In vain the talkative unite
In hopes of permanent delight-

The secret juft committed
Forgetting its important weight,
They drop through mere defire to prate,

And by themselves outwitted.

A man renowned for repartee
Will feldom scruple to make free

With friendship's fineft feeling,
Will thruft a dagger at your breaft,
And say he wounded you in jeft,

By way of balm for healing.

Some fickle creatures boast a soul
True as a needle to the pole,
• Their humour yet to various
They manifest their whole life through
The needle's deviations too,

Their love is fo precarious.

Courtier and patriot cannot mix
Their heterogeneous politics

Without an effervescence,
Like that of falts with lemon juice,
Which does not yet like that produce

A friendly coalescence.

Religion should extinguish ftrife,
And make a calm of human life;

But friends that chance to differ
On points, which God has left at large,
How freely will they meet and charge,

No combatants are stiffer !

To prove at last my main intent
Needs no expence of argument,

No cutting and contriving-
Seeking a real friend we seem
To adopt the chymifts golden dream,

With still less hope of thriving.

Then judge yourself, and prove your man As circumspectly as you can,

And having made election, Beware no negligence of yours, Such as a friend but ill endures,

Enfeeble his affection.