ADDRESS
TO
FRIENDSHIP
.
Friendship
!
thou
noblest
ardor
of
the
soul
!
Immortal
essence
!
languor's
best
support
!
Chief
dignifying
proof
of
glorious
man
!
Firm
cement
of
the
world
!
endearing
tie
,
Which
binds
the
willing
soul
,
and
brings
along
Her
chastest
,
strongest
,
and
sublimest
powers
!
All
else
the
dregs
of
spirit
.
Love's
soft
flame
,
Bewildering
,
leads
th'infatuated
soul
;
Levels
,
depresses
,
wraps
in
endless
mists
,
Contracts
,
dissolves
,
enervates
and
enslaves
,
Relaxes
,
sinks
,
distracts
,
while
Fancy
fills
Th'inflaming
draught
,
and
aids
the
calenture
.
Intoxicating
charm
!
yet
well
refin'd
By
Virtue's
brightening
flame
,
pure
it
ascends
,
As
incense
in
its
grateful
circles
mounts
,
Till
,
mixt
and
lost
,
with
Thee
it
boasts
thy
name
.
Thou
unfound
blessing
!
woo'd
with
eager
hope
,
As
clowns
the
nightly
vapour
swift
pursue
,
And
fain
wou'd
grasp
to
cheer
their
lonely
way
;
Vain
the
wide
stretch
,
and
vain
the
shorten'd
breath
,
For
,
ah
!
the
bright
delusion
onward
flies
,
While
the
sad
swain
deceiv'd
,
now
cautious
treads
The
common
beaten
track
,
nor
quits
it
more
.
Not
unexisting
art
thou
,
but
so
rare
,
That
delving
souls
ne'er
find
thee
;
'tis
to
thee
,
When
found
,
if
ever
found
,
sweet
fugitive
,
The
noble
mind
opes
all
her
richest
stores
;
Thy
firm
,
strong
hold
suits
the
courageous
breast
,
Where
stubborn
virtues
dwell
in
secret
league
,
And
each
conspires
to
fortify
the
rest
.
Etherial
spirits
alone
may
hope
to
prove
Thy
strong
,
yet
soften'd
rapture
;
soften'd
more
When
penitence
succeeds
to
injury
;
When
,
doubting
pardon
,
the
meek
,
pleading
eye
On
which
the
soul
had
once
with
pleasure
dwelt
,
Swims
in
the
tear
of
sorrow
and
repentance
.
The
faultless
mind
with
treble
pity
views
The
tarnish'd
friend
,
who
feels
the
sting
of
shame
;
'Tis
then
too
little
barely
to
forgive
;
Nor
can
the
soul
rest
on
that
frigid
thought
,
But
rushing
swiftly
from
her
Stoic
heights
,
With
all
her
frozen
feelings
melted
down
By
Pity's
genial
beams
,
she
sinks
,
distrest
,
Shares
the
contagion
,
and
with
lenient
hand
Lifts
the
warm
chalice
fill'd
with
consolation
.
Yet
Friendship's
name
oft
decks
the
crafty
lip
,
With
seeming
virtue
clothes
the
ruthless
soul
;
Grief-soothing
notes
,
well
feign'd
to
look
like
Truth
,
Like
an
insidious
serpent
softly
creep
To
the
poor
,
guileless
,
unsuspecting
heart
,
Wind
round
in
wily
folds
,
and
sinking
deep
Explore
her
sacred
treasures
,
basely
heave
Her
hoard
of
woes
to
an
unpitying
world
;
First
sooths
,
ensnares
,
exposes
,
and
betrays
.
What
art
thou
,
fiend
,
who
thus
usurp'st
the
form
Of
the
soft
Cherub
?
Tell
me
,
by
what
name
The
ostentatious
call
thee
,
thou
who
wreck'st
The
gloomy
peace
of
sorrow-loving
souls
?
Why
thou
art
Vanity
,
ungenerous
sprite
,
Who
tarnishest
the
action
deem'd
so
great
,
And
of
soul-saving
essence
.
But
for
thee
,
How
pure
,
how
bright
wou'd
Theron's
virtues
shine
;
And
,
but
that
Thou
art
incorp'rate
with
the
flame
,
Which
else
wou'd
bless
where'er
its
beams
illume
,
My
grateful
spirit
had
recorded
here
Thy
splendid
seemings
.
Long
I've
known
their
worth
.
O
,
'tis
the
deepest
error
man
can
prove
,
To
fancy
joys
disinterested
can
live
,
Indissoluble
,
pure
,
unmix'd
with
self
;
Why
,
'twere
to
be
immortal
,
'twere
to
own
No
part
but
spirit
in
this
chilling
gloom
.
My
soul's
ambitious
,
and
its
utmost
stretch
Wou'd
be
,
to
own
a
friend
—
but
that's
deny'd
.
Now
,
at
this
bold
avowal
,
gaze
,
ye
eyes
,
Which
kindly
melted
at
my
woe-fraught
tale
;
Start
back
,
Benevolence
,
and
shun
the
charge
;
Soft
bending
Pity
,
fly
the
sullen
phrase
,
Ungrateful
as
it
seems
.
My
abject
fate
Excites
the
willing
hand
of
Charity
,
The
momentary
sigh
,
the
pitying
tear
,
And
instantaneous
act
of
bounty
bland
,
To
Misery
so
kind
;
yet
not
to
you
,
Bounty
,
or
Charity
,
or
Mercy
mild
,
The
pensive
thought
applies
fair
friendship's
name
;
That
name
which
never
yet
cou'd
dare
exist
But
in
equality
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