1797 THOMAS DALE. MSs Poem on the Slavery of Sin by William Cowper Biographer & John Ruskin's Professor.

Charming little holographic verse and appended autograph of Rev. Thomas Dale [1797-1870], the first ever Professor of English, the editor of the Works of William Cowper, and Professor to John Ruskin. 

Thomas Dale was a minister of the Church of England in the Evangelical school of the Clapham Sect, William Wilberforce, etc., A man of some learning, while he was minister at St. Matthews [Denmark Hill], he was invited to fulfill the role of the first professor of English and English Literature at London University. This particular position had never existed at any other British University. 

At last, finding the London University entirely godless, he left and founded his own School at Camberwell, where a young John Ruskin attended. He also continued to serve as an able minister, published works of theology and philosophy, as well as an able volume of verse, from which this authorial holograph is taken.

It is from his poem Temptation from Lays of the Early Martyrs. 

"Cease, then! my heart is changeless still; - 
Though chains awhile my limbs control, 
Mine is the freedom of the soul, 
And mind th' unconquered will. 
Yes - thou art more a slave than I;
I can but bear a despot's yoke, 
Till death shall rend with welcome shock 
The spirit's earthly tie.
But, false one! then, when I am free,
Begins thine endless slavery!