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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3359.txt b/3359.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72fd4c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/3359.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2346 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to His Son, 1759-1765 +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, 1759-1765 + +Author: The Earl of Chesterfield + +Release Date: December 1, 2004 [EBook #3359] +[Last updated on February 14, 2007] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1759-1765 *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + LETTERS TO HIS SON + 1759-65 + + By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD + + on the Fine Art of becoming a + + MAN OF THE WORLD + + and a + + GENTLEMAN + + + +LETTER CCXXXVII + +LONDON, New-year's Day, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Molti e felici', and I have done upon that subject, one +truth being fair, upon the most lying day in the whole year. + +I have now before me your last letter of the 21st December, which I am +glad to find is a bill of health: but, however, do not presume too much +upon it, but obey and honor your physician, "that thy days may be long in +the land." + +Since my last, I have heard nothing more concerning the ribband; but I +take it for granted it will be disposed of soon. By the way, upon +reflection, I am not sure that anybody but a knight can, according to +form, be employed to make a knight. I remember that Sir Clement Cotterel +was sent to Holland, to dub the late Prince of Orange, only because he +was a knight himself; and I know that the proxies of knights, who cannot +attend their own installations, must always be knights. This did not +occur to me before, and perhaps will not to the person who was to +recommend you: I am sure I will not stir it; and I only mention it now, +that you may be in all events prepared for the disappointment, if it +should happen. + +G-----is exceedingly flattered with your account, that three thousand of +his countrymen; all as little as himself, should be thought a sufficient +guard upon three-and-twenty thousand of all the nations in Europe; not +that he thinks himself, by any means, a little man, for when he would +describe a tall handsome man, he raises himself up at least half an inch +to represent him. + +The private news from Hamburg is, that his Majesty's Resident there is +woundily in love with Madame-------; if this be true, God send him, +rather than her, a good DELIVERY! She must be 'etrennee' at this season, +and therefore I think you should be so too: so draw upon me as soon as +you please, for one hundred pounds. + +Here is nothing new, except the unanimity with which the parliament gives +away a dozen of millions sterling; and the unanimity of the public is as +great in approving of it, which has stifled the usual political and +polemical argumentations. + +Cardinal Bernis's disgrace is as sudden, and hitherto as little +understood, as his elevation was. I have seen his poems, printed at +Paris, not by a friend, I dare say; and to judge by them, I humbly +conceive his Eminency is a p-----y. I will say nothing of that excellent +headpiece that made him and unmade him in the same month, except O KING, +LIVE FOREVER. + +Good-night to you, whoever you pass it with. + + + + +LETTER CCXXXVIII + +LONDON, February 2, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am now (what I have very seldom been) two letters in +your debt: the reason was, that my head, like many other heads, has +frequently taken a wrong turn; in which case, writing is painful to me, +and therefore cannot be very pleasant to my readers. + +I wish you would (while you have so good an opportunity as you have at +Hamburg) make yourself perfectly master of that dull but very useful +knowledge, the course of exchange, and the causes of its almost perpetual +variations; the value and relation of different coins, the specie, the +banco, usances, agio, and a thousand other particulars. You may with ease +learn, and you will be very glad when you have learned them; for, in your +business, that sort of knowledge will often prove necessary. + +I hear nothing more of Prince Ferdinand's garter: that he will have one +is very certain; but when, I believe, is very uncertain; all the other +postulants wanting to be dubbed at the same time, which cannot be, as +there is not ribband enough for them. + +If the Russians move in time, and in earnest, there will be an end of our +hopes and of our armies in Germany: three such mill-stones as Russia, +France, and Austria, must, sooner or later, in the course of the year, +grind his Prussian Majesty down to a mere MARGRAVE of Brandenburg. But I +have always some hopes of a change under a 'Gunarchy'--[Derived from the +Greek word 'Iuvn' a woman, and means female government]--where whim and +humor commonly prevail, reason very seldom, and then only by a lucky +mistake. + +I expect the incomparable fair one of Hamburg, that prodigy of beauty, +and paragon of good sense, who has enslaved your mind, and inflamed your +heart. If she is as well 'etrennee' as you say she shall, you will be +soon out of her chains; for I have, by long experience, found women to be +like Telephus's spear, if one end kills, the other cures. + +There never was so quiet, nor so silent a session of parliament as the +present; Mr. Pitt declares only what he would have them do, and they do +it 'nemine contradicente', Mr. Viner only expected. + +Duchess Hamilton is to be married, to-morrow, to Colonel Campbell, the +son of General Campbell, who will some day or other be Duke of Argyle, +and have the estate. She refused the Duke of B-----r for him. + +Here is a report, but I believe a very groundless one, that your old +acquaintance, the fair Madame C------e, is run away from her husband, +with a jeweler, that 'etrennes' her, and is come over here; but I dare +say it is some mistake, or perhaps a lie. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXXXIX + +LONDON, February 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: In your last letter, of the 7th, you accuse me, most +unjustly, of being in arrears in my correspondence; whereas, if our +epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be +brought in considerably debtor. I do not see how any of my letters to you +can miscarry, unless your office-packet miscarries too, for I always send +them to the office. Moreover, I might have a justifiable excuse for +writing to you seldomer than usual, for to be sure there never was a +period of time, in the middle of a winter, and the parliament sitting, +that supplied so little matter for a letter. Near twelve millions have +been granted this year, not only 'nemine contradicente', but, 'nemine +quicquid dicente'. The proper officers bring in the estimates; it is +taken for granted that they are necessary and frugal; the members go to +dinner; and leave Mr. West and Mr. Martin to do the rest. + +I presume you have seen the little poem of the "Country Lass," by Soame +Jenyns, for it was in the "Chronicle"; as was also an answer to it, from +the "Monitor." They are neither of them bad performances; the first is +the neatest, and the plan of the second has the most invention. I send +you none of those 'pieces volantes' in my letters, because they are all +printed in one or other of the newspapers, particularly in the +"Chronicles"; and I suppose that you and others have all those papers +among you at Hamburg; in which case it would be only putting you to the +unnecessary expense of double postage. + +I find you are sanguine about the King of Prussia this year; I allow his +army will be what you say; but what will that be 'vis-a-vis' French, +Austrians, Imperialists, Swedes, and Russians, who must amount to more +than double that number? Were the inequality less, I would allow for the +King of Prussia's being so much 'ipse agmen' as pretty nearly to balance +the account. In war, numbers are generally my omens; and, I confess, that +in Germany they seem not happy ones this year. In America. I think, we +are sure of success, and great success; but how we shall be able to +strike a balance, as they call it, between good success there, and ill +success upon the continent, so as to come at a peace; is more than I can +discover. + +Lady Chesterfield makes you her compliments, and thanks you for your +offer; but declines troubling you, being discouraged by the ill success +of Madame Munchausen's and Miss Chetwynd's commissions, the former for +beef, and the latter for gloves; neither of which have yet been executed, +to the dissatisfaction of both. