=Try your friend afore ye need him.=
On the other hand, "He that would have many friends should try few
of them" (Italian).[193] "Let him that is wretched and beggared try
everybody, and then his friend" (Italian).[194]
=A friend is never known till one have need.=
"A friend cannot be known in prosperity, and an enemy cannot be hidden
in adversity" (Ecclesiasticus). "A sure friend is known in a doubtful
case" (Ennius)[195]
=When good cheer is lacking, friends will be packing.=
"The bread eaten, the company departed" (Spanish).[196] "While the pot
boils, friendship blooms" (German).[197]
"In time of prosperity friends will be plenty;
In time of adversity not one in twenty."
=No longer foster, no longer friend.=
=Help yourself, and your friends will like you.=
"Give out that you have many friends, and believe that you have few"
(French).[198] By that means you will not expose yourself to be
bitterly disappointed, and you will secure the favours which the world
is ready to bestow on those who seem to have least need of them.
=A friend at court is better than a penny in the purse.=
=Kissing goes by favour.=
Every one makes it his business to "Take care of Dowb." "They are
rich," therefore, "who have friends" (Portuguese, Latin).[199]
"It is better to have friends on the market than money in one's
coffer" (Spanish).[200] "Every one dances as he has friends in the
ball-room" (Portuguese).[201] "There's no living without friends"
(Portuguese).[202]