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+Project Gutenberg's Letters to His Son, 1752, by The Earl of Chesterfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Letters to His Son, 1752
+
+Author: The Earl of Chesterfield
+
+Release Date: December 1, 2004 [EBook #3356]
+[Last updated on February 14, 2007]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1752 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+              LETTERS TO HIS SON
+                    1752
+
+          By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
+
+         on the Fine Art of becoming a
+
+               MAN OF THE WORLD
+
+                   and a
+
+                 GENTLEMAN
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLV
+
+LONDON, January 2, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Laziness of mind, or inattention, are as great enemies to
+knowledge as incapacity; for, in truth, what difference is there between
+a man who will not, and a man who cannot be informed? This difference
+only, that the former is justly to be blamed, the latter to be pitied.
+And yet how many there are, very capable of receiving knowledge, who from
+laziness, inattention, and incuriousness, will not so much as ask for it,
+much less take the least pains to acquire it!
+
+Our young English travelers generally distinguish themselves by a
+voluntary privation of all that useful knowledge for which they are sent
+abroad; and yet, at that age, the most useful knowledge is the most easy
+to be acquired; conversation being the book, and the best book in which
+it is contained. The drudgery of dry grammatical learning is over, and
+the fruits of it are mixed with, and adorned by, the flowers of
+conversation. How many of our young men have been a year at Rome, and as
+long at Paris, without knowing the meaning and institution of the
+Conclave in the former, and of the parliament in the latter? and this
+merely for want of asking the first people they met with in those several
+places, who could at least have given them some general notions of those
+matters.
+
+You will, I hope, be wiser, and omit no opportunity (for opportunities
+present themselves every hour of the day) of acquainting yourself with
+all those political and constitutional particulars of the kingdom and
+government of France. For instance, when you hear people mention le
+Chancelier, or 'le Garde de Sceaux', is it any great trouble for you to
+ask, or for others to tell you, what is the nature, the powers, the
+objects, and the profits of those two employments, either when joined
+together, as they often are, or when separate, as they are at present?
+When you hear of a gouverneur, a lieutenant du Roi, a commandant, and an
+intendant of the same province, is, it not natural, is it not becoming,
+is it not necessary, for a stranger to inquire into their respective
+rights and privileges? And yet, I dare say, there are very few Englishmen
+who know the difference between the civil department of the Intendant,
+and the military powers of the others. When you hear (as I am persuaded
+you must) every day of the 'Vingtieme', which is one in twenty, and
+consequently five per cent., inquire upon what that tax is laid, whether
+upon lands, money, merchandise, or upon all three; how levied, and what
+it is supposed to produce. When you find in books: (as you will
+sometimes) allusion to particular laws and customs, do not rest till you
+have traced them up to their source. To give you two examples: you will
+meet in some French comedies, 'Cri', or 'Clameur de Haro'; ask what it
+means, and you will be told that it is a term of the law in Normandy, and
+means citing, arresting, or obliging any person to appear in the courts
+of justice, either upon a civil or a criminal account; and that it is
+derived from 'a Raoul', which Raoul was anciently Duke of Normandy, and a
+prince eminent for his justice; insomuch, that when any injustice was
+committed, the cry immediately was, 'Venez, a Raoul, a Raoul', which
+words are now corrupted and jumbled into 'haro'. Another, 'Le vol du
+Chapon, that is, a certain district of ground immediately contiguous to
+the mansion-seat of a family, and answers to what we call in English
+DEMESNES. It is in France computed at about 1,600 feet round the house,
+that being supposed to be the extent of the capon's flight from 'la basse
+cour'. This little district must go along with the mansion-seat, however
+the rest of the estate may be divided.
+
+I do not mean that you should be a French lawyer; but I would not have
+you unacquainted with the general principles of their law, in matters
+that occur every day: Such is the nature of their descents, that is, the
+inheritance of lands: Do they all go to the eldest son, or are they
+equally divided among the children of the deceased? In England, all lands
+unsettled descend to the eldest son, as heir-at-law, unless otherwise
+disposed of by the father's will, except in the county of Kent, where a
+particular custom prevails, called Gavelkind; by which, if the father
+dies intestate, all his children divide his lands equally among them. In
+Germany, as you know, all lands that, are not fiefs are equally divided
+among all the children, which ruins those families; but all male fiefs of
+the empire descend unalienably to the next male heir, which preserves
+those families. In France, I believe, descents vary in different
+provinces.
+
+The nature of marriage contracts deserves inquiry. In England, the
+general practice is, the husband takes all the wife's fortune; and in
+consideration of it settles upon her a proper pin-money, as it is called;
+that is, an annuity during his life, and a jointure after his death. In
+France it is not so, particularly at Paris; where 'la communaute des
+biens' is established. Any married woman at Paris (IF YOU ARE ACQUAINTED
+WITH ONE) can inform you of all these particulars.
+
+These and other things of the same nature, are the useful and rational
+objects of the curiosity of a man of sense and business. Could they only
+be attained by laborious researches in folio-books, and wormeaten
+manuscripts, I should not wonder at a young fellow's being ignorant of
+them; but as they are the frequent topics of conversation, and to be
+known by a very little degree of curiosity, inquiry and attention, it is
+unpardonable not to know them.
+
+Thus I have given you some hints only for your inquiries; 'l'Etat de la
+France, l'Almanach Royal', and twenty other such superficial books, will
+furnish you with a thousand more. 'Approfondissez.'
+
+How often, and how justly, have I since regretted negligences of this
+kind in my youth! And how often have I since been at great trouble to
+learn many things which I could then have learned without any! Save
+yourself now, then, I beg of you, that regret and trouble hereafter. Ask
+questions, and many questions; and leave nothing till you are thoroughly
+informed of it. Such pertinent questions are far from being illbred or
+troublesome to those of whom you ask them; on the contrary, they are a
+tacit compliment to their knowledge; and people have a better opinion of
+a young man, when they see him desirous to be informed.
+
+I have by last post received your two letters of the 1st and 5th of
+January, N. S. I am very glad that you have been at all the shows at
+Versailles: frequent the courts. I can conceive the murmurs of the French
+at the poorness of the fireworks, by which they thought their king of
+their country degraded; and, in truth, were things always as they should
+be, when kings give shows they ought to be magnificent.
+
+I thank you for the 'These de la Sorbonne', which you intend to send me,
+and which I am impatient to receive. But pray read it carefully yourself
+first; and inform yourself what the Sorbonne is by whom founded, and for
+what puraoses.
+
+Since you have time, you have done very well to take an Italian and a
+German master; but pray take care to leave yourelf time enough for
+company; for it is in company only that you can learn what will be much
+more useful to you than either Italian or German; I mean 'la politesse,
+les manieres et les graces, without which, as I told you long ago, and I
+told you true, 'ogni fatica a vana'. Adieu.
+
+Pray make my compliments to Lady Brown.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVI
+
+LONDON, January 6, O. S. 1752.
+MY DEAR FRIEND
+
+I recommended to you, in my last, some inquiries into the constitution of
+that famous society the Sorbonne; but as I cannot wholly trust to the
+diligence of those inquiries, I will give you here the outlines of that
+establishment; which may possibly excite you to inform yourself of
+particulars, which you are more 'a portee' to know than I am.
+
+It was founded by Robert de Sorbon, in the year 1256 for sixteen poor
+scholars in divinity; four of each nation, of the university of which it
+made a part; since that it hath been much extended and enriched,
+especially by the liberality and pride of Cardinal Richelieu; who made it
+a magnificent building for six-and-thirty doctors of that society to live
+in; besides which, there are six professors and schools for divinity.
+This society has long been famous for theological knowledge and
+exercitations. There unintelligible points are debated with passion,
+though they can never be determined by reason. Logical subtilties set
+common sense at defiance; and mystical refinements disfigure and disguise
+the native beauty and simplicity of true natural religion; wild
+imaginations form systems, which weak minds adopt implicitly, and which
+sense and reason oppose in vain; their voice is not strong enough to be
+heard in schools of divinity. Political views are by no means neglected
+in those sacred places; and questions are agitated and decided, according
+to the degree of regard, or rather submission, which the Sovereign is
+pleased to show the Church. Is the King a slave to the Church, though a
+tyrant to the laity? The least resistance to his will shall be declared
+damnable. But if he will not acknowledge the superiority of their
+spiritual over his temporal, nor even admit their 'imperium in imperio',
+which is the least they will compound for, it becomes meritorious not
+only to resist, but to depose him. And I suppose that the bold
+propositions in the thesis you mention, are a return for the valuation of
+'les biens du Clerge'.
+
+I would advise you, by all means, to attend to two or three of their
+public disputations, in order to be informed both of the manner and the
+substance of those scholastic exercises. Pray remember to go to all those
+kind of things. Do not put it off, as one is too apt to do those things
+which one knows can be done every day, or any day; for one afterward
+repents extremely, when too late, the not having done them.
+
+But there is another (so-called) religious society, of which the minutest
+circumstance deserves attention, and furnishes great matter for useful
+reflections. You easily guess that I mean the society of 'les R. R. P. P.
+Jesuites', established but in the year 1540, by a Bull of Pope Paul III.
+Its progress, and I may say its victories, were more rapid than those of
+the Romans; for within the same century it governed all Europe; and, in
+the next, it extended its influence over the whole world. Its founder was
+an abandoned profligate Spanish officer, Ignatius Loyola; who, in the
+year 1521, being wounded in the leg at the 'siege of Pampeluna, went mad
+from the smart of his wound, the reproaches of his conscience, and his
+confinement, during which he read the lives of the Saints. Consciousness
+of guilt, a fiery temper, and a wild imagination, the common ingredients
+of enthusiasm, made this madman devote himself to the particular service
+of the Virgin Mary; whose knight-errant he declared himself, in the very
+same form in which the old knight-errants in romances used to declare
+themselves the knights and champions of certain beautiful and
+incomparable princesses, whom sometimes they had, but oftener had not,
+seen. For Dulcinea del Toboso was by no means the first princess whom her
+faithful and valorous knight had never seen in his life. The enthusiast
+went to the Holy Land, from whence he returned to Spain, where he began
+to learn Latin and philosophy at three-and-thirty years old, so that no
+doubt but he made great progress in both. The better to carry on his mad
+and wicked designs, he chose four disciples, or rather apostles, all
+Spaniards, viz, Laynes, Salmeron, Bobadilla, and Rodriguez. He then
+composed the rules and constitutions of his order; which, in the year
+1547, was called the order of Jesuits, from the church of Jesus in Rome,
+which was given them. Ignatius died in 1556, aged sixty-five, thirty-five
+years after his conversion, and sixteen years after the establishment of
+his society. He was canonized in the year 1609, and is doubtless now a
+saint in heaven.
+
+If the religious and moral principles of this society are to be detested,
+as they justly are, the wisdom of their political principles is as justly
+to be admired. Suspected, collectively as an order, of the greatest
+crimes, and convicted of many, they have either escaped punishment, or
+triumphed after it; as in France, in the reign of Henry IV. They have,
+directly or indirectly, governed the consciences and the councils of all
+the Catholic princes in Europe; they almost governed China in the reign
+of Cangghi; and they are now actually in possession of the Paraguay in
+America, pretending, but paying no obedience to the Crown of Spain. As a
+collective body they are detested, even by all the Catholics, not
+excepting the clergy, both secular and regular, and yet, as individuals,
+they are loved, respected, and they govern wherever they are.
+
+Two things, I believe, contribute to their success. The first, that
+passive, implicit, unlimited obedience to their General (who always
+resides at Rome), and to the superiors of their several houses, appointed
+by him. This obedience is observed by them all to a most astonishing
+degree; and, I believe, there is no one society in the world, of which so
+many individuals sacrifice their private interest to the general one of
+the society itself. The second is the education of youth, which they have
+in a manner engrossed; there they give the first, and the first are the
+lasting impressions; those impressions are always calculated to be
+favorable to the society. I have known many Catholics, educated by the
+Jesuits, who, though they detested the society, from reason and
+knowledge, have always remained attached to it, from habit and prejudice.
+The Jesuits know, better than any set of people in the world, the
+importance of the art of pleasing, and study it more; they become all
+things to all men in order to gain, not a few, but many. In Asia, Africa,
+and America they become more than half pagans, in order to convert the
+pagans to be less than half Christians. In private families they begin by
+insinuating themselves as friends, they grow to be favorites, and they
+end DIRECTORS. Their manners are not like those of any other regulars in
+the world, but gentle, polite, and engaging. They are all carefully bred
+up to that particular destination, to which they seem to have a natural
+turn; for which reason one sees most Jesuits excel in some particular
+thing. They even breed up some for martyrdom in case of need; as the
+superior of a Jesuit seminary at Rome told Lord Bolingbroke. 'E abbiamo
+anche martiri per il martirio, se bisogna'.
+
+Inform yourself minutely of everything concerning this extraordinary
+establishment; go into their houses, get acquainted with individuals,
+hear some of them preach. The finest preacher I ever heard in my life is
+le Pere Neufville, who, I believe, preaches still at Paris, and is so
+much in the best company, that you may easily get personally acquainted
+with him.
+
+If you would know their 'morale' read Pascal's 'Lettres Provinciales', in
+which it is very truly displayed from their own writings.
+
+Upon the whole, this is certain, that a society of which so little good
+is said, and so much ill believed, and that still not only subsists, but
+flourishes, must be a very able one. It is always mentioned as a proof of
+the superior abilities of the Cardinal Richelieu, that, though hated by
+all the nation, and still more by his master, he kept his power in spite
+of both.
+
+I would earnestly wish you to do everything now, which I wish, that I had
+done at your age, and did not do. Every country has its peculiarities,
+which one can be much better informed of during one's residence there,
+than by reading all the books in the world afterward. While you are in
+Catholic countries, inform yourself of all the forms and ceremonies of
+that tawdry church; see their converts both of men and women, know their
+several rules and orders, attend their most remarkable ceremonies; have
+their terms of art explained to you, their 'tierce, sexte, nones,
+matines; vepres, complies'; their 'breviares, rosaires, heures,
+chapelets, agnus', etc., things that many people talk of from habit,
+though few people know the true meaning of anyone of them. Converse with,
+and study the characters of some of those incarcerated enthusiasts.
+Frequent some 'parloirs', and see the air and manners of those Recluse,
+who are a distinct nation themselves, and like no other.
+
+I dined yesterday with Mrs. F----d, her mother and husband. He is an
+athletic Hibernian, handsome in his person, but excessively awkward and
+vulgar in his air and manner. She inquired much after you, and, I
+thought, with interest. I answered her as a 'Mezzano' should do: 'Et je
+pronai votre tendresse, vos soins, et vos soupirs'.
+
+When you meet with any British returning to their own country, pray send
+me by them any little 'brochures, factums, theses', etc., 'qui font du
+bruit ou du plaisir a Paris'. Adieu, child.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVII
+
+LONDON, January 23, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Have you seen the new tragedy of Varon,--[Written by the
+Vicomte de Grave; and at that time the general topic of conversation at
+Paris.]--and what do you think of it? Let me know, for I am determined to
+form my taste upon yours. I hear that the situations and incidents are
+well brought on, and the catastrophe unexpected and surprising, but the
+verses bad. I suppose it is the subject of all conversations at Paris,
+where both women and men are judges and critics of all such performances;
+such conversations, that both form and improve the taste, and whet the
+judgment; are surely preferable to the conversations of our mixed
+companies here; which, if they happen to rise above bragg and whist,
+infallibly stop short of everything either pleasing or instructive.
+
+I take the reason of this to be, that (as women generally give the 'ton'
+to the conversation) our English women are not near so well informed and
+cultivated as the French; besides that they are naturally more serious
+and silent.
+
+I could wish there were a treaty made between the French and English
+theatres, in which both parties should make considerable concessions. The
+English ought to give up their notorious violations of all the unities;
+and all their massacres, racks, dead bodies, and mangled carcasses, which
+they so frequently exhibit upon their stage. The French should engage to
+have more action and less declamation; and not to cram and crowd things
+together, to almost a degree of impossibility, from a too scrupulous
+adherence to the unities. The English should restrain the licentiousness
+of their poets, and the French enlarge the liberty of theirs; their poets
+are the greatest slaves in their country, and that is a bold word; ours
+are the most tumultuous subjects in England, and that is saying a good
+deal. Under such regulations one might hope to see a play in which one
+should not be lulled to sleep by the length of a monotonical declamation,
+nor frightened and shocked by the barbarity of the action. The unity of
+time extended occasionally to three or four days, and the unity of place
+broke into, as far as the same street, or sometimes the same town; both
+which, I will affirm, are as probable as four-and-twenty hours, and the
+same room.
+
+More indulgence too, in my mind, should be shown, than the French are
+willing to allow, to bright thoughts, and to shining images; for though,
+I confess, it is not very natural for a hero or a princess to say fine
+things in all the violence of grief, love, rage, etc., yet, I can as well
+suppose that, as I can that they should talk to themselves for half an
+hour; which they must necessarily do, or no tragedy could be carried on,
+unless they had recourse to a much greater absurdity, the choruses of the
+ancients. Tragedy is of a nature, that one must see it with a degree of
+self-deception; we must lend ourselves a little to the delusion; and I am
+very willing to carry that complaisance a little farther than the French
+do.
+
+Tragedy must be something bigger than life, or it would not affect us. In
+nature the most violent passions are silent; in tragedy they must speak,
+and speak with dignity too. Hence the necessity of their being written in
+verse, and unfortunately for the French, from the weakness of their
+language, in rhymes. And for the same reason, Cato the Stoic, expiring at
+Utica, rhymes masculine and feminine at Paris; and fetches his last
+breath at London, in most harmmonious and correct blank verse.
+
+It is quite otherwise with Comedy, which should be mere common life, and
+not one jot bigger. Every character should speak upon the stage, not only
+what it would utter in the situation there represented, but in the same
+manner in which it would express it. For which reason I cannot allow
+rhymes in comedy, unless they were put into the mouth, and came out of
+the mouth of a mad poet. But it is impossible to deceive one's self
+enough (nor is it the least necessary in comedy) to suppose a dull rogue
+of an usurer cheating, or 'gross Jean' blundering in the finest rhymes in
+the world.
+
+As for Operas, they are essentially too absurd and extravagant to
+mention; I look upon them as a magic scene, contrived to please the eyes
+and the ears, at the expense of the understanding; and I consider
+singing, rhyming, and chiming heroes, and princesses, and philosophers,
+as I do the hills, the trees, the birds, and the beasts, who amicably
+joined in one common country dance, to the irresistible turn of Orpheus's
+lyre. Whenever I go to an opera, I leave my sense and reason at the door
+with my half guinea, and deliver myself up to my eyes and my ears.
+
+Thus I have made you my poetical confession; in which I have acknowledged
+as many sins against the established taste in both countries, as a frank
+heretic could have owned against the established church in either, but I
+am now privileged by my age to taste and think for myself, and not to
+care what other people think of me in those respects; an advantage which
+youth, among its many advantages, hath not. It must occasionally and
+outwardly conform, to a certain degree, to establish tastes, fashions,
+and decisions. A young man may, with a becoming modesty, dissent, in
+private companies, from public opinions and prejudices: but he must not
+attack them with warmth, nor magisterially set up his own sentiments
+against them. Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions; receive them with
+complaisance; form your own with coolness, and give it with modesty.
+
+I have received a letter from Sir John Lambert, in which he requests me
+to use my interest to procure him the remittance of Mr. Spencer's money,
+when he goes abroad and also desires to know to whose account he is to
+place the postage of my letters. I do not trouble him with a letter in
+answer, since you can execute the commission. Pray make my compliments to
+him, and assure him that I will do all I can to procure him Mr. Spencer's
+business; but that his most effectual way will be by Messrs. Hoare, who
+are Mr. Spencer's cashiers, and who will undoubtedly have their choice
+upon whom they will give him his credit. As for the postage of the
+letters, your purse and mine being pretty near the same, do you pay it,
+over and above your next draught.
+
+Your relations, the Princes B-----, will soon be with you at Paris; for
+they leave London this week: whenever you converse with them, I desire it
+may be in Italian; that language not being yet familiar enough to you.
+
+By our printed papers, there seems to be a sort of compromise between the
+King and the parliament, with regard to the affairs of the hospitals, by
+taking them out of the hands of the Archbishop of Paris, and placing them
+in Monsieur d'Argenson's: if this be true, that compromise, as it is
+called, is clearly a victory on the side of the court, and a defeat on
+the part of the parliament; for if the parliament had a right, they had
+it as much to the exclusion of Monsieur d'Argenson as of the Archbishop.
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVIII
+
+LONDON, February 6, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Your criticism of Varon is strictly just; but, in truth,
+severe. You French critics seek for a fault as eagerly as I do for a
+beauty: you consider things in the worst light, to show your skill, at
+the expense of your pleasure; I view them in the best, that I may have
+more pleasure, though at the expense of my judgment. A 'trompeur trompeur
+et demi' is prettily said; and, if you please, you may call 'Varon, un
+Normand', and 'Sostrate, un Manceau, qui vaut un Normand et demi'; and,
+considering the 'denouement' in the light of trick upon trick, it would
+undoubtedly be below the dignity of the buskin, and fitter for the sock.
+
+But let us see if we cannot bring off the author. The great question upon
+which all turns, is to discover and ascertain who Cleonice really is.
+There are doubts concerning her 'etat'; how shall they be cleared? Had
+the truth been extorted from Varon (who alone knew) by the rack, it would
+have been a true tragical 'denouement'. But that would probably not have
+done with Varon, who is represented as a bold, determined, wicked, and at
+that time desperate fellow; for he was in the hands of an enemy who he
+knew could not forgive him, with common prudence or safety. The rack
+would, therefore, have extorted no truth from him; but he would have died
+enjoying the doubts of his enemies, and the confusion that must
+necessarily attend those doubts. A stratagem is therefore thought of to
+discover what force and terror could not, and the stratagem such as no
+king or minister would disdain, to get at an important discovery. If you
+call that stratagem a TRICK, you vilify it, and make it comical; but call
+that trick a STRATAGEM, or a MEASURE, and you dignify it up to tragedy:
+so frequently do ridicule or dignity turn upon one single word. It is
+commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule
+is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not
+just. I deny it. A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in
+certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become
+ridiculous, at least so far that the truth is only remembered and
+repeated for the sake of the ridicule. The overturn of Mary of Medicis
+into a river, where she was half-drowned, would never have been
+remembered if Madame de Vernuel, who saw it, had not said 'la Reine
+boit'. Pleasure or malignity often gives ridicule a weight which it does
+not deserve. The versification, I must confess, is too much neglected and
+too often bad: but, upon the whole, I read the play with pleasure.
+
+If there is but a great deal of wit and character in your new comedy, I
+will readily compound for its having little or no plot. I chiefly mind
+dialogue and character in comedies. Let dull critics feed upon the
+carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing.
+
+I am very glad you went to Versailles to see the ceremony of creating the
+Prince de Conde 'Chevalier de l' Ordre'; and I do not doubt but that upon
+this occasion you informed yourself thoroughly of the institution and
+rules of that order. If you did, you were certainly told it was
+instituted by Henry III. immediately after his return, or rather his
+flight from Poland; he took the hint of it at Venice, where he had seen
+the original manuscript of an order of the 'St. Esprit, ou droit desir',
+which had been instituted in 1352, by Louis d'Anjou, King of Jerusalem
+and Sicily, and husband to Jane, Queen of Naples, Countess of Provence.
+This Order was under the protection of St. Nicholas de Bari, whose image
+hung to the collar. Henry III. found the Order of St. Michael prostituted
+and degraded, during the civil wars; he therefore joined it to his new
+Order of the St. Esprit, and gave them both together; for which reason
+every knight of the St. Esprit is now called Chevalier des Ordres du Roi.
+The number of the knights hath been different, but is now fixed to ONE
+HUNDRED, exclusive of the sovereign. There, are many officers who wear
+the riband of this Order, like the other knights; and what is very
+singular is, that these officers frequently sell their employments, but
+obtain leave to wear the blue riband still, though the purchasers of
+those offices wear it also.
+
+As you will have been a great while in France, people will expect that
+you should be 'au fait' of all these sort of things relative to that
+country. But the history of all the Orders of all countries is well worth
+your knowledge; the subject occurs often, and one should not be ignorant
+of it, for fear of some such accident as happened to a solid Dane at
+Paris, who, upon seeing 'L'Ordre du St. Esprit', said, 'Notre St. Esprit
+chez nous c'est un Elephant'. Almost all the princes in Germany have
+their Orders too; not dated, indeed, from any important events, or
+directed to any great object, but because they will have orders, to show
+that they may; as some of them, who have the 'jus cudendae monetae',
+borrow ten shillings worth of gold to coin a ducat. However, wherever you
+meet with them, inform yourself, and minute down a short account of them;
+they take in all the colors of Sir Isaac Newton's prisms. N. B: When you
+inquire about them, do not seem to laugh.
+
+I thank you for le Mandement de Monseigneur l'Archeveyue; it is very well
+drawn, and becoming an archbishop. But pray do not lose sight of a much
+more important object, I mean the political disputes between the King and
+the parliament, and the King and the clergy; they seem both to be
+patching up; but, however, get the whole clue to them, as far as they
+have gone.
+
+I received a letter yesterday from Madame Monconseil, who assures me you
+have gained ground 'du cote des maniires', and that she looks upon you to
+be 'plus qu'a moitie chemin'. I am very glad to hear this, because, if
+you are got above half way of your journey, surely you will finish it,
+and not faint in the course. Why do you think I have this affair so
+extremely at heart, and why do I repeat it so often? Is it for your sake,
+or for mine? You can immediately answer yourself that question; you
+certainly have--I cannot possibly have any interest in it. If then you
+will allow me, as I believe you may, to be a judge of what is useful and
+necessary to you, you must, in consequence, be convinced of the infinite
+importance of a point which I take so much pains to inculcate.
+
+I hear that the new Duke of Orleans 'a remercie Monsieur de Melfort, and
+I believe, 'pas sans raison', having had obligations to him; 'mais il ne
+l'a pas remercie en mari poli', but rather roughly. Il faut que ce soit
+un bourru'. I am told, too, that people get bits of his father's rags, by
+way of relies; I wish them joy, they will do them a great deal of good.
+See from hence what weaknesses human nature is capable of, and make
+allowances for such in all your plans and reasonings. Study the
+characters of the people you have to do with, and know what they are,
+instead of thinking them what they should be; address yourself generally
+to the senses, to the heart, and to the weaknesses of mankind, but very
+rarely to their reason.
+
+Good-night or good-morrow to you, according to the time you shall receive
+this letter from, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLIX
+
+LONDON, February 14, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In a month's time, I believe I shall have the pleasure of
+sending you, and you will have the pleasure of reading, a work of Lord
+Bolingbroke's, in two volumes octavo, "Upon the Use of History," in
+several letters to Lord Hyde, then Lord Cornbury. It is now put into the
+press. It is hard to determine whether this work will instruct or please
+most: the most material historical facts, from the great era of the
+treaty of Munster, are touched upon, accompanied by the most solid
+reflections, and adorned by all that elegance of style which was peculiar
+to himself, and in which, if Cicero equals, he certainly does not exceed
+him; but every other writer falls short of him. I would advise you almost
+to get this book by heart. I think you have a turn to history, you love
+it, and have a memory to retain it: this book will teach you the proper
+use of it. Some people load their memories indiscriminately with
+historical facts, as others do their stomachs with food; and bring out
+the one, and bring up the other, entirely crude and undigested. You will
+find in Lord Bolingbroke's book an infallible specific against that
+epidemical complaint.--[It is important to remember that at this time
+Lord Bolingbroke's philosophical works had not appeared; which accounts
+for Lord Chesterfield's recommending to his son, in this, as well as in
+some foregoing passages, the study of Lord Bolingbroke's writings.]
+
+I remember a gentleman who had read history in this thoughtless and
+undistinguishing manner, and who, having traveled, had gone through the
+Valtelline. He told me that it was a miserable poor country, and
+therefore it was, surely, a great error in Cardinal Richelieu to make
+such a rout, and put France to so much expense about it. Had my friend
+read history as he ought to have done, he would have known that the great
+object of that great minister was to reduce the power of the House of
+Austria; and in order to that, to cut off as much as he could the
+communication between the several parts of their then extensive
+dominions; which reflections would have justified the Cardinal to him, in
+the affair of the Valtelline. But it was easier to him to remember facts,
+than to combine and reflect.
+
+One observation I hope you will make in reading history; for it is an
+obvious and a true one. It is, that more people have made great figures
+and great fortunes in courts by their exterior accomplishments, than by
+their interior qualifications. Their engaging address, the politeness of
+their manners, their air, their turn, hath almost always paved the way
+for their superior abilities, if they have such, to exert themselves.
+They have been favorites before they have been ministers. In courts, an
+universal gentleness and 'douceur dans les manieres' is most absolutely
+necessary: an offended fool, or a slighted valet de chambre, may very
+possibly do you more hurt at court, than ten men of merit can do you
+good. Fools, and low people, are always jealous of their dignity, and
+never forget nor forgive what they reckon a slight: on the other hand,
+they take civility and a little attention as a favor; remember, and
+acknowledge it: this, in my mind, is buying them cheap; and therefore
+they are worth buying. The prince himself, who is rarely the shining
+genius of his court, esteems you only by hearsay but likes you by his
+senses; that is, from your air, your politeness, and your manner of
+addressing him, of which alone he is a judge. There is a court garment,
+as well as a wedding garment, without which you will not be received.
+That garment is the 'volto sciolto'; an imposing air, an elegant
+politeness, easy and engaging manners, universal attention, an
+insinuating gentleness, and all those 'je ne sais quoi' that compose the
+GRACES.
+
+I am this moment disagreeably interrupted by a letter; not from you, as I
+expected, but from a friend of yours at Paris, who informs me that you
+have a fever which confines you at home. Since you have a fever, I am
+glad you have prudence enough in it to stay at home, and take care of
+yourself; a little more prudence might probably have prevented it. Your
+blood is young, and consequently hot; and you naturally make a great deal
+by your good stomach and good digestion; you should, therefore,
+necessarily attenuate and cool it, from time to time, by gentle purges,
+or by a very low diet, for two or three days together, if you would avoid
+fevers. Lord Bacon, who was a very great physician in both senses of the
+word, hath this aphorism in his "Essay upon Health," 'Nihil magis ad
+Sanitatem tribuit quam crebrae et domesticae purgationes'. By
+'domesticae', he means those simple uncompounded purgatives which
+everybody can administer to themselves; such as senna-tea, stewed prunes
+and senria, chewing a little rhubarb, or dissolving an ounce and a half
+of manna in fair water, with the juice of a lemon to make it palatable.
+Such gentle and unconfining evacuations would certainly prevent those
+feverish attacks to which everybody at your age is subject.
+
+By the way, I do desire, and insist, that whenever, from any
+indisposition, you are not able to write to me upon the fixed days, that
+Christian shall; and give me a TRUE account how you are. I do not expect
+from him the Ciceronian epistolary style; but I will content myself with
+the Swiss simplicity and truth.
+
+I hope you extend your acquaintance at Paris, and frequent variety of
+companies; the only way of knowing the world; every set of company
+differs in some particulars from another; and a man of business must, in
+the course of his life, have to do with all sorts. It is a very great
+advantage to know the languages of the several countries one travels in;
+and different companies may, in some degree, be considered as different
+countries; each hath its distinctive language, customs, and manners: know
+them all, and you will wonder at none.
+
+Adieu, child. Take care of your health; there are no pleasures without
+it.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLX
+
+LONDON, February 20, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In all systems whatsoever, whether of religion,
+government, morals, etc., perfection is the object always proposed,
+though possibly unattainable; hitherto, at least, certainly unattained.
+However, those who aim carefully at the mark itself, will unquestionably
+come nearer it, than those who from despair, negligence, or indolence,
+leave to chance the work of skill. This maxim holds equally true in
+common life; those who aim at perfection will come infinitely nearer it
+than those desponding or indolent spirits, who foolishly say to
+themselves: Nobody is perfect; perfection is unattainable; to attempt it
+is chimerical; I shall do as well as others; why then should I give
+myself trouble to be what I never can, and what, according to the common
+course of things, I need not be, PERFECT?
+
+I am very sure that I need not point out to you the weakness and the
+folly of this reasoning, if it deserves the name of reasoning. It would
+discourage and put a stop to the exertion of any one of our faculties. On
+the contrary, a man of sense and spirit says to himself: Though the point
+of perfection may (considering the imperfection of our nature) be
+unattainable, my care, my endeavors, my attention, shall not be wanting
+to get as near it as I can. I will approach it every day, possibly, I may
+arrive at it at last; at least, what I am sure is in my own power, I will
+not be distanced. Many fools (speaking of you) say to me: What! would you
+have him perfect? I answer: Why not? What hurt would it do him or me? O,
+but that is impossible, say they; I reply, I am not sure of that:
+perfection in the abstract, I admit to be unattainable, but what is
+commonly called perfection in a character I maintain to be attainable,
+and not only that, but in every man's power. He hath, continue they, a
+good head, a good heart, a good fund of knowledge, which would increase
+daily: What would you have more? Why, I would have everything more that
+can adorn and complete a character. Will it do his head, his heart, or
+his knowledge any harm, to have the utmost delicacy of manners, the most
+shining advantages of air and address, the most endearing attentions, and
+the most engaging graces? But as he is, say they, he is loved wherever he
+is known. I am very glad of it, say I; but I would have him be liked
+before he is known, and loved afterward. I would have him, by his first
+abord and address, make people wish to know him, and inclined to love
+him: he will save a great deal of time by it. Indeed, reply they, you are
+too nice, too exact, and lay too much stress upon things that are of very
+little consequence. Indeed, rejoin I, you know very little of the nature
+of mankind, if you take those things to be of little consequence: one
+cannot be too attentive to them; it is they that always engage the heart,
+of which the understanding is commonly the bubble. And I would much
+rather that he erred in a point of grammar, of history, of philosophy,
+etc., than in point of manners and address. But consider, he is very
+young; all this will come in time. I hope so; but that time must be when
+he is young, or it will never be at all; the right 'pli' must be taken
+young, or it will never be easy or seem natural. Come, come, say they
+(substituting, as is frequently done, assertion instead of argument),
+depend upon it he will do very well: and you have a great deal of reason
+to be satisfied with him. I hope and believe he will do well, but I would
+have him do better than well. I am very well pleased with him, but I
+would be more, I would be proud of him. I would have him have lustre as
+well as weight. Did you ever know anybody that reunited all these
+talents? Yes, I did; Lord Bolingbroke joined all the politeness, the
+manners, and the graces of a courtier, to the solidity of a statesman,
+and to the learning of a pedant. He was 'omnis homo'; and pray what
+should hinder my boy from being so too, if he 'hath, as I think he hath,
+all the other qualifications that you allow him? Nothing can hinder him,
+but neglect of or inattention to, those objects which his own good sense
+must tell him are, of infinite consequence to him, and which therefore I
+will not suppose him capable of either neglecting or despising.
+
+This (to tell you the whole truth) is the result of a controversy that
+passed yesterday, between Lady Hervey and myself, upon your subject, and
+almost in the very words. I submit the decision of it to yourself; let
+your own good sense determine it, and make you act in consequence of that
+determination. The receipt to make this composition is short and
+infallible; here I give it to you:
+
+Take variety of the best company, wherever you are; be minutely attentive
+to every word and action; imitate respectively those whom you observe to
+be distinguished and considered for any one accomplishment; then mix all
+those several accomplishments together, and serve them up yourself to
+others.
+
+I hope your fair, or rather your brown AMERICAN is well. I hear that she
+makes very handsome presents, if she is not so herself. I am told there
+are people at Paris who expect, from this secret connection, to see in
+time a volume of letters, superior to Madame de Graffiny's Peruvian ones;
+I lay in my claim to one of the first copies.
+
+Francis's Genie--[Francis's "Eugenia."]--hath been acted twice, with most
+universal applause; to-night is his third night, and I am going to it. I
+did not think it would have succeeded so well, considering how long our
+British audiences have been accustomed to murder, racks, and poison, in
+every tragedy; but it affected the heart so much, that it triumphed over
+habit and prejudice. All the women cried, and all the men were moved. The
+prologue, which is a very good one, was made entirely by Garrick. The
+epilogue is old Cibber's; but corrected, though not enough, by Francis.
+He will get a great deal of, money by it; and, consequently, be better
+able to lend you sixpence, upon any emergency.
+
+The parliament of Paris, I find by the newspapers, has not carried its
+point concerning the hospitals, and, though the King hath given up the
+Archbishop, yet as he has put them under the management and direction 'du
+Grand Conseil', the parliament is equally out of the question. This will
+naturally put you upon inquiring into the constitution of the 'Grand
+Conseil'. You will, doubtless, inform yourself who it is composed of,
+what things are 'de son ressort', whether or not there lies an appeal
+from thence to any other place; and of all other particulars, that may
+give you a clear notion of this assembly. There are also three or four
+other Conseils in France, of which you ought to know the constitution and
+the objects; I dare say you do know them already; but if you do not, lose
+no time in informing yourself. These things, as I have often told you,
+are best learned in various French companies: but in no English ones, for
+none of our countrymen trouble their heads about them. To use a very
+trite image, collect, like the bee, your store from every quarter. In
+some companies ('parmi les fermiers generaux nommement') you may, by
+proper inquiries, get a general knowledge, at least, of 'les affaires des
+finances'. When you are with 'des gens de robe', suck them with regard to
+the constitution, and civil government, and 'sic de caeteris'. This shows
+you the advantage of keeping a great deal of different French company; an
+advantage much superior to any that you can possibly receive from
+loitering and sauntering away evenings in any English company at Paris,
+not even excepting Lord A------. Love of ease, and fear of restraint (to
+both which I doubt you are, for a young fellow, too much addicted) may
+invite you among your countrymen: but pray withstand those mean
+temptations, 'et prenez sur vous', for the sake of being in those
+assemblies, which alone can inform your mind and improve your manners.
+You have not now many months to continue at Paris; make the most of them;
+get into every house there, if you can; extend acquaintance, know
+everything and everybody there; that when you leave it for other places,
+you may be 'au fait', and even able to explain whatever you may hear
+mentioned concerning it. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXI
+
+LONDON, March 2, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Whereabouts are you in Ariosto? Or have you gone through
+that most ingenious contexture of truth and lies, of serious and
+extravagant, of knights-errant, magicians, and all that various matter
+which he announces in the beginning of his poem:
+
+        Le Donne, I Cavalier, l'arme, gli amori,
+        Le cortesie, l'audaci impreso io canto.
+
+I am by no means sure that Homer had superior invention, or excelled more
+in description than Ariosto. What can be more seducing and voluptuous,
+than the description of Alcina's person and palace? What more ingeniously
+extravagant, than the search made in the moon for Orlando's lost wits,
+and the account of other people's that were found there? The whole is
+worth your attention, not only as an ingenious poem, but as the source of
+all modern tales, novels, fables, and romances; as Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses;" was of the ancient ones; besides, that when you have
+read this work, nothing will be difficult to you in the Italian language.
+You will read Tasso's 'Gierusalemme', and the 'Decamerone di Boccacio',
+with great facility afterward; and when you have read those three
+authors, you will, in my opinion, have read all the works of invention
+that are worth reading in that language; though the Italians would be
+very angry at me for saying so.
+
+A gentleman should know those which I call classical works, in every
+language; such as Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Moliere, etc., in French;
+Milton, Dryden, Pope, Swift, etc., in English; and the three authors
+above mentioned in Italian; whether you have any such in German I am not
+quite sure, nor, indeed, am I inquisitive. These sort of books adorn the
+mind, improve the fancy, are frequently alluded to by, and are often the
+subjects of conversations of the best companies. As you have languages to
+read, and memory to retain them, the knowledge of them is very well worth
+the little pains it will cost you, and will enable you to shine in
+company. It is not pedantic to quote and allude to them, which it would
+be with regard to the ancients.
+
+Among the many advantages which you have had in your education, I do not
+consider your knowledge of several languages as the least. You need not
+trust to translations; you can go to the source; you can both converse
+and negotiate with people of all nations, upon equal terms; which is by
+no means the case of a man, who converses or negotiates in a language
+which those with whom he hath to do know much better than himself. In
+business, a great deal may depend upon the force and extent of one word;
+and, in conversation, a moderate thought may gain, or a good one lose, by
+the propriety or impropriety, the elegance or inelegance of one single
+word. As therefore you now know four modern languages well, I would have
+you study (and, by the way, it will be very little trouble to you) to
+know them correctly, accurately, and delicately. Read some little books
+that treat of them, and ask questions concerning their delicacies, of
+those who are able to answer you. As, for instance, should I say in
+French, 'la lettre que je vous ai ECRIT', or, 'la lettre que je vous ai
+ECRITE'? in which, I think, the French differ among themselves. There is
+a short French grammar by the Port Royal, and another by Pere Buffier,
+both which are worth your reading; as is also a little book called 'Les
+Synonymes Francois. There are books of that kind upon the Italian
+language, into some of which I would advise you to dip; possibly the
+German language may have something of the same sort, and since you
+already speak it, the more properly you speak it the better; one would, I
+think, as far as possible, do all one does correctly and elegantly. It is
+extremely engaging to people of every nation, to meet with a foreigner
+who hath taken pains enough to speak their language correctly; it
+flatters that local and national pride and prejudice of which everybody
+hath some share.
+
+Francis's "Eugenia," which I will send you, pleased most people of good
+taste here; the boxes were crowded till the sixth night, when the pit and
+gallery were totally deserted, and it was dropped. Distress, without
+death, was not sufficient to affect a true British audience, so long
+accustomed to daggers, racks, and bowls of poison: contrary to Horace's
+rule, they desire to see Medea murder her children upon the stage. The
+sentiments were too delicate to move them; and their hearts are to be
+taken by storm, not by parley.
+
+Have you got the things, which were taken from you at Calais, restored?
+and, among them, the little packet which my sister gave you for Sir
+Charles Hotham? In this case, have you forwarded it to him? If you have
+not had an opportunity, you will have one soon; which I desire you will
+not omit; it is by Monsieur d'Aillion, whom you will see in a few days at
+Paris, in his way to Geneva, where Sir Charles now is, and will remain
+some time. Adieu:
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXII
+
+LONDON, March 5, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have received no letter from you by the usual post,
+I am uneasy upon account of your health; for, had you been well, I am
+sure you would have written, according to your engagement and my
+requisition. You have not the least notion of any care of your health;
+but though I would not have you be a valetudinarian, I must tell you that
+the best and most robust health requires some degree of attention to
+preserve. Young fellows, thinking they have so much health and time
+before them, are very apt to neglect or lavish both, and beggar
+themselves before they are aware: whereas a prudent economy in both would
+make them rich indeed; and so far from breaking in upon their pleasures,
+would improve, and almost perpetuate them. Be you wiser, and, before it
+is too late, manage both with care and frugality; and lay out neither,
+but upon good interest and security.
+
+I will now confine myself to the employment of your time, which, though I
+have often touched upon formerly, is a subject that, from its importance,
+will bear repetition. You have it is true, a great deal of time before
+you; but, in this period of your life, one hour usefully employed may be
+worth more than four-and-twenty hereafter; a minute is precious to you
+now, whole days may possibly not be so forty years hence. Whatever time
+you allow, or can snatch for serious reading (I say snatch, because
+company and the knowledge of the world is now your chief object), employ
+it in the reading of some one book, and that a good one, till you have
+finished it: and do not distract your mind with various matters at the
+same time. In this light I would recommend to you to read 'tout de suite'
+Grotius 'de Jure Belli et Pacis', translated by Barbeyrac, and
+Puffendorff's 'Jus Gentium', translated by the same hand. For accidental
+quarters of hours, read works of invention, wit and humor, of the best,
+and not of trivial authors, either ancient or modern.
+
+Whatever business you have, do it the first moment you can; never by
+halves, but finish it without interruption, if possible. Business must
+not be sauntered and trifled with; and you must not say to it, as Felix
+did to Paul, "At a more convenient season I will speak to thee." The most
+convenient season for business is the first; but study and business in
+some measure point out their own times to a man of sense; time is much
+oftener squandered away in the wrong choice and improper methods of
+amusement and pleasures.
+
+Many people think that they are in pleasures, provided they are neither
+in study nor in business. Nothing like it; they are doing nothing, and
+might just as well be asleep. They contract habitudes from laziness, and
+they only frequent those places where they are free from all restraints
+and attentions. Be upon your guard against this idle profusion of time;
+and let every place you go to be either the scene of quick and lively
+pleasures, or the school of your own improvements; let every company you
+go into either gratify your senses, extend your knowledge, or refine your
+manners. Have some decent object of gallantry in view at some places;
+frequent others, where people of wit and taste assemble; get into others,
+where people of superior rank and dignity command respect and attention
+from the rest of the company; but pray frequent no neutral places, from
+mere idleness and indolence. Nothing forms a young man so much as being
+used to keep respectable and superior company, where a constant regard
+and attention is necessary. It is true, this is at first a disagreeable
+state of restraint; but it soon grows habitual, and consequently easy;
+and you are amply paid for it, by the improvement you make, and the
+credit it gives you. What you said some time ago was very true,
+concerning 'le Palais Royal'; to one of your age the situation is
+disagreeable enough: you cannot expect to be much taken notice of; but
+all that time you can take notice of others; observe their manners,
+decipher their characters, and insensibly you will become one of the
+company.
+
+All this I went through myself, when I was of your age. I have sat hours
+in company without being taken the least notice of; but then I took
+notice of them, and learned in their company how to behave myself better
+in the next, till by degrees I became part of the best companies myself.
+But I took great care not to lavish away my time in those companies where
+there were neither quick pleasures nor useful improvements to be
+expected.
+
+Sloth, indolence, and 'mollesse' are pernicious and unbecoming a young
+fellow; let them be your 'ressource' forty years hence at soonest.
+Determine, at all events, and however disagreeable it may to you in some
+respects, and for some time, to keep the most distinguished and
+fashionable company of the place you are at, either for their rank, or
+for their learning, or 'le bel esprit et le gout'. This gives you
+credentials to the best companies, wherever you go afterward. Pray,
+therefore, no indolence, no laziness; but employ every minute in your
+life in active pleasures, or useful employments. Address yourself to some
+woman of fashion and beauty, wherever you are, and try how far that will
+go. If the place be not secured beforehand, and garrisoned, nine times in
+ten you will take it. By attentions and respect you may always get into
+the highest company: and by some admiration and applause, whether merited
+or not, you may be sure of being welcome among 'les savans et les beaux
+esprits'. There are but these three sorts of company for a young fellow;
+there being neither pleasure nor profit in any other.
+
+My uneasiness with regard to your health is this moment removed by your
+letter of the 8th N. S., which, by what accident I do not know, I did not
+receive before.
+
+I long to read Voltaire's 'Rome Sauvee', which, by the very faults that
+your SEVERE critics find with it, I am sure I shall like; for I will at
+an any time give up a good deal of regularity for a great deal of
+brillant; and for the brillant surely nobody is equal to Voltaire.
+Catiline's conspiracy is an unhappy subject for a tragedy; it is too
+single, and gives no opportunity to the poet to excite any of the tender
+passions; the whole is one intended act of horror, Crebillon was sensible
+of this defect, and to create another interest, most absurdly made
+Catiline in love with Cicero's daughter, and her with him.
+
+I am very glad that you went to Versailles, and dined with Monsieur de
+St. Contest. That is company to learn 'les bonnes manieres' in; and it
+seems you had 'les bonnes morceaux' into the bargain. Though you were no
+part of the King of France's conversation with the foreign ministers, and
+probably not much entertained with it, do you think that it is not very
+useful to you to hear it, and to observe the turn and manners of people
+of that sort? It is extremely useful to know it well. The same in the
+next rank of people, such as ministers of state, etc., in whose company,
+though you cannot yet, at your age, bear a part, and consequently be
+diverted, you will observe and learn, what hereafter it may be necessary
+for you to act.
+
+Tell Sir John Lambert that I have this day fixed Mr. Spencer's having his
+credit upon him; Mr. Hoare had also recommended him. I believe Mr.
+Spencer will set out next month for some place in France, but not Paris.
+I am sure he wants a great deal of France, for at present he is most
+entirely English: and you know very well what I think of that. And so we
+bid you heartily good-night.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIII
+
+LONDON, March 16, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: How do you go on with the most useful and most necessary
+of all studies, the study of the world? Do you find that you gain
+knowledge? And does your daily experience at once extend and demonstrate
+your improvement? You will possibly ask me how you can judge of that
+yourself. I will tell you a sure way of knowing. Examine yourself, and
+see whether your notions of the world are changed, by experience, from
+what they were two years ago in theory; for that alone is one favorable
+symptom of improvement. At that age (I remember it in myself) every
+notion that one forms is erroneous; one hath seen few models, and those
+none of the best, to form one's self upon. One thinks that everything is
+to be carried by spirit and vigor; that art is meanness, and that
+versatility and complaisance are the refuge of pusilanimity and weakness.
+This most mistaken opinion gives an indelicacy, a 'brusquerie', and a
+roughness to the manners. Fools, who can never be undeceived, retain them
+as long as they live: reflection, with a little experience, makes men of
+sense shake them off soon. When they come to be a little better
+acquainted with themselves, and with their own species, they discover
+that plain right reason is, nine times in ten, the fettered and shackled
+attendant of the triumph of the heart and the passions; and,
+consequently, they address themselves nine times in ten to the conqueror,
+not to the conquered: and conquerors, you know, must be applied to in the
+gentlest, the most engaging, and the most insinuating manner. Have you
+found out that every woman is infallibly to be gained by every sort of
+flattery, and every man by one sort or other? Have you discovered what
+variety of little things affect the heart, and how surely they
+collectively gain it? If you have, you have made some progress. I would
+try a man's knowledge of the world, as I would a schoolboy's knowledge of
+Horace: not by making him construe 'Maecenas atavis edite regibus', which
+he could do in the first form; but by examining him as to the delicacy
+and 'curiosa felicitas' of that poet. A man requires very little
+knowledge and experience of the world, to understand glaring,
+high-colored, and decided characters; they are but few, and they strike
+at first: but to distinguish the almost imperceptible shades, and the
+nice gradations of virtue and vice, sense and folly, strength and
+weakness (of which characters are commonly composed), demands some
+experience, great observation, and minute attention. In the same cases,
+most people do the same things, but with this material difference, upon
+which the success commonly turns: A man who hath studied the world knows
+when to time, and where to place them; he hath analyzed the characters he
+applies to, and adapted his address and his arguments to them: but a man,
+of what is called plain good sense, who hath only reasoned by himself,
+and not acted with mankind, mistimes, misplaces, runs precipitately and
+bluntly at the mark, and falls upon his nose in the way. In the common
+manners of social life, every man of common sense hath the rudiments, the
+A B C of civility; he means not to offend, and even wishes to please:
+and, if he hath any real merit, will be received and tolerated in good
+company. But that is far from being enough; for, though he may be
+received, he will never be desired; though he does not offend, he will
+never be loved; but, like some little, insignificant, neutral power,
+surrounded by great ones, he will neither be feared nor courted by any;
+but, by turns, invaded by all, whenever it is their interest. A most
+contemptible situation! Whereas, a man who hath carefully attended to,
+and experienced, the various workings of the heart, and the artifices of
+the head; and who, by one shade, can trace the progression of the whole
+color; who can, at the proper times, employ all the several means of
+persuading the understanding, and engaging the heart, may and will have
+enemies; but will and must have friends: he may be opposed, but he will
+be supported too; his talents may excite the jealousy of some, but his
+engaging arts will make him beloved by many more; he will be
+considerable; he will be considered. Many different qualifications must
+conspire to form such a man, and to make him at once respectable and
+amiable; the least must be joined to the greatest; the latter would be
+unavailing without the former; and the former would be futile and
+frivolous, without the latter. Learning is acquired by reading books; but
+the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to
+be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of
+them. Many words in every language are generally thought to be
+synonymous; but those who study the language attentively will find, that
+there is no such thing; they will discover some little difference, some
+distinction between all those words that are vulgarly called synonymous;
+one hath always more energy, extent, or delicacy, than another. It is the
+same with men; all are in general, and yet no two in particular, exactly
+alike. Those who have not accurately studied, perpetually mistake them;
+they do not discern the shades and gradations that distinguish characters
+seemingly alike. Company, various company, is the only school for this
+knowledge. You ought to be, by this time, at least in the third form of
+that school, from whence the rise to the uppermost is easy and quick; but
+then you must have application and vivacity; and you must not only bear
+with, but even seek restraint in most companies, instead of stagnating in
+one or two only, where indolence and love of ease may be indulged.
+
+In the plan which I gave you in my last,--[That letter is missing.]--for
+your future motions, I forgot to tell you; that, if a king of the Romans
+should be chosen this year, you shall certainly be at that election; and
+as, upon those occasions, all strangers are excluded from the place of
+the election, except such as belong to some ambassador, I have already
+eventually secured you a place in the suite of the King's Electoral
+Ambassador, who will be sent upon that account to Frankfort, or wherever
+else the election may be. This will not only secure you a sight of the
+show, but a knowledge of the whole thing; which is likely to be a
+contested one, from the opposition of some of the electors, and the
+protests of some of the princes of the empire. That election, if there is
+one, will, in my opinion, be a memorable era in the history of the
+empire; pens at least, if not swords, will be drawn; and ink, if not
+blood, will be plentifully shed by the contending parties in that
+dispute. During the fray, you may securely plunder, and add to your
+present stock of knowledge of the 'jus publicum imperii'. The court of
+France hath, I am told, appointed le President Ogier, a man of great
+abilities, to go immediately to Ratisbon, 'pour y souffler la discorde'.
+It must be owned that France hath always profited skillfully of its
+having guaranteed the treaty of Munster; which hath given it a constant
+pretense to thrust itself into the affairs of the empire. When France got
+Alsace yielded by treaty, it was very willing to have held it as a fief
+of the empire; but the empire was then wiser. Every power should be very
+careful not to give the least pretense to a neighboring power to meddle
+with the affairs of its interior. Sweden hath already felt the effects of
+the Czarina's calling herself Guarantee of its present form of
+government, in consequence of the treaty of Neustadt, confirmed afterward
+by that of Abo; though, in truth, that guarantee was rather a provision
+against Russia's attempting to alter the then new established form of
+government in Sweden, than any right given to Russia to hinder the Swedes
+from establishing what form of government they pleased. Read them both,
+if you can get them. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIV
+
+LONDON, April 73, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I receive this moment your letter of the 19th, N. S.,
+with the inclosed pieces relative to the present dispute between the King
+and the parliament. I shall return them by Lord Huntingdon, whom you will
+soon see at Paris, and who will likewise carry you the piece, which I
+forgot in making up the packet I sent you by the Spanish Ambassador. The
+representation of the parliament is very well drawn, 'suaviter in modo,
+fortiter in re'. They tell the King very respectfully, that, in a certain
+case, WHICH THEY SHOULD THINK IT CRIMINAL To SUPPOSE, they would not obey
+him. This hath a tendency to what we call here revolution principles. I
+do not know what the Lord's anointed, his vicegerent upon earth, divinely
+appointed by him, and accountable to none but him for his actions, will
+either think or do, upon these symptoms of reason and good sense, which
+seem to be breaking out all over France: but this I foresee, that, before
+the end of this century, the trade of both king and priest will not be
+half so good a one as it has been. Du Clos, in his "Reflections," hath
+observed, and very truly, 'qu'il y a un germe de raison qui commence a se
+developper en France';--a developpement that must prove fatal to Regal
+and Papal pretensions. Prudence may, in many cases, recommend an
+occasional submission to either; but when that ignorance, upon which an
+implicit faith in both could only be founded, is once removed, God's
+Vicegerent, and Christ's Vicar, will only be obeyed and believed, as far
+as what the one orders, and the other says, is conformable to reason and
+to truth.
+
+I am very glad (to use a vulgar expression) that You MAKE AS IF YOU WERE
+NOT WELL, though you really are; I am sure it is the likeliest way to
+keep so. Pray leave off entirely your greasy, heavy pastry, fat creams,
+and indigestible dumplings; and then you need not confine yourself to
+white meats, which I do not take to be one jot wholesomer than beef,
+mutton, and partridge.
+
+Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV. It
+came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how
+history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written. I am
+sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers.
+Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked:
+for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses;
+reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
+It is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts,
+for the use of men of parts. Weak minds will not like it, even though
+they do not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their
+admiration. Dull ones will want those minute and uninteresting details
+with which most other histories are encumbered. He tells me all I want to
+know, and nothing more. His reflections are short, just, and produce
+others in his readers. Free from religious, philosophical, political and
+national prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all
+those matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must
+always be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly
+that he often says much less than he would say, if he might. He hath made
+me much better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the
+innumerable volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this
+reflection to me, which I have never made before--His vanity, not his
+knowledge, made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences
+in his country. He opened in a manner the human understanding in France,
+and brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and
+greatly exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan. This
+was great and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement,
+the applause, and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince.
+What is much more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the
+human mind just where he pleased; and seemed to say, "Thus far shalt thou
+go, and no farther." For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his
+power, free and rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a
+French head during his reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age
+produced, never entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the
+infallibility of the Church. Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant
+of their natural rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith
+triumphed, in those great minds, over silent and passive reason. The
+reverse of this seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself;
+fancy and invention fade and decline.
+
+I will send you a copy of this history by Lord Huntingdon, as I think it
+very probable that it is not allowed to be published and sold at Paris.
+Pray read it more than once, and with attention, particularly the second
+volume, which contains short, but very clear accounts of many very
+interesting things, which are talked of by everybody, though fairly.
+understood by very few. There are two very puerile affectations which I
+wish this book had been free from; the one is, the total subversion of
+all the old established French orthography; the other is, the not making
+use of any one capital letter throughout the whole book, except at the
+beginning of a paragraph. It offends my eyes to see rome, paris, france,
+Caesar, I henry the fourth, etc., begin with small letters; and I do not
+conceive that there can be any reason for doing it, half so strong as the
+reason of long usage is to the contrary. This is an affectation below
+Voltaire; who, I am not ashamed to say, that I admire and delight in, as
+an author, equally in prose and in verse.
+
+I had a letter a few days ago from Monsieur du Boccage, in which he says,
+'Monsieur Stanhope s'est jete dans la politique, et je crois qu'il y
+reussira': You do very well, it is your destination; but remember that,
+to succeed in great things, one must first learn to please in little
+ones. Engaging manners and address must prepare the way for superior
+knowledge and abilities to act with effect. The late Duke of
+Marlborough's manners and address prevailed with the first king of
+Prussia, to let his troops remain in the army of the Allies, when neither
+their representations, nor his own share in the common cause could do it.
+The Duke of Marlborough had no new matter to urge to him; but had a
+manner, which he could not, nor did not, resist. Voltaire, among a
+thousand little delicate strokes of that kind, says of the Duke de la
+Feuillade, 'qu'il etoit l'homme le plus brillant et le plus aimable du
+royaume; et quoique gendre du General et Ministre, il avoit pour lui la
+faveur publique'. Various little circumstances of that sort will often
+make a man of great real merit be hated, if he hath not address and
+manners to make him be loved. Consider all your own circumstances
+seriously; and you will find that, of all arts, the art of pleasing is
+the most necessary for you to study and possess. A silly tyrant said,
+'oderint modo timeant'; a wise man would have said, 'modo ament nihil
+timendum est mihi'. Judge from your own daily experience, of the efficacy
+of that pleasing 'je ne sais quoi', when you feel, as you and everybody
+certainly does, that in men it is more engaging than knowledge, in women
+than beauty.
+
+I long to see Lord and Lady-------(who are not yet arrived), because they
+have lately seen you; and I always fancy, that I can fish out something
+new concerning you, from those who have seen you last: not that I shall
+much rely upon their accounts, because I distrust the judgment of Lord
+and Lady-------, in those matters about which I am most inquisitive. They
+have ruined their own son by what they called and thought loving him.
+They have made him believe that the world was made for him, not he for
+the world; and unless he stays abroad a great while, and falls into very
+good company, he will expect, what he will never find, the attentions and
+complaisance from others, which he has hitherto been used to from Papa
+and Mamma. This, I fear, is too much the case of Mr. ----; who, I doubt,
+will be run through the body, and be near dying, before he knows how to
+live. However you may turn out, you can never make me any of these
+reproaches. I indulged no silly, womanish fondness for you; instead of
+inflicting my tenderness upon you, I have taken all possible methods to
+make you deserve it; and thank God you do; at least, I know but one
+article, in which you are different from what I could wish you; and you
+very well know what that is I want: That I and all the world should like
+you, as well as I love you. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXV
+
+LONDON, April 30, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Avoir du monde' is, in my opinion, a very just and happy
+expression for having address, manners, and for knowing how to behave
+properly in all companies; and it implies very truly that a man who hath
+not those accomplishments is not of the world. Without them, the best
+parts are inefficient, civility is absurd, and freedom offensive. A
+learned parson, rusting in his cell, at Oxford or Cambridge, will season
+admirably well upon the nature of man; will profoundly analyze the head,
+the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the senses, the
+sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what; and yet,
+unfortunately, he knows nothing of man, for he hath not lived with him;
+and is ignorant of all the various modes, habits, prejudices, and tastes,
+that always influence and often determine him. He views man as he does
+colors in Sir Isaac Newton's prism, where only the capital ones are seen;
+but an experienced dyer knows all their various shades and gradations,
+together with the result of their several mixtures. Few men are of one
+plain, decided color; most are mixed, shaded, and blended; and vary as
+much, from different situations, as changeable silks do form different
+lights. The man 'qui a du monde' knows all this from his own experience
+and observation: the conceited, cloistered philosopher knows nothing of
+it from his own theory; his practice is absurd and improper, and he acts
+as awkwardly as a man would dance, who had never seen others dance, nor
+learned of a dancing-master; but who had only studied the notes by which
+dances are now pricked down as well as tunes. Observe and imitate, then,
+the address, the arts, and the manners of those 'qui ont du monde': see
+by what methods they first make, and afterward improve impressions in
+their favor. Those impressions are much oftener owing to little causes
+than to intrinsic merit; which is less volatile, and hath not so sudden
+an effect. Strong minds have undoubtedly an ascendant over weak ones, as
+Galigai Marachale d'Ancre very justly observed, when, to the disgrace and
+reproach of those times, she was executed for having governed Mary of
+Medicis by the arts of witchcraft and magic. But then ascendant is to be
+gained by degrees, and by those arts only which experience and the
+knowledge of the world teaches; for few are mean enough to be bullied,
+though most are weak enough to be bubbled. I have often seen people of
+superior, governed by people of much inferior parts, without knowing or
+even suspecting that they were so governed. This can only happen when
+those people of inferior parts have more worldly dexterity and
+experience, than those they govern. They see the weak and unguarded part,
+and apply to it they take it, and all the rest follows. Would you gain
+either men or women, and every man of sense desires to gain both, 'il
+faut du monde'. You have had more opportunities than ever any man had, at
+your age, of acquiring 'ce monde'. You have been in the best companies of
+most countries, at an age when others have hardly been in any company at
+all. You are master of all those languages, which John Trott seldom
+speaks at all, and never well; consequently you need be a stranger
+nowhere. This is the way, and the only way, of having 'du monde', but if
+you have it not, and have still any coarse rusticity about you, may not
+one apply to you the 'rusticus expectat' of Horace?
+
+This knowledge of the world teaches us more particularly two things, both
+which are of infinite consequence, and to neither of which nature
+inclines us; I mean, the command of our temper, and of our countenance. A
+man who has no 'monde' is inflamed with anger, or annihilated with shame,
+at every disagreeable incident: the one makes him act and talk like a
+madman, the other makes him look like a fool. But a man who has 'du
+monde', seems not to understand what he cannot or ought not to resent. If
+he makes a slip himself, he recovers it by his coolness, instead of
+plunging deeper by his confusion like a stumbling horse. He is firm, but
+gentle; and practices that most excellent maxim, 'suaviter in modo,
+fortiter in re'. The other is the 'volto sciolto a pensieri stretti'.
+People unused to the world have babbling countenances; and are unskillful
+enough to show what they have sense enough not to tell. In the course of
+the world, a man must very often put on an easy, frank countenance, upon
+very disagreeable occasions; he must seem pleased when he is very much
+otherwise; he must be able to accost and receive with smiles, those whom
+he would much rather meet with swords. In courts he must not turn himself
+inside out. All this may, nay must be done, without falsehood and
+treachery; for it must go no further than politeness and manners, and
+must stop short of assurances and professions of simulated friendship.
+Good manners, to those one does not love, are no more a breach of truth,
+than "your humble servant" at the bottom of a challenge is; they are
+universally agreed upon and understood, to be things of course. They are
+necessary guards of the decency and peace of society; they must only act
+defensively; and then not with arms poisoned by perfidy. Truth, but not
+the whole truth, must be the invariable principle of every man, who hath
+either religion, honor, or prudence. Those who violate it may be cunning,
+but they are not able. Lies and perfidy are the refuge of fools and
+cowards. Adieu!
+
+P. S. I must recommend to you again, to take your leave of all your
+French acquaintance, in such a manner as may make them regret your
+departure, and wish to see and welcome you at Paris again, where you may
+possibly return before it is very long. This must not be done in a cold,
+civil manner, but with at least seeming warmth, sentiment, and concern.
+Acknowledge the obligations you have to them for the kindness they have
+shown you during your stay at Paris: assure them that wherever you are,
+you will remember them with gratitude; wish for opportunities of giving
+them proofs of your 'plus tendre et respectueux souvenir; beg of them in
+case your good fortune should carry them to any part of the world where
+you could be of any the least use to them, that they would employ you
+without reserve. Say all this, and a great deal more, emphatically and
+pathetically; for you know 'si vis me flere'. This can do you no harm, if
+you never return to Paris; but if you do, as probably you may, it will be
+of infinite use to you. Remember too, not to omit going to every house
+where you have ever been once, to take leave and recommend yourself to
+their remembrance. The reputation which you leave at one place, where you
+have been, will circulate, and you will meet with it at twenty places
+where you are to go. That is a labor never quite lost.
+
+This letter will show you, that the accident which happened to me
+yesterday, and of which Mr. Grevenkop gives you account, hath had no bad
+consequences. My escape was a great one.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVI
+
+LONDON, May 11, O. S. 1752.
+
+DEAR FRIEND: I break my word by writing this letter; but I break it on
+the allowable side, by doing more than I promised. I have pleasure in
+writing to you; and you may possibly have some profit in reading what I
+write; either of the motives were sufficient for me, both for you I
+cannot withstand. By your last I calculate that you will leave Paris upon
+this day se'nnight; upon that supposition, this letter may still find you
+there.
+
+Colonel Perry arrived here two or three days ago, and sent me a book from
+you; Cassandra abridged. I am sure it cannot be too much abridged. The
+spirit of that most voluminous work, fairly extracted, may be contained
+in the smallest duodecimo; and it is most astonishing, that there ever
+could have been people idle enough to write or read such endless heaps of
+the same stuff. It was, however, the occupation of thousands in the last
+century, and is still the private, though disavowed, amusement of young
+girls, and sentimental ladies. A lovesick girl finds, in the captain with
+whom she is in love, all the courage and all the graces of the tender and
+accomplished Oroondates: and many a grown-up, sentimental lady, talks
+delicate Clelia to the hero, whom she would engage to eternal love, or
+laments with her that love is not eternal.
