LINES FOR A FRIEND'S ALBUM.

LINES, in addition to the treasure
 Of poesy, culled for the pleasure
 Of beau and belle and gentle dame,
 When seated round the evening flame,
 What time the social hour is waning,
 And tardy coachman guests detaining, —
 A courteous friend hath bid me write
 Upon her Album's pages white. 

But age the easy grace hath lost
 That would become such pages most,
 While of a quondam rhymester's skill,
 Scarce aught is extant but the will;
 And sober, stinted age must use
 The school-girl's worn and stale excuse,
 When, long her correspondent's debtor,
 The apology becomes the letter. 

Apologies for those who need 'em! 
An Album is a thing of freedom,
 Receiving all with right good will
 That fortune sends from many a quill,
 And then displays like scaly store
 Which fisher's net brings to the shore:
 The herring sheathed in silvery green,
 The whiting in its pearly sheen,
 The lithe and wavy eel that glides
 Athwart the mackerel's tabbied sides;
 John Dory with his dolphin head,
 Where amber fins like horns are spread,
 And flounder, sole, and thornback, all
 In turn on some observer call
 To mark each varied form and tint;
 And from this simile a hint
 Of some encouragement I take,
 And humbly this my offering make,
 Which if received with favour, truly
 Will shew that I have reckoned duly
 On what might homelier things commend, —
 On the good nature of a friend.