"And certaine he is well begone
Among a thousand that findeth one."
We shall not surrender ourselves heartily to any while we are
conscious that another is more deserving of our love. Yet
Friendship does not stand for numbers; the Friend does not count
his Friends on his fingers; they are not numerable. The more
there are included by this bond, if they are indeed included, the
rarer and diviner the quality of the love that binds them. I am
ready to believe that as private and intimate a relation may
exist by which three are embraced, as between two. Indeed, we
cannot have too many friends; the virtue which we appreciate we
to some extent appropriate, so that thus we are made at last more
fit for every relation of life. A base Friendship is of a
narrowing and exclusive tendency, but a noble one is not
exclusive; its very superfluity and dispersed love is the
humanity which sweetens society, and sympathizes with foreign
nations; for though its foundations are private, it is, in
effect, a public affair and a public advantage, and the Friend,
more than the father of a family, deserves well of the state.
The only danger in Friendship is that it will end. It is a
delicate plant, though a native. The least unworthiness, even if
it be unknown to one's self, vitiates it. Let the Friend know
that those faults which he observes in his Friend his own faults
attract.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 295 of 422
Words from 81571 to 81830
of 116321
