AN AFFECTING APOLOGY FOR SELF-CONCEIT, ESPECIALLY IN POETS .

W ELL — I 've tasted your cup, and I could not reprove,
Though a little too sweet the infusions of love.
What is flattery? I said; when its friendships misuse,
'Tis a little too strong, — but how cordial the juice!
It is hardly a vice, when its generous aim
Is to cheer the afflicted, and cherish his fame —
To enliven his animal spirits with pleasure,
But corrected by sense, and by temperate measure.
When the generous cup my companion regales,
Can I borrow of Merchants their weights and their scales?
When the Nymph has attracted the amorous youth,
Can he offer a cup so insipid as Truth?
When a Lady and Gentleman tickle each other,
If her stockings are blue, like a sister and brother,
Shall a pedant like Bentley , or cold Aristarchus ,
With injunctions of mutual abstinence mark us?
With his medical wand, like poor Sancho's Physician,
Banish all from the cup that is not of their mission?