+
+     "Ah! qu'il est doux d'aimer, si Pon aimoit toujours!
+     Mais helas! il'n'est point d'eternelles amours."
+
+It is, however, very well to have read one of those extravagant works (of
+all which La Calprenede's are the best), because it is well to be able to
+talk, with some degree of knowledge, upon all those subjects that other
+people talk sometimes upon: and I would by no means have anything, that
+is known to others, be totally unknown to you. It is a great advantage
+for any man, to be able to talk or to hear, neither ignorantly nor
+absurdly, upon any subject; for I have known people, who have not said
+one word, hear ignorantly and absurdly; it has appeared in their
+inattentive and unmeaning faces.
+
+This, I think, is as little likely to happen to you as to anybody of your
+age: and if you will but add a versatility and easy conformity of
+manners, I know no company in which you are likely to be de trop.
+
+This versatility is more particularly necessary for you at this time, now
+that you are going to so many different places: for, though the manners
+and customs of the several courts of Germany are in general the same, yet
+everyone has its particular characteristic; some peculiarity or other,
+which distinguishes it from the next. This you should carefully attend
+to, and immediately adopt. Nothing flatters people more, nor makes
+strangers so welcome, as such an occasional conformity. I do not mean by
+this, that you should mimic the air and stiffness of every awkward German
+court; no, by no means; but I mean that you should only cheerfully
+comply, and fall in with certain local habits, such as ceremonies, diet,
+turn of conversation, etc. People who are lately come from Paris, and who
+have been a good while there, are generally suspected, and especially in
+Germany, of having a degree of contempt for every other place. Take great
+care that nothing of this kind appear, at least outwardly, in your
+behavior; but commend whatever deserves any degree of commendation,
+without comparing it with what you may have left, much better of the same
+kind, at Paris. As for instance, the German kitchen is, without doubt,
+execrable, and the French delicious; however, never commend the French
+kitchen at a German table; but eat of what you can find tolerable there,
+and commend it, without comparing it to anything better. I have known
+many British Yahoos, who though while they were at Paris conformed to no
+one French custom, as soon as they got anywhere else, talked of nothing
+but what they did, saw, and eat at Paris. The freedom of the French is
+not to be used indiscriminately at all the courts in Germany, though
+their easiness may, and ought; but that, too, at some places more than
+others. The courts of Manheim and Bonn, I take to be a little more
+unbarbarized than some others; that of Mayence, an ecclesiastical one, as
+well as that of Treves (neither of which is much frequented by
+foreigners), retains, I conceive, a great deal of the Goth and Vandal
+still. There, more reserve and ceremony are necessary; and not a word of
+the French. At Berlin, you cannot be too French. Hanover, Brunswick,
+Cassel, etc., are of the mixed kind, 'un peu decrottes, mais pas assez'.
+
+Another thing, which I most earnestly recommend to you, not only in
+Germany, but in every part of the world where you may ever be, is not
+only real, but seeming attention, to whoever you speak to, or to whoever
+speaks to you. There is nothing so brutally shocking, nor so little
+forgiven, as a seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you:
+and I have known many a man knocked down, for (in my opinion) a much
+lighter provocation, than that shocking inattention which I mean. I have
+seen many people, who, while you are speaking to them, instead of looking
+at, and attending to you, fix their eyes upon the ceiling or some other
+part of the room, look out of the window, play with a dog, twirl their
+snuff-box, or pick their nose. Nothing discovers a little, futile,
+frivolous mind more than this, and nothing is so offensively ill-bred; it
+is an explicit declaration on your part, that every the most trifling
+object, deserves your attention more than all that can be said by the
+person who is speaking to you. Judge of the sentiments of hatred and
+resentment, which such treatment must excite in every breast where any
+degree of self-love dwells; and I am sure I never yet met with that
+breast where there was not a great deal: I repeat it again and again (for
+it is highly necessary for you to remember it), that sort of vanity and
+self-love is inseparable from human nature, whatever may be its rank or
+condition; even your footmen will sooner forget and forgive a beating,
+than any manifest mark of slight and contempt. Be therefore, I beg of
+you, not only really, but seemingly and manifestly attentive to whoever
+speaks to you; nay, more, take their 'ton', and tune yourself to their
+unison. Be serious with the serious, gay with the gay, and trifle with
+the triflers. In assuming these various shapes, endeavor to make each of
+them seem to sit easy upon you, and even to appear to be your own natural
+one. This is the true and useful versatility, of which a thorough
+knowledge of the world at once teaches the utility and the means of
+acquiring.
+
+I am very sure, at least I hope, that you will never make use of a silly
+expression, which is the favorite expression, and the absurd excuse of
+all fools and blockheads; I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING; a thing by no means
+either morally or physically impossible. I CANNOT attend long together to
+the same thing, says one fool; that is, he is such a fool that he will
+not. I remember a very awkward fellow, who did not know what to do with
+his sword, and who always took it off before dinner, saying that he could
+not possibly dine with his sword on; upon which I could not help telling
+him, that I really believed he could without any probable danger either
+to himself or others. It is a shame and an absurdity, for any man to say
+that he cannot do all those things, which are commonly done by all the
+rest of mankind.
+
+Another thing that I must earnestly warn you against is laziness; by
+which more people have lost the fruit of their travels than, perhaps, by
+any other thing. Pray be always in motion. Early in the morning go and
+see things; and the rest of the day go and see people. If you stay but a
+week at a place, and that an insignificant one, see, however, all that is
+to be seen there; know as many people, and get into as many houses, as
+ever you can.
+
+I recommend to you likewise, though probably you have thought of it
+yourself, to carry in your pocket a map of Germany, in which the
+postroads are marked; and also some short book of travels through
+Germany. The former will help to imprint in your memory situations and
+distances; and the latter will point out many things for you to see, that
+might otherwise possibly escape you, and which, though they may be in
+themselves of little consequence, you would regret not having seen, after
+having been at the places where they were.
+
+Thus warned and provided for your journey, God speed you; 'Felix
+faustumque sit! Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVII
+
+LONDON, May 27, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I send you the inclosed original from a friend of ours,
+with my own commentaries upon the text; a text which I have so often
+paraphrased, and commented upon already, that I believe I can hardly say
+anything new upon it; but, however, I cannot give it over till I am
+better convinced, than I yet am, that you feel all the utility, the
+importance, and the necessity of it; nay, not only feel, but practice it.
+Your panegyrist allows you, what most fathers would be more than
+satisified with, in a son, and chides me for not contenting myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; but I, who have been in no one respect like
+other fathers, cannot neither, like them, content myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; because I know that it will not do your business
+in the world, while you want 'quelques couches de vernis'. Few fathers
+care much for their sons, or, at least, most of them care more for their
+money: and, consequently, content themselves with giving them, at the
+cheapest rate, the common run of education: that is, a school till
+eighteen; the university till twenty; and a couple of years riding post
+through the several towns of Europe; impatient till their boobies come
+home to be married, and, as they call it, settled. Of those who really
+love their sons, few know how to do it. Some spoil them by fondling them
+while they are young, and then quarrel with them when they are grown up,
+for having been spoiled; some love them like mothers, and attend only to
+the bodily health and strength of the hopes of their family, solemnize
+his birthday, and rejoice, like the subjects of the Great Mogul, at the
+increase of his bulk; while others, minding, as they think, only
+essentials, take pains and pleasure to see in their heir, all their
+favorite weaknesses and imperfections. I hope and believe that I have
+kept clear of all of these errors in the education which I have given
+you. No weaknesses of my own have warped it, no parsimony has starved it,
+no rigor has deformed it. Sound and extensive learning was the foundation
+which I meant to lay--I have laid it; but that alone, I knew, would by no
+means be sufficient: the ornamental, the showish, the pleasing
+superstructure was to be begun. In that view, I threw you into the great
+world, entirely your own master, at an age when others either guzzle at
+the university, or are sent abroad in servitude to some awkward, pedantic
+Scotch governor. This was to put you in the way, and the only way of
+acquiring those manners, that address, and those graces, which
+exclusively distinguish people of fashion; and without which all moral
+virtues, and all acquired learning, are of no sort of use in the courts
+and 'le beau monde': on the contrary, I am not sure if they are not an
+hindrance. They are feared and disliked in those places, as too severe,
+if not smoothed and introduced by the graces; but of these graces, of
+this necessary 'beau vernis', it seems there are still 'quelque couches
+qui manquent'. Now, pray let me ask you, coolly and seriously, 'pourquoi
+ces couches manquent-elles'? For you may as easily take them, as you may
+wear more or less powder in your hair, more or less lace upon your coat.
+I can therefore account for your wanting them no other way in the world,
+than from your not being yet convinced of their full value. You have
+heard some English bucks say, "Damn these finical outlandish airs, give
+me a manly, resolute manner. They make a rout with their graces, and talk
+like a parcel of dancing-masters, and dress like a parcel of fops: one
+good Englishman will beat three of them." But let your own observation
+undeceive you of these prejudices. I will give you one instance only,
+instead of an hundred that I could give you, of a very shining fortune
+and figure, raised upon no other foundation whatsoever, than that of
+address, manners, and graces. Between you and me (for this example must
+go no further), what do you think made our friend, Lord A----e, Colonel
+of a regiment of guards, Governor of Virginia, Groom of the Stole, and
+Ambassador to Paris; amounting in all to sixteen or seventeen thousand
+pounds a year? Was it his birth? No, a Dutch gentleman only. Was it his
+estate? No, he had none. Was it his learning, his parts, his political
+abilities and application? You can answer these questions as easily, and
+as soon, as I can ask them. What was it then? Many people wondered, but I
+do not; for I know, and will tell you. It was his air, his address, his
+manners, and his graces. He pleased, and by pleasing he became a
+favorite; and by becoming a favorite became all that he has been since.
+Show me any one instance, where intrinsic worth and merit, unassisted by
+exterior accomplishments, have raised any man so high. You know the Due
+de Richelieu, now 'Marechal, Cordon bleu, Gentilhomme de la Chambre',
+twice Ambassador, etc. By what means? Not by the purity of his character,
+the depth of his knowledge, or any uncommon penetration and sagacity.
+Women alone formed and raised him. The Duchess of Burgundy took a fancy
+to him, and had him before he was sixteen years old; this put him in
+fashion among the beau monde: and the late Regent's oldest daughter, now
+Madame de Modene, took him next, and was near marrying him. These early
+connections with women of the first distinction gave him those manners,
+graces, and address, which you see he has; and which, I can assure you,
+are all that he has; for, strip him of them, and he will be one of the
+poorest men in Europe. Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior;
+it will please, it will make its way. You want, it seems, but 'quelques
+couches'; for God's sake, lose no time in getting them; and now you have
+gone so far, complete the work. Think of nothing else till that work is
+finished; unwearied application will bring about anything: and surely
+your application can never be so well employed as upon that object, which
+is absolutely necessary to facilitate all others. With your knowledge and
+parts, if adorned by manners and graces, what may you not hope one day to
+be? But without them, you will be in the situation of a man who should be
+very fleet of one leg but very lame of the other. He could not run; the
+lame leg would check and clog the well one, which would be very near
+useless.
+
+From my original plan for your education, I meant to make you 'un homme
+universel'; what depends on me is executed, the little that remains
+undone depends singly upon you. Do not then disappoint, when you can so
+easily gratify me. It is your own interest which I am pressing you to
+pursue, and it is the only return that I desire for all the care and
+affection of, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVIII
+
+LONDON, May 31, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: The world is the book, and the only one to which, at
+present, I would have you apply yourself; and the thorough knowledge of
+it will be of more use to you, than all the books that ever were read.
+Lay aside the best book whenever you can go into the best company; and
+depend upon it, you change for the better. However, as the most
+tumultuous life, whether of business or pleasure, leaves some vacant
+moments every day, in which a book is the refuge of a rational being, I
+mean now to point out to you the method of employing those moments (which
+will and ought to be but few) in the most advantageous manner. Throw away
+none of your time upon those trivial, futile books, published by idle or
+necessitous authors, for the amusement of idle and ignorant readers; such
+sort of books swarm and buzz about one every day; flap them away, they
+have no sting. 'Certum pete finem', have some one object for those
+leisure moments, and pursue that object invariably till you have attained
+it; and then take some other. For instance, considering your destination,
+I would advise you to single out the most remarkable and interesting eras
+of modern history, and confine all your reading to that ERA. If you pitch
+upon the Treaty of Munster (and that is the proper period to begin with,
+in the course which I am now recommending), do not interrupt it by
+dipping and deviating into other books, unrelative to it; but consult
+only the most authentic histories, letters, memoirs, and negotiations,
+relative to that great transaction; reading and comparing them, with all
+that caution and distrust which Lord Bolingbroke recommends to you, in a
+better manner, and in better words than I can. The next period worth your
+particular knowledge, is the Treaty of the Pyrenees: which was calculated
+to lay, and in effect did lay, the succession of the House of Bourbon to
+the crown of Spain. Pursue that in the same manner, singling, out of the
+millions of volumes written upon that occasion, the two or three most
+authentic ones, and particularly letters, which are the best authorities
+in matters of negotiation. Next come the Treaties of Nimeguen and
+Ryswick, postscripts in, a manner to those of Munster and the Pyrenees.
+Those two transactions have had great light thrown upon them by the
+publication of many authentic and original letters and pieces. The
+concessions made at the Treaty of Ryswick, by the then triumphant Lewis
+the Fourteenth, astonished all those who viewed things only
+superficially; but, I should think, must have been easily accounted for
+by those who knew the state of the kingdom of Spain, as well as of the
+health of its King, Charles the Second, at that time. The interval
+between the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick, and the breaking out of
+the great war in 1702, though a short, is a most interesting one. Every
+week of it almost produced some great event. Two partition treaties, the
+death of the King of Spain, his unexpected will, and the acceptance of it
+by Lewis the Fourteenth, in violation of the second treaty of partition,
+just signed and ratified by him. Philip the Fifth quietly and cheerfully
+received in Spain, and acknowledged as King of it, by most of those
+powers, who afterward joined in an alliance to dethrone him. I cannot
+help making this observation upon that occasion: That character has often
+more to do in great transactions, than prudence and sound policy; for
+Lewis the Fourteenth gratified his personal pride, by giving a Bourbon
+King to Spain, at the expense of the true interest of France; which would
+have acquired much more solid and permanent strength by the addition of
+Naples, Sicily, and Lorraine, upon the footing of the second partition
+treaty; and I think it was fortunate for Europe that he preferred the
+will. It is true, he might hope to influence his Bourbon posterity in
+Spain; he knew too well how weak the ties of blood are among men, and how
+much weaker still they are among princes. The Memoirs of Count Harrach,
+and of Las Torres, give a good deal of light into the transactions of the
+Court of Spain, previous to the death of that weak King; and the Letters
+of the Marachal d'Harcourt, then the French Ambassador in Spain, of which
+I have authentic copies in manuscript, from the year 1698 to 1701, have
+cleared up that whole affair to me. I keep that book for you. It appears
+by those letters, that the impudent conduct of the House of Austria, with
+regard to the King and Queen of Spain, and Madame Berlips, her favorite,
+together with the knowledge of the partition treaty, which incensed all
+Spain, were the true and only reasons of the will, in favor of the Duke
+of Anjou. Cardinal Portocarrero, nor any of the Grandees, were bribed by
+France, as was generally reported and believed at that time; which
+confirms Voltaire's anecdote upon that subject. Then opens a new scene
+and a new century; Lewis the Fourteenth's good fortune forsakes him, till
+the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene make him amends for all the
+mischief they had done him, by making the allies refuse the terms of
+peace offered by him at Gertruydenberg. How the disadvantageous peace of
+Utrecht was afterward brought on, you have lately read; and you cannot
+inform yourself too minutely of all those circumstances, that treaty
+'being the freshest source from whence the late transactions of Europe
+have flowed. The alterations that have since happened, whether by wars or
+treaties, are so recent, that all the written accounts are to be helped
+out, proved, or contradicted, by the oral ones of almost every informed
+person, of a certain age or rank in life. For the facts, dates, and
+original pieces of this century, you will find them in Lamberti, till the
+year 1715, and after that time in Rousset's 'Recueil'.
+
+I do not mean that you should plod hours together in researches of this
+kind: no, you may employ your time more usefully: but I mean, that you
+should make the most of the moments you do employ, by method, and the
+pursuit of one single object at a time; nor should I call it a digression
+from that object, if when you meet with clashing and jarring pretensions
+of different princes to the same thing, you had immediately recourse to
+other books, in which those several pretensions were clearly stated; on
+the contrary, that is the only way of remembering those contested rights
+and claims: for, were a man to read 'tout de suite', Schwederus's
+'Theatrum Pretensionum', he would only be confounded by the variety, and
+remember none of them; whereas, by examining them occasionally, as they
+happen to occur, either in the course of your historical reading, or as
+they are agitated in your own times, you will retain them, by connecting
+them with those historical facts which occasioned your inquiry. For
+example, had you read, in the course of two or three folios of
+Pretensions, those, among others, of the two Kings of England and Prussia
+to Oost Frise, it is impossible, that you should have remembered them;
+but now, that they are become the debated object at the Diet at Ratisbon,
+and the topic of all political conversations, if you consult both books
+and persons concerning them, and inform yourself thoroughly, you will
+never forget them as long as you live. You will hear a great deal of them
+ow one side, at Hanover, and as much on the other side, afterward, at
+Berlin: hear both sides, and form your own opinion; but dispute with
+neither.
+
+Letters from foreign ministers to their courts, and from their courts to
+them, are, if genuine, the best and most authentic records you can read,
+as far as they go. Cardinal d'Ossat's, President Jeanin's, D'Estrade's,
+Sir William Temple's, will not only inform your mind, but form your
+style; which, in letters of business, should be very plain and simple,
+but, at the same time, exceedingly clear, correct, and pure.
+
+All that I have said may be reduced to these two or three plain
+principles: 1st, That you should now read very little, but converse a
+great deal; 2d, To read no useless, unprofitable books; and 3d, That
+those which you do read, may all tend to a certain object, and be
+relative to, and consequential of each other. In this method, half an
+hour's reading every day will carry you a great way. People seldom know
+how to employ their time to the best advantage till they have too little
+left to employ; but if, at your age, in the beginning of life, people
+would but consider the value of it, and put every moment to interest, it
+is incredible what an additional fund of knowledge and pleasure such an
+economy would bring in. I look back with regret upon that large sum of
+time, which, in my youth, I lavished away idly, without either
+improvement or pleasure. Take warning betimes, and enjoy every moment;
+pleasures do not commonly last so long as life, and therefore should not
+be neglected; and the longest life is too short for knowledge,
+consequently every moment is precious.
+
+I am surprised at having received no letter from you since you left
+Paris. I still direct this to Strasburgh, as I did my two last. I shall
+direct my next to the post house at Mayence, unless I receive, in the
+meantime, contrary instructions from you. Adieu. Remember les attentions:
+they must be your passports into good company.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIX
+
+LONDON, June, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Very few celebrated negotiators have been eminent for
+their learning. The most famous French negotiators (and I know no nation
+that can boast of abler) have been military men, as Monsieur d'Harcourt,
+Comte d'Estrades, Marechal d'Uxelles, and others. The late Duke of
+Marlborough, who was at least as able a negotiator as a general, was
+exceedingly ignorant of books, but extremely knowing in men, whereas the
+learned Grotius appeared, both in Sweden and in France, to be a very
+bungling minister. This is, in my opinion, very easily to be accounted
+for. A man of very deep learning must have employed the greatest part of
+his time in books; and a skillful negotiator must necessarily have
+employed much the greater part of his time with man. The sound scholar,
+when dragged out of his dusty closet into business, acts by book, and
+deals with men as he has read of them; not as he has known them by
+experience: he follows Spartan and Roman precedents, in what he falsely
+imagines to be similar cases; whereas two cases never were, since the
+beginning of the world, exactly alike; and he would be capable, where he
+thought spirit and vigor necessary, to draw a circle round the persons he
+treated with, and to insist upon a categorical answer before they went
+out of it, because he had read, in the Roman history, that once upon a
+time some Roman ambassador, did so. No; a certain degree of learning may
+help, but no degree of learning will ever make a skillful minister
+whereas a great knowledge of the world, of the characters, passions, and
+habits of mankind, has, without one grain of learning, made a thousand.
+Military men have seldom much knowledge of books; their education does
+not allow it; but what makes great amends for that want is, that they
+generally know a great deal of the world; they are thrown into it young;
+they see variety of nations and characters; and they soon find, that to
+rise, which is the aim of them all, they must first please: these
+concurrent causes almost always give them manners and politeness. In
+consequence of which, you see them always distinguished at courts, and
+favored by the women. I could wish that you had been of an age to have
+made a campaign or two as a volunteer. It would have given you an
+attention, a versatility, and an alertness; all which I doubt you want;
+and a great want it is.
+
+A foreign minister has not great business to transact every day; so that
+his knowledge and his skill in negotiating are not frequently put to the
+trial; but he has that to do every day, and every hour of the day, which
+is necessary to prepare and smooth the way for his business; that is, to
+insinuate himself by his manners, not only into the houses, but into the
+confidence of the most considerable people of that place; to contribute
+to their pleasures, and insensibly not to be looked upon as a stranger
+himself. A skillful minister may very possibly be doing his master's
+business full as well, in doing the honors gracefully and genteelly of a
+ball or a supper, as if he were laboriously writing a protocol in his
+closet. The Marechal d'Harcourt, by his magnificence, his manners, and
+his politeness, blunted the edge of the long aversion which the Spaniards
+had to the French. The court and the grandees were personally fond, of
+him, and frequented his house; and were at least insensibly brought to
+prefer a French to a German yoke; which I am convinced would never have
+happened, had Comte d'Harrach been Marechal d'Harcourt, or the Marechal
+d'Harcourt Comte d'Harrach. The Comte d'Estrades had, by 'ses manieres
+polies et liantes', formed such connections, and gained such an interest
+in the republic of the United Provinces, that Monsieur De Witt, the then
+Pensionary of Holland, often applied to him to use his interest with his
+friend, both in Holland and the other provinces, whenever he (De Witt)
+had a difficult point which he wanted to carry. This was certainly not
+brought about by his knowledge of books, but of men: dancing, fencing,
+and riding, with a little military architecture, were no doubt the top of
+his education; and if he knew that 'collegium' in Latin signified college
+in French, it must have been by accident. But he knew what was more
+useful: from thirteen years old he had been in the great world, and had
+read men and women so long, that he could then read them at sight.
+
+Talking the other day, upon this and other subjects, all relative to you,
+with one who knows and loves you very well, and expressing my anxiety and
+wishes that your exterior accomplishments, as a man of fashion, might
+adorn, and at least equal your intrinsic merit as a man of sense and
+honor, the person interrupted me, and said: Set your heart at rest; that
+never will or can happen. It is not in character; that gentleness, that
+'douceur', those attentions which you wish him to have, are not in his
+nature; and do what you will, nay, let him do what he will, he can never
+acquire them. Nature may be a little disguised and altered by care; but
+can by no means whatsoever be totally forced and changed. I denied this
+principle to a certain degree; but admitting, however, that in many
+respects our nature was not to be changed; and asserting, at the same
+time, that in others it might by care be very much altered and improved,
+so as in truth to be changed; that I took those exterior accomplishments,
+which we had been talking of, to be mere modes, and absolutely depending
+upon the will, and upon custom; and that, therefore, I was convinced that
+your good sense, which must show you the importance of them, would make
+you resolve at all events to acquire them, even in spite of nature, if
+nature be in the case. Our dispute, which lasted a great while, ended as
+Voltaire observes that disputes in England are apt to do, in a wager of
+fifty guineas; which I myself am to decide upon honor, and of which this
+is a faithful copy. If you think I shall win it, you may go my halves if
+you please; declare yourself in time. This I declare, that I would most
+cheerfully give a thousand guineas to win those fifty; you may secure
+them me if you please.
+
+I grow very impatient for your future letters from the several courts of
+Manheim, Bonn, Hanover, etc. And I desire that your letters may be to me,
+what I do not desire they should be to anybody else, I mean full of
+yourself. Let the egotism, a figure which upon all other occasions I
+detest, be your only one to me. Trifles that concern you are not trifles
+to me; and my knowledge of them may possibly be useful to you. Adieu.
+'Les graces, les graces, les graces'.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXX
+
+LONDON, June 23, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I direct this letter to Mayence, where I think it is
+likely to meet you, supposing, as I do, that you stayed three weeks at
+Manheim, after the date of your last from thence; but should you have
+stayed longer at Manheim, to which I have no objection, it will wait for
+you at Mayence. Mayence will not, I believe, have charms to detain you
+above a week; so that I reckon you will be at Bonn at the end of July, N.
+S. There you may stay just as little or as long as you please, and then
+proceed to Hanover.
+
+I had a letter by the last post from a relation of mine at Hanover, Mr.
+Stanhope Aspinwall, who is in the Duke of Newcastle's office, and has
+lately been appointed the King's Minister to the Dey of Algiers; a post
+which, notwithstanding your views of foreign affairs, I believe you do
+not envy him. He tells me in that letter, there are very good lodgings to
+be had at one Mrs. Meyers's, the next door to the Duke of Newcastle's,
+which he offers to take for you; I have desired him to do it, in case
+Mrs. Meyers will wait for you till the latter end of August, or the
+beginning of September, N. S., which I suppose is about the time when you
+will be at Hanover. You will find this Mr. Aspinwall of great use to you
+there. He will exert himself to the utmost to serve you; he has been
+twice or thrice at Hanover, and knows all the allures there: he is very
+well with the Duke of Newcastle, and will puff you there. Moreover, if
+you have a mind to work there as a volunteer in that bureau, he will
+assist and inform you. In short, he is a very honest, sensible, and
+informed man; 'mais me paye pas beaucoup de sa figure; il abuse meme du
+privilege qu'ont les hommes d'etre laids; et il ne sera pas en reste avec
+les lions et les leopards qu'il trouvera a Alger'.
+
+As you are entirely master of the time when you will leave Bonn and go to
+Hanover, so are you master to stay at Hanover as long as you please, and
+to go from thence where you please; provided that at Christmas you are at
+Berlin, for the beginning of the Carnival: this I would not have you say
+at Hanover, considering the mutual disposition of those two courts; but
+when anybody asks you where you are to go next, say that you propose
+rambling in Germany, at Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the next spring;
+when you intend to be in Flanders, in your way to England. I take Berlin,
+at this time, to be the politest, the most shining, and the most useful
+court in Europe for a young fellow to be at: and therefore I would upon
+no account not have you there, for at least a couple of months of the
+Carnival. If you are as well received, and pass your time as well at Bonn
+as I believe you will, I would advise you to remain there till about the
+20th of August, N. S., in four days you will be at Hanover. As for your
+stay there, it must be shorter or longer, according to certain
+circumstances WHICH YOU KNOW OF; supposing them, at the best, then, stay
+within a week or ten days of the King's return to England; but supposing
+them at the worst, your stay must not be too short, for reasons which you
+also know; no resentment must either appear or be suspected; therefore,
+at worst, I think you must remain there a month, and at best, as long as
+ever you please. But I am convinced that all will turn out very well for
+you there. Everybody is engaged or inclined to help you; the ministers,
+English and German, the principal ladies, and most of the foreign
+ministers; so that I may apply to you, 'nullum numen abest, si sit
+prudentia'. Du Perron will, I believe, be back there from Turin much
+about the time you get there: pray be very attentive to him, and connect
+yourself with him as much as ever you can; for, besides that he is a very
+pretty and well-informed man, he is very much in fashion at Hanover, is
+personally very well with the King and certain ladies; so that a visible
+intimacy and connection with him will do you credit and service. Pray
+cultivate Monsieur Hop, the Dutch minister, who has always been very much
+my friend, and will, I am sure, be yours; his manners, it is true, are
+not very engaging; he is rough, but he is sincere. It is very useful
+sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid, as it is right to
+see very often those which one ought to imitate, and my friend Hop's
+manners will frequently point out to you, what yours ought to be by the
+rule of contraries.
+
+Congreve points out a sort of critics, to whom he says that we are doubly
+obliged:--
+
+     "Rules for good writing they with pains indite,
+     Then show us what is bad, by what they write."
+
+It is certain that Monsieur Hop, with the best heart in the world, and a
+thousand good qualities, has a thousand enemies, and hardly a friend;
+simply from the roughness of his manners.
+
+N. B. I heartily wish you could have stayed long enough at Manheim to
+have been seriously and desperately in love with Madame de Taxis; who, I
+suppose, is a proud, insolent, fine lady, and who would consequently have
+expected attentions little short of adoration: nothing would do you more
+good than such a passion; and I live in hopes that somebody or other will
+be able to excite such an one in you; your hour may not yet be come, but
+it will come. Love has not been unaptly compared to the smallpox which
+most people have sooner or later. Iphigenia had a wonderful effect upon
+Cimon; I wish some Hanover Iphigenia may try her skill upon you.
+
+I recommend to you again, though I have already done it twice or thrice,
+to speak German, even affectedly, while you are at Hanover; which will
+show that you prefer that language, and be of more use to you there with
+SOMEBODY, than you can imagine. When you carry my letters to Monsieur
+Munchausen and Monsieur Schwiegeldt, address yourself to them in German;
+the latter speaks French very well, but the former extremely ill. Show
+great attention to Madame, Munchausen's daughter, who is a great
+favorite; those little trifles please mothers, and sometimes fathers,
+extremely. Observe, and you will find, almost universally, that the least
+things either please or displease most; because they necessarily imply,
+either a very strong desire of obliging, or an unpardonable indifference
+about it. I will give you a ridiculous instance enough of this truth,
+from my own experience. When I was Ambassador the first time in Holland,
+Comte de Wassenaer and his wife, people of the first rank and
+consideration, had a little boy of about three years old, of whom they
+were exceedingly fond; in order to make my court to them, I was so too,
+and used to take the child often upon my lap, and play with him. One day
+his nose was very dirty, upon which I took out my handkerchief and wiped
+it for him; this raised a loud laugh, and they called me a very, handy
+nurse; but the father and mother were so pleased with it, that to this
+day it is an anecdote in the family, and I never receive a letter from
+Comte Wassenaer, but he makes me the compliments 'du morveux gue j'ai
+mouche autrefois'; who, by the way, I am assured, is now the prettiest
+young fellow in Holland. Where one would gain people, remember that
+nothing is little. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXI
+
+LONDON, June 26, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have reason to fear, from your M last letter of the
+18th, N. S., from Manheim, that all, or at least most of my letters to
+you, since you left Paris, have miscarried; I think it requisite, at all
+events, to repeat in this the necessary parts of those several letters,
+as far as they relate to your future motions.
+
+I suppose that this will either find you, or be but a few days before you
+at Bonn, where it is directed; and I suppose too, that you have fixed
+your time for going from thence to Hanover. If things TURN OUT WELL AT
+HANOVER, as in my opinion they will, 'Chi sta bene non si muova', stay
+there till a week or ten days before the King sets out for England; but,
+should THEY TURN OUT ILL, which I cannot imagine, stay, however, a month,
+that your departure may not seem a step of discontent or peevishness; the
+very suspicion of which is by all means to be avoided. Whenever you leave
+Hanover, be it sooner or be it later, where would you go? 'Lei Padrone',
+and I give you your choice: would you pass the months of November and
+December at Brunswick, Cassel, etc.? Would you choose to go for a couple
+of months to Ratisbon, where you would be very well recommended to, and
+treated by the King's Electoral Minister, the Baron de Behr, and where
+you would improve your 'Jus publicum'? or would you rather go directly to
+Berlin, and stay there till the end of the Carnival? Two or three months
+at Berlin are, considering all circumstances, necessary for you; and the
+Carnival months are the best; 'pour le reste decidez en dernier ressort,
+et sans appel comme d'abus'. Let me know your decree, when you have
+formed it. Your good or ill success at Hanover will have a very great
+influence upon your subsequent character, figure, and fortune in the
+world; therefore I confess that I am more anxious about it, than ever
+bride was on her wedding night, when wishes, hopes, fears, and doubts,
+tumultuously agitate, please, and terrify her. It is your first crisis:
+the character which you will acquire there will, more or less, be that
+which will abide by you for the rest of your life. You will be tried and
+judged there, not as a boy, but as a man; and from that moment there is
+no appeal for character; it is fixed. To form that character
+advantageously, you have three objects particularly to attend to: your
+character as a man of morality, truth, and honor; your knowledge in the
+objects of your destination, as a man of business; and your engaging and
+insinuating address, air and manners, as a courtier; the sure and only
+steps to favor.
+
+Merit at courts, without favor, will do little or nothing; favor, without
+merit, will do a good deal; but favor and merit together will do
+everything. Favor at courts depends upon so many, such trifling, such
+unexpected, and unforeseen events, that a good courtier must attend to
+every circumstance, however little, that either does, or can happen; he
+must have no absences, no DISTRACTIONS; he must not say, "I did not mind
+it; who would have thought it?" He ought both to have minded, and to have
+thought it. A chamber-maid has sometimes caused revolutions in courts
+which have produced others in kingdoms. Were I to make my way to favor in
+a court, I would neither willfully, nor by negligence, give a dog or a
+cat there reason to dislike me. Two 'pies grieches', well instructed, you
+know, made the fortune of De Luines with Lewis XIII. Every step a man
+makes at court requires as much attention and circumspection, as those
+which were made formerly between hot plowshares, in the Ordeal, or fiery
+trials; which, in those times of ignorance and superstition, were looked
+upon as demonstrations of innocence or guilt. Direct your principal
+battery, at Hanover, at the D of N 's: there are many very weak places in
+that citadel; where, with a very little skill, you cannot fail making a
+great impression. Ask for his orders in everything you do; talk Austrian
+and Anti-gallican to him; and, as soon as you are upon a foot of talking
+easily to him, tell him 'en badinant', that his skill and success in
+thirty or forty elections in England leave you no reason to doubt of his
+carrying his election for Frankfort; and that you look upon the Archduke
+as his Member for the Empire. In his hours of festivity and compotation,
+drop that he puts you in mind of what Sir William Temple says of the
+Pensionary De Witt,--who at that time governed half Europe,--that he
+appeared at balls, assemblies, and public places, as if he had nothing
+else to do or to think of. When he talks to you upon foreign affairs,
+which he will often do, say that you really cannot presume to give any
+opinion of your own upon those matters, looking upon yourself at present
+only as a postscript to the corps diplomatique; but that, if his Grace
+will be pleased to make you an additional volume to it, though but in
+duodecimo, you will do your best that he shall neither be ashamed nor
+repent of it. He loves to have a favorite, and to open himself to that
+favorite. He has now no such person with him; the place is vacant, and if
+you have dexterity you may fill it. In one thing alone do not humor him;
+I mean drinking; for, as I believe, you have never yet been drunk, you do
+not yourself know how you can bear your wine, and what a little too much
+of it may make you do or say; you might possibly kick down all you had
+done before.
+
+You do not love gaming, and I thank God for it; but at Hanover I would
+have you show, and profess a particular dislike to play, so as to decline
+it upon all occasions, unless where one may be wanted to make a fourth at
+whist or quadrille; and then take care to declare it the result of your
+complaisance, not of your inclinations. Without such precaution you may
+very possibly be suspected, though unjustly, of loving play, upon account
+of my former passion for it; and such a suspicion would do you a great
+deal of hurt, especially with the King, who detests gaming. I must end
+this abruptly. God bless you!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXII
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Versatility as a courtier may be almost decisive to you
+hereafter; that is, it may conduce to, or retard your preferment in your
+own destination. The first reputation goes a great way; and if you fix a
+good one at Hanover, it will operate also to your advantage in England.
+The trade of a courtier is as much a trade as that of a shoemaker; and he
+who applies himself the most, will work the best: the only difficulty is
+to distinguish (what I am sure you have sense enough to distinguish)
+between the right and proper qualifications and their kindred faults; for
+there is but a line between every perfection and its neighboring
+imperfection. As, for example, you must be extremely well-bred and
+polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness of ceremony. You
+must be respectful and assenting, but without being servile and abject.
+You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, without being
+costive. You must keep up dignity of character, without the least pride
+of birth or rank. You must be gay within all the bounds of decency and
+respect; and grave without the affectation of wisdom, which does not
+become the age of twenty. You must be essentially secret, without being
+dark and mysterious. You must be firm, and even bold, but with great
+seeming modesty.
+
+With these qualifications, which, by the way, are all in your own power,
+I will answer for your success, not only at Hanover, but at any court in
+Europe. And I am not sorry that you begin your apprenticeship at a little
+one; because you must be more circumspect, and more upon your guard
+there, than at a great one, where every little thing is not known nor
+reported.
+
+When you write to me, or to anybody else, from thence, take care that
+your letters contain commendations of all that you see and hear there;
+for they will most of them be opened and read; but, as frequent couriers
+will come from Hanover to England, you may sometimes write to me without
+reserve; and put your letters into a very little box, which you may send
+safely by some of them.
+
+I must not omit mentioning to you, that at the Duke of Newcastle's table,
+where you will frequently dine, there is a great deal of drinking; be
+upon your guard against it, both upon account of your health, which would
+not bear it, and of the consequences of your being flustered and heated
+with wine: it might engage you in scrapes and frolics, which the King
+(who is a very sober man himself) detests. On the other hand, you should
+not seem too grave and too wise to drink like the rest of the company;
+therefore use art: mix water with your wine; do not drink all that is in
+the glass; and if detected, and pressed to drink more do not cry out
+sobriety; but say that you have lately been out of order, that you are
+subject to inflammatory complaints, and that you must beg to be excused
+for the present. A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to
+be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really' be so or not.
+
+During your stay at Hanover I would have you make two or three excursions
+to parts of that Electorate: the Hartz, where the silver mines are;
+Gottingen, for the University; Stade, for what commerce there is. You
+should also go to Zell. In short, see everything that is to be seen
+there, and inform yourself well of all the details of that country. Go to
+Hamburg for three or four days, and know the constitution of that little
+Hanseatic Republic, and inform yourself well of the nature of the King of
+Denmark's pretensions to it.
+
+If all things turn out right for you at Hanover, I would have you make it
+your head-quarters, till about a week or ten days before the King leaves
+it; and then go to Brunswick, which, though a little, is a very polite,
+pretty court. You may stay there a fortnight or three weeks, as you like
+it; and from thence go to Cassel, and stay there till you go to Berlin;
+where I would have you be by Christmas. At Hanover you will very easily
+get good letters of recommendation to Brunswick and to Cassel. You do not
+want any to Berlin; however, I will send you one for Voltaire. 'A propos'
+of Berlin, be very reserved and cautious while at Hanover, as to that
+King and that country; both which are detested, because feared by
+everybody there, from his Majesty down to the meanest peasant; but,
+however, they both extremely deserve your utmost attention and you will
+see the arts and wisdom of government better in that country, now, than
+in any other in Europe. You may stay three months at Berlin, if you like
+it, as I believe you will; and after that I hope we shall meet there
+again.
+
+Of all the places in the world (I repeat it once more), establish a good
+reputation at Hanover, 'et faites vous valoir la, autant qu'il est
+possible, par le brillant, les manieres, et les graces'. Indeed it is of
+the greatest importance to you, and will make any future application to
+the King in your behalf very easy. He is more taken by those little
+things, than any man, or even woman, that I ever knew in my life: and I
+do not wonder at him. In short, exert to the utmost all your means and
+powers to please: and remember that he who pleases the most, will rise
+the soonest and the highest. Try but once the pleasure and advantage of
+pleasing, and I will answer that you will never more neglect the means.
+
+I send you herewith two letters, the one to Monsieur Munchausen, the
+other to Monsieur Schweigeldt, an old friend of mine, and a very sensible
+knowing man. They will both I am sure, be extremely civil to you, and
+carry you into the best company; and then it is your business to please
+that company. I never was more anxious about any period of your life,
+than I am about this, your Hanover expedition, it being of so much more
+consequence to you than any other. If I hear from thence, that you are
+liked and loved there, for your air, your manners, and address, as well
+as esteemed for your knowledge, I shall be the happiest man in the world.
+Judge then what I must be, if it happens otherwise. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIII
+
+LONDON, July 21, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: By my calculation this letter may probably arrive at
+Hanover three or four days before you; and as I am sure of its arriving
+there safe, it shall contain the most material points that I have
+mentioned in my several letters to you since you left Paris, as if you
+had received but few of them, which may very probably be the case.
+
+As for your stay at Hanover, it must not IN ALL EVENTS be less than a
+month; but if things turn out to Your SATISFACTION, it may be just as
+long as you please. From thence you may go wherever you like; for I have
+so good an opinion of your judgment, that I think you will combine and
+weigh all circumstances, and choose the properest places. Would you
+saunter at some of the small courts, as Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the
+Carnival at Berlin? You are master. Would you pass a couple of months at
+Ratisbon, which might not be ill employed? 'A la bonne heure'. Would you
+go to Brussels, stay a month or two there with Dayrolles, and from thence
+to Mr. Yorke, at The Hague? With all my heart. Or, lastly, would you go
+to Copenhagen and Stockholm? 'Lei e anche Padrone': choose entirely for
+yourself, without any further instructions from me; only let me know your
+determination in time, that I may settle your credit, in case you go to
+places where at present you have none. Your object should be to see the
+'mores multorum hominum et urbes'; begin and end it where you please.
+
+By what you have already seen of the German courts, I am sure you must
+have observed that they are much more nice and scrupulous, in points of
+ceremony, respect and attention, than the greater courts of France and
+England. You will, therefore, I am persuaded, attend to the minutest
+circumstances of address and behavior, particularly during your stay at
+Hanover, which (I will repeat it, though I have said it often to you
+already) is the most important preliminary period of your whole life.
+Nobody in the world is more exact, in all points of good-breeding, than
+the King; and it is the part of every man's character, that he informs
+himself of first. The least negligence, or the slightest inattention,
+reported to him, may do you infinite prejudice: as their contraries would
+service.
+
+If Lord Albemarle (as I believe he did) trusted you with the secret
+affairs of his department, let the Duke of Newcastle know that he did so;
+which will be an inducement to him to trust you too, and possibly to
+employ you in affairs of consequence. Tell him that, though you are
+young, you know the importance of secrecy in business, and can keep a
+secret; that I have always inculcated this doctrine into you, and have,
+moreover, strictly forbidden you ever to communicate, even to me, any
+matters of a secret nature, which you may happen to be trusted with in
+the course of business.
+
+As for business, I think I can trust you to yourself; but I wish I could
+say as much for you with regard to those exterior accomplishments, which
+are absolutely necessary to smooth and shorten the way to it. Half the
+business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of
+those with whom one is to transact it. Air and address must begin,
+manners and attention must finish that work. I will let you into one
+secret concerning myself; which is, that I owe much more of the success
+which I have had in the world to my manners, than to any superior degree
+of merit or knowledge. I desired to please, and I neglected none of the
+means. This, I can assure you, without any false modesty, is the truth:
+You have more knowledge than I had at your age, but then I had much more
+attention and good-breeding than you. Call it vanity, if you please, and
+possibly it was so; but my great object was to make every man I met with
+like me, and every woman love me. I often succeeded; but why? By taking
+great pains, for otherwise I never should: my figure by no means entitled
+me to it; and I had certainly an up-hill game; whereas your countenance
+would help you, if you made the most of it, and proscribed for ever the
+guilty, gloomy, and funereal part of it. Dress, address, and air, would
+become your best countenance, and make your little figure pass very well.
+
+If you have time to read at Hanover, pray let the books you read be all
+relative to the history and constitution of that country; which I would
+have you know as correctly as any Hanoverian in the whole Electorate.
+Inform yourself of the powers of the States, and of the nature and extent
+of the several judicatures; the particular articles of trade and commerce
+of Bremen, Harburg, and Stade; the details and value of the mines of the
+Hartz. Two or three short books will give you the outlines of all these
+things; and conversation turned upon those subjects will do the rest, and
+better than books can.
+
+Remember of all things to speak nothing but German there; make it (to
+express myself pedantically) your vernacular language; seem to prefer it
+to any other; call it your favorite language, and study to speak it with
+purity and elegance, if it has any. This will not only make you perfect
+in it, but will please, and make your court there better than anything. A
+propos of languages: Did you improve your Italian while you were at
+Paris, or did you forget it? Had you a master there? and what Italian
+books did you read with him? If you are master of Italian, I would have
+you afterward, by the first convenient opportunity, learn Spanish, which
+you may very easily, and in a very little time do; you will then, in the
+course of your foreign business, never be obliged to employ, pay, or
+trust any translator for any European language.
+
+As I love to provide eventually for everything that can possibly happen,
+I will suppose the worst that can befall you at Hanover. In that case I
+would have you go immediately to the Duke of Newcastle, and beg his
+Grace's advice, or rather orders, what you should do; adding, that his
+advice will always be orders to you. You will tell him that though you
+are exceedingly mortified, you are much less so than you should otherwise
+be, from the consideration that being utterly unknown to his M-----, his
+objection could not be personal to you, and could only arise from
+circumstances which it was not in your power either to prevent or remedy;
+that if his Grace thought that your continuing any longer there would be
+disagreeable, you entreated him to tell you so; and that upon the whole,
+you referred yourself entirely to him, whose orders you should most
+scrupulously obey. But this precaution, I dare say, is 'ex abundanti',
+and will prove unnecessary; however, it is always right to be prepared
+for all events, the worst as well as the best; it prevents hurry and
+surprise, two dangerous, situations in business; for I know no one thing
+so useful, so necessary in all business, as great coolness, steadiness,
+and sangfroid: they give an incredible advantage over whoever one has to
+do with.
+
+I have received your letter of the 15th, N. S., from Mayence, where I
+find that you have diverted yourself much better than I expected. I am
+very well acquainted with Comte Cobentzel's character, both of parts and
+business. He could have given you letters to Bonn, having formerly
+resided there himself. You will not be so agreeably ELECTRIFIED where
+this letter will find you, as you were both at Manheim and Mayence; but I
+hope you may meet with a second German Mrs. F-----d, who may make you
+forget the two former ones, and practice your German. Such transient
+passions will do you no harm; but, on the contrary, a great deal of good;
+they will refine your manners and quicken your attention; they give a
+young fellow 'du brillant', and bring him into fashion; which last is a
+great article at setting out in the world.
+
+I have wrote, about a month ago, to Lord Albemarle, to thank him for all
+his kindnesses to you; but pray have you done as much? Those are the
+necessary attentions which should never be omitted, especially in the
+beginning of life, when a character is to be established.
+
+That ready wit; which you so partially allow me, and so justly Sir
+Charles Williams, may create many admirers; but, take my word for it, it
+makes few friends. It shines and dazzles like the noon-day sun, but, like
+that too, is very apt to scorch; and therefore is always feared. The
+milder morning and evening light and heat of that planet soothe and calm
+our minds. Good sense, complaisance, gentleness of manners, attentions
+and graces are the only things that truly engage, and durably keep the
+heart at long run. Never seek for wit; if it presents itself, well and
+good; but, even in that case, let your judgment interpose; and take care
+that it be not at the expense of anybody. Pope says very truly:
+
+     "There are whom heaven has blest with store of wit;
+     Yet want as much again to govern it."
+
+And in another place, I doubt with too much truth:
+
+     "For wit and judgment ever are at strife
+     Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife."
+
+The Germans are very seldom troubled with any extraordinary ebullitions
+or effervescenses of wit, and it is not prudent to try it upon them;
+whoever does, 'ofendet solido'.
+
+Remember to write me very minute accounts of all your transactions at
+Hanover, for they excite both my impatience and anxiety. Adieu!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIV
+
+LONDON, August 4, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I am extremely concerned at the return of your old
+asthmatic complaint, of which your letter from Cassel of the 28th July,
+N. S., in forms me. I believe it is chiefly owing to your own negligence;
+for, notwithstanding the season of the year, and the heat and agitation
+of traveling, I dare swear you have not taken one single dose of gentle,
+cooling physic, since that which I made you take at Bath. I hope you are
+now better, and in better hands. I mean in Dr. Hugo's at Hanover: he is
+certainly a very skillful physician, and therefore I desire that you will
+inform him most minutely of your own case, from your first attack in
+Carniola, to this last at Marpurgh; and not only follow his prescriptions
+exactly at present, but take his directions, with regard to the regimen
+that he would have you observe to prevent the returns of this complaint;
+and, in case of any returns, the immediate applications, whether external
+or internal, that he would have you make use of. Consider, it is very
+worth your while to submit at present to any course of medicine or diet,
+to any restraint or confinement, for a time, in order to get rid, once
+for all, of so troublesome and painful a distemper; the returns of which
+would equally break in upon your business or your pleasures.
+Notwithstanding all this, which is plain sense and reason, I much fear
+that, as soon as ever you are got out of your present distress, you will
+take no preventive care, by a proper course of medicines and regimen;
+but, like most people of your age, think it impossible that you ever
+should be ill again. However, if you will not be wise for your own sake,
+I desire you will be so for mine, and most scrupulously observe Dr.
+Hugo's present and future directions.
+
+Hanover, where I take it for granted you are, is at present the seat and
+centre of foreign negotiations; there are ministers from almost every
+court in Europe; and you have a fine opportunity of displaying with
+modesty, in conversation, your knowledge of the matters now in agitation.
+The chief I take to be the Election of the King of the Romans, which,
+though I despair of, heartily wish were brought about for two reasons.
+The first is, that I think it may prevent a war upon the death of the
+present Emperor, who, though young and healthy, may possibly die, as
+young and healthy people often do. The other is, the very reason that
+makes some powers oppose it, and others dislike it, who do not openly
+oppose it; I mean, that it may tend to make the imperial dignity
+hereditary in the House of Austria; which I heartily wish, together with
+a very great increase of power in the empire: till when, Germany will
+never be anything near a match for France. Cardinal Richelieu showed his
+superior abilities in nothing more, than in thinking no pains or expense
+too great to break the power of the House of Austria in the empire.
+Ferdinand had certainly made himself absolute, and the empire
+consequently formidable to France, if that Cardinal had not piously
+adopted the Protestant cause, and put the empire, by the treaty of
+Westphalia, in pretty much the same disjointed situation in which France
+itself was before Lewis the Eleventh; when princes of the blood, at the
+head of provinces, and Dukes of Brittany, etc., always opposed, and often
+gave laws to the crown. Nothing but making the empire hereditary in the
+House of Austria, can give it that strength and efficiency, which I wish
+it had, for the sake of the balance of power. For, while the princes of
+the empire are so independent of the emperor, so divided among
+themselves, and so open to the corruption of the best bidders, it is
+ridiculous to expect that Germany ever will, or can act as a compact and
+well-united body against France. But as this notion of mine would as
+little please SOME OF OUR FRIENDS, as many of our enemies, I would not
+advise you, though you should be of the same opinion, to declare yourself
+too freely so. Could the Elector Palatine be satisfied, which I confess
+will be difficult, considering the nature of his pretensions, the
+tenaciousness and haughtiness of the court of Vienna (and our inability
+to do, as we have too often done, their work for them); I say, if the
+Elector Palatine could be engaged to give his vote, I should think it
+would be right to proceed to the election with a clear majority of five
+votes; and leave the King of Prussia and the Elector of Cologne, to
+protest and remonstrate as much as ever they please. The former is too
+wise, and the latter too weak in every respect, to act in consequence of
+these protests. The distracted situation of France, with its
+ecclesiastical and parliamentary quarrels, not to mention the illness and
+possibly the death of the Dauphin, will make the King of Prussia, who is
+certainly no Frenchman in his heart, very cautious how he acts as one.
+The Elector of Saxony will be influenced by the King of Poland, who must
+be determined by Russia, considering his views upon Poland, which, by the
+by, I hope he will never obtain; I mean, as to making that crown
+hereditary in his family. As for his sons having it by the precarious
+tenure of election, by which his father now holds it, 'a la bonne heure'.
+But, should Poland have a good government under hereditary kings, there
+would be a new devil raised in Europe, that I do not know who could lay.
+I am sure I would not raise him, though on my own side for the present.
+
+I do not know how I came to trouble my head so much about politics today,
+which has been so very free from them for some years: I suppose it was
+because I knew that I was writing to the most consummate politician of
+this, and his age. If I err, you will set me right; 'si quid novisti
+rectius istis, candidus imperti', etc.
+
+I am excessively impatient for your next letter, which I expect by the
+first post from Hanover, to remove my anxiety, as I hope it will, not
+only with regard to your health, but likewise to OTHER THINGS; in the
+meantime in the language of a pedant, but with the tenderness of a
+parent, 'jubeo te bene valere'.
+
+Lady Chesterfield makes you many compliments, and is much concerned at
+your indisposition.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXV
+
+TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE, NOW STAYING AT BERLIN.
+
+LONDON, August 27, O. S. 1752.
+
+SIR: As a most convincing proof how infinitely I am interested in
+everything which concerns Mr. Stanhope, who will have the honor of
+presenting you this letter, I take the liberty of introducing him to you.
+He has read a great deal, he has seen a great deal; whether or not he has
+made a proper use of that knowledge, is what I do not know: he is only
+twenty years of age. He was at Berlin some years ago, and therefore he
+returns thither; for at present people are attracted toward the north by
+the same motives which but lately drew them to the south.
+
+Permit me, Sir, to return you thanks for the pleasure and instruction I
+have received from your 'History of Lewis XIV'. I have as yet read it but
+four times, because I wish to forget it a little before I read it a
+fifth; but I find that impossible: I shall therefore only wait till you
+give us the augmentation which you promised; let me entreat you not to
+defer it long. I thought myself pretty conversant in the history of the
+reign of Lewis XIV., by means of those innumerable histories, memoirs,
+anecdotes, etc., which I had read relative to that period of time. You
+have convinced me that I was mistaken, and had upon that subject very
+confused ideas in many respects, and very false ones in others. Above
+all, I cannot but acknowledge the obligation we have to you, Sir, for the
+light which you have thrown upon the follies and outrages of the
+different sects; the weapons you employ against those madmen, or those
+impostors, are the only suitable ones; to make use of any others would be
+imitating them: they must be attacked by ridicule, and, punished with
+contempt. 'A propos' of those fanatics; I send you here inclosed a piece
+upon that subject, written by the late Dean Swift: I believe you will not
+dislike it. You will easily guess why it never was printed: it is
+authentic, and I have the original in his own handwriting. His Jupiter,
+at the Day of judgment, treats them much as you do, and as they deserve
+to be treated.
+
+Give me leave, Sir, to tell you freely, that I am embarrassed upon your
+account, as I cannot determine what it is that I wish from you. When I
+read your last history, I am desirous that you should always write
+history; but when I read your 'Rome Sauvee' (although ill-printed and
+disfigured), yet I then wish you never to deviate from poetry; however, I
+confess that there still remains one history worthy of your pen, and of
+which your pen alone is worthy. You have long ago given us the history of
+the greatest and most outrageous madman (I ask your pardon if I cannot
+say the greatest hero) of Europe; you have given us latterly the history
+of the greatest king; give us now the history of the greatest and most
+virtuous man in Europe; I should think it degrading to call him king. To
+you this cannot be difficult, he is always before your eyes: your
+poetical invention is not necessary to his glory, as that may safely rely
+upon your historical candor. The first duty of an historian is the only
+one he need require from his, 'Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri
+non audeat'. Adieu, Sir! I find that I must admire you every day more and
+more; but I also know that nothing ever can add to the esteem and
+attachment with which I am actually, your most humble and most obedient
+servant, CHESTERFIELD.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVI
+
+LONDON, September 19, 1752,
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Since you have been at Hanover, your correspondence has
+been both unfrequent and laconic. You made indeed one great effort in
+folio on the 18th, with a postscript of the 22d August, N. S., and since
+that, 'vous avez rate in quarto'. On the 31st August, N. S., you give me
+no informations of what I want chiefly to know; which is, what Dr. Hugo
+(whom I charged you to consult) said of your asthmatic complaint, and
+what he prescribed you to prevent the returns of it; and also what is the
+company that, you keep there, who has been kind and civil to you, and who
+not.
+
+You say that you go constantly to the parade; and you do very well; for
+though you are not of that trade, yet military matters make so great a
+part both of conversation and negotiation, that it is very proper not to
+be ignorant of them. I hope you mind more than the mere exercise of the
+troops you see; and that you inform yourself at the same time, of the
+more material details; such as their pay, and the difference of it when
+in and out of quarters; what is furnished them by the country when in
+quarters, and what is allowed them of ammunition, bread, etc., when in
+the field; the number of men and officers in the several troops and
+companies, together with the non-commissioned officers, as 'caporals,
+frey-caporals, anspessades', sergeants, quarter-masters, etc.; the
+clothing how frequent, how good, and how furnished; whether by the
+colonel, as here in England, from what we call the OFF-RECKONINGS, that
+is, deductions from the men's pay, or by commissaries appointed by the
+government for that purpose, as in France and Holland. By these inquiries
+you will be able to talk military with military men, who, in every
+country in Europe, except England, make at least half of all the best
+companies. Your attending the parades has also another good effect, which
+is, that it brings you, of course, acquainted with the officers, who,
+when of a certain rank and service, are generally very polite, well-bred
+people, 'et du bon ton'. They have commonly seen a great deal of the
+world, and of courts; and nothing else can form a gentleman, let people
+say what they will of sense and learning; with both which a man may
+contrive to be a very disagreeable companion. I dare say, there are very
+few captains of foot, who are not much better company than ever Descartes
+or Sir Isaac Newton were. I honor and respect such superior geniuses; but
+I desire to converse with people of this world, who bring into company
+their share, at least, of cheerfulness, good-breeding, and knowledge of
+mankind. In common life, one much oftener wants small money, and silver,
+than gold. Give me a man who has ready cash about him for present
+expenses; sixpences, shillings, half-crowns, and crowns, which circulate
+easily: but a man who has only an ingot of gold about him, is much above
+common purposes, and his riches are not handy nor convenient. Have as
+much gold as you please in one pocket, but take care always to keep
+change in the other; for you will much oftener have occasion for a
+shilling than for a guinea. In this the French must be allowed to excel
+all people in the world: they have 'un certain entregent, un enjouement,
+un aimable legerete dans la conversation, une politesse aisee et
+naturelle, qui paroit ne leur rien couter', which give society all its
+charms. I am sorry to add, but it is too true, that the English and the
+Dutch are the farthest from this, of all the people in the world; I do by
+no means except even the Swiss.
+
+Though you do not think proper to inform me, I know from other hands that
+you were to go to the Gohr with a Comte Schullemburg, for eight or ten
+days only, to see the reviews. I know also that you had a blister upon
+your arm, which did you a great deal of good. I know too, you have
+contracted a great friendship with Lord Essex, and that you two were
+inseparable at Hanover. All these things I would rather have known from
+you than from others; and they are the sort of things that I am the most
+desirous of knowing, as they are more immediately relative to yourself.
+
+I am very sorry for the Duchess of Newcastle's illness, full as much upon
+your as upon her account, as it has hindered you from being so much known
+to the Duke as I could have wished; use and habit going a great way with
+him, as indeed they do with most people. I have known many people
+patronized, pushed up, and preferred by those who could have given no
+other reason for it, than that they were used to them. We must never seek
+for motives by deep reasoning, but we must find them out by careful
+observation and attention, no matter what they should be, but the point
+is, what they are. Trace them up, step by step, from the character of the
+person. I have known 'de par le monde', as Brantome says, great effects
+from causes too little ever to have been suspected. Some things must be
+known, and can never be guessed.
+
+God knows where this letter will find you, or follow you; not at Hanover,
+I suppose; but wherever it does, may it find you in health and pleasure!
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVII
+
+LONDON, September 22, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: The day after the date of my last, I received your letter
+of the 8th. I approve extremely of your intended progress, and am very
+glad that you go to the Gohr with Comte Schullemburg. I would have you
+see everything with your own eyes, and hear everything with your own
+ears: for I know, by very long experience, that it is very unsafe to
+trust to other people's. Vanity and interest cause many
+misrepresentations, and folly causes many more. Few people have parts
+enough to relate exactly and judiciously: and those who have, for some
+reason or other, never fail to sink, or to add some circumstances.
+
+The reception which you have met with at Hanover, I look upon as an omen
+of your being well received everywhere else; for to tell you the truth,
+it was the place that I distrusted the most in that particular. But there
+is a certain conduct, there are certaines 'manieres' that will, and must
+get the better of all difficulties of that kind; it is to acquire them
+that you still continue abroad, and go from court to court; they are
+personal, local, and temporal; they are modes which vary, and owe their
+existence to accidents, whim, and humor; all the sense and reason in the
+world would never point them out; nothing but experience, observation,
+and what is called knowledge of the world, can possibly teach them. For
+example, it is respectful to bow to the King of England, it is
+disrespectful to bow to the King of France; it is the rule to courtesy to
+the Emperor; and the prostration of the whole body is required by eastern
+monarchs. These are established ceremonies, and must be complied with:
+but why thev were established, I defy sense and reason to tell us. It is
+the same among all ranks, where certain customs are received, and must
+necessarily be complied with, though by no means the result of sense and
+reason. As for instance, the very absurd, though almost universal custom
+of drinking people's healths. Can there be anything in the world less
+relative to any other man's health, than my drinking a glass of wine?
+Common sense certainly never pointed it out; but yet common sense tells
+me I must conform to it. Good sense bids one be civil and endeavor to
+please; though nothing but experience and observation can teach one the
+means, properly adapted to time, place, and persons. This knowledge is
+the true object of a gentleman's traveling, if he travels as he ought to
+do. By frequenting good company in every country, he himself becomes of
+every country; he is no longer an Englishman, a Frenchman, or an Italian;
+but he is an European; he adopts, respectively, the best manners of every
+country; and is a Frenchman at Paris, an Italian at Rome, an Englishman
+at London.
+
+This advantage, I must confess, very seldom accrues to my countrymen from
+their traveling; as they have neither the desire nor the means of getting
+into good company abroad; for, in the first place, they are confoundedly
+bashful; and, in the next place, they either speak no foreign language at
+all, or if they do, it is barbarously. You possess all the advantages
+that they want; you know the languages in perfection, and have constantly
+kept the best company in the places where you have been; so that you
+ought to be an European. Your canvas is solid and strong, your outlines
+are good; but remember that you still want the beautiful coloring of
+Titian, and the delicate, graceful touches of Guido. Now is your time to
+get them. There is, in all good company, a fashionable air, countenance,
+manner, and phraseology, which can only be acquired by being in good
+company, and very attentive to all that passes there. When you dine or
+sup at any well-bred man's house, observe carefully how he does the
+honors of his table to the different guests. Attend to the compliments of
+congratulation or condolence that you hear a well-bred man make to his
+superiors, to his equals, and to his inferiors; watch even his
+countenance and his tone of voice, for they all conspire in the main
+point of pleasing. There is a certain distinguishing diction of a man of
+fashion; he will not content himself with saying, like John Trott, to a
+new-married man, Sir, I wish you much joy; or to a man who lost his son,
+Sir, I am sorry for your loss; and both with a countenance equally
+unmoved; but he will say in effect the same thing in a more elegant and
+less trivial manner, and with a countenance adapted to the occasion. He
+will advance with warmth, vivacity, and a cheerful countenance, to the
+new-married man, and embracing him, perhaps say to him, "If you do
+justice to my attachment to you, you will judge of the joy that I feel
+upon this occasion, better than I can express it," etc.; to the other in
+affliction, he will advance slowly, with a grave composure of
+countenance, in a more deliberate manner, and with a lower voice, perhaps
+say, "I hope you do me the justice to be convinced that I feel whatever
+you feel, and shall ever be affected where you are concerned."
+
+Your 'abord', I must tell you, was too cold and uniform; I hope it is now
+mended. It should be respectfully open and cheerful with your superiors,
+warm and animated with your equals, hearty and free with your inferiors.
+There is a fashionable kind of SMALL TALK which you should get; which,
+trifling as it is, is of use in mixed companies, and at table, especially
+in your foreign department; where it keeps off certain serious subjects,
+that might create disputes, or at least coldness for a time. Upon such
+occasions it is not amiss to know how to parley cuisine, and to be able
+to dissert upon the growth and flavor of wines. These, it is true, are
+very little things; but they are little things that occur very often, and
+therefore should be said 'avec gentillesse et grace'. I am sure they must
+fall often in your way; pray take care to catch them. There is a certain
+language of conversation, a fashionable diction, of which every gentleman
+ought to be perfectly master, in whatever language he speaks. The French
+attend to it carefully, and with great reason; and their language, which
+is a language of phrases, helps them out exceedingly. That delicacy of
+diction is characteristical of a man of fashion and good company.
+
+I could write folios upon this subject, and not exhaust it; but I think,
+and hope, that to you I need not. You have heard and seen enough to be
+convinced of the truth and importance of what I have been so long
+inculcating into you upon these points. How happy am I, and how happy are
+you, my dear child, that these Titian tints, and Guido graces, are all
+that you want to complete my hopes and your own character! But then, on
+the other hand, what a drawback would it be to that happiness, if you
+should never acquire them? I remember, when I was of age, though I had
+not near so good an education as you have, or seen a quarter so much of
+the world, I observed those masterly touches and irresistible graces in
+others, and saw the necessity of acquiring them myself; but then an
+awkward 'mauvaise honte', of which I had brought a great deal with me
+from Cambridge, made me ashamed to attempt it, especially if any of my
+countrymen and particular acquaintances were by. This was extremely
+absurd in me: for, without attempting, I could never succeed. But at
+last, insensibly, by frequenting a great deal of good company, and
+imitating those whom I saw that everybody liked, I formed myself, 'tant
+bien que mal'. For God's sake, let this last fine varnish, so necessary
+to give lustre to the whole piece, be the sole and single object now of
+your utmost attention. Berlin may contribute a great deal to it if you
+please; there are all the ingredients that compose it.
+
+'A Propos' of Berlin, while you are there, take care to seem ignorant of
+all political matters between the two courts; such as the affairs of Ost
+Frise, and Saxe Lawemburg, etc., and enter into no conversations upon
+those points; but, however, be as well at court as you possibly can; live
+at it, and make one of it. Should General Keith offer you civilities, do
+not decline them; but return them, however, without being 'enfant de la
+maison chez lui': say 'des chores flatteuses' of the Royal Family, and
+especially of his Prussian Majesty, to those who are the most like to
+repeat them. In short, make yourself well there, without making yourself
+ill SOMEWHERE ELSE. Make compliments from me to Algarotti, and converse
+with him in Italian.
+
+I go next week to the Bath, for a deafness, which I have been plagued
+with these four or five months; and which I am assured that pumping my
+head will remove. This deafness, I own, has tried my patience; as it has
+cut me off from society, at an age when I had no pleasures but those
+left. In the meantime, I have, by reading and writing, made my eyes
+supply the defect of my ears. Madame H-----, I suppose, entertained both
+yours alike; however, I am very glad that you were well with her; for she
+is a good 'proneuse', and puffs are very useful to a young fellow at his
+entrance into the world.
+
+If you should meet with Lord Pembroke again, anywhere, make him many
+compliments from me; and tell him that I should have written to him, but
+that I knew how troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one.
+He is much commended in the accounts from Hanover.
+
+You will stay at Berlin just as long as you like it, and no longer; and
+from thence you are absolutely master of your own motions, either to The
+Hague, or to Brussels; but I think that you had better go to The Hague
+first, because that from thence Brussels will be in your way to Calais,
+which is a much better passage to England than from Helvoetsluys. The two
+courts of The Hague and Brussels are worth your seeing; and you will see
+them both to advantage, by means of Colonel Yorke and Dayrolles. Adieu.
