And, though from dearest friends a man will hide
His private vices in his native pride,
Yet such our friendship from its early rise,
We no reserve admitted, no disguise;
But ’tis the story of my friend I tell, 610
And to all others let me bid farewell.
“Take each your glass, and you shall hear how John,
My old companion, through the world has gone;
I can describe him to the very life,
Him and his ways, his ventures, and his wife.”