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXL + +LONDON, March 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your letter of the 20th past lying before me, +by which you despond, in my opinion too soon, of dubbing your Prince; for +he most certainly will have the Garter; and he will as probably have it +before the campaign opens, as after. His campaign must, I doubt, at best +be a defensive one; and he will show great skill in making it such; for +according to my calculation, his enemies will be at least double his +number. Their troops, indeed, may perhaps be worse than his; but then +their number will make up that defect, as it will enable them to +undertake different operations at the same time. I cannot think that the +King of Denmark will take a part in the present war; which he cannot do +without great possible danger; and he is well paid by France for his +neutrality; is safe, let what will turn out; and, in the meantime, +carries on his commerce with great advantage and security; so that that +consideration will not retard your visit to your own country, whenever +you have leave to return, and that your own ARRANGEMENTS will allow you. +A short absence animates a tender passion, 'et l'on ne recule que pour +mieux sauter', especially in the summer months; so that I would advise +you to begin your journey in May, and continue your absence from the dear +object of your vows till after the dog-days, when love is said to be +unwholesome. We have been disappointed at Martinico; I wish we may not be +so at Guadaloupe, though we are landed there; for many difficulties must +be got over before we can be in possession of the whole island. A pro pos +de bottes; you make use of two Spanish words, very properly, in your +letter; were I you, I would learn the Spanish language, if there were a +Spaniard at Hamburg who could teach me; and then you would be master of +all the European languages that are useful; and, in my mind, it is very +convenient, if not necessary, for a public man to understand them all, +and not to be obliged to have recourse to an interpreter for those papers +that chance or business may throw in his way. I learned Spanish when I +was older than you; convinced by experience that, in everything possible, +it was better to trust to one's self than to any other body whatsoever. +Interpreters, as well as relaters, are often unfaithful, and still +oftener incorrect, puzzling, and blundering. In short, let it be your +maxim through life to know all you can know, yourself; and never to trust +implicitly to the informations of others. This rule has been of infinite +service to me in the course of my life. + +I am rather better than I was; which I owe not to my physicians, but to +an ass and a cow, who nourish me, between them, very plentifully and +wholesomely; in the morning the ass is my nurse, at night the cow; and I +have just now, bought a milch-goat, which is to graze, and nurse me at +Blackheath. I do not know what may come of this latter, and I am not +without apprehensions that it may make a satyr of me; but, should I find +that obscene disposition growing upon me, I will check it in time, for +fear of endangering my life and character by rapes. And so we heartily +bid you farewell. + + + + +LETTER CCXLI + +LONDON, March 30, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I do not like these frequent, however short, returns of +your illness; for I doubt they imply either want of skill in your +physician, or want of care in his patient. Rhubarb, soap, and chalybeate +medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for obstructions of the +liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary, and that for a long +continuance. Acids are good for you, but you do not love them; and sweet +things are bad for you, and you do love them. There is another thing very +bad for you, and I fear you love it too much. When I was in Holland, I +had a slow fever that hung upon me a great while; I consulted Boerhaave, +who prescribed me what I suppose was proper, for it cured me; but he +added, by way of postscript to his prescription, 'Venus rarius colatur'; +which I observed, and perhaps that made the medicines more effectual. + +I doubt we shall be mutually disappointed in our hopes of seeing one +another this spring, as I believe you will find, by a letter which you +will receive at the same time with this, from Lord Holderness; but as +Lord Holderness will not tell you all, I will, between you and me, supply +that defect. I must do him the justice to say that he has acted in the +most kind and friendly manner possible to us both. When the King read +your letter, in which you desired leave to return, for the sake of +drinking the Tunbridge waters, he said, "If he wants steel waters, those +of Pyrmont are better than Tunbridge, and he can have them very fresh at +Hamburg. I would rather he had asked me to come last autumn, and had +passed the winter here; for if he returns now, I shall have nobody in +those quarters to inform me of what passes; and yet it will be a very +busy and important scene." Lord Holderness, who found that it would not +be liked, resolved to push it no further; and replied, he was very sure +that when you knew his Majesty had the least objection to your return at +this time, you would think of it no longer; and he owned that he (Lord +Holderness) had given you encouragement for this application last year, +then thinking and hoping that there would be little occasion for your +presence at Hamburg this year. Lord Holderness will only tell you, in his +letter, that, as he had some reason to believe his moving this matter +would be disagreeable to the King, he resolved, for your sake, not to +mention it. You must answer his letter upon that footing simply, and +thank him for this mark of his friendship, for he has really acted as +your friend. I make no doubt of your having willing leave to return in +autumn, for the whole winter. In the meantime, make the best of your +'sejour' where you are; drink the Pyrmont waters, and no wine but +Rhenish, which, in your case is the only proper one for you. + +Next week Mr. Harte will send you his "Gustavus Adolphus," in two +quartos; it will contain many new particulars of the life of that real +hero, as he has had abundant and authentic materials, which have never +yet appeared. It will, upon the whole, be a very curious and valuable +history; though, between you and me, I could have wished that he had been +more correct and elegant in his style. You will find it dedicated to one +of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune the luxuriant praises +bestowed upon him, and yet has left enough of all conscience to satisfy a +reasonable man. Harte has been very much out of order these last three or +four months, but is not the less intent upon sowing his lucerne, of which +he had six crops last year, to his infinite joy, and, as he says, profit. +As a gardener, I shall probably have as much joy, though not quite so +much profit, by thirty or forty shillings; for there is the greatest +promise of fruit this year at 'Blackheath, that ever I saw in my life. +Vertumnus and Pomona have been very propitious to me: as for Priapus, +that tremendous garden god, as I no longer invoke him, I cannot expect +his protection from the birds and the thieves. + +Adieu! I will conclude like a pedant, 'Levius fit patientia quicquid +corrigere est nefas.' + + + + +LETTER CCXLII + +LONDON, April 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: With humble submission to you, I still say that if Prince +Ferdinand can make a defensive campaign this year, he will have done a +great deal, considering the great inequality of numbers. The little +advantages of taking a regiment or two prisoners, or cutting another to +pieces, are but trifling articles in the great account; they are only the +pence, the pounds are yet to come; and I take it for granted, that +neither the French, nor the Court of Vienna, will have 'le dementi' of +their main object, which is unquestionably Hanover; for that is the +'summa summarum'; and they will certainly take care to draw a force +together for this purpose, too great for any that Prince Ferdinand has, +or can have, to oppose them. In short, mark the end on't, 'j'en augure +mal'. If France, Austria, the Empire, Russia, and Sweden, are not, at +long run, too hard for the two Electors of Hanover and Brandenburg, there +must be some invisible power, some tutelar deities, that miraculously +interpose in favor of the latter. + +You encourage me to accept all the powers that goats, asses, and bulls, +can give me, by engaging for my not making an ill use of them; but I own, +I cannot help distrusting myself a little, or rather human nature; for it +is an old and very true observation, that there are misers of money, but +none of power; and the non-use of the one, and the abuse of the other, +increase in proportion to their quantity. + +I am very sorry to tell you that Harte's "Gustavus Adolphus" does not +take at all, and consequently sells very little: it is certainly +informing, and full of good matter; but it is as certain too, that the +style is execrable: where the devil he picked it up, I cannot conceive, +for it is a bad style, of a new and singular kind; it is full of +Latinisms, Gallicisms, Germanisms, and all isms but Anglicisms; in some +places pompous, in others vulgar and low. Surely, before the end of the +world, people, and you in particular, will discover that the MANNER, in +everything, is at least as important as the matter; and that the latter +never can please, without a good degree of elegance in the former. This +holds true in everything in life: in writing, conversing, business, the +help of the Graces is absolutely necessary; and whoever vainly thinks +himself above them, will find he is mistaken when it will be too late to +court them, for they will not come to strangers of an advanced age. There +is an history lately come out, of the "Reign of Mary Queen of Scots" and +her son (no matter by whom) King James, written by one Robertson, a +Scotchman, which for clearness, purity, and dignity of style, I will not +scruple to compare with the best historians extant, not excepting Davila, +Guicciardini, and perhaps Livy. Its success has consequently been great, +and a second edition is already published and bought up. I take it for +granted, that it is to be had, or at least borrowed, at Hamburg, or I +would send it to you. + +I hope you drink the Pyrmont waters every morning. The health of the mind +depends so much upon the health of the body, that the latter deserves the +utmost attention, independently of the senses. God send you a very great +share of both! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIII + +LONDON, April 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your two letters of the 10th and 13th, by +the last mail; and I will begin my answer to them, by observing to you +that a wise man, without being a Stoic, considers, in all misfortunes +that befall him, their best as well as their worst side; and everything +has a better and a worse side. I have strictly observed that rule for +many years, and have found by experience that some comfort is to be +extracted, under most moral ills, by considering them in every light, +instead of dwelling, as people are too apt to do, upon the gloomy side of +the object. Thank God, the disappointment that you so pathetically groan +under, is not a calamity which admits of no consolation. Let us simplify +it, and see what it amounts to. You are pleased with the expectation of +coming here next month, to see those who would have been pleased with +seeing you. That, from very natural causes, cannot be, and you must pass +this summer at Hamburg, and next winter in England, instead of passing +this summer in England, and next winter at Hamburg. Now, estimating +things fairly, is not the change rather to your advantage? Is not the +summer more eligible, both for health and pleasure, than the winter, in +that northern frozen zone? And will not the winter in England supply you +with more pleasures than the summer, in an empty capital, could have +done? So far then it appears, that you are rather a gainer by your +misfortune. + +The TOUR too, which you propose making to Lubeck, Altena, etc., will both +amuse and inform you; for, at your age, one cannot see too many different +places and people; since at the age you are now of, I take it for granted +that you will not see them superficially, as you did when you first went +abroad. + +This whole matter then, summed up, amounts to no more than this--that you +will be here next winter, instead of this summer. Do not think that all I +have said is the consolation only of an old philosophical fellow, almost +insensible of pleasure or pain, offered to a young fellow who has quick +sensations of both. No, it is the rational philosophy taught me by +experience and knowledge of the world, and which I have practiced above +thirty years. + +I always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse by fretting; +this enabled me to go through the various scenes of life in which I have +been an actor, with more pleasure and less pain than most people. You +will say, perhaps, one cannot change one's nature; and that if a person +is born of a very sensible, gloomy temper, and apt to see things in the +worst light, they cannot help it, nor new-make themselves. I will admit +it, to a certain degree; and but to a certain degree; for though we +cannot totally change our nature, we may in a great measure correct it, +by reflection and philosophy; and some philosophy is a very necessary +companion in this world, where, even to the most fortunate, the chances +are greatly against happiness. + +I am not old enough, nor tenacious enough, to pretend not to understand +the main purport of your last letter; and to show you that I do, you may +draw upon me for two hundred pounds, which, I hope, will more than clear +you. + +Good-night: 'aquam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem': Be neither +transported nor depressed by the accidents of life. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIV + +BLACKHEATH, May 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your secretary's last letter of the 4th, which I received +yesterday, has quieted my fears a good deal, but has not entirely +dissipated them. YOUR FEVER STILL CONTINUES, he says, THOUGH IN A LESS +DEGREE. Is it a continued fever, or an intermitting one? If the former, +no wonder that you are weak, and that your head aches. If the latter, why +has not the bark, in substance and large doses, been administered? for if +it had, it must have stopped it by this time. Next post, I hope, will set +me quite at ease. Surely you have not been so regular as you ought, +either in your medicines or in your general regimen, otherwise this fever +would not have returned; for the Doctor calls it, YOUR FEVER RETURNED, as +if you had an exclusive patent for it. You have now had illnesses enough, +to know the value of health, and to make you implicitly follow the +prescriptions of your physician in medicines, and the rules of your own +common sense in diet; in which, I can assure you, from my own experience, +that quantity is often worse than quality; and I would rather eat half a +pound of bacon at a meal, than two pounds of any the most wholesome food. + +I have been settled here near a week, to my great satisfaction; 'c'est ma +place', and I know it, which is not given to everybody. Cut off from +social life by my deafness, as well as other physical ills, and being at +best but the ghost of my former self, I walk here in silence and solitude +as becomes a ghost: with this only difference, that I walk by day, +whereas, you know, to be sure, that other ghosts only appear by night. My +health, however, is better than it was last year, thanks to my almost +total milk diet. This enables me to vary my solitary amusements, and +alternately to scribble as well as read, which I could not do last year. +Thus I saunter away the remainder, be it more or less, of an agitated and +active life, now reduced (and I am not sure that I am a loser by the +change) to so quiet and serene a one, that it may properly be called +still life. + +The French whisper in confidence, in order that it may be the more known +and the more credited, that they intend to invade us this year, in no +less than three places; that is England, Scotland, and Ireland. Some of +our great men, like the devils, believe and tremble; others, and one +little one whom I know, laugh at it; and, in general, it seems to be but +a poor, instead of a formidable scarecrow. While somebody was at the head +of a moderate army, and wanted (I know why) to be at the head of a great +one, intended invasions were made an article of political faith; and the +belief of them was required, as in the Church the belief of some +absurdities, and even impossibilities, is required upon pain of heresy, +excommunication, and consequently damnation, if they tend to the power +and interest of the heads of the Church. But now that there is a general +toleration, and that the best subjects, as well as the best Christians, +may believe what their reasons find their consciences suggest, it is +generally and rationally supposed the French will threaten and not +strike, since we are so well prepared, both by armies and fleets, to +receive and, I may add, to destroy them. Adieu! God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 15, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your letter of the 5th, which I received yesterday, gave +me great satisfaction, being all in your own hand; though it contains +great, and I fear just complaints of your ill state of health. You do +very well to change the air; and I hope that change will do well by you. +I would therefore have you write after the 20th of August, to Lord +Holderness, to beg of him to obtain his Majesty's leave for you to return +to England for two or three months, upon account of your health. Two or +three months is an indefinite time, which may afterward insensibly +stretched to what length one pleases; leave that to me. In the meantime, +you may be taking your measures with the best economy. + +The day before yesterday, an express arrived from Guadaloupe which +brought an account of our being in possession of the whole island. And I +make no manner of doubt but that, in about two months, we shall have as +good news from Crown-point, Quebec, etc. Our affairs in Germany, I fear, +will not be equally prosperous; for I have very little hopes for the King +of Prussia or Prince Ferdinand. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLVI + +BLACKHEATH, June 25, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The two last mails have brought me no letter from you or +your secretary. I will take this as a sign that you are better; but, +however, if you thought that I cared to know, you should have cared to +have written. Here the weather has been very fine for a fortnight +together, a longer term than in this climate we are used to hold fine +weather by. I hope it is so, too, at Hamburg, or at least at the villa to +which you are gone; but pray do not let it be your 'villa viciosa', as +those retirements are often called, and too often prove; though, by the +way, the original name was 'villa vezzosa'; and by wags miscalled +'viciosa'. + +I have a most gloomy prospect of affairs in Germany; the French are +already in possession of Cassel, and of the learned part of Hanover, that +is Gottingen; where I presume they will not stop 'pour l'amour des belles +lettres', but rather go on to the capital, and study them upon the coin. +My old acquaintance, Monsieur Richelieu, made a great progress there in +metallic learning and inscriptions. If Prince Ferdinand ventures a battle +to prevent it, I dread the consequences; the odds are too great against +him. The King of Prussia is still in a worse situation; for he has the +Hydra to encounter; and though he may cut off a head or two, there will +still be enough left to devour him at last. I have, as you know, long +foretold the now approaching catastrophe; but I was Cassandra. Our +affairs in the new world have a much more pleasing aspect; Guadaloupe is +a great acquisition, and Quebec, which I make no doubt of, will still be +greater. But must all these advantages, purchased at the price of so much +English blood and treasure, be at last sacrificed as a peace-offering? +God knows what consequences such a measure may produce; the germ of +discontent is already great, upon the bare supposition of the case; but +should it be realized, it will grow to a harvest of disaffection. + +You are now, to be sure, taking the previous necessary measures for your +return here in the autumn and I think you may disband your whole family, +excepting your secretary, your butler, who takes care of your plate, +wine, etc., one or at most two, maid servants, and your valet de chambre +and one footman, whom you will bring over with you. But give no mortal, +either there or here, reason to think that you are not to return to +Hamburg again. If you are asked about it, say, like Lockhart, that you +are 'le serviteur des Evenemens'; for your present appointments will do +you no hurt here, till you have some better destination. At that season +of the year, I believe it will be better for you to come by sea than by +land, but that you will be best able to judge of from the then +circumstances of your part in the world. + +Your old friend Stevens is dead of the consumption that has long been +undermining him. God bless you, and send you health. + +[Another two year lapse in the letters. D.W.] +LETTER CCXLVII + +BATH, February 26, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am very glad to hear that your election is finally +settled, and to say the truth, not sorry that Mr.