Aw'd by the scene—in melancholy mood And dumb despair, they view the closing flood; The smooth impression they dejected eye— For, yet, soft feeling prompts the pitying sigh. As yet, the tender tear of sorrow's shed; As yet some languid honours grace the dead. But soon, in selfish agony anneal'd, Cas'd by hard woe, by fiery suffering steel'd, Reckless, they'll listen to the screaming smart, The straining groan that rends th' associate heart. Soon, shroudless bodies, in unseemly sort, Thrown, frequent, through the blood-polluted port, Will whiten ocean—and, unburied, threat The pale survivors with a kindred fate! O ye, whose patriot wisdom still pervades, A nation's councils, and her vigour aids, Whose ceaseless vigilance—whose guardian skill (Earnest to fence from the encroaching ill) Marks where decay the time-form'd fabric bends; Props the huge ruin; the rent work defends: Against misrule, corruption, wrong, provides; Bulwarks from evil, from disorder guides— Say, can ye turn from the impressive scene— From _Britain_, bleeding in her dearest vein? Can ye with negligence the ruin pass? Or through pale interest's distorting glass See the false statement, unreprov'd, enforce, That _annual murder_ is the _seaman's nurse_! O tear the specious veil, which Avarice throws Before the foul deformity of woes, The congregated ills, the wasteful toil, That bares our fleets, and widows half the isle. Break the dire system, whose audacious boast, Would lift Destruction to the hallow'd post Of injur'd Commerce; and, with blushless aim, Usurp the honours of her sacred name. END OF THE SECOND BOOK. ARGUMENT OF THE THIRD BOOK. —————————— _Benevolent example of the Quakers proposed.—The Middle Passage commences.—Night view of the slaves below.—Morning scene, when brought upon deck.—Time for messing arrives.—Some refuse sustenance, and perish.—Story of Abyeda.—Child-birth on the passage.—Address to the British ladies.—The slaves arrive in the colonies—are sold by scramble—are separated from their connexions, and landed.—Address to Divine Justice—efforts of mercy.—Mr. Fox.—Abolition of the slave trade anticipated—prophetic view of Africa after the abolition._ THE GUINEA VOYAGE. —————————— BOOK THE THIRD.