Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INSTRUCTIONS, SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN IN PARIS, FOR THE MOB IN ENGLAND, by MARY (CUMBERLAND) ALCOCK


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INSTRUCTIONS, SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN IN PARIS, FOR THE MOB IN ENGLAND, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Of liberty, reforms and rights I sing
Last Line: Adieu, contentment, safety, peace and quiet!
Subject(s): Class Struggle; Freedom; Revolutions; Liberty


OF Liberty, Reforms and Rights I sing,
Freedom, I mean, without or Church or King;
Freedom to seize and keep whate'er I can,
And boldly claim my right -- The Rights of Man:
Such is the blessed liberty in vogue,
The envied liberty to be a rogue;
The right to pay no taxes, tithes or dues;
The liberty to do whate'er I choose;
The right to take by violence and strife
My neighbour's goods and, if I please, his life;
The liberty to raise a mob or riot,
For spoil and plunder ne'er were got by quiet;
The right to level and reform the great;
The liberty to overturn the state;
The right to break through all the nation's laws,
And boldly dare to take rebellion's cause:
Let all be equal, every man my brother;
Why have one property, and not another?
Why suffer titles to give awe and fear?
There shall not long remain one British peer;
Nor shall the criminal appalled stand
Before the mighty judges of the land;
Nor judge nor jury shall there longer be,
Nor any jail, but every prisoner free;
All law abolished and, with sword in hand,
We'll seize the property of all the land.
Then hail to Liberty, Reform and Riot!
Adieu, Contentment, Safety, Peace and Quiet!





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