Verse sweetens toil, however rude the sound; She feels no biting pang the while she sings; Nor, as she turns the giddy wheel around,2 Revolves the sad vicissitudes of things.3
Note 1. Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute vises, Epicuri de grege porcum (You may see me, fat and shining, with well-cared for hide, a hog from Epicurus herd).Horace: Epistolæ, lib. i. iv. 15, 16. [back]
Note 2. Thus altered by Johnson, All at her work the village maiden sings, Nor, while she turns the giddy wheel around. [back]
Note 4. This line appears in the Flowers of the Forest, part second, a later poem by Mrs. Cockburn. See Dyces Specimens of British Poetesses, p. 374. [back]