--_Allan Ramsay_.
* * * * *
We grow by love. It is said, why live for others? But others are our
nutriment.
--_Channing_.
* * * * *
There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot
force it any more than love.
--_Hazlitt_.
* * * * *
There are few subjects which have been more written upon, and less
understood, than that of friendship. To follow the dictates of some,
this virtue instead of being the messenger of pain becomes the source of
every inconvenience. Such specialists, by expecting too much from
friendship, dissolve the connection, and by drawing the bands too
loosely at length break them. It is certain that the best method to
cultivate this virtue, is by letting it, in some measure, make itself; a
similitude of minds and of studies, and even sometimes a diversity of
pursuits, will produce all the pleasures that arise from it. The current
of tenderness widens as it proceeds; and two men imperceptibly find
their hearts filled with good nature for each other, when they were at
first only in pursuit of mirth or relaxation.
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