Friendship above all ties does bind the heart;
And faith in friendship is the noblest part.
_King Henry V_. EARL OF ORRERY.

Be kind to my remains; and O, defend,
Against your judgment, your departed friend!
_Epistle to Congreve_. J. DRYDEN.

O summer friendship,
Whose flattering leaves, that shadowed us in
Our prosperity, with the least gust drop off
In the autumn of adversity.
_The Maid of Honor_. P. MASSINGER.

Such is the use and noble end of friendship,
To bear a part in every storm of fate.
_Generous Conqueror_. B. HIGGONS.

Friendship, like love, is but a name,
Unless to one you stint the flame.

* * * * *

'T is thus in friendships: who depend
On many, rarely find a friend.
_Fables: The Hare and many Friends_. J. GAY.

Like summer friends,
Flies of estate and sunneshine.
_The Answer_. G. HERBERT.

What the declined is
He shall as soon read in the eyes of others
As feel in his own fall; for men, like butterflies,
Show not their mealy wings but to the summer.
_Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Sc. 3_. SHAKESPEARE.

The man that hails you Tom or Jack,
And proves, by thumping on your back,
His sense of your great merit,
Is such a friend, that one had need
Be very much his friend indeed
To pardon, or to bear it.
_On Friendship_. W. COWPER.

Give me the avowed, the erect, the manly foe,
Bold I can meet,--perhaps may turn his blow;
But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can send,
Save, save, oh! save me from the _Candid Friend_!
_New Morality_. G. CANNING.

Friendship is constant in all other things,
Save in the office and affairs of love.
_Much Ado about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.

If I speak to thee in Friendship's name,
Thou think'st I speak too coldly;
If I mention Love's devoted flame,
Thou say'st I speak too boldly.
_How Shall I Woo_? T. MOORE.

Of all our good, of all our bad,
This one thing only is of worth,
We held the league of heart to heart
The only purpose of the earth.
_More Songs from Vagabondia: Envoy_. R. HOVEY.

It's an owercome sooth for age an' youth,
And it brooks wi' nae denial,
That the dearest friends are the auldest friends
And the young are just on trial.
_Poems: In Scots_. R.L. STEVENSON.

For friendship, of itself a holy tie,
Is made more sacred by