TRUE love, we know, is blind; defects, that blight
The loved one's charms, escape the lover's sight,
Nay, pass for beauties; as Balbinus shows

A passion for the wen on Agna's nose.

Oh, with our friendships that we did the same,
And screened our blindness under virtue's name!

From "Ancient Classics for English Readers.” By permission of
W. Blackwood & Sons. 28 vols., crown 8vo., cloth, price 2s. 6d. each.

For we are bound to treat a friend's defect
With touch most tender, and a fond respect;
Even as a father treats a child's, who hints,
The urchin's eyes are roguish, if he squints:
Or if he be as stunted, short, and thick,
As Sisyphus the dwarf, will call him "chick!"
If crooked all ways, in back, in legs, and thighs,
With softening phrases will the flaw disguise.
So, if one friend too close a fist betrays,
Let us ascribe it to his frugal ways;

Or is another-such we often find

To flippant jest and braggart talk inclined,
'Tis only from a kindly wish to try

To make the time 'mongst friends go lightly by;
Another's tongue is rough and overfree,
Let's call it bluntness and sincerity;

Another's choleric; him we must screen,

As cursed with feelings for his peace too keen. This is the course, methinks, that makes a friend, And, having made, secures him to the end.