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Article ON IMPRUDENT FRIENDSHIPS. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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On Imprudent Friendships.
capable of instructing a nation . — -It is one of the few good advices which Lord Chesterfield gives , never to keep company with those who are at once ' low in birth , low in mind , and low injnanners . ' The second class of men with whom it is impossible to hold friendship , consists of the bad . From much reading , and from no small horizon of observationI think I challenge the world to produce
, may an instance of real friendship subsisting for any length of time between two bad men , or between a good man and a bad one . The thing is , indeed , in its own nature impossible . The very essence , the life ' s blood , if I may use the expression , of friendship , is mutual benevolence ; and how that can ' be expected to exist in minds habituated to profligacy , it is impossible to conceive . It is likeWise of the nature to
of friendship to be disinterested ; but no bad man can be expected entertain a sentiment so pure . If he did he could not practise it , for bad men are ever necessitous , ever covetous , ever desirous of something which they want to supply their pleasures , or , as they probably willlei-m it , to make them happy . —If the whole of friendship consisted in iving pecuniary assistancethey would be the last persons
g , to practise even that , from the urgency of their own demands . But , this , though something , ' is not the all of friendship . Plow many consolations , how much kindness , what important relief , may a friend afford , of which the loose and profligate can have no idea ? No : their skill lies not . in averting the calamities of life , or in consoling the troubled sufferer . They cannot
' Administer to a mind diseased — Nor ' pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow . " Should any be yet disposed to doubt the truth of the proposition which I have laid down , namety , that it is morally impossible to hold friendship with the ignorant and low-minded , and with the profligate , I will add , that my argument derives considerable strength from another consideration . In the various circumstances and situations
of human life , innumerable cases occur , in which wisdom only can advise and extricate , and in which piety only can console and assist . And having stated this , I will beg leave to ask , whether , in every possible situation of life , wisdom and goodness be not preferable to their opposites ?—I entertain no fears for the issue of this question : I am not afraid of the wisdom of a blockhead , nor am likely to be charmed by the benevolence of a profligate .
Ill-judged friendships are the bane of human happiness . A rational creature becomes a mere dupe by them , an useless character to himself , and only serviceable to those who impose upon him . Tom Fickle partakes much of such-a character . His friends are innumerable , and he seems to think it necessary to keep up an increase ; they no sooner drop off , which they do the moment that their ends are . served , than he lies their lace with others . New faces are to ¦ him new
supp p ¦ friends . The man in whose house he dines , or who dines in his house , is his friend . An interchange of civilities and treats is all he expects . Yet he is not ' without spme idea , a . confused one , indeed , of friendship , and bitterly laments that Jack or Dick Sucli-a-one has played him a ' scurvy-trick ; he did not expect to be treated so by a friend ! In truth , P 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Imprudent Friendships.
capable of instructing a nation . — -It is one of the few good advices which Lord Chesterfield gives , never to keep company with those who are at once ' low in birth , low in mind , and low injnanners . ' The second class of men with whom it is impossible to hold friendship , consists of the bad . From much reading , and from no small horizon of observationI think I challenge the world to produce
, may an instance of real friendship subsisting for any length of time between two bad men , or between a good man and a bad one . The thing is , indeed , in its own nature impossible . The very essence , the life ' s blood , if I may use the expression , of friendship , is mutual benevolence ; and how that can ' be expected to exist in minds habituated to profligacy , it is impossible to conceive . It is likeWise of the nature to
of friendship to be disinterested ; but no bad man can be expected entertain a sentiment so pure . If he did he could not practise it , for bad men are ever necessitous , ever covetous , ever desirous of something which they want to supply their pleasures , or , as they probably willlei-m it , to make them happy . —If the whole of friendship consisted in iving pecuniary assistancethey would be the last persons
g , to practise even that , from the urgency of their own demands . But , this , though something , ' is not the all of friendship . Plow many consolations , how much kindness , what important relief , may a friend afford , of which the loose and profligate can have no idea ? No : their skill lies not . in averting the calamities of life , or in consoling the troubled sufferer . They cannot
' Administer to a mind diseased — Nor ' pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow . " Should any be yet disposed to doubt the truth of the proposition which I have laid down , namety , that it is morally impossible to hold friendship with the ignorant and low-minded , and with the profligate , I will add , that my argument derives considerable strength from another consideration . In the various circumstances and situations
of human life , innumerable cases occur , in which wisdom only can advise and extricate , and in which piety only can console and assist . And having stated this , I will beg leave to ask , whether , in every possible situation of life , wisdom and goodness be not preferable to their opposites ?—I entertain no fears for the issue of this question : I am not afraid of the wisdom of a blockhead , nor am likely to be charmed by the benevolence of a profligate .
Ill-judged friendships are the bane of human happiness . A rational creature becomes a mere dupe by them , an useless character to himself , and only serviceable to those who impose upon him . Tom Fickle partakes much of such-a character . His friends are innumerable , and he seems to think it necessary to keep up an increase ; they no sooner drop off , which they do the moment that their ends are . served , than he lies their lace with others . New faces are to ¦ him new
supp p ¦ friends . The man in whose house he dines , or who dines in his house , is his friend . An interchange of civilities and treats is all he expects . Yet he is not ' without spme idea , a . confused one , indeed , of friendship , and bitterly laments that Jack or Dick Sucli-a-one has played him a ' scurvy-trick ; he did not expect to be treated so by a friend ! In truth , P 2