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. It is not timber, lead, and stone, To finish a great building; As similarity of mind, Or something not to be defined, The man who hails you Tom or Jack, Is such a friend, that one had need Be very much his friend indeed, To pardon or to bear it. Some friends make this their prudent plan 66 "Say little, and hear all you can ;" Safe policy, but hateful: So barren sands imbibe the shower, Unpleasant and ungrateful. They whisper trivial things, and small; But, to communicate at all Things serious, deem improper; Their feculence and froth they show, But keep the best contents below, Just like a simmering copper. These samples (for, alas! at last Pursue the theme, and you shall find True friendship has, in short, a grace More than terrestrial in its face, That proves it Heaven-descended; Man's love of woman not so pure, Nor, when sincerest, so secure To last till life is ended. TO MRS. THROCKMORTON, ON HER BEAUTIFUL TRANSCRIPT OF HORACE'S ODE, "AD LIBRUM SUUM." [February, 1790.] MARIA, Could Horace have guess'd The honour which you have bestow'd,- So elegant, even, and neat, He had laugh'd at the critical sneer Which he seems to have trembled to meet. And sncer, if you please, he had said, A nymph shall hereafter arise Who shall give me, when you are all dead, Shall dignity give to my lay, Nothing ever was written so well. ON A MISCHIEVOUS BULL, WHICH THE OWNER OF HIM SOLD AT THE AUTHOR'S INSTANCE. Go-thou art all unfit to share The squirrel here his hoard provides, Of rugged oaks for worms. The sheep here smooths the knotted thorn With frictions of her fleece; And here I wander, eve and morn, Ah!-I could pity thee exiled But thou canst taste no calm delight; Thy magnanimity in fight, Thy prowess-therefore go I care not whether east or north; ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON. THE NIGHT OF THE SEVENTENTH OF MARCH, 1789. WHEN, long sequester'd from his throne, By right of worth, not blood alone, Then Loyalty, with all his lamps 'Twas hard to tell, of streets or squares, Bright shone the roofs, the domes, the spires, To hang their momentary fires Amid the vault of Heaven. So fire with water to compare, Had all the pageants of the world And all the banners been unfurl'd |