The friend thou hast, and his adoption tried,
Grapple him to thy soul with hooks of steel.--Shakspeare.
I praise the Frenchman, his remark was shrewd,
"How sweet, how passing sweet is solitude!"
But grant me still a friend in my retreat,
Whom I may whisper "Solitude is sweet!"--Cowper.
"Whatever the number of a man's friends" says Lord
Lytton, "there are times in his life when he has one too few." "Life,"
says Sydney Smith, "is to be fortified by many friendships." Says Bishop
Hare: "Friendship is love without its flowers or veil." "A faithful
friend is the true image of the Deity," said Napoleon, who never
believed he had a true friend not a born fool. "A friend loveth at all
times," says the Bible. Says Herr Gotthold: "with a clear sky, a bright
sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty, but let
fortune frown and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will
prove