----has been compelled +to do, 'de mauvaise grace', that which he might have done at first in a +friendly and handsome manner. However, take no notice of what is passed, +and live with him as you used to do before; for, in the intercourse of +the world, it is often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows, and +to have forgotten what one remembers. + +I have just now finished Coleman's play, and like it very well; it is +well conducted, and the characters are well preserved. I own, I expected +from the author more dialogue wit; but, as I know that he is a most +scrupulous classic, I believe he did not dare to put in half so much wit +as he could have done, because Terence had not a single grain; and it +would have been 'crimen laesae antiquitatis'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXLVIII + +BATH, November 21, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 19th. If I +find any alterations by drinking these waters, now six days, it is rather +for the better; but, in six days more, I think I shall find with more +certainty what humor they are in with me; if kind, I will profit of, but +not abuse their kindness; all things have their bounds, 'quos ultra +citrave nequit consistere rectum'; and I will endeavor to nick that +point. + +The Queen's jointure is larger than, from SOME REASONS, I expected it +would be, though not greater than the very last precedent authorized. The +case of the late Lord Wilmington was, I fancy, remembered. + +I have now good reason to believe that Spain will declare war to us, that +is, that it will very soon, if it has not already, avowedly assist +France, in case the war continues. This will be a great triumph to Mr. +Pitt, and fully justify his plan of beginning with Spain first, and +having the first blow, which is often half the battle. + +Here is a great deal of company, and what is commonly called good +company, that is, great quality. I trouble them very little, except at +the pump, where my business calls me; for what is company to a deaf man, +or a deaf man to company? + +Lady Brown, whom I have seen, and who, by the way, has got the gout in +her eye, inquired very tenderly after you. And so I elegantly rest, +Yours, till death. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIX + +BATH, December 6, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have been in your debt some time, which, you know, I am +not very apt to be: but it was really for want of specie to pay. The +present state of my invention does not enable me to coin; and you would +have had as little pleasure in reading, as I should have in writing 'le +coglionerie' of this place; besides, that I am very little mingled in +them. I do not know whether I shall be able to follow, your advice, and +cut a winner; for, at present, I have neither won nor lost a single +shilling. I will play on this week only; and if I have a good run, I will +carry it off with me; if a bad one, the loss can hardly amount to +anything considerable in seven days, for I hope to see you in town +to-morrow sevennight. + +I had a dismal letter from Harte, last week; he tells me that he is at +nurse with a sister in Berkshire; that he has got a confirmed jaundice, +besides twenty other distempers. The true cause of these complaints I +take to be the same that so greatly disordered, and had nearly destroyed +the most august House of Austria, about one hundred and thirty years ago; +I mean Gustavus Adolphus; who neither answered his expectations in point +of profit nor reputation, and that merely by his own fault, in not +writing it in the vulgar tongue; for as to facts I will maintain that it +is one of the best histories extant. + +'Au revoir', as Sir Fopling says, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCL + +BATH, November 2, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as I proposed, last Sunday; but as ill as +I feared I should be when I saw you. Head, stomach, and limbs, all out of +order. + +I have yet seen nobody but Villettes, who is settled here for good, as it +is called. What consequences has the Duke of Devonshire's resignation +had? He has considerable connections and relations; but whether any of +them are resigned enough to resign with him, is another matter. There +will be, to be sure, as many, and as absurd reports, as there are in the +law books; I do not desire to know either; but inform me of what facts +come to your knowledge, and of such reports only as you believe are +grounded. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLI + +BATH, November 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter, and believe that your +preliminaries are very near the mark; and, upon that supposition, I think +we have made a tolerable good bargain with Spain; at least full as good +as I expected, and almost as good as I wished, though I do not believe +that we have got ALL Florida; but if we have St. Augustin, I suppose +that, by the figure of 'pars pro toto', will be called all Florida. We +have by no means made so good a bargain with France; for, in truth, what +do we get by it, except Canada, with a very proper boundary of the river +Mississippi! and that is all. As for the restrictions upon the French +fishery in Newfoundland, they are very well 'per la predica', and for the +Commissary whom we shall employ: for he will have a good salary from +hence, to see that those restrictions are complied with; and the French +will double that salary, that he may allow them all to be broken through. +It is plain to me, that the French fishery will be exactly what it was +before the war. + +The three Leeward islands, which the French yield to us, are not, all +together, worth half so much as that of St. Lucia, which we give up to +them. Senegal is not worth one quarter of Goree. The restrictions of the +French in the East Indies are as absurd and impracticable as those of +Newfoundland; and you will live to see the French trade to the East +Indies, just as they did before the war. But after all I have said, the +articles are as good as I expected with France, when I considered that no +one single person who carried on this negotiation on our parts was ever +concerned or consulted in any negotiation before. Upon the whole, then, +the acquisition of Canada has cost us fourscore millions sterling. I am +convinced we might have kept Guadaloupe, if our negotiators had known how +to have gone about it. + +His most faithful Majesty of Portugal is the best off of anybody in this, +transaction, for he saves his kingdom by it, and has not laid out one +moidore in defense of it. Spain, thank God, in some measure, 'paye les +pots cassis'; for, besides St. Augustin, logwood, etc., it has lost at +least four millions sterling, in money, ships, etc. + +Harte is here, who tells me he has been at this place these three years, +excepting some few excursions to his sister; he looks ill, and laments +that he has frequent fits of the yellow jaundice. He complains of his not +having heard from you these four years; you should write to him. These +waters have done me a great deal of good, though I drink but two-thirds +of a pint in the whole day, which is less than the soberest of my +countrymen drink of claret at every meal. + +I should naturally think, as you do, that this session will be a stormy +one, that is, if Mr. Pitt takes an active part; but if he is pleased, as +the Ministers say, there is no other AEolus to blow a storm. The Dukes of +Cumberland, Newcastle, and Devonshire, have no better troops to attack +with than the militia; but Pitt alone is ipse agmen. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLII + +BATH, November 27, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, and return you the +ball 'a la volee'. The King's speech is a very prudent one; and as I +suppose that the addresses in answer to it were, as usual, in almost the +same words, my Lord Mayor might very well call them innocent. As his +Majesty expatiates so much upon the great ACHIEVEMENTS of the war, I +cannot help hoping that, when the preliminaries shall be laid before +Parliament IN DUE TIME, which, I suppose, means after the respective +ratifications of all the contracting parties, that some untalked of and +unexpected advantage will break out in our treaty with France; St. Lucia, +at least. I see in the newspapers an article which I by no means like, in +our treaty with Spain; which is, that we shall be at liberty to cut +logwood in the Bay of Campeachy, BUT BY PAYING FOR IT. Who does not see +that this condition may, and probably will, amount to a prohibition, by +the price which the Spaniards may set it at? It was our undoubted right, +and confirmed to us by former treaties, before the war, to cut logwood +gratis; but this new stipulation (if true) gives us a privilege something +like a reprieve to a criminal, with a 'non obstante' to be hanged. + +I now drink so little water, that it can neither do me good nor hurt; but +as I bathe but twice a-week, that operation, which does my rheumatic +carcass good, will keep me here some time longer than you had allowed. + +Harte is going to publish a new edition of his "Gustavus," in octavo; +which, he tells me, he has altered, and which, I could tell him, he +should translate into English, or it will not sell better than the +former; for, while the world endures, style and manner will be regarded, +at least as much as matter. And so, 'Diem vous aye dans sa sainte garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLIII + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, with the inclosed +preliminaries, which we have had here these three days; and I return +them, since you intend to keep them, which is more than I believe the +French will. I am very glad to find that the French are to restore all +the conquests they made upon us in the East Indies during this war; and I +cannot doubt but they will likewise restore to us all the cod that they +shall take within less than three leagues of our coasts in North America +(a distance easily measured, especially at sea), according to the spirit, +though not the letter of the treaty. I am informed that the strong +opposition to the peace will be in the House of Lords, though I cannot +well conceive it; nor can I make out above six or seven, who will be +against it upon a division, unless (which I cannot suppose) some of the +Bishops should vote on the side of their maker. