Griggs and Gregorians here their meetings hold, Convivial sects, and Bucks alert and bold: 350 A kind of Masons, but without their sign; The bonds of union--pleasure, song, and wine. Man, a gregarious creature, loves to fly Where he the trackings of the herd can spy; Still to be one with many he desires, Although it leads him through the thorns and briers. A few--but few--there are, who in the mind Perpetual source of consolation find; The weaker many to the world will come, For comforts seldom to be found from home. 360 When the faint hands no more a brimmer hold; } When flannel-wreaths the useless limbs infold, } The breath impeded, and the bosom cold; } When half the pillow'd man the palsy chains, And the blood falters in the bloated veins-- Then, as our friends no further aid supply Than hope's cold phrase and courtesy's soft sigh, We should that comfort for ourselves ensure, Which friends could not, if we could friends procure. Early in life, when we can laugh aloud, 370 There's something pleasant in a social crowd, Who laugh with us--but will such joy remain, When we lie struggling on the bed of pain? When our physician tells us with a sigh, No more on hope and science to rely, Life's staff is useless then; with labouring breath We pray for hope divine--the staff of death. This is a scene which few companions grace, And where the heart's first favourites yield their place. Here all the aid of man to man must end, 380 Here mounts the soul to her eternal Friend; The tenderest love must here its tie resign, And give th' aspiring heart to love divine. Men feel their weakness, and to numbers run, Themselves to strengthen, or themselves to shun; But though to this our weakness may be prone, Let's learn to live, for we must die, alone. LETTER XI. _INNS._ All the comforts of life in a tavern are known, 'Tis his home who possesses not one of his own; And to him who has rather too much of that one, 'Tis the house of a friend where he's welcome to run: The instant you enter my door you're my lord, With whose taste and whose pleasure I'm proud to accord; And the louder you call and the longer you stay, The more I am happy to serve and obey.