To shame a friend, or fear to meet a foe.
Meanness, in ribbons or in rags, I hate;
And have not learnt to flatter, even the great.
Few friends I ask, and those who love me well;
What more remains, these artless lines shall tell.
Of honest parents, not of great, I came;
Not known to fortune, quite unknown to fame,
Frugal and plain, at no man’s cost they eat,
Nor knew a baker’s or a butcher’s debt.
O be their precepts ever in my eye!