Sonnets, Sonnet IV

Now is the feudal vassalage destroy'd, By which the haughty Thane his subject train Held at his will, and in consinement strong Fetter'd the servile crew, and with stern reign Led them in in shackles like brute beasts along: No will they ever of their own enjoy'd, But bent implicitly to his controul. Now by degrees they find that Liberty Opens the narrow foldings of the soul, And they too dare to boast that they are free. No more with rapine they the fields infest, Or seek out Slaughter in her secret den; But by the laws of equal Justice blest, Humanely think, and feel that they are men.