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To prove at last my main intent
Needs no expense of argument,
No cutting and contriving-
Seeking a real friend we seem
T'adopt the chemist's golden dream,
With still less hope of thriving.
Sometimes the fault is all our own,
Some blemish in due time made known
By trespass or omission;
Sometimes occasion brings to light
Our friend's defect long hid from sight,
And even from suspicion.

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.

That secrets are a sacred trust,
That friends should be sincere and just,
That constancy befits them,
Are observations on the case,
That savour much of common-place,
And all the world admits them.

But 'tis not timber, lead, and stone,
An architect requires alone,

To finish a fine building-
The palace were but half complete,

If he could possibly forget

The carving and the gilding.

The man that hails you Tom or Jack
And proves by thumps upon your back
How he esteems your merit,

Is such a friend, that one had need
Be very much his friend indeed,

To pardon or to bear it.

As similarity of mind,

Or something not to be defin'd.
First fixes our attention:
So manners decent and polite,
The same we practis'd at first sight,
Must save it from declension.

Some act upon this prudent plan,
"Say little, and hear all you can.'

Safe policy, but hateful

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So barren sands imbibe the show'r,
But render neither fruit nor flow'r
Unpleasant and ungrateful.

The man I trust, if shy to me,
Shall find me as reserv'd as he,
No subterfuge or pleading
Shall win my confidence again—
I will by no means entertain
A spy on my proceeding.
These samples-for alas! at last
These are but samples, and a taste
Of evils yet unmention'd-
May prove the task a task indeed,
In which 'tis much if we succeed,
However well intention'd.

Pursue the search, and you will find
Good sense and knowledge of mankind
To be at least expedient,
And, after summing all the rest,
Religion ruling in the breast

A principal ingredient.

The noblest Friendship ever shown
The Saviour's history makes known,
Though some have turn'd and turn'd it;
And whether being craz d or blind,
Or seeing with a biass'd mind,

Have not, it seems, discern'd it

O Friendship! if my soul forego

Thy dear delights while here below

To mortify and grieve me, May I myself at last appear Unworthy, base, and insincere, Or may my friend deceive me!

THE MORALIZER CORRECTED.

A TALE.

A HERMIT, (or if 'chance you hold
That title now too trite and old,)
A man, once young, who liv'd retir'd
As hermit could have well desir'd,
His hours of study clos'd at last,
And finsh'd his concise repast,
Stoppled his cruise, replac'd his book
Within his customary nook,

And, staff in hand, set forth to share
The sober cordial of sweet air,
Like Isaac, with a mind applied
To serious thought at ev`ning tide.
Autunnal rains had made it chill,
And from the trees that fring'd his nill,
Shades slanting at the close of day
Chill'd more his else delightful way,
Distant a little mile he spied
A western bank's still sunny side,
And right toward the favour'd place
Proceeding with his nimblest pace,
In hope to bask a little yet,

Just reach'd it when the sun was set

Your hermit, young and jovial sirs!
Learns something from whate'er occurs―
And hence, he said, my mind computes
The real worth of man's pursuits
His object chosen, wealth, or fame,
Or other sublunary game,
Imagination to his view

Presents it deck'd with ev'ry hue
That can seduce him not to spare
His pow'rs of best excrtion there,
But youth, health, vigour, to expend
On so desirable an end.

Ere long approach life's ev'ning shades,
The glow that fancy gave it fades;
And, earn'd too late, it wants the grace
That first engag'd him in the chase.

True, answer'd an angelick guide,
Attendant at the senior's side-
But whether all the time it cost,
To urge the fruitless chase be lost,
Must be decided by the worth

Of that which call'd his ardour forth.
Trifles pursu'd, whate'er th' event,
Must cause him shame or discontent:
A vicious object still is worse,
Successful there he wins a curse.
But he, whom e'en in life's last stage
Endeavours laudable engage,

Is paid, at least in peace of mind,
And sense of having well design'd;
And if, ere he attain his end,
His sun precipitate descend,
A brighter prize than that he meant
Shall recompense his mere intent.
No virtuous wish can bear a date
Either too early or too late

CATHARINA.

ADDRESSED TO MISS STAPLETON, (NOW MRS. COURTNEY.)

SHE came-she is gone-we have metAnd meet perhaps never again;

The sun of that moment is set,

And seems to have risen in vain Catharina has fled like a dream(So vanishes pleasure, alas!) But has left a regret and esteem, That will not so suddenly pass.

The last ev'ning ramble we made,
Catharina, Maria, and I,
Our progress was often delay'd

By the nightingale warbling nigh.

We paus'd under many a tree,

And much she was charm'd with a tone

Less sweet to Maria and me,

Who so lately had witness'd her own.

My numbers that day she had sung,
And gave them a grace so divine,
As only her musical tongue

Could infuse into numbers of mine.

The longer I heard, I esteem'd

The work of my fancy the more,

And e'er to myself never seem'd
So tuneful a poet before.

VOL. II.

17

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