one source of those maladies would be cut off, and they would become both less frequent and less fatal. It may not be improper, before concluding this address, to apprise the reader, that a design of this kind was once in the contemplation of Dr. Johnson, as appears by the list of works he had proposed undertaking, given by Mr. Boswell at the end of his life. In what manner it would have been executed by him cannot be conjectured, doubtless in a way superior to that in which it is treated here; and had it been accomplished, it would have superseded the present attempt: that a writer of his eminence had even entertained the idea of such a work, must be thought to give an additional degree of credit to the design itself. Their No attempt has been made, it will be observed, to arrange the proverbs in classes, or even to place them alphabetically. number was found to be too inconsiderable for classification; and as an Index is given, the reader will be enabled to find what he looks for as readily as if they had been placed in alphabetical order. b &c. &c. &c. mon. Amicorum communia omnia. AMONG friends all things should be in comErasmus thought he could not begin his Collection better than with this apothegm, which is of great antiquity, and much celebrated, and for the same reason it is here placed first. Nothing is so frequent in our mouths, nor is any thing less common than such a conjunction of minds as deserves the name of Friendship. "When a friend asks, there is no to-morrow," for he is another self. "Ne ay major espejo, que el amigo viejo." Like a glass he will discover to you your own defects; and "mas vale buen amigo, que pariente primo," a good friend is better than a near relation. A man, the Italians say, without friends is like a body without a soul. "Chi si trova senz' amici, e come un corpo senz' anima." The French, by a very delicate phrase, denominate friendship love that is without wings, "L'amitié est l'amour sans ailes," meaning that it should be a permanent affection, and not easily to be obliterated. "Ova d'un ora, pane d'un di, vino d'un anno, amico di trenta," that is, eggs of an hour, bread of a day, wine of a year, but a friend of thirty years is best; and "Azeyte, y vino, y amigo antiguo," oil, wine, and friends improve by age. Friendship, Montaigne says, "unlike to love, which is weakened by fruition, grows up, thrives, and increases by enjoyment; and being of itself spiritual, the soul is reformed by the practice of it." And according to Sallust," Idem velle et nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est," to have the same desires and dislikes, to love or hate the same persons, is the surest test of friendship. But instances of such exalted friendship, if they do exist, are very rare. "Tantum ego fucorum, tantum perfidiæ in hominum amicitiis reperio, non in his modo. vulgaribus, verum his quoque quas Pyladeas vocant, ut mihi jam non libeat novarum periculum facere"-I find so much dissembling, says says the good Erasmus, so much perfidy among friends, not only those between whom there subsists only a slight intimacy, but those connected, as it would seem, by the strongest ties of affection, that I have altogether given up the search after such a phenomenon. The same writer, at a more advanced stage of his life, and as the result of long experience, says, “Quin in totum, eò degenerârunt hominum mores, ut hodie, cygnus niger, aut corvus al-✈ bus, minus rarus sit avis, quam fidelis amicus." In short, men are become so degenerate, (a complaint that has been made in every age,) that a black swan, or a white crow, are not so rarely to be met with as a faithful friend. And another writer says, "We talk of friendship as of a thing that is known, and as we talk of ghosts-but who has seen either the one or the other!" "Friendship," Lord Verulam says, "easeth the heart and cleareth the understanding, making clear day in both; partly by giving the purest counsel, apart from our interest and prepossessions, and partly by allowing opportunity to discourse; and by that discourse to clear the mind, to recollect the B 2 thoughts, |