The rights of man: first published in the year 1783.

Table of contents

- [colophon]

The RIGHTS of MAN, FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1783,

BY T. SPENCE.

Tune, "The Babes in the Wood."

ALL you who wonder at the Times

That they so hard do grow,

Come hither, listen unto me,

And you the Cause shall know.

O Muses, your Assistance lend,

While such Things I rehearse,

As neither Goose nor Eagle's Wing

E'er wrote in Prose or Verse.

Man nothing less than Lord was made,

For nothing less was meant;

That all Things else he should subdue

He to the World was sent.

But not content with this large Sway

Their Brethren Men subdue;

And all the Godlike Race is made

Subservient to a Few.

O Earth and Heaven and all therein

Your Wonder high express,

That rational Beings like dumb Brutes,

Ought earthly should depress!

Yet so it is that worse than they,

Nought nat'ral they can claim,

Nor Hip, nor Haw, nor Nut, nor Sloe,

Nor ought that you can name.

If Grass or Nettles they could eat

The same would be deny'd;

For my Lord's Land and Herbage reach

Close to the Highway Side.

'A Hare or Partridge they may dress,

They're Nature's common gift;'

My Lord's Ground fed them, why should he

Of his RIGHTS be bereft?

'To fish then you will them allow;

The River's not my Lord's.'

Do not mistake, the Water's his,

And all that it affords.

To fish or hunt they have no Right,

Since they no Land can claim;

Whatever lives be it great or small,

The Land supports the same.

So they must work to other Men

Whether they will or no;

For idle up and down the World

No Landless Men must go.

For why, in Truth, they cannot live

On Air or the Highway;

Tresspass they must then on the Grass,

If suffer'd thus to stray.

And yet no Laws are made that so,

The Rich them Work may give;

But when they've serv'd their Turn on them

They care not how they live.

So worse than Horse or Oxen thus

Is their unhappy Lot;

For Horse and Oxen they maintain,

Whether they work or not.

Their Wages too by Law they stint,

As Men, their Labour too,

Should have no Right, as best they can,

To sell to that Vile Crew.

But not so with their ill got Lands

Do they themselves confine,

As much as they can get's the Rule

By which they let the same.

Like Tygers lurking for their Prey

So on the Watch they keep,

Lest Tenants they by any Means

Their Labours' Fruits should reap.

If only Sixpence more they think

The Tenant he can pay,

As soon as e'er his Lease is out

The same on him they lay.

Like hungry Hawks the Farmers then

Are forc'd with Hearts full sore,

The Poor at Market hard to gripe,

To stop the Landlord's Roar.

If backwards in their Rents they run

Indulgence they find small,

Their Lord does like a rav'ning Wolf,

On Goods and Cattle fall.

The Landlords what they thus have reav'd

In other Lands do spend;

And while we've Landlords Things will worse,

But never once will mend.

O! there's a Land, as I hear say,

Where Landlords none there be!

O! Heavens! might I that happy Land

Before I die but see.

The Rents throughout that happy State

Each Parish deals so fair,

That every Housholder therein

Does get an EQUAL SHARE.[*]

Of equal Shares of Land or Goods

They never once do dream;

But in each Parish, part the Rents:

Which better far they deem.

As all the World belongs to all,

So does a Land to those

That dwell therein, the Likeness then

Down to a Parish goes.

So by this simple RULE OF RIGHT,

All Things in Order move,

In Church and State 'mongst Rich and Poor

All's Harmony and Love.

For as the Poor their nat'ral Rights,

And Lordships thus enjoy,

The Rich unenvy'd live in Peace,

None wish them to annoy.

Then Lord have Mercy on all Lands,

This happy Change soon bring,

That, Brethren-like, Men may divide

Their Rents, and gladly sing.

So if by Sickness or Mischance

To Poverty some wane,

Their Dividend of Rents will come

To set them up again.

Ye Priests and Lawyers, who Men's RIGHTS

Gloss o'er deceitfully,

Our Common Claim to Rents will stand

'Gainst all your Sophistry.

Notes

*
The Meaning of this is, That after the whole Amount of the Rents are collected in a Parish from every Person, according to the full Value of the Premises which they occupy, so much per Pound, according to Act of Parliament, ought to be set apart for Support of the State instead of all Taxes; that another Sum should next be deducted for Support of the Parish Establishment, instead of Tolls, Tythes, Rates, Cesses, &c. &c. &c. after which the Remainder belongs equally to all the settled Inhabitants, whether Rich or Poor, and ought to be divided equally among them.
↵

Printed for T. SPENCE, Bookseller, No. 8, Little Turnstile, Holborn.

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Title statement

The rights of man: first published in the year 1783.

Spence, Thomas, 1750-1814.

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University of Oxford Text Archive
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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4129

ID [isbn10]

1106011287

ID [isbn13]

9781106011282

ID [TCP]

K042986.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3314383224

ID [ECLL]

0652902100

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Source

— The rights of man: first published in the year 1783., Spence, Thomas, 1750-1814.. 1 sheet ; 1/8⁰. [London] :: printed for T. Spence,. [1793]. [Slip song: "All you who wonder at the times".] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT45086.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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