But we are not to number our friends by the _visits_ that are made us; and to confound the decencies of _ceremony_ and _commerce_ with the offices of _united affections_. Caius Gracchus, and after him Livius Drusus, were the men that introduced among the Romans the fashion of separating their visitants; some were taken into their _closet,_ others were only admitted into the _antechamber_: and some, again, were fain to wait in the _hall_ perhaps, or in the _court_. So that they had their _first_, their _second,_ and their _third_ rate friends; but none of them true: only they are called so in course, as we salute strangers with some title or other of respect at a venture. There is no depending upon those men that only take their compliment in their turn, and rather slip through the door than enter at it. He will find himself in a great mistake, that either seeks for a friend in a palace, or tries him at a feast.