But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the
sunshine of life: and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the
greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof to the days we
have lately passed. On these, indeed, the sun shone brightly! How
gay did the face of nature appear! Hills, valleys, chateaux, gardens,
rivers, every object wore its liveliest hue! Whence did they borrow it?
From the presence of our charming companion. They were pleasing, because
she seemed pleased. Alone, the scene would have been dull and insipid:
the participation of it with her gave it relish. Let the gloomy monk,
sequestered from the world, seek unsocial pleasures in the bottom of his
cell! Let the sublimated philosopher grasp visionary happiness, while
pursuing phantoms dressed in the garb of truth! Their supreme wisdom is
supreme folly: and they mistake for happiness the mere absence of pain.
Had they ever felt the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the
heart, they would exchange for it all the frigid speculations of their
lives, which you have been vaunting in such elevated terms.
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