5 Why is't so difficult to see Two bodies and one mind? And why are those who else agree So difficultly kind? Hath Nature such fantastic art, That she can vary every heart? 6 Why are the bands of friendship tied With so remiss a knot, That by the most it is defied, And by the most forgot? Why do we step with so light sense From friendship to indifference? 7 If friendship sympathy impart, Why this ill-shuffled game, That heart can never meet with heart, Or flame encounter flame? What does this cruelty create? Is't the intrigue of love or fate? 8 Had friendship ne'er been known to men, (The ghost at last confessed) The world had then a stranger been To all that heaven possessed. But could it all be here acquired, Not heaven itself would be desired. A FRIEND. 1 Love, nature's plot, this great creation's soul, The being and the harmony of things, Doth still preserve and propagate the whole, From whence man's happiness and safety springs: The earliest, whitest, blessed'st times did draw From her alone their universal law. 2 Friendship's an abstract of this noble flame, 'Tis love refined and purged from all its dross, The next to angels' love, if not the same, As strong in passion is, though not so gross: It antedates a glad eternity, And is an heaven in epitome. * * * * * 3 Essential honour must be in a friend, Not such as every breath fans to and fro; But born within, is its own judge and end, And dares not sin though sure that none should know. Where friendship's spoke, honesty's understood; For none can be a friend that is not good. * * * * * 4 Thick waters show no images of things; Friends are each other's mirrors, and should be Clearer than crystal or the mountain springs, And free from clouds, design, or flattery. For vulgar souls no part of friendship share; Poets and friends are born to what they are. MARGARET, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE.