gretted nor remembered; folly supplied its place, and those who had the largest share of it, thought themselves the wisest. 141 FRIENDSHIP. Friendship's a name to few confin'd, A gen'rous warmth which fills the breast, FRIENDSHIP is a sweet attraction of the heart, towards the merit we esteem, or the perfections we admire; and produces a mutual inclination between the two persons, to promote cach other's interest, knowledge, virtue, and happiness. There's nothing so common as pretences to friendship; though few know what it means, and fewer yet come up to its demands. By talking of it, we set ourselves off; but when we inquire into it, we see our defects; and when we engage in it, we must charge through abundance of difficulty. The veneration it has challenged in every age, (the most barbarous not excepted) is a standing testimony of its excellence and the more valuable it is, the more are we concerned to be instructed in it. Monsieur de Sacy, in his essay upon friend ship, treats to this effect: The friendship which is to be recommended, is union of affections, springing from a generous respect to virtue, and is maintained by a harmony of manners. It is a great mistake, to call every trifling commerce by this serious name; or to suppose that empty compliments and visits of ceremony, where no more is intended than to pass the time, and shew the equipage, should pass for a real and well established friendship. The frequency of the practice will not wipe off the absurdity-there is as wide a difference between a bully and a man of honor. Not that these amusements are to be found fault with, the innocence and convenience of which protects them, when they pass for nothing but what they are; but certainly they ought to be distinguished from their betters; and the language and professions bear a proportion to the real impression they have on our heart. Conformity of inclination is the life of friendship. Whilst all are pursuing this common interest, all are travelling the same course, nothing can break the union of their affections and desires. The danger is only from irregular motions, and forgetting from which they should act. So long as we maintain a respect to this principle of union, and koep virtue on the throne, our humor and caprice will be check G ed and subdued. If interest can maintain and form societies, as we find it does, why should not those who are actuated by a higher principle (and with such only is our business) do as mnch, if not more? It may be said, from hence I conclude that all good men are friends, if virtue be the life of friendship. The consequence holds good, if they knew one another, they would value one another. But though friendship is founded on esteem, so much that it cannot otherways subsist, there goes, however, something more to form it; esteem is a tribute due to merit in general; but friendship is an improvement made upon merit, and engages us in a very different degree. Such impression has been made upon the heart, as cannot be well described, and works like a mother's affections to her own children above those of strangers, as amiable in themselves. Those who would have friendship confined to the narrowest compass, have notions of it the most sublime; though number, if practicable, may be highly useful. For to have but one friend, may sometimes be to have none, or, which is the same thing, none when we want him. The circumstances of time, and place, and ability to make it proper that we have more than one bottom to venture in. The offices of friendship are various; to direct our choice, and rectify our mistakes; to sustain our misfortunes, mode rate our joys, and the like. This may possibly be better done by the care and endeavors of several. Not that I would have friendship governed by profit and convenience; a motive so mean, can produce nothing extraordinary. There is something generous in the composition, that looks at another man's advantage as much as his own. And that we may not talk without a precedent for what we say; the sages of old, whose #friendships were so well cultivated, and became so famous as to be handed down to the present time, even their's was divided into scveral streams. The most polite nations, and their philosophers too, gave us examples of that sort to build upon. It were difficult to determine, just how many make a sufficient quantity of friends; some fix the number at three, others allowing a greater latitude; but this rule will serve us, the fewer the better; and he who thinks he has a great number of friends, has the most reason to believe he has none. It was a good return of Socrates, when his house was thought too little, "Would to God, I could fill it with true friends;" said he-After all, if one could have a barn full, one would wish for no more than a closet would hold. Let the matter at least turn upon this, setting aside the reasons I have offered:The difficulty we shall find in the choice of our friends, will make us rejoice that we have but few to choose. Of such importance is the work, 'tis so hard to succeed, and so dangerous to miscarry, so severe an inquiry into the inclinations and merit of the person, and the experience we must run through, before we are safe in their hands, will convince us that to gain three or four in the course of our life, is to employ it well. Whence is it, so many friendships clapped up on a sudden, which have the air of veteran, not of raw, undisciplin'd affection, and look like the meeting of old friends, not of new ones whence can it be, these so promising and kindly advances should be so soon overturned? 'tis because they began too soon, and run up too fast: And is there any mystery in this, that Time should destroy what we set up without consulting him? We meet, at first sight like one another well, the next thing is to say so, the next, in course to be dear friends. We vow and swear eternal amity; and when we go to considering, we find him out; we grow cool;-and at length come to hate him. swing ourselves up by main force, and our own weight brings us down again. Would you contract a friendship that should last a long time, be a long time in contracting it. We Plutarch thus describes the person a friend should be. As to the person of whom we are to make a friend, he must be endowed with virtue, as a thing in itself lovely and desirable, which consists of a sweet and obliging temper of mind, a lively readiness in doing good of |