+Here is enough for this time.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVIII
+
+LONDON, September 26, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As you chiefly employ, or rather wholly engross my
+thoughts, I see every day, with increasing pleasure, the fair prospect
+which you have before you. I had two views in your education; they draw
+nearer and nearer, and I have now very little reason to distrust your
+answering them fully. Those two were, parliamentary and foreign affairs.
+In consequence of those views, I took care, first, to give you a
+sufficient stock of sound learning, and next, an early knowledge of the
+world. Without making a figure in parliament, no man can make any in this
+country; and eloquence alone enables a man to make a figure in
+parliament, unless, it be a very mean and contemptible one, which those
+make there who silently vote, and who do 'pedibus ire in sententiam'.
+Foreign affairs, when skillfully managed, and supported by a
+parliamentary reputation, lead to whatever is most considerable in this
+country. You have the languages necessary for that purpose, with a
+sufficient fund of historical and treaty knowledge; that is to say, you
+have the matter ready, and only want the manner. Your objects being thus
+fixed, I recommend to you to have them constantly in your thoughts, and
+to direct your reading, your actions, and your words, to those views.
+Most people think only 'ex re nata', and few 'ex professo': I would have
+you do both, but begin with the latter. I explain myself: Lay down
+certain principles, and reason and act consequently from them. As, for
+example, say to yourself, I will make a figure in parliament, and in
+order to do that, I must not only speak, but speak very well. Speaking
+mere common sense will by no means do; and I must speak not only
+correctly but elegantly; and not only elegantly but eloquently. In order
+to do this, I will first take pains to get an habitual, but unaffected,
+purity, correctness and elegance of style in my common conversation; I
+will seek for the best words, and take care to reject improper,
+inexpressive, and vulgar ones. I will read the greatest masters of
+oratory, both ancient and modern, and I will read them singly in that
+view. I will study Demosthenes and Cicero, not to discover an old
+Athenian or Roman custom, nor to puzzle myself with the value of talents,
+mines, drachms, and sesterces, like the learned blockheads in us; but to
+observe their choice of words, their harmony of diction, their method,
+their distribution, their exordia, to engage the favor and attention of
+their audience; and their perorations, to enforce what they have said,
+and to leave a strong impression upon the passions. Nor will I be pedant
+enough to neglect the modern; for I will likewise study Atterbury,
+Dryden, Pope, and Bolingbroke; nay, I will read everything that I do read
+in that intention, and never cease improving and refining my style upon
+the best models, till at last I become a model of eloquence myself,
+which, by care, it is in every man's power to be. If you set out upon
+this principle, and keep it constantly in your mind, every company you go
+into, and every book you read, will contribute to your improvement,
+either by showing you what to imitate, or what to avoid. Are you to give
+an account of anything to a mixed company? or are you to endeavor to
+persuade either man or woman? This principle, fixed in your mind, will
+make you carefully attend to the choice of your words, and to the
+clearness and harmony of your diction.
+
+So much for your parliamentary object; now to the foreign one.
+
+Lay down first those principles which are absolutely necessary to form a
+skillful and successful negotiator, and form yourself accordingly. What
+are they? First, the clear historical knowledge of past transactions of
+that kind. That you have pretty well already, and will have daily more
+and more; for, in consequence of that principle, you will read history,
+memoirs, anecdotes, etc., in that view chiefly. The other necessary
+talents for negotiation are: the great art of pleasing and engaging the
+affection and confidence, not only of those with whom you are to
+cooperate, but even of those whom you are to oppose: to conceal your own
+thoughts and views, and to discover other people's: to engage other
+people's confidence by a seeming cheerful frankness and openness, without
+going a step too far: to get the personal favor of the king, prince,
+ministers, or mistresses of the court to which you are sent: to gain the
+absolute command over your temper and your countenance, that no heat may
+provoke you to say, nor no change of countenance to betray, what should
+be a secret: to familiarize and domesticate yourself in the houses of the
+most considerable people of the place, so as to be received there rather
+as a friend to the family than as a foreigner. Having these principles
+constantly in your thoughts, everything you do and everything you say
+will some way or other tend to your main view; and common conversation
+will gradually fit you for it. You will get a habit of checking any
+rising heat; you will be upon your guard against any indiscreet
+expression; you will by degrees get the command of your countenance, so
+as not to change it upon any the most sudden accident; and you will,
+above all things, labor to acquire the great art of pleasing, without
+which nothing is to be done. Company is, in truth, a constant state of
+negotiation; and, if you attend to it in that view, will qualify you for
+any. By the same means that you make a friend, guard against an enemy, or
+gain a mistress; you will make an advantageous treaty, baffle those who
+counteract you, and gain the court you are sent to. Make this use of all
+the company you keep, and your very pleasures will make you a successful
+negotiator. Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none. Keep your own
+secret, and get out other people's. Keep your own temper and artfully
+warm other people's. Counterwork your rivals, with diligence and
+dexterity, but at the same time with the utmost personal civility to
+them; and be firm without heat. Messieurs d'Avaux and Servien did no more
+than this. I must make one observation, in confirmation of this
+assertion; which is, that the most eminent negotiators have allways been
+the politest and bestbred men in company; even what the women call the
+PRETTIEST MEN. For God's sake, never lose view of these two your capital
+objects: bend everything to them, try everything by their rules, and
+calculate everything for their purposes. What is peculiar to these two
+objects, is, that they require nothing, but what one's own vanity,
+interest, and pleasure, would make one do independently of them. If a man
+were never to be in business, and always to lead a private life, would he
+not desire to please and to persuade? So that, in your two destinations,
+your fortune and figure luckily conspire with your vanity and your
+pleasures. Nay more; a foreign minister, I will maintain it, can never be
+a good man of business if he is not an agreeable man of pleasure too.
+Half his business is done by the help of his pleasures; his views are
+carried on, and perhaps best and most unsuspectedly, at balls, suppers,
+assemblies, and parties of pleasure; by intrigues with women, and
+connections insensibly formed with men, at those unguarded hours of
+amusement.
+
+These objects now draw very near you, and you have no time to lose in
+preparing yourself to meet them. You will be in parliament almost as soon
+as your age will allow, and I believe you will have a foreign department
+still sooner, and that will be earlier than ever any other body had one.
+If you set out well at one-and-twenty, what may you not reasonably hope
+to be at one-and-forty? All that I could wish you! Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIX
+
+LONDON, September 29, 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: There is nothing so necessary, but at the same time there
+is nothing more difficult (I know it by experience) for you young
+fellows, than to know how to behave yourselves prudently toward those
+whom you do not like. Your passions are warm, and your heads are light;
+you hate all those who oppose your views, either of ambition or love; and
+a rival, in either, is almost a synonymous term for an enemy. Whenever
+you meet such a man, you are awkwardly cold to him, at best; but often
+rude, and always desirous to give him some indirect slap. This is
+unreasonable; for one man has as good a right to pursue an employment, or
+a mistress, as another; but it is, into the bargain, extremely imprudent;
+because you commonly defeat your own purpose by it, and while you are
+contending with each other, a third often prevails. I grant you that the
+situation is irksome; a man cannot help thinking as he thinks, nor
+feeling what he feels; and it is a very tender and sore point to be
+thwarted and counterworked in one's pursuits at court, or with a
+mistress; but prudence and abilities must check the effects, though they
+cannot remove the cause. Both the pretenders make themselves disagreeable
+to their mistress, when they spoil the company by their pouting, or their
+sparring; whereas, if one of them has command enough over himself
+(whatever he may feel inwardly) to be cheerful, gay, and easily and
+unaffectedly civil to the other, as if there were no manner of
+competition between them, the lady will certainly like him the best, and
+his rival will be ten times more humbled and discouraged; for he will
+look upon such a behavior as a proof of the triumph and security of his
+rival, he will grow outrageous with the lady, and the warmth of his
+reproaches will probably bring on a quarrel between them. It is the same
+in business; where he who can command his temper and his countenance the
+best, will always have an infinite advantage over the other. This is what
+the French call un 'procede honnete et galant', to PIQUE yourself upon
+showing particular civilities to a man, to whom lesser minds would, in
+the same case, show dislike, or perhaps rudeness. I will give you an
+instance of this in my own case; and pray remember it, whenever you come
+to be, as I hope you will, in a like situation.
+
+When I went to The Hague, in 1744, it was to engage the Dutch to come
+roundly into the war, and to stipulate their quotas of troops, etc.; your
+acquaintance, the Abbe de la Ville, was there on the part of France, to
+endeavor to hinder them from coming into the war at all. I was informed,
+and very sorry to hear it, that he had abilities, temper, and industry.
+We could not visit, our two masters being at war; but the first time I
+met him at a third place, I got somebody to present me to him; and I told
+him, that though we were to be national enemies, I flattered myself we
+might be, however, personal friends, with a good deal more of the same
+kind; which he returned in full as polite a manner. Two days afterward, I
+went, early in the morning, to solicit the Deputies of Amsterdam, where I
+found l'Abbe de la Ville, who had been beforehand with me; upon which I
+addressed myself to the Deputies, and said, smilingly, I am very sorry,
+Gentlemen, to find my enemy with you; my knowledge of his capacity is
+already sufficient to make me fear him; we are not upon equal terms; but
+I trust to your own interest against his talents. If I have not this day
+had the first word, I shall at least have the last. They smiled: the Abbe
+was pleased with the compliment, and the manner of it, stayed about a
+quarter of an hour, and then left me to my Deputies, with whom I
+continued upon the same tone, though in a very serious manner, and told
+them that I was only come to state their own true interests to them,
+plainly and simply, without any of those arts, which it was very
+necessary for my friend to make use of to deceive them. I carried my
+point, and continued my 'procede' with the Abbe; and by this easy and
+polite commerce with him, at third places, I often found means to fish
+out from him whereabouts he was.
+
+Remember, there are but two 'procedes' in the world for a gentleman and a
+man of parts; either extreme politeness or knocking down. If a man
+notoriously and designedly insults and affronts you, knock him down; but
+if he only injures you, your best revenge is to be extremely civil to him
+in your outward behavior, though at the same time you counterwork him,
+and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest. This is not perfidy
+nor dissimulation; it would be so if you were, at the same time, to make
+professions of esteem and friendship to this man; which I by no means
+recommend, but on the contrary abhor. But all acts of civility are, by
+common consent, understood to be no more than a conformity to custom, for
+the quiet and conveniency of society, the 'agremens' of which are not to
+be disturbed by private dislikes and jealousies. Only women and little
+minds pout and spar for the entertainment of the company, that always
+laughs at, and never pities them. For my own part, though I would by no
+means give up any point to a competitor, yet I would pique myself upon
+showing him rather more civility than to another man. In the first place,
+this 'procede' infallibly makes all 'les rieurs' of your side, which is a
+considerable party; and in the next place, it certainly pleases the
+object of the competition, be it either man or woman; who never fail to
+say, upon such an occasion, that THEY MUST OWN YOU HAVE BEHAVED YOURSELF
+VERY, HANDSOMELY IN THE WHOLE AFFAIR. The world judges from the
+appearances of things, and not from the reality, which few are able, and
+still fewer are inclined to fathom: and a man, who will take care always
+to be in the right in those things, may afford to be sometimes a little
+in the wrong in more essential ones: there is a willingness, a desire to
+excuse him. With nine people in ten, good-breeding passes for
+good-nature, and they take attentions for good offices. At courts there
+will be always coldnesses, dislikes, jealousies, and hatred, the harvest
+being but small in proportion to the number of laborers; but then, as
+they arise often, they die soon, unless they are perpetuated by the
+manner in which they have been carried on, more than by the matter which
+occasioned them. The turns and vicissitudes of courts frequently make
+friends of enemies, and enemies of friends; you must labor, therefore, to
+acquire that great and uncommon talent of hating with good-breeding and
+loving with prudence; to make no quarrel irreconcilable by silly and
+unnecessary indications of anger; and no friendship dangerous, in case it
+breaks, by a wanton, indiscreet, and unreserved confidence.
+
+Few, (especially young) people know how to love, or how to hate; their
+love is an unbounded weakness, fatal to the person they love; their hate
+is a hot, rash, and imprudent violence, always fatal to themselves.
+
+Nineteen fathers in twenty, and every mother, who had loved you half as
+well as I do, would have ruined you; whereas I always made you feel the
+weight of my authority, that you might one day know the force of my love.
+Now, I both hope and believe, my advice will have the same weight with
+you from choice that my authority had from necessity. My advice is just
+eight-and-twenty years older than your own, and consequently, I believe
+you think, rather better. As for your tender and pleasurable passions,
+manage them yourself; but let me have the direction of all the others.
+Your ambition, your figure, and your fortune, will, for some time at
+least, be rather safer in my keeping than in your own. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXX
+
+BATH, October 4, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I consider you now as at the court of Augustus, where, if
+ever the desire of pleasing animated you, it must make you exert all the
+means of doing it. You will see there, full as well, I dare say, as
+Horace did at Rome, how states are defended by arms, adorned by manners,
+and improved by laws. Nay, you have an Horace there as well as an
+Augustus; I need not name Voltaire, 'qui nil molitur inept?' as Horace
+himself said of another poet. I have lately read over all his works that
+are published, though I had read them more than once before. I was
+induced to this by his 'Siecle de Louis XIV', which I have yet read but
+four times. In reading over all his works, with more attention I suppose
+than before, my former admiration of him is, I own, turned into
+astonishment. There is no one kind of writing in which he has not
+excelled. You are so severe a classic that I question whether you will
+allow me to call his 'Henriade' an epic poem, for want of the proper
+number of gods, devils, witches and other absurdities, requisite for the
+machinery; which machinery is, it seems, necessary to constitute the
+'epopee'. But whether you do or not, I will declare (though possibly to
+my own shame) that I never read any epic poem with near so much pleasure.
+I am grown old, and have possibly lost a great deal of that fire which
+formerly made me love fire in others at any rate, and however attended
+with smoke; but now I must have all sense, and cannot, for the sake of
+five righteous lines, forgive a thousand absurd ones.
+
+In this disposition of mind, judge whether I can read all Homer through
+'tout de suite'. I admire its beauties; but, to tell you the truth, when
+he slumbers, I sleep. Virgil, I confess, is all sense, and therefore I
+like him better than his model; but he is often languid, especially in
+his five or six last books, during which I am obliged to take a good deal
+of snuff. Besides, I profess myself an ally of Turnus against the pious
+AEneas, who, like many 'soi-disant' pious people, does the most flagrant
+injustice and violence in order to execute what they impudently call the
+will of Heaven. But what will you say, when I tell you truly, that I
+cannot possibly read our countryman Milton through? I acknowledge him to
+have some most sublime passages, some prodigious flashes of light; but
+then you must acknowledge that light is often followed by darkness
+visible, to use his own expression. Besides, not having the honor to be
+acquainted with any of the parties in this poem, except the Man and the
+Woman, the characters and speeches of a dozen or two of angels and of as
+many devils, are as much above my reach as my entertainment. Keep this
+secret for me: for if it should be known, I should be abused by every
+tasteless pedant, and every solid divine in England.
+
+'Whatever I have said to the disadvantage of these three poems, holds
+much stronger against Tasso's 'Gierusalemme': it is true he has very fine
+and glaring rays of poetry; but then they are only meteors, they dazzle,
+then disappear, and are succeeded by false thoughts, poor 'concetti', and
+absurd impossibilities; witness the Fish and the Parrot; extravagancies
+unworthy of an heroic poem, and would much better have become Ariosto,
+who professes 'le coglionerie'.
+
+I have never read the "Lusiade of Camoens," except in prose translation,
+consequently I have never read it at all, so shall say nothing of it; but
+the Henriade is all sense from the beginning to the end, often adorned by
+the justest and liveliest reflections, the most beautiful descriptions,
+the noblest images, and the sublimest sentiments; not to mention the
+harmony of the verse, in which Voltaire undoubtedly exceeds all the
+French poets: should you insist upon an exception in favor of Racine, I
+must insist, on my part, that he at least equals him. What hero ever
+interested more than Henry the Fourth; who, according to the rules of
+epic poetry, carries on one great and long action, and succeeds in it at
+last? What descriptions ever excited more horror than those, first of the
+Massacre, and then of the Famine at Paris? Was love ever painted with
+more truth and 'morbidezza' than in the ninth book? Not better, in my
+mind, even in the fourth of Virgil. Upon the whole, with all your
+classical rigor, if you will but suppose St. Louis a god, a devil, or a
+witch, and that he appears in person, and not in a dream, the Henriade
+will be an epic poem, according to the strictest statute laws of the
+'epopee'; but in my court of equity it is one as it is.
+
+I could expatiate as much upon all his different works, but that I should
+exceed the bounds of a letter and run into a dissertation. How delightful
+is his history of that northern brute, the King of Sweden, for I cannot
+call him a man; and I should be sorry to have him pass for a hero, out of
+regard to those true heroes, such as Julius Caesar, Titus, Trajan, and
+the present King of Prussia, who cultivated and encouraged arts and
+sciences; whose animal courage was accompanied by the tender and social
+sentiments of humanity; and who had more pleasure in improving, than in
+destroying their fellow-creatures. What can be more touching, or more
+interesting--what more nobly thought, or more happily expressed, than all
+his dramatic pieces? What can be more clear and rational than all his
+philosophical letters? and whatever was so graceful, and gentle, as all
+his little poetical trifles? You are fortunately 'a porte' of verifying,
+by your knowledge of the man, all that I have said of his works.
+
+Monsieur de Maupertius (whom I hope you will get acquainted with) is,
+what one rarely meets with, deep in philosophy and, mathematics, and yet
+'honnete et aimable homme': Algarotti is young Fontenelle. Such men must
+necessarily give you the desire of pleasing them; and if you can frequent
+them, their acquaintance will furnish you the means of pleasing everybody
+else.
+
+'A propos' of pleasing, your pleasing Mrs. F-----d is expected here in
+two or three days; I will do all that I can for you with her: I think you
+carried on the romance to the third or fourth volume; I will continue it
+to the eleventh; but as for the twelfth and last, you must come and
+conclude it yourself. 'Non sum qualis eram'.
+
+Good-night to you, child; for I am going to bed, just at the hour at
+which I suppose you are going to live, at Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXI
+
+BATH, November 11, O. S. 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: It is a very old and very true maxim, that those kings
+reign the most secure and the most absolute, who reign in the hearts of
+their people. Their popularity is a better guard than their army, and the
+affections of their subjects a better pledge of their obedience than
+their fears. This rule is, in proportion, full as true, though upon a
+different scale, with regard to private people. A man who possesses that
+great art of pleasing universally, and of gaining the affections of those
+with whom he converses, possesses a strength which nothing else can give
+him: a strength which facilitates and helps his rise; and which, in case
+of accidents, breaks his fall. Few people of your age sufficiently
+consider this great point of popularity; and when they grow older and
+wiser, strive in vain to recover what they have lost by their negligence.
+There are three principal causes that hinder them from acquiring this
+useful strength: pride, inattention, and 'mauvaise honte'. The first I
+will not, I cannot suspect you of; it is too much below your
+understanding. You cannot, and I am sure you do not think yourself
+superior by nature to the Savoyard who cleans your room, or the footman
+who cleans your shoes; but you may rejoice, and with reason, at the
+difference that fortune has made in your favor. Enjoy all those
+advantages; but without insulting those who are unfortunate enough to
+want them, or even doing anything unnecessarily that may remind them of
+that want. For my own part, I am more upon my guard as to my behavior to
+my servants, and others who are called my inferiors, than I am toward my
+equals: for fear of being suspected of that mean and ungenerous sentiment
+of desiring to make others feel that difference which fortune has, and
+perhaps too, undeservedly, made between us. Young people do not enough
+attend to this; and falsely imagine that the imperative mood, and a rough
+tone of authority and decision, are indications of spirit and courage.
+Inattention is always looked upon, though sometimes unjustly, as the
+effect of pride and contempt; and where it is thought so, is never
+forgiven. In this article, young people are generally exceedingly to
+blame, and offend extremely. Their whole attention is engrossed by their
+particular set of acquaintance; and by some few glaring and exalted
+objects of rank, beauty, or parts; all the rest they think so little
+worth their care, that they neglect even common civility toward them. I
+will frankly confess to you, that this was one of my great faults when I
+was of your age. Very attentive to please that narrow court circle in
+which I stood enchanted, I considered everything else as bourgeois, and
+unworthy of common civility; I paid my court assiduously and skillfully
+enough to shining and distinguished figures, such as ministers, wits, and
+beauties; but then I most absurdly and imprudently neglected, and
+consequently offended all others. By this folly I made myself a thousand
+enemies of both sexes; who, though I thought them very insignificant,
+found means to hurt me essentially where I wanted to recommend myself the
+most. I was thought proud, though I was only imprudent. A general easy
+civility and attention to the common run of ugly women, and of middling
+men, both which I sillily thought, called, and treated, as odd people,
+would have made me as many friends, as by the contrary conduct I made
+myself enemies. All this too was 'a pure perte'; for I might equally, and
+even more successfully, have made my court, when I had particular views
+to gratify. I will allow that this task is often very unpleasant, and
+that one pays, with some unwillingness, that tribute of attention to dull
+and tedious men, and to old and ugly women; but it is the lowest price of
+popularity and general applause, which are very well worth purchasing
+were they much dearer. I conclude this head with this advice to you:
+Gain, by particular assiduity and address, the men and women you want;
+and, by an universal civility and attention, please everybody so far as
+to have their good word, if not their goodwill; or, at least, as to
+secure a partial neutrality.
+
+'Mauvaise honte' not only hinders young people from making, a great many
+friends, but makes them a great many enemies. They are ashamed of doing
+the thing they know to be right, and would otherwise do, for fear of the
+momentary laugh of some fine gentleman or lady, or of some 'mauvais
+plaisant'. I have been in this case: and have often wished an obscure
+acquaintance at the devil, for meeting and taking notice of me when I was
+in what I thought and called fine company. I have returned their notice
+shyly, awkwardly, and consequently offensively; for fear of a momentary
+joke, not considering, as I ought to have done, that the very people who
+would have joked upon me at first, would have esteemed me the more for it
+afterward. An example explains a rule best: Suppose you were walking in
+the Tuileries with some fine folks, and that you should unexpectedly meet
+your old acquaintance, little crooked Grierson; what would you do? I will
+tell you what you should do, by telling you what I would now do in that
+case myself. I would run up to him, and embrace him; say some kind of
+things to him, and then return to my company. There I should be
+immediately asked: 'Mais qu'est ce que c'est donc que ce petit Sapajou
+que vous avez embrasse si tendrement? Pour cela, l'accolade a ete
+charmante'; with a great deal more festivity of that sort. To this I
+should answer, without being the least ashamed, but en badinant: O je ne
+vous dirai tas qui c'est; c'est un petit ami que je tiens incognito, qui
+a son merite, et qui, a force d'etre connu, fait oublier sa figure. Que
+me donnerez-vous, et je vous le presenterai'? And then, with a little
+more seriousness, I would add: 'Mais d'ailleurs c'est que je ne desavoue
+jamais mes connoissances, a cause de leur etat ou de leur figure. Il faut
+avoir bien peu de sentimens pour le faire'. This would at once put an end
+to that momentary pleasantry, and give them all a better opinion of me
+than they had before. Suppose another case, and that some of the finest
+ladies 'du bon ton' should come into a room, and find you sitting by, and
+talking politely to 'la vieille' Marquise de Bellefonds, the joke would,
+for a moment, turn upon that 'tete-a-tete': He bien! avez vous a la fin
+fixd la belle Marquise? La partie est-elle faite pour la petite maison?
+Le souper sera galant sans doute: Mais ne faistu donc point scrupule de
+seduire une jeune et aimable persone comme celle-la'? To this I should
+answer: 'La partie n'etoit pas encore tout-a fait liee, vous nous avez
+interrompu; mais avec le tems que fait-on? D'ailleurs moquezvous de mes
+amours tant qu'il vous plaira, je vous dirai que je respecte tant les
+jeunes dames, que je respecte meme les vieilles, pour l'avoir ete. Apre
+cela il y a souvent des liaisons entre les vieilles et les jeunes'. This
+would at once turn the pleasantry into an esteem for your good sense and
+your good-breeding. Pursue steadily, and without fear or shame, whatever
+your reason tells you is right, and what you see is practiced by people
+of more experience than yourself, and of established characters of good
+sense and good-breeding.
+
+After all this, perhaps you will say, that it is impossible to please
+everybody. I grant it; but it does not follow that one should not
+therefore endeavor to please as many as one can. Nay, I will go further,
+and admit that it is impossible for any man not to have some enemies. But
+this truth from long experience I assert, that he who has the most
+friends and the fewest enemies, is the strongest; will rise the highest
+with the least envy; and fall, if he does fall, the gentlest, and the
+most pitied. This is surely an object worth pursuing. Pursue it according
+to the rules I have here given you. I will add one observation more, and
+two examples to enforce it; and then, as the parsons say, conclude.
+
+There is no one creature so obscure, so low, or so poor, who may not, by
+the strange and unaccountable changes and vicissitudes of human affairs,
+somehow or other, and some time or other, become an useful friend or a
+trouble-some enemy, to the greatest and the richest. The late Duke of
+Ormond was almost the weakest but at the same time the best-bred, and
+most popular man in this kingdom. His education in courts and camps,
+joined to an easy, gentle nature, had given him that habitual affability,
+those engaging manners, and those mechanical attentions, that almost
+supplied the place of every talent he wanted; and he wanted almost every
+one. They procured him the love of all men, without the esteem of any. He
+was impeached after the death of Queen Anne, only because that, having
+been engaged in the same measures with those who were necessarily to be
+impeached, his impeachment, for form's sake, became necessary. But he was
+impeached without acrimony, and without the lest intention that he should
+suffer, notwithstanding the party violence of those times. The question
+for his impeachment, in the House of Commons, was carried by many fewer
+votes than any other question of impeachment; and Earl Stanhope, then Mr.
+Stanhope, and Secretary' of State, who impeached him, very soon after
+negotiated and concluded his accommodation with the late King; to whom he
+was to have been presented the next day. But the late Bishop of
+Rochester, Atterbury, who thought that the Jacobite cause might suffer by
+losing the Duke of Ormond, went in all haste, and prevailed with the poor
+weak man to run away; assuring him that he was only to be gulled into a
+disgraceful submission, and not to be pardoned in consequence of it. When
+his subsequent attainder passed, it excited mobs and disturbances in
+town. He had not a personal enemy in the world; and had a thousand
+friends. All this was simply owing to his natural desire of pleasing, and
+to the mechanical means that his education, not his parts, had given him
+of doing it. The other instance is the late Duke of Marlborough, who
+studied the art of pleasing, because he well knew the importance of it:
+he enjoyed and used it more than ever man did. He gained whoever he had a
+mind to gain; and he had a mind to gain everybody, because he knew that
+everybody was more or less worth gaining. Though his power, as Minister
+and General, made him many political and party enemies, they did not make
+him one personal one; and the very people who would gladly have
+displaced, disgraced, and perhaps attainted the Duke of Marlborough, at
+the same time personally loved Mr. Churchill, even though his private
+character was blemished by sordid avarice, the most unamiable of all
+vices. He had wound up and turned his whole machine to please and engage.
+He had an inimitable sweetness and gentleness in his countenance, a
+tenderness in his manner of speaking, a graceful dignity in every motion,
+and an universal and minute attention to the least things that could
+possibly please the least person. This was all art in him; art of which
+he well knew and enjoyed the advantages; for no man ever had more
+interior ambition, pride, and avarice, than he had.
+
+Though you have more than most people of your age, you have yet very
+little experience and knowledge of the world; now, I wish to inoculate
+mine upon you, and thereby prevent both the dangers and the marks of
+youth and inexperience. If you receive the matter kindly, and observe my
+prescriptions scrupulously, you will secure the future advantages of time
+and join them to the present inestimable ones of one-and-twenty.
+
+I most earnestly recommend one thing to you, during your present stay at
+Paris. I own it is not the most agreeable; but I affirm it to be the most
+useful thing in the world to one of your age; and therefore I do hope
+that you will force and constrain yourself to do it. I mean, to converse
+frequently, or rather to be in company frequently with both men and women
+much your superiors in age and rank. I am very sensible that, at your
+age, 'vous y entrez pour peu de chose, et meme souvent pour rien, et que
+vous y passerez meme quelques mauvais quart-d'heures'; but no matter; you
+will be a solid gainer by it: you will see, hear, and learn the turn and
+manners of those people; you will gain premature experience by it; and it
+will give you a habit of engaging and respectful attentions. Versailles,
+as much as possible, though probably unentertaining: the Palais Royal
+often, however dull: foreign ministers of the first rank, frequently, and
+women, though old, who are respectable and respected for their rank or
+parts; such as Madame de Pusieux, Madame de Nivernois, Madame
+d'Aiguillon, Madame Geoffrain, etc. This 'sujetion', if it be one to you,
+will cost you but very little in these three or four months that you are
+yet to pass in Paris, and will bring you in a great deal; nor will it,
+nor ought it, to hinder you from being in a more entertaining company a
+great part of the day. 'Vous pouvez, si vous le voulex, tirer un grand
+parti de ces quatre mois'. May God make you so, and bless you! Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXII
+
+BATH, November 16, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Vanity, or to call it by a gentler name, the desire of
+admiration and applause, is, perhaps, the most universal principle of
+human actions; I do not say that it is the best; and I will own that it
+is sometimes the cause of both foolish and criminal effects. But it is so
+much oftener the principle of right things, that though they ought to
+have a better, yet, considering human nature, that principle is to be
+encouraged and cherished, in consideration of its effects. Where that
+desire is wanting, we are apt to be indifferent, listless, indolent, and
+inert; we do not exert our powers; and we appear to be as much below
+ourselves as the vainest man living can desire to appear above what he
+really is.
+
+As I have made you my confessor, and do not scruple to confess even my
+weaknesses to you, I will fairly own that I had that vanity, that
+weakness, if it be one, to a prodigious degree; and, what is more, I
+confess it without repentance: nay, I am glad I had it; since, if I have
+had the good fortune to please in the world, it is to that powerful and
+active principle that I owe it. I began the world, not with a bare
+desire, but with an insatiable thirst, a rage of popularity, applause,
+and admiration. If this made me do some silly things on one hand, it made
+me, on the other hand, do almost all the right things that I did; it made
+me attentive and civil to the women I disliked, and to the men I
+despised, in hopes of the applause of both: though I neither desired, nor
+would I have accepted the favors of the one, nor the friendship of the
+other. I always dressed, looked, and talked my best; and, I own, was
+overjoyed whenever I perceived, that by all three, or by any one of them,
+the company was pleased with me. To men, I talked whatever I thought
+would give them the best opinion of my parts and learning; and to women,
+what I was sure would please them; flattery, gallantry, and love. And,
+moreover, I will own to you, under the secrecy of confession, that my
+vanity has very often made me take great pains to make a woman in love
+with me, if I could, for whose person I would not have given a pinch of
+snuff. In company with men, I always endeavored to outshine, or at least,
+if possible, to equal the most shining man in it. This desire elicited
+whatever powers I had to gratify it; and where I could not perhaps shine
+in the first, enabled me, at least, to shine in a second or third sphere.
+By these means I soon grew in fashion; and when a man is once in fashion,
+all he does is right. It was infinite pleasure to me to find my own
+fashion and popularity. I was sent for to all parties of pleasure, both
+of men or women; where, in some measure, I gave the 'ton'. This gave me
+the reputation of having had some women of condition; and that
+reputation, whether true or false, really got me others. With the men I
+was a Proteus, and assumed every shape, in order to please them all:
+among the gay, I was the gayest; among the grave, the gravest; and I
+never omitted the least attentions of good-breeding, or the least offices
+of friendship, that could either please, or attach them to me: and
+accordingly I was soon connected with all the men of any fashion or
+figure in town.
+
+To this principle of vanity, which philosophers call a mean one, and
+which I do not, I owe great part of the figure which I have made in life.
+I wish you had as much, but I fear you have too little of it; and you
+seem to have a degree of laziness and listlessness about you that makes
+you indifferent as to general applause. This is not in character at your
+age, and would be barely pardonable in an elderly and philosophical man.
+It is a vulgar, ordinary saying, but it is a very true one, that one
+should always put the best foot foremost. One should please, shine, and
+dazzle, wherever it is possible. At Paris, I am sure you must observe
+'que chacun se fait valoir autant qu'il est possible'; and La Bruyere
+observes, very justly, qu'on ne vaut dans ce monde que ce qu'on veut
+valoir': wherever applause is in question, you will never see a French
+man, nor woman, remiss or negligent. Observe the eternal attentions and
+politeness that all people have there for one another. 'Ce n'est pas pour
+leurs beaux yeux au moins'. No, but for their own sakes, for
+commendations and applause. Let me then recommend this principle of
+vanity to you; act upon it 'meo periculo'; I promise you it will turn to
+your account. Practice all the arts that ever coquette did, to please. Be
+alert and indefatigable in making every man admire, and every woman in
+love with you. I can tell you too, that nothing will carry you higher in
+the world.
+
+I have had no letter from you since your arrival at Paris, though you
+must have been long enough there to have written me two or three. In
+about ten or twelve days I propose leaving this place, and going to
+London; I have found considerable benefit by my stay here, but not all
+that I want. Make my compliments to Lord Albemarle.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIII
+
+BATH, November 28, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Since my last to you, I have read Madame Maintenon's
+"Letters"; I am sure they are genuine, and they both entertained and
+informed me. They have brought me acquainted with the character of that
+able and artful lady; whom I am convinced that I now know much better
+than her directeur the Abby de Fenelon (afterward Archbishop of Cambray)
+did, when he wrote her the 185th letter; and I know him the better too
+for that letter. The Abby, though brimful of the divine love, had a great
+mind to be first minister, and cardinal, in order, NO DOUBT, to have an
+opportunity of doing the more good. His being 'directeur' at that time to
+Madame Maintenon, seemed to be a good step toward those views. She put
+herself upon him for a saint, and he was weak enough to believe it; he,
+on the other hand, would have put himself upon her for a saint too,
+which, I dare say, she did not believe; but both of them knew that it was
+necessary for them to appear saints to Lewis the Fourteenth, who they
+were very sure was a bigot. It is to be presumed, nay, indeed, it is
+plain by that 185th letter that Madame Maintenon had hinted to her
+directeur some scruples of conscience, with relation to her commerce with
+the King; and which I humbly apprehend to have been only some scruples of
+prudence, at once to flatter the bigot character, and increase the
+desires of the King. The pious Abbe, frightened out of his wits, lest the
+King should impute to the 'directeur' any scruples or difficulties which
+he might meet with on the part of the lady, writes her the
+above-mentioned letter; in which he not only bids her not tease the King
+by advice and exhortations, but to have the utmost submission to his
+will; and, that she may not mistake the nature of that submission, he
+tells her it is the same that Sarah had for Abraham; to which submission
+Isaac perhaps was owing. No bawd could have written a more seducing
+letter to an innocent country girl, than the 'directeur' did to his
+'penitente'; who I dare say had no occasion for his good advice. Those
+who would justify the good 'directeur', alias the pimp, in this affair,
+must not attempt to do it by saying that the King and Madame Maintenon
+were at that time privately married; that the directeur knew it; and that
+this was the meaning of his 'enigme'. That is absolutely impossible; for
+that private marriage must have removed all scruples between the parties;
+nay, could not have been contracted upon any other principle, since it
+was kept private, and consequently prevented no public scandal. It is
+therefore extremely evident that Madame Maintenon could not be married to
+the King at the time when she scrupled granting, and when the 'directeur'
+advised her to grant, those favors which Sarah with so much submission
+granted to Abraham: and what the 'directeur' is pleased to call 'le
+mystere de Dieu', was most evidently a state of concubinage. The letters
+are very well worth your reading; they throw light upon many things of
+those times.
+
+I have just received a letter from Sir William Stanhope, from Lyons; in
+which he tells me that he saw you at Paris, that he thinks you a little
+grown, but that you do not make the most of it, for that you stoop still:
+'d'ailleurs' his letter was a panegyric of you.
+
+The young Comte de Schullemburg, the Chambellan whom you knew at Hanover,
+is come over with the King, 'et fait aussi vos eloges'.
+
+Though, as I told you in my last, I have done buying pictures, by way of
+'virtu', yet there are some portraits of remarkable people that would
+tempt me. For instance, if you could by chance pick up at Paris, at a
+reasonable price, and undoubted originals (whether heads, half lengths,
+or whole lengths, no matter) of Cardinals Richelieu, Mazarin, and Retz,
+Monsieur de Turenne, le grand Prince de Condo; Mesdames de Montespan, de
+Fontanges, de Montbazon, de Sevigne, de Maintenon, de Chevreuse, de
+Longueville, d'Olonne, etc., I should be tempted to purchase them. I am
+sensible that they can only be met with, by great accident, at family
+sales and auctions, so I only mention the affair to you eventually.
+
+I do not understand, or else I do not remember, what affair you mean in
+your last letter; which you think will come to nothing, and for which,
+you say, I had once a mind that you should take the road again. Explain
+it to me.
+
+I shall go to town in four or five days, and carry back with me a little
+more hearing than I brought; but yet, not half enough for common wants.
+One wants ready pocket-money much oftener than one wants great sums; and
+to use a very odd expression, I want to hear at sight. I love every-day
+senses, every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on
+holydays is good for very little. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIV
+
+Christmas Day, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: A tyrant with legions at his com mand may say, Oderint
+modo timeant; though he is a fool if he says it, and a greater fool if he
+thinks it. But a private man who can hurt but few, though he can please
+many, must endeavor to be loved, for he cannot be feared in general.
+Popularity is his only rational and sure foundation. The good-will, the
+affections, the love of the public, can alone raise him to any
+considerable height. Should you ask me how he is to acquire them, I will
+answer, By desiring them. No man ever deserved, who did not desire them;
+and no man both deserved and desired them who had them not, though many
+have enjoyed them merely by desiring, and without deserving them. You do
+not imagine, I believe, that I mean by this public love the sentimental
+love of either lovers or intimate friends; no, that is of another nature,
+and confined to a very narrow circle; but I mean that general good-will
+which a man may acquire in the world, by the arts of pleasing
+respectively exerted according to the rank, the situation, and the turn
+of mind of those whom he hath to do with. The pleasing impressions which
+he makes upon them will engage their affections and their good wishes,
+and even their good offices as far (that is) as they are not inconsistent
+with their own interests; for further than that you are not to expect
+from three people in the course of your life, even were it extended to
+the patriarchal term. Could I revert to the age of twenty, and carry back
+with me all the experience that forty years more have taught me, I can
+assure you, that I would employ much the greatest part of my time in
+engaging the good-will, and in insinuating myself into the predilection
+of people in general, instead of directing my endeavors to please (as I
+was too apt to do) to the man whom I immediately wanted, or the woman I
+wished for, exclusively of all others. For if one happens (and it will
+sometimes happen to the ablest man) to fail in his views with that man or
+that woman, one is at a loss to know whom to address one's self to next,
+having offended in general, by that exclusive and distinguished
+particular application. I would secure a general refuge in the good-will
+of the multitude, which is a great strength to any man; for both
+ministers and mistresses choose popular and fashionable favorites. A man
+who solicits a minister, backed by the general good-will and good wishes
+of mankind, solicits with great weight and great probability of success;
+and a woman is strangely biassed in favor of a man whom she sees in
+fashion, and hears everybody speak well of. This useful art of
+insinuation consists merely of various little things. A graceful motion,
+a significant look, a trifling attention, an obliging word dropped 'a
+propos', air, dress, and a thousand other undefinable things, all
+severally little ones, joined together, make that happy and inestimable
+composition, THE ART OF PLEASING. I have in my life seen many a very
+handsome woman who has not pleased me, and many very sensible men who
+have disgusted me. Why? only for want of those thousand little means to
+please, which those women, conscious of their beauty, and those men of
+their sense, have been grossly enough mistaken to neglect. I never was so
+much in love in my life, as I was with a woman who was very far from
+being handsome; but then she was made up of graces, and had all the arts
+of pleasing. The following verses, which I have read in some
+congratulatory poem prefixed to some work, I have forgot which, express
+what I mean in favor of what pleases preferably to what is generally
+called mare solid and instructive:
+
+       "I would an author like a mistress try,
+        Not by a nose, a lip, a cheek, or eye,
+        But by some nameless power to give me joy."
+
+Lady Chesterfield bids me make you many compliments; she showed me your
+letter of recommendation of La Vestres; with which I was very well
+pleased: there is a pretty turn in it; I wish you would always speak as
+genteelly. I saw another letter from a lady at Paris, in which there was
+a high panegyrical paragraph concerning you. I wish it were every word of
+it literally true; but, as it comes from a very little, pretty, white
+hand, which is suspected, and I hope justly, of great partiality to you:
+'il en faut rabattre quelque chose, et meme en le faisant it y aura
+toujours d'assez beaux restes'. Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Art of pleasing is the most necessary
+Assenting, but without being servile and abject
+Assertion instead of argument
+Attacked by ridicule, and, punished with contempt
+Bold, but with great seeming modesty
+Close, without being costive
+Command of our temper, and of our countenance
+Company is, in truth, a constant state of negotiation
+Consider things in the worst light, to show your skill
+Darkness visible
+Defended by arms, adorned by manners, and improved by laws
+Doing nothing, and might just as well be asleep
+Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions
+Enjoy all those advantages
+Few people know how to love, or how to hate
+Fools, who can never be undeceived
+Frank, but without indiscretion
+Frequently make friends of enemies, and enemies of friends
+Grave without the affectation of wisdom
+Horace
+How troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one
+I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING
+Ignorant of their natural rights, cherished their chains
+Inattention
+Infallibly to be gained by every sort of flattery
+Judges from the appearances of things, and not from the reality
+Keep your own temper and artfully warm other people's
+King's popularity is a better guard than their army
+Lay aside the best book
+Le mystere de Dieu
+Lewis XIV
+Made him believe that the world was made for him
+Make every man I met with like me, and every woman love me
+Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior
+Man who is only good on holydays is good for very little
+Milton
+Never seek for wit; if it presents itself, well and good
+Not making use of any one capital letter
+Notes by which dances are now pricked down as well as tunes
+Old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really' be so or not
+Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none
+Pleasures do not commonly last so long as life
+Polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness
+Prejudices are our mistresses
+Quarrel with them when they are grown up, for being spoiled
+Read with caution and distrust
+Reason is at best our wife
+Ruined their own son by what they called loving him
+Secret, without being dark and mysterious
+Seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you
+Talent of hating with good-breeding and loving with prudence
+The longest life is too short for knowledge
+Trifles that concern you are not trifles to me
+Truth, but not the whole truth, must be the invariable principle
+Useful sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid
+Vanity
+Voltaire
+Where one would gain people, remember that nothing is little
+Wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded
+Wit may create many admirers but makes few friends
+Work there as a volunteer in that bureau
+Yahoos
+Young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to His Son, 1752
+by The Earl of Chesterfield
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1752
+#6 in our series by The Earl of Chesterfield
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+Title: Letters to His Son, 1752
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+Author: The Earl of Chesterfield
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+Letters to His Son, 1752
+by The Earl of Chesterfield
+
+
+
+
+                           LETTERS TO HIS SON
+                      By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
+
+                     on the Fine Art of becoming a
+
+                            MAN OF THE WORLD
+
+                                 and a
+
+                               GENTLEMAN
+
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLV
+
+LONDON, January 2, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Laziness of mind, or inattention, are as great enemies to
+knowledge as incapacity; for, in truth, what difference is there between
+a man who will not, and a man who cannot be informed?  This difference
+only, that the former is justly to be blamed, the latter to be pitied.
+And yet how many there are, very capable of receiving knowledge, who from
+laziness, inattention, and incuriousness, will not so much as ask for it,
+much less take the least pains to acquire it!
+
+Our young English travelers generally distinguish themselves by a
+voluntary privation of all that useful knowledge for which they are sent
+abroad; and yet, at that age, the most useful knowledge is the most easy
+to be acquired; conversation being the book, and the best book in which
+it is contained.  The drudgery of dry grammatical learning is over, and
+the fruits of it are mixed with, and adorned by, the flowers of
+conversation.  How many of our young men have been a year at Rome, and as
+long at Paris, without knowing the meaning and institution of the
+Conclave in the former, and of the parliament in the latter? and this
+merely for want of asking the first people they met with in those several
+places, who could at least have given them some general notions of those
+matters.
+
+You will, I hope, be wiser, and omit no opportunity (for opportunities
+present themselves every hour of the day) of acquainting yourself with
+all those political and constitutional particulars of the kingdom and
+government of France.  For instance, when you hear people mention le
+Chancelier, or 'le Garde de Sceaux', is it any great trouble for you to
+ask, or for others to tell you, what is the nature, the powers, the
+objects, and the profits of those two employments, either when joined
+together, as they often are, or when separate, as they are at present?
+When you hear of a gouverneur, a lieutenant du Roi, a commandant, and an
+intendant of the same province, is, it not natural, is it not becoming,
+is it not necessary, for a stranger to inquire into their respective
+rights and privileges?  And yet, I dare say, there are very few
+Englishmen who know the difference between the civil department of the
+Intendant, and the military powers of the others.  When you hear (as I am
+persuaded you must) every day of the 'Vingtieme', which is one in twenty,
+and consequently five per cent., inquire upon what that tax is laid,
+whether upon lands, money, merchandise, or upon all three; how levied,
+and what it is supposed to produce.  When you find in books: (as you will
+sometimes) allusion to particular laws and customs, do not rest till you
+have traced them up to their source.  To give you two examples: you will
+meet in some French comedies, 'Cri', or 'Clameur de Haro'; ask what it
+means, and you will be told that it is a term of the law in Normandy, and
+means citing, arresting, or obliging any person to appear in the courts
+of justice, either upon a civil or a criminal account; and that it is
+derived from 'a Raoul', which Raoul was anciently Duke of Normandy, and a
+prince eminent for his justice; insomuch, that when any injustice was
+committed, the cry immediately was, 'Venez, a Raoul, a Raoul', which
+words are now corrupted and jumbled into 'haro'.  Another, 'Le vol du
+Chapon, that is, a certain district of ground immediately contiguous to
+the mansion-seat of a family, and answers to what we call in English
+DEMESNES.  It is in France computed at about 1,600 feet round the house,
+that being supposed to be the extent of the capon's flight from 'la basse
+cour'.  This little district must go along with the mansion-seat, however
+the rest of the estate may be divided.
+
+I do not mean that you should be a French lawyer; but I would not have
+you unacquainted with the general principles of their law, in matters
+that occur every day:  Such is the nature of their descents, that is, the
+inheritance of lands:  Do they all go to the eldest son, or are they
+equally divided among the children of the deceased?  In England, all
+lands unsettled descend to the eldest son, as heir-at-law, unless
+otherwise disposed of by the father's will, except in the county of Kent,
+where a particular custom prevails, called Gavelkind; by which, if the
+father dies intestate, all his children divide his lands equally among
+them.  In Germany, as you know, all lands that, are not fiefs are equally
+divided among all the children, which ruins those families; but all male
+fiefs of the empire descend unalienably to the next male heir, which
+preserves those families.  In France, I believe, descents vary in
+different provinces.
+
+The nature of marriage contracts deserves inquiry.  In England, the
+general practice is, the husband takes all the wife's fortune; and in
+consideration of it settles upon her a proper pin-money, as it is called;
+that is, an, annuity during his life, and a jointure after his death.  In
+France it is not so, particularly at Paris; where 'la communaute des
+biens' is established.  Any married woman at Paris (IF YOU ARE ACQUAINTED
+WITH ONE) can inform you of all these particulars.
+
+These and other things of the same nature, are the useful and rational
+objects of the curiosity of a man of sense and business.  Could they only
+be attained by laborious researches in folio-books, and wormeaten
+manuscripts, I should not wonder at a young fellow's being ignorant of
+them; but as they are the frequent topics of conversation, and to be
+known by a very little degree of curiosity, inquiry and attention, it is
+unpardonable not to know them.
+
+Thus I have given you some hints only for your inquiries; 'l'Etat de la
+France, l'Almanach Royal', and twenty other such superficial books, will
+furnish you with a thousand more.  'Approfondissez.'
+
+How often, and how justly, have I since regretted negligences of this
+kind in my youth!  And how often have I since been at great trouble to
+learn many things which I could then have learned without any!  Save
+yourself now, then, I beg of you, that regret and trouble hereafter.  Ask
+questions, and many questions; and leave nothing till you are thoroughly
+informed of it.  Such pertinent questions are far from being illbred or
+troublesome to those of whom you ask them; on the contrary, they are a
+tacit compliment to their knowledge; and people have a better opinion of
+a young man, when they see him desirous to be informed.
+
+I have by last post received your two letters of the 1st and 5th of
+January, N. S.  I am very glad that you have been at all the shows at
+Versailles: frequent the courts.  I can conceive the murmurs of the
+French at the poorness of the fireworks, by which they thought their king
+of their country degraded; and, in truth, were things always as they
+should be, when kings give shows they ought to be magnificent.
+
+I thank you for the 'These de la Sorbonne', which you intend to send me,
+and which I am impatient to receive.  But pray read it carefully yourself
+first; and inform yourself what the Sorbonne is by whom founded, and for
+what puraoses.
+
+Since you have time, you have done very well to take an Italian and a
+German master; but pray take care to leave yourelf time enough for
+company; for it is in company only that you can learn what will be much
+more useful to you than either Italian or German; I mean 'la politesse,
+les manieres et les graces, without which, as I told you long ago, and I
+told you true, 'ogni fatica a vana'.  Adieu.
+
+Pray make my compliments to Lady Brown.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVI
+
+LONDON, January 6, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND
+
+I recommended to you, in my last, some inquiries into the constitution of
+that famous society the Sorbonne; but as I cannot wholly trust to the
+diligence of those inquiries, I will give you here the outlines of that
+establishment; which may possibly excite you to inform yourself of
+particulars, which you are more 'a portee' to know than I am.
+
+It was founded by Robert de Sorbon, in the year 1256 for sixteen poor
+scholars in divinity; four of each nation, of the university of which it
+made a part; since that it hath been much extended and enriched,
+especially by the liberality and pride of Cardinal Richelieu; who made it
+a magnificent building for six-and-thirty doctors of that society to live
+in; besides which, there are six professors and schools for divinity.
+This society has long been famous for theological knowledge and
+exercitations.  There unintelligible points are debated with passion,
+though they can never be determined by reason.  Logical subtilties set
+common sense at defiance; and mystical refinements disfigure and disguise
+the native beauty and simplicity of true natural religion; wild
+imaginations form systems, which weak minds adopt implicitly, and which
+sense and reason oppose in vain; their voice is not strong enough to be
+heard in schools of divinity.  Political views are by no means neglected
+in those sacred places; and questions are agitated and decided, according
+to the degree of regard, or rather submission, which the Sovereign is
+pleased to show the Church.  Is the King a slave to the Church, though a
+tyrant to the laity?  The least resistance to his will shall be declared
+damnable.  But if he will not acknowledge the superiority of their
+spiritual over his temporal, nor even admit their 'imperium in imperio',
+which is the least they will compound for, it becomes meritorious not
+only to resist, but to depose him.  And I suppose that the bold
+propositions in the thesis you mention, are a return for the valuation of
+'les biens du Clerge'.
+
+I would advise you, by all means, to attend to two or three of their
+public disputations, in order to be informed both of the manner and the
+substance of those scholastic exercises.  Pray remember to go to all
+those kind of things.  Do not put it off, as one is too apt to do those
+things which one knows can be done every day, or any day; for one
+afterward repents extremely, when too late, the not having done them.
+
+But there is another (so-called) religious society, of which the minutest
+circumstance deserves attention, and furnishes great matter for useful
+reflections.  You easily guess that I mean the society of 'les R. R. P.
+P. Jesuites', established but in the year 1540, by a Bull of Pope Paul
+III.  Its progress, and I may say its victories, were more rapid than
+those of the Romans; for within the same century it governed all Europe;
+and, in the next, it extended its influence over the whole world.  Its
+founder was an abandoned profligate Spanish officer, Ignatius Loyola;
+who, in the year 1521, being wounded in the leg at the 'siege of
+Pampeluna, went mad from the smart of his wound, the reproaches of his
+conscience, and his confinement, during which he read the lives of the
+Saints.  Consciousness of guilt, a fiery temper, and a wild imagination,
+the common ingredients of enthusiasm, made this madman devote himself to
+the particular service of the Virgin Mary; whose knight-errant he
+declared himself, in the very same form in which the old knight-errants
+in romances used to declare themselves the knights and champions of
+certain beautiful and incomparable princesses, whom sometimes they had,
+but oftener had not, seen.  For Dulcinea del Toboso was by no means the
+first princess whom her faithful and valorous knight had never seen in
+his life.  The enthusiast went to the Holy Land, from whence he returned
+to Spain, where he began to learn Latin and philosophy at three-and-
+thirty years old, so that no doubt but he made great progress in both.
+The better to carry on his mad and wicked designs, he chose four
+disciples, or rather apostles, all Spaniards, viz, Laynes, Salmeron,
+Bobadilla, and Rodriguez.  He then composed the rules and constitutions
+of his order; which, in the year 1547, was called the order of Jesuits,
+from the church of Jesus in Rome, which was given them.  Ignatius died in
+1556, aged sixty-five, thirty-five years after his conversion, and
+sixteen years after the establishment of his society.  He was canonized
+in the year 1609, and is doubtless now a saint in heaven.
+
+If the religious and moral principles of this society are to be detested,
+as they justly are, the wisdom of their political principles is as justly
+to be admired.  Suspected, collectively as an order, of the greatest
+crimes, and convicted of many, they have either escaped punishment, or
+triumphed after it; as in France, in the reign of Henry IV.  They have,
+directly or indirectly, governed the consciences and the councils of all
+the Catholic princes in Europe; they almost governed China in the reign
+of Cangghi; and they are now actually in possession of the Paraguay in
+America, pretending, but paying no obedience to the Crown of Spain.
+As a collective body they are detested, even by all the Catholics, not
+excepting the clergy, both secular and regular, and yet, as individuals,
+they are loved, respected, and they govern wherever they are.
+
+Two things, I believe, contribute to their success.  The first, that
+passive, implicit, unlimited obedience to their General (who always
+resides at Rome), and to the superiors of their several houses, appointed
+by him.  This obedience is observed by them all to a most astonishing
+degree; and, I believe, there is no one society in the world, of which so
+many individuals sacrifice their private interest to the general one of
+the society itself.  The second is the education of youth, which they
+have in a manner engrossed; there they give the first, and the first are
+the lasting impressions; those impressions are always calculated to be
+favorable to the society.  I have known many Catholics, educated by the
+Jesuits, who, though they detested the society, from reason and
+knowledge, have always remained attached to it, from habit and prejudice.
+The, Jesuits know, better than any set of people in the world, the
+importance of the art of pleasing, and study it more; they become all
+things to all men in order to gain, not a few, but many.  In Asia,
+Africa, and America they become more than half pagans, in order to
+convert the pagans to be less than half Christians.  In private families
+they begin by insinuating themselves as friends, they grow to be
+favorites, and they end DIRECTORS.  Their manners are not like those of
+any other regulars in the world, but gentle, polite, and engaging.  They
+are all carefully bred up to that particular destination, to which they
+seem to have a natural turn; for which reason one sees most Jesuits excel
+in some particular thing.  They even breed up some for martyrdom in case
+of need; as the superior of a Jesuit seminary at Rome told Lord
+Bolingbroke.  'E abbiamo anche martiri per il martirio, se bisogna'.
+
+Inform yourself minutely of everything concerning this extraordinary
+establishment; go into their houses, get acquainted with individuals,
+hear some of them preach.  The finest preacher I ever heard in my life is
+le Pere Neufville, who, I believe, preaches still at Paris, and is so
+much in the best company, that you may easily get personally acquainted
+with him.
+
+If you would know their 'morale' read Pascal's 'Lettres Provinciales', in
+which it is very truly displayed from their own writings.
+
+Upon the whole, this is certain, that a society of which so little good
+is said, and so much ill believed, and that still not only subsists, but
+flourishes, must be a very able one.  It is always mentioned as a proof
+of the superior abilities of the Cardinal Richelieu, that, though hated
+by all the nation, and still more by his master, he kept his power in
+spite of both.
+
+I would earnestly wish you to do everything now, which I wish, that I had
+done at your age, and did not do.  Every country has its peculiarities,
+which one can be much better informed of during one's residence there,
+than by reading all the books in the world afterward.  While you are in
+Catholic countries, inform yourself of all the forms and ceremonies of
+that tawdry church; see their converts both of men and women, know their
+several rules and orders, attend their most remarkable ceremonies; have
+their terms of art explained to you, their 'tierce, sexte, nones,
+matines; vepres, complies'; their 'breviares, rosaires, heures,
+chapelets, agnus', etc., things that many people talk of from habit,
+though few people know the true meaning of anyone of them.  Converse
+with, and study the characters of some of those incarcerated enthusiasts.
+Frequent some 'parloirs', and see the air and manners of those Recluse,
+who are a distinct nation themselves, and like no other.
+
+I dined yesterday with Mrs. F----d, her mother and husband.  He is an
+athletic Hibernian, handsome in his person, but excessively awkward and
+vulgar in his air and manner.  She inquired much after you, and, I
+thought, with interest.  I answered her as a 'Mezzano' should do: 'Et je
+pronai votre tendresse, vos soins, et vos soupirs'.
+
+When you meet with any British returning to their own country, pray send
+me by them any little 'brochures, factums, theses', etc., 'qui font du
+bruit ou du plaisir a Paris'.  Adieu, child.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVII
+
+LONDON, January 23, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Have you seen the new tragedy of Varon,--[Written by the
+Vicomte de Grave; and at that time the general topic of conversation at
+Paris.]--and what do you think of it?  Let me know, for I am determined
+to form my taste upon yours.  I hear that the situations and incidents
+are well brought on, and the catastrophe unexpected and surprising, but
+the verses bad.  I suppose it is the subject of all conversations at
+Paris, where both women and men are judges and critics of all such
+performances; such conversations, that both form and improve the taste,
+and whet the judgment; are surely preferable to the conversations of our
+mixed companies here; which, if they happen to rise above bragg and
+whist, infallibly stop short of everything either pleasing or
+instructive.
+
+I take the reason of this to be, that (as women generally give the 'ton'
+to the conversation) our English women are not near so well informed and
+cultivated as the French; besides that they are naturally more serious
+and silent.
+
+I could wish there were a treaty made between the French and English
+theatres, in which both parties should make considerable concessions.
+The English ought to give up their notorious violations of all the
+unities; and all their massacres, racks, dead bodies, and mangled
+carcasses, which they so frequently exhibit upon their stage.  The French
+should engage to have more action and less declamation; and not to cram
+and crowd things together, to almost a degree of impossibility, from a
+too scrupulous adherence to the unities.  The English should restrain the
+licentiousness of their poets, and the French enlarge the liberty of
+theirs; their poets are the greatest slaves in their country, and that is
+a bold word; ours are the most tumultuous subjects in England, and that
+is saying a good deal.  Under such regulations one might hope to see a
+play in which one should not be lulled to sleep by the length of a
+monotonical declamation, nor frightened and shocked by the barbarity of
+the action.  The unity of time extended occasionally to three or four
+days, and the unity of place broke into, as far as the same street, or
+sometimes the same town; both which, I will affirm, are as probable as
+four-and-twenty hours, and the same room.
+
+More indulgence too, in my mind, should be shown, than the French are
+willing to allow, to bright thoughts, and to shining images; for though,
+I confess, it is not very natural for a hero or a princess to say fine
+things in all the violence of grief, love, rage, etc., yet, I can as well
+suppose that, as I can that they should talk to themselves for half an
+hour; which they must necessarily do, or no tragedy could be carried on,
+unless they had recourse to a much greater absurdity, the choruses of the
+ancients.  Tragedy is of a nature, that one must see it with a degree of
+self-deception; we must lend ourselves a little to the delusion; and I am
+very willing to carry that complaisance a little farther than the French
+do.
+
+Tragedy must be something bigger than life, or it would not affect us.
+In nature the most violent passions are silent; in tragedy they must
+speak, and speak with dignity too.  Hence the necessity of their being
+written in verse, and unfortunately for the French, from the weakness of
+their language, in rhymes.  And for the same reason, Cato the Stoic,
+expiring at Utica, rhymes masculine and feminine at Paris; and fetches
+his last breath at London, in most harmmonious and correct blank verse.
+
+It is quite otherwise with Comedy, which should be mere common life, and
+not one jot bigger.  Every character should speak upon the stage, not
+only what it would utter in the situation there represented, but in the
+same manner in which it would express it.  For which reason I cannot
+allow rhymes in comedy, unless they were put into the mouth, and came out
+of the mouth of a mad poet.  But it is impossible to deceive one's self
+enough (nor is it the least necessary in comedy) to suppose a dull rogue
+of an usurer cheating, or 'gross Jean' blundering in the finest rhymes in
+the world.
+
+As for Operas, they are essentially too absurd and extravagant to
+mention; I look upon them as a magic scene, contrived to please the eyes
+and the ears, at the expense of the understanding; and I consider
+singing, rhyming, and chiming heroes, and princesses, and philosophers,
+as I do the hills, the trees, the birds, and the beasts, who amicably
+joined in one common country dance, to the irresistible turn of Orpheus's
+lyre.  Whenever I go to an opera, I leave my sense and reason at the door
+with my half guinea, and deliver myself up to my eyes and my ears.
+
+Thus I have made you my poetical confession; in which I have acknowledged
+as many sins against the established taste in both countries, as a frank
+heretic could have owned against the established church in either, but I
+am now privileged by my age to taste and think for myself, and not to
+care what other people think of me in those respects; an advantage which
+youth, among its many advantages, hath not.  It must occasionally and
+outwardly conform, to a certain degree, to establish tastes, fashions,
+and decisions.  A young man may, with a becoming modesty, dissent, in
+private companies, from public opinions and prejudices: but he must not
+attack them with warmth, nor magisterially set up his own sentiments
+against them.  Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions; receive them with
+complaisance; form your own with coolness, and give it with modesty.
+
+I have received a letter from Sir John Lambert, in which he requests me
+to use my interest to procure him the remittance of Mr. Spencer's money,
+when he goes abroad and also desires to know to whose account he is to
+place the postage of my letters.  I do not trouble him with a letter in
+answer, since you can execute the commission.  Pray make my compliments
+to him, and assure him that I will do all I can to procure him Mr.
+Spencer's business; but that his most effectual way will be by Messrs.
+Hoare, who are Mr. Spencer's cashiers, and who will undoubtedly have
+their choice upon whom they will give him his credit.  As for the postage
+of the letters, your purse and mine being pretty near the same, do you
+pay it, over and above your next draught.
+
+Your relations, the Princes B-----, will soon be with you at Paris; for
+they leave London this week: whenever you converse with them, I desire it
+may be in Italian; that language not being yet familiar enough to you.
+
+By our printed papers, there seems to be a sort of compromise between the
+King and the parliament, with regard to the affairs of the hospitals, by
+taking them out of the hands of the Archbishop of Paris, and placing them
+in Monsieur d'Argenson's: if this be true, that compromise, as it is
+called, is clearly a victory on the side of the court, and a defeat on
+the part of the parliament; for if the parliament had a right, they had
+it as much to the exclusion of Monsieur d'Argenson as of the Archbishop.
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVIII
+
+LONDON, February 6, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Your criticism of Varon is strictly just; but, in truth,
+severe.  You French critics seek for a fault as eagerly as I do for a
+beauty: you consider things in the worst light, to show your skill, at
+the expense of your pleasure; I view them in the best, that I may have
+more pleasure, though at the expense of my judgment.  A 'trompeur
+trompeur et demi' is prettily said; and, if you please, you may call
+'Varon, un Normand', and 'Sostrate, un Manceau, qui vaut un Normand et
+demi'; and, considering the 'denouement' in the light of trick upon
+trick, it would undoubtedly be below the dignity of the buskin, and
+fitter for the sock.
+
+But let us see if we cannot bring off the author.  The great question
+upon which all turns, is to discover and ascertain who Cleonice really
+is.  There are doubts concerning her 'etat'; how shall they be cleared?
+Had the truth been extorted from Varon (who alone knew) by the rack, it
+would have been a true tragical 'denouement'.  But that would probably
+not have done with Varon, who is represented as a bold, determined,
+wicked, and at that time desperate fellow; for he was in the hands of an
+enemy who he knew could not forgive him, with common prudence or safety.
+The rack would, therefore, have extorted no truth from him; but he would
+have died enjoying the doubts of his enemies, and the confusion that must
+necessarily attend those doubts.  A stratagem is therefore thought of to
+discover what force and terror could not, and the stratagem such as no
+king or minister would disdain, to get at an important discovery.  If you
+call that stratagem a TRICK, you vilify it, and make it comical; but call
+that trick a STRATAGEM, or a MEASURE, and you dignify it up to tragedy:
+so frequently do ridicule or dignity turn upon one single word.  It is
+commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule
+is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not
+just.  I deny it.  A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in
+certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become
+ridiculous, at least so far that the truth is only remembered and
+repeated for the sake of the ridicule.  The overturn of Mary of Medicis
+into a river, where she was half-drowned, would never have been
+remembered if Madame de Vernuel, who saw it, had not said 'la Reine
+boit'.  Pleasure or malignity often gives ridicule a weight which it does
+not deserve.  The versification, I must confess, is too much neglected
+and too often bad: but, upon the whole, I read the play with pleasure.
+
+If there is but a great deal of wit and character in your new comedy, I
+will readily compound for its having little or no plot.  I chiefly mind
+dialogue and character in comedies.  Let dull critics feed upon the
+carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing.
+
+I am very glad you went to Versailles to see the ceremony of creating the
+Prince de Conde 'Chevalier de l' Ordre'; and I do not doubt but that upon
+this occasion you informed yourself thoroughly of the institution and
+rules of that order.  If you did, you were certainly told it was
+instituted by Henry III. immediately after his return, or rather his
+flight from Poland; he took the hint of it at Venice, where he had seen
+the original manuscript of an order of the 'St. Esprit, ou droit desir',
+which had been instituted in 1352, by Louis d'Anjou, King of Jerusalem
+and Sicily, and husband to Jane, Queen of Naples, Countess of Provence.
+This Order was under the protection of St. Nicholas de Bari, whose image
+hung to the collar.  Henry III. found the Order of St. Michael
+prostituted and degraded, during the civil wars; he therefore joined it
+to his new Order of the St. Esprit, and gave them both together; for
+which reason every knight of the St. Esprit is now called Chevalier des
+Ordres du Roi.  The number of the knights hath been different, but is now
+fixed to ONE HUNDRED, exclusive of the sovereign.  There, are many
+officers who wear the riband of this Order, like the other knights; and
+what is very singular is, that these officers frequently sell their
+employments, but obtain leave to wear the blue riband still, though the
+purchasers of those offices wear it also.
+
+As you will have been a great while in France, people will expect that
+you should be 'au fait' of all these sort of things relative to that
+country.  But the history of all the Orders of all countries is well
+worth your knowledge; the subject occurs often, and one should not be
+ignorant of it, for fear of some such accident as happened to a solid
+Dane at Paris, who, upon seeing 'L'Ordre du St. Esprit', said, 'Notre St.
