most classes, but the wise man, individuals. To his Friend a man’s peculiar character appears in every feature and in every action, and it is thus drawn out and improved by him.
Think of the importance of Friendship in the education of men.
‘He that hath love and judgment too,
Sees more than any other doe.’
It will make a man honest; it will make him a hero; it will make him a saint. It is the state of the just dealing with the just, the magnanimous with the magnanimous, the sincere with the sincere, man with man.
And it is well said by another poet—
‘Why love among the virtues is not known,
Is that love is them all contract in one.’
All the abuses which are the object of reform with the philanthropist, the statesman,
The intercourse of friends
and the housekeeper are unconsciously amended in the intercourse of Friends. A Friend is one who incessantly pays us the compliment of expecting from us all the virtues, and who can appreciate them in us. It takes two to speak the truth—one to speak and another to hear. How can one treat with magnanimity mere wood and stone? If we dealt only with the false and dishonest, we should at last forget how to speak truth. Only lovers know the value and magnanimity of truth, while traders prize a cheap honesty, and neighbours and acquaintance a cheap civility. In our daily intercourse with men our nobler faculties are dormant and suffered to rust.
None will pay us the compliment to expect nobleness from us. Though we have gold to give, they demand only copper.