WHAT virtue or what mental grace
But men unqualified and base
Will boaft it their poffeffion?
Profufion apes the noble part
Of liberality of heart,
And dulnefs of discretion.
If every polished gem we find,
Illuminating heart or mind,
Provoke to imitation;
No wonder friendship does the same,
That jewel of the purest flame,
Or rather conftellation.
No knave but boldly will pretend
The requifites that form a friend,
A real and a found one,
Nor any fool he would deceive,
But prove as ready to believe,
And dream that he had found one.
Candid and generous and just,
Boys care but little whom they trust,
An error foon corrected—
For who but learns in riper years,
That man, when smoothest he appears,
Is moft to be fufpected?
But here again a danger lies,
Left, having misapplied our eyes
And taken trash for treasure,
We should unwarily conclude
Friendship a false ideal good,
A mere Utopian pleasure.
An acquifition rather rare
Is yet no fubject of despair;
Nor is it wife complaining,
If either on forbidden ground,
Or where it was not to be found,
We fought without attaining.
No friendship will abide the teft,
That ftands on fordid intereft,
Or mean felf-love erected;
Nor such as may awhile fubfift
Between the fot and fenfualist,
For vicious ends connected.
Who feek a friend, fhould come disposed To exhibit in full bloom disclosed
The graces and the beauties, That form the character he seeks, For 'tis an union, that bespeaks Reciprocated duties.
Mutual attention is implied,
And equal truth on either fide,
And conftantly supported;
'Tis fenfelefs arrogance to accuse
Another of finifter views,
Our own as much diftorted.
But will fincerity suffice?
It is indeed above all price,
And must be made the basis;
But every virtue of the foul
Muft conftitute the charming whole,
All fhining in their places.
A fretful temper will divide
The closest knot, that may be tied,
By ceaseless sharp corrosion;
A temper paffionate and fierce
May fuddenly your joy difperfe
At one immense explosion.
In vain the talkative unite
In hopes of permanent delight—
The fecret juft committed
Forgetting its important weight,
They drop through mere defire to prate,
And by themselves outwitted.
How bright foe'er the profpect feems,
All thoughts of friendship are but dreams
If envy chance to creep in;
An envious man, if you fucceed,
May prove a dangerous foe indeed,
But not a friend worth keeping.
As envy pines at good poffeffed
So jealousy looks forth diftreffed
On good, that feems approaching,
And if fuccefs His fteps attend,
Difcerns a rival in a friend,
And hates him for encroaching.
Hence authors of illuftrious name,
Unless belied by common fame,
Are fadly prone to quarrel,
To deem the wit a friend displays
A tax upon their own just praise,
And pluck each others laurel.
A man renowned for repartee
Will feldom fcruple to make free
With friendship's finest feeling,
Will thruft a dagger at your breast,
And say he wounded you in jest,
By way of balm for healing.
Whoever keeps an open ear
For tattlers, will be sure to hear
The trumpet of contention;
Afperfion is the babbler's trade,
To liften is to lend him aid,
And rush into diffenfion.
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