Where Power secures what Industry has won ;
Where to succeed is not to be undone;
A land that distant tyrants hate in vain,
In Britain's isle, beneath a George's reign!
"Amicitia nisi inter bonos esse non potest."
WHAT virtue can we name, or grace,
But men unqualified and base
Will boast it their possession?
Profusion apes the noble part
Of liberality of heart,
And dulness, of discretion.
But as the gem of richest cost
Is ever counterfeited most,
So, always, imitation
Employs the utmost skill she can
To counterfeit the faithful man,
The friend of long duration.
Some will pronounce me too severe,
But long experience speaks me clear;
Therefore, that censure scorning,
I will proceed to mark the shelves
On which so many dash themselves,
And give the simple warning.
Youth, unadmonish'd by a guide,
Will trust to any fair outside,-
An error soon corrected;
For who but learns, with riper years,
That when smoothest he appears,
But here again a danger lies,
Lest, thus deluded by our eyes,
And taking trash for treasure,
We should, when undeceived, conclude
Friendship imaginary good,
A mere Utopian pleasure.
An acquisition rather rare
Is yet no subject of despair;
Nor should it seem distressful,
If, either on forbidden ground,
Or where it was not to be found,
We sought it unsuccessful.
No friendship will abide the test
That stands on sordid interest
And mean self-love erected; Nor such as may awhile subsist "Twixt sensualist and sensualist,
For vicious ends connected.
Who hopes a friend, should have a heart Himself, well-furnish'd for the part,
And ready on occasion
To show the virtue that he seeks ;
For 'tis an union that bespeaks
A just reciprocation.
A fretful temper will divide
The closest knot that may be tied,
By ceaseless sharp corrosion:
A temper passionate and fierce
May suddenly your joys disperse
At one immense explosion.
In vain the talkative unite
With hope of permanent delight;
The secret just committed
They drop, through mere desire to prate,
Forgetting its important weight,
And by themselves outwitted.
How bright soe'er the prospect seems,
All thoughts of friendship are but dreams,
If envy chance to creep in;
An envious man, if you succeed,
May prove a dangerous foe indeed,
But not a friend worth keeping.
As envy pines at good possess'd,
So jealousy looks forth distress'd,
On good that seems approaching;
And, if success his steps attend,
Discerns a rival in a friend,
And hates him for encroaching.
Hence authors of illustrious name
(Unless belied by common fame)
Are sadly prone to quarrel;
To deem the wit a friend displays
So much of loss to their own praise,
And pluck each other's laurel.
A man renown'd for repartee
Will seldom scruple to make free
With friendship's finest feeling;
Will thrust a dagger at your breast,
And tell you 'twas a special jest,
By way of balm for healing.
Beware of tattlers; keep your ear
Close stopp'd against the tales they bear,—
Fruits of their own invention;
The separation of chief friends
Is what their kindness most intends;
Their sport is your dissension.
Friendship that wantonly admits
A joco-serious play of wits
In brilliant altercation,
Is union such as indicates,
Like Hand-in-Hand insurance plates,
Danger of conflagration.
Some fickle creatures boast a soul
True as a needle to the pole;
Yet shifting, like the weather,
The needle's constancy forego
For any novelty, and show
Its variations rather.
Insensibility makes some
Unseasonably deaf and dumb,
When most you need their pity;
'Tis waiting till the tears shall fall
From Gog and Magog in Guildhall,—
Those playthings of the City.
The great and small but rarely meet
On terms of amity complete :
The attempt would scarce be madder,
Should any, from the bottom, hope
At one huge stride to reach the top
Of an erected ladder.
Courtier and patriot cannot mix
Their heterogeneous politics,
Without an effervescence,
Such as of salts with lemon-juice,
But which is rarely known to induce,
Like that, a coalescence.
Religion should extinguish strife,
And make a calm of human life:
But even those who differ
Only on topics left at large,
How fiercely will they meet and charge!
No combatants are stiffer.
To prove, alas! my main intent,
Needs no great cost of argument,
No cutting and contriving;
Seeking a real friend, we seem
To adopt the chymist's golden dream,
With still less hope of thriving.
Then judge, or ere you choose your man, As circumspectly as you can,
And, having made election, See that no disrespect of yours, Such as a friend but ill endures,
Enfeeble his affection.
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