Faraday to Benjamin Abbott   11 October 1812

Sunday Afternoon | Octr. 11. 1812.

Dear Abbott,

I thank you heartily for your letter of yesterday the which give me greater pleasure than any one I had before received from you - I know not whether you will be pleased by such commendation or not it is the best I can bestow - I intend at this time to answer it but would wish you before you read the ensuing matter to banish from your mind all frivolous passions[.] It is possible that what I may say would only tend to give rise (under their influence) to disdain contempt &c. for at present I am in as serious a mood as you can be and would not scruple to speak a truth to any human being, whatever repugnance it might give rise to[.] Being in this state of mind I should have refrained from writing to you did I not conceive from the general tenor of your letter that your mind is at proper times occupied on serious subjects to the exclusion of those which comparatively are frivolous[.]

I cannot fail to feel gratified, my dear Friend at the post I appear to occupy in your mind and I will very openly affirm that I attach much greater importance to that interest since the perusal of your last[.] I would much rather engage the good opinion of one moral philosopher who acts upon his precepts than the attentions and common place friendship of fifty natural philosophers[.] This being my mind I cannot fail to think more honorably of my Friend since the confirmation of my good opinion & I now feel somewhat satisfied that they are correct.

As for the change you suppose to have taken place with respect to my situation and affairs I have to thank my late Master that it is but little¹[.] Of Liberty & time I have if possible less than before tho I hope my circumspection has not at the same time decreased[.] I am well aware of the irreparable evils that an abuse of those blessings will give rise tothese were pointed out to me by common sense nor do I see how anyone who considers his own station and his own free occupations pleasures actions &c. can unwittingly engage himself in them[.] I thank that cause to whom thanks is due that I am not in general a profuse master of those blessings which are bestowed on me as a human being[.] I mean health sensation time & temporal resources - Understand me clearly here for I wish much not to be mis-taken[.] I am well aware of my own nature it is evil and I feel its influence strongly - I know too that - but I find I am passing insensibly to a point of divinity and as those matters are not to be treated lightly I will refrain from pursuing it - all I meant to say on that point was that I keep regular hours enter not intentionally into pleasures productive of evil reverence those who require reverence from me and act up to what the world calls good[.] I appear moral and hope that I am so tho’ at the same time I consider morality only as a lamentably deficient state[.]

I know not whether you are aware of it by any means but my mind delights to occupy itself on serious subjects and am never better pleased than when I am in conversation with a companion of my own turn of mind[.] I have to regret that the expiration of my apprenticeship hath deprived me of the frequent company and conversation of a very serious and improving young companion² but I am now in hopes of a compensation by the acquisition of at times a letter from you - I am very considerably indebted to him for the sober turn or bent of my reason and heartily thank him for it[.] In our various conversations we have frequently touched on the different parts of your letter and I have every reason to suppose that by so doing we have been reciprocally benefitted[.]

I cannot help but be pleased with the earnest manner in which you enforce the necessity of precaution in respect of new acquaintances[.] I have long been conscious of it and it is that consciousness which limits my friends to the very small number that comprises them[.] I feel no hesitation in saying that I scrutinized you long and closely before I satisfyed the doubts in my breast but I now trust they are all allayed[.]

It appears that in the article of experience you are my superior[.] You have been tried[.] If the result of the trial satisfies your own good sense and inward admonitions I rest satisfied that you acted rightly[.] I am well aware that to act rightly is at times difficult[.] Our judgement & good sense is oftentimes opposed and that strongly too by our passions and wishes[.] That we may never give up the first for the sake of the last is the earnest wish of your Friend[.]

I have made use of the term friend several times and in one place I find the expression of common place friendship[.] It will perhaps not be improper at this time to give you my ideas on true friendship and eligible companions - In every action of our lives I conceive that reference ought to be had to a superior being and in nothing ought we to oppose or act contrary to his precepts[.] These ideas make me extremely displeased with the general and also the ancient idea of Friendship[.] A few lines strike upon my mind at this moment they begin thus

(“A generous Friendship no cold medium knows

But with one love with one resentment glows &c)³

and convey sentiments that in my mind gives rise to extreme disgust[.] According to what I have said a few lines above I would define a friend a true friend to be “One who will serve his companion next to his God” nor will I admit that an immoral person can fill completely the character of a true friend - Having this idea of Friendship it was natural for me to make a self inquiry whether I could fill the character but I am not satisfyed with my own conclusions on that point[.] I fear I cannot[.] True friendship I consider as one of the sublimest feelings that the human mind is capable of and requires a mind of almost infinite strength and at the same time of complete self-knowledge such being the case and knowing my own deficiency in those points I must admire it but fear I cannot attain it[.]

The above is my opinion of true friendship a passion or feeling I have never personally met with and a subject that has been understood by very few that I have discussed it with[.] Amongst my companions I am conscious of only one who thinks the same of it that I do but who confesses his inability to fill the character[.]

When meditating and examining the character of a person with respect to his fitness for a companion I go much farther than is generally the case[.] A good companion in the common acceptation of the word is one who is respectable both in connection & manners is not in a lower rank of life than oneself and does not openly or in general act improperly[.] This I say is the common meaning of the word but I am by no means satisfied with it[.] I have met a good companion in the lowest paths of life and I have found such as I despised in a rank far superior to mine[.] A companion cannot be a good one unless he is morally so and however engaging may be his general habits and whatever peculiar circumstances may be connected with him so as to make him desirable Reason & Common Sense point him out as an improper companion or acquaintance unless his nobler faculties his intellectual powers are in proportion as correct as his outward behaviour[.] What am I to think of that person who despising the improvement & rectitude of his mind spends all his efforts on arranging into a nice form his body speach [sic] habits &c is he an estimable character is he a commendable companion no surely not nor will such ever gain my commendation[.]

On recollecting myself I fancy I have said enough on this subject[.] I will therefore draw towards a conclusion[.] Your wellcome letter arrived in Weymouth Street precisely at my dinner hour consequently I got it immediately[.] If at any other time you wish to communicate in haste and will so express it on the exterior of the letter it will be brought to me immediately[.] I am in hopes of again hearing from you at some of your serious moments at which time you of course will express yourself as I have done without ceremony but I must conclude in confidence that you are an eligible companion and wishing that you may attain even to the character of a true friend I remain

Yours dear Abbott Very Sincerely | M. Faraday

I will give you my opinion of the Lecture in my next.

Address: Mr. B. Abbott | Long Lane | Bermonds[e]y