+Esprit chez nous c'est un Elephant'.  Almost all the princes in Germany
+have their Orders too; not dated, indeed, from any important events, or
+directed to any great object, but because they will have orders, to show
+that they may; as some of them, who have the 'jus cudendae monetae',
+borrow ten shillings worth of gold to coin a ducat.  However, wherever
+you meet with them, inform yourself, and minute down a short account of
+them; they take in all the colors of Sir Isaac Newton's prisms.  N. B:
+When you inquire about them, do not seem to laugh.
+
+I thank you for le Mandement de Monseigneur l'Archeveyue; it is very well
+drawn, and becoming an archbishop.  But pray do not lose sight of a much
+more important object, I mean the political disputes between the King and
+the parliament, and the King and the clergy; they seem both to be
+patching up; but, however, get the whole clue to them, as far as they
+have gone.
+
+I received a letter yesterday from Madame Monconseil, who assures me you
+have gained ground 'du cote des maniires', and that she looks upon you to
+be 'plus qu'a moitie chemin'.  I am very glad to hear this, because, if
+you are got above half way of your journey, surely you will finish it,
+and not faint in the course.  Why do you think I have this affair so
+extremely at heart, and why do I repeat it so often?  Is it for your
+sake, or for mine?  You can immediately answer yourself that question;
+you certainly have--I cannot possibly have any interest in it.  If then
+you will allow me, as I believe you may, to be a judge of what is useful
+and necessary to you, you must, in consequence, be convinced of the
+infinite importance of a point which I take so much pains to inculcate.
+
+I hear that the new Duke of Orleans 'a remercie Monsieur de Melfort, and
+I believe, 'pas sans raison', having had obligations to him; 'mais il ne
+l'a pas remercie en mari poli', but rather roughly.  Il faut que ce soit
+un bourru'.  I am told, too, that people get bits of his father's rags,
+by way of relies; I wish them joy, they will do them a great deal of
+good.  See from hence what weaknesses human nature is capable of, and
+make allowances for such in all your plans and reasonings.  Study the
+characters of the people you have to do with, and know what they are,
+instead of thinking them what they should be; address yourself generally
+to the senses, to the heart, and to the weaknesses of mankind, but very
+rarely to their reason.
+
+Good-night or good-morrow to you, according to the time you shall receive
+this letter from, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLIX
+
+LONDON, February 14, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In a month's time, I believe I shall have the pleasure of
+sending you, and you will have the pleasure of reading, a work of Lord
+Bolingbroke's, in two volumes octavo, "Upon the Use of History," in
+several letters to Lord Hyde, then Lord Cornbury.  It is now put into the
+press.  It is hard to determine whether this work will instruct or please
+most: the most material historical facts, from the great era of the
+treaty of Munster, are touched upon, accompanied by the most solid
+reflections, and adorned by all that elegance of style which was peculiar
+to himself, and in which, if Cicero equals, he certainly does not exceed
+him; but every other writer falls short of him.  I would advise you
+almost to get this book by heart.  I think you have a turn to history,
+you love it, and have a memory to retain it: this book will teach you the
+proper use of it.  Some people load their memories indiscriminately with
+historical facts, as others do their stomachs with food; and bring out
+the one, and bring up the other, entirely crude and undigested. You will
+find in Lord Bolingbroke's book an infallible specific against that
+epidemical complaint.--[It is important to remember that at this time
+Lord Bolingbroke's philosophical works had not appeared; which accounts
+for Lord Chesterfield's recommending to his son, in this, as well as in
+some foregoing passages, the study of Lord Bolingbroke's writings.]
+
+I remember a gentleman who had read history in this thoughtless and
+undistinguishing manner, and who, having traveled, had gone through the
+Valtelline.  He told me that it was a miserable poor country, and
+therefore it was, surely, a great error in Cardinal Richelieu to make
+such a rout, and put France to so much expense about it.  Had my friend
+read history as he ought to have done, he would have known that the great
+object of that great minister was to reduce the power of the House of
+Austria; and in order to that, to cut off as much as he could the
+communication between the several parts of their then extensive
+dominions; which reflections would have justified the Cardinal to him,
+in the affair of the Valtelline.  But it was easier to him to remember
+facts, than to combine and reflect.
+
+One observation I hope you will make in reading history; for it is an
+obvious and a true one.  It is, that more people have made great figures
+and great fortunes in courts by their exterior accomplishments, than by
+their interior qualifications.  Their engaging address, the politeness of
+their manners, their air, their turn, hath almost always paved the way
+for their superior abilities, if they have such, to exert themselves.
+They have been favorites before they have been ministers.  In courts, an
+universal gentleness and 'douceur dans les manieres' is most absolutely
+necessary: an offended fool, or a slighted valet de chambre, may very
+possibly do you more hurt at court, than ten men of merit can do you
+good.  Fools, and low people, are always jealous of their dignity, and
+never forget nor forgive what they reckon a slight: on the other hand,
+they take civility and a little attention as a favor; remember, and
+acknowledge it: this, in my mind, is buying them cheap; and therefore
+they are worth buying.  The prince himself, who is rarely the shining
+genius of his court, esteems you only by hearsay but likes you by his
+senses; that is, from your air, your politeness, and your manner of
+addressing him, of which alone he is a judge.  There is a court garment,
+as well as a wedding garment, without which you will not be received.
+That garment is the 'volto sciolto'; an imposing air, an elegant
+politeness, easy and engaging manners, universal attention, an
+insinuating gentleness, and all those 'je ne sais quoi' that compose the
+GRACES.
+
+I am this moment disagreeably interrupted by a letter; not from you, as I
+expected, but from a friend of yours at Paris, who informs me that you
+have a fever which confines you at home.  Since you have a fever, I am
+glad you have prudence enough in it to stay at home, and take care of
+yourself; a little more prudence might probably have prevented it.  Your
+blood is young, and consequently hot; and you naturally make a great deal
+by your good stomach and good digestion; you should, therefore,
+necessarily attenuate and cool it, from time to time, by gentle purges,
+or by a very low diet, for two or three days together, if you would avoid
+fevers.  Lord Bacon, who was a very great physician in both senses of the
+word, hath this aphorism in his "Essay upon Health," 'Nihil magis ad
+Sanitatem tribuit quam crebrae et domesticae purgationes'.  By
+'domesticae', he means those simple uncompounded purgatives which
+everybody can administer to themselves; such as senna-tea, stewed prunes
+and senria, chewing a little rhubarb, or dissolving an ounce and a half
+of manna in fair water, with the juice of a lemon to make it palatable.
+Such gentle and unconfining evacuations would certainly prevent those
+feverish attacks to which everybody at your age is subject.
+
+By the way, I do desire, and insist, that whenever, from any
+indisposition, you are not able to write to me upon the fixed days, that
+Christian shall; and give me a TRUE account how you are.  I do not expect
+from him the Ciceronian epistolary style; but I will content myself with
+the Swiss simplicity and truth.
+
+I hope you extend your acquaintance at Paris, and frequent variety of
+companies; the only way of knowing the world; every set of company
+differs in some particulars from another; and a man of business must, in
+the course of his life, have to do with all sorts.  It is a very great
+advantage to know the languages of the several countries one travels in;
+and different companies may, in some degree, be considered as different
+countries; each hath its distinctive language, customs, and manners: know
+them all, and you will wonder at none.
+
+Adieu, child.  Take care of your health; there are no pleasures without
+it.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLX
+
+LONDON, February 20, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In all systems whatsoever, whether of religion,
+government, morals, etc., perfection is the object always proposed,
+though possibly unattainable; hitherto, at least, certainly unattained.
+However, those who aim carefully at the mark itself, will unquestionably
+come nearer it, than those who from despair, negligence, or indolence,
+leave to chance the work of skill.  This maxim holds equally true in
+common life; those who aim at perfection will come infinitely nearer it
+than those desponding or indolent spirits, who foolishly say to
+themselves: Nobody is perfect; perfection is unattainable; to attempt it
+is chimerical; I shall do as well as others; why then should I give
+myself trouble to be what I never can, and what, according to the common
+course of things, I need not be, PERFECT?
+
+I am very sure that I need not point out to you the weakness and the
+folly of this reasoning, if it deserves the name of reasoning.  It would
+discourage and put a stop to the exertion of any one of our faculties.
+On the contrary, a man of sense and spirit says to himself:  Though the
+point of perfection may (considering the imperfection of our nature) be
+unattainable, my care, my endeavors, my attention, shall not be wanting
+to get as near it as I can.  I will approach it every day, possibly, I
+may arrive at it at last; at least, what I am sure is in my own power,
+I will not be distanced.  Many fools (speaking of you) say to me: What!
+would you have him perfect?  I answer: Why not?  What hurt would it do
+him or me?  O, but that is impossible, say they; I reply, I am not sure
+of that: perfection in the abstract, I admit to be unattainable, but what
+is commonly called perfection in a character I maintain to be attainable,
+and not only that, but in every man's power.  He hath, continue they, a
+good head, a good heart, a good fund of knowledge, which would increase
+daily: What would you have more?  Why, I would have everything more that
+can adorn and complete a character.  Will it do his head, his heart, or
+his knowledge any harm, to have the utmost delicacy of manners, the most
+shining advantages of air and address, the most endearing attentions, and
+the most engaging graces?  But as he is, say they, he is loved wherever
+he is known.  I am very glad of it, say I; but I would have him be liked
+before he is known, and loved afterward.  I would have him, by his first
+abord and address, make people wish to know him, and inclined to love
+him: he will save a great deal of time by it.  Indeed, reply they, you
+are too nice, too exact, and lay too much stress upon things that are of
+very little consequence.  Indeed, rejoin I, you know very little of the
+nature of mankind, if you take those things to be of little consequence:
+one cannot be too attentive to them; it is they that always engage the
+heart, of which the understanding is commonly the bubble.  And I would
+much rather that he erred in a point of grammar, of history, of
+philosophy, etc., than in point of manners and address.  But consider,
+he is very young; all this will come in time.  I hope so; but that time
+must be when he is young, or it will never be at all; the right 'pli'
+must be taken young, or it will never be easy or seem natural.  Come,
+come, say they (substituting, as is frequently done, assertion instead of
+argument), depend upon it he will do very well: and you have a great deal
+of reason to be satisfied with him.  I hope and believe he will do well,
+but I would have him do better than well.  I am very well pleased with
+him, but I would be more, I would be proud of him.  I would have him have
+lustre as well as weight.  Did you ever know anybody that reunited all
+these talents?  Yes, I did; Lord Bolingbroke joined all the politeness,
+the manners, and the graces of a courtier, to the solidity of a
+statesman, and to the learning of a pedant.  He was 'omnis homo'; and
+pray what should hinder my boy from being so too, if he 'hath, as I think
+he hath, all the other qualifications that you allow him?  Nothing can
+hinder him, but neglect of or inattention to, those objects which his own
+good sense must tell him are, of infinite consequence to him, and which
+therefore I will not suppose him capable of either neglecting or
+despising.
+
+This (to tell you the whole truth) is the result of a controversy that
+passed yesterday, between Lady Hervey and myself, upon your subject, and
+almost in the very words.  I submit the decision of it to yourself; let
+your own good sense determine it, and make you act in consequence of that
+determination.  The receipt to make this composition is short and
+infallible; here I give it to you:
+
+Take variety of the best company, wherever you are; be minutely attentive
+to every word and action; imitate respectively those whom you observe to
+be distinguished and considered for any one accomplishment; then mix all
+those several accomplishments together, and serve them up yourself to
+others.
+
+I hope your fair, or rather your brown AMERICAN is well.  I hear that she
+makes very handsome presents, if she is not so herself.  I am told there
+are people at Paris who expect, from this secret connection, to see in
+time a volume of letters, superior to Madame de Graffiny's Peruvian ones;
+I lay in my claim to one of the first copies.
+
+Francis's Genie--[Francis's "Eugenia."]--hath been acted twice, with
+most universal applause; to-night is his third night, and I am going to
+it.  I did not think it would have succeeded so well, considering how
+long our British audiences have been accustomed to murder, racks, and
+poison, in every tragedy; but it affected the heart so much, that it
+triumphed over habit and prejudice.  All the women cried, and all the men
+were moved.  The prologue, which is a very good one, was made entirely by
+Garrick.  The epilogue is old Cibber's; but corrected, though not
+enough, by Francis.  He will get a great deal of, money by it; and,
+consequently, be better able to lend you sixpence, upon any emergency.
+
+The parliament of Paris, I find by the newspapers, has not carried its
+point concerning the hospitals, and, though the King hath given up the
+Archbishop, yet as he has put them under the management and direction
+'du Grand Conseil', the parliament is equally out of the question.  This
+will naturally put you upon inquiring into the constitution of the 'Grand
+Conseil'.  You will, doubtless, inform yourself who it is composed of,
+what things are 'de son ressort', whether or not there lies an appeal
+from thence to any other place; and of all other particulars, that may
+give you a clear notion of this assembly.  There are also three or four
+other Conseils in France, of which you ought to know the constitution and
+the objects; I dare say you do know them already; but if you do not, lose
+no time in informing yourself.  These things, as I have often told you,
+are best learned in various French companies: but in no English ones, for
+none of our countrymen trouble their heads about them.  To use a very
+trite image, collect, like the bee, your store from every quarter.  In
+some companies ('parmi les fermiers generaux nommement') you may, by
+proper inquiries, get a general knowledge, at least, of 'les affaires des
+finances'.  When you are with 'des gens de robe', suck them with regard
+to the constitution, and civil government, and 'sic de caeteris'.  This
+shows you the advantage of keeping a great deal of different French
+company; an advantage much superior to any that you can possibly receive
+from loitering and sauntering away evenings in any English company at
+Paris, not even excepting Lord A------.  Love of ease, and fear of
+restraint (to both which I doubt you are, for a young fellow, too much
+addicted) may invite you among your countrymen: but pray withstand those
+mean temptations, 'et prenez sur vous', for the sake of being in those
+assemblies, which alone can inform your mind and improve your manners.
+You have not now many months to continue at Paris; make the most of them;
+get into every house there, if you can; extend acquaintance, know
+everything and everybody there; that when you leave it for other places,
+you may be 'au fait', and even able to explain whatever you may hear
+mentioned concerning it.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXI
+
+LONDON, March 2, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Whereabouts are you in Ariosto?  Or have you gone through
+that most ingenious contexture of truth and lies, of serious and
+extravagant, of knights-errant, magicians, and all that various matter
+which he announces in the beginning of his poem:
+
+               Le Donne, I Cavalier, l'arme, gli amori,
+               Le cortesie, l'audaci impreso io canto.
+
+I am by no means sure that Homer had superior invention, or excelled more
+in description than Ariosto.  What can be more seducing and voluptuous,
+than the description of Alcina's person and palace?  What more
+ingeniously extravagant, than the search made in the moon for Orlando's
+lost wits, and the account of other people's that were found there?  The
+whole is worth your attention, not only as an ingenious poem, but as the
+source of all modern tales, novels, fables, and romances; as Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses;" was of the ancient ones; besides, that when you have
+read this work, nothing will be difficult to you in the Italian language.
+You will read Tasso's 'Gierusalemme', and the 'Decamerone di Boccacio',
+with great facility afterward; and when you have read those three
+authors, you will, in my opinion, have read all the works of invention
+that are worth reading in that language; though the Italians would be
+very angry at me for saying so.
+
+A gentleman should know those which I call classical works, in every
+language; such as Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Moliere, etc., in French;
+Milton, Dryden, Pope, Swift, etc., in English; and the three authors
+above mentioned in Italian; whether you have any such in German I am not
+quite sure, nor, indeed, am I inquisitive.  These sort of books adorn the
+mind, improve the fancy, are frequently alluded to by, and are often the
+subjects of conversations of the best companies.  As you have languages
+to read, and memory to retain them, the knowledge of them is very well
+worth the little pains it will cost you, and will enable you to shine in
+company.  It is not pedantic to quote and allude to them, which it would
+be with regard to the ancients.
+
+Among the many advantages which you have had in your education, I do not
+consider your knowledge of several languages as the least.  You need not
+trust to translations; you can go to the source; you can both converse
+and negotiate with people of all nations, upon equal terms; which is by
+no means the case of a man, who converses or negotiates in a language
+which those with whom he hath to do know much better than himself.  In
+business, a great deal may depend upon the force and extent of one word;
+and, in conversation, a moderate thought may gain, or a good one lose, by
+the propriety or impropriety, the elegance or inelegance of one single
+word.  As therefore you now know four modern languages well, I would have
+you study (and, by the way, it will be very little trouble to you) to
+know them correctly, accurately, and delicately.  Read some little books
+that treat of them, and ask questions concerning their delicacies, of
+those who are able to answer you.  As, for instance, should I say in
+French, 'la lettre que je vous ai ECRIT', or, 'la lettre que je vous ai
+ECRITE'?  in which, I think, the French differ among themselves.  There
+is a short French grammar by the Port Royal, and another by Pere Bufiier,
+both which are worth your reading; as is also a little book called 'Les
+Synonymes Francois.  There are books of that kind upon the Italian
+language, into some of which I would advise you to dip; possibly the
+German language may have something of the same sort, and since you
+already speak it, the more properly you speak it the better; one would,
+I think, as far as possible, do all one does correctly and elegantly.
+It is extremely engaging to people of every nation, to meet with a
+foreigner who hath taken pains enough to speak their language correctly;
+it flatters that local and national pride and prejudice of which
+everybody hath some share.
+
+Francis's "Eugenia," which I will send you, pleased most people of good
+taste here; the boxes were crowded till the sixth night, when the pit and
+gallery were totally deserted, and it was dropped.  Distress, without
+death, was not sufficient to affect a true British audience, so long
+accustomed to daggers, racks, and bowls of poison: contrary to Horace's
+rule, they desire to see Medea murder her children upon the stage.  The
+sentiments were too delicate to move them; and their hearts are to be
+taken by storm, not by parley.
+
+Have you got the things, which were taken from you at Calais, restored?
+and, among them, the little packet which my sister gave you for Sir
+Charles Hotham?  In this case, have you forwarded it to him?  If you have
+not had an opportunity, you will have one soon; which I desire you will
+not omit; it is by Monsieur d'Aillion, whom you will see in a few days at
+Paris, in his way to Geneva, where Sir Charles now is, and will remain
+some time.  Adieu:
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXII
+
+LONDON, March 5, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have received no letter from you by the usual post,
+I am uneasy upon account of your health; for, had you been well, I am
+sure you would have written, according to your engagement and my
+requisition.  You have not the least notion of any care of your health;
+but though I would not have you be a valetudinarian, I must tell you that
+the best and most robust health requires some degree of attention to
+preserve.  Young fellows, thinking they have so much health and time
+before them, are very apt to neglect or lavish both, and beggar
+themselves before they are aware: whereas a prudent economy in both would
+make them rich indeed; and so far from breaking in upon their pleasures,
+would improve, and almost perpetuate them.  Be you wiser, and, before it
+is too late, manage both with care and frugality; and lay out neither,
+but upon good interest and security.
+
+I will now confine myself to the employment of your time, which, though I
+have often touched upon formerly, is a subject that, from its importance,
+will bear repetition.  You have it is true, a great deal of time before
+you; but, in this period of your life, one hour usefully employed may be
+worth more than four-and-twenty hereafter; a minute is precious to you
+now, whole days may possibly not be so forty years hence.  Whatever time
+you allow, or can snatch for serious reading (I say snatch, because
+company and the knowledge of the world is now your chief object), employ
+it in the reading of some one book, and that a good one, till you have
+finished it: and do not distract your mind with various matters at the
+same time.  In this light I would recommend to you to read 'tout de
+suite' Grotius 'de Jure Belli et Pacis', translated by Barbeyrac, and
+Puffendorff's 'Jus Gentium', translated by the same hand.  For accidental
+quarters of hours, read works of invention, wit and humor, of the best,
+and not of trivial authors, either ancient or modern.
+
+Whatever business you have, do it the first moment you can; never by
+halves, but finish it without interruption, if possible.  Business must
+not be sauntered and trifled with; and you must not say to it, as Felix
+did to Paul, "At a more convenient season I will speak to thee."
+The most convenient season for business is the first; but study and
+business in some measure point out their own times to a man of sense;
+time is much oftener squandered away in the wrong choice and improper
+methods of amusement and pleasures.
+
+Many people think that they are in pleasures, provided they are neither
+in study nor in business.  Nothing like it; they are doing nothing, and
+might just as well be asleep.  They contract habitudes from laziness, and
+they only frequent those places where they are free from all restraints
+and attentions.  Be upon your guard against this idle profusion of time;
+and let every place you go to be either the scene of quick and lively
+pleasures, or the school of your own improvements; let every company you
+go into either gratify your senses, extend your knowledge, or refine your
+manners.  Have some decent object of gallantry in view at some places;
+frequent others, where people of wit and taste assemble; get into others,
+where people of superior rank and dignity command respect and attention
+from the rest of the company; but pray frequent no neutral places, from
+mere idleness and indolence.  Nothing forms a young man so much as being
+used to keep respectable and superior company, where a constant regard
+and attention is necessary.  It is true, this is at first a disagreeable
+state of restraint; but it soon grows habitual, and consequently easy;
+and you are amply paid for it, by the improvement you make, and the
+credit it gives you.  What you said some time ago was very true,
+concerning 'le Palais Royal'; to one of your age the situation is
+disagreeable enough: you cannot expect to be much taken notice of;
+but all that time you can take notice of others; observe their manners,
+decipher their characters, and insensibly you will become one of the
+company.
+
+All this I went through myself, when I was of your age.  I have sat hours
+in company without being taken the least notice of; but then I took
+notice of them, and learned in their company how to behave myself better
+in the next, till by degrees I became part of the best companies myself.
+But I took great care not to lavish away my time in those companies where
+there were neither quick pleasures nor useful improvements to be
+expected.
+
+Sloth, indolence, and 'mollesse' are pernicious and unbecoming a young
+fellow; let them be your 'ressource' forty years hence at soonest.
+Determine, at all events, and however disagreeable it may to you in some
+respects, and for some time, to keep the most distinguished and
+fashionable company of the place you are at, either for their rank, or
+for their learning, or 'le bel esprit et le gout'.  This gives you
+credentials to the best companies, wherever you go afterward.  Pray,
+therefore, no indolence, no laziness; but employ every minute in your
+life in active pleasures, or useful employments.  Address yourself to
+some woman of fashion and beauty, wherever you are, and try how far that
+will go.  If the place be not secured beforehand, and garrisoned, nine
+times in ten you will take it.  By attentions and respect you may always
+get into the highest company: and by some admiration and applause,
+whether merited or not, you may be sure of being welcome among 'les
+savans et les beaux esprits'.  There are but these three sorts of company
+for a young fellow; there being neither pleasure nor profit in any other.
+
+My uneasiness with regard to your health is this moment removed by your
+letter of the 8th N. S., which, by what accident I do not know, I did not
+receive before.
+
+I long to read Voltaire's 'Rome Sauvee', which, by the very faults that
+your SEVERE critics find with it, I am sure I shall like; for I will at
+an any time give up a good deal of regularity for a great deal of
+brillant; and for the brillant surely nobody is equal to Voltaire.
+Catiline's conspiracy is an unhappy subject for a tragedy; it is too
+single, and gives no opportunity to the poet to excite any of the tender
+passions; the whole is one intended act of horror, Crebillon was sensible
+of this defect, and to create another interest, most absurdly made
+Catiline in love with Cicero's daughter, and her with him.
+
+I am very glad that you went to Versailles, and dined with Monsieur de
+St. Contest.  That is company to learn 'les bonnes manieres' in; and it
+seems you had 'les bonnes morceaux' into the bargain.  Though you were no
+part of the King of France's conversation with the foreign ministers, and
+probably not much entertained with it, do you think that it is not very
+useful to you to hear it, and to observe the turn and manners of people
+of that sort?  It is extremely useful to know it well.  The same in the
+next rank of people, such as ministers of state, etc., in whose company,
+though you cannot yet, at your age, bear a part, and consequently be
+diverted, you will observe and learn, what hereafter it may be necessary
+for you to act.
+
+Tell Sir John Lambert that I have this day fixed Mr. Spencer's having his
+credit upon him; Mr. Hoare had also recommended him.  I believe Mr.
+Spencer will set out next month for some place in France, but not Paris.
+I am sure he wants a great deal of France, for at present he is most
+entirely English: and you know very well what I think of that.  And so we
+bid you heartily good-night.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIII
+
+LONDON, March 16, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: How do you go on with the most useful and most necessary
+of all studies, the study of the world?  Do you find that you gain
+knowledge?  And does your daily experience at once extend and demonstrate
+your improvement?  You will possibly ask me how you can judge of that
+yourself.  I will tell you a sure way of knowing.  Examine yourself, and
+see whether your notions of the world are changed, by experience, from
+what they were two years ago in theory; for that alone is one favorable
+symptom of improvement.  At that age (I remember it in myself) every
+notion that one forms is erroneous; one hath seen few models, and those
+none of the best, to form one's self upon.  One thinks that everything is
+to be carried by spirit and vigor; that art is meanness, and that
+versatility and complaisance are the refuge of pusilanimity and weakness.
+This most mistaken opinion gives an indelicacy, a 'brusquerie', and a
+roughness to the manners.  Fools, who can never be undeceived, retain
+them as long as they live: reflection, with a little experience, makes
+men of sense shake them off soon.  When they come to be a little better
+acquainted with themselves, and with their own species, they discover that
+plain right reason is, nine times in ten, the fettered and shackled
+attendant of the triumph of the heart and the passions; and,
+consequently, they address themselves nine times in ten to the conqueror,
+not to the conquered: and conquerors, you know, must be applied to in the
+gentlest, the most engaging, and the most insinuating manner.  Have you
+found out that every woman is infallibly to be gained by every sort of
+flattery, and every man by one sort or other?  Have you discovered what
+variety of little things affect the heart, and how surely they
+collectively gain it?  If you have, you have made some progress.  I would
+try a man's knowledge of the world, as I would a schoolboy's knowledge of
+Horace: not by making him construe 'Maecenas atavis edite regibus', which
+he could do in the first form; but by examining him as to the delicacy
+and 'curiosa felicitas' of that poet.  A man requires very little
+knowledge and experience of the world, to understand glaring, high-
+colored, and decided characters; they are but few, and they strike at
+first: but to distinguish the almost imperceptible shades, and the nice
+gradations of virtue and vice, sense and folly, strength and weakness (of
+which characters are commonly composed), demands some experience, great
+observation, and minute attention.  In the same cases, most people do the
+same things, but with this material difference, upon which the success
+commonly turns: A man who hath studied the world knows when to time, and
+where to place them; he hath analyzed the characters he applies to, and
+adapted his address and his arguments to them: but a man, of what is
+called plain good sense, who hath only reasoned by himself, and not acted
+with mankind, mistimes, misplaces, runs precipitately and bluntly at the
+mark, and falls upon his nose in the way.  In the common manners of
+social life, every man of common sense hath the rudiments, the A B C of
+civility; he means not to offend, and even wishes to please: and, if he
+hath any real merit, will be received and tolerated in good company.
+But that is far from being enough; for, though he may be received, he
+will never be desired; though he does not offend, he will never be loved;
+but, like some little, insignificant, neutral power, surrounded by great
+ones, he will neither be feared nor courted by any; but, by turns,
+invaded by all, whenever it is their interest.  A most contemptible
+situation!  Whereas, a man who hath carefully attended to, and
+experienced, the various workings of the heart, and the artifices of the
+head; and who, by one shade, can trace the progression of the whole
+color; who can, at the proper times, employ all the several means of
+persuading the understanding, and engaging the heart, may and will have
+enemies; but will and must have friends: he may be opposed, but he will
+be supported too; his talents may excite the jealousy of some, but his
+engaging arts will make him beloved by many more; he will be
+considerable; he will be considered.  Many different qualifications must
+conspire to form such a man, and to make him at once respectable and
+amiable; the least must be joined to the greatest; the latter would be
+unavailing without the former; and the former would be futile and
+frivolous, without the latter.  Learning is acquired by reading books;
+but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only
+to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of
+them.  Many words in every language are generally thought to be
+synonymous; but those who study the language attentively will find, that
+there is no such thing; they will discover some little difference, some
+distinction between all those words that are vulgarly called synonymous;
+one hath always more energy, extent, or delicacy, than another.  It is
+the same with men; all are in general, and yet no two in particular,
+exactly alike.  Those who have not accurately studied, perpetually
+mistake them; they do not discern the shades and gradations that
+distinguish characters seemingly alike.  Company, various company, is the
+only school for this knowledge.  You ought to be, by this time, at least
+in the third form of that school, from whence the rise to the uppermost
+is easy and quick; but then you must have application and vivacity; and
+you must not only bear with, but even seek restraint in most companies,
+instead of stagnating in one or two only, where indolence and love of
+ease may be indulged.
+
+In the plan which I gave you in my last,--[That letter is missing.]--
+for your future motions, I forgot to tell you; that, if a king of the
+Romans should be chosen this year, you shall certainly be at that
+election; and as, upon those occasions, all strangers are excluded from
+the place of the election, except such as belong to some ambassador,
+I have already eventually secured you a place in the suite of the King's
+Electoral Ambassador, who will be sent upon that account to Frankfort,
+or wherever else the election may be.  This will not only secure you a
+sight of the show, but a knowledge of the whole thing; which is likely to
+be a contested one, from the opposition of some of the electors, and the
+protests of some of the princes of the empire.  That election, if there
+is one, will, in my opinion, be a memorable era in the history of the
+empire; pens at least, if not swords, will be drawn; and ink, if not
+blood, will be plentifully shed by the contending parties in that
+dispute.  During the fray, you may securely plunder, and add to your
+present stock of knowledge of the 'jus publicum imperii'.  The court of
+France hath, I am told, appointed le President Ogier, a man of great
+abilities, to go immediately to Ratisbon, 'pour y souffler la discorde'.
+It must be owned that France hath always profited skillfully of its
+having guaranteed the treaty of Munster; which hath given it a constant
+pretense to thrust itself into the affairs of the empire.  When France
+got Alsace yielded by treaty, it was very willing to have held it as a
+fief of the empire; but the empire was then wiser.  Every power should be
+very careful not to give the least pretense to a neighboring power to
+meddle with the affairs of its interior.  Sweden hath already felt the
+effects of the Czarina's calling herself Guarantee of its present form of
+government, in consequence of the treaty of Neustadt, confirmed afterward
+by that of Abo; though, in truth, that guarantee was rather a provision
+against Russia's attempting to alter the then new established form of
+government in Sweden, than any right given to Russia to hinder the Swedes
+from establishing what form of government they pleased.  Read them both,
+if you can get them.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIV
+
+LONDON, April 73, O.  S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I receive this moment your letter of the 19th, N. S.,
+with the inclosed pieces relative to  the present dispute between the
+King and the parliament.  I shall return them by Lord Huntingdon, whom
+you will soon see at Paris, and who will likewise carry you the piece,
+which I forgot in making up the packet I sent you by the Spanish
+Ambassador.  The representation of the parliament is very well drawn,
+'suaviter in modo, fortiter in re'.  They tell the King very
+respectfully, that, in a certain case, WHICH THEY SHOULD THINK IT
+CRIMINAL To SUPPOSE, they would not obey him.  This hath a tendency to
+what we call here revolution principles.  I do not know what the Lord's
+anointed, his vicegerent upon earth, divinely appointed by him, and
+accountable to none but him for his actions, will either think or do,
+upon these symptoms of reason and good sense, which seem to be breaking
+out all over France: but this I foresee, that, before the end of this
+century, the trade of both king and priest will not be half so good a one
+as it has been.  Du Clos, in his "Reflections," hath observed, and very
+truly, 'qu'il y a un germe de raison qui commence a se developper en
+France';--a development that must prove fatal to Regal and Papal
+pretensions.  Prudence may, in many cases, recommend an occasional
+submission to either; but when that ignorance, upon which an implicit
+faith in both could only be founded, is once removed, God's Vicegerent,
+and Christ's Vicar, will only be obeyed and believed, as far as what the
+one orders, and the other says, is conformable to reason and to truth.
+
+I am very glad (to use a vulgar expression) that You MAKE AS IF YOU WERE
+NOT WELL, though you really are; I am sure it is the likeliest way to
+keep so.  Pray leave off entirely your greasy, heavy pastry, fat creams,
+and indigestible dumplings; and then you need not confine yourself to
+white meats, which I do not take to be one jot wholesomer than beef,
+mutton, and partridge.
+
+Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV.  It
+came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how
+history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written.
+I am sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers.
+Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked:
+for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses;
+reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
+It is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts,
+for the use of men of parts.  Weak minds will not like it, even though
+they do not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their
+admiration.  Dull ones will want those minute and uninteresting details
+with which most other histories are encumbered.  He tells me all I want
+to know, and nothing more.  His reflections are short, just, and produce
+others in his readers.  Free from religious, philosophical, political and
+national prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all
+those matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must
+always be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly
+that he often says much less than he would say, if he might.  He hath
+made me much better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the
+innumerable volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this
+reflection to me, which I have never made before--His vanity, not his
+knowledge, made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences
+in his country.  He opened in a manner the human understanding in France,
+and brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and
+greatly exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan.  This
+was great and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement,
+the applause, and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince.
+What is much more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the
+human mind just where he pleased; and seemed to say, "Thus far shalt thou
+go, and no farther."  For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his
+power, free and rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a
+French head during his reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age
+produced, never entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the
+infallibility of the Church.  Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant
+of their natural rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith
+triumphed, in those great minds, over silent and passive reason.  The
+reverse of this seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself;
+fancy and invention fade and decline.
+
+I will send you a copy of this history by Lord Huntingdon, as I think it
+very probable that it is not allowed to be published and sold at Paris.
+Pray read it more than once, and with attention, particularly the second
+volume, which contains short, but very clear accounts of many very
+interesting things, which are talked of by everybody, though fairly.
+understood by very few.  There are two very puerile affectations which I
+wish this book had been free from; the one is, the total subversion of
+all the old established French orthography; the other is, the not making
+use of any one capital letter throughout the whole book, except at the
+beginning of a paragraph.  It offends my eyes to see rome, paris, france,
+Caesar, I henry the fourth, etc., begin with small letters; and I do not
+conceive that there can be any reason for doing it, half so strong as the
+reason of long usage is to the contrary.  This is an affectation below
+Voltaire; who, I am not ashamed to say, that I admire and delight in, as
+an author, equally in prose and in verse.
+
+I had a letter a few days ago from Monsieur du Boccage, in which he says,
+'Monsieur Stanhope s'est jete dans la politique, et je crois qu'il y
+reussira': You do very well, it is your destination; but remember that,
+to succeed in great things, one must first learn to please in little
+ones.  Engaging manners and address must prepare the way for superior
+knowledge and abilities to act with effect.  The late Duke of
+Marlborough's manners and address prevailed with the first king of
+Prussia, to let his troops remain in the army of the Allies, when neither
+their representations, nor his own share in the common cause could do it.
+The Duke of Marlborough had no new matter to urge to him; but had a
+manner, which he could not, nor did not, resist.  Voltaire, among a
+thousand little delicate strokes of that kind, says of the Duke de la
+Feuillade, 'qu'il etoit l'homme le plus brillant et le plus aimable du
+royaume; et quoique gendre du General et Ministre, il avoit pour lui la
+faveur publique'.  Various little circumstances of that sort will often
+make a man of great real merit be hated, if he hath not address and
+manners to make him be loved.  Consider all your own circumstances
+seriously; and you will find that, of all arts, the art of pleasing is
+the most necessary for you to study and possess.  A silly tyrant said,
+'oderint modo timeant'; a wise man would have said, 'modo ament nihil
+timendum est mihi'.  Judge from your own daily experience, of the
+efficacy of that pleasing 'je ne sais quoi', when you feel, as you and
+everybody certainly does, that in men it is more engaging than knowledge,
+in women than beauty.
+
+I long to see Lord and Lady ------- (who are not yet arrived), because
+they have lately seen you; and I always fancy, that I can fish out
+something new concerning you, from those who have seen you last: not that
+I shall much rely upon their accounts, because I distrust the judgment of
+Lord and Lady -------, in those matters about which I am most
+inquisitive.  They have ruined their own son by what they called and
+thought loving him.  They have made him believe that the world was made
+for him, not he for the world; and unless he stays abroad a great while,
+and falls into very good company, he will expect, what he will never
+find, the attentions and complaisance from others, which he has hitherto
+been used to from Papa and Mamma.  This, I fear, is too much the case of
+Mr.; who, I doubt, will be run through the body, and be near dying,
+before he knows how to live.  However you may turn out, you can never
+make me any of these reproaches.  I indulged no silly, womanish fondness
+for you; instead of inflicting my tenderness upon you, I have taken all
+possible methods to make you deserve it; and thank God you do; at least,
+I know but one article, in which you are different from what I could wish
+you; and you very well know what that is I want: That I and all the world
+should like you, as well as I love you.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXV
+
+LONDON, April 30, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Avoir du monde' is, in my opinion, a very just and happy
+expression for having address, manners, and for knowing how to behave
+properly in all companies; and it implies very truly that a man who hath
+not those accomplishments is not of the world.  Without them, the best
+parts are inefficient, civility is absurd, and freedom offensive.  A
+learned parson, rusting in his cell, at Oxford or Cambridge, will season
+admirably well upon the nature of man; will profoundly analyze the head,
+the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the senses, the
+sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what; and yet,
+unfortunately, he knows nothing of man, for he hath not lived with him;
+and is ignorant of all the various modes, habits, prejudices, and tastes,
+that always influence and often determine him.  He views man as he does
+colors in Sir Isaac Newton's prism, where only the capital ones are seen;
+but an experienced dyer knows all their various shades and gradations,
+together with the result of their several mixtures.  Few men are of one
+plain, decided color; most are mixed, shaded, and blended; and vary as
+much, from different situations, as changeable silks do form different
+lights.  The man 'qui a du monde' knows all this from his own experience
+and observation: the conceited, cloistered philosopher knows nothing of
+it from his own theory; his practice is absurd and improper, and he acts
+as awkwardly as a man would dance, who had never seen others dance, nor
+learned of a dancing-master; but who had only studied the notes by which
+dances are now pricked down as well as tunes.  Observe and imitate, then,
+the address, the arts, and the manners of those 'qui ont du monde': see
+by what methods they first make, and afterward improve impressions in
+their favor.  Those impressions are much oftener owing to little causes
+than to intrinsic merit; which is less volatile, and hath not so sudden
+an effect.  Strong minds have undoubtedly an ascendant over weak ones, as
+Galigai Marachale d'Ancre very justly observed, when, to the disgrace and
+reproach of those times, she was executed for having governed Mary of
+Medicis by the arts of witchcraft and magic.  But then ascendant is to be
+gained by degrees, and by those arts only which experience and the
+knowledge of the world teaches; for few are mean enough to be bullied,
+though most are weak enough to be bubbled.  I have often seen people of
+superior, governed by people of much inferior parts, without knowing or
+even suspecting that they were so governed.  This can only happen when
+those people of inferior parts have more worldly dexterity and
+experience, than those they govern.  They see the weak and unguarded
+part, and apply to it they take it, and all the rest follows.  Would you
+gain either men or women, and every man of sense desires to gain both,
+'il faut du monde'.  You have had more opportunities than ever any man
+had, at your age, of acquiring 'ce monde'.  You have been in the best
+companies of most countries, at an age when others have hardly been in
+any company at all.  You are master of all those languages, which John
+Trott seldom speaks at all, and never well; consequently you need be a
+stranger nowhere.  This is the way, and the only way, of having
+'du monde', but if you have it not, and have still any coarse rusticity
+about you, may not one apply to you the 'rusticus expectat' of Horace?
+
+This knowledge of the world teaches us more particularly two things,
+both which are of infinite consequence, and to neither of which nature
+inclines us; I mean, the command of our temper, and of our countenance.
+A man who has no 'monde' is inflamed with anger, or annihilated with
+shame, at every disagreeable incident: the one makes him act and talk
+like a madman, the other makes him look like a fool.  But a man who has
+'du monde', seems not to understand what he cannot or ought not to
+resent.  If he makes a slip himself, he recovers it by his coolness,
+instead of plunging deeper by his confusion like a stumbling horse.
+He is firm, but gentle; and practices that most excellent maxim,
+'suaviter in modo, fortiter in re'.  The other is the 'volto sciolto a
+pensieri stretti'.  People unused to the world have babbling
+countenances; and are unskillful enough to show what they have sense
+enough not to tell.  In the course of the world, a man must very often
+put on an easy, frank countenance, upon very disagreeable occasions; he
+must seem pleased when he is very much otherwise; he must be able to
+accost and receive with smiles, those whom he would much rather meet with
+swords.  In courts he must not turn himself inside out.  All this may,
+nay must be done, without falsehood and treachery; for it must go no
+further than politeness and manners, and must stop short of assurances
+and professions of simulated friendship.  Good manners, to those one does
+not love, are no more a breach of truth, than "your humble servant" at
+the bottom of a challenge is; they are universally agreed upon and
+understood, to be things of course.  They are necessary guards of the
+decency and peace of society; they must only act defensively; and then
+not with arms poisoned by perfidy.  Truth, but not the whole truth, must
+be the invariable principle of every man, who hath either religion,
+honor, or prudence.  Those who violate it may be cunning, but they are
+not able.  Lies and perfidy are the refuge of fools and cowards.  Adieu!
+
+P. S.  I must recommend to you again, to take your leave of all your
+French acquaintance, in such a manner as may make them regret your
+departure, and wish to see and welcome you at Paris again, where you may
+possibly return before it is very long.  This must not be done in a cold,
+civil manner, but with at least seeming warmth, sentiment, and concern.
+Acknowledge the obligations you have to them for the kindness they have
+shown you during your stay at Paris: assure them that wherever you are,
+you will remember them with gratitude; wish for opportunities of giving
+them proofs of your 'plus tendre et respectueux souvenir; beg of them in
+case your good fortune should carry them to any part of the world where
+you could be of any the least use to them, that they would employ you
+without reserve.  Say all this, and a great deal more, emphatically and
+pathetically; for you know 'si vis me flere'.  This can do you no harm,
+if you never return to Paris; but if you do, as probably you may, it will
+be of infinite use to you.  Remember too, not to omit going to every
+house where you have ever been once, to take leave and recommend yourself
+to their remembrance.  The reputation which you leave at one place, where
+you have been, will circulate, and you will meet with it at twenty places
+where you are to go.  That is a labor never quite lost.
+
+This letter will show you, that the accident which happened to me
+yesterday, and of which Mr. Grevenkop gives you account, hath had no bad
+consequences.  My escape was a great one.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVI
+
+LONDON, May 11, O. S.  1752.
+
+DEAR FRIEND: I break my word by writing this letter; but I break it on
+the allowable side, by doing more than I promised.  I have pleasure in
+writing to you; and you may possibly have some profit in reading what I
+write; either of the motives were sufficient for me, both for you I
+cannot withstand.  By your last I calculate that you will leave Paris
+upon this day se'nnight; upon that supposition, this letter may still
+find you there.
+
+Colonel Perry arrived here two or three days ago, and sent me a book from
+you; Cassandra abridged.  I am sure it cannot be too much abridged.  The
+spirit of that most voluminous work, fairly extracted, may be contained
+in the smallest duodecimo; and it is most astonishing, that there ever
+could have been people idle enough to write or read such endless heaps of
+the same stuff.  It was, however, the occupation of thousands in the last
+century, and is still the private, though disavowed, amusement of young
+girls, and sentimental ladies.  A lovesick girl finds, in the captain
+with whom she is in love, all the courage and all the graces of the
+tender and accomplished Oroondates: and many a grown-up, sentimental
+lady, talks delicate Clelia to the hero, whom she would engage to eternal
+love, or laments with her that love is not eternal.
+
+          "Ah!  qu'il est doux d'aimer, si Pon aimoit toujours!
+          Mais helas!  il'n'est point d'eternelles amours."
+
+It is, however, very well to have read one of those extravagant works
+(of all which La Calprenede's are the best), because it is well to be
+able to talk, with some degree of knowledge, upon all those subjects that
+other people talk sometimes upon: and I would by no means have anything,
+that is known to others, be totally unknown to you.  It is a great
+advantage for any man, to be able to talk or to hear, neither ignorantly
+nor absurdly, upon any subject; for I have known people, who have not
+said one word, hear ignorantly and absurdly; it has appeared in their
+inattentive and unmeaning faces.
+
+This, I think, is as little likely to happen to you as to anybody of your
+age: and if you will but add a versatility and easy conformity of
+manners, I know no company in which you are likely to be de trop.
+
+This versatility is more particularly necessary for you at this time,
+now that you are going to so many different places: for, though the
+manners and customs of the several courts of Germany are in general the
+same, yet everyone has its particular characteristic; some peculiarity or
+other, which distinguishes it from the next.  This you should carefully
+attend to, and immediately adopt.  Nothing flatters people more, nor
+makes strangers so welcome, as such an occasional conformity.  I do not
+mean by this, that you should mimic the air and stiffness of every
+awkward German court; no, by no means; but I mean that you should only
+cheerfully comply, and fall in with certain local habits, such as
+ceremonies, diet, turn of conversation, etc.  People who are lately come
+from Paris, and who have been a good while there, are generally
+suspected, and especially in Germany, of having a degree of contempt for
+every other place.  Take great care that nothing of this kind appear, at
+least outwardly, in your behavior; but commend whatever deserves any
+degree of commendation, without comparing it with what you may have left,
+much better of the same kind, at Paris.  As for instance, the German
+kitchen is, without doubt, execrable, and the French delicious; however,
+never commend the French kitchen at a German table; but eat of what you
+can find tolerable there, and commend it, without comparing it to
+anything better.  I have known many British Yahoos, who though while they
+were at Paris conformed to no one French custom, as soon as they got
+anywhere else, talked of nothing but what they did, saw, and eat at
+Paris.  The freedom of the French is not to be used indiscriminately at
+all the courts in Germany, though their easiness may, and ought; but
+that, too, at some places more than others.  The courts of Manheim and
+Bonn, I take to be a little more unbarbarized than some others; that of
+Mayence, an ecclesiastical one, as well as that of Treves (neither of
+which is much frequented by foreigners), retains, I conceive, a great
+deal of the Goth and Vandal still.  There, more reserve and ceremony are
+necessary; and not a word of the French.  At Berlin, you cannot be too
+French.  Hanover, Brunswick, Cassel, etc., are of the mixed kind, 'un peu
+decrottes, mais pas assez'.
+
+Another thing, which I most earnestly recommend to you, not only in
+Germany, but in every part of the world where you may ever be, is not
+only real, but seeming attention, to whoever you speak to, or to whoever
+speaks to you.  There is nothing so brutally shocking, nor so little
+forgiven, as a seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you:
+and I have known many a man knocked down, for (in my opinion) a much
+lighter provocation, than that shocking inattention which I mean.  I have
+seen many people, who, while you are speaking to them, instead of looking
+at, and attending to you, fix their eyes upon the ceiling or some other
+part of the room, look out of the window, play with a dog, twirl their
+snuff-box, or pick their nose.  Nothing discovers a little, futile,
+frivolous mind more than this, and nothing is so offensively ill-bred;
+it is an explicit declaration on your part, that every the most trifling
+object, deserves your attention more than all that can be said by the
+person who is speaking to you.  Judge of the sentiments of hatred and
+resentment, which such treatment must excite in every breast where any
+degree of self-love dwells; and I am sure I never yet met with that
+breast where there was not a great deal: I repeat it again and again
+(for it is highly necessary for you to remember it), that sort of vanity
+and self-love is inseparable from human nature, whatever may be its rank
+or condition; even your footmen will sooner forget and forgive a beating,
+than any manifest mark of slight and contempt.  Be therefore, I beg of
+you, not only really, but seemingly and manifestly attentive to whoever
+speaks to you; nay, more, take their 'ton', and tune yourself to their
+unison.  Be serious with the serious, gay with the gay, and trifle with
+the triflers.  In assuming these various shapes, endeavor to make each of
+them seem to sit easy upon you, and even to appear to be your own natural
+one.  This is the true and useful versatility, of which a thorough
+knowledge of the world at once teaches the utility and the means of
+acquiring.
+
+I am very sure, at least I hope, that you will never make use of a silly
+expression, which is the favorite expression, and the absurd excuse of
+all fools and blockheads; I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING; a thing by no means
+either morally or physically impossible.  I CANNOT attend long together
+to the same thing, says one fool; that is, he is such a fool that he will
+not.  I remember a very awkward fellow, who did not know what to do with
+his sword, and who always took it off before dinner, saying that he could
+not possibly dine with his sword on; upon which I could not help telling
+him, that I really believed he could without any probable danger either
+to himself or others.  It is a shame and an absurdity, for any man to say
+that he cannot do all those things, which are commonly done by all the
+rest of mankind.
+
+Another thing that I must earnestly warn you against is laziness; by
+which more people have lost the fruit of their travels than, perhaps, by
+any other thing.  Pray be always in motion.  Early in the morning go and
+see things; and the rest of the day go and see people.  If you stay but a
+week at a place, and that an insignificant one, see, however, all that is
+to be seen there; know as many people, and get into as many houses, as
+ever you can.
+
+I recommend to you likewise, though probably you have thought of it
+yourself, to carry in your pocket a map of Germany, in which the
+postroads are marked; and also some short book of travels through
+Germany.  The former will help to imprint in your memory situations and
+distances; and the latter will point out many things for you to see, that
+might otherwise possibly escape you, and which, though they may be in
+themselves of little consequence, you would regret not having seen, after
+having been at the places where they were.
+
+Thus warned and provided for your journey, God speed you; 'Felix
+faustumque sit!  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVII
+
+LONDON, May 27, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I send you the inclosed original from a friend of ours,
+with my own commentaries upon the text; a text which I have so often
+paraphrased, and commented upon already, that I believe I can hardly say
+anything new upon it; but, however, I cannot give it over till I am
+better convinced, than I yet am, that you feel all the utility, the
+importance, and the necessity of it; nay, not only feel, but practice it.
+Your panegyrist allows you, what most fathers would be more than
+satisified with, in a son, and chides me for not contenting myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; but I, who have been in no one respect like
+other fathers, cannot neither, like them, content myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; because I know that it will not do your business
+in the world, while you want 'quelques couches de vernis'.  Few fathers
+care much for their sons, or, at least, most of them care more for their
+money: and, consequently, content themselves with giving them, at the
+cheapest rate, the common run of education: that is, a school till
+eighteen; the university till twenty; and a couple of years riding post
+through the several towns of Europe; impatient till their boobies come
+home to be married, and, as they call it, settled.  Of those who really
+love their sons, few know how to do it.  Some spoil them by fondling them
+while they are young, and then quarrel with them when they are grown up,
+for having been spoiled; some love them like mothers, and attend only to
+the bodily health and strength of the hopes of their family, solemnize
+his birthday, and rejoice, like the subjects of the Great Mogul, at the
+increase of his bulk; while others, minding, as they think, only
+essentials, take pains and pleasure to see in their heir, all their
+favorite weaknesses and imperfections.  I hope and believe that I have
+kept clear of all of these errors in the education which I have given
+you.  No weaknesses of my own have warped it, no parsimony has starved
+it, no rigor has deformed it.  Sound and extensive learning was the
+foundation which I meant to lay--I have laid it; but that alone, I knew,
+would by no means be sufficient: the ornamental, the showish, the
+pleasing superstructure was to be begun.  In that view, I threw you into
+the great world, entirely your own master, at an age when others either
+guzzle at the university, or are sent abroad in servitude to some
+awkward, pedantic Scotch governor.  This was to put you in the way, and
+the only way of acquiring those manners, that address, and those graces,
+which exclusively distinguish people of fashion; and without which all
+moral virtues, and all acquired learning, are of no sort of use in the
+courts and 'le beau monde': on the contrary, I am not sure if they are
+not an hindrance.  They are feared and disliked in those places, as too
+severe, if not smoothed and introduced by the graces; but of these
+graces, of this necessary 'beau vernis', it seems there are still
+'quelque couches qui manquent'.  Now, pray let me ask you, coolly and
+seriously, 'pourquoi ces couches manquent-elles'?  For you may as easily
+take them, as you may wear more or less powder in your hair, more or less
+lace upon your coat.  I can therefore account for your wanting them no
+other way in the world, than from your not being yet convinced of their
+full value.  You have heard some English bucks say, "Damn these finical
+outlandish airs, give me a manly, resolute manner.  They make a rout with
+their graces, and talk like a parcel of dancing-masters, and dress like a
+parcel of fops: one good Englishman will beat three of them."  But let
+your own observation undeceive you of these prejudices.  I will give you
+one instance only, instead of an hundred that I could give you, of a very
+shining fortune and figure, raised upon no other foundation whatsoever,
+than that of address, manners, and graces.  Between you and me (for this
+example must go no further), what do you think made our friend, Lord
+A ----e, Colonel of a regiment of guards, Governor of Virginia, Groom of
+the Stole, and Ambassador to Paris; amounting in all to sixteen or
+seventeen thousand pounds a year?  Was it his birth?  No, a Dutch
+gentleman only.  Was it his estate?  No, he had none.  Was it his
+learning, his parts, his political abilities and application?  You can
+answer these questions as easily, and as soon, as I can ask them.  What
+was it then?  Many people wondered, but I do not; for I know, and will
+tell you.  It was his air, his address, his manners, and his graces.
+He pleased, and by pleasing he became a favorite; and by becoming a
+favorite became all that he has been since.  Show me any one instance,
+where intrinsic worth and merit, unassisted by exterior accomplishments,
+have raised any man so high.  You know the Due de Richelieu, now
+'Marechal, Cordon bleu, Gentilhomme de la Chambre', twice Ambassador,
+etc.  By what means?  Not by the purity of his character, the depth of
+his knowledge, or any uncommon penetration and sagacity.  Women alone
+formed and raised him.  The Duchess of Burgundy took a fancy to him, and
+had him before he was sixteen years old; this put him in fashion among
+the beau monde: and the late Regent's oldest daughter, now Madame de
+Modene, took him next, and was near marrying him.  These early
+connections with women of the first distinction gave him those manners,
+graces, and address, which you see he has; and which, I can assure you,
+are all that he has; for, strip him of them, and he will be one of the
+poorest men in Europe.  Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior;
+it will please, it will make its way.  You want, it seems, but 'quelques
+couches'; for God's sake, lose no time in getting them; and now you have
+gone so far, complete the work.  Think of nothing else till that work is
+finished; unwearied application will bring about anything: and surely
+your application can never be so well employed as upon that object, which
+is absolutely necessary to facilitate all others.  With your knowledge
+and parts, if adorned by manners and graces, what may you not hope one
+day to be?  But without them, you will be in the situation of a man who
+should be very fleet of one leg but very lame of the other.  He could not
+run; the lame leg would check and clog the well one, which would be very
+near useless.
+
+From my original plan for your education, I meant to make you 'un homme
+universel'; what depends on me is executed, the little that remains
+undone depends singly upon you.  Do not then disappoint, when you can so
+easily gratify me.  It is your own interest which I am pressing you to
+pursue, and it is the only return that I desire for all the care and
+affection of, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVIII
+
+LONDON, May 31, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  The world is the book, and the only one to which, at
+present, I would have you apply yourself; and the thorough knowledge of
+it will be of more use to you, than all the books that ever were read.
+Lay aside the best book whenever you can go into the best company; and
+depend upon it, you change for the better.  However, as the most
+tumultuous life, whether of business or pleasure, leaves some vacant
+moments every day, in which a book is the refuge of a rational being,
+I mean now to point out to you the method of employing those moments
+(which will and ought to be but few) in the most advantageous manner.
+Throw away none of your time upon those trivial, futile books, published
+by idle or necessitous authors, for the amusement of idle and ignorant
+readers; such sort of books swarm and buzz about one every day; flap them
+away, they have no sting.  'Certum pete finem', have some one object for
+those leisure moments, and pursue that object invariably till you have
+attained it; and then take some other.  For instance, considering your
+destination, I would advise you to single out the most remarkable and
+interesting eras of modern history, and confine all your reading to that
+ERA.  If you pitch upon the Treaty of Munster (and that is the proper
+period to begin with, in the course which I am now recommending), do not
+interrupt it by dipping and deviating into other books, unrelative to it;
+but consult only the most authentic histories, letters, memoirs, and
+negotiations, relative to that great transaction; reading and comparing
+them, with all that caution and distrust which Lord Bolingbroke
+recommends to you, in a better manner, and in better words than I can.
+The next period worth your particular knowledge, is the Treaty of the
+Pyrenees: which was calculated to lay, and in effect did lay, the
+succession of the House of Bourbon to the crown of Spain.  Pursue that in
+the same manner, singling, out of the millions of volumes written upon
+that occasion, the two or three most authentic ones, and particularly
+letters, which are the best authorities in matters of negotiation.  Next
+come the Treaties of Nimeguen and Ryswick, postscripts in, a manner to
+those of Munster and the Pyrenees.  Those two transactions have had great
+light thrown upon them by the publication of many authentic and original
+letters and pieces.  The concessions made at the Treaty of Ryswick, by
+the then triumphant Lewis the Fourteenth, astonished all those who viewed
+things only superficially; but, I should think, must have been easily
+accounted for by those who knew the state of the kingdom of Spain, as
+well as of the health of its King, Charles the Second, at that time.
+The interval between the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick, and the
+breaking out of the great war in 1702, though a short, is a most
+interesting one.  Every week of it almost produced some great event.
+Two partition treaties, the death of the King of Spain, his unexpected
+will, and the acceptance of it by Lewis the Fourteenth, in violation of
+the second treaty of partition, just signed and ratified by him.  Philip
+the Fifth quietly and cheerfully received in Spain, and acknowledged as
+King of it, by most of those powers, who afterward joined in an alliance
+to dethrone him.  I cannot help making this observation upon that
+occasion:  That character has often more to do in great transactions,
+than prudence and sound policy; for Lewis the Fourteenth gratified his
+personal pride, by giving a Bourbon King to Spain, at the expense of the
+true interest of France; which would have acquired much more solid and
+permanent strength by the addition of Naples, Sicily, and Lorraine, upon
+the footing of the second partition treaty; and I think it was fortunate
+for Europe that he preferred the will.  It is true, he might hope to
+influence his Bourbon posterity in Spain; he knew too well how weak the
+ties of blood are among men, and how much weaker still they are among
+princes.  The Memoirs of Count Harrach, and of Las Torres, give a good
+deal of light into the transactions of the Court of Spain, previous to
+the death of that weak King; and the Letters of the Marachal d'Harcourt,
+then the French Ambassador in Spain, of which I have authentic copies in
+manuscript, from the year 1698 to 1701, have cleared up that whole affair
+to me.  I keep that book for you.  It appears by those letters, that the
+impudent conduct of the House of Austria, with regard to the King and
+Queen of Spain, and Madame Berlips, her favorite, together with the
+knowledge of the partition treaty, which incensed all Spain, were the
+true and only reasons of the will, in favor of the Duke of Anjou.
+Cardinal Portocarrero, nor any of the Grandees, were bribed by France,
+as was generally reported and believed at that time; which confirms
+Voltaire's anecdote upon that subject.  Then opens a new scene and a new
+century; Lewis the Fourteenth's good fortune forsakes him, till the Duke
+of Marlborough and Prince Eugene make him amends for all the mischief
+they had done him, by making the allies refuse the terms of peace offered
+by him at Gertruydenberg.  How the disadvantageous peace of Utrecht was
+afterward brought on, you have lately read; and you cannot inform
+yourself too minutely of all those circumstances, that treaty 'being the
+freshest source from whence the late transactions of Europe have flowed.
+The alterations that have since happened, whether by wars or treaties,
+are so recent, that all the written accounts are to be helped out,
+proved, or contradicted, by the oral ones of almost every informed
+person, of a certain age or rank in life.  For the facts, dates, and
+original pieces of this century, you will find them in Lamberti, till the
+year 1715, and after that time in Rousset's 'Recueil'.
+
+I do not mean that you should plod hours together in researches of this
+kind: no, you may employ your time more usefully: but I mean, that you
+should make the most of the moments you do employ, by method, and the
+pursuit of one single object at a time; nor should I call it a digression
+from that object, if when you meet with clashing and jarring pretensions
+of different princes to the same thing, you had immediately recourse to
+other books, in which those several pretensions were clearly stated; on
+the contrary, that is the only way of remembering those contested rights
+and claims: for, were a man to read 'tout de suite', Schwederus's
+'Theatrum Pretensionum', he would only be confounded by the variety, and
+remember none of them; whereas, by examining them occasionally, as they
+happen to occur, either in the course of your historical reading, or as
+they are agitated in your own times, you will retain them, by connecting
+them with those historical facts which occasioned your inquiry.  For
+example, had you read, in the course of two or three folios of
+Pretensions, those, among others, of the two Kings of England and Prussia
+to Oost Frise, it is impossible, that you should have remembered them;
+but now, that they are become the debated object at the Diet at Ratisbon,
+and the topic of all political conversations, if you consult both books
+and persons concerning them, and inform yourself thoroughly, you will
+never forget them as long as you live.  You will hear a great deal of
+them ow one side, at Hanover, and as much on the other side, afterward,
+at Berlin: hear both sides, and form your own opinion; but dispute with
+neither.
+
+Letters from foreign ministers to their courts, and from their courts to
+them, are, if genuine, the best and most authentic records you can read,
+as far as they go.  Cardinal d'Ossat's, President Jeanin's, D'Estrade's,
+Sir William Temple's, will not only inform your mind, but form your
+style; which, in letters of business, should be very plain and simple,
+but, at the same time, exceedingly clear, correct, and pure.
+
+All that I have said may be reduced to these two or three plain
+principles:  1st, That you should now read very little, but converse a
+great deal;  2d, To read no useless, unprofitable books; and 3d, That
+those which you do read, may all tend to a certain object, and be
+relative to, and consequential of each other.  In this method, half an
+hour's reading every day will carry you a great way.  People seldom know
+how to employ their time to the best advantage till they have too little
+left to employ; but if, at your age, in the beginning of life, people
+would but consider the value of it, and put every moment to interest,
+it is incredible what an additional fund of knowledge and pleasure such
+an economy would bring in.  I look back with regret upon that large sum
+of time, which, in my youth, I lavished away idly, without either
+improvement or pleasure.  Take warning betimes, and enjoy every moment;
+pleasures do not commonly last so long as life, and therefore should not
+be neglected; and the longest life is too short for knowledge,
+consequently every moment is precious.
+
+I am surprised at having received no letter from you since you left
+Paris.  I still direct this to Strasburgh, as I did my two last.  I shall
+direct my next to the post house at Mayence, unless I receive, in the
+meantime, contrary instructions from you.  Adieu.  Remember les
+attentions: they must be your passports into good company.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIX
+
+LONDON, June, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  Very few celebrated negotiators have been eminent for
+their learning.  The most famous French negotiators (and I know no nation
+that can boast of abler) have been military men, as Monsieur d'Harcourt,
+Comte d'Estrades, Marechal d'Uxelles, and others.  The late Duke of
+Marlborough, who was at least as able a negotiator as a general, was
+exceedingly ignorant of books, but extremely knowing in men, whereas the
+learned Grotius appeared, both in Sweden and in France, to be a very
+bungling minister.  This is, in my opinion, very easily to be accounted
+for.  A man of very deep learning must have employed the greatest part of
+his time in books; and a skillful negotiator must necessarily have
+employed much the greater part of his time with man.  The sound scholar,
+when dragged out of his dusty closet into business, acts by book, and
+deals with men as he has read of them; not as he has known them by
+experience: he follows Spartan and Roman precedents, in what he falsely
+imagines to be similar cases; whereas two cases never were, since the
+beginning of the world, exactly alike; and he would be capable, where he
+thought spirit and vigor necessary, to draw a circle round the persons he
+treated with, and to insist upon a categorical answer before they went
+out of it, because he had read, in the Roman history, that once upon a
+time some Roman ambassador, did so.  No; a certain degree of learning may
+help, but no degree of learning will ever make a skillful minister
+whereas a great knowledge of the world, of the characters, passions, and
+habits of mankind, has, without one grain of learning, made a thousand.
+Military men have seldom much knowledge of books; their education does
+not allow it; but what makes great amends for that want is, that they
+generally know a great deal of the world; they are thrown into it young;
+they see variety of nations and characters; and they soon find, that to
+rise, which is the aim of them all, they must first please: these
+concurrent causes almost always give them manners and politeness.  In
+consequence of which, you see them always distinguished at courts, and
+favored by the women.  I could wish that you had been of an age to have
+made a campaign or two as a volunteer.  It would have given you an
+attention, a versatility, and an alertness; all which I doubt you want;
+and a great want it is.
+
+A foreign minister has not great business to transact every day; so that
+his knowledge and his skill in negotiating are not frequently put to the
+trial; but he has that to do every day, and every hour of the day, which
+is necessary to prepare and smooth the way for his business; that is, to
+insinuate himself by his manners, not only into the houses, but into the
+confidence of the most considerable people of that place; to contribute
+to their pleasures, and insensibly not to be looked upon as a stranger
+himself.  A skillful minister may very possibly be doing his master's
+business full as well, in doing the honors gracefully and genteelly of a
+ball or a supper, as if he were laboriously writing a protocol in his
+closet.  The Marechal d'Harcourt, by his magnificence, his manners, and
+his politeness, blunted the edge of the long aversion which the Spaniards
+had to the French.  The court and the grandees were personally fond, of
+him, and frequented his house; and were at least insensibly brought to
+prefer a French to a German yoke; which I am convinced would never have
+happened, had Comte d'Harrach been Marechal d'Harcourt, or the Marechal
+d'Harcourt Comte d'Harrach.  The Comte d'Estrades had, by 'ses manieres
+polies et liantes', formed such connections, and gained such an interest
+in the republic of the United Provinces, that Monsieur De Witt, the then
+Pensionary of Holland, often applied to him to use his interest with his
+friend, both in Holland and the other provinces, whenever he (De Witt)
+had a difficult point which he wanted to carry.  This was certainly not
+brought about by his knowledge of books, but of men: dancing, fencing,
+and riding, with a little military architecture, were no doubt the top of
+his education; and if he knew that 'collegium' in Latin signified college
+in French, it must have been by accident.  But he knew what was more
+useful: from thirteen years old he had been in the great world, and had
+read men and women so long, that he could then read them at sight.
+
+Talking the other day, upon this and other subjects, all relative to you,
+with one who knows and loves you very well, and expressing my anxiety and
+wishes that your exterior accomplishments, as a man of fashion, might
+adorn, and at least equal your intrinsic merit as a man of sense and
+honor, the person interrupted me, and said: Set your heart at rest; that
+never will or can happen.  It is not in character; that gentleness, that
+'douceur', those attentions which you wish him to have, are not in his
+nature; and do what you will, nay, let him do what he will, he can never
+acquire them.  Nature may be a little disguised and altered by care; but
+can by no means whatsoever be totally forced and changed.  I denied this
+principle to a certain degree; but admitting, however, that in many
+respects our nature was not to be changed; and asserting, at the same
+time, that in others it might by care be very much altered and improved,
+so as in truth to be changed; that I took those exterior accomplishments,
+which we had been talking of, to be mere modes, and absolutely depending
+upon the will, and upon custom; and that, therefore, I was convinced that
+your good sense, which must show you the importance of them, would make
+you resolve at all events to acquire them, even in spite of nature, if
+nature be in the case.  Our dispute, which lasted a great while, ended as
+Voltaire observes that disputes in England are apt to do, in a wager of
+fifty guineas; which I myself am to decide upon honor, and of which this
+is a faithful copy.  If you think I shall win it, you may go my halves if
+you please; declare yourself in time.  This I declare, that I would most
+cheerfully give a thousand guineas to win those fifty; you may secure
+them me if you please.
