VOL. II.

SONNETS

DEDICATED

TO LIBERTY.

PART SECOND.

I.

ON A

CELEBRATED EVENT IN ANCIENT HISTORY.

A ROMAN Master stands on Grecian ground,
And to the Concourse of the Isthmian Games

He, by his Herald's voice, aloud proclaims
THE LIBERTY OF GREECE:-the words rebound
Until all voices in one voice are drowned;
Glad acclamation by which air was rent!
And birds, high-flying in the element,
Dropped to the earth, astonished at the sound!
-A melancholy Echo of that noise

Doth sometimes hang on musing Fancy's ear:
Ah! that a Conqueror's words should be so dear;
Ah! that a boon could shed such rapturous joys!
A gift of that which is not to be given

By all the blended powers of Earth and Heaven.

II.

UPON THE SAME EVENT.

WHEN, far and wide, swift as the beams of morn
The tidings passed of servitude repealed,

And of that joy which shook the Isthmian Field,
The rough Ætolians smiled with bitter scorn.

" "Tis known,” cried they," that He, who would adorn
His envied temples with the Isthmian Crown,
Must either win, through effort of his own,

The prize, or be content to see it worn
By more deserving brows.-Yet so ye prop,
Sons of the Brave who fought at Marathon,
Your feeble Spirits. Greece her head hath bowed,

As if the wreath of Liberty thereon

Would fix itself as smoothly as a cloud,

Which, at Jove's will, descends on Pelion's top !"

III.

TO THOMAS CLARKSON,

On the final passing of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, March, 1807.

CLARKSON! it was an obstinate Hill to climb:
How toilsome, nay how dire it was, by Thee
Is known, by none, perhaps, so feelingly;
But Thou, who, starting in thy fervent prime,
Didst first lead forth this pilgrimage sublime,
Hast heard the constant Voice its charge repeat,
Which, out of thy young heart's oracular seat,
First roused thee.-O true yoke-fellow of Time
With unabating effort, see, the palm

Is won, and by all Nations shall be worn!

The bloody Writing is for ever torn,

And Thou henceforth shalt have a good Man's calm,

A great Man's happiness; thy zeal shall find
Repose at length, firm Friend of human kind!