Some are so placid and serene
(As Irish bogs are always green)

They sleep secure from waking;
And are indeed a bog, that bears
Your unparticipated cares

Unmoved and without quaking.

Courtier and patriot cannot mix
Their heterogeneous politics
Without an effervescence,

Like that of salts with lemon juice,
Which does not yet like that produce
A friendly coalescence.

Religion should extinguish strife,
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

Needs no expense of

main intent

argument,

No cutting and contrivingSeeking a real friend, we seem To adopt the chymist'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

As similarity of mind,

Or something not to be defined,
First fixes our attention;

So manners decent and polite,
The same we practised at first sight,
Must save it from declension.

66

Some act upon this prudent plan,
Say little, and hear all you can."
Safe policy, but hateful-

So barren sands imbibe the shower,
But render neither fruit nor flower,
Unpleasant and ungrateful.

The man I trust, if shy to me,
Shall find me as reserved 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 crazed or blind,
Or seeking with a bias'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!

ON A MISCHIEVOUS BULL,

WHICH THE OWNER OF HIM SOLD AT THE AUTHOR'S

INSTANCE.

Go-thou art all unfit to share

The pleasures of this place With such as its old tenants are,

Creatures of gentler race.

The squirrel here his hoard provides,
Aware of wintry storms,

And woodpeckers explore the sides

Of rugged oaks for worms.

The sheep here smooths the knotted thorn

With frictions of her fleece;

And here I wander eve and morn,
Like her, a friend to peace.

Ah!-I could pity thee exiled
From this secure retreat-
I would not lose it to be styled
The happiest of the great.

But thou canst taste no calm delight;
Thy pleasure is to show

Thy magnanimity in fight,

Thy prowess therefore, go

I care not whether east or north,
So I no more may find thee;
The angry muse thus sings thee forth,
And claps the gate behind thee.