6 It boots not, that together bred, 7. And when we bid adieu to youth, We sigh a long farewell to truth; 8. Ah, joyous season! when the mind 9. Not so in Man's maturer years, When interest sways our hopes and fears, VOL. V. N 10. With fools in kindred vice the same, We learn at length our faults to blend, And those, and those alone, may claim The prostituted name of friend. 11. Such is the common lot of man: 12. No, for myself, so dark my fate Through every turn of life hath been; Man and the world I so much hate, I care not when I quit the scene. 13. But thou, with spirit frail and light, 14. Alas! whenever folly calls Where parasites and princes meet, (For cherish'd first in royal halls, The welcome vices kindly greet) 15. Ev'n now thou 'rt nightly seen to add 16. There dost thou glide from fair to fair, That taint the flowers they scarcely taste. 17. But say, what nymph will prize the flame Which seems, as marshy vapours move, To flit along from dame to dame, 18. What friend for thee, howe'er inclined, Will deign to own a kindred care? Who will debase his manly mind, For friendship every fool may share? 19. In time forbear; amidst the throng Be something, any thing, but-mean. TO * 1. WELL! thou art happy, and I feel 2. Thy husband's blest-and 'twill impart 3. When late I saw thy favourite child, 4. I kiss'd it, and repress'd my sighs And they were all to love and me. 5. Mary, adieu! I must away: While thou art blest I'll not repine; But near thee I can never stay; My heart would soon again be thine. |