But other circumstances occurred to keep up a hatred of the trade among the
people in this interval, which, trivial as they were, ought not to be
forgotten. The amiable poet Cowper had frequently made the Slave-trade the
subject of his contemplation. He had already severely condemned it in his
valuable poem The Task. But now he had written three little fugitive pieces
upon it. Of these the most impressive was that, which he called The Negro's
Complaint, and of which the following is a copy:
"Forced from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn,
To increase a stranger's treasures,
O'er the raging billows borne;
Men from England bought and sold me,
Paid my price in paltry gold;
But, though theirs they have inroll'd me,
Minds are never to be sold.
"Still in thought as free as ever,
What are England's rights, I ask.
Me from my delights to sever,
Me to torture, me to task?
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit Nature's claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in black and white the same.
"Why did all-creating Nature
Make the plant, for which we toil?
Sighs must fan it, tears must water,
Sweat of ours must dress the soil.
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