And taught me how favoured by fortune my lot,
To share that good fortune, I still was inclined,
And impart to who wanted, what I wanted not.
’Tis a maxim entitled to ev’ry one’s praise,
When a man feels distress, like a man to relieve him,
And my motto, tho’ simple, means more than it says,
“May we ne’er want a friend, or a bottle to give him.”
The heart by deceit or ingratitude rent,
Or by poverty bow’d, tho’ of evils the least,
The smiles of a friend may invite to content,