Classic Poem

Hail Friendship! whom th' Omnipotent design'd
To rule as pilot o'er the human mind;
Where virtue reigns, there this celestial tie
Strongly unites mankind mysteriously
In fellowship — the only sacred base
For man to build his future happiness.
O Thou, who first in heaven did condescend
To save mankind from the infernal fiend,
Inspire my muse fair virtue to befriend.

Tho' Friendship sprung whence ev'ry blessing springs,
From Him who reigns on high, the king of kings,
Yet Adam's brood, for ever prone to ill,
Few of his race her sacred paths fulfill:
So very few, that one may think them rise,
When you find out three real friends in life.
Physicians may prescribe a regimen,
To cure the lungs, or the disorder'd brain,
But no receipt can cure the human heart
Like a true friend, to whom we may impart
Our griefs, our joys, our loves, our hopes and cares,
Their counsel in suspicion, and our fears,
For well or woe reciprocally blend;
'Tis this alone that constitutes a Friend .
For neither man nor angel can discern
Hypocrisy, their danger for to warn.
But heaven, in time's for ever rapid flight,
Brings friends and foes to friendship sure to light:
Brutus to Caesar friendship did pretend,
Yet, Judas like, betray'd his dearest friend.
Great Wolsey gain'd his royal master's ear,
No subject yet more friendship did acquire;
He had of honours such a weighty load,
Caus'd him betray his king and heavenly God.
Great was his fall, and wretched was his end,
To make his grave he hardly had a friend.
Bold Bacchus' sons to friendship oft pretend,
When in their cups lewd blust'ring oaths they vend;
But when sobriety clears up the mind,
Their promises all vanish into wind;
As water fails you, ne'er to rise again,
But sinks you like the shipwreck'd in the main.
O Friendship! sure, where'er thou deign'st to roam,
If in the humble cote, or royal dome,
The sailor's steerage, or the soldier's tent,
Or with the humble shepherd on the bent,
These taste the sweets of social intercourse,
Familiar live, for better and for worse.
The understanding is for ever bright,
For harmony the soul keeps shining light.
There love keeps his sweet mansion in the breast,
There candour, truth, and mercy ever rest:
Contentment frames the mind for noble ends,
Their bounty to diffuse 'mongst foes and friends.
The sons of Neptune freely they disclose
Wise kings have chosen friends of mean degree,
And rais'd them ev'n above nobility.
Their very bosom secrets for to share,
To have their counsel wise in peace and war:
There's Wallace, Essex, Craggs, and worthy Pitt,
With wisdom, in their time, they rul'd a state;
But, like the Phaenix, such are rare to find,
So scarce, no price can buy a real Friend:
Yet none but what has gleam'd of thee a spark,
The Christian, Deist, Pagan, Jew and Turk.
France shines in council, Spain in secrecy,
Britannia, for her part, claims charity;
Dear interest rules the Dutch, and Swede so fierce,
(The bane of Friendship, which makes Friends so scarce:)
Ambition guides the Russ' to grasp the whole,
While filial Friendship weeps from pole to pole.
The courtier lakes thee, and the monarch crown'd,
Unless fair Virtue's in the heart enthron'd.
Thou never yet was found out in a crowd,
No more than when pent up in solitude:
The merchant wooes thee, when by int'rest bound,
Like unto brass, or tinkling cymbal's sound.
Friendship's of far more consequence, when true,
Than all that Asia boasts, or yet Peru,
The man who aids you, in distress when driven,
Is model of the Prince of Friends in heaven:
The treacherous friend the human race degrades,
He acts the prince of the infernal shades:
Their hardships, loves, their happiness and woes.
How boldly Jack in midst of danger steers,
To dry the father's and the mother's tears!
When he rescued two infants from the flames,
From ruin, fire and water, two extremes.
'Tis such as he alone's a friend in need,
Or ever can be call'd a friend indeed.
The fair sex ever unto friendship dear;
I'll instance one, a lovely Scottish fair,
Flora the faithful to the Chevalier:
Her royal charge she never would forego,
For all the gems or gold in Mexico:
To her his wants in distress he did vend,
And thirty thousand could not buy her friend.
When I travers'd the Andalusian plains,
Friendship I found amongst their nymphs and swains.
When hungry, of their lib'ral board I fed,
When naked, too, then neatly I was clad;
When I was sick, (few doctors are in Spain)
Matrons humane prescrib'd a regimen.
In every place you'll find the female sex,
The strangers wants supply, minute their woes inspects.
No honour binds relations, no, nor pelf,
Oft times we cannot trust our other self.
No faith can ever bind your only brother,
Nor yet your father, sister, nor your mother
They may caress you, when they're bound with gold,
If laking that, they're to your welfare cold.
But a true friend can all our wants Supply,
Our bosom-secrets just to rectify.
Like melancholy there is no disease,
She turns to madness, if there comes no ease.
But a kind friend with candour grief destroys,
Wild rancour kills, and raises up our joys;
Even books and music never can condole
Like the sweet balmy council of a friendly soul.
To one in love we only can be true,
Friendship ne'er does extend but to a few .
Particular friendship — universal love,
However noways inconsistent prove.
None but a soul as such can e'er dispense,
That branch of happiness, Benevolence.
For instance, Joseph, though in want extreme,
To troubled Pharoah he resolv'd each dream.
This was a mean chalk'd out by Providence —
Joseph to fill the highest eminence;
As Egypt's Premier — Friend he was to all;
His hand was lib'ral as the flowing Nile.
And when pale famine did its waste extend,
His sov'reign held him as his dearest friend:
When dearth had reach'd to Abrah'm's chosen race,
His cruel breth'ren now must sue for grace
From him — their brother, whom they sold a slave,
Whom Jacob thought in an untimely grave.
No friend to friendship but must drop a tear,
To view the friend in heavenly lustre here:
From his celestial breast his wrongs had fled
To dark oblivion's ever silent shade.
He said — " My loving brothers do not grieve,
" I am your Joseph — Does my father live?
" It was not you that sent, but God he sends
" Me to support where famine now extends,
" In Egypt's land, and you my nearest friends.
The bane of poignant woe now gilds my theme,
When its in mem'ry of great Howard's name.
Howard the good, the virtuous and the just,
Who when on earth fulfill'd his maker's trust:
His glory was to spend his precious time:
To cure the wretched's ills in every clime:
Far from this isle his bounteous friendship's flown,
Even in the torrid and the frigid zone.
England rejoice, your fame it far extends,
In giving birth to Howard, chief of friends.
Who now must rear up Howard's friendly tale?
O yes, there's one, and that is worthy Dale.
These are the souls the human race adorn.
Who feed the poor, dejected, and forlorn.
Dale's gen'rous breast with sacred ardor glows,
Disinterested all his friendship flows.
On Scotia's sons, who needs must emigrate,
To please the vile ambition of the great;
Thus driven they were to languish on the deep,
Where storms might wrap them in eternal sleep;
Like felons they were doom'd to be exil'd,
For to be butcher'd in some Indian wild.
His friendly balm he pour'd on their distress,
And shields them with his care in happiness:
He bids them worship God their Saviour sing,
And serve their country and their royal king.
He amply is rewarded with amends,
When thus they worship God the king of friends.
If fickle fate should ever waft me o'er
On Patagonia or St Kilda's shore:
If boist'rous billows sweep me off the deck,
And heave me floating on a piece of wreck,
I'll put my trust in God's all-aiding hand,
Who shields at sea the same as on the land.
And when high Heaven shall call me to my end,
In Christ, I hope, I'll find a never-failing Friend .