprightly lyre, whose treasure of sweet sounds The touch from many a trembling chord shakes out ; And the clear voice, symphonious, yet distinct, And in the charming strife triumphant still, Beguile the night, and set a keener edge On female industry : the threaded steel Flies swiftly, and unfelt the task proceeds.
Page 197 - I heard the bell tolled on thy burial day, I saw the hearse* that bore thee slow away, And, turning from my nursery window, drew A long, long sigh, and wept a last adieu !* But was it such ? — It was.
Page 37 - And tender in address, as well becomes A messenger of grace to guilty men. Behold the picture ! Is it like ? — Like whom ? The things that mount the rostrum with a skip, And then skip down again ; pronounce a text ; Cry — hem ; and reading what they never wrote, Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work, And with a well-bred whisper close the scene...
Page 125 - Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much ; Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. Books are not seldom talismans and spells By which the magic art of shrewder wits Holds an unthinking multitude enthralled.
Page 74 - Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks, Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet With tears that trickled down the writer's cheeks Fast as the periods from his fluent quill, Or...
Page 199 - Her beauteous form reflected clear below, While airs impregnated with incense play Around her, fanning light her streamers gay; So thou, with sails how swift! hast reached the shore ' Where tempests never beat nor billows roar;' And thy loved consort on the dangerous tide Of life, long since has anchored at thy side.
Page 144 - One song employs all nations ; and all cry, " Worthy the Lamb, for he was slain for us !" The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks Shout to each other, and the mountain tops From distant mountains catch the flying joy ; Till, nation after nation taught the strain, Earth rolls the rapturous, hosanna round.
Page 109 - Tis liberty alone that gives the flower Of fleeting life its lustre and perfume, And we are weeds without it. All constraint, Except what wisdom lays on evil men, Is evil ; hurts the faculties, impedes Their progress in the road of science ; blinds The eyesight of discovery, and begets In those that suffer it a sordid mind Bestial, a meagre intellect, unfit To be the tenant of man's noble form.

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