But, should he supplicate your laws in vain,
To break, for ever, this disgraceful chain,
At least, let gentle usage so abate
The galling terrors of its passing state,
That he may share kind Heaven's all social plan;
For, though no Briton, Mungo is--a man.
I may now add, that few theatrical pieces had a greater run than the
_Padlock_; and that this epilogue, which was attached to it soon after
it came out, procured a good deal of feeling for the unfortunate
sufferers, whose cause it was intended to serve.
Another coadjutor, to whom these cruel and wicked practices gave birth,
was Thomas Day, the celebrated author of _Sandford and Merton_, and
whose virtues were well known among those who had the happiness of his
friendship. In the year 1773 he published a poem, which he wrote
expressly in behalf of the oppressed Africans. He gave it the name of
_The Dying Negro._ The preface to it was written in an able manner by
his friend Counsellor Bicknell, who is therefore to be ranked among the
coadjutors in this great cause. The poem was founded on a simple fact,
which had taken place a year or two before. A poor negro had been seized
in London, and forcibly put on board a ship, where he destroyed himself,
rather than return to the land of slavery.
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