Friendship between Ephelia and Ardelia

Eph. What Friendship is, Ardelia show.

Ard. ’Tis to love, as I love you.

Eph. This account, so short (tho’ kind)

Suits not my inquiring mind.

Therefore farther now repeat:

What is Friendship when complete?

Ard. ’Tis to share all joy and grief;

’Tis to lend all due relief

From the tongue, the heart, the hand;

’Tis to mortgage house and land;

For a friend be sold a slave;

’Tis to die upon a grave,

If a friend therein do lie.

Eph. This indeed, tho’ carried high,

This, tho’ more than e’er was done

Underneath the rolling sun,

This has all been said before.

Can Ardelia say no more?

Ard. Words indeed no more can show:

But ’tis to love, as I love you.