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1795.10
Sonnet to W. Wilberforce
Anon
The Cambridge Intelligencer (February 28, 1795)

February 28, 1795.

Hail, Wilberforce![1] pursue thy glorious plan,
    Unbought defender of thy kind! proceed.
Still teach a guilty Court the Rights of Man;
    Not made to suffer only, and to bleed—
Though he has bled of late, and largely too,
    At their command.—Tell them that GOD design'd
A nobler object when he made mankind,
    And trace the noble purpose to their view.
Inculcate Faith, and Hope, and Charity;
    To soothe Revenge, and quell resisting pride.
Shew them how JESUS liv'd, and bid them see
    (Still more illustrious lesson!) how he died!
There let them learn, that Man was made for Peace,
    So shall the fury of the battle cease.

 


Romantic Circles / Electronic Editions / British War Poetry in the Age of Romanticism 1793-1815 / 1795.10 "Sonnet to W. Wilberforce"