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Rh distinction. Indeed, it is apparent that Phillis was far from being a democrat. She was far from being a democrat not only in her social ideas but also in her political ideas; unless a religious meaning is given to the closing lines of her ode to General Washington, she was a decided royalist:

Nevertheless, she was an ardent patriot. Her ode to General Washington (1775), her spirited poem, "On Major General Lee" (1776) and her poem, "Liberty and Peace," written in celebration of the close of the war, reveal not only strong patriotic feeling but an understanding of the issues at stake. In her poem, "On Major General Lee," she makes her hero reply thus to the taunts of the British commander into whose hands he has been delivered through treachery:

"O arrogance of tongue!

And wild ambition, ever prone to wrong!

Believ'st thou, chief, that armies such as thine

Can stretch in dust that heaven-defended line?

In vain allies may swarm from distant lands,

And demons aid in formidable bands,

Great as thou art, thou shun'st the field of fame,

Disgrace to Britain and the British name!

When offer'd combat by the noble foe,

(Foe to misrule) why did the sword forego

The easy conquest of the rebel-land?

Perhaps too easy for thy martial hand.

What various causes to. the field invite!

For plunder you, and we for freedom fight,

Her cause divine with generous ardor fires.

And every bosom glows as she inspires!

Already thousands of your troops have fled

To the drear mansions of the silent dead: