[Page 314]

THE LOVER AND THE FRIEND.

1 ENDUED with all that could adorn
2 Or bless thee, first and fairest born!
3 A soul! that looks superior down,
4 Let giddy Fortune smile or frown;
5 With Age's wisdom, not her years,
6 Stella, all excellence appears;
7 Then, who can blame me if I blend
8 The name of Lover with the Friend.
9 Like Noah's dove, my busy breast
10 Has rov'd to find a place of rest!
11 Some faithful bosom, to repose,
12 And hush the family of woes.
13 Then, do I dream? or have I found
14 The fair and hospitable ground?
15 Ah! quit your sex's rules, and lend
16 A Lover's wishes to the Friend.
17 Absence I try'd, but try'd in vain!
18 It heals not, but upbraids my pain;
19 For thee! I'd bear the reaper's toil;
20 For thee! consume the midnight oil;
21 Then, to your judgment wou'd I owe
22 All that I read, and write, and know.
[Page 315]
23 Can those who wish like me, pretend
24 To part the Lover and the Friend?
25 Come, then, and let us dare to prove
26 Disinterested sweets of Love;
27 For generous Love no dwelling finds
28 In poor and mercenary minds:
29 Laugh at Life's idle fiuttering things;
30 Look down with pity upon kings;
31 Careless! who like, or discommend,
32 Blest in the Lover and the Friend!
33 Oh! come, and we'll together haste
34 O'er Life's uncomfortable waste:
35 Bear the sharp thorn, to find the rose,
36 And smile at transitory woes:
37 Keep the bright goal of Hope in view,
38 Nor look behind, as others do;
39 'Till death, and only death shall end
40 At once the Lover and the Friend.

Text

  • TEI/XML [chunk] (XML - 78K / ZIP - 8.3K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 1.4K / ZIP - 1.0K)

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 1.4M)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): THE LOVER AND THE FRIEND.
Themes: love; friendship
Genres:
References: DMI 32536

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. II. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 314-315. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1135; OTA K093079.002) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)

Editorial principles

The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Andrew Hervey Mills