was
that of the Pope Hildebrand and the Countess Matilda of Tuscany.
Their relation was based on veneration for each other's commanding
and austerely virtuous characters, ardent sympathy in convictions,
plans, dangers, labors, and sufferings. They were both supremely
devoted to the Church, to the support of its creed, and to the
extension of its power. An enthusiastic community in so much
experience made them enthusiastic friends. The vile charges of
impurity brought against them by their vulgar foes then, and repeated
since by prejudiced historians, are a matter of indignation and
disgust to every impartial judge.

The most persuasive recommendation of these friendships is seen in
the class of persons who are their most distinguished cultivators and
exemplars. Men overflowing with the tenderest sensibility, devoted to
the loftiest ends, bravest to dare, firmest to suffer, quickest to
renounce, studious, afflicted, holy, unconquerable souls, are the
ones who put the highest estimate on the friendships of women; who
instinctively seek to win the confidence and interest of the best
women they meet; who are surest to surround themselves with a group
of pure and noble women, from whose sympathy, through conversation
and correspondence, they draw unfailing supplies of comfort, strength
and hope. Find a person to whom a tender friendship is an absolute
necessity, as it was to the classic De Tocqueville, who said, "I
cannot be happy, or even calm, unless I meet with the encouragement
and sympathy of some of my fellow-creatures," and you will never find
him sneering at Platonic love. Klopstock, soul of ethereal softness
and sanctity; Jean Paul, who added the finest heart of womanhood to
the athletic soul of manhood; Richardson, so blameless in his life,
so pathetic in his writings, so pleasing in his half naive, half
grandiose, personality; William Humboldt, the loving son and brother,
the irreproachable statesman, the majestic scholar, the model of a
Christian gentleman; Matthieu de Montmorency, hero and saint;
Schleiermacher, the unflinching thinker and prophet, devout rouser,
yearning comrade, encircled by Rahel Levin, Charlotte Von Kathen,
Dorothea Veit, Henrietta Herz, and the rest; Charming, brave seeker
and servant of truth, spotless patriot, lofty friend of humanity,
burning aspirant to God, finest and grandest American character,
these, and such as these, are the men who have most valued
friendships with choice and