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLIV + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter, which gave me a very +clear account of the debate in your House. It is impossible for a human +creature to speak well for three hours and a half; I question even if +Belial, who, according to Milton, was the orator of the fallen angels, +ever spoke so long at a time. + +There must have been, a trick in Charles Townshend's speaking for the +Preliminaries; for he is infinitely above having an opinion. Lord +Egremont must be ill, or have thoughts of going into some other place; +perhaps into Lord Granville's, who they say is dying: when he dies, the +ablest head in England dies too, take it for all in all. + +I shall be in town, barring accidents, this day sevennight, by +dinnertime; when I have ordered a haricot, to which you will be very +welcome, about four o'clock. 'En attendant Dieu vous aye dans sa sainte +garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, by the last mail, your letter of the 4th, +from The Hague; so far so good. + +You arrived 'sonica' at The Hague, for our Ambassador's entertainment; I +find he has been very civil to you. You are in the right to stop for two +or three days at Hanau, and make your court to the lady of that place. +--[Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of England, Landgravine of Hesse.] +--Your Excellency makes a figure already in the newspapers; and let them, +and others, excellency you as much as they please, but pray suffer not +your own servants to do it. + +Nothing new of any kind has happened here since you went; so I will wish +you a good-night, and hope God will bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter from Ratisbon, where I +am glad that you are arrived safe. You are, I find, over head and ears +engaged in ceremony and etiquette. You must not yield in anything +essential, where your public character may suffer; but I advise you, at +the same time, to distinguish carefully what may, and what may not affect +it, and to despise some German 'minutiae'; such as one step lower or +higher upon the stairs, a bow more or less, and such sort of trifles. + +By what I see in Cressener's letter to you, the cheapness of wine +compensates the quantity, as the cheapness of servants compensates the +number that you must make use of. + +Write to your mother often, if it be but three words, to prove your +existence; for, when she does not hear from you, she knows to a +demonstration that you are dead, if not buried. + +The inclosed is a letter of the utmost consequence, which I was desired +to forward, with care and speed, to the most Serene LOUIS. + +My head is not well to-day. So God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVII + +BLACKHEATH, August 1, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I hope that by this time you are pretty well settled at +Ratisbon, at least as to the important points of the ceremonial; so that +you may know, to precision, to whom you must give, and from whom you must +require the 'seine Excellentz'. Those formalities are, no doubt, +ridiculous enough in themselves; but yet they are necessary for manners, +and sometimes for business; and both would suffer by laying them quite +aside. + +I have lately had an attack of a new complaint, which I have long +suspected that I had in my body, 'in actu primo', as the pedants call it, +but which I never felt in 'actu secundo' till last week, and that is a +fit of the stone or gravel. It was, thank God, but a slight one; but it +was 'dans toutes les formes'; for it was preceded by a pain in my loins, +which I at first took for some remains of my rheumatism; but was soon +convinced of my mistake, by making water much blacker than coffee, with a +prodigious sediment of gravel. I am now perfectly easy again, and have no +more indications of this complaint. + +God keep you from that and deafness! Other complaints are the common, and +almost the inevitable lot of human nature, but admit of some mitigation. +God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 22, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will, by this post, hear from others that Lord +Egremont died two days ago of an apoplexy; which, from his figure, and +the constant plethora he lived in, was reasonably to be expected. You +will ask me, who is to be Secretary in his room: To which I answer, that +I do not know. I should guess Lord Sandwich, to be succeeded in the +Admiralty by Charles Townshend; unless the Duke of Bedford, who seems to +have taken to himself the department of Europe, should have a mind to it. +This event may perhaps produce others; but, till this happened, +everything was in a state of inaction, and absolutely nothing was done. +Before the next session, this chaos must necessarily take some form, +either by a new jumble of its own atoms, or by mixing them with the more +efficient ones of the opposition. + +I see by the newspapers, as well as by your letter, that the difficulties +still exist about your ceremonial at Ratisbon; should they, from pride +and folly, prove insuperable, and obstruct your real business, there is +one expedient which may perhaps remove difficulties, and which I have +often known practiced; but which I believe our people know here nothing +of; it is, to have the character of MINISTER only in your ostensible +title, and that of envoy extraordinary in your pocket, to produce +occasionally, especially if you should be sent to any of the Electors in +your neighborhood; or else, in any transactions that you may have, in +which your title of envoy extraordinary may create great difficulties, to +have a reversal given you, declaring that the temporary suspension of +that character, 'ne donnera pas la moindre atteinte ni a vos droits, ni a +vos pretensions'. As for the rest, divert yourself as well as you can, +and eat and drink as little as you can. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 1, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Great news! The King sent for Mr. Pitt last Saturday, and +the conference lasted a full hour; on the Monday following another +conference, which lasted much longer; and yesterday a third, longer than +either. You take for granted, that the treaty was concluded and ratified; +no such matter, for this last conference broke it entirely off; and Mr. +Pitt and Lord Temple went yesterday evening to their respective country +houses. Would you know what it broke off upon, you must ask the +newsmongers, and the coffee-houses; who, I dare say, know it all very +minutely; but I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know, +honestly and humbly confess, that I cannot tell you; probably one party +asked too much, and the other would grant too little. However, the King's +dignity was not, in my mind, much consulted by their making him sole +plenipotentiary of a treaty, which they were not in all events determined +to conclude. It ought surely to have been begun by some inferior agent, +and his Majesty should only have appeared in rejecting or ratifying it. +Louis XIV. never sat down before a town in person, that was not sure to +be taken. + +However, 'ce qui est differe n'est pas perdu'; for this matter must be +taken up again, and concluded before the meeting of the parliament, and +probably upon more disadvantageous terms to the present Ministers, who +have tacitly admitted, by this negotiation, what their enemies have +loudly proclaimed, that they are not able to carry on affairs. So much +'de re politica'. + +I have at last done the best office that can be done to most married +people; that is, I have fixed the separation between my brother and his +wife; and the definitive treaty of peace will be proclaimed in about a +fortnight; for the only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his +wife, is, doubtless, a separation. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLX + +BLACKHEATH, September 30, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will have known, long before this, from the office, +that the departments are not cast as you wished; for Lord Halifax, as +senior, had of course his choice, and chose the southern, upon account of +the colonies. The Ministry, such as it is, is now settled 'en attendant +mieux'; but, in, my opinion cannot, as they are, meet the parliament. + +The only, and all the efficient people they have, are in the House of +Lords: for since Mr. Pitt has firmly engaged Charles Townshend to him, +there is not a man of the court side, in the House of Commons, who has +either abilities or words enough to call a coach. Lord B----is certainly +playing 'un dessous de cartes', and I suspect that it is with Mr. Pitt; +but what that 'dessous' is, I do not know, though all the coffeehouses do +most exactly. + +The present inaction, I believe, gives you leisure enough for 'ennui', +but it gives you time enough too for better things; I mean reading useful +books; and, what is still more useful, conversing with yourself some part +of every day. Lord Shaftesbury recommends self-conversation to all +authors; and I would recommend it to all men; they would be the better +for it. Some people have not time, and fewer have inclination, to enter +into that conversation; nay, very many dread it, and fly to the most +trifling dissipations, in order to avoid it; but, if a man would allot +half an hour every night for this self-conversation, and recapitulate +with himself whatever he has done, right or wrong, in the course of the +day, he would be both the better and the wiser for it. My deafness gives +me more than a sufficient time for self-conversation; and I have found +great advantages from it. My brother and Lady Stanhope are at last +finally parted. I was the negotiator between them; and had so much +trouble in it, that I would much rather negotiate the most difficult +point of the 'jus publicum Sacri Romani Imperii' with the whole Diet of +Ratisbon, than negotiate any point with any woman. If my brother had