Fragment XXXIII: The civil person (he that, to your face

The civil person (he that, to your face
Professing friendship, in another place
Talks in an alter’d tone) is not the man
For a determin’d hearty partisan.
Give me the comrade eager to defend,
And, in his absence, vindicate a friend ;
Whose strong attachment will abide the brunt
Of bitter altercation, and confront
Calumnious outrage with a fierce reproof :
Like brethren bred beneath a father’s roof,
Friends such as these may serve for your behoof
—None others—Mark my words! and let them be)
Fix’d as a token in your memory,
For after-times, to make you think of me.