quote · Legacy record
But there is yet a liberty, unsung By poets, and by senators unpraised, Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the powers Of earth and hell confederate, take away; A liberty which persecution, fraud, Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind; Which whoso tastes can be enslaved no more. ’Tis liberty of heart, derived from Heaven, Bought with His blood, who gave it to mankind, And sealed with the same token.
But there is yet a liberty, unsung By poets, and by senators unpraised, Which monarchs cannot grant, nor all the powers Of earth and hell confederate, take away; A liberty which persecution, fraud, Oppression, prisons, have no power to bind; Which whoso tastes can be enslaved no more. ’Tis liberty of heart, derived from Heaven, Bought with His blood, who gave it to mankind, And sealed with the same token.
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Cowper
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1731–1800)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 354 · printed citation: Cowper · subject: LIBERTY
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.