+
+I grow very impatient for your future letters from the several courts of
+Manheim, Bonn, Hanover, etc.  And I desire that your letters may be to
+me, what I do not desire they should be to anybody else, I mean full of
+yourself.  Let the egotism, a figure which upon all other occasions I
+detest, be your only one to me.  Trifles that concern you are not trifles
+to me; and my knowledge of them may possibly be useful to you.  Adieu.
+'Les graces, les graces, les graces'.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXX
+
+LONDON, June 23, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I direct this letter to Mayence, where I think it is
+likely to meet you, supposing, as I do, that you stayed three weeks at
+Manheim, after the date of your last from thence; but should you have
+stayed longer at Manheim, to which I have no objection, it will wait for
+you at Mayence.  Mayence will not, I believe, have charms to detain you
+above a week; so that I reckon you will be at Bonn at the end of July,
+N. S.  There you may stay just as little or as long as you please, and
+then proceed to Hanover.
+
+I had a letter by the last post from a relation of mine at Hanover,
+Mr. Stanhope Aspinwall, who is in the Duke of Newcastle's office, and has
+lately been appointed the King's Minister to the Dey of Algiers; a post
+which, notwithstanding your views of foreign affairs, I believe you do
+not envy him.  He tells me in that letter, there are very good lodgings
+to be had at one Mrs. Meyers's, the next door to the Duke of Newcastle's,
+which he offers to take for you; I have desired him to do it, in case
+Mrs. Meyers will wait for you till the latter end of August, or the
+beginning of September, N. S., which I suppose is about the time when you
+will be at Hanover.  You will find this Mr. Aspinwall of great use to you
+there.  He will exert himself to the utmost to serve you; he has been
+twice or thrice at Hanover, and knows all the allures there: he is very
+well with the Duke of Newcastle, and will puff you there.  Moreover, if
+you have a mind to work there as a volunteer in that bureau, he will
+assist and inform you.  In short, he is a very honest, sensible, and
+informed man; 'mais me paye pas beaucoup de sa figure; il abuse meme du
+privilege qu'ont les hommes d'etre laids; et il ne sera pas en reste avec
+les lions et les leopards qu'il trouvera a Alger'.
+
+As you are entirely master of the time when you will leave Bonn and go to
+Hanover, so are you master to stay at Hanover as long as you please, and
+to go from thence where you please; provided that at Christmas you are at
+Berlin, for the beginning of the Carnival: this I would not have you say
+at Hanover, considering the mutual disposition of those two courts; but
+when anybody asks you where you are to go next, say that you propose
+rambling in Germany, at Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the next spring;
+when you intend to be in Flanders, in your way to England.  I take
+Berlin, at this time, to be the politest, the most shining, and the most
+useful court in Europe for a young fellow to be at: and therefore I would
+upon no account not have you there, for at least a couple of months of
+the Carnival.  If you are as well received, and pass your time as well at
+Bonn as I believe you will, I would advise you to remain there till about
+the 20th of August, N. S., in four days you will be at Hanover.  As for
+your stay there, it must be shorter or longer, according to certain
+circumstances WHICH YOU KNOW OF; supposing them, at the best, then, stay
+within a week or ten days of the King's return to England; but supposing
+them at the worst, your stay must not be too short, for reasons which you
+also know; no resentment must either appear or be suspected; therefore,
+at worst, I think you must remain there a month, and at best, as long as
+ever you please.  But I am convinced that all will turn out very well for
+you there.  Everybody is engaged or inclined to help you; the ministers,
+English and German, the principal ladies, and most of the foreign
+ministers; so that I may apply to you, 'nullum numen abest, si sit
+prudentia'.  Du Perron will, I believe, be back there from Turin much
+about the time you get there: pray be very attentive to him, and connect
+yourself with him as much as ever you can; for, besides that he is a very
+pretty and well-informed man, he is very much in fashion at Hanover, is
+personally very well with the King and certain ladies; so that a visible
+intimacy and connection with him will do you credit and service.  Pray
+cultivate Monsieur Hop, the Dutch minister, who has always been very much
+my friend, and will, I am sure, be yours; his manners, it is true, are
+not very engaging; he is rough, but he is sincere.  It is very useful
+sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid, as it is right to
+see very often those which one ought to imitate, and my friend Hop's
+manners will frequently point out to you, what yours ought to be by the
+rule of contraries.
+
+Congreve points out a sort of critics, to whom he says that we are doubly
+obliged:--
+
+          "Rules for good writing they with pains indite,
+          Then show us what is bad, by what they write."
+
+It is certain that Monsieur Hop, with the best heart in the world, and a
+thousand good qualities, has a thousand enemies, and hardly a friend;
+simply from the roughness of his manners.
+
+N. B.  I heartily wish you could have stayed long enough at Manheim to
+have been seriously and desperately in love with Madame de Taxis; who,
+I suppose, is a proud, insolent, fine lady, and who would consequently
+have expected attentions little short of adoration: nothing would do you
+more good than such a passion; and I live in hopes that somebody or other
+will be able to excite such an one in you; your hour may not yet be come,
+but it will come.  Love has not been unaptly compared to the smallpox
+which most people have sooner or later.  Iphigenia had a wonderful effect
+upon Cimon; I wish some Hanover Iphigenia may try her skill upon you.
+
+I recommend to you again, though I have already done it twice or thrice,
+to speak German, even affectedly, while you are at Hanover; which will
+show that you prefer that language, and be of more use to you there with
+SOMEBODY, than you can imagine.  When you carry my letters to Monsieur
+Munchausen and Monsieur Schwiegeldt, address yourself to them in German;
+the latter speaks French very well, but the former extremely ill.  Show
+great attention to Madame, Munchausen's daughter, who is a great
+favorite; those little trifles please mothers, and sometimes fathers,
+extremely.  Observe, and you will find, almost universally, that the
+least things either please or displease most; because they necessarily
+imply, either a very strong desire of obliging, or an unpardonable
+indifference about it.  I will give you a ridiculous instance enough of
+this truth, from my own experience.  When I was Ambassador the first time
+in Holland, Comte de Wassenaer and his wife, people of the first rank and
+consideration, had a little boy of about three years old, of whom they
+were exceedingly fond; in order to make my court to them, I was so too,
+and used to take the child often upon my lap, and play with him.  One day
+his nose was very dirty, upon which I took out my handkerchief and wiped
+it for him; this raised a loud laugh, and they called me a very, handy
+nurse; but the father and mother were so pleased with it, that to this
+day it is an anecdote in the family, and I never receive a letter from
+Comte Wassenaer, but he makes me the compliments 'du morveux gue j'ai
+mouche autrefois'; who, by the way, I am assured, is now the prettiest
+young fellow in Holland.  Where one would gain people, remember that
+nothing is little.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXI
+
+LONDON, June 26, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have reason to fear, from your M last letter of the
+18th, N. S., from Manheim, that all, or at least most of my letters to
+you, since you left Paris, have miscarried; I think it requisite, at all
+events, to repeat in this the necessary parts of those several letters,
+as far as they relate to your future motions.
+
+I suppose that this will either find you, or be but a few days before you
+at Bonn, where it is directed; and I suppose too, that you have fixed
+your time for going from thence to Hanover.  If things TURN OUT WELL AT
+HANOVER, as in my opinion they will, 'Chi sta bene non si muova', stay
+there till a week or ten days before the King sets out for England; but,
+should THEY TURN OUT ILL, which I cannot imagine, stay, however, a month,
+that your departure may not seem a step of discontent or peevishness; the
+very suspicion of which is by all means to be avoided.  Whenever you
+leave Hanover, be it sooner or be it later, where would you go?  'Lei
+Padrone', and I give you your choice: would you pass the months of
+November and December at Brunswick, Cassel, etc.?  Would you choose
+to go for a couple of months to Ratisbon, where you would be very
+well recommended to, and treated by the King's Electoral Minister, the
+Baron de Behr, and where you would improve your 'Jus publicum'?  or would
+you rather go directly to Berlin, and stay there till the end of the
+Carnival?  Two or three months at Berlin are, considering all
+circumstances, necessary for you; and the Carnival months are the best;
+'pour le reste decidez en dernier ressort, et sans appel comme d'abus'.
+Let me know your decree, when you have formed it.  Your good or ill
+success at Hanover will have a very great influence upon your subsequent
+character, figure, and fortune in the world; therefore I confess that I
+am more anxious about it, than ever bride was on her wedding night, when
+wishes, hopes, fears, and doubts, tumultuously agitate, please, and
+terrify her.  It is your first crisis: the character which you will
+acquire there will, more or less, be that which will abide by you for the
+rest of your life.  You will be tried and judged there, not as a boy, but
+as a man; and from that moment there is no appeal for character; it is
+fixed.  To form that character advantageously, you have three objects
+particularly to attend to: your character as a man of morality, truth,
+and honor; your knowledge in the objects of your destination, as a man of
+business; and your engaging and insinuating address, air and manners, as
+a courtier; the sure and only steps to favor.
+
+Merit at courts, without favor, will do little or nothing; favor, without
+merit, will do a good deal; but favor and merit together will do
+everything.  Favor at courts depends upon so many, such trifling, such
+unexpected, and unforeseen events, that a good courtier must attend to
+every circumstance, however little, that either does, or can happen; he
+must have no absences, no DISTRACTIONS; he must not say, "I did not mind
+it; who would have thought it?"  He ought both to have minded, and to
+have thought it.  A chamber-maid has sometimes caused revolutions in
+courts which have produced others in kingdoms.  Were I to make my way to
+favor in a court, I would neither willfully, nor by negligence, give a
+dog or a cat there reason to dislike me.  Two 'pies grieches', well
+instructed, you know, made the fortune of De Luines with Lewis XIII.
+Every step a man makes at court requires as much attention and
+circumspection, as those which were made formerly between hot plowshares,
+in the Ordeal, or fiery trials; which, in those times of ignorance and
+superstition, were looked upon as demonstrations of innocence or guilt.
+Direct your principal battery, at Hanover, at the D of N 's: there are
+many very weak places in that citadel; where, with a very little skill,
+you cannot fail making a great impression.  Ask for his orders in
+everything you do; talk Austrian and Anti-gallican to him; and, as soon
+as you are upon a foot of talking easily to him, tell him 'en badinant',
+that his skill and success in thirty or forty elections in England leave
+you no reason to doubt of his carrying his election for Frankfort; and
+that you look upon the Archduke as his Member for the Empire.  In his
+hours of festivity and compotation, drop that he puts you in mind of what
+Sir William Temple says of the Pensionary De Witt,--who at that time
+governed half Europe,--that he appeared at balls, assemblies, and public
+places, as if he had nothing else to do or to think of.  When he talks to
+you upon foreign affairs, which he will often do, say that you really
+cannot presume to give any opinion of your own upon those matters,
+looking upon yourself at present only as a postscript to the corps
+diplomatique; but that, if his Grace will be pleased to make you an
+additional volume to it, though but in duodecimo, you will do your best
+that he shall neither be ashamed nor repent of it.  He loves to have a
+favorite, and to open himself to that favorite.  He has now no such
+person with him; the place is vacant, and if you have dexterity you may
+fill it.  In one thing alone do not humor him; I mean drinking; for, as I
+believe, you have never yet been drunk, you do not yourself know how you
+can bear your wine, and what a little too much of it may make you do or
+say; you might possibly kick down all you had done before.
+
+You do not love gaming, and I thank God for it; but at Hanover I would
+have you show, and profess a particular dislike to play, so as to decline
+it upon all occasions, unless where one may be wanted to make a fourth at
+whist or quadrille; and then take care to declare it the result of your
+complaisance, not of your inclinations.  Without such precaution you may
+very possibly be suspected, though unjustly, of loving play, upon account
+of my former passion for it; and such a suspicion would do you a great
+deal of hurt, especially with the King, who detests gaming.  I must end
+this abruptly.  God bless you!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXII
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Versatility as a courtier may be almost decisive to you
+hereafter; that is, it may conduce to, or retard your preferment in your
+own destination.  The first reputation goes a great way; and if you fix a
+good one at Hanover, it will operate also to your advantage in England.
+The trade of a courtier is as much a trade as that of a shoemaker; and he
+who applies himself the most, will work the best: the only difficulty is
+to distinguish (what I am sure you have sense enough to distinguish)
+between the right and proper qualifications and their kindred faults; for
+there is but a line between every perfection and its neighboring
+imperfection.  As, for example, you must be extremely well-bred and
+polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness of ceremony.  You
+must be respectful and assenting, but without being servile and abject.
+You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, without being
+costive.  You must keep up dignity of character, without the least pride
+of birth or rank.  You must be gay within all the bounds of decency and
+respect; and grave without the affectation of wisdom, which does not
+become the age of twenty.  You must be essentially secret, without being
+dark and mysterious.  You must be firm, and even bold, but with great
+seeming modesty.
+
+With these qualifications, which, by the way, are all in your own power,
+I will answer for your success, not only at Hanover, but at any court in
+Europe.  And I am not sorry that you begin your apprenticeship at a
+little one; because you must be more circumspect, and more upon your
+guard there, than at a great one, where every little thing is not known
+nor reported.
+
+When you write to me, or to anybody else, from thence, take care that
+your letters contain commendations of all that you see and hear there;
+for they will most of them be opened and read; but, as frequent couriers
+will come from Hanover to England, you may sometimes write to me without
+reserve; and put your letters into a very little box, which you may send
+safely by some of them.
+
+I must not omit mentioning to you, that at the Duke of Newcastle's table,
+where you will frequently dine, there is a great deal of drinking; be
+upon your guard against it, both upon account of your health, which would
+not bear it, and of the consequences of your being flustered and heated
+with wine: it might engage you in scrapes and frolics, which the King
+(who is a very sober man himself) detests.  On the other hand, you should
+not seem too grave and too wise to drink like the rest of the company;
+therefore use art: mix water with your wine; do not drink all that is in
+the glass; and if detected, and pressed to drink more do not cry out
+sobriety; but say that you have lately been out of order, that you are
+subject to inflammatory complaints, and that you must beg to be excused
+for the present.  A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to
+be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really be so or not.
+
+During your stay at Hanover I would have you make two or three excursions
+to parts of that Electorate: the Hartz, where the silver mines are;
+Gottingen, for the University; Stade, for what commerce there is.  You
+should also go to Zell.  In short, see everything that is to be seen
+there, and inform yourself well of all the details of that country.  Go
+to Hamburg for three or four days, and know the constitution of that
+little Hanseatic Republic, and inform yourself well of the nature of the
+King of Denmark's pretensions to it.
+
+If all things turn out right for you at Hanover, I would have you make it
+your head-quarters, till about a week or ten days before the King leaves
+it; and then go to Brunswick, which, though a little, is a very polite,
+pretty court.  You may stay there a fortnight or three weeks, as you like
+it; and from thence go to Cassel, and stay there till you go to Berlin;
+where I would have you be by Christmas.  At Hanover you will very easily
+get good letters of recommendation to Brunswick and to Cassel.  You do
+not want any to Berlin; however, I will send you one for Voltaire.
+'A propos' of Berlin, be very reserved and cautious while at Hanover, as
+to that King and that country; both which are detested, because feared by
+everybody there, from his Majesty down to the meanest peasant; but,
+however, they both extremely deserve your utmost attention and you will
+see the arts and wisdom of government better in that country, now, than
+in any other in Europe.  You may stay three months at Berlin, if you like
+it, as I believe you will; and after that I hope we shall meet there
+again.
+
+Of all the places in the world (I repeat it once more), establish a good
+reputation at Hanover, 'et faites vous valoir la, autant qu'il est
+possible, par le brillant, les manieres, et les graces'.  Indeed it is of
+the greatest importance to you, and will make any future application to
+the King in your behalf very easy.  He is more taken by those little
+things, than any man, or even woman, that I ever knew in my life: and I
+do not wonder at him.  In short, exert to the utmost all your means and
+powers to please: and remember that he who pleases the most, will rise
+the soonest and the highest.  Try but once the pleasure and advantage of
+pleasing, and I will answer that you will never more neglect the means.
+
+I send you herewith two letters, the one to Monsieur Munchausen, the
+other to Monsieur Schweigeldt, an old friend of mine, and a very sensible
+knowing man.  They will both I am sure, be extremely civil to you, and
+carry you into the best company; and then it is your business to please
+that company.  I never was more anxious about any period of your life,
+than I am about this, your Hanover expedition, it being of so much more
+consequence to you than any other.  If I hear from thence, that you are
+liked and loved there, for your air, your manners, and address, as well
+as esteemed for your knowledge, I shall be the happiest man in the world.
+Judge then what I must be, if it happens otherwise.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIII
+
+LONDON, July 21, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: By my calculation this letter may probably arrive at
+Hanover three or four days before you; and as I am sure of its arriving
+there safe, it shall contain the most material points that I have
+mentioned in my several letters to you since you left Paris, as if you
+had received but few of them, which may very probably be the case.
+
+As for your stay at Hanover, it must not IN ALL EVENTS be less than a
+month; but if things turn out to Your SATISFACTION, it may be just as
+long as you please.  From thence you may go wherever you like; for I have
+so good an opinion of your judgment, that I think you will combine and
+weigh all circumstances, and choose the properest places.  Would you
+saunter at some of the small courts, as Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the
+Carnival at Berlin?  You are master.  Would you pass a couple of months
+at Ratisbon, which might not be ill employed?  'A la bonne heure'.  Would
+you go to Brussels, stay a month or two there with Dayrolles, and from
+thence to Mr. Yorke, at The Hague?  With all my heart.  Or, lastly, would
+you go to Copenhagen and Stockholm?  'Lei e anche Padrone': choose
+entirely for yourself, without any further instructions from me; only let
+me know your determination in time, that I may settle your credit, in
+case you go to places where at present you have none.  Your object should
+be to see the 'mores multorum hominum et urbes'; begin and end it where
+you please.
+
+By what you have already seen of the German courts, I am sure you must
+have observed that they are much more nice and scrupulous, in points of
+ceremony, respect and attention, than the greater courts of France and
+England.  You will, therefore, I am persuaded, attend to the minutest
+circumstances of address and behavior, particularly during your stay at
+Hanover, which (I will repeat it, though I have said it often to you
+already) is the most important preliminary period of your whole life.
+Nobody in the world is more exact, in all points of good-breeding, than
+the King; and it is the part of every man's character, that he informs
+himself of first.  The least negligence, or the slightest inattention,
+reported to him, may do you infinite prejudice: as their contraries would
+service.
+
+If Lord Albemarle (as I believe he did) trusted you with the secret
+affairs of his department, let the Duke of Newcastle know that he did so;
+which will be an inducement to him to trust you too, and possibly to
+employ you in affairs of consequence.  Tell him that, though you are
+young, you know the importance of secrecy in business, and can keep a
+secret; that I have always inculcated this doctrine into you, and have,
+moreover, strictly forbidden you ever to communicate, even to me, any
+matters of a secret nature, which you may happen to be trusted with in
+the course of business.
+
+As for business, I think I can trust you to yourself; but I wish I could
+say as much for you with regard to those exterior accomplishments,
+which are absolutely necessary to smooth and shorten the way to it.  Half
+the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of
+those with whom one is to transact it.  Air and address must begin,
+manners and attention must finish that work.  I will let you into one
+secret concerning myself; which is, that I owe much more of the success
+which I have had in the world to my manners, than to any superior degree
+of merit or knowledge.  I desired to please, and I neglected none of the
+means.  This, I can assure you, without any false modesty, is the truth:
+You have more knowledge than I had at your age, but then I had much more
+attention and good-breeding than you.  Call it vanity, if you please, and
+possibly it was so; but my great object was to make every man I met with
+like me, and every woman love me.  I often succeeded; but why?  By taking
+great pains, for otherwise I never should: my figure by no means entitled
+me to it; and I had certainly an up-hill game; whereas your countenance
+would help you, if you made the most of it, and proscribed for ever the
+guilty, gloomy, and funereal part of it.  Dress, address, and air, would
+become your best countenance, and make your little figure pass very well.
+
+If you have time to read at Hanover, pray let the books you read be all
+relative to the history and constitution of that country; which I would
+have you know as correctly as any Hanoverian in the whole Electorate.
+Inform yourself of the powers of the States, and of the nature and extent
+of the several judicatures; the particular articles of trade and commerce
+of Bremen, Harburg, and Stade; the details and value of the mines of the
+Hartz.  Two or three short books will give you the outlines of all these
+things; and conversation turned upon those subjects will do the rest, and
+better than books can.
+
+Remember of all things to speak nothing but German there; make it (to
+express myself pedantically) your vernacular language; seem to prefer it
+to any other; call it your favorite language, and study to speak it with
+purity and elegance, if it has any.  This will not only make you perfect
+in it, but will please, and make your court there better than anything.
+A propos of languages: Did you improve your Italian while you were at
+Paris, or did you forget it?  Had you a master there?  and what Italian
+books did you read with him?  If you are master of Italian, I would have
+you afterward, by the first convenient opportunity, learn Spanish, which
+you may very easily, and in a very little time do; you will then, in the
+course of your foreign business, never be obliged to employ, pay, or
+trust any translator for any European language.
+
+As I love to provide eventually for everything that can possibly happen,
+I will suppose the worst that can befall you at Hanover.  In that case I
+would have you go immediately to the Duke of Newcastle, and beg his
+Grace's advice, or rather orders, what you should do; adding, that his
+advice will always be orders to you.  You will tell him that though you
+are exceedingly mortified, you are much less so than you should otherwise
+be, from the consideration that being utterly unknown to his M-----,
+his objection could not be personal to you, and could only arise from
+circumstances which it was not in your power either to prevent or remedy;
+that if his Grace thought that your continuing any longer there would be
+disagreeable, you entreated him to tell you so; and that upon the whole,
+you referred yourself entirely to him, whose orders you should most
+scrupulously obey.  But this precaution, I dare say, is 'ex abundanti',
+and will prove unnecessary; however, it is always right to be prepared
+for all events, the worst as well as the best; it prevents hurry and
+surprise, two dangerous, situations in business; for I know no one thing
+so useful, so necessary in all business, as great coolness, steadiness,
+and sangfroid: they give an incredible advantage over whoever one has to
+do with.
+
+I have received your letter of the 15th, N.  S., from Mayence, where I
+find that you have diverted yourself much better than I expected.  I am
+very well acquainted with Comte Cobentzel's character, both of parts and
+business.  He could have given you letters to Bonn, having formerly
+resided there himself.  You will not be so agreeably ELECTRIFIED where
+this letter will find you, as you were both at Manheim and Mayence; but
+I hope you may meet with a second German Mrs. F-----d, who may make you
+forget the two former ones, and practice your German.  Such transient
+passions will do you no harm; but, on the contrary, a great deal of good;
+they will refine your manners and quicken your attention; they give a
+young fellow 'du brillant', and bring him into fashion; which last is a
+great article at setting out in the world.
+
+I have wrote, about a month ago, to Lord Albemarle, to thank him for all
+his kindnesses to you; but pray have you done as much?  Those are the
+necessary attentions which should never be omitted, especially in the
+beginning of life, when a character is to be established.
+
+That ready wit; which you so partially allow me, and so justly Sir
+Charles Williams, may create many admirers; but, take my word for it,
+it makes few friends.  It shines and dazzles like the noon-day sun, but,
+like that too, is very apt to scorch; and therefore is always feared.
+The milder morning and evening light and heat of that planet soothe and
+calm our minds.  Good sense, complaisance, gentleness of manners,
+attentions and graces are the only things that truly engage, and durably
+keep the heart at long run.  Never seek for wit; if it presents itself,
+well and good; but, even in that case, let your judgment interpose; and
+take care that it be not at the expense of anybody.  Pope says very
+truly:
+
+          "There are whom heaven has blest with store of wit;
+          Yet want as much again to govern it."
+
+And in another place, I doubt with too much truth:
+
+          "For wit and judgment ever are at strife
+          Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife."
+
+The Germans are very seldom troubled with any extraordinary ebullitions
+or effervescenses of wit, and it is not prudent to try it upon them;
+whoever does, 'ofendet solido'.
+
+Remember to write me very minute accounts of all your transactions at
+Hanover, for they excite both my impatience and anxiety.  Adieu!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIV
+
+LONDON, August 4, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I am extremely concerned at the return of your old
+asthmatic complaint, of which your letter from Cassel of the 28th July,
+N. S., in forms me.  I believe it is chiefly owing to your own
+negligence; for, notwithstanding the season of the year, and the heat and
+agitation of traveling, I dare swear you have not taken one single dose
+of gentle, cooling physic, since that which I made you take at Bath.
+I hope you are now better, and in better hands.  I mean in Dr. Hugo's at
+Hanover: he is certainly a very skillful physician, and therefore I
+desire that you will inform him most minutely of your own case, from your
+first attack in Carniola, to this last at Marpurgh; and not only follow
+his prescriptions exactly at present, but take his directions, with
+regard to the regimen that he would have you observe to prevent the
+returns of this complaint; and, in case of any returns, the immediate
+applications, whether external or internal, that he would have you make
+use of.  Consider, it is very worth your while to submit at present to
+any course of medicine or diet, to any restraint or confinement, for a
+time, in order to get rid, once for all, of so troublesome and painful a
+distemper; the returns of which would equally break in upon your business
+or your pleasures.  Notwithstanding all this, which is plain sense and
+reason, I much fear that, as soon as ever you are got out of your present
+distress, you will take no preventive care, by a proper course of
+medicines and regimen; but, like most people of your age, think it
+impossible that you ever should be ill again.  However, if you will not
+be wise for your own sake, I desire you will be so for mine, and most
+scrupulously observe Dr. Hugo's present and future directions.
+
+Hanover, where I take it for granted you are, is at present the seat and
+centre of foreign negotiations; there are ministers from almost every
+court in Europe; and you have a fine opportunity of displaying with
+modesty, in conversation, your knowledge of the matters now in agitation.
+The chief I take to be the Election of the King of the Romans, which,
+though I despair of, heartily wish were brought about for two reasons.
+The first is, that I think it may prevent a war upon the death of the
+present Emperor, who, though young and healthy, may possibly die, as
+young and healthy people often do.  The other is, the very reason that
+makes some powers oppose it, and others dislike it, who do not openly
+oppose it; I mean, that it may tend to make the imperial dignity
+hereditary in the House of Austria; which I heartily wish, together with
+a very great increase of power in the empire: till when, Germany will
+never be anything near a match for France.  Cardinal Richelieu showed his
+superior abilities in nothing more, than in thinking no pains or expense
+too great to break the power of the House of Austria in the empire.
+Ferdinand had certainly made himself absolute, and the empire
+consequently formidable to France, if that Cardinal had not piously
+adopted the Protestant cause, and put the empire, by the treaty of
+Westphalia, in pretty much the same disjointed situation in which France
+itself was before Lewis the Eleventh; when princes of the blood, at the
+head of provinces, and Dukes of Brittany, etc., always opposed, and often
+gave laws to the crown.  Nothing but making the empire hereditary in the
+House of Austria, can give it that strength and efficiency, which I wish
+it had, for the sake of the balance of power.  For, while the princes of
+the empire are so independent of the emperor, so divided among
+themselves, and so open to the corruption of the best bidders, it is
+ridiculous to expect that Germany ever will, or can act as a compact and
+well-united body against France.  But as this notion of mine would as
+little please SOME OF OUR FRIENDS, as many of our enemies, I would not
+advise you, though you should be of the same opinion, to declare yourself
+too freely so.  Could the Elector Palatine be satisfied, which I confess
+will be difficult, considering the nature of his pretensions, the
+tenaciousness and haughtiness of the court of Vienna (and our inability
+to do, as we have too often done, their work for them); I say, if the
+Elector Palatine could be engaged to give his vote, I should think it
+would be right to proceed to the election with a clear majority of five
+votes; and leave the King of Prussia and the Elector of Cologne, to
+protest and remonstrate as much as ever they please.  The former is too
+wise, and the latter too weak in every respect, to act in consequence of
+these protests.  The distracted situation of France, with its
+ecclesiastical and parliamentary quarrels, not to mention the illness and
+possibly the death of the Dauphin, will make the King of Prussia, who is
+certainly no Frenchman in his heart, very cautious how he acts as one.
+The Elector of Saxony will be influenced by the King of Poland, who must
+be determined by Russia, considering his views upon Poland, which, by the
+by, I hope he will never obtain; I mean, as to making that crown
+hereditary in his family.  As for his sons having it by the precarious
+tenure of election, by which his father now holds it, 'a la bonne heure'.
+But, should Poland have a good government under hereditary kings, there
+would be a new devil raised in Europe, that I do not know who could lay.
+I am sure I would not raise him, though on my own side for the present.
+
+I do not know how I came to trouble my head so much about politics today,
+which has been so very free from them for some years: I suppose it was
+because I knew that I was writing to the most consummate politician of
+this, and his age.  If I err, you will set me right; 'si quid novisti
+rectius istis, candidus imperti', etc.
+
+I am excessively impatient for your next letter, which I expect by the
+first post from Hanover, to remove my anxiety, as I hope it will, not
+only with regard to your health, but likewise to OTHER THINGS; in the
+meantime in the language of a pedant, but with the tenderness of a
+parent, 'jubeo te bene valere'.
+
+Lady Chesterfield makes you many compliments, and is much concerned at
+your indisposition.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXV
+
+TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE, NOW STAYING AT BERLIN.
+
+LONDON, August 27, O. S.  1752.
+
+SIR:  As a most convincing proof how infinitely I am interested in
+everything which concerns Mr. Stanhope, who will have the honor of
+presenting you this letter, I take the liberty of introducing him to you.
+He has read a great deal, he has seen a great deal; whether or not he has
+made a proper use of that knowledge, is what I do not know: he is only
+twenty years of age.  He was at Berlin some years ago, and therefore he
+returns thither; for at present people are attracted toward the north by
+the same motives which but lately drew them to the south.
+
+Permit me, Sir, to return you thanks for the pleasure and instruction I
+have received from your 'History of Lewis XIV'.  I have as yet read it
+but four times, because I wish to forget it a little before I read it a
+fifth; but I find that impossible: I shall therefore only wait till you
+give us the augmentation which you promised; let me entreat you not to
+defer it long.  I thought myself pretty conversant in the history of the
+reign of Lewis XIV., by means of those innumerable histories, memoirs,
+anecdotes, etc., which I had read relative to that period of time.  You
+have convinced me that I was mistaken, and had upon that subject very
+confused ideas in many respects, and very false ones in others.  Above
+all, I cannot but acknowledge the obligation we have to you, Sir, for the
+light which you have thrown upon the follies and outrages of the
+different sects; the weapons you employ against those madmen, or those
+impostors, are the only suitable ones; to make use of any others would be
+imitating them: they must be attacked by ridicule, and, punished with
+contempt.  'A propos' of those fanatics; I send you here inclosed a piece
+upon that subject, written by the late Dean Swift: I believe you will not
+dislike it.  You will easily guess why it never was printed: it is
+authentic, and I have the original in his own handwriting.  His Jupiter,
+at the Day of Judgment, treats them much as you do, and as they deserve
+to be treated.
+
+Give me leave, Sir, to tell you freely, that I am embarrassed upon your
+account, as I cannot determine what it is that I wish from you.  When I
+read your last history, I am desirous that you should always write
+history; but when I read your 'Rome Sauvee' (although ill-printed and
+disfigured), yet I then wish you never to deviate from poetry; however,
+I confess that there still remains one history worthy of your pen, and of
+which your pen alone is worthy.  You have long ago given us the history
+of the greatest and most outrageous madman (I ask your pardon if I cannot
+say the greatest hero) of Europe; you have given us latterly the history
+of the greatest king; give us now the history of the greatest and most
+virtuous man in Europe; I should think it degrading to call him king.
+To you this cannot be difficult, he is always before your eyes: your
+poetical invention is not necessary to his glory, as that may safely rely
+upon your historical candor.  The first duty of an historian is the only
+one he need require from his, 'Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri
+non audeat'.  Adieu, Sir!  I find that I must admire you every day more
+and more; but I also know that nothing ever can add to the esteem and
+attachment with which I am actually, your most humble and most obedient
+servant, CHESTERFIELD.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVI
+
+LONDON, September 19, 1752,
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  Since you have been at Hanover, your correspondence has
+been both unfrequent and laconic.  You made indeed one great effort in
+folio on the 18th, with a postscript of the 22d August, N. S., and since
+that, 'vous avez rate in quarto'.  On the 31st August, N. S., you give me
+no informations of what I want chiefly to know; which is, what Dr. Hugo
+(whom I charged you to consult) said of your asthmatic complaint, and
+what he prescribed you to prevent the returns of it; and also what is the
+company that, you keep there, who has been kind and civil to you, and who
+not.
+
+You say that you go constantly to the parade; and you do very well; for
+though you are not of that trade, yet military matters make so great a
+part both of conversation and negotiation, that it is very proper not to
+be ignorant of them.  I hope you mind more than the mere exercise of the
+troops you see; and that you inform yourself at the same time, of the
+more material details; such as their pay, and the difference of it when
+in and out of quarters; what is furnished them by the country when in
+quarters, and what is allowed them of ammunition, bread, etc., when in
+the field; the number of men and officers in the several troops and
+companies, together with the non-commissioned officers, as 'caporals,
+frey-caporals, anspessades', sergeants, quarter-masters, etc.; the
+clothing how frequent, how good, and how furnished; whether by the
+colonel, as here in England, from what we call the OFF-RECKONINGS, that
+is, deductions from the men's pay, or by commissaries appointed by the
+government for that purpose, as in France and Holland.  By these
+inquiries you will be able to talk military with military men, who, in
+every country in Europe, except England, make at least half of all the
+best companies.  Your attending the parades has also another good effect,
+which is, that it brings you, of course, acquainted with the officers,
+who, when of a certain rank and service, are generally very polite, well-
+bred people, 'et du bon ton'.  They have commonly seen a great deal of
+the world, and of courts; and nothing else can form a gentleman, let
+people say what they will of sense and learning; with both which a man
+may contrive to be a very disagreeable companion.  I dare say, there are
+very few captains of foot, who are not much better company than ever
+Descartes or Sir Isaac Newton were.  I honor and respect such superior
+geniuses; but I desire to converse with people of this world, who bring
+into company their share, at least, of cheerfulness, good-breeding, and
+knowledge of mankind.  In common life, one much oftener wants small
+money, and silver, than gold.  Give me a man who has ready cash about him
+for present expenses; sixpences, shillings, half-crowns, and crowns,
+which circulate easily: but a man who has only an ingot of gold about
+him, is much above common purposes, and his riches are not handy nor
+convenient.  Have as much gold as you please in one pocket, but take care
+always to keep change in the other; for you will much oftener have
+occasion for a shilling than for a guinea.  In this the French must be
+allowed to excel all people in the world: they have 'un certain
+entregent, un enjouement, un aimable legerete dans la conversation, une
+politesse aisee et naturelle, qui paroit ne leur rien couter', which give
+society all its charms.  I am sorry to add, but it is too true, that the
+English and the Dutch are the farthest from this, of all the people in
+the world; I do by no means except even the Swiss.
+
+Though you do not think proper to inform me, I know from other hands that
+you were to go to the Gohr with a Comte Schullemburg, for eight or ten
+days only, to see the reviews.  I know also that you had a blister upon
+your arm, which did you a great deal of good.  I know too, you have
+contracted a great friendship with Lord Essex, and that you two were
+inseparable at Hanover.  All these things I would rather have known from
+you than from others; and they are the sort of things that I am the most
+desirous of knowing, as they are more immediately relative to yourself.
+
+I am very sorry for the Duchess of Newcastle's illness, full as much upon
+your as upon her account, as it has hindered you from being so much known
+to the Duke as I could have wished; use and habit going a great way with
+him, as indeed they do with most people.  I have known many people
+patronized, pushed up, and preferred by those who could have given no
+other reason for it, than that they were used to them.  We must never
+seek for motives by deep reasoning, but we must find them out by careful
+observation and attention, no matter what they should be, but the point
+is, what they are.  Trace them up, step by step, from the character of
+the person.  I have known 'de par le monde', as Brantome says, great
+effects from causes too little ever to have been suspected.  Some things
+must be known, and can never be guessed.
+
+God knows where this letter will find you, or follow you; not at Hanover,
+I suppose; but wherever it does, may it find you in health and pleasure!
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVII
+
+LONDON, September 22, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: The day after the date of my last, I received your letter
+of the 8th.  I approve extremely of your intended progress, and am very
+glad that you go to the Gohr with Comte Schullemburg.  I would have you
+see everything with your own eyes, and hear everything with your own
+ears: for I know, by very long experience, that it is very unsafe to
+trust to other people's.  Vanity and interest cause many
+misrepresentations, and folly causes many more.  Few people have parts
+enough to relate exactly and judiciously: and those who have, for some
+reason or other, never fail to sink, or to add some circumstances.
+
+The reception which you have met with at Hanover, I look upon as an omen
+of your being well received everywhere else; for to tell you the truth,
+it was the place that I distrusted the most in that particular.  But
+there is a certain conduct, there are certaines 'manieres' that will,
+and must get the better of all difficulties of that kind; it is to
+acquire them that you still continue abroad, and go from court to court;
+they are personal, local, and temporal; they are modes which vary, and
+owe their existence to accidents, whim, and humor; all the sense and
+reason in the world would never point them out; nothing but experience,
+observation, and what is called knowledge of the world, can possibly
+teach them.  For example, it is respectful to bow to the King of England,
+it is disrespectful to bow to the King of France; it is the rule to
+courtesy to the Emperor; and the prostration of the whole body is
+required by eastern monarchs.  These are established ceremonies, and must
+be complied with: but why thev were established, I defy sense and reason
+to tell us.  It is the same among all ranks, where certain customs are
+received, and must necessarily be complied with, though by no means the
+result of sense and reason.  As for instance, the very absurd, though
+almost universal custom of drinking people's healths.  Can there be
+anything in the world less relative to any other man's health, than my
+drinking a glass of wine?  Common sense certainly never pointed it out;
+but yet common sense tells me I must conform to it.  Good sense bids one
+be civil and endeavor to please; though nothing but experience and
+observation can teach one the means, properly adapted to time, place, and
+persons.  This knowledge is the true object of a gentleman's traveling,
+if he travels as he ought to do.  By frequenting good company in every
+country, he himself becomes of every country; he is no longer an
+Englishman, a Frenchman, or an Italian; but he is an European; he adopts,
+respectively, the best manners of every country; and is a Frenchman at
+Paris, an Italian at Rome, an Englishman at London.
+
+This advantage, I must confess, very seldom accrues to my countrymen from
+their traveling; as they have neither the desire nor the means of getting
+into good company abroad; for, in the first place, they are confoundedly
+bashful; and, in the next place, they either speak no foreign language at
+all, or if they do, it is barbarously.  You possess all the advantages
+that they want; you know the languages in perfection, and have constantly
+kept the best company in the places where you have been; so that you
+ought to be an European.  Your canvas is solid and strong, your outlines
+are good; but remember that you still want the beautiful coloring of
+Titian, and the delicate, graceful touches of Guido.  Now is your time to
+get them.  There is, in all good company, a fashionable air, countenance,
+manner, and phraseology, which can only be acquired by being in good
+company, and very attentive to all that passes there.  When you dine or
+sup at any well-bred man's house, observe carefully how he does the
+honors of his table to the different guests.  Attend to the compliments
+of congratulation or condolence that you hear a well-bred man make to his
+superiors, to his equals, and to his inferiors; watch even his
+countenance and his tone of voice, for they all conspire in the main
+point of pleasing.  There is a certain distinguishing diction of a man of
+fashion; he will not content himself with saying, like John Trott, to a
+new-married man, Sir, I wish you much joy; or to a man who lost his son,
+Sir, I am sorry for your loss; and both with a countenance equally
+unmoved; but he will say in effect the same thing in a more elegant and
+less trivial manner, and with a countenance adapted to the occasion.  He
+will advance with warmth, vivacity, and a cheerful countenance, to the
+new-married man, and embracing him, perhaps say to him, "If you do
+justice to my attachment to you, you will judge of the joy that I feel
+upon this occasion, better than I can express it," etc.; to the other in
+affliction, he will advance slowly, with a grave composure of
+countenance, in a more deliberate manner, and with a lower voice, perhaps
+say, "I hope you do me the justice to be convinced that I feel whatever
+you feel, and shall ever be affected where you are concerned."
+
+Your 'abord', I must tell you, was too cold and uniform; I hope it is now
+mended.  It should be respectfully open and cheerful with your superiors,
+warm and animated with your equals, hearty and free with your inferiors.
+There is a fashionable kind of SMALL TALK which you should get; which,
+trifling as it is, is of use in mixed companies, and at table, especially
+in your foreign department; where it keeps off certain serious subjects,
+that might create disputes, or at least coldness for a time.  Upon such
+occasions it is not amiss to know how to parley cuisine, and to be able
+to dissert upon the growth and flavor of wines.  These, it is true, are
+very little things; but they are little things that occur very often, and
+therefore should be said 'avec gentillesse et grace'.  I am sure they
+must fall often in your way; pray take care to catch them.  There is a
+certain language of conversation, a fashionable diction, of which every
+gentleman ought to be perfectly master, in whatever language he speaks.
+The French attend to it carefully, and with great reason; and their
+language, which is a language of phrases, helps them out exceedingly.
+That delicacy of diction is characteristical of a man of fashion and good
+company.
+
+I could write folios upon this subject, and not exhaust it; but I think,
+and hope, that to you I need not.  You have heard and seen enough to be
+convinced of the truth and importance of what I have been so long
+inculcating into you upon these points.  How happy am I, and how happy
+are you, my dear child, that these Titian tints, and Guido graces, are
+all that you want to complete my hopes and your own character!  But then,
+on the other hand, what a drawback would it be to that happiness, if you
+should never acquire them?  I remember, when I was of age, though I had
+not near so good an education as you have, or seen a quarter so much of
+the world, I observed those masterly touches and irresistible graces in
+others, and saw the necessity of acquiring them myself; but then an
+awkward 'mauvaise honte', of which I had brought a great deal with me
+from Cambridge, made me ashamed to attempt it, especially if any of my
+countrymen and particular acquaintances were by.  This was extremely
+absurd in me: for, without attempting, I could never succeed.  But at
+last, insensibly, by frequenting a great deal of good company, and
+imitating those whom I saw that everybody liked, I formed myself, 'tant
+bien que mal'.  For God's sake, let this last fine varnish, so necessary
+to give lustre to the whole piece, be the sole and single object now of
+your utmost attention.  Berlin may contribute a great deal to it if you
+please; there are all the ingredients that compose it.
+
+'A Propos' of Berlin, while you are there, take care to seem ignorant of
+all political matters between the two courts; such as the affairs of Ost
+Frise, and Saxe Lawemburg, etc., and enter into no conversations upon
+those points; but, however, be as well at court as you possibly can;
+live at it, and make one of it.  Should General Keith offer you
+civilities, do not decline them; but return them, however, without being
+'enfant de la maison chez lui': say 'des chores flatteuses' of the Royal
+Family, and especially of his Prussian Majesty, to those who are the most
+like to repeat them.  In short, make yourself well there, without making
+yourself ill SOMEWHERE ELSE.  Make compliments from me to Algarotti, and
+converse with him in Italian.
+
+I go next week to the Bath, for a deafness, which I have been plagued
+with these four or five months; and which I am assured that pumping my
+head will remove.  This deafness, I own, has tried my patience; as it has
+cut me off from society, at an age when I had no pleasures but those
+left.  In the meantime, I have, by reading and writing, made my eyes
+supply the defect of my ears.  Madame H-----, I suppose, entertained both
+yours alike; however, I am very glad that you were well with her; for she
+is a good 'proneuse', and puffs are very useful to a young fellow at his
+entrance into the world.
+
+If you should meet with Lord Pembroke again, anywhere, make him many
+compliments from me; and tell him that I should have written to him, but
+that I knew how troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one.
+He is much commended in the accounts from Hanover.
+
+You will stay at Berlin just as long as you like it, and no longer; and
+from thence you are absolutely master of your own motions, either to The
+Hague, or to Brussels; but I think that you had better go to The Hague
+first, because that from thence Brussels will be in your way to Calais,
+which is a much better passage to England than from Helvoetsluys.  The
+two courts of The Hague and Brussels are worth your seeing; and you will
+see them both to advantage, by means of Colonel Yorke and Dayrolles.
+Adieu.  Here is enough for this time.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVIII
+
+LONDON, September 26, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As you chiefly employ, or rather wholly engross my
+thoughts, I see every day, with increasing pleasure, the fair prospect
+which you have before you.  I had two views in your education; they draw
+nearer and nearer, and I have now very little reason to distrust your
+answering them fully.  Those two were, parliamentary and foreign affairs.
+In consequence of those views, I took care, first, to give you a
+sufficient stock of sound learning, and next, an early knowledge of the
+world.  Without making a figure in parliament, no man can make any in
+this country; and eloquence alone enables a man to make a figure in
+parliament, unless, it be a very mean and contemptible one, which those
+make there who silently vote, and who do 'pedibus ire in sententiam'.
+Foreign affairs, when skillfully managed, and supported by a
+parliamentary reputation, lead to whatever is most considerable in this
+country.  You have the languages necessary for that purpose, with a
+sufficient fund of historical and treaty knowledge; that is to say, you
+have the matter ready, and only want the manner.  Your objects being thus
+fixed, I recommend to you to have them constantly in your thoughts, and
+to direct your reading, your actions, and your words, to those views.
+Most people think only 'ex re nata', and few 'ex professo': I would have
+you do both, but begin with the latter.  I explain myself: Lay down
+certain principles, and reason and act consequently from them.  As, for
+example, say to yourself, I will make a figure in parliament, and in
+order to do that, I must not only speak, but speak very well.  Speaking
+mere common sense will by no means do; and I must speak not only
+correctly but elegantly; and not only elegantly but eloquently.  In order
+to do this, I will first take pains to get an habitual, but unaffected,
+purity, correctness and elegance of style in my common conversation;
+I will seek for the best words, and take care to reject improper,
+inexpressive, and vulgar ones.  I will read the greatest masters of
+oratory, both ancient and modern, and I will read them singly in that
+view.  I will study Demosthenes and Cicero, not to discover an old
+Athenian or Roman custom, nor to puzzle myself with the value of talents,
+mines, drachms, and sesterces, like the learned blockheads in us; but to
+observe their choice of words, their harmony of diction, their method,
+their distribution, their exordia, to engage the favor and attention of
+their audience; and their perorations, to enforce what they have said,
+and to leave a strong impression upon the passions.  Nor will I be pedant
+enough to neglect the modern; for I will likewise study Atterbury,
+Dryden, Pope, and Bolingbroke; nay, I will read everything that I do read
+in that intention, and never cease improving and refining my style upon
+the best models, till at last I become a model of eloquence myself,
+which, by care, it is in every man's power to be.  If you set out upon
+this principle, and keep it constantly in your mind, every company you go
+into, and every book you read, will contribute to your improvement,
+either by showing you what to imitate, or what to avoid.  Are .you to
+give an account of anything to a mixed company?  or are you to endeavor
+to persuade either man or woman?  This principle, fixed in your mind,
+will make you carefully attend to the choice of your words, and to the
+clearness and harmony of your diction.
+
+So much for your parliamentary object; now to the foreign one.
+
+Lay down first those principles which are absolutely necessary to form a
+skillful and successful negotiator, and form yourself accordingly.  What
+are they?  First, the clear historical knowledge of past transactions of
+that kind.  That you have pretty well already, and will have daily more
+and more; for, in consequence of that principle, you will read history,
+memoirs, anecdotes, etc., in that view chiefly.  The other necessary
+talents for negotiation are: the great art of pleasing and engaging the
+affection and confidence, not only of those with whom you are to
+cooperate, but even of those whom you are to oppose: to conceal your own
+thoughts and views, and to discover other people's: to engage other
+people's confidence by a seeming cheerful frankness and openness, without
+going a step too far: to get the personal favor of the king, prince,
+ministers, or mistresses of the court to which you are sent: to gain the
+absolute command over your temper and your countenance, that no heat may
+provoke you to say, nor no change of countenance to betray, what should
+be a secret: to familiarize and domesticate yourself in the houses of the
+most considerable people of the place, so as to be received there rather
+as a friend to the family than as a foreigner.  Having these principles
+constantly in your thoughts, everything you do and everything you say
+will some way or other tend to your main view; and common conversation
+will gradually fit you for it.  You will get a habit of checking any
+rising heat; you will be upon your guard against any indiscreet
+expression; you will by degrees get the command of your countenance, so
+as not to change it upon any the most sudden accident; and you will,
+above all things, labor to acquire the great art of pleasing, without
+which nothing is to be done.  Company is, in truth, a constant state of
+negotiation; and, if you attend to it in that view, will qualify you for
+any.  By the same means that you make a friend, guard against an enemy,
+or gain a mistress; you will make an advantageous treaty, baffle those
+who counteract you, and gain the court you are sent to.  Make this use of
+all the company you keep, and your very pleasures will make you a
+successful negotiator.  Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none.
+Keep your own secret, and get out other people's.  Keep your own temper
+and artfully warm other people's.  Counterwork your rivals, with
+diligence and dexterity, but at the same time with the utmost personal
+civility to them; and be firm without heat.  Messieurs d'Avaux and
+Servien did no more than this.  I must make one observation, in
+confirmation of this assertion; which is, that the most eminent
+negotiators have allways been the politest and bestbred men in company;
+even what the women call the PRETTIEST MEN.  For God's sake, never lose
+view of these two your capital objects: bend everything to them, try
+everything by their rules, and calculate everything for their purposes.
+What is peculiar to these two objects, is, that they require nothing, but
+what one's own vanity, interest, and pleasure, would make one do
+independently of them.  If a man were never to be in business, and always
+to lead a private life, would he not desire to please and to persuade?
+So that, in your two destinations, your fortune and figure luckily
+conspire with your vanity and your pleasures.  Nay more; a foreign
+minister, I will maintain it, can never be a good man of business if he
+is not an agreeable man of pleasure too.  Half his business is done by
+the help of his pleasures; his views are carried on, and perhaps best and
+most unsuspectedly, at balls, suppers, assemblies, and parties of
+pleasure; by intrigues with women, and connections insensibly formed with
+men, at those unguarded hours of amusement.
+
+These objects now draw very near you, and you have no time to lose in
+preparing yourself to meet them.  You will be in parliament almost as
+soon as your age will allow, and I believe you will have a foreign
+department still sooner, and that will be earlier than ever any other
+body had one.  If you set out well at one-and-twenty, what may you not
+reasonably hope to be at one-and-forty?  All that I could wish you!
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIX
+
+LONDON, September 29, 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: There is nothing so necessary, but at the same time there
+is nothing more difficult (I know it by experience) for you young
+fellows, than to know how to behave yourselves prudently toward those
+whom you do not like.  Your passions are warm, and your heads are light;
+you hate all those who oppose your views, either of ambition or love; and
+a rival, in either, is almost a synonymous term for an enemy.  Whenever
+you meet such a man, you are awkwardly cold to him, at best; but often
+rude, and always desirous to give him some indirect slap.  This is
+unreasonable; for one man has as good a right to pursue an employment, or
+a mistress, as another; but it is, into the bargain, extremely imprudent;
+because you commonly defeat your own purpose by it, and while you are
+contending with each other, a third often prevails.  I grant you that the
+situation is irksome; a man cannot help thinking as he thinks, nor
+feeling what he feels; and it is a very tender and sore point to be
+thwarted and counterworked in one's pursuits at court, or with a
+mistress; but prudence and abilities must check the effects, though they
+cannot remove the cause.  Both the pretenders make themselves
+disagreeable to their mistress, when they spoil the company by their
+pouting, or their sparring; whereas, if one of them has command enough
+over himself (whatever he may feel inwardly) to be cheerful, gay, and
+easily and unaffectedly civil to the other, as if there were no manner of
+competition between them, the lady will certainly like him the best, and
+his rival will be ten times more humbled and discouraged; for he will
+look upon such a behavior as a proof of the triumph and security of his
+rival, he will grow outrageous with the lady, and the warmth of his
+reproaches will probably bring on a quarrel between them.  It is the same
+in business; where he who can command his temper and his countenance the
+best, will always have an infinite advantage over the other.  This is
+what the French call un 'procede honnete et galant', to PIQUE yourself
+upon showing particular civilities to a man, to whom lesser minds would,
+in the same case, show dislike, or perhaps rudeness.  I will give you an
+instance of this in my own case; and pray remember it, whenever you come
+to be, as I hope you will, in a like situation.
+
+When I went to The Hague, in 1744, it was to engage the Dutch to come
+roundly into the war, and to stipulate their quotas of troops, etc.;
+your acquaintance, the Abbe de la Ville, was there on the part of France,
+to endeavor to hinder them from coming into the war at all.  I was
+informed, and very sorry to hear it, that he had abilities, temper, and
+industry.  We could not visit, our two masters being at war; but the
+first time I met him at a third place, I got somebody to present me to
+him; and I told him, that though we were to be national enemies, I
+flattered myself we might be, however, personal friends, with a good deal
+more of the same kind; which he returned in full as polite a manner.
+Two days afterward, I went, early in the morning, to solicit the Deputies
+of Amsterdam, where I found l'Abbe de la Ville, who had been beforehand
+with me; upon which I addressed myself to the Deputies, and said,
+smilingly, I am very sorry, Gentlemen, to find my enemy with you; my
+knowledge of his capacity is already sufficient to make me fear him; we
+are not upon equal terms; but I trust to your own interest against his
+talents.  If I have not this day had the first word, I shall at least
+have the last.  They smiled: the Abbe was pleased with the compliment,
+and the manner of it, stayed about a quarter of an hour, and then left me
+to my Deputies, with whom I continued upon the same tone, though in a
+very serious manner, and told them that I was only come to state their
+own true interests to them, plainly and simply, without any of those
+arts, which it was very necessary for my friend to make use of to deceive
+them.  I carried my point, and continued my 'procede' with the Abbe; and
+by this easy and polite commerce with him, at third places, I often found
+means to fish out from him whereabouts he was.
+
+Remember, there are but two 'procedes' in the world for a gentleman and a
+man of parts; either extreme politeness or knocking down.  If a man
+notoriously and designedly insults and affronts you, knock him down; but
+if he only injures you, your best revenge is to be extremely civil to him
+in your outward behavior, though at the same time you counterwork him,
+and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest.  This is not
+perfidy nor dissimulation; it would be so if you were, at the same time,
+to make professions of esteem and friendship to this man; which I by no
+means recommend, but on the contrary abhor.  But all acts of civility
+are, by common consent, understood to be no more than a conformity to
+custom, for the quiet and conveniency of society, the 'agremens' of which
+are not to be disturbed by private dislikes and jealousies.  Only women
+and little minds pout and spar for the entertainment of the company, that
+always laughs at, and never pities them.  For my own part, though I would
+by no means give up any point to a competitor, yet I would pique myself
+upon showing him rather more civility than to another man.  In the first
+place, this 'procede' infallibly makes all 'les rieurs' of your side,
+which is a considerable party; and in the next place, it certainly
+pleases the object of the competition, be it either man or woman; who
+never fail to say, upon such an occasion, that THEY MUST OWN YOU HAVE
+BEHAVED YOURSELF VERY, HANDSOMELY IN THE WHOLE AFFAIR.  The world
+judges
+from the appearances of things, and not from the reality, which few are
+able, and still fewer are inclined to fathom: and a man, who will take
+care always to be in the right in those things, may afford to be
+sometimes a little in the wrong in more essential ones: there is a
+willingness, a desire to excuse him.  With nine people in ten, good-
+breeding passes for good-nature, and they take attentions for good
+offices.  At courts there will be always coldnesses, dislikes,
+jealousies, and hatred, the harvest being but small in proportion to the
+number of laborers; but then, as they arise often, they die soon, unless
+they are perpetuated by the manner in which they have been carried on,
+more than by the matter which occasioned them.  The turns and
+vicissitudes of courts frequently make friends of enemies, and enemies of
+friends; you must labor, therefore, to acquire that great and uncommon
+talent of hating with good-breeding and loving with prudence; to make no
+quarrel irreconcilable by silly and unnecessary indications of anger; and
+no friendship dangerous, in case it breaks, by a wanton, indiscreet, and
+unreserved confidence.
+
+
+Few, (especially young) people know how to love, or how to hate; their
+love is an unbounded weakness, fatal to the person they love; their hate
+is a hot, rash, and imprudent violence, always fatal to themselves.
+
+Nineteen fathers in twenty, and every mother, who had loved you half as
+well as I do, would have ruined you; whereas I always made you feel the
+weight of my authority, that you might one day know the force of my love.
+Now, I both hope and believe, my advice will have the same weight with
+you from choice that my authority had from necessity.  My advice is just
+eight-and-twenty years older than your own, and consequently, I believe
+you think, rather better.  As for your tender and pleasurable passions,
+manage them yourself; but let me have the direction of all the others.
+Your ambition, your figure, and your fortune, will, for some time at
+least, be rather safer in my keeping than in your own.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXX
+
+BATH, October 4, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  I consider you now as at the court of Augustus, where,
+if ever the desire of pleasing animated you, it must make you exert all
+the means of doing it.  You will see there, full as well, I dare say, as
+Horace did at Rome, how states are defended by arms, adorned by manners,
+and improved by laws.  Nay, you have an Horace there as well as an
+Augustus; I need not name Voltaire, 'qui nil molitur inept'?, as Horace
+himself said of another poet.  I have lately read over all his works that
+are published, though I had read them more than once before.  I was
+induced to this by his 'Siecle de Louis XIV', which I have yet read but
+four times.  In reading over all his works, with more attention I suppose
+than before, my former admiration of him is, I own, turned into
+astonishment.  There is no one kind of writing in which he has not
+excelled.  You are so severe a classic that I question whether you will
+allow me to call his 'Henriade' an epic poem, for want of the proper
+number of gods, devils, witches and other absurdities, requisite for the
+machinery; which machinery is, it seems, necessary to constitute the
+'epopee'.  But whether you do or not, I will declare (though possibly to
+my own shame) that I never read any epic poem with near so much pleasure.
+I am grown old, and have possibly lost a great deal of that fire which
+formerly made me love fire in others at any rate, and however attended
+with smoke; but now I must have all sense, and cannot, for the sake of
+five righteous lines, forgive a thousand absurd ones.
+
+In this disposition of mind, judge whether I can read all Homer through
+'tout de suite'.  I admire its beauties; but, to tell you the truth, when
+he slumbers, I sleep.  Virgil, I confess, is all sense, and therefore I
+like him better than his model; but he is often languid, especially in
+his five or six last books, during which I am obliged to take a good deal
+of snuff.  Besides, I profess myself an ally of Turnus against the pious
+AEneas, who, like many 'soi-disant' pious people, does the most flagrant
+injustice and violence in order to execute what they impudently call the
+will of Heaven.  But what will you say, when I tell you truly, that I
+cannot possibly read our countryman Milton through?  I acknowledge him to
+have some most sublime passages, some prodigious flashes of light; but
+then you must acknowledge that light is often followed by darkness
+visible, to use his own expression.  Besides, not having the honor to be
+acquainted with any of the parties in this poem, except the Man and the
+Woman, the characters and speeches of a dozen or two of angels and of as
+many devils, are as much above my reach as my entertainment.  Keep this
+secret for me: for if it should be known, I should be abused by every
+tasteless pedant, and every solid divine in England.
+
+'Whatever I have said to the disadvantage of these three poems, holds
+much stronger against Tasso's 'Gierusalemme': it is true he has very fine
+and glaring rays of poetry; but then they are only meteors, they dazzle,
+then disappear, and are succeeded by false thoughts, poor 'concetti', and
+absurd impossibilities; witness the Fish and the Parrot; extravagancies
+unworthy of an heroic poem, and would much better have become Ariosto,
+who professes 'le coglionerie'.
+
+I have never read the "Lusiade of Camoens," except in prose translation,
+consequently I have never read it at all, so shall say nothing of it; but
+the Henriade is all sense from the beginning to the end, often adorned by
+the justest and liveliest reflections, the most beautiful descriptions,
+the noblest images, and the sublimest sentiments; not to mention the
+harmony of the verse, in which Voltaire undoubtedly exceeds all the
+French poets: should you insist upon an exception in favor of Racine,
+I must insist, on my part, that he at least equals him.  What hero ever
+interested more than Henry the Fourth; who, according to the rules of
+epic poetry, carries on one great and long action, and succeeds in it at
+last?  What descriptions ever excited more horror than those, first of
+the Massacre, and then of the Famine at Paris?  Was love ever painted
+with more truth and 'morbidezza' than in the ninth book?  Not better, in
+my mind, even in the fourth of Virgil.  Upon the whole, with all your
+classical rigor, if you will but suppose St. Louis a god, a devil, or a
+witch, and that he appears in person, and not in a dream, the Henriade
+will be an epic poem, according to the strictest statute laws of the
+'epopee'; but in my court of equity it is one as it is.
+
+I could expatiate as much upon all his different works, but that I should
+exceed the bounds of a letter and run into a dissertation.
+How delightful is his history of that northern brute, the King of Sweden,
+for I cannot call him a man; and I should be sorry to have him pass for a
+hero, out of regard to those true heroes, such as Julius Caesar, Titus,
+Trajan, and the present King of Prussia, who cultivated and encouraged
+arts and sciences; whose animal courage was accompanied by the tender and
+social sentiments of humanity; and who had more pleasure in improving,
+than in destroying their fellow-creatures.  What can be more touching,
+or more interesting--what more nobly thought, or more happily expressed,
+than all his dramatic pieces?  What can be more clear and rational than
+all his philosophical letters? and whatever was so graceful, and gentle,
+as all his little poetical trifles?  You are fortunately 'a porte' of
+verifying, by your knowledge of the man, all that I have said of his
+works.
+
+Monsieur de Maupertius (whom I hope you will get acquainted with) is,
+what one rarely meets with, deep in philosophy and, mathematics, and yet
+'honnete et aimable homme': Algarotti is young Fontenelle.  Such men must
+necessarily give you the desire of pleasing them; and if you can frequent
+them, their acquaintance will furnish you the means of pleasing everybody
+else.
+
+'A propos' of pleasing, your pleasing Mrs. F-----d is expected here in
+two or three days; I will do all that I can for you with her: I think you
+carried on the romance to the third or fourth volume; I will continue it
+to the eleventh; but as for the twelfth and last, you must come and
+conclude it yourself.  'Non sum qualis eram'.
+
+Good-night to you, child; for I am going to bed, just at the hour at
+which I suppose you are going to live, at Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXI
+
+BATH, November 11, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  It is a very old and very true maxim, that those kings
+reign the most secure and the most absolute, who reign in the hearts of
+their people.  Their popularity is a better guard than their army, and
+the affections of their subjects a better pledge of their obedience than
+their fears.  This rule is, in proportion, full as true, though upon a
+different scale, with regard to private people.  A man who possesses that
+great art of pleasing universally, and of gaining the affections of those
+with whom he converses, possesses a strength which nothing else can give
+him: a strength which facilitates and helps his rise; and which, in case
+of accidents, breaks his fall.  Few people of your age sufficiently
+consider this great point of popularity; and when they grow older and
+wiser, strive in vain to recover what they have lost by their negligence.
+There are three principal causes that hinder them from acquiring this
+useful strength: pride, inattention, and 'mauvaise honte'.  The first I
+will not, I cannot suspect you of; it is too much below your
+understanding.  You cannot, and I am sure you do not think yourself
+superior by nature to the Savoyard who cleans your room, or the footman
+who cleans your shoes; but you may rejoice, and with reason, at the
+difference that fortune has made in your favor.  Enjoy all those
+advantages; but without insulting those who are unfortunate enough to
+want them, or even doing anything unnecessarily that may remind them of
+that want.  For my own part, I am more upon my guard as to my behavior to
+my servants, and others who are called my inferiors, than I am toward my
+equals: for fear of being suspected of that mean and ungenerous sentiment
+of desiring to make others feel that difference which fortune has, and
+perhaps too, undeservedly, made between us.  Young people do not enough
+attend to this; and falsely imagine that the imperative mood, and a rough
+tone of authority and decision, are indications of spirit and courage.
+Inattention is always looked upon, though sometimes unjustly, as the
+effect of pride and contempt; and where it is thought so, is never
+forgiven.  In this article, young people are generally exceedingly to
+blame, and offend extremely.  Their whole attention is engrossed by their
+particular set of acquaintance; and by some few glaring and exalted
+objects of rank, beauty, or parts; all the rest they think so little
+worth their care, that they neglect even common civility toward them.
+I will frankly confess to you, that this was one of my great faults when
+I was of your age.  Very attentive to please that narrow court circle in
+which I stood enchanted, I considered everything else as bourgeois, and
+unworthy of common civility; I paid my court assiduously and skillfully
+enough to shining and distinguished figures, such as ministers, wits, and
+beauties; but then I most absurdly and imprudently neglected, and
+consequently offended all others.  By this folly I made myself a thousand
+enemies of both sexes; who, though I thought them very insignificant,
+found means to hurt me essentially where I wanted to recommend myself the
+most.  I was thought proud, though I was only imprudent.  A general easy
+civility and attention to the common run of ugly women, and of middling
+men, both which I sillily thought, called, and treated, as odd people,
+would have made me as many friends, as by the contrary conduct I made
+myself enemies.  All this too was 'a pure perte'; for I might equally,
+and even more successfully, have made my court, when I had particular
+views to gratify.  I will allow that this task is often very unpleasant,
+and that one pays, with some unwillingness, that tribute of attention to
+dull and tedious men, and to old and ugly women; but it is the lowest
+price of popularity and general applause, which are very well worth
+purchasing were they much dearer.  I conclude this head with this advice
+to you: Gain, by particular assiduity and address, the men and women you
+want; and, by an universal civility and attention, please everybody so
+far as to have their good word, if not their goodwill; or, at least, as
+to secure a partial neutrality.
+
+'Mauvaise honte' not only hinders young people from making, a great many
+friends, but makes them a great many enemies.  They are ashamed of doing
+the thing they know to be right, and would otherwise do, for fear of the
+momentary laugh of some fine gentleman or lady, or of some 'mauvais
+plaisant'.  I have been in this case: and have often wished an obscure
+acquaintance at the devil, for meeting and taking notice of me when I was
+in what I thought and called fine company.  I have returned their notice
+shyly, awkwardly, and consequently offensively; for fear of a momentary
+joke, not considering, as I ought to have done, that the very people who
+would have joked upon me at first, would have esteemed me the more for it
+afterward.  An example explains a rule best: Suppose you were walking in
+the Tuileries with some fine folks, and that you should unexpectedly meet
+your old acquaintance, little crooked Grierson; what would you do?
