Give me the avowd, the erect, the manly foe, Bold I can meetperhaps may turn his blow; But of all plagues, good heaven, thy wrath can send, Save, save, oh! save me from the candid friend. Canning.New Morality. Redes Memoir of Canning, Page 80.
Thou dost conspire against thy friend, Iago, If thou but thinkst him wrongd, and makst his ear A stranger to thy thoughts. Shakespeare.Othello, Act III. Scene 3. (The Moor.)
I am not of that feather, to shake off My friend when he most needs me. I do know him, A gentleman that well deserves a help, Which he shall have: Ill pay the debt and free him. Shakespeare.Timon of Athens, Act I. Scene 1. (Timon to the servant of Ventidius.)
If any touch my friend, or his good name, It is my honour and my love to free His blasted fame From the least spot or thought of blame. George Herbert.The Temple, Unkindness.
The man that hails you Tom or Jack, And proves by thumps upon your back, How he esteems your merit, Is such a friend that one had need Be very much his friend indeed, To pardon or to bear it. Cowper.Friendship.
To buy his favour I extend this friendship: If he will take it, so; if not, adieu; And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not. Shakespeare.Merchant of Venice, Act I. Scene 3. (Shylock to Antonio.)
Friendship by sweet reproof is shown (A virtue never near a throne): In courts such freedom must offend; There none presumes to be a friend. Gay.Fable I. Line 9.
And what is friendship but a name, A charm that lulls to sleep; A shade that follows wealth or fame, And leaves the wretch to weep? Goldsmith.The Hermit, Verse 19.
A generous friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one love, with one resentment glows; One should our interests and our passions be, My friend must hate the man that injures me. Popes Homer.The Iliad, Book IX. Line 725.
Are such the friendships we contract in life? O, give me then the friendship of a wife! Adieus, nay, parting pains to us are sweet, They make so glad the moments when we meet. Crabbe.Tales of the Hall, Book XXII. Par. 8.