ide:
For shining wealth, or scaring woe,
I force no friend, I fear no foe.

Of ups and downs, of ins and outs,
Of the're i'th' wrong, and we're i'th' right,
I shun the rancours and the routs,
And wishing well to every wight,
Whatever turn the matter takes,
I deem it all but ducks and drakes.

With whom I feast I do not fawn,
Nor if the folks should flout me, faint;
If wonted welcome he withdrawn,
I cook no kind of a complaint:
With none dispos'd to disagree,
But like them best who best like me.

Not that I rate myself the rule
How all my betters should behave;
But fame shall find me no man's fool,
Nor to a set of men a slave.
I love a friendship free and frank,
And hate to hang upon a hank.

Fond of a true and trusty tie,
I never loose where'er I link;
Tho' if a bus'ness budges by,
I talk thereon just as I think;
My word, my work, my heart, my hand,
Still on a side together stand.

If names or notions make a noise,
Whatever hap the question hath,
The point impartially I poise,
And read or write, but without wrath;
For should I burn, or break my brains,
Pray, who will pay me for my pains?

I love my neighbour as myself,
Myself like him too, by his leave--
Nor to his pleasure, pow'r, or pelf,
Came I to crouch, as I conceive:
Dame Nature doubtless has design'd
A man the monarch of his mind.

Now taste and try tills temper, sirs,
Mood it and brood it in your breast--
Or if ye ween, for worldly stirs.
That man does right to mar his rest,
Let me be deft and debonair,
I am content, I do not care.

* * * * *

The Gatherer

"A snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." SHAKSPEARE.

* * * * *

FRENCH TRAGEDY.

The following _recipe_ for a French tragedy is not unworthy of Swift.
"Take two good characters, and one wicked, either a tyrant, a traitor,
or a rogue. Let the latter set the two former by the ears and make
them very unhappy for four acts, during which he must promulgate all
manner of shocking maxims, interlarded with poisons, daggers, oracles,
&c.; while the good characters repeat their catechism of moralities.
In the fifth act, let the power of the tyrant be overthrown by an
insurrection, or the treason of the villain be discovered by some
episodical personage, and the worthy folks be preserved. Above all,