Do what they may, they're sure you'll not offend
Men who have pledged their honours to your friend.
Those friends indeed, who start as in a race,
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May love the sport, and laugh at this disgrace;
They have in view the glory and the prize,
Nor heed the dirty steps by which they rise:
But we, their poor associates, lose the fame,
Though more than partners in the toil and shame.
Were this the whole, and did the time produce