by the Author of "Rural Sonnets," "Sunlight and Moonlight on the Waters," &c.
Originally published in Hood's Magazine (Henry Hurst) vol.5 #4 (Apr 1846).
O Britain! O my Country! stay the pest,
The Epidemic canker-lust of gain,
Which threatens all things, sacred and profane,
And eats man's heart away within his breast.
It stalks thy soil, with leprous front and mien,
And, its worst omen, shrinks not to be seen.
It is this spotted plague which—grasping all
For Mammon and his wealth-besotted crew—
Would hasten, Britain! thy decline and fall,
And slay thee as Rome's empire erst it slew.
"Live and let live," in characters of light,
Stamp on. thy laws, to check the slaves of gold,
By whom their fellow-men are bought and sold,
Unless the weaker find in thee their arm of might.
Now, hear me, for the weakest of the weak,
Their Masters' and their Parents' double thrall!
For Parents brutaliz'd by want will seek
Toil's meagrest fruits, whatever else befal,
And, in their offspring's premature decay,
Reckless will share, because, alas! 'TWILL PAY.
But theirs the fault who, brutaliz'd by gain,
Clutch it, unmov'd, thro' suff'ring and disease;
These are the hard Taskmasters to restrain,
Whole populations' dead'ners,—stunters,—these!
Who, by "all work," would make "no play" a fact,
And to one half the age of man contract,
As from the young they banish youth away,
By tasks, each day, too long for labour of a day.
O gentlemen of England! test the right—
By your hearths' fires you may, and prove the wrong—
Call your own bright-eyed children to your sight,
They are well-limb'd, well-nurtur'd, fresh, and strong;
Let your fair girls their brothers' summons share,
(Both sexes of the poor, now, claim your care.)
Say, would you, for your lives, your sturdier young
Should toil like yonder striplings, stiv'd, immur'd,
But the two hours, from want and weakness wrung,
Beyond "the[] day" to other crafts secur'd!
If not, then, doubt no more—no longer pause—
Treat the false Theorists with stern contempt,
And, by humanely wise, adjustive laws,
From labour in excess, the Factory-young exempt.
Inner Temple, January, 1846.
1. Of twelve hours, meal-times included.