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diff --git a/3357.txt b/3357.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..700d1d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/3357.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2269 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to His Son, 1753-1754 +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, 1753-1754 + +Author: The Earl of Chesterfield + +Release Date: December 1, 2004 [EBook #3357] +[Last updated on February 14, 2007] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1753-1754 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + LETTERS TO HIS SON + 1753-54 + + By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD + + on the Fine Art of becoming a + + MAN OF THE WORLD + + and a + + GENTLEMAN + + + + +LETTER CLXXXV + +LONDON, New Years' Day, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: It is now above a fortnight since I have received a +letter from you. I hope, however, that you are well, but engrossed by the +business of Lord Albemarle's 'bureau' in the mornings, and by business of +a genteeler nature in the evenings; for I willingly give up my own +satisfaction to your improvement, either in business or manners. + +Here have been lately imported from Paris two gentlemen, who, I find, +were much acquainted with you there Comte Zinzendorf, and Monsieur +Clairant the Academician. The former is a very pretty man, well-bred, and +with a great deal of useful knowledge; for those two things are very +consistent. I examined him about you, thinking him a competent judge. He +told me, 'que vous parliez l'Allemand comme un Allemand; que vous saviez +le droit public de l'empire parfaitement bien; que vous aviez le gout +sur, et des connoissances fort etendues'. I told him that I knew all this +very well; but that I wanted to know whether you had l'air, les manieres, +les attentions, en fin le brillant d'un honnete homme': his answer was, +'Mais oui en verite, c'est fort bien'. This, you see, is but cold in +comparison of what I do wish, and of what you ought to wish. Your friend +Clairant interposed, and said, 'Mais je vous assure qu'il est fort poli'; +to which I answered, 'Je le crois bien, vis-a-vis des Lapons vos amis; je +vous recuse pour juge, jusqu'a ce que vous ayez ete delaponne, au moins +dix ans, parmi les honnetes gens'. These testimonies in your favor are +such as perhaps you are satisfied with, and think sufficient; but I am +not; they are only the cold depositions of disinterested and unconcerned +witnesses, upon a strict examination. When, upon a trial, a man calls +witnesses to his character, and that those witnesses only say that they +never heard, nor do not know any ill of him, it intimates at best a +neutral and insignificant, though innocent character. Now I want, and you +ought to endeavor, that 'les agremens, les graces, les attentions', etc., +should be a distinguishing part of your character, and specified of you +by people unasked. I wish to hear people say of you, 'Ah qu'il est +aimable! Quelles manieres, quelles graces, quel art de Claire'! Nature, +thank God, has given you all the powers necessary; and if she has not +yet, I hope in God she will give you the will of exerting them. + +I have lately read with great pleasure Voltaire's two little histories of +'Les Croisades', and 'l'Esprit Humain'; which I recommend to your +perusal, if you have not already read them. They are bound up with a most +poor performance called 'Micromegas', which is said to be Voltaire's too, +but I cannot believe it, it is so very unworthy of him; it consists only +of thoughts stolen from Swift, but miserably mangled and disfigured. But +his history of the 'Croisades' shows, in a very short and strong light, +the most immoral and wicked scheme that was ever contrived by knaves, and +executed by madmen and fools, against humanity. There is a strange but +never-failing relation between honest madmen and skillful knaves; and +whenever one meets with collected numbers of the former, one may be very +sure that they are secretly directed by the latter. The popes, who have +generally been both the ablest and the greatest knaves in Europe, wanted +all the power and money of the East; for they had all that was in Europe +already. The times and the minds favored their design, for they were dark +and uniformed; and Peter the Hermit, at once a knave and a madman, was a +fine papal tool for so wild and wicked an undertaking. I wish we had good +histories of every part of Europe, and indeed of the world, written upon +the plan of Voltaire's 'de l'Esprit Humain'; for, I own, I am provoked at +the contempt which most historians show for humanity in general: one +would think by them that the whole human species consisted but of about a +hundred and fifty people, called and dignified (commonly very +undeservedly too) by the titles of emperors, kings, popes, generals, and +ministers. + +I have never seen in any of the newspapers any mention of the affairs of +the Cevennes, or Grenoble, which you gave me an account of some time ago; +and the Duke de Mirepoix pretends, at least, to know nothing of either. +Were they false reports? or does the French court choose to stifle them? +I hope that they are both true, because I am very willing that the cares +of the French government should be employed and confined to themselves. + +Your friend, the Electress Palatine, has sent me six wild boars' heads, +and other 'pieces de sa chasse', in return for the fans, which she +approved of extremely. This present was signified to me by one Mr. +Harold, who wrote me a letter in very indifferent English; I suppose he +is a Dane who has been in England. + +Mr. Harte came to town yesterday, and dined with me to-day. We talked you +over; and I can assure you, that though a parson, and no member 'du beau +monde', he thinks all the most shining accomplishments of it full as +necessary for you as I do. His expression was, THAT IS ALL THAT HE WANTS; +BUT IF HE WANTS THAT, CONSIDERING HIS SITUATION AND DESTINATION, HE MIGHT +AS WELL WANT EVERYTHING ELSE. + +This is the day when people reciprocally offer and receive the kindest +and the warmest wishes, though, in general, without meaning them on one +side, or believing them on the other. They are formed by the head, in +compliance with custom, though disavowed by the heart, in consequence of +nature. His wishes upon this occasion are the best that are the best +turned; you do not, I am sure, doubt the truth of mine, and therefore I +will express them with a Quaker-like simplicity. May this new year be a +very new one indeed to you; may you put off the old, and put on the new +man! but I mean the outward, not the inward man. With this alteration, I +might justly sum up all my wishes for you in these words: + + Dii tibi dent annos, de to nam caetera sumes. + +This minute, I receive your letter of the 26th past, which gives me a +very disagreeable reason for your late silence. By the symptoms which you +mention of your illness, I both hope and believe that it was wholly owing +to your own want of care. You are rather inclined to be fat, you have +naturally a good stomach, and you eat at the best tables; which must of +course make you plethoric: and upon my word you will be very subject to +these accidents, if you will not, from time to time, when you find +yourself full, heated, or your head aching, take some little, easy, +preventative purge, that would not confine you; such as chewing a little +rhubarb when you go to bed at night; or some senna tea in the morning. +You do very well to live extremely low, for some time; and I could wish, +though I do not expect it, that you would take one gentle vomit; for +those giddinesses and swimmings in the head always proceed from some +foulness of the stomach. However, upon the whole, I am very glad that +your old complaint has not mixed itself with this, which I am fully +convinced arises simply from your own negligence. Adieu. + +I am sorry for Monsieur Kurze, upon his sister's account. + + + + +LETTER CLXXXVI + +LONDON, January 15, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I never think my time so well employed, as when I think +it employed to your advantage. You have long had the greatest share of +it; you now engross it. The moment is now decisive; the piece is going to +be exhibited to the public; the mere out lines and the general coloring +are not sufficient to attract the eyes and to secure applause; but the +last finishing, artful, and delicate strokes are necessary. Skillful +judges will discern and acknowledge their merit; the ignorant will, +without knowing why, feel their power. In that view, I have thrown +together, for your perusal, some maxims; or, to speak more properly, +observations on men and things; for I have no merit as to the invention: +I am no system monger; and, instead of giving way to my imagination, I +have only consulted my memory; and my conclusions are all drawn from +facts, not from fancy. Most maxim mongers have preferred the prettiness +to the justness of a thought, and the turn to the truth; but I have +refused myself to everything that my own experience did not justify and +confirm. I wish you would consider them seriously, and separately, and +recur to them again 'pro re nata' in similar cases. Young men are as apt +to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are to think themselves +sober enough. They look upon spirit to be a much better thing than +experience; which they call coldness. They are but half mistaken; for +though spirit, without experience, is dangerous, experience, without +spirit, is languid and defective. Their union, which is very rare, is +perfection; you may join them, if you please; for all my experience is at +your service; and I do not desire one grain of your spirit in return. Use +them both, and let them reciprocally animate and check each other. I mean +here, by the spirit of youth, only the vivacity and presumption of youth, +which hinder them from seeing the difficulties or dangers of an +undertaking, but I do not mean what the silly vulgar call spirit, by +which they are captious, jealous of their rank, suspicious of being +undervalued, and tart (as they call it) in their repartees, upon the +slightest occasions. This is an evil, and a very silly spirit, which +should be driven out, and transferred to an herd of swine. This is not +the spirit of a man of fashion, who has kept good company. People of an +ordinary, low education, when they happen to fail into good company, +imagine themselves the only object of its attention; if the company +whispers, it is, to be sure, concerning them; if they laugh, it is at +them; and if anything ambiguous, that by the most forced interpretation +can be applied to them, happens to be said, they are convinced that it +was meant at them; upon which they grow out of countenance first, and +then angry. This mistake is very well ridiculed in the "Stratagem," where +Scrub says, I AM SURE THEY TALKED OF ME FOR THEY LAUGHED CONSUMEDLY. A +well-bred man seldom thinks, but never seems to think himself slighted, +undervalued, or laughed at in company, unless where it is so plainly +marked out, that his honor obliges him to resent it in a proper manner; +'mais les honnetes gens ne se boudent jamais'. I will admit that it is +very difficult to command one's self enough, to behave with ease, +frankness, and good-breeding toward those, who one knows dislike, slight, +and injure one, as far as they can, without personal consequences; but I +assert that it is absolutely necessary to do it: you must embrace the man +you hate, if you cannot be justified in knocking him down; for otherwise +you avow the injury which you cannot revenge. A prudent cuckold (and +there are many such at Paris) pockets his horns when he cannot gore with +them; and will not add to the triumph of his maker by only butting with +them ineffectually. A seeming ignorance is very often a most necessary +part of worldly knowledge. It is, for instance, commonly advisable to +seem ignorant of what people offer to tell you; and when they say, Have +you not heard of such a thing? to answer No, and to let them go on; +though you know it already. Some have a pleasure in telling it, because +they think that they tell it well; others have a pride in it, as being +the sagacious discoverers; and many have a vanity in showing that they +have been, though very undeservedly, trusted; all these would be +disappointed, and consequently displeased, if you said Yes. Seem always +ignorant (unless to one's most intimate friend) of all matters of private +scandal and defamation, though you should hear them a thousand times; for +the parties affected always look upon the receiver to be almost as bad as +the thief: and, whenever they become the topic of conversation seem to be +a skeptic, though you are really a serious believer; and always take the +extenuating part. But all this seeming ignorance should be joined to +thorough and extensive private informations: and, indeed, it is the best +method of procuring them; for most people have such a vanity in showing a +superiority over others, though but for a moment, and in the merest +trifles, that they will tell you what they should not, rather than not +show that they can tell what you did not know; besides that such seeming +ignorance will make you pass for incurious and consequently undesigning. +However, fish for facts, and take pains to be well informed of everything +that passes; but fish judiciously, and not always, nor indeed often, in +the shape of direct questions, which always put people upon their guard, +and, often repeated, grow tiresome. But sometimes take the things that +you would know for granted; upon which somebody will, kindly and +officiously, set you right: sometimes say that you have heard so and so; +and at other times seem to know more than you do, in order to know all +that you want; but avoid direct questioning as much as you can. All these +necessary arts of the world require constant attention, presence of mind, +and coolness. Achilles, though invulnerable, never went to battle but +completely armed. Courts are to be the theatres of your wars, where you +should be always as completely armed, and even with the addition of a +heel-piece. The least inattention, the least DISTRACTION, may prove +fatal. I would fain see you what pedants call 'omnis homo', and what Pope +much better calls ALL-ACCOMPLISHED: you have the means in your power; add +the will; and you may bring it about. The vulgar have a coarse saying, of +SPOILING A SHIP FOR A HALFPENNY WORTH OF TAR; prevent the application by +providing the tar: it is very easily to be had in comparison with what +you have already got. + +The fine Mrs. Pitt, who it seems saw you often at Paris, speaking of you +the other day, said, in French, for she speaks little English, . . . +whether it is that you did not pay the homage due to her beauty, or that +it did not strike you as it does others, I cannot determine; but I hope +she had some other reason than truth for saying it. I will suppose that +you did not care a pin for her; but, however, she surely deserved a +degree of propitiatory adoration from you, which I am afraid you +neglected. Had I been in your case, I should have endeavored, at least, +to have supplanted Mr. Mackay in his office of nocturnal reader to her. I +played at cards, two days ago, with your friend Mrs. Fitzgerald, and her +most sublime mother, Mrs. Seagrave; they both inquired after you; and +Mrs. Fitzgerald said, she hoped you went on with your dancing; I said, +Yes, and that you assured me, you had made such considerable improvements +in it, that you had now learned to stand still, and even upright. Your +'virtuosa', la Signora Vestri, sung here the other day, with great +applause: I presume you are INTIMATELY acquainted with her merit. Good +night to you, whoever you pass it with. + +I have this moment received a packet, sealed with your seal, though not +directed by your hand, for Lady Hervey. No letter from you! Are you not +well? + + + + +LETTER CLXXXVII + +LONDON, May 27, O. S. 1753. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this day been tired, jaded, nay, tormented, by the +company of a most worthy, sensible, and learned man, a near relation of +mine, who dined and passed the evening with me. This seems a paradox, but +is a plain truth; he has no knowledge of the world, no manners, no +address; far from talking without book, as is commonly said of people who +talk sillily, he only talks by book; which in general conversation is ten +times worse. He has formed in his own closet from books, certain systems +of everything, argues tenaciously upon those principles, and is both +surprised and angry at whatever deviates from them. His theories are +good, but, unfortunately, are all impracticable. Why? because he has only +read and not conversed. He is acquainted with books, and an absolute +stranger to men. Laboring with his matter, he is delivered of it with +pangs; he hesitates, stops in his utterance, and always expresses himself +inelegantly. His actions are all ungraceful; so that, with all his merit +and knowledge, I would rather converse six hours with the most frivolous +tittle-tattle woman who knew something of the world, than with him. The +preposterous notions of a systematical man who does not know the world, +tire the patience of a man who does. It would be endless to correct his +mistakes, nor would he take it kindly: for he has considered everything +deliberately, and is very sure that he is in the right. Impropriety is a +characteristic, and a never-failing one, of these people. Regardless, +because ignorant, of customs and manners, they violate them every moment. +They often shock, though they never mean to offend: never attending +either to the general character, or the particular distinguishing +circumstances of the people to whom, or before whom they talk; whereas +the knowledge of the world teaches one, that the very same things which +are exceedingly right and proper in one company, time and place, are +exceedingly absurd in others. In short, a man who has great knowledge, +from experience and observation, of the characters, customs, and manners +of mankind, is a being as different from, and as superior to, a man of +mere book and systematical knowledge, as a well-managed horse is to an +ass. Study, therefore, cultivate, and frequent men and women; not only in +their outward, and consequently, guarded, but in their interior, +domestic, and consequently less disguised, characters and manners. Take +your notions of things, as by observation and experience you find they +really are, and not as you read that they are or should be; for they +never are quite what they should be. For this purpose do not content +yourself with general and common acquaintance; but wherever you can, +establish yourself, with a kind of domestic familiarity, in good houses. +For instance, go again to Orli, for two or three days, and so at two or +three 'reprises'. Go and stay two or three days at a time at Versailles, +and improve and extend the acquaintance you have there. Be at home at St. +Cloud; and, whenever any private person of fashion invites you to, pass a +few days at his country-house, accept of the invitation. This will +necessarily give you a versatility of mind, and a facility to adopt +various manners and customs; for everybody desires to please those in +whose house they are; and people are only to be pleased in their own way. +Nothing is more engaging than a cheerful and easy conformity to people's +particular manners, habits, and even weaknesses; nothing (to use a vulgar +expression) should come amiss to a young fellow. He should be, for good +purposes, what Alcibiades was commonly for bad ones, a Proteus, assuming +with ease, and wearing with cheerfulness, any shape. Heat, cold, luxury, +abstinence, gravity, gayety, ceremony, easiness, learning, trifling, +business, and pleasure, are modes which he should be able to take, lay +aside, or change occasionally, with as much ease as he would take or lay +aside his hat. All this is only to be acquired by use and knowledge of +the world, by keeping a great deal of company, analyzing every character, +and insinuating yourself into the familiarity of various acquaintance. A +right, a generous ambition to make a figure in the world, necessarily +gives the desire of pleasing; the desire of pleasing points out, to a +great degree, the means of doing it; and the art of pleasing is, in +truth, the art of rising, of distinguishing one's self, of making a +figure and a fortune in the world. But without pleasing, without the +graces, as I have told you a thousand times, 'ogni fatica e vana'. You +are now but nineteen, an age at which most of your countrymen are +illiberally getting drunk in port, at the university. You have greatly +got the start of them in learning; and if you can equally get the start +of them in the knowledge and manners of the world, you may be very sure +of outrunning them in court and parliament, as you set out much earlier +than they. They generally begin but to see the world at one-and-twenty; +you will by that age have seen all Europe. They set out upon their +travels unlicked cubs: and in their travels they only lick one another, +for they seldom go into any other company. They know nothing but the +English world, and the worst part of that too, and generally very little +of any but the English language; and they come home, at three or +four-and-twenty, refined and polished (as is said in one of Congreve's +plays) like Dutch skippers from a whale-fishing. The care which has been +taken of you, and (to do you justice) the care that you have taken of +yourself, has left you, at the age of nineteen only, nothing to acquire +but the knowledge of the world, manners, address, and those exterior +accomplishments. But they are great and necessary acquisitions, to those +who have sense enough to know their true value; and your getting them +before you are one-and-twenty, and before you enter upon the active and +shining scene of life, will give you such an advantage over all your +contemporaries, that they cannot overtake you: they must be distanced. +You may probably be placed about a young prince, who will probably be a +young king. There all the various arts of pleasing, the engaging address, +the versatility of manners, the brillant, the graces, will outweigh, and +yet outrun all solid knowledge and unpolished merit. Oil yourself, +therefore, and be both supple and shining, for that race, if you would be +first, or early at the goal. Ladies will most probably too have something +to say there; and those who are best with them will probably be best +SOMEWHERE ELSE. Labor this great point, my dear child, indefatigably; +attend to the very smallest parts, the minutest graces, the most trifling +circumstances, that can possibly concur in forming the shining character +of a complete gentleman, 'un galant homme, un homme de cour', a man of +business and pleasure; 'estime des hommes, recherche des femmes, aime de +tout le monde'. In this view, observe the shining part of every man of +fashion, who is liked and esteemed; attend to, and imitate that +particular accomplishment for which you hear him chiefly celebrated and +distinguished: then collect those various parts, and make yourself a +mosiac of the whole. No one body possesses everything, and almost +everybody possesses some one thing worthy of imitation: only choose your +models well; and in order to do so, choose by your ear more than by your +eye. The best model is always that which is most universally allowed to +be the best, though in strictness it may possibly not be so. We must take +most things as they are, we cannot make them what we would, nor often +what they should be; and where moral duties are not concerned, it is more +prudent to follow than to attempt to lead. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CLXXXVIII + +BATH, October 3, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You have set out well at The Hague; you are in love with +Madame Munter, which I am very glad of: you are in the fine company +there, and I hope one of it: for it is not enough, at your age, to be +merely in good company; but you should, by your address and attentions, +make that good company think you one of them. There is a tribute due to +beauty, even independently of further views; which tribute I hope you +paid with alacrity to Madame Munter and Madame Degenfeldt: depend upon +it, they expected it, and were offended in proportion as that tribute +seemed either unwillingly or scantily paid. I believe my friend +Kreuningen admits nobody now to his table, for fear of their +communicating the plague to him, or at least the bite of a mad dog. Pray +profit of the entrees libres that the French Ambassador has given you; +frequent him, and SPEAK to him. I think you will not do amiss to call +upon Mr. Burrish, at Aix-la-Chapelle, since it is so little out of your +way; and you will do still better, if you would, which I know you will +not, drink those waters for five or six days only, to scour your stomach +and bowels a little; I am sure it would do you a great deal of good Mr. +Burrish can, doubtless, give you the best letters to Munich; and he will +naturally give you some to Comte Preysing, or Comte Sinsheim, and such +sort of grave people; but I could wish that you would ask him for some to +young fellows of pleasure, or fashionable coquettes, that, you may be +'dans l'honnete debauche de Munich'. A propos of your future motions; I +leave you in a great measure the master of them, so shall only suggest my +thoughts to you upon that subject. + +You have three electoral courts in view, Bonn, Munich, and Manheim. I +would advise you to see two of them rather cursorily, and fix your +tabernacle at the third, whichever that may be, for a considerable time. +For instance, should you choose (as I fancy you will), to make Manheim +the place of your residence, stay only ten or twelve days at Bonn, and as +long at Munich, and then go and fix at Manheim; and so, vice versa, if +you should like Bonn or Munich better than you think you would Manheim, +make that the place of your residence, and only visit the other two. It +is certain that no man can be much pleased himself, or please others +much, in any place where he is only a bird of passage for eight or ten +days; neither party thinking it worth while to make an acquaintance, +still less to form any connection, for so short a time; but when months +are the case, a man may domesticate himself pretty well, and very soon +not be looked upon as a stranger. This is the real utility of traveling, +when, by contracting a familiarity at any place, you get into the inside +of it, and see it in its undress. That is the only way of knowing the +customs, the manners, and all the little characteristical peculiarities +that distinguish one place from another; but then this familiarity is not +to be brought about by cold, formal visits of half an hour: no; you must +show a willingness, a desire, an impatience of forming connections, 'il +faut s'y preter, et y mettre du liant, du desir de plaire. Whatever you +do approve, you must be lavish in your praises of; and you must learn to +commend what you do not approve of, if it is approved of there. You are +not much given to praise, I know; but it is because you do not yet know +how extremely people are engaged by a seeming sanction to their own +opinions, prejudices, and weaknesses, even in the merest trifles. Our +self-love is mortified when we think our opinions, and even our tastes, +customs, and dresses, either arraigned or condemned; as on the contrary, +it is tickled and flattered by approbation. I will give you a remarkable +instance of this kind. The famous Earl of Shaftesbury, in the flagitious +reign of Charles the Second, while he was Chancellor, had a mind to be a +favorite, as well as a minister of the King; in order, therefore, to +please his Majesty, whose prevailing passion was women, my Lord kept a +w----e, whom he had no occasion for, and made no manner of use of. The +King soon heard of it, and asked him if it was true; he owned it was; but +that, though he kept that one woman, he had several others besides, for +he loved variety. A few days afterward, the King, at his public levee, +saw Lord Shaftesbury at some distance, and said in the circle, "One would +not think that that little, weak man is the greatest whore-master in +England; but I can assure you that he is." Upon Lord Shaftesbury's coming +into the circle, there was a general smile; the King said, "This is +concerning you, my Lord."--"Me, sir?" answered the Chancellor, with some +surprise. "Yes, you," answered the King; "for I had just said that you +were the greatest whore-master in England! Is it not true?"--"Of a +SUBJECT, Sir," replied Lord Shaftesbury, "perhaps I am." It is the same +in everything; we think a difference of opinion, of conduct, of manners, +a tacit reproach, at least, upon our own; we must therefore use ourselves +to a ready conformity to whatever is neither criminal nor dishonorable. +Whoever differs from any general custom, is supposed both to think, and +proclaim himself wiser than the rest of the world: which the rest of the +world cannot bear, especially in a young man. A young fellow is always +forgiven and often applauded, when he carries a fashion to an excess; but +never if he stops short of it. The first is ascribed to youth and fire; +but the latter is imputed to an affectation of singularity or +superiority. At your age, one is allowed to 'outrer' fashion, dress, +vivacity, gallantry, etc., but by no means to be behindhand in any one of +them. And one may apply to youth in this case, 'Si non errasset, fecerat +ille minus'. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CLXXXIX + +BATH, October 19, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Of all the various ingredients that compose the useful +and necessary art of pleasing, no one is so effectual and engaging as +that gentleness, that 'douceur' of countenance and manner, to which you +are no stranger, though (God knows why) a sworn enemy. Other people take +great pains to conceal or disguise their natural imperfections; some by +the make of their clothes and other arts, endeavor to conceal the defects +of their shape; women, who unfortunately have natural bad complexions, +lay on good ones; and both men and women upon whom unkind nature has +inflicted a surliness and ferocity of countenance, do at least all they +can, though often without success, to soften and mitigate it; they affect +'douceur', and aim at smiles, though often in the attempt, like the Devil +in Milton, they GRIN HORRIBLY A GHASTLY SMILE. But you are the only +person I ever knew in the whole course of my life, who not only disdain, +but absolutely reject and disguise a great advantage that nature has +kindly granted. You easily guess I mean COUNTENANCE; for she has given +you a very pleasing one; but you beg to be excused, you will not accept +it; but on the contrary, take singular pains to put on the most +'funeste', forbidding, and unpleasing one that can possibly be imagined. +This one would think impossible; but you know it to be true. If you +imagine that it gives you a manly, thoughtful, and decisive air, as some, +though very few of your countrymen do, you are most exceedingly mistaken; +for it is at best the air of a German corporal, part of whose exercise is +to look fierce, and to 'blasemeer-op'. You will say, perhaps, What, am I +always to be studying my countenance, in order to wear this 'douceur'? I +answer, No; do it but for a fortnight, and you never will have occasion +to think of it more. Take but half the pains to recover the countenance +that nature gave you, that you must have taken to disguise and deform it +as you have, and the business will be done. Accustom your eyes to a +certain softness, of which they are very capable, and your face to +smiles, which become it more than most faces I know. Give all your +motions, too, an air of 'douceur', which is directly the reverse of their +present celerity and rapidity. I wish you would adopt a little of 'l'air +du Couvent' (you very well know what I mean) to a certain degree; it has +something extremely engaging; there is a mixture of benevolence, +affection, and unction in it; it is frequently really sincere, but is +almost always thought so, and consequently pleasing. Will you call this +trouble? It will not be half an hour's trouble to you in a week's time. +But suppose it be, pray tell me, why did you give yourself the trouble of +learning to dance so well as you do? It is neither a religious, moral, or +civil duty. You must own, that you did it then singly to please, and you +were, in the right on't. Why do you wear fine clothes, and curl your +hair? Both are troublesome; lank locks, and plain flimsy rags are much +easier. This then you also do in order to please, and you do very right. +But then, for God's sake, reason and act consequentially; and endeavor to +please in other things too, still more essential; and without which the +trouble you have taken in those is wholly thrown away. You show your +dancing, perhaps six times a year, at most; but you show your countenance +and your common motions every day, and all day. Which then, I appeal to +yourself, ought you to think of the most, and care to render easy, +graceful, and engaging? Douceur of countenance and gesture can alone make +them so. You are by no means ill-natured; and would you then most +unjustly be reckoned so? Yet your common countenance intimates, and would +make anybody who did not know you, believe it. 'A propos' of this, I must +tell you what was said the other day to a fine lady whom you know, who is +very good-natured in truth, but whose common countenance implies +ill-nature, even to brutality. It was Miss H----n, Lady M--y's niece, +whom you have seen both at Blackheath and at Lady Hervey's. Lady M--y was +saying to me that you had a very engaging countenance when you had a mind +to it, but that you had not always that mind; upon which Miss H----n +said, that she liked your countenance best, when it was as glum as her +own. Why then, replied Lady M--y, you two should marry; for while you +both wear your worst countenances, nobody else will venture upon either +of you; and they call her now Mrs. Stanhope. To complete this 'douceur' +of countenance and motions, which I so earnestly recommend to you, you +should carry it also to your expressions and manner of thinking, 'mettez +y toujours de l'affectueux de l'onction'; take the gentle, the favorable, +the indulgent side of most questions. I own that the manly and sublime +John Trott, your countryman, seldom does; but, to show his spirit and +decision, takes the rough and harsh side, which he generally adorns with +an oath, to seem more formidable. This he only thinks fine; for to do +John justice, he is commonly as good-natured as anybody. These are among +the many little things which you have not, and I have, lived long enough +in the world to know of what infinite consequence they are in the course +of life. Reason then, I repeat it again, within yourself, +CONSEQUENTIALLY; and let not the pains you have taken, and still take, to +please in some things be a 'pure perte', by your negligence of, and +inattention to others of much less trouble, and much more consequence. + +I have been of late much engaged, or rather bewildered, in Oriental +history, particularly that of the Jews, since the destruction of their +temple, and their dispersion by Titus; but the confusion and uncertainty +of the whole, and the monstrous extravagances and falsehoods of the +greatest part of it, disgusted me extremely. Their Talmud, their Mischna, +their Targums, and other traditions and writings of their Rabbins and +Doctors, who were most of them Cabalists, are really more extravagant and +absurd, if possible, than all that you have read in Comte de Gabalis; and +indeed most of his stuff is taken from them. Take this sample of their +nonsense, which is transmitted in the writings of one of their most +considerable Rabbins: "One Abas Saul, a man of ten feet high, was digging +a grave, and happened to find the eye of Goliah, in which he thought +proper to bury himself, and so he did, all but his head, which the +Giant's eye was unfortunately not quite deep enough to receive." This, I +assure you, is the most modest lie of ten thousand. I have also read the +Turkish history which, excepting the religious part, is not fabulous, +though very possibly not true. For the Turks, having no notion of letters +and being, even by their religion, forbid the use of them, except for +reading and transcribing the Koran, they have no historians of their own, +nor any authentic records nor memorials for other historians to work +upon; so that what histories we have of that country are written by +foreigners; as Platina, Sir Paul Rycaut, Prince Cantimer, etc., or else +snatches only of particular and short periods, by some who happened to +reside there at those times; such as Busbequius, whom I have just +finished. I like him, as far as he goes, much the best of any of them: +but then his account is, properly, only an account of his own Embassy, +from the Emperor Charles the Fifth to Solyman the Magnificent. However, +there he gives, episodically, the best account I know of the customs and +manners of the Turks, and of the nature of that government, which is a +most extraordinary one. For, despotic as it always seems, and sometimes +is, it is in truth a military republic, and the real power resides in the +Janissaries; who sometimes order their Sultan to strangle his Vizir, and +sometimes the Vizir to depose or strangle his Sultan, according as they +happen to be angry at the one or the other. I own I am glad that the +capital strangler should, in his turn, be STRANGLE-ABLE, and now and then +strangled; for I know of no brute so fierce, nor no criminal so guilty, +as the creature called a Sovereign, whether King, Sultan, or Sophy, who +thinks himself, either by divine or human right, vested with an absolute +power of destroying his fellow-creatures; or who, without inquiring into +his right, lawlessly exerts that power. The most excusable of all those +human monsters are the Turks, whose religion teaches them inevitable +fatalism. A propos of the Turks, my Loyola, I pretend, is superior to +your Sultan. Perhaps you think this impossible, and wonder who this +Loyola is. Know then, that I have had a Barbet brought me from France, so +exactly like the Sultan that he has been mistaken for him several times; +only his snout is shorter, and his ears longer than the Sultan's. He has +also the acquired knowledge of the Sultan; and I am apt to think that he +studied under the same master at Paris. His habit and his white band show +him to be an ecclesiastic; and his begging, which he does very earnestly, +proves him to be of a mendicant order; which, added to his flattery and +insinuation, make him supposed to be a Jesuit, and have acquired him the +name of Loyola. I must not omit too, that when he breaks wind he smells +exactly like the Sultan. + +I do not yet hear one jot the better for all my bathings and pumpings, +though I have been here already full half my time; I consequently go very +little into company, being very little fit for any. I hope you keep +company enough for us both; you will get more by that, than I shall by +all my reading. I read simply to amuse myself and fill up my time, of +which I have too much; but you have two much better reasons for going +into company, pleasure and profit. May you find a great deal of both in a +great deal of company! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXC + +LONDON, November 20, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Two mails are now due from Holland, so that I have no +letter from you to acknowledge; but that, you know, by long experience, +does not hinder my writing to you. I always receive your letters with +pleasure; but I mean, and endeavor, that you should receive mine with +some profit; preferring always your advantage to my own pleasure. + +If you find yourself well settled and naturalized at Manheim, stay there +some time, and do not leave a certain for an uncertain good; but if you +think you shall be as well, or better established at Munich, go there as +soon as you please; and if disappointed, you can always return to Manheim +I mentioned, in a former letter, your passing the Carnival at Berlin, +which I think may be both useful and pleasing to you; however, do as you +will; but let me know what you resolve: That King and that country have, +and will have, so great a share in the affairs of Europe, that they are +well worth being thoroughly known. + +Whether, where you are now, or ever may be hereafter, you speak French, +German, or English most, I earnestly recommend to you a particular +attention to the propriety and elegance of your style; employ the best +words you can find in the language, avoid cacophony, and make your +periods as harmonious as you can. I need not, I am sure, tell you what +you must often have felt, how much the elegance of diction adorns the +best thoughts, and palliates the worst. In the House of Commons it is +almost everything; and, indeed, in every assembly, whether public or +private. Words, which are the dress of thoughts, deserve surely more care +than clothes, which are only the dress of the person, and which, however, +ought to have their share of attention. If you attend to your style in +any one language, it will give you a habit of attending to it in every +other; and if once you speak either French or German very elegantly, you +will afterward speak much the better English for it. I repeat it to you +again, for at least the thousandth time, exert your whole attention now +in acquiring the ornamental parts of character. People know very little +of the world, and talk nonsense, when they talk of plainness and solidity +unadorned: they will do in nothing; mankind has been long out of a state +of nature, and the golden age of native simplicity will never return. +Whether for the better or the worse, no matter; but we are refined; and +plain manners, plain dress, and plain diction, would as little do in +life, as acorns, herbage, and the water of the neighboring spring, would +do at table. Some people are just come, who interrupt me in the middle of +my sermon; so good-night. + + + + +LETTER CXCI + +LONDON, November 26, 1753 + +DEAR FRIEND: Fine doings at Manheim! If one may give credit to the weekly +histories of Monsieur Roderigue, the finest writer among the moderns; not +only 'des chasses brillantes et nombreuses des operas ou les acteurs se +surpassent les jours des Saints de L. L. A. A. E. E. serenissimes +celebres; en grand gala'; but to crown the whole, Monsieur Zuchmantel is +happily arrived, and Monsieur Wartenslebeu hourly expected. I hope that +you are 'pars magna' of all these delights; though, as Noll Bluff says, +in the "Old Bachelor," THAT RASCALLY GAZETTEER TAKES NO MORE NOTICE OF +YOU THAN IF YOU WERE NOT IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. I should think that +he might at least have taken notice that in these rejoicings you appeared +with a rejoicing, and not a gloomy countenance; and you distinguished +yourself in that numerous and shining company, by your air, dress, +address, and attentions. If this was the case, as I will both hope and +suppose it was, I will, if you require it, have him written to, to do you +justice in his next 'supplement'. Seriously, I am very glad that you are +whirled in that 'tourbillon' of pleasures; they smooth, polish, and rub +off rough corners: perhaps too, you have some particular COLLISION, which +is still more effectual. + +Schannat's "History of the Palatinate" was, I find, written originally in +German, in which language I suppose it is that you have read it; but, as +I must humbly content myself with the French translation, Vaillant has +sent for it for me from Holland, so that I have not yet read it. While +you are in the Palatinate, you do very well to read everything relative +to it; you will do still better if you make that reading the foundation +of your inquiries into the more minute circumstances and anecdotes of +that country, whenever you are in company with informed and knowing +people. + +The Ministers here, intimidated on the absurd and groundless clamors of +the mob, have, very weakly in my mind, repealed, this session, the bill +which they had passed in the last for rendering Jews capable of being +naturalized by subsequent acts of parliament. The clamorers triumph, and +will doubtless make further demands, which, if not granted, this piece of +complaisance will soon be forgotten. Nothing is truer in politics, than +this reflection of the Cardinal de Retz, 'Que le peuple craint toujours +quand on ne le craint pas'; and consequently they grow unreasonable and +insolent, when they find that they are feared. Wise and honest governors +will never, if they can help it, give the people just cause to complain; +but then, on the other hand, they will firmly withstand groundless +clamor. Besides that this noise against the Jew bill proceeds from that +narrow mobspirit of INTOLERATION in religious, and inhospitality in civil +matters; both which all wise governments should oppose. + +The confusion in France increases daily, as, no doubt, you are informed +where you are. There is an answer of the clergy to the remonstrances of +the parliament, lately published, which was sent me by the last post from +France, and which I would have sent you, inclosed in this, were it not +too bulky. Very probably you may see it at Manheim, from the French +Minister: it is very well worth your reading, being most artfully and +plausibly written, though founded upon false principles; the 'jus +divinum' of the clergy, and consequently their supremacy in all matters +of faith and doctrine are asserted; both which I absolutely deny. Were +those two points allowed the clergy of any country whatsoever, they must +necessarily govern that country absolutely; everything being, directly or +indirectly, relative to faith or doctrine; and whoever is supposed to +have the power of saving and damning souls to all eternity (which power +the clergy pretend to), will be much more considered, and better obeyed, +than any civil power that forms no pretensions beyond this world. +Whereas, in truth, the clergy in every country are, like all other +subjects, dependent upon the supreme legislative power, and are appointed +by that power under whatever restrictions and limitations it pleases, to +keep up decency and decorum in the church, just as constables are to keep +peace in the parish. This Fra Paolo has clearly proved, even upon their +own principles of the Old and New Testament, in his book 'de Beneficiis', +which I recommend to you to read with attention; it is short. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCII + +LONDON, December 25, 1753 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday again I received two letters at once from you, +the one of the 7th, the other of the 15th, from Manheim. + +You never had in your life so good a reason for not writing, either to me +or to anybody else, as your sore finger lately furnished you. I believe +it was painful, and I am glad it is cured; but a sore finger, however +painful, is a much less evil than laziness, of either body or mind, and +attended by fewer ill consequences. + +I am very glad to hear that you were distinguished at the court of +Manheim from the rest of your countrymen and fellow-travelers: it is a +sign that you had better manners and address than they; for take it for +granted, the best-bred people will always be the best received wherever +they go. Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of +commercial life; returns are equally expected for both; and people will +no more advance their civility to a bear, than their money to a bankrupt. +I really both hope and believe, that the German courts will do you a +great deal of good; their ceremony and restraint being the proper +correctives and antidotes for your negligence and inattention. I believe +they would not greatly relish your weltering in your own laziness, and an +easy chair; nor take it very kindly, if, when they spoke to you or you to +them, you looked another way, as much as to say, kiss my b----h. As they +give, so they require attention; and, by the way, take this maxim for an +undoubted truth, That no young man can possibly improve in any company, +for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint. + +I dare not trust to Meyssonier's report of his Rhenish, his Burgundy not +having answered either his account or my expectations. I doubt, as a wine +merchant, he is the 'perfidus caupo', whatever he may be as a banker. I +shall therefore venture upon none of his wine; but delay making my +provision of Old Hock, till I go abroad myself next spring: as I told you +in the utmost secrecy, in my last, that I intend to do; and then probably +I may taste some that I like, and go upon sure ground. There is commonly +very good, both at Aix-la-Chapelle and Liege, where I formerly got some +excellent, which I carried with me to Spa, where I drank no other wine. + +As my letters to you frequently miscarry, I will repeat in this that part +of my last which related to your future motions. Whenever you shall be +tired of Berlin, go to Dresden; where Sir Charles Williams will be, who +will receive you with open arms. He dined with me to-day, and sets out +for Dresden in about six weeks. He spoke of you with great kindness and +impatience to see you again. He will trust and employ you in business +(and he is now in the whole secret of importance) till we fix our place +to meet in: which probably will be Spa. Wherever you are, inform yourself +minutely of, and attend particularly to the affairs of France; they grow +serious, and in my opinion will grow more and more so every day. The King +is despised and I do not wonder at it; but he has brought it about to be +hated at the same time, which seldom happens to the same man. His +ministers are known to be as disunited as incapable; he hesitates between +the Church and the parliaments, like the ass in the fable, that starved +between two hampers of hay: too much in love with his mistress to part +with her, and too much afraid of his soul to enjoy her; jealous of the +parliaments, who would support his authority; and a devoted bigot to the +Church, that would destroy it. The people are poor, consequently +discontented; those who have religion, are divided in their notions of +it; which is saying that they hate one another. The clergy never do +forgive; much less will they forgive the parliament; the parliament never +will forgive them. The army must, without doubt, take, in their own minds +at last, different parts in all these disputes, which upon occasion would +break out. Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute +power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it, too, by +frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it. +This was the case of the Praetorian bands, who deposed and murdered the +monsters they had raised to oppress mankind. The Janissaries in turkey, +and the regiments of guards in Russia, do the same now. The French nation +reasons freely, which they never did before, upon matters of religion and +government, and begin to be 'sprejiudicati'; the officers do so too; in +short, all the symptoms, which I have ever met with in history previous +to great changes and revolutions in government, now exist, and daily +increase, in France. I am glad of it; the rest of Europe will be the +quieter, and have time to recover. England, I am sure, wants rest, for it +wants men and money; the Republic of the United Provinces wants both +still more; the other Powers cannot well dance, when neither France, nor +the maritime powers, can, as they used to do, pay the piper. The first +squabble in Europe, that I foresee, will be about the Crown of Poland, +should the present King die: and therefore I wish his Majesty a long life +and a merry Christmas. So much for foreign politics; but 'a propos' of +them, pray take care, while you are in those parts of Germany, to inform +yourself correctly of all the details, discussions, and agreements, which +the several wars, confiscations, bans, and treaties, occasioned between +the Bavarian and Palatine Electorates; they are interesting and curious. + +I shall not, upon the occasion of the approaching new year, repeat to you +the wishes which I continue to form for you; you know them all already, +and you know that it is absolutely in your power to satisfy most of them. +Among many other wishes, this is my most earnest one: That you would open +the new year with a most solemn and devout sacrifice to the Graces; who +never reject those that supplicate them with fervor; without them, let me +tell you, that your friend Dame Fortune will stand you in little stead; +may they all be your friends! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCIII + +LONDON, January 15, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 26th past +from Munich. Since you are got so well out of the distress and dangers of +your journey from Manheim, I am glad that you were in them: + + "Condisce i diletti + Memorie di pene, + Ne sa che sia bene + Chi mal non soffri." + +They were but little samples of the much greater distress and dangers +which you must expect to meet within your great, and I hope, long journey +through life. In some parts of it, flowers are scattered, with profusion, +the road is smooth, and the prospect pleasant: but in others (and I fear +the greater number) the road is rugged, beset with thorns and briars, and +cut by torrents. Gather the flowers in your way; but, at the same time, +guard against the briars that are either mixed with them, or that most +certainly succeed them. + +I thank you for your wild boar; who, now he is dead, I assure him, 'se +laissera bien manger malgre qu'il en ait'; though I am not so sure that I +should have had that personal valor which so successfully distinguished +you in single combat with him, which made him bite the dust like Homer's +heroes, and, to conclude my period sublimely, put him into that PICKLE, +from which I propose eating him. At the same time that I applaud your +valor, I must do justice to your modesty; which candidly admits that you +were not overmatched, and that your adversary was about your own age and +size. A Maracassin, being under a year old, would have been below your +indignation. 'Bete de compagne', being under two years old, was still, in +my opinion, below your glory; but I guess that your enemy was 'un Ragot', +that is, from two to three years old; an age and size which, between man +and boar, answer pretty well to yours. + +If accidents of bad roads or waters do not detain you at Munich, I do not +fancy that pleasures will: and I rather believe you will seek for, and +find them, at the Carnival at Berlin; in which supposition, I eventually +direct this letter to your banker there. While you are at Berlin (I +earnestly recommend it to you again and again) pray CARE to see, hear, +know, and mind, everything there. THE ABLEST PRINCE IN EUROPE is surely +an object that deserves attention; and the least thing that he does, like +the smallest sketches of the greatest painters, has its value, and a +considerable one too. + +Read with care the Code Frederick, and inform yourself of the good +effects of it in those parts of, his dominions where it has taken place, +and where it has banished the former chicanes, quirks, and quibbles of +the old law. Do not think any detail too minute or trifling for your +inquiry and observation. I wish that you could find one hour's leisure +every day, to read some good Italian author, and to converse in that +language with our worthy friend Signor Angelo Cori; it would both refresh +and improve your Italian, which, of the many languages you know, I take +to be that in which you are the least perfect; but of which, too, you +already know enough to make yourself master of, with very little trouble, +whenever you please. + +Live, dwell, and grow at the several courts there; use them so much to +your face, that they may not look upon you as a stranger. Observe, and +take their 'ton', even to their affectations and follies; for such there +are, and perhaps should be, at all courts. Stay, in all events, at +Berlin, till I inform you of Sir Charles Williams's arrival at Dresden; +where I suppose you would not care to be before him, and where you may go +as soon after him as ever you please. Your time there will neither be +unprofitably nor disagreeably spent; he will introduce you into all the +best company, though he can introduce you to none so good as his own. He +has of late applied himself very seriously to foreign affairs, especially +those of Saxony and Poland; he knows them perfectly well, and will tell +you what he knows. He always expresses, and I have good reason to believe +very sincerely, great kindness and affection for you. + +The works of the late Lord Bolingbroke are just published, and have +plunged me into philosophical studies; which hitherto I have not been +much used to, or delighted with; convinced of the futility of those +researches; but I have read his "Philosophical Essay" upon the extent of +human knowledge, which, by the way, makes two large quartos and a half. +He there shows very clearly, and with most splendid eloquence, what the +human mind can and cannot do; that our understandings are wisely +calculated for our place in this planet, and for the link which we form +in the universal chain of things; but that they are by no means capable +of that degree of knowledge, which our curiosity makes us search after, +and which our vanity makes us often believe we arrive at. I shall not +recommend to you the reading of that work; but, when you return hither, I +shall recommend to your frequent and diligent perusal all his tracts that +are relative to our history and constitution; upon which he throws +lights, and scatters graces, which no other writer has ever done. + +Reading, which was always a pleasure to me, in the time even of my +greatest dissipation, is now become my only refuge; and, I fear, I +indulge it too much at the expense of my eyes. But what can I do? I must +do something; I cannot bear absolute idleness; my ears grow every day +more useless to me, my eyes consequently more necessary; I will not hoard +them like a miser, but will rather risk the loss, than not enjoy the use +of them. + +Pray let me know all the particulars, not only of your reception at +Munich, but also at Berlin; at the latter, I believe, it will be a good +one; for his Prussian Majesty knows, that I have long been AN ADMIRER AND +RESPECTER OF HIS GREAT AND VARIOUS TALENTS. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCIV + +LONDON, February 1, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, yesterday, yours of the 12th, from Munich; in +consequence of which, I direct this to you there, though I directed my +three last to Berlin, where I suppose you will find them at your arrival. +Since you are not only domesticated, but 'niche' at Munich, you are much +in the right to stay there. It is not by seeing places that one knows +them, but by familiar and daily conversations with the people of fashion. +I would not care to be in the place of that prodigy of beauty, whom you +are to drive 'dans la course de Traineaux'; and I am apt to think you are +much more likely to break her bones, than she is, though ever so cruel, +to break your heart. Nay, I am not sure but that, according to all the +rules of gallantry, you are obliged to overturn her on purpose; in the +first place, for the chance of seeing her backside; in the next, for the +sake of the contrition and concern which it would give you an opportunity +of showing; and, lastly, upon account of all the 'gentillesses et +epigrammes', which it would naturally suggest. Voiture has made several +stanzas upon an accident of that kind, which happened to a lady of his +acquaintance. There is a great deal of wit in them, rather too much; for, +according to the taste of those times, they are full of what the Italians +call 'concetti spiritosissimi'; the Spaniards 'agudeze'; and we, +affectation and quaintness. I hope you have endeavored to suit your +'Traineau' to the character of the fair-one whom it is to contain. If she +is of an irascible, impetuous disposition (as fine women can sometimes +be), you will doubtless place her in the body of a lion, a tiger, a +dragon, or some tremendous beast of prey and fury; if she is a sublime +and stately beauty, which I think more probable (for unquestionably she +is 'hogh gebohrne'), you will, I suppose, provide a magnificent swan or +proud peacock for her reception; but if she is all tenderness and +softness, you have, to be sure, taken care amorous doves and wanton +sparrows should seem to flutter round her. Proper mottos, I take it for +granted, that you have eventually prepared; but if not, you may find a +great many ready-made ones in 'Les Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene, sur +les Devises', written by Pere Bouhours, and worth your reading at any +time. I will not say to you, upon this occasion, like the father in Ovid, + + "Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris." + +On the contrary, drive on briskly; it is not the chariot of the sun that +you drive, but you carry the sun in your chariot; consequently, the +faster it goes, the less it will be likely to scorch or consume. This is +Spanish enough, I am sure. + +If this finds you still at Munich, pray make many compliments from me to +Mr. Burrish, to whom I am very much obliged for all his kindness to you; +it is true, that while I had power I endeavored to serve him; but it is +as true too, that I served many others more, who have neither returned +nor remembered those services. + +I have been very ill this last fortnight, of your old Carniolian +complaint, the 'arthritis vaga'; luckily, it did not fall upon my breast, +but seized on my right arm; there it fixed its seat of empire; but, as in +all tyrannical governments, the remotest parts felt their share of its +severity. Last post I was not able to hold a pen long enough to write to +you, and therefore desired Mr. Grevenkop to do it for me; but that letter +was directed to Berlin. My pain is now much abated, though I have still +some fine remains of it in my shoulder, where I fear it will tease me a +great while. I must be careful to take Horace's advice, and consider +well, 'Quid valeant humeri, quid ferre recusent'. + +Lady Chesterfield bids me make you her compliments, and assure you that +the music will be much more welcome to her with you, than without you. + +In some of my last letters, which were directed to, and will, I suppose, +wait for you at Berlin, I complimented you, and with justice, upon your +great improvement of late in the epistolary way, both with regard to the +style and the turn of your letters; your four or five last to me have +been very good ones, and one that you wrote to Mr. Harte, upon the new +year, was so pretty a one, and he was so much and so justly pleased with +it, that he sent it me from Windsor the instant he had read it. This +talent (and a most necessary one it is in the course of life) is to be +acquired by resolving, and taking pains to acquire it; and, indeed, so is +every talent except poetry, which is undoubtedly a gift. Think, +therefore, night and day, of the turn, the purity, the correctness, the +perspicuity, and the elegance of whatever you speak or write; take my +word for it, your labor will not be in vain, but greatly rewarded by the +harvest of praise and success which it will bring you. Delicacy of turn, +and elegance of style, are ornaments as necessary to common sense, as +attentions, address, and fashionable manners, are to common civility; +both may subsist without them, but then, without being of the least use +to the owner. The figure of a man is exactly the same in dirty rags, or +in the finest and best chosen clothes; but in which of the two he is the +most likely to please, and to be received in good company, I leave to you +to determine. + +Both my arm and my paper hint to me, to bid you good-night. + + + + +LETTER CXCV + +LONDON, February 12, 1754. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I take my aim, and let off this letter at you at Berlin; +I should be sorry it missed you, because I believe you will read it with +as much pleasure as I write it. It is to inform you, that, after some +difficulties and dangers, your seat in the new parliament is at last +absolutely secured, and that without opposition, or the least necessity +of your personal trouble or appearance. This success, I must further +inform you, is in a great degree owing to Mr. Eliot's friendship to us +both; for he brings you in with himself at his surest borough. As it was +impossible to act with more zeal and friendship than Mr. Eliot has acted +in this whole affair, I desire that you will, by the very next post, +write him a letter of thanks, warm and young thanks, not old and cold +ones. You may inclose it in yours to me, and, I will send it to him, for +he is now in Cornwall. + +Thus, sure of being a senator, I dare say you do not propose to be one of +the 'pedarii senatores, et pedibus ire in sententiam; for, as the House +of Commons is the theatre where you must make your fortune and figure in +the world, you must resolve to be an actor, and not a 'persona muta', +which is just equivalent to a candle snuffer upon other theatres. Whoever +does not shine there, is obscure, insignificant and contemptible; and you +cannot conceive how easy it is for a man of half your sense and knowledge +to shine there if he pleases. The receipt to make a speaker, and an +applauded one too, is short and easy.--Take of common sense 'quantum +sufcit', add a little application to the rules and orders of the House, +throw obvious thoughts in a new light, and make up the whole with a large +quantity of purity, correctness, and elegance of style. Take it for +granted, that by far the greatest part of mankind do neither analyze nor +search to the bottom; they are incapable of penetrating deeper than the +surface. All have senses to be gratified, very few have reason to be +applied to. Graceful utterance and action please their eyes, elegant +diction tickles their ears; but strong reason would be thrown away upon +them. I am not only persuaded by theory, but convinced by my experience, +that (supposing a certain degree of common sense) what is called a good +speaker is as much a mechanic as a good shoemaker; and that the two +trades are equally to be learned by the same degree of application. +Therefore, for God's sake, let this trade be the principal object of your +thoughts; never lose sight of it. Attend minutely to your style, whatever +language you speak or write in; seek for the best words, and think of the +best turns. Whenever you doubt of the propriety or elegance of any word, +search the dictionary or some good author for it, or inquire of somebody, +who is master of that language; and, in a little time, propriety and +elegance of diction will become so habitual to you, that they will cost +you no more trouble. As I have laid this down to be mechanical and +attainable by whoever will take the necessary pains, there will be no +great vanity in my saying, that I saw the importance of the object so +early, and attended to it so young, that it would now cost me more +trouble to speak or write ungrammatically, vulgarly, and inelegantly, +than ever it did to avoid doing so. The late Lord Bolingbroke, without +the least trouble, talked all day long, full as elegantly as he wrote. +Why? Not by a peculiar gift from heaven; but, as he has often told me +himself, by an early and constant attention to his style. The present +Solicitor-General, Murray,--[Created Lord Mansfield in the year +1756.]--has less law than many lawyers, but has more practice than any; +merely upon account of his eloquence, of which he has a never-failing +stream. I remember so long ago as when I was at Cambridge, whenever I +read pieces of eloquence (and indeed they were my chief study) whether +ancient or modern, I used to write down the shining passages, and then +translate them, as well and as elegantly as ever I could; if Latin or +French, into English; if English, into French. This, which I practiced +for some years, not only improved and formed my style, but imprinted in +my mind and memory the best thoughts of the best authors. The trouble was +little, but the advantage I have experienced was great. While you are +abroad, you can neither have time nor opportunity to read pieces of +English or parliamentary eloquence, as I hope you will carefully do when +you return; but, in the meantime, whenever pieces of French eloquence +come in your way, such as the speeches of persons received into the +Academy, 'orasions funebres', representations of the several parliaments +to the King, etc., read them in that view, in that spirit; observe the +harmony, the turn and elegance of the style; examine in what you think it +might have been better; and consider in what, had you written it +yourself; you might have done worse. Compare the different manners of +expressing the same thoughts in different authors; and observe how +differently the same things appear in different dresses. Vulgar, coarse, +and ill-chosen words, will deform and degrade the best thoughts as much +as rags and dirt will the best figure. In short, you now know your +object; pursue it steadily, and have no digressions that are not relative +to, and connected with, the main action. Your success in parliament will +effectually remove all OTHER OBJECTIONS; either a foreign or a domestic +destination will no longer be refused you, if you make your way to it +through Westminster. + +I think I may now say, that I am quite recovered from my late illness, +strength and spirits excepted, which are not yet restored. +Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa will, I believe, answer all my purposes. + +I long to hear an account of your reception at Berlin, which I fancy will +be a most gracious one. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCVI + +LONDON, February 15, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I can now with great truth apply your own motto to you, +'Nullum numen abest, si sit Prudentia'. You are sure of being, as early +as your age will permit, a member of that House; which is the only road +to figure and fortune in this country. Those, indeed, who are bred up to, +and distinguish themselves in particular professions, as the army, the +navy, and the law, may, by their own merit, raise themselves to a certain +degree; but you may observe too, that they never get to the top, without +the assistance of parliamentary talents and influence. The means of +distinguishing yourself in parliament are, as I told you in my last, much +more easily attained than I believe you imagine. Close attendance to the +business of the House will soon give you the parliamentary routine; and +strict attention to your style will soon make you, not only a speaker, +but a good one. The vulgar look upon a man, who is reckoned a fine +speaker, as a phenomenon, a supernatural being, and endowed with some +peculiar gift of heaven; they stare at him, if he walks in the Park, and +cry, THAT IS HE. You will, I am sure, view him in a juster light, and +'nulla formidine'. You will consider him only as a man of good sense, who +adorns common thoughts with the graces of elocution, and the elegance of +style. The miracle will then cease; and you will be convinced, that with +the same application, and attention to the same objects, you may most +certainly equal, and perhaps surpass, this prodigy. Sir W----Y-------, +with not a quarter of your parts, and not a thousandth part of your +knowledge, has, by a glibness of tongue simply, raised him successively +to the best employments of the kingdom; he has been Lord of the +Admiralty, Lord of the Treasury, Secretary at War, and is now +Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; and all this with a most sullied, not to say +blasted character. Represent the thing to yourself, as it really is, +easily attainable, and you will find it so. Have but ambition enough +passionately to desire the object, and spirit enough to use the means, +and I will be answerable for your success. When I was younger than you +are, I resolved within myself that I would in all events be a speaker in +parliament, and a good one too, if I could. I consequently never lost +sight of that object, and never neglected any of the means that I thought +led to it. I succeeded to a certain degree; and, I assure you, with great +ease, and without superior talents. Young people are very apt to overrate +both men and things, from not being enough acquainted with them. In +proportion as you come to know them better, you will value them less. You +will find that reason, which always ought to direct mankind, seldom does; +but that passions and weaknesses commonly usurp its seat, and rule in its +stead. You will find that the ablest have their weak sides too, and are +only comparatively able, with regard to the still weaker herd: having +fewer weaknesses themselves, they are able to avail themselves of the +innumerable ones of the generality of mankind: being more masters of +themselves, they become more easily masters of others. They address +themselves to their weaknesses, their senses, their passions; never to +their reason; and consequently seldom fail of success. But then analyze +those great, those governing, and, as the vulgar imagine, those perfect +characters, and you will find the great Brutus a thief in Macedonia, the +great Cardinal Richelieu a jealous poetaster, and the great Duke of +Marlborough a miser. Till you come to know mankind by your own +experience, I know no thing, nor no man, that can in the meantime bring +you so well acquainted with them as le Duc de la Rochefoucault: his +little book of "Maxims," which I would advise you to look into, for some +moments at least, every day of your life, is, I fear, too like, and too +exact a picture of human nature. + +I own, it seems to degrade it; but yet my experience does not convince me +that it degrades it unjustly. + +Now, to bring all this home to my first point. All these considerations +should not only invite you to attempt to make a figure in parliament, but +encourage you to hope that you shall succeed. To govern mankind, one must +not overrate them: and to please an audience, as a speaker, one must not +overvalue it. When I first came into the House of Commons, I respected +that assembly as a venerable one; and felt a certain awe upon me, but, +upon better acquaintance, that awe soon vanished; and I discovered, that, +of the five hundred and sixty, not above thirty could understand reason, +and that all the rest were 'peuple'; that those thirty only required +plain common sense, dressed up in good language; and that all the others +only required flowing and harmonious periods, whether they conveyed any +meaning or not; having ears to hear, but not sense enough to judge. These +considerations made me speak with little concern the first time, with +less the second, and with none at all the third. I gave myself no further +trouble about anything, except my elocution, and my style; presuming, +without much vanity, that I had common sense sufficient not to talk +nonsense. Fix these three truths strongly in your mind: First, that it is +absolutely necessary for you to speak in parliament; secondly, that it +only requires a little human attention, and no supernatural gifts; and, +thirdly, that you have all the reason in the world to think that you +shall speak well. When we meet, this shall be the principal subject of +our conversations; and, if you will follow my advice, I will answer for +your success. + +Now from great things to little ones; the transition is to me easy, +because nothing seems little to me that can be of any use to you. I hope +you take great care of your mouth and teeth, and that you clean them well +every morning with a sponge and tepid water, with a few drops of +arquebusade water dropped into it; besides washing your mouth carefully +after every meal, I do insist upon your never using those sticks, or any +hard substance whatsoever, which always rub away the gums, and destroy +the varnish of the teeth. I speak this from woeful experience; for my +negligence of my teeth, when I was younger than you are, made them bad; +and afterward, my desire to have them look better, made me use sticks, +irons, etc., which totally destroyed them; so that I have not now above +six or seven left. I lost one this morning, which suggested this advice +to you. + +I have received the tremendous wild boar, which your still more +tremendous arm slew in the immense deserts of the Palatinate; but have +not yet tasted of it, as it is hitherto above my low regimen. The late +King of Prussia, whenever he killed any number of wild boars, used to +oblige the Jews to buy them, at a high price, though they could eat none +of them; so they defrayed the expense of his hunting. His son has juster +rules of government, as the Code Frederick plainly shows. + +I hope, that, by this time, you are as well 'ancre' at Berlin as you was +at Munich; but, if not, you are sure of being so at Dresden. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCVII + +LONDON, February 26, 1754. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letters of the 4th, from Munich, and +of the 11th from Ratisbon; but I have not received that of the 31st +January, to which you refer in the former. It is to this negligence and +uncertainty of the post, that you owe your accidents between Munich and +Ratisbon: for, had you received my letters regularly, you would have +received one from me before you left Munich, in which I advised you to +stay, since you were so well there. But, at all events, you were in the +wrong to set out from Munich in such weather and such roads; since you +could never imagine that I had set my heart so much upon your going to +Berlin, as to venture your being buried in the snow for it. Upon the +whole, considering all you are very well off. You do very well, in my +mind, to return to Munich, or at least to keep within the circle of +Munich, Ratisbon, and Manheim, till the weather and the roads are good: +stay at each or any of those places as long as ever you please; for I am +extremely indifferent about your going to Berlin. + +As to our meeting, I will tell you my plan, and you may form your own +accordingly. I propose setting out from hence the last week in April, +then drinking the Aix-la-Chapelle waters for a week, and from thence +being at Spa about the 15th of May, where I shall stay two months at +most, and then return straight to England. As I both hope and believe +that there will be no mortal at Spa during my residence there, the +fashionable season not beginning till the middle of July, I would by no +means have you come there at first, to be locked up with me and some few +Capucins, for two months, in that miserable hole; but I would advise you +to stay where you like best, till about the first week in July, and then +to come and pick me up at Spa, or meet me upon the road at Liege or +Brussels. As for the intermediate time, should you be weary of Manheim +and Munich, you may, if you please, go to Dresden, to Sir Charles +Williams, who will be there before that time; or you may come for a month +or six weeks to The Hague; or, in short, go or stay wherever you like +best. So much for your motions. + +As you have sent for all the letters directed to you at Berlin, you will +receive from thence volumes of mine, among which you will easily perceive +that some were calculated for a supposed perusal previous to your opening +them. I will not repeat anything contained in them, excepting that I +desire you will send me a warm and cordial letter of thanks for Mr. +Eliot; who has, in the most friendly manner imaginable, fixed you at his +own borough of Liskeard, where you will be elected jointly with him, +without the least opposition or difficulty. I will forward that letter to +him into Cornwall, where he now is. + +Now that you are to be soon a man of business, I heartily wish that you +would immediately begin to be a man of method; nothing contributing more +to facilitate and dispatch business, than method and order. Have order +and method in your accounts, in your reading, in the allotment of your +time; in short, in everything. You cannot conceive how much time you will +save by it, nor how much better everything you do will be done. The Duke +of Marlborough did by no means spend, but he slatterned himself into that +immense debt, which is not yet near paid off. The hurry and confusion of +the Duke of Newcastle do not proceed from his business, but from his want +of method in it. Sir Robert Walpole, who had ten times the business to +do, was never seen in a hurry, because he always did it with method. The +head of a man who has business, and no method nor order, is properly that +'rudis indigestaque moles quam dixere chaos'. As you must be conscious +that you are extremely negligent and slatternly, I hope you will resolve +not to be so for the future. Prevail with yourself, only to observe good +method and order for one fortnight; and I will venture to assure you that +you will never neglect them afterward, you will find such conveniency and +advantage arising from them. Method is the great advantage that lawyers +have over other people, in speaking in parliament; for, as they must +necessarily observe it in their pleadings in the courts of justice, it +becomes habitual to them everywhere else. Without making you a +compliment, I can tell you with pleasure, that order, method, and more +activity of mind, are all that you want, to make, some day or other, a +considerable figure in business. You have more useful knowledge, more +discernment of characters, and much more discretion, than is common at +your age; much more, I am sure, than I had at that age. Experience you +cannot yet have, and therefore trust in the meantime to mine. I am an old +traveler; am well acquainted with all the bye as well as the great roads; +I cannot misguide you from ignorance, and you are very sure I shall not +from design. + +I can assure you, that you will have no opportunity of subscribing +yourself my Excellency's, etc. Retirement and quiet were my choice some +years ago, while I had all my senses, and health and spirits enough to +carry on business; but now that I have lost my hearing, and that I find +my constitution declining daily, they are become my necessary and only +refuge. I know myself (no common piece of knowledge, let me tell you), I +know what I can, what I cannot, and consequently what I ought to do. I +ought not, and therefore will not, return to business when I am much less +fit for it than I was when I quitted it. Still less will I go to Ireland, +where, from my deafness and infirmities, I must necessarily make a +different figure from that which I once made there. My pride would be too +much mortified by that difference. The two important senses of seeing and +hearing should not only be good, but quick, in business; and the business +of a Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (if he will do it himself) requires both +those senses in the highest perfection. It was the Duke of Dorset's not +doing the business himself, but giving it up to favorites, that has +occasioned all this confusion in Ireland; and it was my doing the whole +myself, without either Favorite, Minister, or Mistress, that made my +administration so smooth and quiet. I remember, when I named the late Mr. +Liddel for my Secretary, everybody was much surprised at it; and some of +my friends represented to me, that he was no man of business, but only a +very genteel, pretty young fellow; I assured them, and with truth, that +that was the very reason why I chose him; for that I was resolved to do +all the business myself, and without even the suspicion of having a +minister; which the Lord-lieutenant's Secretary, if he is a man of +business, is always supposed, and commonly with reason, to be. Moreover, +I look upon myself now to be emeritus in business, in which I have been +near forty years together; I give it up to you: apply yourself to it, as +I have done, for forty years, and then I consent to your leaving it for a +philosophical retirement among your friends and your books. Statesmen and +beauties are very rarely sensible of the gradations of their decay; and, +too often sanguinely hoping to shine on in their meridian, often set with +contempt and ridicule. I retired in time, 'uti conviva satur'; or, as +Pope says still better, ERE TITTERING YOUTH SHALL SHOVE YOU FROM THE +STAGE. My only remaining ambition is to be the counsellor and minister of +your rising ambition. Let me see my own youth revived in you; let me be +your Mentor, and, with your parts and knowledge, I promise you, you shall +go far. You must bring, on your part, activity and attention; and I will +point out to you the proper objects for them. I own I fear but one thing +for you, and that is what one has generally the least reason to fear from +one of your age; I mean your laziness; which, if you indulge, will make +you stagnate in a contemptible obscurity all your life. It will hinder +you from doing anything that will deserve to be written, or from writing +anything that may deserve to be read; and yet one or other of those two +objects should be at least aimed at by every rational being. + +I look upon indolence as a sort of SUICIDE; for the man is effectually +destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive. Business by no +means forbids pleasures; on the contrary, they reciprocally season each +other; and I will venture to affirm, that no man enjoys either in +perfection, that does not join both. They whet the desire for each other. +Use yourself, therefore, in time to be alert and diligent in your little +concerns; never procrastinate, never put off till to-morrow what you can +do to-day; and never do two things at a time; pursue your object, be it +what it will, steadily and indefatigably; and let any difficulties (if +surmountable) rather animate than slacken your endeavors. Perseverance +has surprising effects. + +I wish you would use yourself to translate, every day, only three or four +lines, from any book, in any language, into the correctest and most +elegant English that you can think of; you cannot imagine how it will +insensibly form your style, and give you an habitual elegance; it would +not take you up a quarter of an hour in a day. This letter is so long, +that it will hardly leave you that quarter of an hour, the day you +receive it. So good-night. + + + + +LETTER CXCVIII + +LONDON, March 8, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: A great and unexpected event has lately happened in our +ministerial world. Mr. Pelham died last Monday of a fever and +mortification, occasioned by a general corruption of his whole mass of +blood, which had broke out into sores in his back. I regret him as an old +acquaintance, a pretty near relation, and a private man, with whom I have +lived many years in a social and friendly way. He meant well to the +public; and was incorrupt in a post where corruption is commonly +contagious. If he was no shining, enterprising minister, he was a safe +one, which I like better. Very shining ministers, like the sun, are apt +to scorch when they shine the brightest: in our constitution, I prefer +the milder light of a less glaring minister. His successor is not yet, at +least publicly, 'designatus'. You will easily suppose that many are very +willing, and very few able, to fill that post. Various persons are talked +of, by different people, for it, according as their interest prompts them +to wish, or their ignorance to conjecture. Mr. Fox is the most talked of; +he is strongly supported by the Duke of Cumberland. Mr. Legge, the +Solicitor-General, and Dr. Lee, are likewise all spoken of, upon the foot +of the Duke of Newcastle's, and the Chancellor's interest. Should it be +any one of the last three, I think no great alterations will ensue; but +should Mr. Fox prevail, it would, in my opinion, soon produce changes by +no means favorable to the Duke of Newcastle. In the meantime, the wild +conjectures of volunteer politicians, and the ridiculous importance +which, upon these occasions, blockheads always endeavor to give +themselves, by grave looks, significant shrugs, and insignificant +whispers, are very entertaining to a bystander, as, thank God, I now am. +One KNOWS SOMETHING, but is not yet at liberty to tell it; another has +heard something from a very good hand; a third congratulates himself upon +a certain degree of intimacy, which he has long had with everyone of the +candidates, though perhaps he has never spoken twice to anyone of them. +In short, in these sort of intervals, vanity, interest, and absurdity, +always display themselves in the most ridiculous light. One who has been +so long behind the scenes as I have is much more diverted with the +entertainment, than those can be who only see it from the pit and boxes. +I know the whole machinery of the interior, and can laugh the better at +the silly wonder and wild conjectures of the uninformed spectators. This +accident, I think, cannot in the least affect your election, which is +finally settled with your friend Mr. Eliot. For, let who will prevail, I +presume, he will consider me enough, not to overturn an arrangement of +that sort, in which he cannot possibly be personally interested. So pray +go on with your parliamentary preparations. Have that object always in +your view, and pursue it with attention. + +I take it for granted that your late residence in Germany has made you as +perfect and correct in German, as you were before in French, at least it +is worth your while to be so; because it is worth every man's while to be +perfectly master of whatever language he may ever have occasion to speak. +A man is not himself, in a language which he does not thoroughly possess; +his thoughts are degraded, when inelegantly or imperfectly expressed; he +is cramped and confined, and consequently can never appear to advantage. +Examine and analyze those thoughts that strike you the most, either in +conversation or in books; and you will find that they owe at least half +their merit to the turn and expression of them. There is nothing truer +than that old saying, 'Nihil dictum quod non prins dictum'. It is only +the manner of saying or writing it that makes it appear new. Convince +yourself that manner is almost everything, in everything; and study it +accordingly. + +I am this moment informed, and I believe truly, that Mr. Fox--[Henry Fox, +created Lord Holland, Baron of Foxley, in the year 1763]--is to succeed +Mr. Pelham as First Commissioner of the Treasury and Chancellor of the +Exchequer; and your friend, Mr. Yorke, of The Hague, to succeed Mr. Fox +as Secretary at War. I am not sorry for this promotion of Mr. Fox, as I +have always been upon civil terms with him, and found him ready to do me +any little services. He is frank and gentleman-like in his manner: and, +to a certain degree, I really believe will be your friend upon my +account; if you can afterward make him yours, upon your own, 'tan mieux'. +I have nothing more to say now but Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CXCIX + +LONDON, March 15, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: We are here in the midst of a second winter; the cold is +more severe, and the snow deeper, than they were in the first. I presume, +your weather in Germany is not much more gentle and, therefore, I hope +that you are quietly and warmly fixed at some good town: and will not +risk a second burial in the snow, after your late fortunate resurrection +out of it. Your letters, I suppose, have not been able to make their way +through the ice; for I have received none from you since that of the 12th +of February, from Ratisbon. I am the more uneasy at this state of +ignorance, because I fear that you may have found some subsequent +inconveniences from your overturn, which you might not be aware of at +first. + +The curtain of the political theatre was partly drawn up the day before +yesterday, and exhibited a scene which the public in general did not +expect; the Duke of Newcastle was declared First Lord Commissioner of the +Treasury, Mr. Fox Secretary of State in his room, and Mr. Henry Legge +Chancellor of the Exchequer: The employments of Treasurer of the Navy, +and Secretary at War, supposed to be vacant by the promotion of Mr. Fox +and Mr. Legge, were to be kept 'in petto' till the dissolution of this +parliament, which will probably be next week, to avoid the expense and +trouble of unnecessary re-elections; but it was generally supposed that +Colonel Yorke, of The Hague, was to succeed Mr. Fox; and George +Greenville, Mr. Legge. This scheme, had it taken place, you are, I +believe aware, was more a temporary expedient, for securing the elections +of the new parliament, and forming it, at its first meeting, to the +interests and the inclinations of the Duke of Newcastle and the +Chancellor, than a plan of administration either intended or wished to be +permanent. This scheme was disturbed yesterday: Mr. Fox, who had sullenly +accepted the seals the day before, more sullenly refused them yesterday. +His object was to be First Commissioner of the Treasury, and Chancellor +of the Exchequer, and consequently to have a share in the election of the +new parliament, and a much greater in the management of it when chosen. +This necessary consequence of his view defeated it; and the Duke of +Newcastle and the Chancellor chose to kick him upstairs into the +Secretaryship of State, rather than trust him with either the election or +the management of the new parliament. In this, considering their +respective situations, they certainly acted wisely; but whether Mr. Fox +has done so, or not, in refusing the seals, is a point which I cannot +determine. If he is, as I presume he is, animated with revenge, and I +believe would not be over scrupulous in the means of gratifying it, I +should have thought he could have done it better, as Secretary of State, +with constant admission into the closet, than as a private man at the +head of an opposition. But I see all these things at too great a distance +to be able to judge soundly of them. The true springs and motives of +political measures are confined within a very narrow circle, and known to +a very few; the good reasons alleged are seldom the true ones: The public +commonly judges, or rather guesses, wrong, and I am now one of that +public. I therefore recommend to you a prudent Pyrrhonism in all matters +of state, until you become one of the wheels of them yourself, and +consequently acquainted with the general motion, at least, of the others; +for as to all the minute and secret springs, that contribute more or less +to the whole machine, no man living ever knows them all, not even he who +has the principal direction of it. As in the human body, there are +innumerable little vessels and glands that have a good deal to do, and +yet escape the knowledge of the most skillful anatomist; he will know +more, indeed, than those who only see the exterior of our bodies, but he +will never know all. This bustle, and these changes at court, far from +having disturbed the quiet and security of your election, have, if +possible, rather confirmed them; for the Duke of Newcastle (I must do him +justice) has, in, the kindest manner imaginable to you, wrote a letter to +Mr. Eliot, to recommend to him the utmost care of your election. + +Though the plan of administration is thus unsettled, mine, for my travels +this summer, is finally settled; and I now communicate it to you that you +may form your own upon it. I propose being at Spa on the 10th or 12th of +May, and staying there till the 10th of July. As there will be no mortal +there during my stay, it would be both unpleasant and unprofitable to you +to be shut up tete-a-fete with me the whole time; I should therefore +think it best for you not to come to me there till the last week in June. +In the meantime, I suppose, that by the middle of April, you will think +that you have had enough of Manheim, Munich, or Ratisbon, and that +district. Where would you choose to go then? For I leave you absolutely +your choice. Would you go to Dresden for a month or six weeks? That is a +good deal out of your way, and I am not sure that Sir Charles will be +there by that time. Or would you rather take Bonn in your way, and pass +the time till we meet at The Hague? From Manheim you may have a great +many good letters of recommendation to the court of Bonn; which court, +and it's Elector, in one light or another, are worth your seeing. + +From thence, your journey to The Hague will be but a short one; and you +would arrive there at that season of the year when The Hague is, in my +mind, the most agreeable, smiling scene in Europe; and from The Hague you +would have but three very easy days journey to me at Spa. Do as you like; +for, as I told you before, 'Ella e assolutamente padrone'. But lest you +should answer that you desire to be determined by me, I will eventually +tell you my opinion. I am rather inclined to the latter plan; I mean that +of your coming to Bonn, staying there according as you like it, and then +passing the remainder of your time, that is May and June, at The Hague. +Our connection and transactions with the Republic of the United +Provinces are such, that you cannot be too well acquainted with that +constitution, and with those people. You have established good +acquaintances there, and you have been 'fetoie' round by the foreign +ministers; so that you will be there 'en pais connu'. Moreover, you have +not seen the Stadtholder, the 'Gouvernante', nor the court there, which +'a bon compte' should be seen. Upon the whole, then, you cannot, in my +opinion, pass the months of May and June more agreeably, or more +usefully, than at The Hague. But, however, if you have any other, plan +that you like better, pursue it: Only let me know what you intend to do, +and I shall most cheerfully agree to it. + +The parliament will be dissolved in about ten days, and the writs for the +election of the new one issued out immediately afterward; so that, by the +end of next month, you may depend upon being 'Membre de la chambre +basse'; a title that sounds high in foreign countries, and perhaps higher +than it deserves. I hope you will add a better title to it in your own, I +mean that of a good speaker in parliament: you have, I am sure, all, the +materials necessary for it, if you will but put them together and adorn +them. I spoke in parliament the first month I was in it, and a month +before I was of age; and from the day I was elected, till the day that I +spoke. I am sure I thought nor dreamed of nothing but speaking. The first +time, to say the truth, I spoke very indifferently as to the matter; but +it passed tolerably, in favor of the spirit with which I uttered it, and +the words in which I had dressed it. I improved by degrees, till at last +it did tolerably well. The House, it must be owned, is always extremely +indulgent to the two or three first attempts of a young speaker; and if +they find any degree of common sense in what he says, they make great +allowances for his inexperience, and for the concern which they suppose +him to be under. I experienced that indulgence; for had I not been a +young member, I should certainly have been, as I own I deserved, +reprimanded by the House for some strong and indiscreet things that I +said. Adieu! It is indeed high time. + + + + +LETTER CC + +LONDON, March 26, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter of the 15th from +Manheim, where I find you have been received in the usual gracious +manner; which I hope you return in a GRACEFUL one. As this is a season of +great devotion and solemnity in all Catholic countries, pray inform +yourself of, and constantly attend to, all their silly and pompous church +ceremonies; one ought to know them. I am very glad that you wrote the +letter to Lord------, which, in every different case that can possibly be +supposed, was, I am sure, both a decent and a prudent step. You will find +it very difficult, whenever we meet, to convince me that you could have +any good reasons for not doing it; for I will, for argument's sake, +suppose, what I cannot in reality believe, that he has both said and done +the worst he could, of and by you; What then? How will you help yourself? +Are you in a situation to hurt him? Certainly not; but he certainly is in +a situation to hurt you. Would you show a sullen, pouting, impotent +resentment? I hope not; leave that silly, unavailing sort of resentment +to women, and men like them, who are always guided by humor, never by +reason and prudence. That pettish, pouting conduct is a great deal too +young, and implies too little knowledge of the world, for one who has +seen so much of it as you have. Let this be one invariable rule of your +conduct,--Never to show the least symptom of resentment which you cannot +to a certain degree gratify; but always to smile, where you cannot +strike. There would be no living in courts, nor indeed in the world if +one could not conceal, and even dissemble, the just causes of resentment, +which one meets with every day in active and busy life. Whoever cannot +master his humor enough, 'pour faire bonne mine a mauvais jeu', should +leave the world, and retire to some hermitage, in an unfrequented desert. +By showing an unavailing and sullen resentment, you authorize the +resentment of those who can hurt you and whom you cannot hurt; and give +them that very pretense, which perhaps they wished for, of breaking with, +and injuring you; whereas the contrary behavior would lay them under, the +restraints of decency at least; and either shackle or expose their +malice. Besides, captiousness, sullenness, and pouting are most +exceedingly illiberal and vulgar. 'Un honnete homme ne les connoit +point'. + +I am extremely glad to hear that you are soon to have Voltaire at +Manheim: immediately upon his arrival, pray make him a thousand +compliments from me. I admire him most exceedingly; and, whether as an +epic, dramatic, or lyric poet, or prose-writer, I think I justly apply to +him the 'Nil molitur inepte'. I long to read his own correct edition of +'Les Annales de l'Empire', of which the 'Abrege Chronologique de +l'Histoire Universelle', which I have read, is, I suppose, a stolen and +imperfect part; however, imperfect as it is, it has explained to me that +chaos of history, of seven hundred years more clearly than any other book +had done before. You judge very rightly that I love 'le style le r et +fleuri'. I do, and so does everybody who has any parts and taste. It +should, I confess, be more or less 'fleuri', according to the subject; +but at the same time I assert that there is no subject that may not +properly, and which ought not to be adorned, by a certain elegance and +beauty of style. What can be more adorned than Cicero's Philosophical +Works? What more than Plato's? It is their eloquence only that has +preserved and transmitted them down to us through so many centuries; for +the philosophy of them is wretched, and the reasoning part miserable. But +eloquence will always please, and has always pleased. Study it therefore; +make it the object of your thoughts and attention. Use yourself to relate +elegantly; that is a good step toward speaking well in parliament. Take +some political subject, turn it in your thoughts, consider what may be +said both for and against it, then put those arguments into writing, in +the most correct and elegant English you can. For instance, a standing +army, a place bill, etc.; as to the former, consider, on one side, the +dangers arising to a free country from a great standing military force; +on the other side, consider the necessity of a force to repel force with. +Examine whether a standing army, though in itself an evil, may not, from +circumstances, become a necessary evil, and preventive of greater +dangers. As to the latter, consider, how far places may bias and warp the +conduct of men, from the service of their country, into an unwarrantable +complaisance to the court; and, on the other hand, consider whether they +can be supposed to have that effect upon the conduct of people of probity +and property, who are more solidly interested in the permanent good of +their country, than they can be in an uncertain and precarious +employment. Seek for, and answer in your own mind, all the arguments that +can be urged on either side, and write them down in an elegant style. +This will prepare you for debating, and give you an habitual eloquence; +for I would not give a farthing for a mere holiday eloquence, displayed +once or twice in a session, in a set declamation, but I want an +every-day, ready, and habitual eloquence, to adorn extempore and debating +speeches; to make business not only clear but agreeable, and to please +even those whom you cannot inform, and who do not desire to be informed. +All this you may acquire, and make habitual to you, with as little +trouble as it cost you to dance a minuet as well as you do. You now dance +it mechanically and well without thinking of it. + +I am surprised that you found but one letter for me at Manheim, for you +ought to have found four or five; there are as many lying for you at your +banker's at Berlin, which I wish you had, because I always endeavored to +put something into them, which, I hope, may be of use to you. + +When we meet at Spa, next July, we must have a great many serious +conversations; in which I will pour out all my experience of the world, +and which, I hope, you will trust to, more than to your own young notions +of men and things. You will, in time, discover most of them to have been +erroneous; and, if you follow them long, you will perceive your error too +late; but if you will be led by a guide, who, you are sure, does not mean +to mislead you, you will unite two things, seldom united, in the same +person; the vivacity and spirit of youth, with the caution and experience +of age. + +Last Saturday, Sir Thomas Robinson, who had been the King's Minister at +Vienna, was declared Secretary of State for the southern department, Lord +Holderness having taken the northern. Sir Thomas accepted it unwillingly, +and, as I hear, with a promise that he shall not keep it long. Both his +health and spirits are bad, two very disqualifying circumstances for that +employment; yours, I hope, will enable you, some time or other, to go +through with it. In all events, aim at it, and if you fail or fall, let +it at least be said of you, 'Magnis tamen excidit ausis'. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCI + +LONDON, April 5, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received yesterday your letter of the 20th March, from +Manheim, with the inclosed for Mr. Eliot; it was a very proper one, and I +have forwarded it to him by Mr. Harte, who sets out for Cornwall tomorrow +morning. + +I am very glad that you use yourself to translations; and I do not care +of what, provided you study the correctness and elegance of your style. +The "Life of Sextus Quintus" is the best book of the innumerable books +written by Gregorio Leti, whom the Italians, very justly, call 'Leti caca +libro'. But I would rather that you chose some pieces of oratory for your +translations, whether ancient or modern, Latin or French, which would +give you a more oratorical train of thoughts and turn of expression. In +your letter to me you make use of two words, which though true and +correct English, are, however, from long disuse, become inelegant, and +seem now to be stiff, formal, and in some degree scriptural; the first is +the word NAMELY, which you introduce thus, YOU INFORM ME OF A VERY +AGREEABLE PIECE OF NEWS, namely, THAT MY ELECTION IS SECURED. Instead of +NAMELY, I would always use WHICH IS, or THAT IS, that my-election is +secured. The other word is, MINE OWN INCLINATIONS: this is certainly +correct before a subsequent word that begins with a vowel; but it is too +correct, and is now disused as too formal, notwithstanding the hiatus +occasioned by MY OWN. Every language has its peculiarities; they are +established by usage, and whether right or wrong, they must be complied +with. I could instance many very absurd ones in different languages; but +so authorized by the 'jus et norma loquendi', that they must be submitted +to. NAMELY, and TO WIT, are very good words in themselves, and contribute +to clearness more than the relatives which we now substitute in their +room; but, however, they cannot be used, except in a sermon or some very +grave and formal compositions. It is with language as with manners they +are both established by the usage of people of fashion; it must be +imitated, it must be complied with. Singularity is only pardonable in old +age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may +not. We will, when we meet, discuss these and many other points, provided +you will give me attention and credit; without both which it is to no +purpose to advise either you or anybody else. + +I want to know your determination, where you intend to (if I may use that +expression) WHILE away your time till the last week in June, when we are +to meet at Spa; I continue rather in the opinion which I mentioned to you +formerly, in favor of The Hague; but however, I have not the least +objection to Dresden, or to any other place that you may like better. If +you prefer the Dutch scheme, you take Treves and Coblentz in your way, as +also Dusseldorp: all which places I think you have not yet seen. At +Manheim you may certainly get good letters of recommendation to the +courts of the two Electors of Treves and Cologne, whom you are yet +unacquainted with; and I should wish you to know them all; for, as I have +often told you, 'olim haec meminisse juvabit'. There is an utility in +having seen what other people have seen, and there is a justifiable pride +in having seen what others have not seen. In the former case, you are +equal to others; in the latter, superior. As your stay abroad will not +now be very long, pray, while it lasts, see everything and everybody you +can, and see them well, with care and attention. It is not to be +conceived of what advantage it is to anybody to have seen more things, +people, and countries, than other people in general have; it gives them a +credit, makes them referred to, and they become the objects of the +attention of the company. They are not out in any part of polite +conversation; they are acquainted with all the places, customs, courts, +and families that are likely to be mentioned; they are, as Monsieur de +Maupertuis justly observes, 'de tous les pays, comme les savans, sont de +tous les tems'. You have, fortunately, both those advantages: the only +remaining point is 'de savoir les faire valoir', for without that one may +as well not have them. Remember that very true maxim of La Bruyere's, +'Qu'on ne vaut dans se monde que ce qu'on veut valoir'. The knowledge of +the world will teach you to what degree you ought to show 'que vous +valez'. One must by no means, on one hand, be indifferent about it; as, +on the other, one must not display it with affectation, and in an +overbearing manner, but, of the two, it is better to show too much than +too little. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCII + +BATH, November 27, 1754 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I heartily congratulate you upon the loss of your +political maidenhead, of which I have received from others a very good +account. I hear that you were stopped for some time in your career; but +recovered breath, and finished it very well. I am not surprised, nor +indeed concerned, at your accident; for I remember the dreadful feeling +of that situation in myself; and as it must require a most uncommon share +of impudence to be unconcerned upon such an occasion, I am not sure that +I am not rather glad you stopped. You must therefore now think of +hardening yourself by degrees, by using yourself insensibly to the sound +of your own voice, and to the act (trifling as it seems) of rising up and +sitting down. Nothing will contribute so much to this as committee work +of elections at night, and of private bills in the morning. There, asking +short questions, moving for witnesses to be called in, and all that kind +of small ware, will soon fit you to set up for yourself. I am told that +you are much mortified at your accident, but without reason; pray, let it +rather be a spur than a curb to you. Persevere, and, depend upon it, it +will do well at last. When I say persevere, I do not mean that you should +speak every day, nor in every debate. Moreover, I would not advise you to +speak again upon public matters for some time, perhaps a month or two; +but I mean, never lose view of that great object; pursue it with +discretion, but pursue it always. 'Pelotez en attendant partie'. You know +I have always told you that speaking in public was but a knack, which +those who apply to the most will succeed in the best. Two old members, +very good judges, have sent me compliments upon this occasion; and have +assured me that they plainly find it will do; though they perceived, from +that natural confusion you were in, that you neither said all, nor +perhaps what you intended. Upon the whole, you have set out very well, +and have sufficient encouragement to go on. Attend; therefore, +assiduously, and observe carefully all that passes in the House; for it +is only knowledge and experience that can make a debater. But if you +still want comfort, Mrs.-------I hope, will administer it to you; for, in +my opinion she may, if she will, be very comfortable; and with women, as +with speaking in parliament, perseverance will most certainly prevail +sooner or later. + +What little I have played for here, I have won; but that is very far from +the considerable sum which you heard of. I play every evening, from seven +till ten, at a crown whist party, merely to save my eyes from reading or +writing for three hours by candle-light. I propose being in town the week +after next, and hope to carry back with me much more health than I +brought down here. Good-night. + +[Mr. Stanhope being returned to England, and seeing his father almost +every day, is the occasion of an interruption of two years in their +correspondence.] + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +According as their interest prompts them to wish +Acquainted with books, and an absolute stranger to men +Affectation of singularity or superiority +All have senses to be gratified +Bolingbroke +Business by no means forbids pleasures +Clamorers triumph +Doing anything that will deserve to be written +Ears to hear, but not sense enough to judge +ERE TITTERING YOUTH SHALL SHOVE YOU FROM THE STAGE +Frederick +Good manners are the settled medium of social life +Good reasons alleged are seldom the true ones +Holiday eloquence +I know myself (no common piece of knowledge, let me tell you) +Indolence +INTOLERATION in religious, and inhospitality in civil matters +Kick him upstairs +King Louis XIV +Look upon indolence as a sort of SUICIDE +Manner is almost everything, in everything +Many are very willing, and very few able +Perseverance has surprising effects +Pettish, pouting conduct is a great deal too young +Reason, which always ought to direct mankind, seldom does +Rendering Jews capable of being naturalized +Rochefoucault +Singularity is only pardonable in old age +Smile, where you cannot strike +To govern mankind, one must not overrate them +Too like, and too exact a picture of human nature +Vanity, interest, and absurdity, always display +Warm and young thanks, not old and cold ones +Writing anything that may deserve to be read +Young men are as apt to think themselves wise enough +Young people are very apt to overrate both men and things + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to His Son, 1753-1754 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1753-1754 *** + +***** This file should be named 3357.txt or 3357.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/3357/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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