ON FRIENDSHIP
exchange it for a kingdom: “No indeed, sire; but I should willingly let it go to gain a friend, if I found a man worthy of such an alliance.” It wasn't bad, his saying, “if I found,” for we easily find men fit for a superficial acquaintance: but for this, wherein one negotiates the very bottom of oneself, wherein nothing is left over, certainly there is need for all the springs to be true and perfectly reliable.
In relations that hold together by only one end, we need not regard any imperfections except those that particularly concern that end. It makes no difference what my doctor’s religion is, and my lawyer’s; that consideration has nothing to do with the friendly offices they owe me: and in my domestic acquaintance with those that serve me, I act similarly, and make little inquiry about a footman as to whether he be chaste, but seek to learn whether he is diligent; and I dread less a muleteer who is a gambler than one who is weak, a cook who blasphemes than an ignorant one. I don’t take it upon me to say what the world should do, plenty of others take it upon themselves, but only what I do
about this.
23