had +some of those self-conversations, which I recommend, he would not, I +believe, at past sixty, with a crazy, battered constitution, and deaf +into the bargain, have married a young girl, just turned of twenty, full +of health, and consequently of desires. But who takes warning by the fate +of others? This, perhaps, proceeds from a negligence of selfconversation. +God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 17, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The last mail brought me your letter of the 2d instant, +as the former had brought me that of the 25th past. I did suppose that +you would be sent over, for the first day of the session; as I never knew +a stricter muster, and no furloughs allowed. I am very sorry for it, for +the reasons you hint at; but, however, you did very prudently, in doing, +'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing; and let that be your +rule in every thing for the rest of your life. Avoid disagreeable things +as much as by dexterity you can; but when they are unavoidable, do them +with seeming willingness and alacrity. Though this journey is ill-timed +for you in many respects, yet, in point of FINANCES, you will be a gainer +by it upon the whole; for, depend upon it, they will keep you here till +the very last day of the session: and I suppose you have sold your +horses, and dismissed some of your servants. Though they seem to +apprehend the first day of the session so much, in my opinion their +danger will be much greater in the course of it. + +When you are at Paris, you will of course wait upon Lord Hertford, and +desire him to present you to the King; at the same time make my +compliments to him, and thank him for the very obliging message he left +at my house in town; and tell him, that, had I received it in time from +thence, I would have come to town on purpose to have returned it in +person. If there are any new little books at Paris, pray bring them me. I +have already Voltaire's 'Zelis dans le Bain', his 'Droit du Seigneur', +and 'Olympie'. Do not forget to call once at Madame Monconseil's, and as +often as you please at Madame du Pin's. Au revoir. + + + + +LETTER CCLXII + +BATH, November 24, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as you suppose in your letter, last +Sunday; but after the worst day's journey I ever had in my life: it +snowed and froze that whole morning, and in the evening it rained and +thawed, which made the roads so slippery, that I was six hours coming +post from the Devizes, which is but eighteen miles from hence; so that, +but for the name of coming post, I might as well have walked on foot. I +have not yet quite got over my last violent attack, and am weak and +flimsy. + +I have now drank the waters but three days; so that, without a miracle, I +cannot yet expect much alteration, and I do not in the least expect a +miracle. If they proved 'les eaux de Jouvence' to me, that would be a +miracle indeed; but, as the late Pope Lambertini said, 'Fra noi, gli +miracoli sono passati girt un pezzo'. + +I have seen Harte, who inquired much after you: he is dejected and +dispirited, and thinks himself much worse than he is, though he has +really a tendency to the jaundice. I have yet seen nobody else, nor do I +know who here is to be seen; for I have not yet exhibited myself to +public view, except at the pump, which, at the time I go to it, is the +most private place in Bath. + +After all the fears and hopes, occasioned severally by the meeting of the +parliament, in my opinion, it will prove a very easy session. Mr. Wilkes +is universally given up; and if the ministers themselves do not wantonly +raise difficulties, I think they will meet with none. A majority of two +hundred is a great anodyne. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIII + +BATH, December 3, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Last post brought me your letter of the 29th past. I +suppose C-----T-----let off his speech upon the Princess's portion, +chiefly to show that he was of the opposition; for otherwise, the point +was not debatable, unless as to the quantum, against which something +might be said; for the late Princess of Orange (who was the eldest +daughter of a king) had no more, and her two sisters but half, if I am +not mistaken. + +It is a great mercy that Mr. Wilkes, the intrepid defender of our rights +and liberties, is out of danger, and may live to fight and write again in +support of them; and it is no less a mercy, that God hath raised up the +Earl of S------to vindicate and promote true religion and morality. These +two blessings will justly make an epoch in the annals of this country. + +I have delivered your message to Harte, who waits with impatience for +your letter. He is very happy now in having free access to all Lord +Craven's papers, which, he says, give him great lights into the 'bellum +tricenale'; the old Lord Craven having been the professed and valorous +knight-errant, and perhaps something more, to the Queen of Bohemia; at +least, like Sir Peter Pride, he had the honor of spending great part of +his estate in her royal cause: + +I am by no means right yet; I am very weak and flimsy still; but the +doctor assures me that strength and spirits will return; if they do, +'lucro apponam', I will make the best of them; if they do not, I will not +make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them. I have lived +long enough, and observed enough, to estimate most things at their +intrinsic, and not their imaginary value; and, at seventy, I find nothing +much worth either desiring or fearing. But these reflections, which suit +with seventy, would be greatly premature at two-and-thirty. So make the +best of your time; enjoy the present hour, but 'memor ultimae'. God bless +you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIV + +BATH, December 18, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, in which you +reproach me with not having written to you this week. The reason was, +that I did not know what to write. There is that sameness in my life +here, that EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST. I see very few people; +and, in the literal sense of the word, I hear nothing. + +Mr. L------and Mr. C-----I hold to be two very ingenious men; and your +image of the two men ruined, one by losing his law-suit, and the other by +carrying it, is a very just one. To be sure, they felt in themselves +uncommon talents for business and speaking, which were to reimburse them. + +Harte has a great poetical work to publish, before it be long; he has +shown me some parts of it. He had entitled it "Emblems," but I persuaded +him to alter that name for two reasons; the first was, because they were +not emblems, but fables; the second was, that if they had been emblems, +Quarles had degraded and vilified that name to such a degree, that it is +impossible to make use of it after him; so they are to be called fables, +though moral tales would, in my mind, be the properest name. If you ask +me what I think of those I have seen, I must say, that 'sunt plura bona, +quaedam mediocria, et quaedam----' + +Your report of future changes, I cannot think is wholly groundless; for +it still runs strongly in my head, that the mine we talked of will be +sprung, at or before the end of the session. + +I have got a little more strength, but not quite the strength of +Hercules; so that I will not undertake, like him, fifty deflorations in +one night; for I really believe that I could not compass them. So +good-night, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXV + +BATH, December 24, 1763. + +DEAR FRIEND: I confess I was a good deal surprised at your pressing me so +strongly to influence Parson Rosenhagen, when you well know the +resolution I had made several years ago, and which I have scrupulously +observed ever since, not to concern myself, directly or indirectly, in +any party political contest whatsoever. Let parties go to loggerheads as +much and as long as they please; I will neither endeavor to part them, +nor take the part of either; for I know them all too well. But you say, +that Lord Sandwich has been remarkably civil, and kind to you. I am very +glad of it, and he can by no means impute to you my obstinacy, folly, or +philosophy, call it what you please: you may with great truth assure him, +that you did all you could to obey his commands. + +I am sorry to find that you are out of order, but I hope it is only a +cold; should it be anything more, pray consult Dr. Maty, who did you so +much good in your last illness, when the great medicinal Mattadores did +you rather harm. I have found a Monsieur Diafoirus here, Dr. Moisy, who +has really done me a great deal of good; and I am sure I wanted it a +great deal when I came here first. I have recovered some strength, and a +little more will give me as much as I can make use of. + +Lady Brown, whom I saw yesterday, makes you many compliments; and I wish +you a merry Christmas, and a good-night. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVI + +BATH, December 31, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Gravenkop wrote me word, by the last post, that you were +laid up with the gout: but I much question it, that is, whether it is the +gout or not. Your last illness, before you went abroad, was pronounced +the gout, by the skillful, and proved at last a mere rheumatism. Take +care that the same mistake is not made this year; and that by giving you +strong and hot medicines to throw out the gout, they do not inflame the +rheumatism, if it be one. + +Mr. Wilkes has imitated some of the great men of antiquity, by going into +voluntary exile: it was his only way of defeating both his creditors and +his prosecutors. Whatever his friends, if he has any, give out of his +returning soon, I will answer for it, that it will be a long time before +that soon comes. + +I have been much out of order these four days of a violent cold which I +do not know how I got, and which obliged me to suspend drinking the +waters: but it is now so much better, that I propose resuming them for +this week, and paying my court to you in town on Monday or Tuesday +seven-night: but this is 'sub spe rati' only. