FRIENDSHIP. And what is friendship, but a name, A shade that follows wealth or fame, But leaves the wretch to weep. GOLDSMITH. I COULD laugh outright at the absurd notions which in my youth I entertained of friendship; for in my simplicity I considered every one a friend who told me that he was one. Time and circumstance tell us many secrets, and time and circumstance told me that the opinion which I had formed was all a bag full of moonshine, and that I was a simpleton for my pains. Friendship is a bubble that sails along bravely, glit tering with all the colours of the rainbow, so long as there is no obstacle in its course; but the first impediment often destroys the illusion, and the bubble bursts into nothing. I used, too, to think that one half of what the world said about friends flocking around those who did not want them, and forsaking those who did want them, was untrue; but there is nothing more true in the world,-nothing on which you may rely with more certainty. Thousands will deny it, and tens of thousands will not believe it, but it is not the less true on that account; and if ever you know what it is, through error or misfortune, to be more dependant on the friendship of your friends than you formerly were, that will be the time when you will be painfully reminded of the truth of what I say. I speak not of one friend, nor of twenty, but of all; at least, if there be any exceptions, they are as rare as diamonds, and not to be picked up every day of the week. Now I wish not to jaundice your mind against your friends, no! "Perish the lore that deadens young desire!" I have a different object in view, for I am speaking of you as well as of them. You will, for aught that I know to the contrary, be the first to act in the manner I have described to your fallen friends, unless you are alive to your infirmity. Friendship is a delightful thing, so long as two friends are in the same condition; but take my word for it, a rich friend and a poor friend are quite out of the question. When you see the Lord Mayor of London walking to the Mansion-house arm-inarm with a beggar, you will no doubt think it a strange sight; but, strange as that sight would be, it would not be half so surprising as the spectacle of a rich friend without presumption, and 66 a poor one without servility. I would walk "fifty miles on foot" to see a rich man who could be a friend to one poorer than himself, without regarding himself as his benefactor. Not that the rich have not hearts in their bosoms like other men, or that high and honourable emotions do not emanate from them. Oftentimes they are liberality itself; sympathy and respect they feel; kindness and benevolence they practise; but they cannot entertain real friendship for those far removed from their own condition. You are young, and as I never talk without an object, my object now, in speaking of friendship, is, first to persuade you not to estimate too highly your own friendship, for the probability is, that as the weathercock turns with the wind, your friendship will turn with the condition of your friend; and secondly, to advise you not to expect too much from the friendship of another, for if ever in your youthful affections you fancy that you have met with a friend who will go through fire and water for you, whose heart beats so true in its pulsations, that amidst the manifold changes of this mutable world he will remain unchanged and unchangeable; why, you may cherish the delightful feeling, for it is truly delightful; but if you do, you will grasp in your arms a shadow, bind a sunbeam to your bosom, and embrace an insubstantial, bodiless being! Be your own friend, and then you will be less dependant on the friendship of others. Be satisfied with a moderate attachment, without expecting unutterable devotedness; and practise not, if you can help it, the infirmity of forsaking a friend for no |