On Conversation (1782) [ Concepts ]
… VIRG. ECL. 5. Though nature weigh our talents, and dispense To every man his modicum of sense, And Conversation in its better part May be esteem'd a gift, and not an art, Yet much depends, as in the tiller's toil, On … and my patience fails. 'Tis the most asinine employ on earth, To hear them tell of parentage and birth, And echo conversations dull and dry, Embellish'd with—He said,—and, So said I. At every interview their route the same, The … opposers with united strength, And, one in heart, in interest, and design, Gird up each other to the race divine. But Conversation, choose what theme we may, And chiefly when religion leads the way, Should flow, like waters after summer …
Conversation | Crime
Anthology