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 20, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 3d from +Prague, but I never received that which you mention from Ratisbon; this +made me think you in such rapid motion, that I did not know where to take +aim. I now suppose that you are arrived, though not yet settled, at +Dresden; your audiences and formalities are, to be sure, over, and that +is great ease of mind to you. + +I have no political events to acquaint you with; the summer is not the +season for them, they ripen only in winter; great ones are expected +immediately before the meeting of parliament, but that, you know, is +always the language of fears and hopes. However, I rather believe that +there will be something patched up between the INS and the OUTS. + +The whole subject of conversation, at present, is the death and will of +Lord Bath: he has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds in land and +money; four hundred thousand pounds in cash, stocks, and mortgages; his +own estate, in land, was improved to fifteen thousand pounds a-year, and +the Bradford estate, which he-----is as much; both which, at only +five-and twenty years' purchase, amount to eight hundred thousand pounds; +and all this he has left to his brother, General Pulteney, and in his own +disposal, though he never loved him. The legacies he has left are +trifling; for, in truth, he cared for nobody: the words GIVE and BEQUEATH +were too shocking for him to repeat, and so he left all in one word to +his brother. The public, which was long the dupe of his simulation and +dissimulation, begins to explain upon him; and draws such a picture of +him as I gave you long ago. + +Your late secretary has been with me three or four times; he wants +something or another, and it seems all one to him what, whether civil or +military; in plain English, he wants bread. He has knocked at the doors +of some of the ministers, but to no purpose. I wish with all my heart +that I could help him: I told him fairly that I could not, but advised +him to find some channel to Lord B-----, which, though a Scotchman, he +told me he could not. He brought a packet of letters from the office to +you, which I made him seal up; and keep it for you, as I suppose it makes +up the series of your Ratisbon letters. + +As for me, I am just what I was when you left me, that is, nobody. Old +age steals upon me insensibly. I grow weak and decrepit, but do not +suffer, and so I am content. + +Forbes brought me four books of yours, two of which were Bielefeldt's +"Letters," in which, to my knowledge, there are many notorious lies. + +Make my compliments to Comte Einsiedel, whom I love and honor much; and +so good-night to 'seine Excellentz'. + +Now our correspondence may be more regular, and I expect a letter from +you every fortnight. I will be regular on my part: but write oftener to +your mother, if it be but three lines. + + + + +LETTER CCLXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, July 27,1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, two days ago, your letter of the 11th from +Dresden, where I am very glad that, you are safely arrived at last. The +prices of the necessaries of life are monstrous there; and I do not +conceive how the poor natives subsist at all, after having been so long +and so often plundered by their own as well as by other sovereigns. + +As for procuring you either the title or the appointments of +Plenipotentiary, I could as soon procure them from the Turkish as from +the English Ministry; and, in truth, I believe they have it not to give. + +Now to come to your civil list, if one may compare small things with +great: I think I have found out a better refreshment for it than you +propose; for to-morrow I shall send to your cashier, Mr. Larpent, five +hundred pounds at once, for your use, which, I presume, is better than by +quarterly payments; and I am very apt to think that next midsummer day, +he will have the same sum, and for the same use, consigned to him. + +It is reported here, and I believe not without some foundation, that the +queen of Hungary has acceded to the Family Compact between France and +Spain: if so, I am sure it behooves us to form in time a counter +alliance, of at least equal strength; which I could easily point out, but +which, I fear, is not thought of here. + +The rage of marrying is very prevalent; so that there will be probably a +great crop of cuckolds next winter, who are at present only 'cocus en +herbs'. It will contribute to population, and so far must be allowed to +be a public benefit. Lord G------, Mr. B-------, and Mr. D-------, are, +in this respect, very meritorious; for they have all married handsome +women, without one shilling fortune. Lord must indeed take some pains to +arrive at that dignity: but I dare say he will bring it about, by the +help of some young Scotch or Irish officer. Good-night, and God bless +you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 3, 1764. + +DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter of the 13th past. I see that +your complete arrangement approaches, and you need not be in a hurry to +give entertainments, since so few others do. + +Comte Flemming is the man in the world the best calculated to retrieve +the Saxon finances, which have been all this century squandered and +lavished with the most absurd profusion: he has certainly abilities, and +I believe integrity; I dare answer for him, that the gentleness and +flexibility of his temper will not prevail with him to yield to the +importunities of craving and petulant applications. I see in him another +Sully; and therefore I wish he were at the head of our finances. + +France and Spain both insult us, and we take it too tamely; for this is, +in my opinion, the time for us to talk high to them. France, I am +persuaded, will not quarrel with us till it has got a navy at least equal +to ours, which cannot be these three or four years at soonest; and then, +indeed, I believe we shall hear of something or other; therefore, this is +the moment for us to speak loud; and we shall be feared, if we do not +show that we fear. + +Here is no domestic news of changes and chances in the political world; +which, like oysters, are only in season in the R months, when the +parliament sits. I think there will be some then, but of what kind, God +knows. + +I have received a book for you, and one for myself, from Harte. It is +upon agriculture, and will surprise you, as I confess it did me. This +work is not only in English, but good and elegant English; he has even +scattered graces upon his subject; and in prose, has come very near +Virgil's "Georgics" in verse. I have written to him, to congratulate his +happy transformation. As soon as I can find an opportunity, I will send +you your copy. You (though no Agricola) will read it with pleasure. + +I know Mackenzie, whom you mention. 'C'est une delie; sed cave'. + +Make mine and Lady Chesterfield's compliments to Comte et Comtesse +Flemming; and so, 'Dieu vous aye en sa sainte garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLXX + +BLACKHEATH, September 14, 1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter of the 30th past, by +which I find that you had not then got mine, which I sent you the day +after I had received your former; you have had no great loss of it; for, +as I told you in my last, this inactive season of the year supplies no +materials for a letter; the winter may, and probably will, produce an +abundant crop, but of what grain I neither know, guess, nor care. I take +it for granted, that Lord B------'surnagera encore', but by the +assistance of what bladders or cork-waistcoats God only knows. The death +of poor Mr. Legge, the epileptic fits of the Duke of Devonshire, for +which he is gone to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the advanced age of the Duke of +Newcastle, seem to facilitate an accommodation, if Mr. Pitt and Lord Bute +are inclined to it. + +You ask me what I think of the death of poor Iwan, and of the person who +ordered it. You may remember that I often said, she would murder or marry +him, or probably both; she has chosen the safest alternative; and has now +completed her character of femme forte, above scruples and hesitation. If +Machiavel were alive, she would probably be his heroine, as Caesar Borgia +was his hero. Women are all so far Machiavelians, that they are never +either good or bad by halves; their passions are too strong, and their +reason too weak, to do anything with moderation. She will, perhaps, meet, +before it is long, with some Scythian as free from prejudices as herself. +If there is one Oliver Cromwell in the three regiments of guards, he will +probably, for the sake of his dear country, depose and murder her; for +that is one and the same thing in Russia. + +You seem now to have settled, and 'bien nippe' at Dresden. Four sedentary +footmen, and one running one, 'font equipage leste'. The German ones will +give you, 'seine Excellentz'; and the French ones, if you have any, +Monseigneur. + +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good. God bless +you, and send you better! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 4, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your last letter, of the 16th past, lying +before me, and I gave your inclosed to Grevenkop, which has put him into +a violent bustle to execute your commissions, as well and as cheap as +possible. I refer him to his own letter. He tells you true as to Comtesse +Cosel's diamonds, which certainly nobody will buy here, unsight unseen, +as they call it; so many minutiae concurring to increase or lessen the +value of a diamond. Your Cheshire cheese, your Burton ale and beer, I +charge myself with, and they shall be sent you as soon as possible. Upon +this occasion I will give you a piece of advice, which by experience I +know to be useful. In all commissions, whether from men or women, 'point +de galanterie', bring them in your account, and be paid to the uttermost +farthing; but if you would show them 'une galanterie', let your present +be of something that is not in your commission, otherwise you will be the +'Commissionaire banal' of all the women of Saxony. 