+I will tell you what you should do, by telling you what I would now do in
+that case myself.  I would run up to him, and embrace him; say some kind
+of things to him, and then return to my company.  There I should be
+immediately asked: 'Mais qu'est ce que c'est donc que ce petit Sapajou
+que vous avez embrasse si tendrement?  Pour cela, l'accolade a ete
+charmante'; with a great deal more festivity of that sort.  To this I
+should answer, without being the least ashamed, but en badinant: O je ne
+vous dirai tas qui c'est; c'est un petit ami que je tiens incognito, qui
+a son merite, et qui, a force d'etre connu, fait oublier sa figure.  Que
+me donnerez-vous, et je vous le presenterai'?  And then, with a little
+more seriousness, I would add: 'Mais d'ailleurs c'est que je ne desavoue
+jamais mes connoissances, a cause de leur etat ou de leur figure.  Il
+faut avoir bien peu de sentimens pour le faire'.  This would at once put
+an end to that momentary pleasantry, and give them all a better opinion
+of me than they had before.  Suppose another case, and that some of the
+finest ladies 'du bon ton' should come into a room, and find you sitting
+by, and talking politely to 'la vieille' Marquise de Bellefonds, the joke
+would, for a moment, turn upon that 'tete-a-tete':  He bien!  avez vous
+a la fin fixd la belle Marquise?  La partie est-elle faite pour la petite
+maison?  Le souper sera galant sans doute: Mais ne faistu donc point
+scrupule de seduire une jeune et aimable persone comme celle-la'?
+To this I should answer: 'La partie n'etoit pas encore tout-a fait liee,
+vous nous avez interrompu; mais avec le tems que fait-on?  D'ailleurs
+moquezvous de mes amours tant qu'il vous plaira, je vous dirai que je
+respecte tant les jeunes dames, que je respecte meme les vieilles, pour
+l'avoir ete.  Apre cela il y a souvent des liaisons entre les vieilles et
+les jeunes'.  This would at once turn the pleasantry into an esteem for
+your good sense and your good-breeding.  Pursue steadily, and without
+fear or shame, whatever your reason tells you is right, and what you see
+is practiced by people of more experience than yourself, and of
+established characters of good sense and good-breeding.
+
+After all this, perhaps you will say, that it is impossible to please
+everybody.  I grant it; but it does not follow that one should not
+therefore endeavor to please as many as one can.  Nay, I will go further,
+and admit that it is impossible for any man not to have some enemies.
+But this truth from long experience I assert, that he who has the most
+friends and the fewest enemies, is the strongest; will rise the highest
+with the least envy; and fall, if he does fall, the gentlest, and the
+most pitied.  This is surely an object worth pursuing.  Pursue it
+according to the rules I have here given you.  I will add one observation
+more, and two examples to enforce it; and then, as the parsons say,
+conclude.
+
+There is no one creature so obscure, so low, or so poor, who may not, by
+the strange and unaccountable changes and vicissitudes of human affairs,
+somehow or other, and some time or other, become an useful friend or a
+trouble-some enemy, to the greatest and the richest.  The late Duke of
+Ormond was almost the weakest but at the same time the best-bred, and
+most popular man in this kingdom.  His education in courts and camps,
+joined to an easy, gentle nature, had given him that habitual affability,
+those engaging manners, and those mechanical attentions, that almost
+supplied the place of every talent he wanted; and he wanted almost every
+one.  They procured him the love of all men, without the esteem of any.
+He was impeached after the death of Queen Anne, only because that, having
+been engaged in the same measures with those who were necessarily to be
+impeached, his impeachment, for form's sake, became necessary.  But he
+was impeached without acrimony, and without the lest intention that he
+should suffer, notwithstanding the party violence of those times.  The
+question for his impeachment, in the House of Commons, was carried by
+many fewer votes than any other question of impeachment; and Earl
+Stanhope, then Mr. Stanhope, and Secretary' of State, who impeached him,
+very soon after negotiated and concluded his accommodation with the late
+King; to whom he was to have been presented the next day.  But the late
+Bishop of Rochester, Atterbury, who thought that the Jacobite cause might
+suffer by losing the Duke of Ormond, went in all haste, and prevailed
+with the poor weak man to run away; assuring him that he was only to be
+gulled into a disgraceful submission, and not to be pardoned in
+consequence of it.  When his subsequent attainder passed, it excited mobs
+and disturbances in town.  He had not a personal enemy in the world; and
+had a thousand friends.  All this was simply owing to his natural desire
+of pleasing, and to the mechanical means that his education, not his
+parts, had given him of doing it.  The other instance is the late Duke of
+Marlborough, who studied the art of pleasing, because he well knew the
+importance of it: he enjoyed and used it more than ever man did.  He
+gained whoever he had a mind to gain; and he had a mind to gain
+everybody, because he knew that everybody was more or less worth gaining.
+Though his power, as Minister and General, made him many political and
+party enemies, they did not make him one personal one; and the very
+people who would gladly have displaced, disgraced, and perhaps attainted
+the Duke of Marlborough, at the same time personally loved Mr. Churchill,
+even though his private character was blemished by sordid avarice, the
+most unamiable of all vices.  He had wound up and turned his whole
+machine to please and engage.  He had an inimitable sweetness and
+gentleness in his countenance, a tenderness in his manner of speaking, a
+graceful dignity in every motion, and an universal and minute attention
+to the least things that could possibly please the least person.  This
+was all art in him; art of which he well knew and enjoyed the advantages;
+for no man ever had more interior ambition, pride, and avarice, than he
+had.
+
+Though you have more than most people of your age, you have yet very
+little experience and knowledge of the world; now, I wish to inoculate
+mine upon you, and thereby prevent both the dangers and the marks of
+youth and inexperience.  If you receive the matter kindly, and observe my
+prescriptions scrupulously, you will secure the future advantages of time
+and join them to the present inestimable ones of one-and-twenty.
+
+I most earnestly recommend one thing to you, during your present stay at
+Paris.  I own it is not the most agreeable; but I affirm it to be the
+most useful thing in the world to one of your age; and therefore I do
+hope that you will force and constrain yourself to do it.  I mean, to
+converse frequently, or rather to be in company frequently with both men
+and women much your superiors in age and rank.  I am very sensible that,
+at your age, 'vous y entrez pour peu de chose, et meme souvent pour rien,
+et que vous y passerez meme quelques mauvais quart-d'heures'; but no
+matter; you will be a solid gainer by it: you will see, hear, and learn
+the turn and manners of those people; you will gain premature experience
+by it; and it will give you a habit of engaging and respectful
+attentions.  Versailles, as much as possible, though probably
+unentertaining: the Palais Royal often, however dull: foreign ministers
+of the first rank, frequently, and women, though old, who are respectable
+and respected for their rank or parts; such as Madame de Pusieux, Madame
+de Nivernois, Madame d'Aiguillon, Madame Geoffrain, etc.  This
+'sujetion', if it be one to you, will cost you but very little in these
+three or four months that you are yet to pass in Paris, and will bring
+you in a great deal; nor will it, nor ought it, to hinder you from being
+in a more entertaining company a great part of the day.  'Vous pouvez, si
+vous le voulex, tirer un grand parti de ces quatre mois'.  May God make
+you so, and bless you! Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXII
+
+BATH, November 16, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Vanity, or to call it by a gentler name, the desire of
+admiration and applause, is, perhaps, the most universal principle of
+human actions; I do not say that it is the best; and I will own that it
+is sometimes the cause of both foolish and criminal effects.  But it is
+so much oftener the principle of right things, that though they ought to
+have a better, yet, considering human nature, that principle is to be
+encouraged and cherished, in consideration of its effects.  Where that
+desire is wanting, we are apt to be indifferent, listless, indolent, and
+inert; we do not exert our powers; and we appear to be as much below
+ourselves as the vainest man living can desire to appear above what he
+really is.
+
+As I have made you my confessor, and do not scruple to confess even my
+weaknesses to you, I will fairly own that I had that vanity, that
+weakness, if it be one, to a prodigious degree; and, what is more, I
+confess it without repentance: nay, I am glad I had it; since, if I have
+had the good fortune to please in the world, it is to that powerful and
+active principle that I owe it.  I began the world, not with a bare
+desire, but with an insatiable thirst, a rage of popularity, applause,
+and admiration.  If this made me do some silly things on one hand, it
+made me, on the other hand, do almost all the right things that I did; it
+made me attentive and civil to the women I disliked, and to the men I
+despised, in hopes of the applause of both: though I neither desired, nor
+would I have accepted the favors of the one, nor the friendship of the
+other.  I always dressed, looked, and talked my best; and, I own, was
+overjoyed whenever I perceived, that by all three, or by any one of them,
+the company was pleased with me.  To men, I talked whatever I thought
+would give them the best opinion of my parts and learning; and to women,
+what I was sure would please them; flattery, gallantry, and love.  And,
+moreover, I will own to you, under the secrecy of confession, that my
+vanity has very often made me take great pains to make a woman in love
+with me, if I could, for whose person I would not have given a pinch of
+snuff.  In company with men, I always endeavored to outshine, or at
+least, if possible, to equal the most shining man in it.  This desire
+elicited whatever powers I had to gratify it; and where I could not
+perhaps shine in the first, enabled me, at least, to shine in a second or
+third sphere.  By these means I soon grew in fashion; and when a man is
+once in fashion, all he does is right.  It was infinite pleasure to me to
+find my own fashion and popularity.  I was sent for to all parties of
+pleasure, both of men or women; where, in some measure, I gave the 'ton'.
+This gave me the reputation of having had some women of condition; and
+that reputation, whether true or false, really got me others.  With the
+men I was a Proteus, and assumed every shape, in order to please them
+all: among the gay, I was the gayest; among the grave, the gravest; and I
+never omitted the least attentions of good-breeding, or the least offices
+of friendship, that could either please, or attach them to me: and
+accordingly I was soon connected with all the men of any fashion or
+figure in town.
+
+To this principle of vanity, which philosophers call a mean one, and
+which I do not, I owe great part of the figure which I have made in life.
+I wish you had as much, but I fear you have too little of it; and you
+seem to have a degree of laziness and listlessness about you that makes
+you indifferent as to general applause.  This is not in character at your
+age, and would be barely pardonable in an elderly and philosophical man.
+It is a vulgar, ordinary saying, but it is a very true one, that one
+should always put the best foot foremost.  One should please, shine, and
+dazzle, wherever it is possible.  At Paris, I am sure you must observe
+'que chacun se fait valoir autant qu'il est possible'; and La Bruyere
+observes, very justly, qu'on ne vaut dans ce monde que ce qu'on veut
+valoir': wherever applause is in question, you will never see a French
+man, nor woman, remiss or negligent.  Observe the eternal attentions and
+politeness that all people have there for one another.  'Ce n'est pas
+pour leurs beaux yeux au moins'.  No, but for their own sakes, for
+commendations and applause.  Let me then recommend this principle of
+vanity to you; act upon it 'meo periculo'; I promise you it will turn to
+your account.  Practice all the arts that ever coquette did, to please.
+Be alert and indefatigable in making every man admire, and every woman in
+love with you.  I can tell you too, that nothing will carry you higher in
+the world.
+
+I have had no letter from you since your arrival at Paris, though you
+must have been long enough there to have written me two or three.  In
+about ten or twelve days I propose leaving this place, and going to
+London; I have found considerable benefit by my stay here, but not all
+that I want.  Make my compliments to Lord Albemarle.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIII
+
+BATH, November 28, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Since my last to you, I have read Madame Maintenon's
+"Letters"; I am sure they are genuine, and they both entertained and
+informed me.  They have brought me acquainted with the character of that
+able and artful lady; whom I am convinced that I now know much better
+than her directeur the Abby de Fenelon (afterward Archbishop of Cambray)
+did, when he wrote her the 185th letter; and I know him the better too
+for that letter.  The Abby, though brimful of the divine love, had a
+great mind to be first minister, and cardinal, in order, NO DOUBT, to
+have an opportunity of doing the more good.  His being 'directeur' at
+that time to Madame Maintenon, seemed to be a good step toward those
+views.  She put herself upon him for a saint, and he was weak enough to
+believe it; he, on the other hand, would have put himself upon her for a
+saint too, which, I dare say, she did not believe; but both of them knew
+that it was necessary for them to appear saints to Lewis the Fourteenth,
+who they were very sure was a bigot.  It is to be presumed, nay, indeed,
+it is plain by that 185th letter that Madame Maintenon had hinted to her
+directeur some scruples of conscience, with relation to her commerce with
+the King; and which I humbly apprehend to have been only some scruples of
+prudence, at once to flatter the bigot character, and increase the
+desires of the King.  The pious Abbe, frightened out of his wits, lest
+the King should impute to the 'directeur' any scruples or difficulties
+which he might meet with on the part of the lady, writes her the above-
+mentioned letter; in which he not only bids her not tease the King by
+advice and exhortations, but to have the utmost submission to his will;
+and, that she may not mistake the nature of that submission, he tells her
+it is the same that Sarah had for Abraham; to which submission Isaac
+perhaps was owing.  No bawd could have written a more seducing letter to
+an innocent country girl, than the 'directeur' did to his 'penitente';
+who I dare say had no occasion for his good advice.  Those who would
+justify the good 'directeur', alias the pimp, in this affair, must not
+attempt to do it by saying that the King and Madame Maintenon were at
+that time privately married; that the directeur knew it; and that this
+was the meaning of his 'enigme'.  That is absolutely impossible; for that
+private marriage must have removed all scruples between the parties; nay,
+could not have been contracted upon any other principle, since it was
+kept private, and consequently prevented no public scandal.  It is
+therefore extremely evident that Madame Maintenon could not be married to
+the King at the time when she scrupled granting, and when the 'directeur'
+advised her to grant, those favors which Sarah with so much submission
+granted to Abraham: and what the 'directeur' is pleased to call 'le
+mystere de Dieu', was most evidently a state of concubinage.  The letters
+are very well worth your reading; they throw light upon many things of
+those times.
+
+I have just received a letter from Sir William Stanhope, from Lyons; in
+which he tells me that he saw you at Paris, that he thinks you a little
+grown, but that you do not make the most of it, for that you stoop still:
+'d'ailleurs' his letter was a panegyric of you.
+
+The young Comte de Schullemburg, the Chambellan whom you knew at Hanover,
+is come over with the King, 'et fait aussi vos eloges'.
+
+Though, as I told you in my last, I have done buying pictures, by way of
+'virtu', yet there are some portraits of remarkable people that would
+tempt me.  For instance, if you could by chance pick up at Paris, at a
+reasonable price, and undoubted originals (whether heads, half lengths,
+or whole lengths, no matter) of Cardinals Richelieu, Mazarin, and Retz,
+Monsieur de Turenne, le grand Prince de Condo; Mesdames de Montespan, de
+Fontanges, de Montbazon, de Sevigne, de Maintenon, de Chevreuse, de
+Longueville, d'Olonne, etc., I should be tempted to purchase them.  I am
+sensible that they can only be met with, by great accident, at family
+sales and auctions, so I only mention the affair to you eventually.
+
+I do not understand, or else I do not remember, what affair you mean in
+your last letter; which you think will come to nothing, and for which,
+you say, I had once a mind that you should take the road again.  Explain
+it to me.
+
+I shall go to town in four or five days, and carry back with me a little
+more hearing than I brought; but yet, not half enough for common wants.
+One wants ready pocket-money much oftener than one wants great sums; and
+to use a very odd expression, I want to hear at sight.  I love every-day
+senses, every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on
+holydays is good for very little.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIV
+
+Christmas Day, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: A tyrant with legions at his com mand may say, Oderint
+modo timeant; though he is a fool if he says it, and a greater fool if he
+thinks it.  But a private man who can hurt but few, though he can please
+many, must endeavor to be loved, for he cannot be feared in general.
+Popularity is his only rational and sure foundation.  The good-will, the
+affections, the love of the public, can alone raise him to any
+considerable height.  Should you ask me how he is to acquire them, I will
+answer, By desiring them. No man ever deserved, who did not desire them;
+and no man both deserved and desired them who had them not, though many
+have enjoyed them merely by desiring, and without deserving them.  You do
+not imagine, I believe, that I mean by this public love the sentimental
+love of either lovers or intimate friends; no, that is of another nature,
+and confined to a very narrow circle; but I mean that general good-will
+which a man may acquire in the world, by the arts of pleasing
+respectively exerted according to the rank, the situation, and the turn
+of mind of those whom he hath to do with.  The pleasing impressions which
+he makes upon them will engage their affections and their good wishes,
+and even their good offices as far (that is) as they are not inconsistent
+with their own interests; for further than that you are not to expect
+from three people in the course of your life, even were it extended to
+the patriarchal term.  Could I revert to the age of twenty, and carry
+back with me all the experience that forty years more have taught me, I
+can assure you, that I would employ much the greatest part of my time in
+engaging the good-will, and in insinuating myself into the predilection
+of people in general, instead of directing my endeavors to please (as I
+was too apt to do) to the man whom I immediately wanted, or the woman I
+wished for, exclusively of all others.  For if one happens (and it will
+sometimes happen to the ablest man) to fail in his views with that man or
+that woman, one is at a loss to know whom to address one's self to next,
+having offended in general, by that exclusive and distinguished
+particular application. I would secure a general refuge in the good-will
+of the multitude, which is a great strength to any man; for both
+ministers and mistresses choose popular and fashionable favorites.  A man
+who solicits a minister, backed by the general good-will and good wishes
+of mankind, solicits with great weight and great probability of success;
+and a woman is strangely biassed in favor of a man whom she sees in
+fashion, and hears everybody speak well of. This useful art of
+insinuation consists merely of various little things.  A graceful motion,
+a significant look, a trifling attention, an obliging word dropped 'a
+propos', air, dress, and a thousand other undefinable things, all
+severally little ones, joined together, make that happy and inestimable
+composition, THE ART OF PLEASING.  I have in my life seen many a very
+handsome woman who has not pleased me, and many very sensible men who
+have disgusted me.  Why? only for want of those thousand little means to
+please, which those women, conscious of their beauty, and those men of
+their sense, have been grossly enough mistaken to neglect.  I never was
+so much in love in my life, as I was with a woman who was very far from
+being handsome; but then she was made up of graces, and had all the arts
+of pleasing.  The following verses, which I have read in some
+congratulatory poem prefixed to some work, I have forgot which, express
+what I mean in favor of what pleases preferably to what is generally
+called mare solid and instructive:
+
+               "I would an author like a mistress try,
+               Not by a nose, a lip, a cheek, or eye,
+               But by some nameless power to give me joy."
+
+Lady Chesterfield bids me make you many compliments; she showed me your
+letter of recommendation of La Vestres; with which I was very well
+pleased: there is a pretty turn in it; I wish you would always speak as
+genteelly.  I saw another letter from a lady at Paris, in which there was
+a high panegyrical paragraph concerning you.  I wish it were every word
+of it literally true; but, as it comes from a very little, pretty, white
+hand, which is suspected, and I hope justly, of great partiality to you:
+'il en faut rabattre quelque chose, et meme en le faisant it y aura
+toujours d'assez beaux restes'.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Art of pleasing is the most necessary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Assenting, but without being servile and abject. . . . . . . . . . . .
+Assertion instead of argument. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Attacked by ridicule, and, punished with contempt. . . . . . . . . . .
+Bold, but with great seeming modesty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Close, without being costive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Command of our temper, and of our countenance. . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Company is, in truth, a constant state of negotiation. . . . . . . . .
+Consider things in the worst light, to show your skill . . . . . . . .
+Darkness visible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Defended by arms, adorned by manners, and improved by laws . . . . . .
+Doing nothing, and might just as well be asleep. . . . . . . . . . . .
+Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Enjoy all those advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Few people know how to love, or how to hate. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Fools, who can never be undeceived . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Frank, but without indiscretion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Frequently make friends of enemies, and enemies of friends . . . . . .
+Grave without the affectation of wisdom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Horace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+How troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one. . . . . .
+I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Ignorant of their natural rights, cherished their chains . . . . . . .
+Inattention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Infallibly to be gained by every sort of flattery. . . . . . . . . . .
+Judges from the appearances of things, and not from the reality. . . .
+Keep your own temper and artfully warm other people's. . . . . . . . .
+King's popularity is a better guard than their army. . . . . . . . . .
+Lay aside the best book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Le mystere de Dieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Lewis XIV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Made him believe that the world was made for him . . . . . . . . . . .
+Make every man I met with like me, and every woman love me . . . . . .
+Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior. . . . . . . . . . . .
+Man who is only good on holydays is good for very little . . . . . . .
+Milton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Never seek for wit; if it presents itself, well and good . . . . . . .
+Not making use of any one capital letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Notes by which dances are now pricked down as well as tunes. . . . . .
+Old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really' be so or not. . . . .
+Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Pleasures do not commonly last so long as life . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness. . . . . . . .
+Prejudices are our mistresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Quarrel with them when they are grown up, for being spoiled. . . . . .
+Read with caution and distrust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Reason is at best our wife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Ruined their own son by what they called loving him. . . . . . . . . .
+Secret, without being dark and mysterious. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you . . . . . . .
+Talent of hating with good-breeding and loving with prudence . . . . .
+The longest life is too short for knowledge. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Trifles that concern you are not trifles to me . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Truth, but not the whole truth, must be the invariable principle . . .
+Useful sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid. . . . . .
+Vanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Voltaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Where one would gain people, remember that nothing is little . . . . .
+Wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded . . . . . . . . . . .
+Wit may create many admirers but makes few friends . . . . . . . . . .
+Work there as a volunteer in that bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Yahoos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
+Young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be . . . . . . .
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1752
+by The Earl of Chesterfield
+
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1752
+#6 in our series by The Earl of Chesterfield
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+Title: Letters to His Son, 1752
+
+Author: The Earl of Chesterfield
+
+Release Date: August, 2002  [Etext #3356]
+[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule]
+[The actual date this file first posted = 03/09/01]
+[Last modified date = 11/24/01]
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+Edition: 11
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+Language: English
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Chesterfield's Letters to His Son, 1752
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+This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net>
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+[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the
+file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
+entire meal of them.  D.W.]
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+
+
+
+                           LETTERS TO HIS SON
+                                 1752
+
+                      By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
+
+                     on the Fine Art of becoming a
+
+                            MAN OF THE WORLD
+
+                                 and a
+
+                               GENTLEMAN
+
+
+
+LETTER CLV
+
+LONDON, January 2, O. S. 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Laziness of mind, or inattention, are as great enemies to
+knowledge as incapacity; for, in truth, what difference is there between
+a man who will not, and a man who cannot be informed?  This difference
+only, that the former is justly to be blamed, the latter to be pitied.
+And yet how many there are, very capable of receiving knowledge, who from
+laziness, inattention, and incuriousness, will not so much as ask for it,
+much less take the least pains to acquire it!
+
+Our young English travelers generally distinguish themselves by a
+voluntary privation of all that useful knowledge for which they are sent
+abroad; and yet, at that age, the most useful knowledge is the most easy
+to be acquired; conversation being the book, and the best book in which
+it is contained.  The drudgery of dry grammatical learning is over, and
+the fruits of it are mixed with, and adorned by, the flowers of
+conversation.  How many of our young men have been a year at Rome, and as
+long at Paris, without knowing the meaning and institution of the
+Conclave in the former, and of the parliament in the latter? and this
+merely for want of asking the first people they met with in those several
+places, who could at least have given them some general notions of those
+matters.
+
+You will, I hope, be wiser, and omit no opportunity (for opportunities
+present themselves every hour of the day) of acquainting yourself with
+all those political and constitutional particulars of the kingdom and
+government of France.  For instance, when you hear people mention le
+Chancelier, or 'le Garde de Sceaux', is it any great trouble for you to
+ask, or for others to tell you, what is the nature, the powers, the
+objects, and the profits of those two employments, either when joined
+together, as they often are, or when separate, as they are at present?
+When you hear of a gouverneur, a lieutenant du Roi, a commandant, and an
+intendant of the same province, is, it not natural, is it not becoming,
+is it not necessary, for a stranger to inquire into their respective
+rights and privileges?  And yet, I dare say, there are very few
+Englishmen who know the difference between the civil department of the
+Intendant, and the military powers of the others.  When you hear (as I am
+persuaded you must) every day of the 'Vingtieme', which is one in twenty,
+and consequently five per cent., inquire upon what that tax is laid,
+whether upon lands, money, merchandise, or upon all three; how levied,
+and what it is supposed to produce.  When you find in books: (as you will
+sometimes) allusion to particular laws and customs, do not rest till you
+have traced them up to their source.  To give you two examples: you will
+meet in some French comedies, 'Cri', or 'Clameur de Haro'; ask what it
+means, and you will be told that it is a term of the law in Normandy, and
+means citing, arresting, or obliging any person to appear in the courts
+of justice, either upon a civil or a criminal account; and that it is
+derived from 'a Raoul', which Raoul was anciently Duke of Normandy, and a
+prince eminent for his justice; insomuch, that when any injustice was
+committed, the cry immediately was, 'Venez, a Raoul, a Raoul', which
+words are now corrupted and jumbled into 'haro'.  Another, 'Le vol du
+Chapon, that is, a certain district of ground immediately contiguous to
+the mansion-seat of a family, and answers to what we call in English
+DEMESNES.  It is in France computed at about 1,600 feet round the house,
+that being supposed to be the extent of the capon's flight from 'la basse
+cour'.  This little district must go along with the mansion-seat, however
+the rest of the estate may be divided.
+
+I do not mean that you should be a French lawyer; but I would not have
+you unacquainted with the general principles of their law, in matters
+that occur every day:  Such is the nature of their descents, that is, the
+inheritance of lands:  Do they all go to the eldest son, or are they
+equally divided among the children of the deceased?  In England, all
+lands unsettled descend to the eldest son, as heir-at-law, unless
+otherwise disposed of by the father's will, except in the county of Kent,
+where a particular custom prevails, called Gavelkind; by which, if the
+father dies intestate, all his children divide his lands equally among
+them.  In Germany, as you know, all lands that, are not fiefs are equally
+divided among all the children, which ruins those families; but all male
+fiefs of the empire descend unalienably to the next male heir, which
+preserves those families.  In France, I believe, descents vary in
+different provinces.
+
+The nature of marriage contracts deserves inquiry.  In England, the
+general practice is, the husband takes all the wife's fortune; and in
+consideration of it settles upon her a proper pin-money, as it is called;
+that is, an annuity during his life, and a jointure after his death.  In
+France it is not so, particularly at Paris; where 'la communaute des
+biens' is established.  Any married woman at Paris (IF YOU ARE ACQUAINTED
+WITH ONE) can inform you of all these particulars.
+
+These and other things of the same nature, are the useful and rational
+objects of the curiosity of a man of sense and business.  Could they only
+be attained by laborious researches in folio-books, and wormeaten
+manuscripts, I should not wonder at a young fellow's being ignorant of
+them; but as they are the frequent topics of conversation, and to be
+known by a very little degree of curiosity, inquiry and attention, it is
+unpardonable not to know them.
+
+Thus I have given you some hints only for your inquiries; 'l'Etat de la
+France, l'Almanach Royal', and twenty other such superficial books, will
+furnish you with a thousand more.  'Approfondissez.'
+
+How often, and how justly, have I since regretted negligences of this
+kind in my youth!  And how often have I since been at great trouble to
+learn many things which I could then have learned without any!  Save
+yourself now, then, I beg of you, that regret and trouble hereafter.  Ask
+questions, and many questions; and leave nothing till you are thoroughly
+informed of it.  Such pertinent questions are far from being illbred or
+troublesome to those of whom you ask them; on the contrary, they are a
+tacit compliment to their knowledge; and people have a better opinion of
+a young man, when they see him desirous to be informed.
+
+I have by last post received your two letters of the 1st and 5th of
+January, N. S.  I am very glad that you have been at all the shows at
+Versailles: frequent the courts.  I can conceive the murmurs of the
+French at the poorness of the fireworks, by which they thought their king
+of their country degraded; and, in truth, were things always as they
+should be, when kings give shows they ought to be magnificent.
+
+I thank you for the 'These de la Sorbonne', which you intend to send me,
+and which I am impatient to receive.  But pray read it carefully yourself
+first; and inform yourself what the Sorbonne is by whom founded, and for
+what puraoses.
+
+Since you have time, you have done very well to take an Italian and a
+German master; but pray take care to leave yourelf time enough for
+company; for it is in company only that you can learn what will be much
+more useful to you than either Italian or German; I mean 'la politesse,
+les manieres et les graces, without which, as I told you long ago, and I
+told you true, 'ogni fatica a vana'.  Adieu.
+
+Pray make my compliments to Lady Brown.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVI
+
+LONDON, January 6, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND
+
+I recommended to you, in my last, some inquiries into the constitution of
+that famous society the Sorbonne; but as I cannot wholly trust to the
+diligence of those inquiries, I will give you here the outlines of that
+establishment; which may possibly excite you to inform yourself of
+particulars, which you are more 'a portee' to know than I am.
+
+It was founded by Robert de Sorbon, in the year 1256 for sixteen poor
+scholars in divinity; four of each nation, of the university of which it
+made a part; since that it hath been much extended and enriched,
+especially by the liberality and pride of Cardinal Richelieu; who made it
+a magnificent building for six-and-thirty doctors of that society to live
+in; besides which, there are six professors and schools for divinity.
+This society has long been famous for theological knowledge and
+exercitations.  There unintelligible points are debated with passion,
+though they can never be determined by reason.  Logical subtilties set
+common sense at defiance; and mystical refinements disfigure and disguise
+the native beauty and simplicity of true natural religion; wild
+imaginations form systems, which weak minds adopt implicitly, and which
+sense and reason oppose in vain; their voice is not strong enough to be
+heard in schools of divinity.  Political views are by no means neglected
+in those sacred places; and questions are agitated and decided, according
+to the degree of regard, or rather submission, which the Sovereign is
+pleased to show the Church.  Is the King a slave to the Church, though a
+tyrant to the laity?  The least resistance to his will shall be declared
+damnable.  But if he will not acknowledge the superiority of their
+spiritual over his temporal, nor even admit their 'imperium in imperio',
+which is the least they will compound for, it becomes meritorious not
+only to resist, but to depose him.  And I suppose that the bold
+propositions in the thesis you mention, are a return for the valuation of
+'les biens du Clerge'.
+
+I would advise you, by all means, to attend to two or three of their
+public disputations, in order to be informed both of the manner and the
+substance of those scholastic exercises.  Pray remember to go to all
+those kind of things.  Do not put it off, as one is too apt to do those
+things which one knows can be done every day, or any day; for one
+afterward repents extremely, when too late, the not having done them.
+
+But there is another (so-called) religious society, of which the minutest
+circumstance deserves attention, and furnishes great matter for useful
+reflections.  You easily guess that I mean the society of 'les R. R. P.
+P. Jesuites', established but in the year 1540, by a Bull of Pope Paul
+III.  Its progress, and I may say its victories, were more rapid than
+those of the Romans; for within the same century it governed all Europe;
+and, in the next, it extended its influence over the whole world.  Its
+founder was an abandoned profligate Spanish officer, Ignatius Loyola;
+who, in the year 1521, being wounded in the leg at the 'siege of
+Pampeluna, went mad from the smart of his wound, the reproaches of his
+conscience, and his confinement, during which he read the lives of the
+Saints.  Consciousness of guilt, a fiery temper, and a wild imagination,
+the common ingredients of enthusiasm, made this madman devote himself to
+the particular service of the Virgin Mary; whose knight-errant he
+declared himself, in the very same form in which the old knight-errants
+in romances used to declare themselves the knights and champions of
+certain beautiful and incomparable princesses, whom sometimes they had,
+but oftener had not, seen.  For Dulcinea del Toboso was by no means the
+first princess whom her faithful and valorous knight had never seen in
+his life.  The enthusiast went to the Holy Land, from whence he returned
+to Spain, where he began to learn Latin and philosophy at three-and-
+thirty years old, so that no doubt but he made great progress in both.
+The better to carry on his mad and wicked designs, he chose four
+disciples, or rather apostles, all Spaniards, viz, Laynes, Salmeron,
+Bobadilla, and Rodriguez.  He then composed the rules and constitutions
+of his order; which, in the year 1547, was called the order of Jesuits,
+from the church of Jesus in Rome, which was given them.  Ignatius died in
+1556, aged sixty-five, thirty-five years after his conversion, and
+sixteen years after the establishment of his society.  He was canonized
+in the year 1609, and is doubtless now a saint in heaven.
+
+If the religious and moral principles of this society are to be detested,
+as they justly are, the wisdom of their political principles is as justly
+to be admired.  Suspected, collectively as an order, of the greatest
+crimes, and convicted of many, they have either escaped punishment, or
+triumphed after it; as in France, in the reign of Henry IV.  They have,
+directly or indirectly, governed the consciences and the councils of all
+the Catholic princes in Europe; they almost governed China in the reign
+of Cangghi; and they are now actually in possession of the Paraguay in
+America, pretending, but paying no obedience to the Crown of Spain.
+As a collective body they are detested, even by all the Catholics, not
+excepting the clergy, both secular and regular, and yet, as individuals,
+they are loved, respected, and they govern wherever they are.
+
+Two things, I believe, contribute to their success.  The first, that
+passive, implicit, unlimited obedience to their General (who always
+resides at Rome), and to the superiors of their several houses, appointed
+by him.  This obedience is observed by them all to a most astonishing
+degree; and, I believe, there is no one society in the world, of which so
+many individuals sacrifice their private interest to the general one of
+the society itself.  The second is the education of youth, which they
+have in a manner engrossed; there they give the first, and the first are
+the lasting impressions; those impressions are always calculated to be
+favorable to the society.  I have known many Catholics, educated by the
+Jesuits, who, though they detested the society, from reason and
+knowledge, have always remained attached to it, from habit and prejudice.
+The, Jesuits know, better than any set of people in the world, the
+importance of the art of pleasing, and study it more; they become all
+things to all men in order to gain, not a few, but many.  In Asia,
+Africa, and America they become more than half pagans, in order to
+convert the pagans to be less than half Christians.  In private families
+they begin by insinuating themselves as friends, they grow to be
+favorites, and they end DIRECTORS.  Their manners are not like those of
+any other regulars in the world, but gentle, polite, and engaging.  They
+are all carefully bred up to that particular destination, to which they
+seem to have a natural turn; for which reason one sees most Jesuits excel
+in some particular thing.  They even breed up some for martyrdom in case
+of need; as the superior of a Jesuit seminary at Rome told Lord
+Bolingbroke.  'E abbiamo anche martiri per il martirio, se bisogna'.
+
+Inform yourself minutely of everything concerning this extraordinary
+establishment; go into their houses, get acquainted with individuals,
+hear some of them preach.  The finest preacher I ever heard in my life is
+le Pere Neufville, who, I believe, preaches still at Paris, and is so
+much in the best company, that you may easily get personally acquainted
+with him.
+
+If you would know their 'morale' read Pascal's 'Lettres Provinciales', in
+which it is very truly displayed from their own writings.
+
+Upon the whole, this is certain, that a society of which so little good
+is said, and so much ill believed, and that still not only subsists, but
+flourishes, must be a very able one.  It is always mentioned as a proof
+of the superior abilities of the Cardinal Richelieu, that, though hated
+by all the nation, and still more by his master, he kept his power in
+spite of both.
+
+I would earnestly wish you to do everything now, which I wish, that I had
+done at your age, and did not do.  Every country has its peculiarities,
+which one can be much better informed of during one's residence there,
+than by reading all the books in the world afterward.  While you are in
+Catholic countries, inform yourself of all the forms and ceremonies of
+that tawdry church; see their converts both of men and women, know their
+several rules and orders, attend their most remarkable ceremonies; have
+their terms of art explained to you, their 'tierce, sexte, nones,
+matines; vepres, complies'; their 'breviares, rosaires, heures,
+chapelets, agnus', etc., things that many people talk of from habit,
+though few people know the true meaning of anyone of them.  Converse
+with, and study the characters of some of those incarcerated enthusiasts.
+Frequent some 'parloirs', and see the air and manners of those Recluse,
+who are a distinct nation themselves, and like no other.
+
+I dined yesterday with Mrs. F----d, her mother and husband.  He is an
+athletic Hibernian, handsome in his person, but excessively awkward and
+vulgar in his air and manner.  She inquired much after you, and, I
+thought, with interest.  I answered her as a 'Mezzano' should do: 'Et je
+pronai votre tendresse, vos soins, et vos soupirs'.
+
+When you meet with any British returning to their own country, pray send
+me by them any little 'brochures, factums, theses', etc., 'qui font du
+bruit ou du plaisir a Paris'.  Adieu, child.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVII
+
+LONDON, January 23, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Have you seen the new tragedy of Varon,--[Written by the
+Vicomte de Grave; and at that time the general topic of conversation at
+Paris.]--and what do you think of it?  Let me know, for I am determined
+to form my taste upon yours.  I hear that the situations and incidents
+are well brought on, and the catastrophe unexpected and surprising, but
+the verses bad.  I suppose it is the subject of all conversations at
+Paris, where both women and men are judges and critics of all such
+performances; such conversations, that both form and improve the taste,
+and whet the judgment; are surely preferable to the conversations of our
+mixed companies here; which, if they happen to rise above bragg and
+whist, infallibly stop short of everything either pleasing or
+instructive.
+
+I take the reason of this to be, that (as women generally give the 'ton'
+to the conversation) our English women are not near so well informed and
+cultivated as the French; besides that they are naturally more serious
+and silent.
+
+I could wish there were a treaty made between the French and English
+theatres, in which both parties should make considerable concessions.
+The English ought to give up their notorious violations of all the
+unities; and all their massacres, racks, dead bodies, and mangled
+carcasses, which they so frequently exhibit upon their stage.  The French
+should engage to have more action and less declamation; and not to cram
+and crowd things together, to almost a degree of impossibility, from a
+too scrupulous adherence to the unities.  The English should restrain the
+licentiousness of their poets, and the French enlarge the liberty of
+theirs; their poets are the greatest slaves in their country, and that is
+a bold word; ours are the most tumultuous subjects in England, and that
+is saying a good deal.  Under such regulations one might hope to see a
+play in which one should not be lulled to sleep by the length of a
+monotonical declamation, nor frightened and shocked by the barbarity of
+the action.  The unity of time extended occasionally to three or four
+days, and the unity of place broke into, as far as the same street, or
+sometimes the same town; both which, I will affirm, are as probable as
+four-and-twenty hours, and the same room.
+
+More indulgence too, in my mind, should be shown, than the French are
+willing to allow, to bright thoughts, and to shining images; for though,
+I confess, it is not very natural for a hero or a princess to say fine
+things in all the violence of grief, love, rage, etc., yet, I can as well
+suppose that, as I can that they should talk to themselves for half an
+hour; which they must necessarily do, or no tragedy could be carried on,
+unless they had recourse to a much greater absurdity, the choruses of the
+ancients.  Tragedy is of a nature, that one must see it with a degree of
+self-deception; we must lend ourselves a little to the delusion; and I am
+very willing to carry that complaisance a little farther than the French
+do.
+
+Tragedy must be something bigger than life, or it would not affect us.
+In nature the most violent passions are silent; in tragedy they must
+speak, and speak with dignity too.  Hence the necessity of their being
+written in verse, and unfortunately for the French, from the weakness of
+their language, in rhymes.  And for the same reason, Cato the Stoic,
+expiring at Utica, rhymes masculine and feminine at Paris; and fetches
+his last breath at London, in most harmmonious and correct blank verse.
+
+It is quite otherwise with Comedy, which should be mere common life, and
+not one jot bigger.  Every character should speak upon the stage, not
+only what it would utter in the situation there represented, but in the
+same manner in which it would express it.  For which reason I cannot
+allow rhymes in comedy, unless they were put into the mouth, and came out
+of the mouth of a mad poet.  But it is impossible to deceive one's self
+enough (nor is it the least necessary in comedy) to suppose a dull rogue
+of an usurer cheating, or 'gross Jean' blundering in the finest rhymes in
+the world.
+
+As for Operas, they are essentially too absurd and extravagant to
+mention; I look upon them as a magic scene, contrived to please the eyes
+and the ears, at the expense of the understanding; and I consider
+singing, rhyming, and chiming heroes, and princesses, and philosophers,
+as I do the hills, the trees, the birds, and the beasts, who amicably
+joined in one common country dance, to the irresistible turn of Orpheus's
+lyre.  Whenever I go to an opera, I leave my sense and reason at the door
+with my half guinea, and deliver myself up to my eyes and my ears.
+
+Thus I have made you my poetical confession; in which I have acknowledged
+as many sins against the established taste in both countries, as a frank
+heretic could have owned against the established church in either, but I
+am now privileged by my age to taste and think for myself, and not to
+care what other people think of me in those respects; an advantage which
+youth, among its many advantages, hath not.  It must occasionally and
+outwardly conform, to a certain degree, to establish tastes, fashions,
+and decisions.  A young man may, with a becoming modesty, dissent, in
+private companies, from public opinions and prejudices: but he must not
+attack them with warmth, nor magisterially set up his own sentiments
+against them.  Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions; receive them with
+complaisance; form your own with coolness, and give it with modesty.
+
+I have received a letter from Sir John Lambert, in which he requests me
+to use my interest to procure him the remittance of Mr. Spencer's money,
+when he goes abroad and also desires to know to whose account he is to
+place the postage of my letters.  I do not trouble him with a letter in
+answer, since you can execute the commission.  Pray make my compliments
+to him, and assure him that I will do all I can to procure him Mr.
+Spencer's business; but that his most effectual way will be by Messrs.
+Hoare, who are Mr. Spencer's cashiers, and who will undoubtedly have
+their choice upon whom they will give him his credit.  As for the postage
+of the letters, your purse and mine being pretty near the same, do you
+pay it, over and above your next draught.
+
+Your relations, the Princes B-----, will soon be with you at Paris; for
+they leave London this week: whenever you converse with them, I desire it
+may be in Italian; that language not being yet familiar enough to you.
+
+By our printed papers, there seems to be a sort of compromise between the
+King and the parliament, with regard to the affairs of the hospitals, by
+taking them out of the hands of the Archbishop of Paris, and placing them
+in Monsieur d'Argenson's: if this be true, that compromise, as it is
+called, is clearly a victory on the side of the court, and a defeat on
+the part of the parliament; for if the parliament had a right, they had
+it as much to the exclusion of Monsieur d'Argenson as of the Archbishop.
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLVIII
+
+LONDON, February 6, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Your criticism of Varon is strictly just; but, in truth,
+severe.  You French critics seek for a fault as eagerly as I do for a
+beauty: you consider things in the worst light, to show your skill, at
+the expense of your pleasure; I view them in the best, that I may have
+more pleasure, though at the expense of my judgment.  A 'trompeur
+trompeur et demi' is prettily said; and, if you please, you may call
+'Varon, un Normand', and 'Sostrate, un Manceau, qui vaut un Normand et
+demi'; and, considering the 'denouement' in the light of trick upon
+trick, it would undoubtedly be below the dignity of the buskin, and
+fitter for the sock.
+
+But let us see if we cannot bring off the author.  The great question
+upon which all turns, is to discover and ascertain who Cleonice really
+is.  There are doubts concerning her 'etat'; how shall they be cleared?
+Had the truth been extorted from Varon (who alone knew) by the rack, it
+would have been a true tragical 'denouement'.  But that would probably
+not have done with Varon, who is represented as a bold, determined,
+wicked, and at that time desperate fellow; for he was in the hands of an
+enemy who he knew could not forgive him, with common prudence or safety.
+The rack would, therefore, have extorted no truth from him; but he would
+have died enjoying the doubts of his enemies, and the confusion that must
+necessarily attend those doubts.  A stratagem is therefore thought of to
+discover what force and terror could not, and the stratagem such as no
+king or minister would disdain, to get at an important discovery.  If you
+call that stratagem a TRICK, you vilify it, and make it comical; but call
+that trick a STRATAGEM, or a MEASURE, and you dignify it up to tragedy:
+so frequently do ridicule or dignity turn upon one single word.  It is
+commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule
+is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not
+just.  I deny it.  A truth learned in a certain light, and attacked in
+certain words, by men of wit and humor, may, and often doth, become
+ridiculous, at least so far that the truth is only remembered and
+repeated for the sake of the ridicule.  The overturn of Mary of Medicis
+into a river, where she was half-drowned, would never have been
+remembered if Madame de Vernuel, who saw it, had not said 'la Reine
+boit'.  Pleasure or malignity often gives ridicule a weight which it does
+not deserve.  The versification, I must confess, is too much neglected
+and too often bad: but, upon the whole, I read the play with pleasure.
+
+If there is but a great deal of wit and character in your new comedy, I
+will readily compound for its having little or no plot.  I chiefly mind
+dialogue and character in comedies.  Let dull critics feed upon the
+carcasses of plays; give me the taste and the dressing.
+
+I am very glad you went to Versailles to see the ceremony of creating the
+Prince de Conde 'Chevalier de l' Ordre'; and I do not doubt but that upon
+this occasion you informed yourself thoroughly of the institution and
+rules of that order.  If you did, you were certainly told it was
+instituted by Henry III. immediately after his return, or rather his
+flight from Poland; he took the hint of it at Venice, where he had seen
+the original manuscript of an order of the 'St. Esprit, ou droit desir',
+which had been instituted in 1352, by Louis d'Anjou, King of Jerusalem
+and Sicily, and husband to Jane, Queen of Naples, Countess of Provence.
+This Order was under the protection of St. Nicholas de Bari, whose image
+hung to the collar.  Henry III. found the Order of St. Michael
+prostituted and degraded, during the civil wars; he therefore joined it
+to his new Order of the St. Esprit, and gave them both together; for
+which reason every knight of the St. Esprit is now called Chevalier des
+Ordres du Roi.  The number of the knights hath been different, but is now
+fixed to ONE HUNDRED, exclusive of the sovereign.  There, are many
+officers who wear the riband of this Order, like the other knights; and
+what is very singular is, that these officers frequently sell their
+employments, but obtain leave to wear the blue riband still, though the
+purchasers of those offices wear it also.
+
+As you will have been a great while in France, people will expect that
+you should be 'au fait' of all these sort of things relative to that
+country.  But the history of all the Orders of all countries is well
+worth your knowledge; the subject occurs often, and one should not be
+ignorant of it, for fear of some such accident as happened to a solid
+Dane at Paris, who, upon seeing 'L'Ordre du St. Esprit', said, 'Notre St.
+Esprit chez nous c'est un Elephant'.  Almost all the princes in Germany
+have their Orders too; not dated, indeed, from any important events, or
+directed to any great object, but because they will have orders, to show
+that they may; as some of them, who have the 'jus cudendae monetae',
+borrow ten shillings worth of gold to coin a ducat.  However, wherever
+you meet with them, inform yourself, and minute down a short account of
+them; they take in all the colors of Sir Isaac Newton's prisms.  N. B:
+When you inquire about them, do not seem to laugh.
+
+I thank you for le Mandement de Monseigneur l'Archeveyue; it is very well
+drawn, and becoming an archbishop.  But pray do not lose sight of a much
+more important object, I mean the political disputes between the King and
+the parliament, and the King and the clergy; they seem both to be
+patching up; but, however, get the whole clue to them, as far as they
+have gone.
+
+I received a letter yesterday from Madame Monconseil, who assures me you
+have gained ground 'du cote des maniires', and that she looks upon you to
+be 'plus qu'a moitie chemin'.  I am very glad to hear this, because, if
+you are got above half way of your journey, surely you will finish it,
+and not faint in the course.  Why do you think I have this affair so
+extremely at heart, and why do I repeat it so often?  Is it for your
+sake, or for mine?  You can immediately answer yourself that question;
+you certainly have--I cannot possibly have any interest in it.  If then
+you will allow me, as I believe you may, to be a judge of what is useful
+and necessary to you, you must, in consequence, be convinced of the
+infinite importance of a point which I take so much pains to inculcate.
+
+I hear that the new Duke of Orleans 'a remercie Monsieur de Melfort, and
+I believe, 'pas sans raison', having had obligations to him; 'mais il ne
+l'a pas remercie en mari poli', but rather roughly.  Il faut que ce soit
+un bourru'.  I am told, too, that people get bits of his father's rags,
+by way of relies; I wish them joy, they will do them a great deal of
+good.  See from hence what weaknesses human nature is capable of, and
+make allowances for such in all your plans and reasonings.  Study the
+characters of the people you have to do with, and know what they are,
+instead of thinking them what they should be; address yourself generally
+to the senses, to the heart, and to the weaknesses of mankind, but very
+rarely to their reason.
+
+Good-night or good-morrow to you, according to the time you shall receive
+this letter from, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLIX
+
+LONDON, February 14, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In a month's time, I believe I shall have the pleasure of
+sending you, and you will have the pleasure of reading, a work of Lord
+Bolingbroke's, in two volumes octavo, "Upon the Use of History," in
+several letters to Lord Hyde, then Lord Cornbury.  It is now put into the
+press.  It is hard to determine whether this work will instruct or please
+most: the most material historical facts, from the great era of the
+treaty of Munster, are touched upon, accompanied by the most solid
+reflections, and adorned by all that elegance of style which was peculiar
+to himself, and in which, if Cicero equals, he certainly does not exceed
+him; but every other writer falls short of him.  I would advise you
+almost to get this book by heart.  I think you have a turn to history,
+you love it, and have a memory to retain it: this book will teach you the
+proper use of it.  Some people load their memories indiscriminately with
+historical facts, as others do their stomachs with food; and bring out
+the one, and bring up the other, entirely crude and undigested. You will
+find in Lord Bolingbroke's book an infallible specific against that
+epidemical complaint.--[It is important to remember that at this time
+Lord Bolingbroke's philosophical works had not appeared; which accounts
+for Lord Chesterfield's recommending to his son, in this, as well as in
+some foregoing passages, the study of Lord Bolingbroke's writings.]
+
+I remember a gentleman who had read history in this thoughtless and
+undistinguishing manner, and who, having traveled, had gone through the
+Valtelline.  He told me that it was a miserable poor country, and
+therefore it was, surely, a great error in Cardinal Richelieu to make
+such a rout, and put France to so much expense about it.  Had my friend
+read history as he ought to have done, he would have known that the great
+object of that great minister was to reduce the power of the House of
+Austria; and in order to that, to cut off as much as he could the
+communication between the several parts of their then extensive
+dominions; which reflections would have justified the Cardinal to him,
+in the affair of the Valtelline.  But it was easier to him to remember
+facts, than to combine and reflect.
+
+One observation I hope you will make in reading history; for it is an
+obvious and a true one.  It is, that more people have made great figures
+and great fortunes in courts by their exterior accomplishments, than by
+their interior qualifications.  Their engaging address, the politeness of
+their manners, their air, their turn, hath almost always paved the way
+for their superior abilities, if they have such, to exert themselves.
+They have been favorites before they have been ministers.  In courts, an
+universal gentleness and 'douceur dans les manieres' is most absolutely
+necessary: an offended fool, or a slighted valet de chambre, may very
+possibly do you more hurt at court, than ten men of merit can do you
+good.  Fools, and low people, are always jealous of their dignity, and
+never forget nor forgive what they reckon a slight: on the other hand,
+they take civility and a little attention as a favor; remember, and
+acknowledge it: this, in my mind, is buying them cheap; and therefore
+they are worth buying.  The prince himself, who is rarely the shining
+genius of his court, esteems you only by hearsay but likes you by his
+senses; that is, from your air, your politeness, and your manner of
+addressing him, of which alone he is a judge.  There is a court garment,
+as well as a wedding garment, without which you will not be received.
+That garment is the 'volto sciolto'; an imposing air, an elegant
+politeness, easy and engaging manners, universal attention, an
+insinuating gentleness, and all those 'je ne sais quoi' that compose the
+GRACES.
+
+I am this moment disagreeably interrupted by a letter; not from you, as I
+expected, but from a friend of yours at Paris, who informs me that you
+have a fever which confines you at home.  Since you have a fever, I am
+glad you have prudence enough in it to stay at home, and take care of
+yourself; a little more prudence might probably have prevented it.  Your
+blood is young, and consequently hot; and you naturally make a great deal
+by your good stomach and good digestion; you should, therefore,
+necessarily attenuate and cool it, from time to time, by gentle purges,
+or by a very low diet, for two or three days together, if you would avoid
+fevers.  Lord Bacon, who was a very great physician in both senses of the
+word, hath this aphorism in his "Essay upon Health," 'Nihil magis ad
+Sanitatem tribuit quam crebrae et domesticae purgationes'.  By
+'domesticae', he means those simple uncompounded purgatives which
+everybody can administer to themselves; such as senna-tea, stewed prunes
+and senria, chewing a little rhubarb, or dissolving an ounce and a half
+of manna in fair water, with the juice of a lemon to make it palatable.
+Such gentle and unconfining evacuations would certainly prevent those
+feverish attacks to which everybody at your age is subject.
+
+By the way, I do desire, and insist, that whenever, from any
+indisposition, you are not able to write to me upon the fixed days, that
+Christian shall; and give me a TRUE account how you are.  I do not expect
+from him the Ciceronian epistolary style; but I will content myself with
+the Swiss simplicity and truth.
+
+I hope you extend your acquaintance at Paris, and frequent variety of
+companies; the only way of knowing the world; every set of company
+differs in some particulars from another; and a man of business must, in
+the course of his life, have to do with all sorts.  It is a very great
+advantage to know the languages of the several countries one travels in;
+and different companies may, in some degree, be considered as different
+countries; each hath its distinctive language, customs, and manners: know
+them all, and you will wonder at none.
+
+Adieu, child.  Take care of your health; there are no pleasures without
+it.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLX
+
+LONDON, February 20, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: In all systems whatsoever, whether of religion,
+government, morals, etc., perfection is the object always proposed,
+though possibly unattainable; hitherto, at least, certainly unattained.
+However, those who aim carefully at the mark itself, will unquestionably
+come nearer it, than those who from despair, negligence, or indolence,
+leave to chance the work of skill.  This maxim holds equally true in
+common life; those who aim at perfection will come infinitely nearer it
+than those desponding or indolent spirits, who foolishly say to
+themselves: Nobody is perfect; perfection is unattainable; to attempt it
+is chimerical; I shall do as well as others; why then should I give
+myself trouble to be what I never can, and what, according to the common
+course of things, I need not be, PERFECT?
+
+I am very sure that I need not point out to you the weakness and the
+folly of this reasoning, if it deserves the name of reasoning.  It would
+discourage and put a stop to the exertion of any one of our faculties.
+On the contrary, a man of sense and spirit says to himself:  Though the
+point of perfection may (considering the imperfection of our nature) be
+unattainable, my care, my endeavors, my attention, shall not be wanting
+to get as near it as I can.  I will approach it every day, possibly, I
+may arrive at it at last; at least, what I am sure is in my own power,
+I will not be distanced.  Many fools (speaking of you) say to me: What!
+would you have him perfect?  I answer: Why not?  What hurt would it do
+him or me?  O, but that is impossible, say they; I reply, I am not sure
+of that: perfection in the abstract, I admit to be unattainable, but what
+is commonly called perfection in a character I maintain to be attainable,
+and not only that, but in every man's power.  He hath, continue they, a
+good head, a good heart, a good fund of knowledge, which would increase
+daily: What would you have more?  Why, I would have everything more that
+can adorn and complete a character.  Will it do his head, his heart, or
+his knowledge any harm, to have the utmost delicacy of manners, the most
+shining advantages of air and address, the most endearing attentions, and
+the most engaging graces?  But as he is, say they, he is loved wherever
+he is known.  I am very glad of it, say I; but I would have him be liked
+before he is known, and loved afterward.  I would have him, by his first
+abord and address, make people wish to know him, and inclined to love
+him: he will save a great deal of time by it.  Indeed, reply they, you
+are too nice, too exact, and lay too much stress upon things that are of
+very little consequence.  Indeed, rejoin I, you know very little of the
+nature of mankind, if you take those things to be of little consequence:
+one cannot be too attentive to them; it is they that always engage the
+heart, of which the understanding is commonly the bubble.  And I would
+much rather that he erred in a point of grammar, of history, of
+philosophy, etc., than in point of manners and address.  But consider,
+he is very young; all this will come in time.  I hope so; but that time
+must be when he is young, or it will never be at all; the right 'pli'
+must be taken young, or it will never be easy or seem natural.  Come,
+come, say they (substituting, as is frequently done, assertion instead of
+argument), depend upon it he will do very well: and you have a great deal
+of reason to be satisfied with him.  I hope and believe he will do well,
+but I would have him do better than well.  I am very well pleased with
+him, but I would be more, I would be proud of him.  I would have him have
+lustre as well as weight.  Did you ever know anybody that reunited all
+these talents?  Yes, I did; Lord Bolingbroke joined all the politeness,
+the manners, and the graces of a courtier, to the solidity of a
+statesman, and to the learning of a pedant.  He was 'omnis homo'; and
+pray what should hinder my boy from being so too, if he 'hath, as I think
+he hath, all the other qualifications that you allow him?  Nothing can
+hinder him, but neglect of or inattention to, those objects which his own
+good sense must tell him are, of infinite consequence to him, and which
+therefore I will not suppose him capable of either neglecting or
+despising.
+
+This (to tell you the whole truth) is the result of a controversy that
+passed yesterday, between Lady Hervey and myself, upon your subject, and
+almost in the very words.  I submit the decision of it to yourself; let
+your own good sense determine it, and make you act in consequence of that
+determination.  The receipt to make this composition is short and
+infallible; here I give it to you:
+
+Take variety of the best company, wherever you are; be minutely attentive
+to every word and action; imitate respectively those whom you observe to
+be distinguished and considered for any one accomplishment; then mix all
+those several accomplishments together, and serve them up yourself to
+others.
+
+I hope your fair, or rather your brown AMERICAN is well.  I hear that she
+makes very handsome presents, if she is not so herself.  I am told there
+are people at Paris who expect, from this secret connection, to see in
+time a volume of letters, superior to Madame de Graffiny's Peruvian ones;
+I lay in my claim to one of the first copies.
+
+Francis's Genie--[Francis's "Eugenia."]--hath been acted twice, with
+most universal applause; to-night is his third night, and I am going to
+it.  I did not think it would have succeeded so well, considering how
+long our British audiences have been accustomed to murder, racks, and
+poison, in every tragedy; but it affected the heart so much, that it
+triumphed over habit and prejudice.  All the women cried, and all the men
+were moved.  The prologue, which is a very good one, was made entirely by
+Garrick.  The epilogue is old Cibber's; but corrected, though not
+enough, by Francis.  He will get a great deal of, money by it; and,
+consequently, be better able to lend you sixpence, upon any emergency.
+
+The parliament of Paris, I find by the newspapers, has not carried its
+point concerning the hospitals, and, though the King hath given up the
+Archbishop, yet as he has put them under the management and direction
+'du Grand Conseil', the parliament is equally out of the question.  This
+will naturally put you upon inquiring into the constitution of the 'Grand
+Conseil'.  You will, doubtless, inform yourself who it is composed of,
+what things are 'de son ressort', whether or not there lies an appeal
+from thence to any other place; and of all other particulars, that may
+give you a clear notion of this assembly.  There are also three or four
+other Conseils in France, of which you ought to know the constitution and
+the objects; I dare say you do know them already; but if you do not, lose
+no time in informing yourself.  These things, as I have often told you,
+are best learned in various French companies: but in no English ones, for
+none of our countrymen trouble their heads about them.  To use a very
+trite image, collect, like the bee, your store from every quarter.  In
+some companies ('parmi les fermiers generaux nommement') you may, by
+proper inquiries, get a general knowledge, at least, of 'les affaires des
+finances'.  When you are with 'des gens de robe', suck them with regard
+to the constitution, and civil government, and 'sic de caeteris'.  This
+shows you the advantage of keeping a great deal of different French
+company; an advantage much superior to any that you can possibly receive
+from loitering and sauntering away evenings in any English company at
+Paris, not even excepting Lord A------.  Love of ease, and fear of
+restraint (to both which I doubt you are, for a young fellow, too much
+addicted) may invite you among your countrymen: but pray withstand those
+mean temptations, 'et prenez sur vous', for the sake of being in those
+assemblies, which alone can inform your mind and improve your manners.
+You have not now many months to continue at Paris; make the most of them;
+get into every house there, if you can; extend acquaintance, know
+everything and everybody there; that when you leave it for other places,
+you may be 'au fait', and even able to explain whatever you may hear
+mentioned concerning it.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXI
+
+LONDON, March 2, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Whereabouts are you in Ariosto?  Or have you gone through
+that most ingenious contexture of truth and lies, of serious and
+extravagant, of knights-errant, magicians, and all that various matter
+which he announces in the beginning of his poem:
+
+               Le Donne, I Cavalier, l'arme, gli amori,
+               Le cortesie, l'audaci impreso io canto.
+
+I am by no means sure that Homer had superior invention, or excelled more
+in description than Ariosto.  What can be more seducing and voluptuous,
+than the description of Alcina's person and palace?  What more
+ingeniously extravagant, than the search made in the moon for Orlando's
+lost wits, and the account of other people's that were found there?  The
+whole is worth your attention, not only as an ingenious poem, but as the
+source of all modern tales, novels, fables, and romances; as Ovid's
+"Metamorphoses;" was of the ancient ones; besides, that when you have
+read this work, nothing will be difficult to you in the Italian language.
+You will read Tasso's 'Gierusalemme', and the 'Decamerone di Boccacio',
+with great facility afterward; and when you have read those three
+authors, you will, in my opinion, have read all the works of invention
+that are worth reading in that language; though the Italians would be
+very angry at me for saying so.
+
+A gentleman should know those which I call classical works, in every
+language; such as Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Moliere, etc., in French;
+Milton, Dryden, Pope, Swift, etc., in English; and the three authors
+above mentioned in Italian; whether you have any such in German I am not
+quite sure, nor, indeed, am I inquisitive.  These sort of books adorn the
+mind, improve the fancy, are frequently alluded to by, and are often the
+subjects of conversations of the best companies.  As you have languages
+to read, and memory to retain them, the knowledge of them is very well
+worth the little pains it will cost you, and will enable you to shine in
+company.  It is not pedantic to quote and allude to them, which it would
+be with regard to the ancients.
+
+Among the many advantages which you have had in your education, I do not
+consider your knowledge of several languages as the least.  You need not
+trust to translations; you can go to the source; you can both converse
+and negotiate with people of all nations, upon equal terms; which is by
+no means the case of a man, who converses or negotiates in a language
+which those with whom he hath to do know much better than himself.  In
+business, a great deal may depend upon the force and extent of one word;
+and, in conversation, a moderate thought may gain, or a good one lose, by
+the propriety or impropriety, the elegance or inelegance of one single
+word.  As therefore you now know four modern languages well, I would have
+you study (and, by the way, it will be very little trouble to you) to
+know them correctly, accurately, and delicately.  Read some little books
+that treat of them, and ask questions concerning their delicacies, of
+those who are able to answer you.  As, for instance, should I say in
+French, 'la lettre que je vous ai ECRIT', or, 'la lettre que je vous ai
+ECRITE'?  in which, I think, the French differ among themselves.  There
+is a short French grammar by the Port Royal, and another by Pere Bufiier,
+both which are worth your reading; as is also a little book called 'Les
+Synonymes Francois.  There are books of that kind upon the Italian
+language, into some of which I would advise you to dip; possibly the
+German language may have something of the same sort, and since you
+already speak it, the more properly you speak it the better; one would,
+I think, as far as possible, do all one does correctly and elegantly.
+It is extremely engaging to people of every nation, to meet with a
+foreigner who hath taken pains enough to speak their language correctly;
+it flatters that local and national pride and prejudice of which
+everybody hath some share.
+
+Francis's "Eugenia," which I will send you, pleased most people of good
+taste here; the boxes were crowded till the sixth night, when the pit and
+gallery were totally deserted, and it was dropped.  Distress, without
+death, was not sufficient to affect a true British audience, so long
+accustomed to daggers, racks, and bowls of poison: contrary to Horace's
+rule, they desire to see Medea murder her children upon the stage.  The
+sentiments were too delicate to move them; and their hearts are to be
+taken by storm, not by parley.
+
+Have you got the things, which were taken from you at Calais, restored?
+and, among them, the little packet which my sister gave you for Sir
+Charles Hotham?  In this case, have you forwarded it to him?  If you have
+not had an opportunity, you will have one soon; which I desire you will
+not omit; it is by Monsieur d'Aillion, whom you will see in a few days at
+Paris, in his way to Geneva, where Sir Charles now is, and will remain
+some time.  Adieu:
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXII
+
+LONDON, March 5, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have received no letter from you by the usual post,
+I am uneasy upon account of your health; for, had you been well, I am
+sure you would have written, according to your engagement and my
+requisition.  You have not the least notion of any care of your health;
+but though I would not have you be a valetudinarian, I must tell you that
+the best and most robust health requires some degree of attention to
+preserve.  Young fellows, thinking they have so much health and time
+before them, are very apt to neglect or lavish both, and beggar
+themselves before they are aware: whereas a prudent economy in both would
+make them rich indeed; and so far from breaking in upon their pleasures,
+would improve, and almost perpetuate them.  Be you wiser, and, before it
+is too late, manage both with care and frugality; and lay out neither,
+but upon good interest and security.
+
+I will now confine myself to the employment of your time, which, though I
+have often touched upon formerly, is a subject that, from its importance,
+will bear repetition.  You have it is true, a great deal of time before
+you; but, in this period of your life, one hour usefully employed may be
+worth more than four-and-twenty hereafter; a minute is precious to you
+now, whole days may possibly not be so forty years hence.  Whatever time
+you allow, or can snatch for serious reading (I say snatch, because
+company and the knowledge of the world is now your chief object), employ
+it in the reading of some one book, and that a good one, till you have
+finished it: and do not distract your mind with various matters at the
+same time.  In this light I would recommend to you to read 'tout de
+suite' Grotius 'de Jure Belli et Pacis', translated by Barbeyrac, and
+Puffendorff's 'Jus Gentium', translated by the same hand.  For accidental
+quarters of hours, read works of invention, wit and humor, of the best,
+and not of trivial authors, either ancient or modern.
+
+Whatever business you have, do it the first moment you can; never by
+halves, but finish it without interruption, if possible.  Business must
+not be sauntered and trifled with; and you must not say to it, as Felix
+did to Paul, "At a more convenient season I will speak to thee."
+The most convenient season for business is the first; but study and
+business in some measure point out their own times to a man of sense;
+time is much oftener squandered away in the wrong choice and improper
+methods of amusement and pleasures.
+
+Many people think that they are in pleasures, provided they are neither
+in study nor in business.  Nothing like it; they are doing nothing, and
+might just as well be asleep.  They contract habitudes from laziness, and
+they only frequent those places where they are free from all restraints
+and attentions.  Be upon your guard against this idle profusion of time;
+and let every place you go to be either the scene of quick and lively
+pleasures, or the school of your own improvements; let every company you
+go into either gratify your senses, extend your knowledge, or refine your
+manners.  Have some decent object of gallantry in view at some places;
+frequent others, where people of wit and taste assemble; get into others,
+where people of superior rank and dignity command respect and attention
+from the rest of the company; but pray frequent no neutral places, from
+mere idleness and indolence.  Nothing forms a young man so much as being
+used to keep respectable and superior company, where a constant regard
+and attention is necessary.  It is true, this is at first a disagreeable
+state of restraint; but it soon grows habitual, and consequently easy;
+and you are amply paid for it, by the improvement you make, and the
+credit it gives you.  What you said some time ago was very true,
+concerning 'le Palais Royal'; to one of your age the situation is
+disagreeable enough: you cannot expect to be much taken notice of;
+but all that time you can take notice of others; observe their manners,
+decipher their characters, and insensibly you will become one of the
+company.
+
+All this I went through myself, when I was of your age.  I have sat hours
+in company without being taken the least notice of; but then I took
+notice of them, and learned in their company how to behave myself better
+in the next, till by degrees I became part of the best companies myself.
+But I took great care not to lavish away my time in those companies where
+there were neither quick pleasures nor useful improvements to be
+expected.
+
+Sloth, indolence, and 'mollesse' are pernicious and unbecoming a young
+fellow; let them be your 'ressource' forty years hence at soonest.
+Determine, at all events, and however disagreeable it may to you in some
+respects, and for some time, to keep the most distinguished and
+fashionable company of the place you are at, either for their rank, or
+for their learning, or 'le bel esprit et le gout'.  This gives you
+credentials to the best companies, wherever you go afterward.  Pray,
+therefore, no indolence, no laziness; but employ every minute in your
+life in active pleasures, or useful employments.  Address yourself to
+some woman of fashion and beauty, wherever you are, and try how far that
+will go.  If the place be not secured beforehand, and garrisoned, nine
+times in ten you will take it.  By attentions and respect you may always
+get into the highest company: and by some admiration and applause,
+whether merited or not, you may be sure of being welcome among 'les
+savans et les beaux esprits'.  There are but these three sorts of company
+for a young fellow; there being neither pleasure nor profit in any other.
+
+My uneasiness with regard to your health is this moment removed by your
+letter of the 8th N. S., which, by what accident I do not know, I did not
+receive before.
+
+I long to read Voltaire's 'Rome Sauvee', which, by the very faults that
+your SEVERE critics find with it, I am sure I shall like; for I will at
+an any time give up a good deal of regularity for a great deal of
+brillant; and for the brillant surely nobody is equal to Voltaire.
+Catiline's conspiracy is an unhappy subject for a tragedy; it is too
+single, and gives no opportunity to the poet to excite any of the tender
+passions; the whole is one intended act of horror, Crebillon was sensible
+of this defect, and to create another interest, most absurdly made
+Catiline in love with Cicero's daughter, and her with him.
+
+I am very glad that you went to Versailles, and dined with Monsieur de
+St. Contest.  That is company to learn 'les bonnes manieres' in; and it
+seems you had 'les bonnes morceaux' into the bargain.  Though you were no
+part of the King of France's conversation with the foreign ministers, and
+probably not much entertained with it, do you think that it is not very
+useful to you to hear it, and to observe the turn and manners of people
+of that sort?  It is extremely useful to know it well.  The same in the
+next rank of people, such as ministers of state, etc., in whose company,
+though you cannot yet, at your age, bear a part, and consequently be
+diverted, you will observe and learn, what hereafter it may be necessary
+for you to act.
+
+Tell Sir John Lambert that I have this day fixed Mr. Spencer's having his
+credit upon him; Mr. Hoare had also recommended him.  I believe Mr.
+Spencer will set out next month for some place in France, but not Paris.
+I am sure he wants a great deal of France, for at present he is most
+entirely English: and you know very well what I think of that.  And so we
+bid you heartily good-night.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIII
+
+LONDON, March 16, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: How do you go on with the most useful and most necessary
+of all studies, the study of the world?  Do you find that you gain
+knowledge?  And does your daily experience at once extend and demonstrate
+your improvement?  You will possibly ask me how you can judge of that
+yourself.  I will tell you a sure way of knowing.  Examine yourself, and
+see whether your notions of the world are changed, by experience, from
+what they were two years ago in theory; for that alone is one favorable
+symptom of improvement.  At that age (I remember it in myself) every
+notion that one forms is erroneous; one hath seen few models, and those
+none of the best, to form one's self upon.  One thinks that everything is
+to be carried by spirit and vigor; that art is meanness, and that
+versatility and complaisance are the refuge of pusilanimity and weakness.
+This most mistaken opinion gives an indelicacy, a 'brusquerie', and a
+roughness to the manners.  Fools, who can never be undeceived, retain
+them as long as they live: reflection, with a little experience, makes
+men of sense shake them off soon.  When they come to be a little better
+acquainted with themselves, and with their own species, they discover that
+plain right reason is, nine times in ten, the fettered and shackled
+attendant of the triumph of the heart and the passions; and,
+consequently, they address themselves nine times in ten to the conqueror,
+not to the conquered: and conquerors, you know, must be applied to in the
+gentlest, the most engaging, and the most insinuating manner.  Have you
+found out that every woman is infallibly to be gained by every sort of
+flattery, and every man by one sort or other?  Have you discovered what
+variety of little things affect the heart, and how surely they
+collectively gain it?  If you have, you have made some progress.  I would
+try a man's knowledge of the world, as I would a schoolboy's knowledge of
+Horace: not by making him construe 'Maecenas atavis edite regibus', which
+he could do in the first form; but by examining him as to the delicacy
+and 'curiosa felicitas' of that poet.  A man requires very little
+knowledge and experience of the world, to understand glaring, high-
+colored, and decided characters; they are but few, and they strike at
+first: but to distinguish the almost imperceptible shades, and the nice
+gradations of virtue and vice, sense and folly, strength and weakness (of
+which characters are commonly composed), demands some experience, great
+observation, and minute attention.  In the same cases, most people do the
+same things, but with this material difference, upon which the success
+commonly turns: A man who hath studied the world knows when to time, and
+where to place them; he hath analyzed the characters he applies to, and
+adapted his address and his arguments to them: but a man, of what is
+called plain good sense, who hath only reasoned by himself, and not acted
+with mankind, mistimes, misplaces, runs precipitately and bluntly at the
+mark, and falls upon his nose in the way.  In the common manners of
+social life, every man of common sense hath the rudiments, the A B C of
+civility; he means not to offend, and even wishes to please: and, if he
+hath any real merit, will be received and tolerated in good company.
+But that is far from being enough; for, though he may be received, he
+will never be desired; though he does not offend, he will never be loved;
+but, like some little, insignificant, neutral power, surrounded by great
+ones, he will neither be feared nor courted by any; but, by turns,
+invaded by all, whenever it is their interest.  A most contemptible
+situation!  Whereas, a man who hath carefully attended to, and
+experienced, the various workings of the heart, and the artifices of the
+head; and who, by one shade, can trace the progression of the whole
+color; who can, at the proper times, employ all the several means of
+persuading the understanding, and engaging the heart, may and will have
+enemies; but will and must have friends: he may be opposed, but he will
+be supported too; his talents may excite the jealousy of some, but his
+engaging arts will make him beloved by many more; he will be
+considerable; he will be considered.  Many different qualifications must
+conspire to form such a man, and to make him at once respectable and
+amiable; the least must be joined to the greatest; the latter would be
+unavailing without the former; and the former would be futile and
+frivolous, without the latter.  Learning is acquired by reading books;
+but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only
+to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of
+them.  Many words in every language are generally thought to be
+synonymous; but those who study the language attentively will find, that
+there is no such thing; they will discover some little difference, some
+distinction between all those words that are vulgarly called synonymous;
+one hath always more energy, extent, or delicacy, than another.  It is
+the same with men; all are in general, and yet no two in particular,
+exactly alike.  Those who have not accurately studied, perpetually
+mistake them; they do not discern the shades and gradations that
+distinguish characters seemingly alike.  Company, various company, is the
+only school for this knowledge.  You ought to be, by this time, at least
+in the third form of that school, from whence the rise to the uppermost
+is easy and quick; but then you must have application and vivacity; and
+you must not only bear with, but even seek restraint in most companies,
+instead of stagnating in one or two only, where indolence and love of
+ease may be indulged.
+
+In the plan which I gave you in my last,--[That letter is missing.]--
+for your future motions, I forgot to tell you; that, if a king of the
+Romans should be chosen this year, you shall certainly be at that
+election; and as, upon those occasions, all strangers are excluded from
+the place of the election, except such as belong to some ambassador,
+I have already eventually secured you a place in the suite of the King's
+Electoral Ambassador, who will be sent upon that account to Frankfort,
+or wherever else the election may be.  This will not only secure you a
+sight of the show, but a knowledge of the whole thing; which is likely to
+be a contested one, from the opposition of some of the electors, and the
+protests of some of the princes of the empire.  That election, if there
+is one, will, in my opinion, be a memorable era in the history of the
+empire; pens at least, if not swords, will be drawn; and ink, if not
+blood, will be plentifully shed by the contending parties in that
+dispute.  During the fray, you may securely plunder, and add to your
+present stock of knowledge of the 'jus publicum imperii'.  The court of
+France hath, I am told, appointed le President Ogier, a man of great
+abilities, to go immediately to Ratisbon, 'pour y souffler la discorde'.
+It must be owned that France hath always profited skillfully of its
+having guaranteed the treaty of Munster; which hath given it a constant
+pretense to thrust itself into the affairs of the empire.  When France
+got Alsace yielded by treaty, it was very willing to have held it as a
+fief of the empire; but the empire was then wiser.  Every power should be
+very careful not to give the least pretense to a neighboring power to
+meddle with the affairs of its interior.  Sweden hath already felt the
+effects of the Czarina's calling herself Guarantee of its present form of
+government, in consequence of the treaty of Neustadt, confirmed afterward
+by that of Abo; though, in truth, that guarantee was rather a provision
+against Russia's attempting to alter the then new established form of
+government in Sweden, than any right given to Russia to hinder the Swedes
+from establishing what form of government they pleased.  Read them both,
+if you can get them.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIV
+
+LONDON, April 73, O.  S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I receive this moment your letter of the 19th, N. S.,
+with the inclosed pieces relative to  the present dispute between the
+King and the parliament.  I shall return them by Lord Huntingdon, whom
+you will soon see at Paris, and who will likewise carry you the piece,
+which I forgot in making up the packet I sent you by the Spanish
+Ambassador.  The representation of the parliament is very well drawn,
+'suaviter in modo, fortiter in re'.  They tell the King very
+respectfully, that, in a certain case, WHICH THEY SHOULD THINK IT
+CRIMINAL To SUPPOSE, they would not obey him.  This hath a tendency to
+what we call here revolution principles.  I do not know what the Lord's
+anointed, his vicegerent upon earth, divinely appointed by him, and
+accountable to none but him for his actions, will either think or do,
+upon these symptoms of reason and good sense, which seem to be breaking
+out all over France: but this I foresee, that, before the end of this
+century, the trade of both king and priest will not be half so good a one
+as it has been.  Du Clos, in his "Reflections," hath observed, and very
+truly, 'qu'il y a un germe de raison qui commence a se developper en
+France';--a developpement that must prove fatal to Regal and Papal
+pretensions.  Prudence may, in many cases, recommend an occasional
+submission to either; but when that ignorance, upon which an implicit
+faith in both could only be founded, is once removed, God's Vicegerent,
+and Christ's Vicar, will only be obeyed and believed, as far as what the
+one orders, and the other says, is conformable to reason and to truth.
+
+I am very glad (to use a vulgar expression) that You MAKE AS IF YOU WERE
+NOT WELL, though you really are; I am sure it is the likeliest way to
+keep so.  Pray leave off entirely your greasy, heavy pastry, fat creams,
+and indigestible dumplings; and then you need not confine yourself to
+white meats, which I do not take to be one jot wholesomer than beef,
+mutton, and partridge.
+
+Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV.  It
+came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how
+history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written.
+I am sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers.
+Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked:
+for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses;
+reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
+It is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts,
+for the use of men of parts.  Weak minds will not like it, even though
+they do not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their
+admiration.  Dull ones will want those minute and uninteresting details
+with which most other histories are encumbered.  He tells me all I want
+to know, and nothing more.  His reflections are short, just, and produce
+others in his readers.  Free from religious, philosophical, political and
+national prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all
+those matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must
+always be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly
+that he often says much less than he would say, if he might.  He hath
+made me much better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the
+innumerable volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this
+reflection to me, which I have never made before--His vanity, not his
+knowledge, made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences
+in his country.  He opened in a manner the human understanding in France,
+and brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and
+greatly exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan.  This
+was great and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement,
+the applause, and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince.
+What is much more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the
+human mind just where he pleased; and seemed to say, "Thus far shalt thou
+go, and no farther."  For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his
+power, free and rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a
+French head during his reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age
+produced, never entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the
+infallibility of the Church.  Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant
+of their natural rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith
+triumphed, in those great minds, over silent and passive reason.  The
+reverse of this seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself;
+fancy and invention fade and decline.
+
+I will send you a copy of this history by Lord Huntingdon, as I think it
+very probable that it is not allowed to be published and sold at Paris.
+Pray read it more than once, and with attention, particularly the second
+volume, which contains short, but very clear accounts of many very
+interesting things, which are talked of by everybody, though fairly.
+understood by very few.  There are two very puerile affectations which I
+wish this book had been free from; the one is, the total subversion of
+all the old established French orthography; the other is, the not making
+use of any one capital letter throughout the whole book, except at the
+beginning of a paragraph.  It offends my eyes to see rome, paris, france,
+Caesar, I henry the fourth, etc., begin with small letters; and I do not
+conceive that there can be any reason for doing it, half so strong as the
+reason of long usage is to the contrary.  This is an affectation below
+Voltaire; who, I am not ashamed to say, that I admire and delight in, as
+an author, equally in prose and in verse.
+
+I had a letter a few days ago from Monsieur du Boccage, in which he says,
+'Monsieur Stanhope s'est jete dans la politique, et je crois qu'il y
+reussira': You do very well, it is your destination; but remember that,
+to succeed in great things, one must first learn to please in little
+ones.  Engaging manners and address must prepare the way for superior
+knowledge and abilities to act with effect.  The late Duke of
+Marlborough's manners and address prevailed with the first king of
+Prussia, to let his troops remain in the army of the Allies, when neither
+their representations, nor his own share in the common cause could do it.
+The Duke of Marlborough had no new matter to urge to him; but had a
+manner, which he could not, nor did not, resist.  Voltaire, among a
+thousand little delicate strokes of that kind, says of the Duke de la
+Feuillade, 'qu'il etoit l'homme le plus brillant et le plus aimable du
+royaume; et quoique gendre du General et Ministre, il avoit pour lui la
+faveur publique'.  Various little circumstances of that sort will often
+make a man of great real merit be hated, if he hath not address and
+manners to make him be loved.  Consider all your own circumstances
+seriously; and you will find that, of all arts, the art of pleasing is
+the most necessary for you to study and possess.  A silly tyrant said,
+'oderint modo timeant'; a wise man would have said, 'modo ament nihil
+timendum est mihi'.  Judge from your own daily experience, of the
+efficacy of that pleasing 'je ne sais quoi', when you feel, as you and
+everybody certainly does, that in men it is more engaging than knowledge,
+in women than beauty.
+
+I long to see Lord and Lady ------- (who are not yet arrived), because
+they have lately seen you; and I always fancy, that I can fish out
+something new concerning you, from those who have seen you last: not that
+I shall much rely upon their accounts, because I distrust the judgment of
+Lord and Lady -------, in those matters about which I am most
+inquisitive.  They have ruined their own son by what they called and
+thought loving him.  They have made him believe that the world was made
+for him, not he for the world; and unless he stays abroad a great while,
+and falls into very good company, he will expect, what he will never
+find, the attentions and complaisance from others, which he has hitherto
+been used to from Papa and Mamma.  This, I fear, is too much the case of
+Mr.; who, I doubt, will be run through the body, and be near dying,
+before he knows how to live.  However you may turn out, you can never
+make me any of these reproaches.  I indulged no silly, womanish fondness
+for you; instead of inflicting my tenderness upon you, I have taken all
+possible methods to make you deserve it; and thank God you do; at least,
+I know but one article, in which you are different from what I could wish
+you; and you very well know what that is I want: That I and all the world
+should like you, as well as I love you.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXV
+
+LONDON, April 30, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Avoir du monde' is, in my opinion, a very just and happy
+expression for having address, manners, and for knowing how to behave
+properly in all companies; and it implies very truly that a man who hath
+not those accomplishments is not of the world.  Without them, the best
+parts are inefficient, civility is absurd, and freedom offensive.  A
+learned parson, rusting in his cell, at Oxford or Cambridge, will season
+admirably well upon the nature of man; will profoundly analyze the head,
+the heart, the reason, the will, the passions, the senses, the
+sentiments, and all those subdivisions of we know not what; and yet,
+unfortunately, he knows nothing of man, for he hath not lived with him;
+and is ignorant of all the various modes, habits, prejudices, and tastes,
+that always influence and often determine him.  He views man as he does
+colors in Sir Isaac Newton's prism, where only the capital ones are seen;
+but an experienced dyer knows all their various shades and gradations,
+together with the result of their several mixtures.  Few men are of one
+plain, decided color; most are mixed, shaded, and blended; and vary as
+much, from different situations, as changeable silks do form different
+lights.  The man 'qui a du monde' knows all this from his own experience
+and observation: the conceited, cloistered philosopher knows nothing of
+it from his own theory; his practice is absurd and improper, and he acts
+as awkwardly as a man would dance, who had never seen others dance, nor
+learned of a dancing-master; but who had only studied the notes by which
+dances are now pricked down as well as tunes.  Observe and imitate, then,
+the address, the arts, and the manners of those 'qui ont du monde': see
+by what methods they first make, and afterward improve impressions in
+their favor.  Those impressions are much oftener owing to little causes
+than to intrinsic merit; which is less volatile, and hath not so sudden
+an effect.  Strong minds have undoubtedly an ascendant over weak ones, as
+Galigai Marachale d'Ancre very justly observed, when, to the disgrace and
+reproach of those times, she was executed for having governed Mary of
+Medicis by the arts of witchcraft and magic.  But then ascendant is to be
+gained by degrees, and by those arts only which experience and the
+knowledge of the world teaches; for few are mean enough to be bullied,
+though most are weak enough to be bubbled.  I have often seen people of
+superior, governed by people of much inferior parts, without knowing or
+even suspecting that they were so governed.  This can only happen when
+those people of inferior parts have more worldly dexterity and
+experience, than those they govern.  They see the weak and unguarded
+part, and apply to it they take it, and all the rest follows.  Would you
+gain either men or women, and every man of sense desires to gain both,
+'il faut du monde'.  You have had more opportunities than ever any man
+had, at your age, of acquiring 'ce monde'.  You have been in the best
+companies of most countries, at an age when others have hardly been in
+any company at all.  You are master of all those languages, which John
+Trott seldom speaks at all, and never well; consequently you need be a
+stranger nowhere.  This is the way, and the only way, of having
+'du monde', but if you have it not, and have still any coarse rusticity
+about you, may not one apply to you the 'rusticus expectat' of Horace?
+
+This knowledge of the world teaches us more particularly two things,
+both which are of infinite consequence, and to neither of which nature
+inclines us; I mean, the command of our temper, and of our countenance.
+A man who has no 'monde' is inflamed with anger, or annihilated with
+shame, at every disagreeable incident: the one makes him act and talk
+like a madman, the other makes him look like a fool.  But a man who has
+'du monde', seems not to understand what he cannot or ought not to
+resent.  If he makes a slip himself, he recovers it by his coolness,
+instead of plunging deeper by his confusion like a stumbling horse.
+He is firm, but gentle; and practices that most excellent maxim,
+'suaviter in modo, fortiter in re'.  The other is the 'volto sciolto a
+pensieri stretti'.  People unused to the world have babbling
+countenances; and are unskillful enough to show what they have sense
+enough not to tell.  In the course of the world, a man must very often
+put on an easy, frank countenance, upon very disagreeable occasions; he
+must seem pleased when he is very much otherwise; he must be able to
+accost and receive with smiles, those whom he would much rather meet with
+swords.  In courts he must not turn himself inside out.  All this may,
+nay must be done, without falsehood and treachery; for it must go no
+further than politeness and manners, and must stop short of assurances
+and professions of simulated friendship.  Good manners, to those one does
+not love, are no more a breach of truth, than "your humble servant" at
+the bottom of a challenge is; they are universally agreed upon and
+understood, to be things of course.  They are necessary guards of the
+decency and peace of society; they must only act defensively; and then
+not with arms poisoned by perfidy.  Truth, but not the whole truth, must
+be the invariable principle of every man, who hath either religion,
+honor, or prudence.  Those who violate it may be cunning, but they are
+not able.  Lies and perfidy are the refuge of fools and cowards.  Adieu!
+
+P. S.  I must recommend to you again, to take your leave of all your
+French acquaintance, in such a manner as may make them regret your
+departure, and wish to see and welcome you at Paris again, where you may
+possibly return before it is very long.  This must not be done in a cold,
+civil manner, but with at least seeming warmth, sentiment, and concern.
+Acknowledge the obligations you have to them for the kindness they have
+shown you during your stay at Paris: assure them that wherever you are,
+you will remember them with gratitude; wish for opportunities of giving
+them proofs of your 'plus tendre et respectueux souvenir; beg of them in
+case your good fortune should carry them to any part of the world where
+you could be of any the least use to them, that they would employ you
+without reserve.  Say all this, and a great deal more, emphatically and
+pathetically; for you know 'si vis me flere'.  This can do you no harm,
+if you never return to Paris; but if you do, as probably you may, it will
+be of infinite use to you.  Remember too, not to omit going to every
+house where you have ever been once, to take leave and recommend yourself
+to their remembrance.  The reputation which you leave at one place, where
+you have been, will circulate, and you will meet with it at twenty places
+where you are to go.  That is a labor never quite lost.
+
+This letter will show you, that the accident which happened to me
+yesterday, and of which Mr. Grevenkop gives you account, hath had no bad
+consequences.  My escape was a great one.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVI
+
+LONDON, May 11, O. S.  1752.
+
+DEAR FRIEND: I break my word by writing this letter; but I break it on
+the allowable side, by doing more than I promised.  I have pleasure in
+writing to you; and you may possibly have some profit in reading what I
+write; either of the motives were sufficient for me, both for you I
+cannot withstand.  By your last I calculate that you will leave Paris
+upon this day se'nnight; upon that supposition, this letter may still
+find you there.
+
+Colonel Perry arrived here two or three days ago, and sent me a book from
+you; Cassandra abridged.  I am sure it cannot be too much abridged.  The
+spirit of that most voluminous work, fairly extracted, may be contained
+in the smallest duodecimo; and it is most astonishing, that there ever
+could have been people idle enough to write or read such endless heaps of
+the same stuff.  It was, however, the occupation of thousands in the last
+century, and is still the private, though disavowed, amusement of young
+girls, and sentimental ladies.  A lovesick girl finds, in the captain
+with whom she is in love, all the courage and all the graces of the
+tender and accomplished Oroondates: and many a grown-up, sentimental
+lady, talks delicate Clelia to the hero, whom she would engage to eternal
+love, or laments with her that love is not eternal.
+
+          "Ah!  qu'il est doux d'aimer, si Pon aimoit toujours!
+          Mais helas!  il'n'est point d'eternelles amours."
+
+It is, however, very well to have read one of those extravagant works
+(of all which La Calprenede's are the best), because it is well to be
+able to talk, with some degree of knowledge, upon all those subjects that
+other people talk sometimes upon: and I would by no means have anything,
+that is known to others, be totally unknown to you.  It is a great
+advantage for any man, to be able to talk or to hear, neither ignorantly
+nor absurdly, upon any subject; for I have known people, who have not
+said one word, hear ignorantly and absurdly; it has appeared in their
+inattentive and unmeaning faces.
+
+This, I think, is as little likely to happen to you as to anybody of your
+age: and if you will but add a versatility and easy conformity of
+manners, I know no company in which you are likely to be de trop.
+
+This versatility is more particularly necessary for you at this time,
+now that you are going to so many different places: for, though the
+manners and customs of the several courts of Germany are in general the
+same, yet everyone has its particular characteristic; some peculiarity or
+other, which distinguishes it from the next.  This you should carefully
+attend to, and immediately adopt.  Nothing flatters people more, nor
+makes strangers so welcome, as such an occasional conformity.  I do not
+mean by this, that you should mimic the air and stiffness of every
+awkward German court; no, by no means; but I mean that you should only
+cheerfully comply, and fall in with certain local habits, such as
+ceremonies, diet, turn of conversation, etc.  People who are lately come
+from Paris, and who have been a good while there, are generally
+suspected, and especially in Germany, of having a degree of contempt for
+every other place.  Take great care that nothing of this kind appear, at
+least outwardly, in your behavior; but commend whatever deserves any
+degree of commendation, without comparing it with what you may have left,
+much better of the same kind, at Paris.  As for instance, the German
+kitchen is, without doubt, execrable, and the French delicious; however,
+never commend the French kitchen at a German table; but eat of what you
+can find tolerable there, and commend it, without comparing it to
+anything better.  I have known many British Yahoos, who though while they
+were at Paris conformed to no one French custom, as soon as they got
+anywhere else, talked of nothing but what they did, saw, and eat at
+Paris.  The freedom of the French is not to be used indiscriminately at
+all the courts in Germany, though their easiness may, and ought; but
+that, too, at some places more than others.  The courts of Manheim and
+Bonn, I take to be a little more unbarbarized than some others; that of
+Mayence, an ecclesiastical one, as well as that of Treves (neither of
+which is much frequented by foreigners), retains, I conceive, a great
+deal of the Goth and Vandal still.  There, more reserve and ceremony are
+necessary; and not a word of the French.  At Berlin, you cannot be too
+French.  Hanover, Brunswick, Cassel, etc., are of the mixed kind, 'un peu
+decrottes, mais pas assez'.
+
+Another thing, which I most earnestly recommend to you, not only in
+Germany, but in every part of the world where you may ever be, is not
+only real, but seeming attention, to whoever you speak to, or to whoever
+speaks to you.  There is nothing so brutally shocking, nor so little
+forgiven, as a seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you:
+and I have known many a man knocked down, for (in my opinion) a much
+lighter provocation, than that shocking inattention which I mean.  I have
+seen many people, who, while you are speaking to them, instead of looking
+at, and attending to you, fix their eyes upon the ceiling or some other
+part of the room, look out of the window, play with a dog, twirl their
+snuff-box, or pick their nose.  Nothing discovers a little, futile,
+frivolous mind more than this, and nothing is so offensively ill-bred;
+it is an explicit declaration on your part, that every the most trifling
+object, deserves your attention more than all that can be said by the
+person who is speaking to you.  Judge of the sentiments of hatred and
+resentment, which such treatment must excite in every breast where any
+degree of self-love dwells; and I am sure I never yet met with that
+breast where there was not a great deal: I repeat it again and again
+(for it is highly necessary for you to remember it), that sort of vanity
+and self-love is inseparable from human nature, whatever may be its rank
+or condition; even your footmen will sooner forget and forgive a beating,
+than any manifest mark of slight and contempt.  Be therefore, I beg of
+you, not only really, but seemingly and manifestly attentive to whoever
+speaks to you; nay, more, take their 'ton', and tune yourself to their
+unison.  Be serious with the serious, gay with the gay, and trifle with
+the triflers.  In assuming these various shapes, endeavor to make each of
+them seem to sit easy upon you, and even to appear to be your own natural
+one.  This is the true and useful versatility, of which a thorough
+knowledge of the world at once teaches the utility and the means of
+acquiring.
+
+I am very sure, at least I hope, that you will never make use of a silly
+expression, which is the favorite expression, and the absurd excuse of
+all fools and blockheads; I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING; a thing by no means
+either morally or physically impossible.  I CANNOT attend long together
+to the same thing, says one fool; that is, he is such a fool that he will
+not.  I remember a very awkward fellow, who did not know what to do with
+his sword, and who always took it off before dinner, saying that he could
+not possibly dine with his sword on; upon which I could not help telling
+him, that I really believed he could without any probable danger either
+to himself or others.  It is a shame and an absurdity, for any man to say
+that he cannot do all those things, which are commonly done by all the
+rest of mankind.
+
+Another thing that I must earnestly warn you against is laziness; by
+which more people have lost the fruit of their travels than, perhaps, by
+any other thing.  Pray be always in motion.  Early in the morning go and
+see things; and the rest of the day go and see people.  If you stay but a
+week at a place, and that an insignificant one, see, however, all that is
+to be seen there; know as many people, and get into as many houses, as
+ever you can.
+
+I recommend to you likewise, though probably you have thought of it
+yourself, to carry in your pocket a map of Germany, in which the
+postroads are marked; and also some short book of travels through
+Germany.  The former will help to imprint in your memory situations and
+distances; and the latter will point out many things for you to see, that
+might otherwise possibly escape you, and which, though they may be in
+themselves of little consequence, you would regret not having seen, after
+having been at the places where they were.
+
+Thus warned and provided for your journey, God speed you; 'Felix
+faustumque sit!  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVII
+
+LONDON, May 27, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I send you the inclosed original from a friend of ours,
+with my own commentaries upon the text; a text which I have so often
+paraphrased, and commented upon already, that I believe I can hardly say
+anything new upon it; but, however, I cannot give it over till I am
+better convinced, than I yet am, that you feel all the utility, the
+importance, and the necessity of it; nay, not only feel, but practice it.
+Your panegyrist allows you, what most fathers would be more than
+satisified with, in a son, and chides me for not contenting myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; but I, who have been in no one respect like
+other fathers, cannot neither, like them, content myself with
+'l'essentiellement bon'; because I know that it will not do your business
+in the world, while you want 'quelques couches de vernis'.  Few fathers
+care much for their sons, or, at least, most of them care more for their
+money: and, consequently, content themselves with giving them, at the
+cheapest rate, the common run of education: that is, a school till
+eighteen; the university till twenty; and a couple of years riding post
+through the several towns of Europe; impatient till their boobies come
+home to be married, and, as they call it, settled.  Of those who really
+love their sons, few know how to do it.  Some spoil them by fondling them
+while they are young, and then quarrel with them when they are grown up,
+for having been spoiled; some love them like mothers, and attend only to
+the bodily health and strength of the hopes of their family, solemnize
+his birthday, and rejoice, like the subjects of the Great Mogul, at the
+increase of his bulk; while others, minding, as they think, only
+essentials, take pains and pleasure to see in their heir, all their
+favorite weaknesses and imperfections.  I hope and believe that I have
+kept clear of all of these errors in the education which I have given
+you.  No weaknesses of my own have warped it, no parsimony has starved
+it, no rigor has deformed it.  Sound and extensive learning was the
+foundation which I meant to lay--I have laid it; but that alone, I knew,
+would by no means be sufficient: the ornamental, the showish, the
+pleasing superstructure was to be begun.  In that view, I threw you into
+the great world, entirely your own master, at an age when others either
+guzzle at the university, or are sent abroad in servitude to some
+awkward, pedantic Scotch governor.  This was to put you in the way, and
+the only way of acquiring those manners, that address, and those graces,
+which exclusively distinguish people of fashion; and without which all
+moral virtues, and all acquired learning, are of no sort of use in the
+courts and 'le beau monde': on the contrary, I am not sure if they are
+not an hindrance.  They are feared and disliked in those places, as too
+severe, if not smoothed and introduced by the graces; but of these
+graces, of this necessary 'beau vernis', it seems there are still
+'quelque couches qui manquent'.  Now, pray let me ask you, coolly and
+seriously, 'pourquoi ces couches manquent-elles'?  For you may as easily
+take them, as you may wear more or less powder in your hair, more or less
+lace upon your coat.  I can therefore account for your wanting them no
+other way in the world, than from your not being yet convinced of their
+full value.  You have heard some English bucks say, "Damn these finical
+outlandish airs, give me a manly, resolute manner.  They make a rout with
+their graces, and talk like a parcel of dancing-masters, and dress like a
+parcel of fops: one good Englishman will beat three of them."  But let
+your own observation undeceive you of these prejudices.  I will give you
+one instance only, instead of an hundred that I could give you, of a very
+shining fortune and figure, raised upon no other foundation whatsoever,
+than that of address, manners, and graces.  Between you and me (for this
+example must go no further), what do you think made our friend, Lord
+A ----e, Colonel of a regiment of guards, Governor of Virginia, Groom of
+the Stole, and Ambassador to Paris; amounting in all to sixteen or
+seventeen thousand pounds a year?  Was it his birth?  No, a Dutch
+gentleman only.  Was it his estate?  No, he had none.  Was it his
+learning, his parts, his political abilities and application?  You can
+answer these questions as easily, and as soon, as I can ask them.  What
+was it then?  Many people wondered, but I do not; for I know, and will
+tell you.  It was his air, his address, his manners, and his graces.
+He pleased, and by pleasing he became a favorite; and by becoming a
+favorite became all that he has been since.  Show me any one instance,
+where intrinsic worth and merit, unassisted by exterior accomplishments,
+have raised any man so high.  You know the Due de Richelieu, now
+'Marechal, Cordon bleu, Gentilhomme de la Chambre', twice Ambassador,
+etc.  By what means?  Not by the purity of his character, the depth of
+his knowledge, or any uncommon penetration and sagacity.  Women alone
+formed and raised him.  The Duchess of Burgundy took a fancy to him, and
+had him before he was sixteen years old; this put him in fashion among
+the beau monde: and the late Regent's oldest daughter, now Madame de
+Modene, took him next, and was near marrying him.  These early
+connections with women of the first distinction gave him those manners,
+graces, and address, which you see he has; and which, I can assure you,
+are all that he has; for, strip him of them, and he will be one of the
+poorest men in Europe.  Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior;
+it will please, it will make its way.  You want, it seems, but 'quelques
+couches'; for God's sake, lose no time in getting them; and now you have
+gone so far, complete the work.  Think of nothing else till that work is
+finished; unwearied application will bring about anything: and surely
+your application can never be so well employed as upon that object, which
+is absolutely necessary to facilitate all others.  With your knowledge
+and parts, if adorned by manners and graces, what may you not hope one
+day to be?  But without them, you will be in the situation of a man who
+should be very fleet of one leg but very lame of the other.  He could not
+run; the lame leg would check and clog the well one, which would be very
+near useless.
+
+From my original plan for your education, I meant to make you 'un homme
+universel'; what depends on me is executed, the little that remains
+undone depends singly upon you.  Do not then disappoint, when you can so
+easily gratify me.  It is your own interest which I am pressing you to
+pursue, and it is the only return that I desire for all the care and
+affection of, Yours.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXVIII
+
+LONDON, May 31, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  The world is the book, and the only one to which, at
+present, I would have you apply yourself; and the thorough knowledge of
+it will be of more use to you, than all the books that ever were read.
+Lay aside the best book whenever you can go into the best company; and
+depend upon it, you change for the better.  However, as the most
+tumultuous life, whether of business or pleasure, leaves some vacant
+moments every day, in which a book is the refuge of a rational being,
+I mean now to point out to you the method of employing those moments
+(which will and ought to be but few) in the most advantageous manner.
+Throw away none of your time upon those trivial, futile books, published
+by idle or necessitous authors, for the amusement of idle and ignorant
+readers; such sort of books swarm and buzz about one every day; flap them
+away, they have no sting.  'Certum pete finem', have some one object for
+those leisure moments, and pursue that object invariably till you have
+attained it; and then take some other.  For instance, considering your
+destination, I would advise you to single out the most remarkable and
+interesting eras of modern history, and confine all your reading to that
+ERA.  If you pitch upon the Treaty of Munster (and that is the proper
+period to begin with, in the course which I am now recommending), do not
+interrupt it by dipping and deviating into other books, unrelative to it;
+but consult only the most authentic histories, letters, memoirs, and
+negotiations, relative to that great transaction; reading and comparing
+them, with all that caution and distrust which Lord Bolingbroke
+recommends to you, in a better manner, and in better words than I can.
+The next period worth your particular knowledge, is the Treaty of the
+Pyrenees: which was calculated to lay, and in effect did lay, the
+succession of the House of Bourbon to the crown of Spain.  Pursue that in
+the same manner, singling, out of the millions of volumes written upon
+that occasion, the two or three most authentic ones, and particularly
+letters, which are the best authorities in matters of negotiation.  Next
+come the Treaties of Nimeguen and Ryswick, postscripts in, a manner to
+those of Munster and the Pyrenees.  Those two transactions have had great
+light thrown upon them by the publication of many authentic and original
+letters and pieces.  The concessions made at the Treaty of Ryswick, by
+the then triumphant Lewis the Fourteenth, astonished all those who viewed
+things only superficially; but, I should think, must have been easily
+accounted for by those who knew the state of the kingdom of Spain, as
+well as of the health of its King, Charles the Second, at that time.
+The interval between the conclusion of the peace of Ryswick, and the
+breaking out of the great war in 1702, though a short, is a most
+interesting one.  Every week of it almost produced some great event.
+Two partition treaties, the death of the King of Spain, his unexpected
+will, and the acceptance of it by Lewis the Fourteenth, in violation of
+the second treaty of partition, just signed and ratified by him.  Philip
+the Fifth quietly and cheerfully received in Spain, and acknowledged as
+King of it, by most of those powers, who afterward joined in an alliance
+to dethrone him.  I cannot help making this observation upon that
+occasion:  That character has often more to do in great transactions,
+than prudence and sound policy; for Lewis the Fourteenth gratified his
+personal pride, by giving a Bourbon King to Spain, at the expense of the
+true interest of France; which would have acquired much more solid and
+permanent strength by the addition of Naples, Sicily, and Lorraine, upon
+the footing of the second partition treaty; and I think it was fortunate
+for Europe that he preferred the will.  It is true, he might hope to
+influence his Bourbon posterity in Spain; he knew too well how weak the
+ties of blood are among men, and how much weaker still they are among
+princes.  The Memoirs of Count Harrach, and of Las Torres, give a good
+deal of light into the transactions of the Court of Spain, previous to
+the death of that weak King; and the Letters of the Marachal d'Harcourt,
+then the French Ambassador in Spain, of which I have authentic copies in
+manuscript, from the year 1698 to 1701, have cleared up that whole affair
+to me.  I keep that book for you.  It appears by those letters, that the
+impudent conduct of the House of Austria, with regard to the King and
+Queen of Spain, and Madame Berlips, her favorite, together with the
+knowledge of the partition treaty, which incensed all Spain, were the
+true and only reasons of the will, in favor of the Duke of Anjou.
+Cardinal Portocarrero, nor any of the Grandees, were bribed by France,
+as was generally reported and believed at that time; which confirms
+Voltaire's anecdote upon that subject.  Then opens a new scene and a new
+century; Lewis the Fourteenth's good fortune forsakes him, till the Duke
+of Marlborough and Prince Eugene make him amends for all the mischief
+they had done him, by making the allies refuse the terms of peace offered
+by him at Gertruydenberg.  How the disadvantageous peace of Utrecht was
+afterward brought on, you have lately read; and you cannot inform
+yourself too minutely of all those circumstances, that treaty 'being the
+freshest source from whence the late transactions of Europe have flowed.
+The alterations that have since happened, whether by wars or treaties,
+are so recent, that all the written accounts are to be helped out,
+proved, or contradicted, by the oral ones of almost every informed
+person, of a certain age or rank in life.  For the facts, dates, and
+original pieces of this century, you will find them in Lamberti, till the
+year 1715, and after that time in Rousset's 'Recueil'.
+
+I do not mean that you should plod hours together in researches of this
+kind: no, you may employ your time more usefully: but I mean, that you
+should make the most of the moments you do employ, by method, and the
+pursuit of one single object at a time; nor should I call it a digression
+from that object, if when you meet with clashing and jarring pretensions
+of different princes to the same thing, you had immediately recourse to
+other books, in which those several pretensions were clearly stated; on
+the contrary, that is the only way of remembering those contested rights
+and claims: for, were a man to read 'tout de suite', Schwederus's
+'Theatrum Pretensionum', he would only be confounded by the variety, and
+remember none of them; whereas, by examining them occasionally, as they
+happen to occur, either in the course of your historical reading, or as
+they are agitated in your own times, you will retain them, by connecting
+them with those historical facts which occasioned your inquiry.  For
+example, had you read, in the course of two or three folios of
+Pretensions, those, among others, of the two Kings of England and Prussia
+to Oost Frise, it is impossible, that you should have remembered them;
+but now, that they are become the debated object at the Diet at Ratisbon,
+and the topic of all political conversations, if you consult both books
+and persons concerning them, and inform yourself thoroughly, you will
+never forget them as long as you live.  You will hear a great deal of
+them ow one side, at Hanover, and as much on the other side, afterward,
+at Berlin: hear both sides, and form your own opinion; but dispute with
+neither.
+
+Letters from foreign ministers to their courts, and from their courts to
+them, are, if genuine, the best and most authentic records you can read,
+as far as they go.  Cardinal d'Ossat's, President Jeanin's, D'Estrade's,
+Sir William Temple's, will not only inform your mind, but form your
+style; which, in letters of business, should be very plain and simple,
+but, at the same time, exceedingly clear, correct, and pure.
+
+All that I have said may be reduced to these two or three plain
+principles:  1st, That you should now read very little, but converse a
+great deal;  2d, To read no useless, unprofitable books; and 3d, That
+those which you do read, may all tend to a certain object, and be
+relative to, and consequential of each other.  In this method, half an
+hour's reading every day will carry you a great way.  People seldom know
+how to employ their time to the best advantage till they have too little
+left to employ; but if, at your age, in the beginning of life, people
+would but consider the value of it, and put every moment to interest,
+it is incredible what an additional fund of knowledge and pleasure such
+an economy would bring in.  I look back with regret upon that large sum
+of time, which, in my youth, I lavished away idly, without either
+improvement or pleasure.  Take warning betimes, and enjoy every moment;
+pleasures do not commonly last so long as life, and therefore should not
+be neglected; and the longest life is too short for knowledge,
+consequently every moment is precious.
+
+I am surprised at having received no letter from you since you left
+Paris.  I still direct this to Strasburgh, as I did my two last.  I shall
+direct my next to the post house at Mayence, unless I receive, in the
+meantime, contrary instructions from you.  Adieu.  Remember les
+attentions: they must be your passports into good company.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXIX
+
+LONDON, June, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  Very few celebrated negotiators have been eminent for
+their learning.  The most famous French negotiators (and I know no nation
+that can boast of abler) have been military men, as Monsieur d'Harcourt,
+Comte d'Estrades, Marechal d'Uxelles, and others.  The late Duke of
+Marlborough, who was at least as able a negotiator as a general, was
+exceedingly ignorant of books, but extremely knowing in men, whereas the
+learned Grotius appeared, both in Sweden and in France, to be a very
+bungling minister.  This is, in my opinion, very easily to be accounted
+for.  A man of very deep learning must have employed the greatest part of
+his time in books; and a skillful negotiator must necessarily have
+employed much the greater part of his time with man.  The sound scholar,
+when dragged out of his dusty closet into business, acts by book, and
+deals with men as he has read of them; not as he has known them by
+experience: he follows Spartan and Roman precedents, in what he falsely
+imagines to be similar cases; whereas two cases never were, since the
+beginning of the world, exactly alike; and he would be capable, where he
+thought spirit and vigor necessary, to draw a circle round the persons he
+treated with, and to insist upon a categorical answer before they went
+out of it, because he had read, in the Roman history, that once upon a
+time some Roman ambassador, did so.  No; a certain degree of learning may
+help, but no degree of learning will ever make a skillful minister
+whereas a great knowledge of the world, of the characters, passions, and
+habits of mankind, has, without one grain of learning, made a thousand.
+Military men have seldom much knowledge of books; their education does
+not allow it; but what makes great amends for that want is, that they
+generally know a great deal of the world; they are thrown into it young;
+they see variety of nations and characters; and they soon find, that to
+rise, which is the aim of them all, they must first please: these
+concurrent causes almost always give them manners and politeness.  In
+consequence of which, you see them always distinguished at courts, and
+favored by the women.  I could wish that you had been of an age to have
+made a campaign or two as a volunteer.  It would have given you an
+attention, a versatility, and an alertness; all which I doubt you want;
+and a great want it is.
+
+A foreign minister has not great business to transact every day; so that
+his knowledge and his skill in negotiating are not frequently put to the
+trial; but he has that to do every day, and every hour of the day, which
+is necessary to prepare and smooth the way for his business; that is, to
+insinuate himself by his manners, not only into the houses, but into the
+confidence of the most considerable people of that place; to contribute
+to their pleasures, and insensibly not to be looked upon as a stranger
+himself.  A skillful minister may very possibly be doing his master's
+business full as well, in doing the honors gracefully and genteelly of a
+ball or a supper, as if he were laboriously writing a protocol in his
+closet.  The Marechal d'Harcourt, by his magnificence, his manners, and
+his politeness, blunted the edge of the long aversion which the Spaniards
+had to the French.  The court and the grandees were personally fond, of
+him, and frequented his house; and were at least insensibly brought to
+prefer a French to a German yoke; which I am convinced would never have
+happened, had Comte d'Harrach been Marechal d'Harcourt, or the Marechal
+d'Harcourt Comte d'Harrach.  The Comte d'Estrades had, by 'ses manieres
+polies et liantes', formed such connections, and gained such an interest
+in the republic of the United Provinces, that Monsieur De Witt, the then
+Pensionary of Holland, often applied to him to use his interest with his
+friend, both in Holland and the other provinces, whenever he (De Witt)
+had a difficult point which he wanted to carry.  This was certainly not
+brought about by his knowledge of books, but of men: dancing, fencing,
+and riding, with a little military architecture, were no doubt the top of
+his education; and if he knew that 'collegium' in Latin signified college
+in French, it must have been by accident.  But he knew what was more
+useful: from thirteen years old he had been in the great world, and had
+read men and women so long, that he could then read them at sight.
+
+Talking the other day, upon this and other subjects, all relative to you,
+with one who knows and loves you very well, and expressing my anxiety and
+wishes that your exterior accomplishments, as a man of fashion, might
+adorn, and at least equal your intrinsic merit as a man of sense and
+honor, the person interrupted me, and said: Set your heart at rest; that
+never will or can happen.  It is not in character; that gentleness, that
+'douceur', those attentions which you wish him to have, are not in his
+nature; and do what you will, nay, let him do what he will, he can never
+acquire them.  Nature may be a little disguised and altered by care; but
+can by no means whatsoever be totally forced and changed.  I denied this
+principle to a certain degree; but admitting, however, that in many
+respects our nature was not to be changed; and asserting, at the same
+time, that in others it might by care be very much altered and improved,
+so as in truth to be changed; that I took those exterior accomplishments,
+which we had been talking of, to be mere modes, and absolutely depending
+upon the will, and upon custom; and that, therefore, I was convinced that
+your good sense, which must show you the importance of them, would make
+you resolve at all events to acquire them, even in spite of nature, if
+nature be in the case.  Our dispute, which lasted a great while, ended as
+Voltaire observes that disputes in England are apt to do, in a wager of
+fifty guineas; which I myself am to decide upon honor, and of which this
+is a faithful copy.  If you think I shall win it, you may go my halves if
+you please; declare yourself in time.  This I declare, that I would most
+cheerfully give a thousand guineas to win those fifty; you may secure
+them me if you please.
+
+I grow very impatient for your future letters from the several courts of
+Manheim, Bonn, Hanover, etc.  And I desire that your letters may be to
+me, what I do not desire they should be to anybody else, I mean full of
+yourself.  Let the egotism, a figure which upon all other occasions I
+detest, be your only one to me.  Trifles that concern you are not trifles
+to me; and my knowledge of them may possibly be useful to you.  Adieu.
+'Les graces, les graces, les graces'.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXX
+
+LONDON, June 23, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I direct this letter to Mayence, where I think it is
+likely to meet you, supposing, as I do, that you stayed three weeks at
+Manheim, after the date of your last from thence; but should you have
+stayed longer at Manheim, to which I have no objection, it will wait for
+you at Mayence.  Mayence will not, I believe, have charms to detain you
+above a week; so that I reckon you will be at Bonn at the end of July,
+N. S.  There you may stay just as little or as long as you please, and
+then proceed to Hanover.
+
+I had a letter by the last post from a relation of mine at Hanover,
+Mr. Stanhope Aspinwall, who is in the Duke of Newcastle's office, and has
+lately been appointed the King's Minister to the Dey of Algiers; a post
+which, notwithstanding your views of foreign affairs, I believe you do
+not envy him.  He tells me in that letter, there are very good lodgings
+to be had at one Mrs. Meyers's, the next door to the Duke of Newcastle's,
+which he offers to take for you; I have desired him to do it, in case
+Mrs. Meyers will wait for you till the latter end of August, or the
+beginning of September, N. S., which I suppose is about the time when you
+will be at Hanover.  You will find this Mr. Aspinwall of great use to you
+there.  He will exert himself to the utmost to serve you; he has been
+twice or thrice at Hanover, and knows all the allures there: he is very
+well with the Duke of Newcastle, and will puff you there.  Moreover, if
+you have a mind to work there as a volunteer in that bureau, he will
+assist and inform you.  In short, he is a very honest, sensible, and
+informed man; 'mais me paye pas beaucoup de sa figure; il abuse meme du
+privilege qu'ont les hommes d'etre laids; et il ne sera pas en reste avec
+les lions et les leopards qu'il trouvera a Alger'.
+
+As you are entirely master of the time when you will leave Bonn and go to
+Hanover, so are you master to stay at Hanover as long as you please, and
+to go from thence where you please; provided that at Christmas you are at
+Berlin, for the beginning of the Carnival: this I would not have you say
+at Hanover, considering the mutual disposition of those two courts; but
+when anybody asks you where you are to go next, say that you propose
+rambling in Germany, at Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the next spring;
+when you intend to be in Flanders, in your way to England.  I take
+Berlin, at this time, to be the politest, the most shining, and the most
+useful court in Europe for a young fellow to be at: and therefore I would
+upon no account not have you there, for at least a couple of months of
+the Carnival.  If you are as well received, and pass your time as well at
+Bonn as I believe you will, I would advise you to remain there till about
+the 20th of August, N. S., in four days you will be at Hanover.  As for
+your stay there, it must be shorter or longer, according to certain
+circumstances WHICH YOU KNOW OF; supposing them, at the best, then, stay
+within a week or ten days of the King's return to England; but supposing
+them at the worst, your stay must not be too short, for reasons which you
+also know; no resentment must either appear or be suspected; therefore,
+at worst, I think you must remain there a month, and at best, as long as
+ever you please.  But I am convinced that all will turn out very well for
+you there.  Everybody is engaged or inclined to help you; the ministers,
+English and German, the principal ladies, and most of the foreign
+ministers; so that I may apply to you, 'nullum numen abest, si sit
+prudentia'.  Du Perron will, I believe, be back there from Turin much
+about the time you get there: pray be very attentive to him, and connect
+yourself with him as much as ever you can; for, besides that he is a very
+pretty and well-informed man, he is very much in fashion at Hanover, is
+personally very well with the King and certain ladies; so that a visible
+intimacy and connection with him will do you credit and service.  Pray
+cultivate Monsieur Hop, the Dutch minister, who has always been very much
+my friend, and will, I am sure, be yours; his manners, it is true, are
+not very engaging; he is rough, but he is sincere.  It is very useful
+sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid, as it is right to
+see very often those which one ought to imitate, and my friend Hop's
+manners will frequently point out to you, what yours ought to be by the
+rule of contraries.
+
+Congreve points out a sort of critics, to whom he says that we are doubly
+obliged:--
+
+          "Rules for good writing they with pains indite,
+          Then show us what is bad, by what they write."
+
+It is certain that Monsieur Hop, with the best heart in the world, and a
+thousand good qualities, has a thousand enemies, and hardly a friend;
+simply from the roughness of his manners.
+
+N. B.  I heartily wish you could have stayed long enough at Manheim to
+have been seriously and desperately in love with Madame de Taxis; who,
+I suppose, is a proud, insolent, fine lady, and who would consequently
+have expected attentions little short of adoration: nothing would do you
+more good than such a passion; and I live in hopes that somebody or other
+will be able to excite such an one in you; your hour may not yet be come,
+but it will come.  Love has not been unaptly compared to the smallpox
+which most people have sooner or later.  Iphigenia had a wonderful effect
+upon Cimon; I wish some Hanover Iphigenia may try her skill upon you.
+
+I recommend to you again, though I have already done it twice or thrice,
+to speak German, even affectedly, while you are at Hanover; which will
+show that you prefer that language, and be of more use to you there with
+SOMEBODY, than you can imagine.  When you carry my letters to Monsieur
+Munchausen and Monsieur Schwiegeldt, address yourself to them in German;
+the latter speaks French very well, but the former extremely ill.  Show
+great attention to Madame, Munchausen's daughter, who is a great
+favorite; those little trifles please mothers, and sometimes fathers,
+extremely.  Observe, and you will find, almost universally, that the
+least things either please or displease most; because they necessarily
+imply, either a very strong desire of obliging, or an unpardonable
+indifference about it.  I will give you a ridiculous instance enough of
+this truth, from my own experience.  When I was Ambassador the first time
+in Holland, Comte de Wassenaer and his wife, people of the first rank and
+consideration, had a little boy of about three years old, of whom they
+were exceedingly fond; in order to make my court to them, I was so too,
+and used to take the child often upon my lap, and play with him.  One day
+his nose was very dirty, upon which I took out my handkerchief and wiped
+it for him; this raised a loud laugh, and they called me a very, handy
+nurse; but the father and mother were so pleased with it, that to this
+day it is an anecdote in the family, and I never receive a letter from
+Comte Wassenaer, but he makes me the compliments 'du morveux gue j'ai
+mouche autrefois'; who, by the way, I am assured, is now the prettiest
+young fellow in Holland.  Where one would gain people, remember that
+nothing is little.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXI
+
+LONDON, June 26, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As I have reason to fear, from your M last letter of the
+18th, N. S., from Manheim, that all, or at least most of my letters to
+you, since you left Paris, have miscarried; I think it requisite, at all
+events, to repeat in this the necessary parts of those several letters,
+as far as they relate to your future motions.
+
+I suppose that this will either find you, or be but a few days before you
+at Bonn, where it is directed; and I suppose too, that you have fixed
+your time for going from thence to Hanover.  If things TURN OUT WELL AT
+HANOVER, as in my opinion they will, 'Chi sta bene non si muova', stay
+there till a week or ten days before the King sets out for England; but,
+should THEY TURN OUT ILL, which I cannot imagine, stay, however, a month,
+that your departure may not seem a step of discontent or peevishness; the
+very suspicion of which is by all means to be avoided.  Whenever you
+leave Hanover, be it sooner or be it later, where would you go?  'Lei
+Padrone', and I give you your choice: would you pass the months of
+November and December at Brunswick, Cassel, etc.?  Would you choose
+to go for a couple of months to Ratisbon, where you would be very
+well recommended to, and treated by the King's Electoral Minister, the
+Baron de Behr, and where you would improve your 'Jus publicum'?  or would
+you rather go directly to Berlin, and stay there till the end of the
+Carnival?  Two or three months at Berlin are, considering all
+circumstances, necessary for you; and the Carnival months are the best;
+'pour le reste decidez en dernier ressort, et sans appel comme d'abus'.
+Let me know your decree, when you have formed it.  Your good or ill
+success at Hanover will have a very great influence upon your subsequent
+character, figure, and fortune in the world; therefore I confess that I
+am more anxious about it, than ever bride was on her wedding night, when
+wishes, hopes, fears, and doubts, tumultuously agitate, please, and
+terrify her.  It is your first crisis: the character which you will
+acquire there will, more or less, be that which will abide by you for the
+rest of your life.  You will be tried and judged there, not as a boy, but
+as a man; and from that moment there is no appeal for character; it is
+fixed.  To form that character advantageously, you have three objects
+particularly to attend to: your character as a man of morality, truth,
+and honor; your knowledge in the objects of your destination, as a man of
+business; and your engaging and insinuating address, air and manners, as
+a courtier; the sure and only steps to favor.
+
+Merit at courts, without favor, will do little or nothing; favor, without
+merit, will do a good deal; but favor and merit together will do
+everything.  Favor at courts depends upon so many, such trifling, such
+unexpected, and unforeseen events, that a good courtier must attend to
+every circumstance, however little, that either does, or can happen; he
+must have no absences, no DISTRACTIONS; he must not say, "I did not mind
+it; who would have thought it?"  He ought both to have minded, and to
+have thought it.  A chamber-maid has sometimes caused revolutions in
+courts which have produced others in kingdoms.  Were I to make my way to
+favor in a court, I would neither willfully, nor by negligence, give a
+dog or a cat there reason to dislike me.  Two 'pies grieches', well
+instructed, you know, made the fortune of De Luines with Lewis XIII.
+Every step a man makes at court requires as much attention and
+circumspection, as those which were made formerly between hot plowshares,
+in the Ordeal, or fiery trials; which, in those times of ignorance and
+superstition, were looked upon as demonstrations of innocence or guilt.
+Direct your principal battery, at Hanover, at the D of N 's: there are
+many very weak places in that citadel; where, with a very little skill,
+you cannot fail making a great impression.  Ask for his orders in
+everything you do; talk Austrian and Anti-gallican to him; and, as soon
+as you are upon a foot of talking easily to him, tell him 'en badinant',
+that his skill and success in thirty or forty elections in England leave
+you no reason to doubt of his carrying his election for Frankfort; and
+that you look upon the Archduke as his Member for the Empire.  In his
+hours of festivity and compotation, drop that he puts you in mind of what
+Sir William Temple says of the Pensionary De Witt,--who at that time
+governed half Europe,--that he appeared at balls, assemblies, and public
+places, as if he had nothing else to do or to think of.  When he talks to
+you upon foreign affairs, which he will often do, say that you really
+cannot presume to give any opinion of your own upon those matters,
+looking upon yourself at present only as a postscript to the corps
+diplomatique; but that, if his Grace will be pleased to make you an
+additional volume to it, though but in duodecimo, you will do your best
+that he shall neither be ashamed nor repent of it.  He loves to have a
+favorite, and to open himself to that favorite.  He has now no such
+person with him; the place is vacant, and if you have dexterity you may
+fill it.  In one thing alone do not humor him; I mean drinking; for, as I
+believe, you have never yet been drunk, you do not yourself know how you
+can bear your wine, and what a little too much of it may make you do or
+say; you might possibly kick down all you had done before.
+
+You do not love gaming, and I thank God for it; but at Hanover I would
+have you show, and profess a particular dislike to play, so as to decline
+it upon all occasions, unless where one may be wanted to make a fourth at
+whist or quadrille; and then take care to declare it the result of your
+complaisance, not of your inclinations.  Without such precaution you may
+very possibly be suspected, though unjustly, of loving play, upon account
+of my former passion for it; and such a suspicion would do you a great
+deal of hurt, especially with the King, who detests gaming.  I must end
+this abruptly.  God bless you!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXII
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Versatility as a courtier may be almost decisive to you
+hereafter; that is, it may conduce to, or retard your preferment in your
+own destination.  The first reputation goes a great way; and if you fix a
+good one at Hanover, it will operate also to your advantage in England.
+The trade of a courtier is as much a trade as that of a shoemaker; and he
+who applies himself the most, will work the best: the only difficulty is
+to distinguish (what I am sure you have sense enough to distinguish)
+between the right and proper qualifications and their kindred faults; for
+there is but a line between every perfection and its neighboring
+imperfection.  As, for example, you must be extremely well-bred and
+polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness of ceremony.  You
+must be respectful and assenting, but without being servile and abject.
+You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, without being
+costive.  You must keep up dignity of character, without the least pride
+of birth or rank.  You must be gay within all the bounds of decency and
+respect; and grave without the affectation of wisdom, which does not
+become the age of twenty.  You must be essentially secret, without being
+dark and mysterious.  You must be firm, and even bold, but with great
+seeming modesty.
+
+With these qualifications, which, by the way, are all in your own power,
+I will answer for your success, not only at Hanover, but at any court in
+Europe.  And I am not sorry that you begin your apprenticeship at a
+little one; because you must be more circumspect, and more upon your
+guard there, than at a great one, where every little thing is not known
+nor reported.
+
+When you write to me, or to anybody else, from thence, take care that
+your letters contain commendations of all that you see and hear there;
+for they will most of them be opened and read; but, as frequent couriers
+will come from Hanover to England, you may sometimes write to me without
+reserve; and put your letters into a very little box, which you may send
+safely by some of them.
+
+I must not omit mentioning to you, that at the Duke of Newcastle's table,
+where you will frequently dine, there is a great deal of drinking; be
+upon your guard against it, both upon account of your health, which would
+not bear it, and of the consequences of your being flustered and heated
+with wine: it might engage you in scrapes and frolics, which the King
+(who is a very sober man himself) detests.  On the other hand, you should
+not seem too grave and too wise to drink like the rest of the company;
+therefore use art: mix water with your wine; do not drink all that is in
+the glass; and if detected, and pressed to drink more do not cry out
+sobriety; but say that you have lately been out of order, that you are
+subject to inflammatory complaints, and that you must beg to be excused
+for the present.  A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to
+be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really' be so or not.
+
+During your stay at Hanover I would have you make two or three excursions
+to parts of that Electorate: the Hartz, where the silver mines are;
+Gottingen, for the University; Stade, for what commerce there is.  You
+should also go to Zell.  In short, see everything that is to be seen
+there, and inform yourself well of all the details of that country.  Go
+to Hamburg for three or four days, and know the constitution of that
+little Hanseatic Republic, and inform yourself well of the nature of the
+King of Denmark's pretensions to it.
+
+If all things turn out right for you at Hanover, I would have you make it
+your head-quarters, till about a week or ten days before the King leaves
+it; and then go to Brunswick, which, though a little, is a very polite,
+pretty court.  You may stay there a fortnight or three weeks, as you like
+it; and from thence go to Cassel, and stay there till you go to Berlin;
+where I would have you be by Christmas.  At Hanover you will very easily
+get good letters of recommendation to Brunswick and to Cassel.  You do
+not want any to Berlin; however, I will send you one for Voltaire.
+'A propos' of Berlin, be very reserved and cautious while at Hanover, as
+to that King and that country; both which are detested, because feared by
+everybody there, from his Majesty down to the meanest peasant; but,
+however, they both extremely deserve your utmost attention and you will
+see the arts and wisdom of government better in that country, now, than
+in any other in Europe.  You may stay three months at Berlin, if you like
+it, as I believe you will; and after that I hope we shall meet there
+again.
+
+Of all the places in the world (I repeat it once more), establish a good
+reputation at Hanover, 'et faites vous valoir la, autant qu'il est
+possible, par le brillant, les manieres, et les graces'.  Indeed it is of
+the greatest importance to you, and will make any future application to
+the King in your behalf very easy.  He is more taken by those little
+things, than any man, or even woman, that I ever knew in my life: and I
+do not wonder at him.  In short, exert to the utmost all your means and
+powers to please: and remember that he who pleases the most, will rise
+the soonest and the highest.  Try but once the pleasure and advantage of
+pleasing, and I will answer that you will never more neglect the means.
+
+I send you herewith two letters, the one to Monsieur Munchausen, the
+other to Monsieur Schweigeldt, an old friend of mine, and a very sensible
+knowing man.  They will both I am sure, be extremely civil to you, and
+carry you into the best company; and then it is your business to please
+that company.  I never was more anxious about any period of your life,
+than I am about this, your Hanover expedition, it being of so much more
+consequence to you than any other.  If I hear from thence, that you are
+liked and loved there, for your air, your manners, and address, as well
+as esteemed for your knowledge, I shall be the happiest man in the world.
+Judge then what I must be, if it happens otherwise.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIII
+
+LONDON, July 21, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: By my calculation this letter may probably arrive at
+Hanover three or four days before you; and as I am sure of its arriving
+there safe, it shall contain the most material points that I have
+mentioned in my several letters to you since you left Paris, as if you
+had received but few of them, which may very probably be the case.
+
+As for your stay at Hanover, it must not IN ALL EVENTS be less than a
+month; but if things turn out to Your SATISFACTION, it may be just as
+long as you please.  From thence you may go wherever you like; for I have
+so good an opinion of your judgment, that I think you will combine and
+weigh all circumstances, and choose the properest places.  Would you
+saunter at some of the small courts, as Brunswick, Cassel, etc., till the
+Carnival at Berlin?  You are master.  Would you pass a couple of months
+at Ratisbon, which might not be ill employed?  'A la bonne heure'.  Would
+you go to Brussels, stay a month or two there with Dayrolles, and from
+thence to Mr. Yorke, at The Hague?  With all my heart.  Or, lastly, would
+you go to Copenhagen and Stockholm?  'Lei e anche Padrone': choose
+entirely for yourself, without any further instructions from me; only let
+me know your determination in time, that I may settle your credit, in
+case you go to places where at present you have none.  Your object should
+be to see the 'mores multorum hominum et urbes'; begin and end it where
+you please.
+
+By what you have already seen of the German courts, I am sure you must
+have observed that they are much more nice and scrupulous, in points of
+ceremony, respect and attention, than the greater courts of France and
+England.  You will, therefore, I am persuaded, attend to the minutest
+circumstances of address and behavior, particularly during your stay at
+Hanover, which (I will repeat it, though I have said it often to you
+already) is the most important preliminary period of your whole life.
+Nobody in the world is more exact, in all points of good-breeding, than
+the King; and it is the part of every man's character, that he informs
+himself of first.  The least negligence, or the slightest inattention,
+reported to him, may do you infinite prejudice: as their contraries would
+service.
+
+If Lord Albemarle (as I believe he did) trusted you with the secret
+affairs of his department, let the Duke of Newcastle know that he did so;
+which will be an inducement to him to trust you too, and possibly to
+employ you in affairs of consequence.  Tell him that, though you are
+young, you know the importance of secrecy in business, and can keep a
+secret; that I have always inculcated this doctrine into you, and have,
+moreover, strictly forbidden you ever to communicate, even to me, any
+matters of a secret nature, which you may happen to be trusted with in
+the course of business.
+
+As for business, I think I can trust you to yourself; but I wish I could
+say as much for you with regard to those exterior accomplishments,
+which are absolutely necessary to smooth and shorten the way to it.  Half
+the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of
+those with whom one is to transact it.  Air and address must begin,
+manners and attention must finish that work.  I will let you into one
+secret concerning myself; which is, that I owe much more of the success
+which I have had in the world to my manners, than to any superior degree
+of merit or knowledge.  I desired to please, and I neglected none of the
+means.  This, I can assure you, without any false modesty, is the truth:
+You have more knowledge than I had at your age, but then I had much more
+attention and good-breeding than you.  Call it vanity, if you please, and
+possibly it was so; but my great object was to make every man I met with
+like me, and every woman love me.  I often succeeded; but why?  By taking
+great pains, for otherwise I never should: my figure by no means entitled
+me to it; and I had certainly an up-hill game; whereas your countenance
+would help you, if you made the most of it, and proscribed for ever the
+guilty, gloomy, and funereal part of it.  Dress, address, and air, would
+become your best countenance, and make your little figure pass very well.
+
+If you have time to read at Hanover, pray let the books you read be all
+relative to the history and constitution of that country; which I would
+have you know as correctly as any Hanoverian in the whole Electorate.
+Inform yourself of the powers of the States, and of the nature and extent
+of the several judicatures; the particular articles of trade and commerce
+of Bremen, Harburg, and Stade; the details and value of the mines of the
+Hartz.  Two or three short books will give you the outlines of all these
+things; and conversation turned upon those subjects will do the rest, and
+better than books can.
+
+Remember of all things to speak nothing but German there; make it (to
+express myself pedantically) your vernacular language; seem to prefer it
+to any other; call it your favorite language, and study to speak it with
+purity and elegance, if it has any.  This will not only make you perfect
+in it, but will please, and make your court there better than anything.
