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A Friend               TEI-encoded version


"A Friend"

Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington

[In The Keepsake for 1835 (London, UK: Longman, etc., 1834), p. 198: ]

     Who borrows all your ready cash,
     And with it cuts a mighty dash,
     Proving the lender weak and rash? --
                         Your friend!

5     Who finds out every secret fault,
     Misjudges every word and thought,
     And makes you pass for worse than nought?
                         Your friend!

     Who wins your money at deep play,
10     Then tells you that the world doth say,
     "'Twere wise from clubs you kept away?"
                         Your friend!

     Who sells you, for the longest price,
     Horses, a dealer, in a trice
15     Would find unsound, and full of vice?
                         Your friend!

     Who eats your dinners, then looks shrewd;
     Wishes you had a cook like Ude,
     For then much oft'ner would intrude --
20                         Your friend!

     Who tells you that you've shocking wine,
     And owns, that though he sports not fine,
     Crockford's the only place to dine? --
                         Your friend!

25     Who wheedles you with words most fond
     To sign for him a heavy bond.
     "Or else, by Jove, must quick abscond
                         Your friend."

     Who makes you all the interest pay,
30     With principal, some future day,
     And laughs at what you then may say?
                         Your friend!

     Who makes deep love unto your wife,
     Knowing you prize her more than life,
35     And breeds between you hate and strife? --
                         Your friend!

     Who, when you've got into a brawl,
     Insists that out your man you call,
     Then gets you shot, which ends it all? --
40                         Your friend!!!


Date: 1834 (Coding Revisions: 12/30/2005). Author: Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington (Coding Revisions: Laura Mandell).
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