The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose Now First Collected with a Prefatory Memoir by his Nephews W. E. and Sir Bartle Frere |
 | I. |
 | II. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose |  |
XXXII.
Let no persuasive art tempt you to place
Your confidence in crafty minds and base!
How can it answer? Will their help avail
When danger presses, and your foes assail?
The blessing which the gods in bounty send,
Will they consent to share it with a friend?
Your confidence in crafty minds and base!
How can it answer? Will their help avail
When danger presses, and your foes assail?
The blessing which the gods in bounty send,
Will they consent to share it with a friend?
No! To bestrew the waves with scatter'd grain,
To cultivate the surface of the main,
Is not a task more absolutely vain,
Than cultivating such allies as these,
Fickle and unproductive as the seas!
To cultivate the surface of the main,
Is not a task more absolutely vain,
Than cultivating such allies as these,
Fickle and unproductive as the seas!
346
Such are all baser minds; never at rest,
With new demands importunately press'd—
A new pretension or a new request;
Till, foil'd with a refusal of the last,
They disavow their obligations past.
With new demands importunately press'd—
A new pretension or a new request;
Till, foil'd with a refusal of the last,
They disavow their obligations past.
But brave and gallant hearts are cheaply gain'd—
Faithful adherents, easily retain'd;
Men that will never disavow the debt
Of gratitude, or cancel or forget.
Faithful adherents, easily retain'd;
Men that will never disavow the debt
Of gratitude, or cancel or forget.
| The Works of John Hookham Frere In Verse and Prose | |