Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT AT OLD SARUM, by ROBERT SOUTHEY



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT AT OLD SARUM, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Reader, if thou canst boast the noble name
Last Line: An individual's rights, how happy all!
Subject(s): England; History; Law & Lawyers; Legislation; Patriotism; English; Historians


READER, if thou canst boast the noble name
Of Englishman, it is enough to know
Thou standest in Old Sarum. But if chance
'Twas thy misfortune in some other land,
Inheritor of slavery, to be born,
Read and be envious! dost thou see yon hut,
Its old mud mossy walls with many a patch
Spotted? know, foreigner! so wisely well
In England it is ordered, that the laws
Which bind the people, from themselves should spring;
Know that the dweller in that little hut,
That wretched hovel, to the senate sends
Two delegates. Think, foreigner, where such
An individual's rights, how happy all!





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