On Friendship. Sarah Fyge Egerton Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T125148 Egerton, Sarah Fyge, 1668-1723. Poems on Several Occasions, Together with a Pastoral. By Mrs. S. F. [poems only] London printed, and are to be sold by J. Nutt, near Stationers-Hall 1703 pp. 1-2. [20],117,[3],15,[1]p.; 8⁰.

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On Friendship . Friendship ( the great pursuit of noble Minds ) Passion in abstract , void of all designs ; Each generous Pen , doth celebrate thy Fame , And yet I doubt , thou'rt nothing but a Name . Some pregnant Fancy , in a raptur'd height , Produc'd this mighty notional Delight . The Muses virtuosal Chymistry , To turn all Fortunes to Felicity ; 'Tis fancy'd well , and this I dare ingage , Were all Men Friends , 'twould be the golden Age ; But tell me where , this Extract may be found , And what Ingredients make the Rich Compound ; Or in what Soul , is true kindly heat , That can this great Experiment compleat . Sometimes a fond good Nature lights upon A soft and civil Temper like its own ; Strait they resolve to be those happy things , Which when combin'd , pity contending Kings : Yet e'er they reach these sublimated Joys , They'r poorly lost , in Treachery or Toys . The mighty Notions of the exalted State , Sink to a vulgar Commerce , or Debate : Sure , like the Chymick Stone , it was design'd , But to imploy the curious searching Mind , In the pursuit of what , none e'er shall find ; Their Quality's I'm sure do prove all one , Who trusts too much to either is undone .