For this is being a friend just in the nick

XXIX

—FOR this is being a friend just in the nick,

Not when he’s well, but waiting till he’s sick;

He calls you to his help; be you not mov’d

Until, by being sick, his wants are prov’d.

You see him spend his soul in prophecy:

Do you believe it a confounded lie,

Till some bookseller, and the public fame,

Prove there is truth in his extravagant claim.

For ’tis atrocious in a friend you love

To tell you anything that he can’t prove,

And ’tis most wicked in a Christian nation

For any man to pretend to inspiration.