’Twixt man and man has but the slightest shade; That reformation asks a world of pains, And, after all, must leave a thousand stains; And, worst of all, we must the work begin 350 By first attacking the prevailing sin!— These thoughts the feeble mind of John assail, And o’er his reason and his fears prevail; They fill his mind with hopes of gifts and grace, } Faith, feelings!—something that supplies the place } Of true conversion—this will he embrace; } For John perceives that he was scarcely tried By the first conquest, that increased his pride, When he refused his master’s crime to aid, And by his self-applause was amply paid. 360 But now he feels the difference—feels it hard Against his will and favourite wish to guard; He mourns his weakness, hopes he shall prevail Against his frailty, and yet still is frail. Such is his life! and such the life must be Of all who will be bound, yet would be free; Who would unite what God to part decrees— The offended conscience, and the mind at ease: Who think, but vainly think, to sin and pray, And God and Mammon in their turn obey. 370 Such is his life!—and so I would not live For all that wealthy widows have to give. TALE XVII. _DANVERS AND RAYNER._ I. The purest Friendship, like the finest ware, Deserves our praises, but demands our care. For admiration we the things produce, But they are not design’d for common use; Flaws the most trifling from their virtue take, And lamentation for their loss we make; While common Friendships, like the wares of clay, Are a cheap kind, but useful every day. Though crack’d and damaged, still we make them do; And, when they’re broken, they’re forgotten too. 10 There is within the world in which we dwell A Friendship, answering to that world full well: An interchange of looks and actions kind, And, in some sense, an intercourse of mind; A useful commerce, a convenient trade, By which both parties are the happier made; And, when the thing is rightly understood, And justly valued, it is wise and good. I speak not here of Friendships that excite In boys at school such wonder and delight— 20 Of high, heroic Friends, in serious strife Contending which should yield a forfeit life— Such wondrous love, in their maturer days, Men, if they credit, are content to praise. I speak not here of Friendships true and just, When friend can friend with life and honour trust; Where mind to mind has long familiar grown, And every failing, every virtue known. Of these I speak not—things so rich and rare, That we degrade with jewels to compare, 30 Or bullion pure and massy.—I intend To treat of one whose Neighbour called him Friend, Or called him Neighbour; and with reason good— The friendship rising from the neighbourhood: