and that a very fmall manfion will contain those which any man can truly call fuch.

Confidering thefe requifites of Friendship, and the oppofition in the way of their acquifition, we have a melancholy inftance of the imperfection of our prefent ftate of being, which almoft denies the poffibility of attaining that which is the greatest happiness we can enjoy. But this may be wifely defigned by the Author of our being: fince, if Friendship were complete, our happiness here would appear fo abfolute, as greatly to retard our improvements in thofe virtues upon which a Friend fhip moft exalted, lafting, and refined, fhall be eftablished. But though we may not arrive at all at that happiness which we are affured a pure Friendship is capable of affording, yet this ought not to make us indolent in our refearches, or indifferent in our regards. That man would be justly thought very unreasonable, who would refuse to partake of the elegancies which his own country affords, becaufe other regions furnish our greater delicacies.

The very conftitution of our minds leads us immediately to the cultivation of Friendship.Though the powers of the mind are great, yet, the wider they expand, the lefs forcibly they act.

That

That benevolence we feel towards all mankind is of fo undeterminate a nature, that, when the general calamities of our fellow-crcatures are reprefented to us, where, perhaps, whole nations are immediate fufferers, we enter not into that fympathy which we fhould feel for one family or friend in diftrefs. We fhall always find that, in exact proportion as the object of our benevolence decreases, the more warm and lively our benevolence operates. The good of the political community to which we belong, is more the object of our regards than the community of the world; that of our family and friends, more than that of the political community; and that of an individual is ftill more facred and dear. Here our regards center upon an abfolute object, and there is more than general calamity to affect us. When one particular ear is open to our complaints; when we see one breast filled with fympathy; the eye an individual flowing with a tear of compaffion, or glad with the sparkling of joy; we imagine this to be an extraordinary inftance of that humanity which, in every inftance, gains our esteem and approbation.

of

The requifites of Friendship, then, as we obferved, are confidence, love, and eftecm: fuch as are founded upon fimilar perfections of character,

or

or fimilar tafte, with no more oppofition of fentiment than what fhall fometimes prove a gentle excitement to an amicable difpute. We cannot confide in the man whofe morofenefs makes him referved, any more than in him whofe levity makes him liable to change. We cannot trust the man of pride, or commit a fecret to his keeping who is always unguarded. We muft both love and esteem the perfon we admit to our Friendship; because a man may poffefs qualities which may produce love, and no efteem; or efteem without love. The former is founded on qualifications that pleafe, the latter on those that command approbation.

We, in fome fort, love ourselves in our friend, and are glad, from a defire of appearing difinterested, to make a joint offering to benevolence and felf-love. The foundation of this muft be, the fimilarity between ourfelves and our friends. The fame tafte that leads to the fame pleasures binds us moft forcibly with the cords of affection. We love to recollect, much more conftantly converfe, with objects with which we have connected the most agreeable ideas; and, by this joint participation, we give a countenance to pleasures otherwife fugitive, and of precarious remembrance. Such an oppofition of fentiment in

Friendship

Friendship must never appear, as may lead us to espouse the causes of different parties. In contentions which these produce, Friendship has been often destroyed, without the conviction of either of the opponents.

When once we have made choice of a friend, let our care to keep him be equal to the value of the poffeffion we enjoy: and let us remember the imperfections of humanity, and expect not too much even from Friendship itself. We may truft in the fincerity of a friend; but there are fecrets which no other breaft but our own fhould be confcious of. We may reveal many griefs, but a portion ought to be referved as a trial of our own fortitude. We may communicate many pleafures, yet ftill have fome in referve: there will be seasons when these may amuse, and when a friend cannot delight. Friendship may be made fubfervient to the noblest purposes of human life; for, though it will not allow of direct oppofition of fentiment, or the contention of fuperiority, yet it admits of a generous emulation who fhall excel in all the amiable virtues that conne&t mankind in the inviolable union of focial benevolence.

"T

THE

LESSON OF MISFORTUNE.

A MORAL TALE.

overcome adverfity, and brave death' itself, is the effect of a noble and generous refolution. But there is ftill a fpecies of courage which I think lefs frequently to be met with in the world, but not lefs admirable. I fhall give an inftance of it in relating what I heard from Watelet, as we were one day walking together in the groves of Moulin Joli.

"Of all men of the prefent century, Watelet feemed to have conducted himself in a manner the most likely to fecure a life of happiness. He was a man of universal taste, a lover of the arts, and an encourager of artifts and men of letters; he was himself a literary man and an artist, but not with fufficient fuccefs to awaken and call forth envy; he poffeffed that moderate excellence of talent, which fues for indulgence, and which, free from noife and attention, acquiring esteem and difpenfing with glory, amuses the leifures of unambitious retirement, or of a few partial friends; he was wife enough to confine his defire of applaufe within the limits of that narrow circle, and

not