Who there will court thy friendship, with what views, Lay fuch a stake upon the lofing fide, Thou can't not! Nature, pulling at thine heart, Nor fay, Go thither, conscious that there lay Then, only govern'd by the felf-fame rule And hop'st thou not ('tis ev'ry father's hope) That, fince thy strength must with thy years' elope, And thou wilt need fome comfort to affuage Health's laft farewell, a ftaff of thine old age, That then, in recompenfe of all thy cares, Thy child shall show refpect to thy gray hairs, Befriend thee, of all other friends bereft, And give thy life its only cordial left? Aware then how much danger intervenes, To compass that good end, forecast the means. His heart, now paffive, yields to thy command Secure it thine, its key is in thine hand. If thou desert thy charge, and throw it wide, Nor heed what guests there enter and abide, Complain not if attachments lewd and bafe Supplant thee in it, and ufurp thy place. But, if thou guard its facred chambers fure From vicious inmates and delights impure, Either his gratitude shall hold him fast, And keep him warm and filial to the laft; Or, if he prove unkind (as who can say Oh barb'rous! would't thou with a Gothic hand Pull down the fchools-what!-all the fchools i' th' land; Or throw them up to liv'ry-nags and grooms, A captious queftion, fir, (and your's is one) Would't thou, poffeffor of a flock, employ Merely to fleep, and let them run aftray? The public character its colour draws; J Thence the prevailing manners take their cast, And, though I would not advertise them yet, |