Page:Bacons Essays 1908 West.djvu/105

] able to give a Man Counsell: (They indeed are best); But even without that, a Man learneth of Himselfe, and bringeth his owne Thoughts to Light, and whetteth his Wits as against a Stone, which it selfe cuts not. In a word, a Man were better relate himselfe to a Statua, or Picture, then to suffer his Thoughts to passe in smother.

Adde now, to make this Second Fruit of Frendship compleat, that other Point, which lieth more open, and falleth within Vulgar Observation; which is Faithfull Counsell from a Frend. Heraclitus saith well, in one of his Ænigmaes, Dry Light is ever the best. And certaine it is that the Light that a man receiveth by Counsell from Another is Drier and purer then that which commeth from his owne Understanding and ludgement; which is ever infused and drenched in his Affections and Customes. So as there is as much difference betweene the Counsell that a Frend giveth, and that a Man giveth himselfe, as there is between the Counsell of a Frend and of a Flatterer. For there is no such Flatterer as is a Man's Selfe; And there is no such Remedy against Flattery of a Man's Selfe as the Liberty of a Frend. Counsell is of two Sorts; The one concerning Manners, the other concerning Businesse. For the First; The best Preservative to keepe the Minde in Health is the faithfull Admonition of a Frend. The Calling of a Man's Selfe to a Strict Account is a Medicine, sometime, too Piercing and Corrosive. Reading good Bookes of Morality is a little Flat and Dead. Observing our Faults in Others is sometimes unproper for our Case. But the best Receipt (best, I say, to worke, and best to take) is the Admonition of a Frend. It is a strange thing to behold what grosse Errours and extreme Absurdities Many (especially of the greater Sort) doe commit, for want of a Frend to tell them of them, To the great dammage both of their Fame and Fortune. For, as S. lames saith,