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Article ON IMPRUDENT FRIENDSHIPS. ← Page 4 of 4
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On Imprudent Friendships.
Tom makes no distinction of characters ; his superiors are his best friends , and next to them are his equals in fortune ; but as his ideas of friendship extend no farther than to an interchange of dinners and wine , his inferiors are as much below par with him as he will be when he comes to discover , what cannot be long concealed , that he never had a friend . To such a man Buckingham ' s advice might be of service :
' When you are liberal of your loves and counsels . Be sure you be not loose ; for those you make friends , And give your hearts to , when they pnce . perceive The least rub in your fortunes , fall away Like water from you , never found again But where they mean to sink ye . ' Friendshipamong people who have not been corrupted bthose
, y artificial vices which fatajly wait upon civilized life , exists in the greatest possible purity and constancy . The Abbe Fortis gives some curious particulars relative tothe friendships of the Morlacchi , a people who inhabit f :: e mountainous part of inland Dalmatia . Friendship is lasting among the Morlacchi . They have even made it a kind of reliious pointand tie the sacred bond at the foot of the altarThe
g , . Sclavonian ritual contains a particular benediction , for the solemn union of two male or two female friends , in the presence of the congregation . The Abbe says , that he was present at the union of two young women ; who were made Pgsestre hi the church of Perussich . The satisfaction that sparkled in their eyes when the ceremony was performed , gave a convincing proof , that delicacy of sentiments can
lodge in minds not formed , or father not corrupted by society , which we call civilized . The male friends thus united are called Pobratimi , and the females Posestreme , which mean half-brothers and half-sisters ,. Friendships between those of different sexes are not bound with so much solemnity , though perhaps in more ancient and innocent ages it was also the custom . From these consecrated friendships among the Morlacchiand other nations of the same oriinit should seem
, g , that the sworn brothers arose , a denomination frequent enough among the common people in many parts of Europe . If discord happens to arise between two friends among the Morlacchi , it is talked of all over the country as a scandalous novelty ; and there have been some examples of it of late years , to the great affliction of the old Morlacchi , who attribute the depravity of their countrymen to their intercourse
with the Italians . Wine and strong liquors , of which the nation is beginning to make daily abuse , after our example , will , of course , produce the same bad effects as among us . Nor is the Abbe mistaken . , When these simple people become more men of the world , the romantic part of their friendships will degenerate into that motley unintelliible thing which le
g many peop call friendship . Whoever , therefore , wishes to enjoy real friendship , must in the first place expect no more from man than the frailty of his nature will admit ; and , in the second place , he must not expect friendship from those , who from their ignorance are not enabled , or from their wicknedness are not disposed , to perform acts of mutual benevolence in trying situations . CAIUS ,,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Imprudent Friendships.
Tom makes no distinction of characters ; his superiors are his best friends , and next to them are his equals in fortune ; but as his ideas of friendship extend no farther than to an interchange of dinners and wine , his inferiors are as much below par with him as he will be when he comes to discover , what cannot be long concealed , that he never had a friend . To such a man Buckingham ' s advice might be of service :
' When you are liberal of your loves and counsels . Be sure you be not loose ; for those you make friends , And give your hearts to , when they pnce . perceive The least rub in your fortunes , fall away Like water from you , never found again But where they mean to sink ye . ' Friendshipamong people who have not been corrupted bthose
, y artificial vices which fatajly wait upon civilized life , exists in the greatest possible purity and constancy . The Abbe Fortis gives some curious particulars relative tothe friendships of the Morlacchi , a people who inhabit f :: e mountainous part of inland Dalmatia . Friendship is lasting among the Morlacchi . They have even made it a kind of reliious pointand tie the sacred bond at the foot of the altarThe
g , . Sclavonian ritual contains a particular benediction , for the solemn union of two male or two female friends , in the presence of the congregation . The Abbe says , that he was present at the union of two young women ; who were made Pgsestre hi the church of Perussich . The satisfaction that sparkled in their eyes when the ceremony was performed , gave a convincing proof , that delicacy of sentiments can
lodge in minds not formed , or father not corrupted by society , which we call civilized . The male friends thus united are called Pobratimi , and the females Posestreme , which mean half-brothers and half-sisters ,. Friendships between those of different sexes are not bound with so much solemnity , though perhaps in more ancient and innocent ages it was also the custom . From these consecrated friendships among the Morlacchiand other nations of the same oriinit should seem
, g , that the sworn brothers arose , a denomination frequent enough among the common people in many parts of Europe . If discord happens to arise between two friends among the Morlacchi , it is talked of all over the country as a scandalous novelty ; and there have been some examples of it of late years , to the great affliction of the old Morlacchi , who attribute the depravity of their countrymen to their intercourse
with the Italians . Wine and strong liquors , of which the nation is beginning to make daily abuse , after our example , will , of course , produce the same bad effects as among us . Nor is the Abbe mistaken . , When these simple people become more men of the world , the romantic part of their friendships will degenerate into that motley unintelliible thing which le
g many peop call friendship . Whoever , therefore , wishes to enjoy real friendship , must in the first place expect no more from man than the frailty of his nature will admit ; and , in the second place , he must not expect friendship from those , who from their ignorance are not enabled , or from their wicknedness are not disposed , to perform acts of mutual benevolence in trying situations . CAIUS ,,