+A propos of languages: Did you improve your Italian while you were at
+Paris, or did you forget it?  Had you a master there?  and what Italian
+books did you read with him?  If you are master of Italian, I would have
+you afterward, by the first convenient opportunity, learn Spanish, which
+you may very easily, and in a very little time do; you will then, in the
+course of your foreign business, never be obliged to employ, pay, or
+trust any translator for any European language.
+
+As I love to provide eventually for everything that can possibly happen,
+I will suppose the worst that can befall you at Hanover.  In that case I
+would have you go immediately to the Duke of Newcastle, and beg his
+Grace's advice, or rather orders, what you should do; adding, that his
+advice will always be orders to you.  You will tell him that though you
+are exceedingly mortified, you are much less so than you should otherwise
+be, from the consideration that being utterly unknown to his M-----,
+his objection could not be personal to you, and could only arise from
+circumstances which it was not in your power either to prevent or remedy;
+that if his Grace thought that your continuing any longer there would be
+disagreeable, you entreated him to tell you so; and that upon the whole,
+you referred yourself entirely to him, whose orders you should most
+scrupulously obey.  But this precaution, I dare say, is 'ex abundanti',
+and will prove unnecessary; however, it is always right to be prepared
+for all events, the worst as well as the best; it prevents hurry and
+surprise, two dangerous, situations in business; for I know no one thing
+so useful, so necessary in all business, as great coolness, steadiness,
+and sangfroid: they give an incredible advantage over whoever one has to
+do with.
+
+I have received your letter of the 15th, N.  S., from Mayence, where I
+find that you have diverted yourself much better than I expected.  I am
+very well acquainted with Comte Cobentzel's character, both of parts and
+business.  He could have given you letters to Bonn, having formerly
+resided there himself.  You will not be so agreeably ELECTRIFIED where
+this letter will find you, as you were both at Manheim and Mayence; but
+I hope you may meet with a second German Mrs. F-----d, who may make you
+forget the two former ones, and practice your German.  Such transient
+passions will do you no harm; but, on the contrary, a great deal of good;
+they will refine your manners and quicken your attention; they give a
+young fellow 'du brillant', and bring him into fashion; which last is a
+great article at setting out in the world.
+
+I have wrote, about a month ago, to Lord Albemarle, to thank him for all
+his kindnesses to you; but pray have you done as much?  Those are the
+necessary attentions which should never be omitted, especially in the
+beginning of life, when a character is to be established.
+
+That ready wit; which you so partially allow me, and so justly Sir
+Charles Williams, may create many admirers; but, take my word for it,
+it makes few friends.  It shines and dazzles like the noon-day sun, but,
+like that too, is very apt to scorch; and therefore is always feared.
+The milder morning and evening light and heat of that planet soothe and
+calm our minds.  Good sense, complaisance, gentleness of manners,
+attentions and graces are the only things that truly engage, and durably
+keep the heart at long run.  Never seek for wit; if it presents itself,
+well and good; but, even in that case, let your judgment interpose; and
+take care that it be not at the expense of anybody.  Pope says very
+truly:
+
+          "There are whom heaven has blest with store of wit;
+          Yet want as much again to govern it."
+
+And in another place, I doubt with too much truth:
+
+          "For wit and judgment ever are at strife
+          Though meant each other's aid, like man and wife."
+
+The Germans are very seldom troubled with any extraordinary ebullitions
+or effervescenses of wit, and it is not prudent to try it upon them;
+whoever does, 'ofendet solido'.
+
+Remember to write me very minute accounts of all your transactions at
+Hanover, for they excite both my impatience and anxiety.  Adieu!
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIV
+
+LONDON, August 4, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: I am extremely concerned at the return of your old
+asthmatic complaint, of which your letter from Cassel of the 28th July,
+N. S., in forms me.  I believe it is chiefly owing to your own
+negligence; for, notwithstanding the season of the year, and the heat and
+agitation of traveling, I dare swear you have not taken one single dose
+of gentle, cooling physic, since that which I made you take at Bath.
+I hope you are now better, and in better hands.  I mean in Dr. Hugo's at
+Hanover: he is certainly a very skillful physician, and therefore I
+desire that you will inform him most minutely of your own case, from your
+first attack in Carniola, to this last at Marpurgh; and not only follow
+his prescriptions exactly at present, but take his directions, with
+regard to the regimen that he would have you observe to prevent the
+returns of this complaint; and, in case of any returns, the immediate
+applications, whether external or internal, that he would have you make
+use of.  Consider, it is very worth your while to submit at present to
+any course of medicine or diet, to any restraint or confinement, for a
+time, in order to get rid, once for all, of so troublesome and painful a
+distemper; the returns of which would equally break in upon your business
+or your pleasures.  Notwithstanding all this, which is plain sense and
+reason, I much fear that, as soon as ever you are got out of your present
+distress, you will take no preventive care, by a proper course of
+medicines and regimen; but, like most people of your age, think it
+impossible that you ever should be ill again.  However, if you will not
+be wise for your own sake, I desire you will be so for mine, and most
+scrupulously observe Dr. Hugo's present and future directions.
+
+Hanover, where I take it for granted you are, is at present the seat and
+centre of foreign negotiations; there are ministers from almost every
+court in Europe; and you have a fine opportunity of displaying with
+modesty, in conversation, your knowledge of the matters now in agitation.
+The chief I take to be the Election of the King of the Romans, which,
+though I despair of, heartily wish were brought about for two reasons.
+The first is, that I think it may prevent a war upon the death of the
+present Emperor, who, though young and healthy, may possibly die, as
+young and healthy people often do.  The other is, the very reason that
+makes some powers oppose it, and others dislike it, who do not openly
+oppose it; I mean, that it may tend to make the imperial dignity
+hereditary in the House of Austria; which I heartily wish, together with
+a very great increase of power in the empire: till when, Germany will
+never be anything near a match for France.  Cardinal Richelieu showed his
+superior abilities in nothing more, than in thinking no pains or expense
+too great to break the power of the House of Austria in the empire.
+Ferdinand had certainly made himself absolute, and the empire
+consequently formidable to France, if that Cardinal had not piously
+adopted the Protestant cause, and put the empire, by the treaty of
+Westphalia, in pretty much the same disjointed situation in which France
+itself was before Lewis the Eleventh; when princes of the blood, at the
+head of provinces, and Dukes of Brittany, etc., always opposed, and often
+gave laws to the crown.  Nothing but making the empire hereditary in the
+House of Austria, can give it that strength and efficiency, which I wish
+it had, for the sake of the balance of power.  For, while the princes of
+the empire are so independent of the emperor, so divided among
+themselves, and so open to the corruption of the best bidders, it is
+ridiculous to expect that Germany ever will, or can act as a compact and
+well-united body against France.  But as this notion of mine would as
+little please SOME OF OUR FRIENDS, as many of our enemies, I would not
+advise you, though you should be of the same opinion, to declare yourself
+too freely so.  Could the Elector Palatine be satisfied, which I confess
+will be difficult, considering the nature of his pretensions, the
+tenaciousness and haughtiness of the court of Vienna (and our inability
+to do, as we have too often done, their work for them); I say, if the
+Elector Palatine could be engaged to give his vote, I should think it
+would be right to proceed to the election with a clear majority of five
+votes; and leave the King of Prussia and the Elector of Cologne, to
+protest and remonstrate as much as ever they please.  The former is too
+wise, and the latter too weak in every respect, to act in consequence of
+these protests.  The distracted situation of France, with its
+ecclesiastical and parliamentary quarrels, not to mention the illness and
+possibly the death of the Dauphin, will make the King of Prussia, who is
+certainly no Frenchman in his heart, very cautious how he acts as one.
+The Elector of Saxony will be influenced by the King of Poland, who must
+be determined by Russia, considering his views upon Poland, which, by the
+by, I hope he will never obtain; I mean, as to making that crown
+hereditary in his family.  As for his sons having it by the precarious
+tenure of election, by which his father now holds it, 'a la bonne heure'.
+But, should Poland have a good government under hereditary kings, there
+would be a new devil raised in Europe, that I do not know who could lay.
+I am sure I would not raise him, though on my own side for the present.
+
+I do not know how I came to trouble my head so much about politics today,
+which has been so very free from them for some years: I suppose it was
+because I knew that I was writing to the most consummate politician of
+this, and his age.  If I err, you will set me right; 'si quid novisti
+rectius istis, candidus imperti', etc.
+
+I am excessively impatient for your next letter, which I expect by the
+first post from Hanover, to remove my anxiety, as I hope it will, not
+only with regard to your health, but likewise to OTHER THINGS; in the
+meantime in the language of a pedant, but with the tenderness of a
+parent, 'jubeo te bene valere'.
+
+Lady Chesterfield makes you many compliments, and is much concerned at
+your indisposition.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXV
+
+TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE, NOW STAYING AT BERLIN.
+
+LONDON, August 27, O. S.  1752.
+
+SIR:  As a most convincing proof how infinitely I am interested in
+everything which concerns Mr. Stanhope, who will have the honor of
+presenting you this letter, I take the liberty of introducing him to you.
+He has read a great deal, he has seen a great deal; whether or not he has
+made a proper use of that knowledge, is what I do not know: he is only
+twenty years of age.  He was at Berlin some years ago, and therefore he
+returns thither; for at present people are attracted toward the north by
+the same motives which but lately drew them to the south.
+
+Permit me, Sir, to return you thanks for the pleasure and instruction I
+have received from your 'History of Lewis XIV'.  I have as yet read it
+but four times, because I wish to forget it a little before I read it a
+fifth; but I find that impossible: I shall therefore only wait till you
+give us the augmentation which you promised; let me entreat you not to
+defer it long.  I thought myself pretty conversant in the history of the
+reign of Lewis XIV., by means of those innumerable histories, memoirs,
+anecdotes, etc., which I had read relative to that period of time.  You
+have convinced me that I was mistaken, and had upon that subject very
+confused ideas in many respects, and very false ones in others.  Above
+all, I cannot but acknowledge the obligation we have to you, Sir, for the
+light which you have thrown upon the follies and outrages of the
+different sects; the weapons you employ against those madmen, or those
+impostors, are the only suitable ones; to make use of any others would be
+imitating them: they must be attacked by ridicule, and, punished with
+contempt.  'A propos' of those fanatics; I send you here inclosed a piece
+upon that subject, written by the late Dean Swift: I believe you will not
+dislike it.  You will easily guess why it never was printed: it is
+authentic, and I have the original in his own handwriting.  His Jupiter,
+at the Day of judgment, treats them much as you do, and as they deserve
+to be treated.
+
+Give me leave, Sir, to tell you freely, that I am embarrassed upon your
+account, as I cannot determine what it is that I wish from you.  When I
+read your last history, I am desirous that you should always write
+history; but when I read your 'Rome Sauvee' (although ill-printed and
+disfigured), yet I then wish you never to deviate from poetry; however,
+I confess that there still remains one history worthy of your pen, and of
+which your pen alone is worthy.  You have long ago given us the history
+of the greatest and most outrageous madman (I ask your pardon if I cannot
+say the greatest hero) of Europe; you have given us latterly the history
+of the greatest king; give us now the history of the greatest and most
+virtuous man in Europe; I should think it degrading to call him king.
+To you this cannot be difficult, he is always before your eyes: your
+poetical invention is not necessary to his glory, as that may safely rely
+upon your historical candor.  The first duty of an historian is the only
+one he need require from his, 'Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri
+non audeat'.  Adieu, Sir!  I find that I must admire you every day more
+and more; but I also know that nothing ever can add to the esteem and
+attachment with which I am actually, your most humble and most obedient
+servant, CHESTERFIELD.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVI
+
+LONDON, September 19, 1752,
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  Since you have been at Hanover, your correspondence has
+been both unfrequent and laconic.  You made indeed one great effort in
+folio on the 18th, with a postscript of the 22d August, N. S., and since
+that, 'vous avez rate in quarto'.  On the 3lst August, N. S., you give me
+no informations of what I want chiefly to know; which is, what Dr. Hugo
+(whom I charged you to consult) said of your asthmatic complaint, and
+what he prescribed you to prevent the returns of it; and also what is the
+company that, you keep there, who has been kind and civil to you, and who
+not.
+
+You say that you go constantly to the parade; and you do very well; for
+though you are not of that trade, yet military matters make so great a
+part both of conversation and negotiation, that it is very proper not to
+be ignorant of them.  I hope you mind more than the mere exercise of the
+troops you see; and that you inform yourself at the same time, of the
+more material details; such as their pay, and the difference of it when
+in and out of quarters; what is furnished them by the country when in
+quarters, and what is allowed them of ammunition, bread, etc., when in
+the field; the number of men and officers in the several troops and
+companies, together with the non-commissioned officers, as 'caporals,
+frey-caporals, anspessades', sergeants, quarter-masters, etc.; the
+clothing how frequent, how good, and how furnished; whether by the
+colonel, as here in England, from what we call the OFF-RECKONINGS, that
+is, deductions from the men's pay, or by commissaries appointed by the
+government for that purpose, as in France and Holland.  By these
+inquiries you will be able to talk military with military men, who, in
+every country in Europe, except England, make at least half of all the
+best companies.  Your attending the parades has also another good effect,
+which is, that it brings you, of course, acquainted with the officers,
+who, when of a certain rank and service, are generally very polite, well-
+bred people, 'et du bon ton'.  They have commonly seen a great deal of
+the world, and of courts; and nothing else can form a gentleman, let
+people say what they will of sense and learning; with both which a man
+may contrive to be a very disagreeable companion.  I dare say, there are
+very few captains of foot, who are not much better company than ever
+Descartes or Sir Isaac Newton were.  I honor and respect such superior
+geniuses; but I desire to converse with people of this world, who bring
+into company their share, at least, of cheerfulness, good-breeding, and
+knowledge of mankind.  In common life, one much oftener wants small
+money, and silver, than gold.  Give me a man who has ready cash about him
+for present expenses; sixpences, shillings, half-crowns, and crowns,
+which circulate easily: but a man who has only an ingot of gold about
+him, is much above common purposes, and his riches are not handy nor
+convenient.  Have as much gold as you please in one pocket, but take care
+always to keep change in the other; for you will much oftener have
+occasion for a shilling than for a guinea.  In this the French must be
+allowed to excel all people in the world: they have 'un certain
+entregent, un enjouement, un aimable legerete dans la conversation, une
+politesse aisee et naturelle, qui paroit ne leur rien couter', which give
+society all its charms.  I am sorry to add, but it is too true, that the
+English and the Dutch are the farthest from this, of all the people in
+the world; I do by no means except even the Swiss.
+
+Though you do not think proper to inform me, I know from other hands that
+you were to go to the Gohr with a Comte Schullemburg, for eight or ten
+days only, to see the reviews.  I know also that you had a blister upon
+your arm, which did you a great deal of good.  I know too, you have
+contracted a great friendship with Lord Essex, and that you two were
+inseparable at Hanover.  All these things I would rather have known from
+you than from others; and they are the sort of things that I am the most
+desirous of knowing, as they are more immediately relative to yourself.
+
+I am very sorry for the Duchess of Newcastle's illness, full as much upon
+your as upon her account, as it has hindered you from being so much known
+to the Duke as I could have wished; use and habit going a great way with
+him, as indeed they do with most people.  I have known many people
+patronized, pushed up, and preferred by those who could have given no
+other reason for it, than that they were used to them.  We must never
+seek for motives by deep reasoning, but we must find them out by careful
+observation and attention, no matter what they should be, but the point
+is, what they are.  Trace them up, step by step, from the character of
+the person.  I have known 'de par le monde', as Brantome says, great
+effects from causes too little ever to have been suspected.  Some things
+must be known, and can never be guessed.
+
+God knows where this letter will find you, or follow you; not at Hanover,
+I suppose; but wherever it does, may it find you in health and pleasure!
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVII
+
+LONDON, September 22, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: The day after the date of my last, I received your letter
+of the 8th.  I approve extremely of your intended progress, and am very
+glad that you go to the Gohr with Comte Schullemburg.  I would have you
+see everything with your own eyes, and hear everything with your own
+ears: for I know, by very long experience, that it is very unsafe to
+trust to other people's.  Vanity and interest cause many
+misrepresentations, and folly causes many more.  Few people have parts
+enough to relate exactly and judiciously: and those who have, for some
+reason or other, never fail to sink, or to add some circumstances.
+
+The reception which you have met with at Hanover, I look upon as an omen
+of your being well received everywhere else; for to tell you the truth,
+it was the place that I distrusted the most in that particular.  But
+there is a certain conduct, there are certaines 'manieres' that will,
+and must get the better of all difficulties of that kind; it is to
+acquire them that you still continue abroad, and go from court to court;
+they are personal, local, and temporal; they are modes which vary, and
+owe their existence to accidents, whim, and humor; all the sense and
+reason in the world would never point them out; nothing but experience,
+observation, and what is called knowledge of the world, can possibly
+teach them.  For example, it is respectful to bow to the King of England,
+it is disrespectful to bow to the King of France; it is the rule to
+courtesy to the Emperor; and the prostration of the whole body is
+required by eastern monarchs.  These are established ceremonies, and must
+be complied with: but why thev were established, I defy sense and reason
+to tell us.  It is the same among all ranks, where certain customs are
+received, and must necessarily be complied with, though by no means the
+result of sense and reason.  As for instance, the very absurd, though
+almost universal custom of drinking people's healths.  Can there be
+anything in the world less relative to any other man's health, than my
+drinking a glass of wine?  Common sense certainly never pointed it out;
+but yet common sense tells me I must conform to it.  Good sense bids one
+be civil and endeavor to please; though nothing but experience and
+observation can teach one the means, properly adapted to time, place, and
+persons.  This knowledge is the true object of a gentleman's traveling,
+if he travels as he ought to do.  By frequenting good company in every
+country, he himself becomes of every country; he is no longer an
+Englishman, a Frenchman, or an Italian; but he is an European; he adopts,
+respectively, the best manners of every country; and is a Frenchman at
+Paris, an Italian at Rome, an Englishman at London.
+
+This advantage, I must confess, very seldom accrues to my countrymen from
+their traveling; as they have neither the desire nor the means of getting
+into good company abroad; for, in the first place, they are confoundedly
+bashful; and, in the next place, they either speak no foreign language at
+all, or if they do, it is barbarously.  You possess all the advantages
+that they want; you know the languages in perfection, and have constantly
+kept the best company in the places where you have been; so that you
+ought to be an European.  Your canvas is solid and strong, your outlines
+are good; but remember that you still want the beautiful coloring of
+Titian, and the delicate, graceful touches of Guido.  Now is your time to
+get them.  There is, in all good company, a fashionable air, countenance,
+manner, and phraseology, which can only be acquired by being in good
+company, and very attentive to all that passes there.  When you dine or
+sup at any well-bred man's house, observe carefully how he does the
+honors of his table to the different guests.  Attend to the compliments
+of congratulation or condolence that you hear a well-bred man make to his
+superiors, to his equals, and to his inferiors; watch even his
+countenance and his tone of voice, for they all conspire in the main
+point of pleasing.  There is a certain distinguishing diction of a man of
+fashion; he will not content himself with saying, like John Trott, to a
+new-married man, Sir, I wish you much joy; or to a man who lost his son,
+Sir, I am sorry for your loss; and both with a countenance equally
+unmoved; but he will say in effect the same thing in a more elegant and
+less trivial manner, and with a countenance adapted to the occasion.  He
+will advance with warmth, vivacity, and a cheerful countenance, to the
+new-married man, and embracing him, perhaps say to him, "If you do
+justice to my attachment to you, you will judge of the joy that I feel
+upon this occasion, better than I can express it," etc.; to the other in
+affliction, he will advance slowly, with a grave composure of
+countenance, in a more deliberate manner, and with a lower voice, perhaps
+say, "I hope you do me the justice to be convinced that I feel whatever
+you feel, and shall ever be affected where you are concerned."
+
+Your 'abord', I must tell you, was too cold and uniform; I hope it is now
+mended.  It should be respectfully open and cheerful with your superiors,
+warm and animated with your equals, hearty and free with your inferiors.
+There is a fashionable kind of SMALL TALK which you should get; which,
+trifling as it is, is of use in mixed companies, and at table, especially
+in your foreign department; where it keeps off certain serious subjects,
+that might create disputes, or at least coldness for a time.  Upon such
+occasions it is not amiss to know how to parley cuisine, and to be able
+to dissert upon the growth and flavor of wines.  These, it is true, are
+very little things; but they are little things that occur very often, and
+therefore should be said 'avec gentillesse et grace'.  I am sure they
+must fall often in your way; pray take care to catch them.  There is a
+certain language of conversation, a fashionable diction, of which every
+gentleman ought to be perfectly master, in whatever language he speaks.
+The French attend to it carefully, and with great reason; and their
+language, which is a language of phrases, helps them out exceedingly.
+That delicacy of diction is characteristical of a man of fashion and good
+company.
+
+I could write folios upon this subject, and not exhaust it; but I think,
+and hope, that to you I need not.  You have heard and seen enough to be
+convinced of the truth and importance of what I have been so long
+inculcating into you upon these points.  How happy am I, and how happy
+are you, my dear child, that these Titian tints, and Guido graces, are
+all that you want to complete my hopes and your own character!  But then,
+on the other hand, what a drawback would it be to that happiness, if you
+should never acquire them?  I remember, when I was of age, though I had
+not near so good an education as you have, or seen a quarter so much of
+the world, I observed those masterly touches and irresistible graces in
+others, and saw the necessity of acquiring them myself; but then an
+awkward 'mauvaise honte', of which I had brought a great deal with me
+from Cambridge, made me ashamed to attempt it, especially if any of my
+countrymen and particular acquaintances were by.  This was extremely
+absurd in me: for, without attempting, I could never succeed.  But at
+last, insensibly, by frequenting a great deal of good company, and
+imitating those whom I saw that everybody liked, I formed myself, 'tant
+bien que mal'.  For God's sake, let this last fine varnish, so necessary
+to give lustre to the whole piece, be the sole and single object now of
+your utmost attention.  Berlin may contribute a great deal to it if you
+please; there are all the ingredients that compose it.
+
+'A Propos' of Berlin, while you are there, take care to seem ignorant of
+all political matters between the two courts; such as the affairs of Ost
+Frise, and Saxe Lawemburg, etc., and enter into no conversations upon
+those points; but, however, be as well at court as you possibly can;
+live at it, and make one of it.  Should General Keith offer you
+civilities, do not decline them; but return them, however, without being
+'enfant de la maison chez lui': say 'des chores flatteuses' of the Royal
+Family, and especially of his Prussian Majesty, to those who are the most
+like to repeat them.  In short, make yourself well there, without making
+yourself ill SOMEWHERE ELSE.  Make compliments from me to Algarotti, and
+converse with him in Italian.
+
+I go next week to the Bath, for a deafness, which I have been plagued
+with these four or five months; and which I am assured that pumping my
+head will remove.  This deafness, I own, has tried my patience; as it has
+cut me off from society, at an age when I had no pleasures but those
+left.  In the meantime, I have, by reading and writing, made my eyes
+supply the defect of my ears.  Madame H-----, I suppose, entertained both
+yours alike; however, I am very glad that you were well with her; for she
+is a good 'proneuse', and puffs are very useful to a young fellow at his
+entrance into the world.
+
+If you should meet with Lord Pembroke again, anywhere, make him many
+compliments from me; and tell him that I should have written to him, but
+that I knew how troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one.
+He is much commended in the accounts from Hanover.
+
+You will stay at Berlin just as long as you like it, and no longer; and
+from thence you are absolutely master of your own motions, either to The
+Hague, or to Brussels; but I think that you had better go to The Hague
+first, because that from thence Brussels will be in your way to Calais,
+which is a much better passage to England than from Helvoetsluys.  The
+two courts of The Hague and Brussels are worth your seeing; and you will
+see them both to advantage, by means of Colonel Yorke and Dayrolles.
+Adieu.  Here is enough for this time.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXVIII
+
+LONDON, September 26, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: As you chiefly employ, or rather wholly engross my
+thoughts, I see every day, with increasing pleasure, the fair prospect
+which you have before you.  I had two views in your education; they draw
+nearer and nearer, and I have now very little reason to distrust your
+answering them fully.  Those two were, parliamentary and foreign affairs.
+In consequence of those views, I took care, first, to give you a
+sufficient stock of sound learning, and next, an early knowledge of the
+world.  Without making a figure in parliament, no man can make any in
+this country; and eloquence alone enables a man to make a figure in
+parliament, unless, it be a very mean and contemptible one, which those
+make there who silently vote, and who do 'pedibus ire in sententiam'.
+Foreign affairs, when skillfully managed, and supported by a
+parliamentary reputation, lead to whatever is most considerable in this
+country.  You have the languages necessary for that purpose, with a
+sufficient fund of historical and treaty knowledge; that is to say, you
+have the matter ready, and only want the manner.  Your objects being thus
+fixed, I recommend to you to have them constantly in your thoughts, and
+to direct your reading, your actions, and your words, to those views.
+Most people think only 'ex re nata', and few 'ex professo': I would have
+you do both, but begin with the latter.  I explain myself: Lay down
+certain principles, and reason and act consequently from them.  As, for
+example, say to yourself, I will make a figure in parliament, and in
+order to do that, I must not only speak, but speak very well.  Speaking
+mere common sense will by no means do; and I must speak not only
+correctly but elegantly; and not only elegantly but eloquently.  In order
+to do this, I will first take pains to get an habitual, but unaffected,
+purity, correctness and elegance of style in my common conversation;
+I will seek for the best words, and take care to reject improper,
+inexpressive, and vulgar ones.  I will read the greatest masters of
+oratory, both ancient and modern, and I will read them singly in that
+view.  I will study Demosthenes and Cicero, not to discover an old
+Athenian or Roman custom, nor to puzzle myself with the value of talents,
+mines, drachms, and sesterces, like the learned blockheads in us; but to
+observe their choice of words, their harmony of diction, their method,
+their distribution, their exordia, to engage the favor and attention of
+their audience; and their perorations, to enforce what they have said,
+and to leave a strong impression upon the passions.  Nor will I be pedant
+enough to neglect the modern; for I will likewise study Atterbury,
+Dryden, Pope, and Bolingbroke; nay, I will read everything that I do read
+in that intention, and never cease improving and refining my style upon
+the best models, till at last I become a model of eloquence myself,
+which, by care, it is in every man's power to be.  If you set out upon
+this principle, and keep it constantly in your mind, every company you go
+into, and every book you read, will contribute to your improvement,
+either by showing you what to imitate, or what to avoid.  Are .you to
+give an account of anything to a mixed company?  or are you to endeavor
+to persuade either man or woman?  This principle, fixed in your mind,
+will make you carefully attend to the choice of your words, and to the
+clearness and harmony of your diction.
+
+So much for your parliamentary object; now to the foreign one.
+
+Lay down first those principles which are absolutely necessary to form a
+skillful and successful negotiator, and form yourself accordingly.  What
+are they?  First, the clear historical knowledge of past transactions of
+that kind.  That you have pretty well already, and will have daily more
+and more; for, in consequence of that principle, you will read history,
+memoirs, anecdotes, etc., in that view chiefly.  The other necessary
+talents for negotiation are: the great art of pleasing and engaging the
+affection and confidence, not only of those with whom you are to
+cooperate, but even of those whom you are to oppose: to conceal your own
+thoughts and views, and to discover other people's: to engage other
+people's confidence by a seeming cheerful frankness and openness, without
+going a step too far: to get the personal favor of the king, prince,
+ministers, or mistresses of the court to which you are sent: to gain the
+absolute command over your temper and your countenance, that no heat may
+provoke you to say, nor no change of countenance to betray, what should
+be a secret: to familiarize and domesticate yourself in the houses of the
+most considerable people of the place, so as to be received there rather
+as a friend to the family than as a foreigner.  Having these principles
+constantly in your thoughts, everything you do and everything you say
+will some way or other tend to your main view; and common conversation
+will gradually fit you for it.  You will get a habit of checking any
+rising heat; you will be upon your guard against any indiscreet
+expression; you will by degrees get the command of your countenance, so
+as not to change it upon any the most sudden accident; and you will,
+above all things, labor to acquire the great art of pleasing, without
+which nothing is to be done.  Company is, in truth, a constant state of
+negotiation; and, if you attend to it in that view, will qualify you for
+any.  By the same means that you make a friend, guard against an enemy,
+or gain a mistress; you will make an advantageous treaty, baffle those
+who counteract you, and gain the court you are sent to.  Make this use of
+all the company you keep, and your very pleasures will make you a
+successful negotiator.  Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none.
+Keep your own secret, and get out other people's.  Keep your own temper
+and artfully warm other people's.  Counterwork your rivals, with
+diligence and dexterity, but at the same time with the utmost personal
+civility to them; and be firm without heat.  Messieurs d'Avaux and
+Servien did no more than this.  I must make one observation, in
+confirmation of this assertion; which is, that the most eminent
+negotiators have allways been the politest and bestbred men in company;
+even what the women call the PRETTIEST MEN.  For God's sake, never lose
+view of these two your capital objects: bend everything to them, try
+everything by their rules, and calculate everything for their purposes.
+What is peculiar to these two objects, is, that they require nothing, but
+what one's own vanity, interest, and pleasure, would make one do
+independently of them.  If a man were never to be in business, and always
+to lead a private life, would he not desire to please and to persuade?
+So that, in your two destinations, your fortune and figure luckily
+conspire with your vanity and your pleasures.  Nay more; a foreign
+minister, I will maintain it, can never be a good man of business if he
+is not an agreeable man of pleasure too.  Half his business is done by
+the help of his pleasures; his views are carried on, and perhaps best and
+most unsuspectedly, at balls, suppers, assemblies, and parties of
+pleasure; by intrigues with women, and connections insensibly formed with
+men, at those unguarded hours of amusement.
+
+These objects now draw very near you, and you have no time to lose in
+preparing yourself to meet them.  You will be in parliament almost as
+soon as your age will allow, and I believe you will have a foreign
+department still sooner, and that will be earlier than ever any other
+body had one.  If you set out well at one-and-twenty, what may you not
+reasonably hope to be at one-and-forty?  All that I could wish you!
+Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXIX
+
+LONDON, September 29, 1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: There is nothing so necessary, but at the same time there
+is nothing more difficult (I know it by experience) for you young
+fellows, than to know how to behave yourselves prudently toward those
+whom you do not like.  Your passions are warm, and your heads are light;
+you hate all those who oppose your views, either of ambition or love; and
+a rival, in either, is almost a synonymous term for an enemy.  Whenever
+you meet such a man, you are awkwardly cold to him, at best; but often
+rude, and always desirous to give him some indirect slap.  This is
+unreasonable; for one man has as good a right to pursue an employment, or
+a mistress, as another; but it is, into the bargain, extremely imprudent;
+because you commonly defeat your own purpose by it, and while you are
+contending with each other, a third often prevails.  I grant you that the
+situation is irksome; a man cannot help thinking as he thinks, nor
+feeling what he feels; and it is a very tender and sore point to be
+thwarted and counterworked in one's pursuits at court, or with a
+mistress; but prudence and abilities must check the effects, though they
+cannot remove the cause.  Both the pretenders make themselves
+disagreeable to their mistress, when they spoil the company by their
+pouting, or their sparring; whereas, if one of them has command enough
+over himself (whatever he may feel inwardly) to be cheerful, gay, and
+easily and unaffectedly civil to the other, as if there were no manner of
+competition between them, the lady will certainly like him the best, and
+his rival will be ten times more humbled and discouraged; for he will
+look upon such a behavior as a proof of the triumph and security of his
+rival, he will grow outrageous with the lady, and the warmth of his
+reproaches will probably bring on a quarrel between them.  It is the same
+in business; where he who can command his temper and his countenance the
+best, will always have an infinite advantage over the other.  This is
+what the French call un 'procede honnete et galant', to PIQUE yourself
+upon showing particular civilities to a man, to whom lesser minds would,
+in the same case, show dislike, or perhaps rudeness.  I will give you an
+instance of this in my own case; and pray remember it, whenever you come
+to be, as I hope you will, in a like situation.
+
+When I went to The Hague, in 1744, it was to engage the Dutch to come
+roundly into the war, and to stipulate their quotas of troops, etc.;
+your acquaintance, the Abbe de la Ville, was there on the part of France,
+to endeavor to hinder them from coming into the war at all.  I was
+informed, and very sorry to hear it, that he had abilities, temper, and
+industry.  We could not visit, our two masters being at war; but the
+first time I met him at a third place, I got somebody to present me to
+him; and I told him, that though we were to be national enemies, I
+flattered myself we might be, however, personal friends, with a good deal
+more of the same kind; which he returned in full as polite a manner.
+Two days afterward, I went, early in the morning, to solicit the Deputies
+of Amsterdam, where I found l'Abbe de la Ville, who had been beforehand
+with me; upon which I addressed myself to the Deputies, and said,
+smilingly, I am very sorry, Gentlemen, to find my enemy with you; my
+knowledge of his capacity is already sufficient to make me fear him; we
+are not upon equal terms; but I trust to your own interest against his
+talents.  If I have not this day had the first word, I shall at least
+have the last.  They smiled: the Abbe was pleased with the compliment,
+and the manner of it, stayed about a quarter of an hour, and then left me
+to my Deputies, with whom I continued upon the same tone, though in a
+very serious manner, and told them that I was only come to state their
+own true interests to them, plainly and simply, without any of those
+arts, which it was very necessary for my friend to make use of to deceive
+them.  I carried my point, and continued my 'procede' with the Abbe; and
+by this easy and polite commerce with him, at third places, I often found
+means to fish out from him whereabouts he was.
+
+Remember, there are but two 'procedes' in the world for a gentleman and a
+man of parts; either extreme politeness or knocking down.  If a man
+notoriously and designedly insults and affronts you, knock him down; but
+if he only injures you, your best revenge is to be extremely civil to him
+in your outward behavior, though at the same time you counterwork him,
+and return him the compliment, perhaps with interest.  This is not
+perfidy nor dissimulation; it would be so if you were, at the same time,
+to make professions of esteem and friendship to this man; which I by no
+means recommend, but on the contrary abhor.  But all acts of civility
+are, by common consent, understood to be no more than a conformity to
+custom, for the quiet and conveniency of society, the 'agremens' of which
+are not to be disturbed by private dislikes and jealousies.  Only women
+and little minds pout and spar for the entertainment of the company, that
+always laughs at, and never pities them.  For my own part, though I would
+by no means give up any point to a competitor, yet I would pique myself
+upon showing him rather more civility than to another man.  In the first
+place, this 'procede' infallibly makes all 'les rieurs' of your side,
+which is a considerable party; and in the next place, it certainly
+pleases the object of the competition, be it either man or woman; who
+never fail to say, upon such an occasion, that THEY MUST OWN YOU HAVE
+BEHAVED YOURSELF VERY, HANDSOMELY IN THE WHOLE AFFAIR.  The world
+judges
+from the appearances of things, and not from the reality, which few are
+able, and still fewer are inclined to fathom: and a man, who will take
+care always to be in the right in those things, may afford to be
+sometimes a little in the wrong in more essential ones: there is a
+willingness, a desire to excuse him.  With nine people in ten, good-
+breeding passes for good-nature, and they take attentions for good
+offices.  At courts there will be always coldnesses, dislikes,
+jealousies, and hatred, the harvest being but small in proportion to the
+number of laborers; but then, as they arise often, they die soon, unless
+they are perpetuated by the manner in which they have been carried on,
+more than by the matter which occasioned them.  The turns and
+vicissitudes of courts frequently make friends of enemies, and enemies of
+friends; you must labor, therefore, to acquire that great and uncommon
+talent of hating with good-breeding and loving with prudence; to make no
+quarrel irreconcilable by silly and unnecessary indications of anger; and
+no friendship dangerous, in case it breaks, by a wanton, indiscreet, and
+unreserved confidence.
+
+
+Few, (especially young) people know how to love, or how to hate; their
+love is an unbounded weakness, fatal to the person they love; their hate
+is a hot, rash, and imprudent violence, always fatal to themselves.
+
+Nineteen fathers in twenty, and every mother, who had loved you half as
+well as I do, would have ruined you; whereas I always made you feel the
+weight of my authority, that you might one day know the force of my love.
+Now, I both hope and believe, my advice will have the same weight with
+you from choice that my authority had from necessity.  My advice is just
+eight-and-twenty years older than your own, and consequently, I believe
+you think, rather better.  As for your tender and pleasurable passions,
+manage them yourself; but let me have the direction of all the others.
+Your ambition, your figure, and your fortune, will, for some time at
+least, be rather safer in my keeping than in your own.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXX
+
+BATH, October 4, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  I consider you now as at the court of Augustus, where,
+if ever the desire of pleasing animated you, it must make you exert all
+the means of doing it.  You will see there, full as well, I dare say, as
+Horace did at Rome, how states are defended by arms, adorned by manners,
+and improved by laws.  Nay, you have an Horace there as well as an
+Augustus; I need not name Voltaire, 'qui nil molitur inept?' as Horace
+himself said of another poet.  I have lately read over all his works that
+are published, though I had read them more than once before.  I was
+induced to this by his 'Siecle de Louis XIV', which I have yet read but
+four times.  In reading over all his works, with more attention I suppose
+than before, my former admiration of him is, I own, turned into
+astonishment.  There is no one kind of writing in which he has not
+excelled.  You are so severe a classic that I question whether you will
+allow me to call his 'Henriade' an epic poem, for want of the proper
+number of gods, devils, witches and other absurdities, requisite for the
+machinery; which machinery is, it seems, necessary to constitute the
+'epopee'.  But whether you do or not, I will declare (though possibly to
+my own shame) that I never read any epic poem with near so much pleasure.
+I am grown old, and have possibly lost a great deal of that fire which
+formerly made me love fire in others at any rate, and however attended
+with smoke; but now I must have all sense, and cannot, for the sake of
+five righteous lines, forgive a thousand absurd ones.
+
+In this disposition of mind, judge whether I can read all Homer through
+'tout de suite'.  I admire its beauties; but, to tell you the truth, when
+he slumbers, I sleep.  Virgil, I confess, is all sense, and therefore I
+like him better than his model; but he is often languid, especially in
+his five or six last books, during which I am obliged to take a good deal
+of snuff.  Besides, I profess myself an ally of Turnus against the pious
+AEneas, who, like many 'soi-disant' pious people, does the most flagrant
+injustice and violence in order to execute what they impudently call the
+will of Heaven.  But what will you say, when I tell you truly, that I
+cannot possibly read our countryman Milton through?  I acknowledge him to
+have some most sublime passages, some prodigious flashes of light; but
+then you must acknowledge that light is often followed by darkness
+visible, to use his own expression.  Besides, not having the honor to be
+acquainted with any of the parties in this poem, except the Man and the
+Woman, the characters and speeches of a dozen or two of angels and of as
+many devils, are as much above my reach as my entertainment.  Keep this
+secret for me: for if it should be known, I should be abused by every
+tasteless pedant, and every solid divine in England.
+
+'Whatever I have said to the disadvantage of these three poems, holds
+much stronger against Tasso's 'Gierusalemme': it is true he has very fine
+and glaring rays of poetry; but then they are only meteors, they dazzle,
+then disappear, and are succeeded by false thoughts, poor 'concetti', and
+absurd impossibilities; witness the Fish and the Parrot; extravagancies
+unworthy of an heroic poem, and would much better have become Ariosto,
+who professes 'le coglionerie'.
+
+I have never read the "Lusiade of Camoens," except in prose translation,
+consequently I have never read it at all, so shall say nothing of it; but
+the Henriade is all sense from the beginning to the end, often adorned by
+the justest and liveliest reflections, the most beautiful descriptions,
+the noblest images, and the sublimest sentiments; not to mention the
+harmony of the verse, in which Voltaire undoubtedly exceeds all the
+French poets: should you insist upon an exception in favor of Racine,
+I must insist, on my part, that he at least equals him.  What hero ever
+interested more than Henry the Fourth; who, according to the rules of
+epic poetry, carries on one great and long action, and succeeds in it at
+last?  What descriptions ever excited more horror than those, first of
+the Massacre, and then of the Famine at Paris?  Was love ever painted
+with more truth and 'morbidezza' than in the ninth book?  Not better, in
+my mind, even in the fourth of Virgil.  Upon the whole, with all your
+classical rigor, if you will but suppose St. Louis a god, a devil, or a
+witch, and that he appears in person, and not in a dream, the Henriade
+will be an epic poem, according to the strictest statute laws of the
+'epopee'; but in my court of equity it is one as it is.
+
+I could expatiate as much upon all his different works, but that I should
+exceed the bounds of a letter and run into a dissertation.
+How delightful is his history of that northern brute, the King of Sweden,
+for I cannot call him a man; and I should be sorry to have him pass for a
+hero, out of regard to those true heroes, such as Julius Caesar, Titus,
+Trajan, and the present King of Prussia, who cultivated and encouraged
+arts and sciences; whose animal courage was accompanied by the tender and
+social sentiments of humanity; and who had more pleasure in improving,
+than in destroying their fellow-creatures.  What can be more touching,
+or more interesting--what more nobly thought, or more happily expressed,
+than all his dramatic pieces?  What can be more clear and rational than
+all his philosophical letters? and whatever was so graceful, and gentle,
+as all his little poetical trifles?  You are fortunately 'a porte' of
+verifying, by your knowledge of the man, all that I have said of his
+works.
+
+Monsieur de Maupertius (whom I hope you will get acquainted with) is,
+what one rarely meets with, deep in philosophy and, mathematics, and yet
+'honnete et aimable homme': Algarotti is young Fontenelle.  Such men must
+necessarily give you the desire of pleasing them; and if you can frequent
+them, their acquaintance will furnish you the means of pleasing everybody
+else.
+
+'A propos' of pleasing, your pleasing Mrs. F-----d is expected here in
+two or three days; I will do all that I can for you with her: I think you
+carried on the romance to the third or fourth volume; I will continue it
+to the eleventh; but as for the twelfth and last, you must come and
+conclude it yourself.  'Non sum qualis eram'.
+
+Good-night to you, child; for I am going to bed, just at the hour at
+which I suppose you are going to live, at Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXI
+
+BATH, November 11, O. S.  1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND:  It is a very old and very true maxim, that those kings
+reign the most secure and the most absolute, who reign in the hearts of
+their people.  Their popularity is a better guard than their army, and
+the affections of their subjects a better pledge of their obedience than
+their fears.  This rule is, in proportion, full as true, though upon a
+different scale, with regard to private people.  A man who possesses that
+great art of pleasing universally, and of gaining the affections of those
+with whom he converses, possesses a strength which nothing else can give
+him: a strength which facilitates and helps his rise; and which, in case
+of accidents, breaks his fall.  Few people of your age sufficiently
+consider this great point of popularity; and when they grow older and
+wiser, strive in vain to recover what they have lost by their negligence.
+There are three principal causes that hinder them from acquiring this
+useful strength: pride, inattention, and 'mauvaise honte'.  The first I
+will not, I cannot suspect you of; it is too much below your
+understanding.  You cannot, and I am sure you do not think yourself
+superior by nature to the Savoyard who cleans your room, or the footman
+who cleans your shoes; but you may rejoice, and with reason, at the
+difference that fortune has made in your favor.  Enjoy all those
+advantages; but without insulting those who are unfortunate enough to
+want them, or even doing anything unnecessarily that may remind them of
+that want.  For my own part, I am more upon my guard as to my behavior to
+my servants, and others who are called my inferiors, than I am toward my
+equals: for fear of being suspected of that mean and ungenerous sentiment
+of desiring to make others feel that difference which fortune has, and
+perhaps too, undeservedly, made between us.  Young people do not enough
+attend to this; and falsely imagine that the imperative mood, and a rough
+tone of authority and decision, are indications of spirit and courage.
+Inattention is always looked upon, though sometimes unjustly, as the
+effect of pride and contempt; and where it is thought so, is never
+forgiven.  In this article, young people are generally exceedingly to
+blame, and offend extremely.  Their whole attention is engrossed by their
+particular set of acquaintance; and by some few glaring and exalted
+objects of rank, beauty, or parts; all the rest they think so little
+worth their care, that they neglect even common civility toward them.
+I will frankly confess to you, that this was one of my great faults when
+I was of your age.  Very attentive to please that narrow court circle in
+which I stood enchanted, I considered everything else as bourgeois, and
+unworthy of common civility; I paid my court assiduously and skillfully
+enough to shining and distinguished figures, such as ministers, wits, and
+beauties; but then I most absurdly and imprudently neglected, and
+consequently offended all others.  By this folly I made myself a thousand
+enemies of both sexes; who, though I thought them very insignificant,
+found means to hurt me essentially where I wanted to recommend myself the
+most.  I was thought proud, though I was only imprudent.  A general easy
+civility and attention to the common run of ugly women, and of middling
+men, both which I sillily thought, called, and treated, as odd people,
+would have made me as many friends, as by the contrary conduct I made
+myself enemies.  All this too was 'a pure perte'; for I might equally,
+and even more successfully, have made my court, when I had particular
+views to gratify.  I will allow that this task is often very unpleasant,
+and that one pays, with some unwillingness, that tribute of attention to
+dull and tedious men, and to old and ugly women; but it is the lowest
+price of popularity and general applause, which are very well worth
+purchasing were they much dearer.  I conclude this head with this advice
+to you: Gain, by particular assiduity and address, the men and women you
+want; and, by an universal civility and attention, please everybody so
+far as to have their good word, if not their goodwill; or, at least, as
+to secure a partial neutrality.
+
+'Mauvaise honte' not only hinders young people from making, a great many
+friends, but makes them a great many enemies.  They are ashamed of doing
+the thing they know to be right, and would otherwise do, for fear of the
+momentary laugh of some fine gentleman or lady, or of some 'mauvais
+plaisant'.  I have been in this case: and have often wished an obscure
+acquaintance at the devil, for meeting and taking notice of me when I was
+in what I thought and called fine company.  I have returned their notice
+shyly, awkwardly, and consequently offensively; for fear of a momentary
+joke, not considering, as I ought to have done, that the very people who
+would have joked upon me at first, would have esteemed me the more for it
+afterward.  An example explains a rule best: Suppose you were walking in
+the Tuileries with some fine folks, and that you should unexpectedly meet
+your old acquaintance, little crooked Grierson; what would you do?
+I will tell you what you should do, by telling you what I would now do in
+that case myself.  I would run up to him, and embrace him; say some kind
+of things to him, and then return to my company.  There I should be
+immediately asked: 'Mais qu'est ce que c'est donc que ce petit Sapajou
+que vous avez embrasse si tendrement?  Pour cela, l'accolade a ete
+charmante'; with a great deal more festivity of that sort.  To this I
+should answer, without being the least ashamed, but en badinant: O je ne
+vous dirai tas qui c'est; c'est un petit ami que je tiens incognito, qui
+a son merite, et qui, a force d'etre connu, fait oublier sa figure.  Que
+me donnerez-vous, et je vous le presenterai'?  And then, with a little
+more seriousness, I would add: 'Mais d'ailleurs c'est que je ne desavoue
+jamais mes connoissances, a cause de leur etat ou de leur figure.  Il
+faut avoir bien peu de sentimens pour le faire'.  This would at once put
+an end to that momentary pleasantry, and give them all a better opinion
+of me than they had before.  Suppose another case, and that some of the
+finest ladies 'du bon ton' should come into a room, and find you sitting
+by, and talking politely to 'la vieille' Marquise de Bellefonds, the joke
+would, for a moment, turn upon that 'tete-a-tete':  He bien!  avez vous
+a la fin fixd la belle Marquise?  La partie est-elle faite pour la petite
+maison?  Le souper sera galant sans doute: Mais ne faistu donc point
+scrupule de seduire une jeune et aimable persone comme celle-la'?
+To this I should answer: 'La partie n'etoit pas encore tout-a fait liee,
+vous nous avez interrompu; mais avec le tems que fait-on?  D'ailleurs
+moquezvous de mes amours tant qu'il vous plaira, je vous dirai que je
+respecte tant les jeunes dames, que je respecte meme les vieilles, pour
+l'avoir ete.  Apre cela il y a souvent des liaisons entre les vieilles et
+les jeunes'.  This would at once turn the pleasantry into an esteem for
+your good sense and your good-breeding.  Pursue steadily, and without
+fear or shame, whatever your reason tells you is right, and what you see
+is practiced by people of more experience than yourself, and of
+established characters of good sense and good-breeding.
+
+After all this, perhaps you will say, that it is impossible to please
+everybody.  I grant it; but it does not follow that one should not
+therefore endeavor to please as many as one can.  Nay, I will go further,
+and admit that it is impossible for any man not to have some enemies.
+But this truth from long experience I assert, that he who has the most
+friends and the fewest enemies, is the strongest; will rise the highest
+with the least envy; and fall, if he does fall, the gentlest, and the
+most pitied.  This is surely an object worth pursuing.  Pursue it
+according to the rules I have here given you.  I will add one observation
+more, and two examples to enforce it; and then, as the parsons say,
+conclude.
+
+There is no one creature so obscure, so low, or so poor, who may not, by
+the strange and unaccountable changes and vicissitudes of human affairs,
+somehow or other, and some time or other, become an useful friend or a
+trouble-some enemy, to the greatest and the richest.  The late Duke of
+Ormond was almost the weakest but at the same time the best-bred, and
+most popular man in this kingdom.  His education in courts and camps,
+joined to an easy, gentle nature, had given him that habitual affability,
+those engaging manners, and those mechanical attentions, that almost
+supplied the place of every talent he wanted; and he wanted almost every
+one.  They procured him the love of all men, without the esteem of any.
+He was impeached after the death of Queen Anne, only because that, having
+been engaged in the same measures with those who were necessarily to be
+impeached, his impeachment, for form's sake, became necessary.  But he
+was impeached without acrimony, and without the lest intention that he
+should suffer, notwithstanding the party violence of those times.  The
+question for his impeachment, in the House of Commons, was carried by
+many fewer votes than any other question of impeachment; and Earl
+Stanhope, then Mr. Stanhope, and Secretary' of State, who impeached him,
+very soon after negotiated and concluded his accommodation with the late
+King; to whom he was to have been presented the next day.  But the late
+Bishop of Rochester, Atterbury, who thought that the Jacobite cause might
+suffer by losing the Duke of Ormond, went in all haste, and prevailed
+with the poor weak man to run away; assuring him that he was only to be
+gulled into a disgraceful submission, and not to be pardoned in
+consequence of it.  When his subsequent attainder passed, it excited mobs
+and disturbances in town.  He had not a personal enemy in the world; and
+had a thousand friends.  All this was simply owing to his natural desire
+of pleasing, and to the mechanical means that his education, not his
+parts, had given him of doing it.  The other instance is the late Duke of
+Marlborough, who studied the art of pleasing, because he well knew the
+importance of it: he enjoyed and used it more than ever man did.  He
+gained whoever he had a mind to gain; and he had a mind to gain
+everybody, because he knew that everybody was more or less worth gaining.
+Though his power, as Minister and General, made him many political and
+party enemies, they did not make him one personal one; and the very
+people who would gladly have displaced, disgraced, and perhaps attainted
+the Duke of Marlborough, at the same time personally loved Mr. Churchill,
+even though his private character was blemished by sordid avarice, the
+most unamiable of all vices.  He had wound up and turned his whole
+machine to please and engage.  He had an inimitable sweetness and
+gentleness in his countenance, a tenderness in his manner of speaking, a
+graceful dignity in every motion, and an universal and minute attention
+to the least things that could possibly please the least person.  This
+was all art in him; art of which he well knew and enjoyed the advantages;
+for no man ever had more interior ambition, pride, and avarice, than he
+had.
+
+Though you have more than most people of your age, you have yet very
+little experience and knowledge of the world; now, I wish to inoculate
+mine upon you, and thereby prevent both the dangers and the marks of
+youth and inexperience.  If you receive the matter kindly, and observe my
+prescriptions scrupulously, you will secure the future advantages of time
+and join them to the present inestimable ones of one-and-twenty.
+
+I most earnestly recommend one thing to you, during your present stay at
+Paris.  I own it is not the most agreeable; but I affirm it to be the
+most useful thing in the world to one of your age; and therefore I do
+hope that you will force and constrain yourself to do it.  I mean, to
+converse frequently, or rather to be in company frequently with both men
+and women much your superiors in age and rank.  I am very sensible that,
+at your age, 'vous y entrez pour peu de chose, et meme souvent pour rien,
+et que vous y passerez meme quelques mauvais quart-d'heures'; but no
+matter; you will be a solid gainer by it: you will see, hear, and learn
+the turn and manners of those people; you will gain premature experience
+by it; and it will give you a habit of engaging and respectful
+attentions.  Versailles, as much as possible, though probably
+unentertaining: the Palais Royal often, however dull: foreign ministers
+of the first rank, frequently, and women, though old, who are respectable
+and respected for their rank or parts; such as Madame de Pusieux, Madame
+de Nivernois, Madame d'Aiguillon, Madame Geoffrain, etc.  This
+'sujetion', if it be one to you, will cost you but very little in these
+three or four months that you are yet to pass in Paris, and will bring
+you in a great deal; nor will it, nor ought it, to hinder you from being
+in a more entertaining company a great part of the day.  'Vous pouvez, si
+vous le voulex, tirer un grand parti de ces quatre mois'.  May God make
+you so, and bless you! Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXII
+
+BATH, November 16, O. S.  1752.
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Vanity, or to call it by a gentler name, the desire of
+admiration and applause, is, perhaps, the most universal principle of
+human actions; I do not say that it is the best; and I will own that it
+is sometimes the cause of both foolish and criminal effects.  But it is
+so much oftener the principle of right things, that though they ought to
+have a better, yet, considering human nature, that principle is to be
+encouraged and cherished, in consideration of its effects.  Where that
+desire is wanting, we are apt to be indifferent, listless, indolent, and
+inert; we do not exert our powers; and we appear to be as much below
+ourselves as the vainest man living can desire to appear above what he
+really is.
+
+As I have made you my confessor, and do not scruple to confess even my
+weaknesses to you, I will fairly own that I had that vanity, that
+weakness, if it be one, to a prodigious degree; and, what is more, I
+confess it without repentance: nay, I am glad I had it; since, if I have
+had the good fortune to please in the world, it is to that powerful and
+active principle that I owe it.  I began the world, not with a bare
+desire, but with an insatiable thirst, a rage of popularity, applause,
+and admiration.  If this made me do some silly things on one hand, it
+made me, on the other hand, do almost all the right things that I did; it
+made me attentive and civil to the women I disliked, and to the men I
+despised, in hopes of the applause of both: though I neither desired, nor
+would I have accepted the favors of the one, nor the friendship of the
+other.  I always dressed, looked, and talked my best; and, I own, was
+overjoyed whenever I perceived, that by all three, or by any one of them,
+the company was pleased with me.  To men, I talked whatever I thought
+would give them the best opinion of my parts and learning; and to women,
+what I was sure would please them; flattery, gallantry, and love.  And,
+moreover, I will own to you, under the secrecy of confession, that my
+vanity has very often made me take great pains to make a woman in love
+with me, if I could, for whose person I would not have given a pinch of
+snuff.  In company with men, I always endeavored to outshine, or at
+least, if possible, to equal the most shining man in it.  This desire
+elicited whatever powers I had to gratify it; and where I could not
+perhaps shine in the first, enabled me, at least, to shine in a second or
+third sphere.  By these means I soon grew in fashion; and when a man is
+once in fashion, all he does is right.  It was infinite pleasure to me to
+find my own fashion and popularity.  I was sent for to all parties of
+pleasure, both of men or women; where, in some measure, I gave the 'ton'.
+This gave me the reputation of having had some women of condition; and
+that reputation, whether true or false, really got me others.  With the
+men I was a Proteus, and assumed every shape, in order to please them
+all: among the gay, I was the gayest; among the grave, the gravest; and I
+never omitted the least attentions of good-breeding, or the least offices
+of friendship, that could either please, or attach them to me: and
+accordingly I was soon connected with all the men of any fashion or
+figure in town.
+
+To this principle of vanity, which philosophers call a mean one, and
+which I do not, I owe great part of the figure which I have made in life.
+I wish you had as much, but I fear you have too little of it; and you
+seem to have a degree of laziness and listlessness about you that makes
+you indifferent as to general applause.  This is not in character at your
+age, and would be barely pardonable in an elderly and philosophical man.
+It is a vulgar, ordinary saying, but it is a very true one, that one
+should always put the best foot foremost.  One should please, shine, and
+dazzle, wherever it is possible.  At Paris, I am sure you must observe
+'que chacun se fait valoir autant qu'il est possible'; and La Bruyere
+observes, very justly, qu'on ne vaut dans ce monde que ce qu'on veut
+valoir': wherever applause is in question, you will never see a French
+man, nor woman, remiss or negligent.  Observe the eternal attentions and
+politeness that all people have there for one another.  'Ce n'est pas
+pour leurs beaux yeux au moins'.  No, but for their own sakes, for
+commendations and applause.  Let me then recommend this principle of
+vanity to you; act upon it 'meo periculo'; I promise you it will turn to
+your account.  Practice all the arts that ever coquette did, to please.
+Be alert and indefatigable in making every man admire, and every woman in
+love with you.  I can tell you too, that nothing will carry you higher in
+the world.
+
+I have had no letter from you since your arrival at Paris, though you
+must have been long enough there to have written me two or three.  In
+about ten or twelve days I propose leaving this place, and going to
+London; I have found considerable benefit by my stay here, but not all
+that I want.  Make my compliments to Lord Albemarle.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIII
+
+BATH, November 28, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: Since my last to you, I have read Madame Maintenon's
+"Letters"; I am sure they are genuine, and they both entertained and
+informed me.  They have brought me acquainted with the character of that
+able and artful lady; whom I am convinced that I now know much better
+than her directeur the Abby de Fenelon (afterward Archbishop of Cambray)
+did, when he wrote her the 185th letter; and I know him the better too
+for that letter.  The Abby, though brimful of the divine love, had a
+great mind to be first minister, and cardinal, in order, NO DOUBT, to
+have an opportunity of doing the more good.  His being 'directeur' at
+that time to Madame Maintenon, seemed to be a good step toward those
+views.  She put herself upon him for a saint, and he was weak enough to
+believe it; he, on the other hand, would have put himself upon her for a
+saint too, which, I dare say, she did not believe; but both of them knew
+that it was necessary for them to appear saints to Lewis the Fourteenth,
+who they were very sure was a bigot.  It is to be presumed, nay, indeed,
+it is plain by that 185th letter that Madame Maintenon had hinted to her
+directeur some scruples of conscience, with relation to her commerce with
+the King; and which I humbly apprehend to have been only some scruples of
+prudence, at once to flatter the bigot character, and increase the
+desires of the King.  The pious Abbe, frightened out of his wits, lest
+the King should impute to the 'directeur' any scruples or difficulties
+which he might meet with on the part of the lady, writes her the above-
+mentioned letter; in which he not only bids her not tease the King by
+advice and exhortations, but to have the utmost submission to his will;
+and, that she may not mistake the nature of that submission, he tells her
+it is the same that Sarah had for Abraham; to which submission Isaac
+perhaps was owing.  No bawd could have written a more seducing letter to
+an innocent country girl, than the 'directeur' did to his 'penitente';
+who I dare say had no occasion for his good advice.  Those who would
+justify the good 'directeur', alias the pimp, in this affair, must not
+attempt to do it by saying that the King and Madame Maintenon were at
+that time privately married; that the directeur knew it; and that this
+was the meaning of his 'enigme'.  That is absolutely impossible; for that
+private marriage must have removed all scruples between the parties; nay,
+could not have been contracted upon any other principle, since it was
+kept private, and consequently prevented no public scandal.  It is
+therefore extremely evident that Madame Maintenon could not be married to
+the King at the time when she scrupled granting, and when the 'directeur'
+advised her to grant, those favors which Sarah with so much submission
+granted to Abraham: and what the 'directeur' is pleased to call 'le
+mystere de Dieu', was most evidently a state of concubinage.  The letters
+are very well worth your reading; they throw light upon many things of
+those times.
+
+I have just received a letter from Sir William Stanhope, from Lyons; in
+which he tells me that he saw you at Paris, that he thinks you a little
+grown, but that you do not make the most of it, for that you stoop still:
+'d'ailleurs' his letter was a panegyric of you.
+
+The young Comte de Schullemburg, the Chambellan whom you knew at Hanover,
+is come over with the King, 'et fait aussi vos eloges'.
+
+Though, as I told you in my last, I have done buying pictures, by way of
+'virtu', yet there are some portraits of remarkable people that would
+tempt me.  For instance, if you could by chance pick up at Paris, at a
+reasonable price, and undoubted originals (whether heads, half lengths,
+or whole lengths, no matter) of Cardinals Richelieu, Mazarin, and Retz,
+Monsieur de Turenne, le grand Prince de Condo; Mesdames de Montespan, de
+Fontanges, de Montbazon, de Sevigne, de Maintenon, de Chevreuse, de
+Longueville, d'Olonne, etc., I should be tempted to purchase them.  I am
+sensible that they can only be met with, by great accident, at family
+sales and auctions, so I only mention the affair to you eventually.
+
+I do not understand, or else I do not remember, what affair you mean in
+your last letter; which you think will come to nothing, and for which,
+you say, I had once a mind that you should take the road again.  Explain
+it to me.
+
+I shall go to town in four or five days, and carry back with me a little
+more hearing than I brought; but yet, not half enough for common wants.
+One wants ready pocket-money much oftener than one wants great sums; and
+to use a very odd expression, I want to hear at sight.  I love every-day
+senses, every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on
+holydays is good for very little.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+LETTER CLXXXIV
+
+Christmas Day, 1752
+
+MY DEAR FRIEND: A tyrant with legions at his com mand may say, Oderint
+modo timeant; though he is a fool if he says it, and a greater fool if he
+thinks it.  But a private man who can hurt but few, though he can please
+many, must endeavor to be loved, for he cannot be feared in general.
+Popularity is his only rational and sure foundation.  The good-will, the
+affections, the love of the public, can alone raise him to any
+considerable height.  Should you ask me how he is to acquire them, I will
+answer, By desiring them. No man ever deserved, who did not desire them;
+and no man both deserved and desired them who had them not, though many
+have enjoyed them merely by desiring, and without deserving them.  You do
+not imagine, I believe, that I mean by this public love the sentimental
+love of either lovers or intimate friends; no, that is of another nature,
+and confined to a very narrow circle; but I mean that general good-will
+which a man may acquire in the world, by the arts of pleasing
+respectively exerted according to the rank, the situation, and the turn
+of mind of those whom he hath to do with.  The pleasing impressions which
+he makes upon them will engage their affections and their good wishes,
+and even their good offices as far (that is) as they are not inconsistent
+with their own interests; for further than that you are not to expect
+from three people in the course of your life, even were it extended to
+the patriarchal term.  Could I revert to the age of twenty, and carry
+back with me all the experience that forty years more have taught me, I
+can assure you, that I would employ much the greatest part of my time in
+engaging the good-will, and in insinuating myself into the predilection
+of people in general, instead of directing my endeavors to please (as I
+was too apt to do) to the man whom I immediately wanted, or the woman I
+wished for, exclusively of all others.  For if one happens (and it will
+sometimes happen to the ablest man) to fail in his views with that man or
+that woman, one is at a loss to know whom to address one's self to next,
+having offended in general, by that exclusive and distinguished
+particular application. I would secure a general refuge in the good-will
+of the multitude, which is a great strength to any man; for both
+ministers and mistresses choose popular and fashionable favorites.  A man
+who solicits a minister, backed by the general good-will and good wishes
+of mankind, solicits with great weight and great probability of success;
+and a woman is strangely biassed in favor of a man whom she sees in
+fashion, and hears everybody speak well of. This useful art of
+insinuation consists merely of various little things.  A graceful motion,
+a significant look, a trifling attention, an obliging word dropped 'a
+propos', air, dress, and a thousand other undefinable things, all
+severally little ones, joined together, make that happy and inestimable
+composition, THE ART OF PLEASING.  I have in my life seen many a very
+handsome woman who has not pleased me, and many very sensible men who
+have disgusted me.  Why? only for want of those thousand little means to
+please, which those women, conscious of their beauty, and those men of
+their sense, have been grossly enough mistaken to neglect.  I never was
+so much in love in my life, as I was with a woman who was very far from
+being handsome; but then she was made up of graces, and had all the arts
+of pleasing.  The following verses, which I have read in some
+congratulatory poem prefixed to some work, I have forgot which, express
+what I mean in favor of what pleases preferably to what is generally
+called mare solid and instructive:
+
+              "I would an author like a mistress try,
+               Not by a nose, a lip, a cheek, or eye,
+               But by some nameless power to give me joy."
+
+Lady Chesterfield bids me make you many compliments; she showed me your
+letter of recommendation of La Vestres; with which I was very well
+pleased: there is a pretty turn in it; I wish you would always speak as
+genteelly.  I saw another letter from a lady at Paris, in which there was
+a high panegyrical paragraph concerning you.  I wish it were every word
+of it literally true; but, as it comes from a very little, pretty, white
+hand, which is suspected, and I hope justly, of great partiality to you:
+'il en faut rabattre quelque chose, et meme en le faisant it y aura
+toujours d'assez beaux restes'.  Adieu.
+
+
+
+
+ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
+
+Art of pleasing is the most necessary
+Assenting, but without being servile and abject
+Assertion instead of argument
+Attacked by ridicule, and, punished with contempt
+Bold, but with great seeming modesty
+Close, without being costive
+Command of our temper, and of our countenance
+Company is, in truth, a constant state of negotiation
+Consider things in the worst light, to show your skill
+Darkness visible
+Defended by arms, adorned by manners, and improved by laws
+Doing nothing, and might just as well be asleep
+Endeavor to hear, and know all opinions
+Enjoy all those advantages
+Few people know how to love, or how to hate
+Fools, who can never be undeceived
+Frank, but without indiscretion
+Frequently make friends of enemies, and enemies of friends
+Grave without the affectation of wisdom
+Horace
+How troublesome an old correspondent must be to a young one
+I CANNOT DO SUCH A THING
+Ignorant of their natural rights, cherished their chains
+Inattention
+Infallibly to be gained by every sort of flattery
+Judges from the appearances of things, and not from the reality
+Keep your own temper and artfully warm other people's
+King's popularity is a better guard than their army
+Lay aside the best book
+Le mystere de Dieu
+Lewis XIV
+Made him believe that the world was made for him
+Make every man I met with like me, and every woman love me
+Man or woman cannot resist an engaging exterior
+Man who is only good on holydays is good for very little
+Milton
+Never seek for wit; if it presents itself, well and good
+Not making use of any one capital letter
+Notes by which dances are now pricked down as well as tunes
+Old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really' be so or not
+Please all who are worth pleasing; offend none
+Pleasures do not commonly last so long as life
+Polite, but without the troublesome forms and stiffness
+Prejudices are our mistresses
+Quarrel with them when they are grown up, for being spoiled
+Read with caution and distrust
+Reason is at best our wife
+Ruined their own son by what they called loving him
+Secret, without being dark and mysterious
+Seeming inattention to the person who is speaking to you
+Talent of hating with good-breeding and loving with prudence
+The longest life is too short for knowledge
+Trifles that concern you are not trifles to me
+Truth, but not the whole truth, must be the invariable principle
+Useful sometimes to see the things which one ought to avoid
+Vanity
+Voltaire
+Where one would gain people, remember that nothing is little
+Wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded
+Wit may create many admirers but makes few friends
+Work there as a volunteer in that bureau
+Yahoos
+Young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be
+
+
+
+
+End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1752
+by The Earl of Chesterfield
+
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