'Disturb me not (the girl replied) 'I choose to walk--let others ride: 'I would not leave yond' rugged hill 'To have your London at my will-- 'You are too great for such as I:--' When thus the briton made reply: 'Had I but thirty years to spare, 'And you precisely what you are, 'Had seen you thirty years ago 'In style of living, high or low, 'You should have been a lady gay, 'And dizzen'd out as fine as May: 'Why stay you here, to face the sun, 'And drudging till the day is done, 'While little to the purse it brings 'But little store of little things?' She said, 'before the sun was up 'I finish'd with my chocolate cup: 'A hank of yarn I fairly spun, 'And, when the hank of yarn was done, 'To have a fire, and cook our mess 'I travell'd yonder wilderness; 'I climb'd a mountain very tall, 'Unwearied, and without a fall, 'And gather'd up this little pack 'Which now you see me carrying back;-- 'Your northern girls at this might laugh, 'But such a jaunt would kill them half-- 'Disturb me not, I must go on; 'Ten minutes, while I talk, are gone.'-- If she grew rich by hanks of yarn, Is more than we shall ever learn; If thrive she did by climbing hills, No history or tradition tells; But this we know, and this we say, That where a despot holds the sway, To pay the tax of king and queen The common herd are poor and mean. The slaves of lords the slaves of priests, And nearly saddled, like the beasts.-- Where liberty erects her reign Dulcina would have had her swain, With horse and cow--which she had not, Nor ever to possess them thought: She would have had, to save her feet, A pair of shoes and suit complete. A decent dress, and not of rags, A state above the rank of hags; A language if not over fine, At least above the beggar's whine. Yet such attend on fortune's frowns, And such support the pride of crowns. [187] From the edition of 1815. ON GENERAL MIRANDA'S EXPEDITION Towards the Caraccas, Spanish Provinces in South America, February--1805[188] To execute a vast design, The soul, Miranda, was not thine: With you the fates did not combine To make an empire free. We saw you spread Leander's sail, We saw the adverse winds prevail, Sad omen that the cause would fail That led you to the sea. By feeble winds the sail was fill'd By feebler hands the helm was held-- We saw you from the port repell'd[A] You might have made your own. We saw you leave a manly crew To the base spaniard, to imbrue His hands in blood--and not a few Were on his mercy thrown: [A] Porto Cavallo, or Cabello, a seaport town of Terra Firma, in South America, on the coast of the Caraccas, and the Caribbean Sea; said to have been the first object of Miranda's expedition.--_Freneau's note._