' _Ephes._ v. [iv.] 1, 2.--'And above all these
things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.' _Col._ iii.
14.--'Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not, charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up: doth not behave itself unseemly,
is not easily provoked.' 1 _Cor._ xiii. 4, 5. BOSWELL. Johnson, in _The
Rambler,_ No. 28, had almost foretold what would happen. 'For escaping
these and a thousand other deceits many expedients have been proposed.
Some have recommended the frequent consultation of a wise friend,
admitted to intimacy and encouraged by sincerity. But this appears a
remedy by no means adapted to general use; for, in order to secure the
virtue of one, it pre-supposes more virtue in two than will generally be
found. In the first, such a desire of rectitude and amendment as may
incline him to hear his own accusation from the mouth of him whom he
esteems, and by whom therefore he will always hope that his faults are
not discovered; and in the second, such zeal and honesty as will make
him content for his friend's advantage to lose his kindness.
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