'A propos', Who is +your Comtesse de Cosel? Is she daughter, or grand-daughter, of the famous +Madame de Cosel, in King Augustus's time? Is she young or old, ugly or +handsome? + +I do not wonder that people are wonderfully surprised at our tameness and +forbearance, with regard to France and Spain. Spain, indeed, has lately +agreed to our cutting log wood, according to the treaty, and sent strict +orders to their governor to allow it; but you will observe too, that +there is not one word of reparation for the losses we lately sustained +there. But France is not even so tractable; it will pay but half the +money due, upon a liquidated account, for the maintenance of their +prisoners. Our request, to have the Comte d'Estaing recalled and +censured, they have absolutely rejected, though, by the laws of war, he +might be hanged for having twice broke his parole. This does not do +France honor: however, I think we shall be quiet, and that at the only +time, perhaps this century, when we might, with safety, be otherwise: but +this is nothing new, nor the first time, by many, when national honor and +interest have been sacrificed to private. It has always been so: and one +may say, upon this occasion, what Horace says upon another, 'Nam fuit +ante Helenam'. + +I have seen 'les Contes de Guillaume Vade', and like most of them so +little, that I can hardly think them Voltaire's, but rather the scraps +that have fallen from his table, and been worked up by inferior workmen, +under his name. I have not seen the other book you mention, the +'Dictionnaire Portatif'. It is not yet come over. + +I shall next week go to take my winter quarters in London, the weather +here being very cold and damp, and not proper for an old, shattered, and +cold carcass, like mine. In November I will go to the Bath, to careen +myself for the winter, and to shift the scene. Good-night. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXII + +LONDON, October 19, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday morning Mr.-----came to me, from Lord Halifax, +to ask me whether I thought you would approve of vacating your seat in +parliament, during the remainder of it, upon a valuable consideration, +meaning MONEY. My answer was, that I really did not know your disposition +upon that subject: but that I knew you would be very willing, in general, +to accommodate them, so far as lay in your power: that your election, to +my knowledge, had cost you two thousand pounds; that this parliament had +not sat above half its time; and that, for my part, I approved of the +measure well enough, provided you had an equitable equivalent. I take it +for granted that you will have a letter from------, by this post, to that +effect, so that you must consider what you will do. What I advise is +this: Give them a good deal of 'Galbanum' in the first part of your +letter. 'Le Galbanum ne coute rien'; and then say that you are willing to +do as they please; but that you hope an equitable consideration will be +had to the two thousand pounds, which your seat cost you in the present +parliament, of which not above half the term is expired. Moreover, that +you take the liberty to remind them, that your being sent from Ratisbon, +last session, when you were just settled there, put you to the expense of +three or four hundred pounds, for which you were allowed nothing; and +that, therefore, you hope they will not think one thousand pounds too +much, considering all these circumstances: but that, in all events, you +will do whatever they desire. Upon the whole, I think this proposal +advantageous to you, as you probably will not make use of your seat this +parliament; and, further, as it will secure you from another unpaid +journey from Dresden, in case they meet, or fear to meet, with +difficulties in any ensuing session of the present parliament. Whatever +one must do, one should do 'de bonne grace'. 'Dixi'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIII + +BATH, November 10, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am much concerned at the account you gave me of +yourself, in your last letter. There is, to be sure, at such a town as +Dresden, at least some one very skillful physician, whom I hope you have +consulted; and I would have you acquaint him with all your several +attacks of this nature, from your great one at Laubach, to your late one +at Dresden: tell him, too, that in your last illness in England, the +physicians mistook your case, and treated it as the gout, till Maty came, +who treated it as a rheumatism, and cured you. In my own opinion, you +have never had the gout, but always the rheumatism; which, to my +knowledge, is as painful as the gout can possibly be, and should be +treated in a quite different way; that is, by cooling medicines and +regimen, instead of those inflammatory cordials which they always +administer where they suppose the gout, to keep it, as they say, out of +the stomach. + +I have been here now just a week; but have hitherto drank so little of +the water, that I can neither speak well nor ill of it. The number of +people in this place is infinite; but very few whom I know. Harte seems +settled here for life. He is not well, that is certain; but not so ill +neither as he thinks himself, or at least would be thought. + +I long for your answer to my last letter, containing a certain proposal, +which, by this time, I suppose has been made you, and which, in the main, +I approve of your accepting. + +God bless you, my dear friend! and send you better health! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIV + +LONDON, February 26, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your last letter, of the 5th, gave me as much pleasure as +your former had given me uneasiness; and Larpent's acknowledgment of his +negligence frees you from those suspicions, which I own I did entertain, +and which I believe every one would, in the same concurrence of +circumstances, have entertained. So much for that. + +You may depend upon what I promised you, before midsummer next, at +farthest, and AT LEAST. + +All I can say of the affair between you, of the Corps Diplomatique, and +the Saxon Ministers, is, 'que voila bien du bruit pour une omelette au +lard'. It will most certainly be soon made up; and in that negotiation +show yourself as moderate and healing as your instructions from hence +will allow, especially to Comte de Flemming. The King of Prussia, I +believe, has a mind to insult him personally, as an old enemy, or else to +quarrel with Saxony, that dares not quarrel with him; but some of the +Corps Diplomatique here assure me it is only a pretense to recall his +envoy, and to send, when matters shall be made up, a little secretary +there, 'a moins de fraix', as he does now to Paris and London. + +Comte Bruhl is much in fashion here; I like him mightily; he has very +much 'le ton de la bonne campagnie'. Poor Schrader died last Saturday, +without the least pain or sickness. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXV + +LONDON, April 22, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The day before yesterday I received your letter of the 3d +instant. I find that your important affair of the ceremonial is adjusted +at last, as I foresaw it would be. Such minutiae are often laid hold on +as a pretense, for powers who have a mind to quarrel; but are never +tenaciously insisted upon where there is neither interest nor inclination +to break. Comte Flemming, though a hot, is a wise man; and I was sure +would not break, both with England and Hanover, upon so trifling a point, +especially during a minority. 'A propos' of a minority; the King is to +come to the House to-morrow, to recommend a bill to settle a Regency, in +case of his demise while his successor is a minor. Upon the King's late +illness, which was no trifling one, the whole nation cried out aloud for +such a bill, for reasons which will readily occur to you, who know +situations, persons, and characters here. I do not know the particulars +of this intended bill; but I wish it may be copied exactly from that +which was passed in the late King's time, when the present King was a +minor. I am sure there cannot be a better. + +You inquire about Monsieur de Guerchy's affair; and I will give you as +succinct an account as I can of so extraordinary and perplexed a +transaction: but without giving you my own opinion of it by the common +post. You know what passed at first between Mr. de Guerchy and Monsieur +d'Eon, in which both our Ministers and Monsieur de Guerchy, from utter +inexperience in business, puzzled themselves into disagreeable +difficulties. About three or four months ago, Monsieur du Vergy published +in a brochure, a parcel of letters, from himself to the Duc de Choiseul; +in which he positively asserts that Monsieur de Guerchy prevailed with +him (Vergy) to come over into England to assassinate d'Eon; the words +are, as well as I remember, 'que ce n'etoit pas pour se servir de sa +plume, mais de son epee, qu'on le demandoit en Angleterre'. This +accusation of assassination, you may imagine, shocked Monsieur de +Guerchy, who complained bitterly to our Ministers; and they both puzzled +on for some time, without doing anything, because they did not know what +to do. At last du Vergy, about two months ago, applied himself to the +Grand Jury of Middlesex, and made oath that Mr. de Guerchy had hired him +(du Vergy) to assassinate d'Eon. Upon this deposition, the Grand jury +found a bill of intended murder against Monsieur de Guerchy; which bill, +however, never came to the Petty Jury. The King granted a 'noli prosequi' +in favor of Monsieur de Guerchy; and the Attorney-General is actually +prosecuting du Vergy. Whether the King can grant a 'noli prosequi' in a +criminal case, and whether 'le droit des gens' extends to criminal cases, +are two points which employ our domestic politicians, and the whole Corps +Diplomatique. 'Enfin', to use a very coarse and vulgar saying, 'il y a de +la merde au bout du baton, quelque part'. + +I see and hear these storms from shore, 'suave mari magno', etc. I enjoy +my own security and tranquillity, together with better health than I had +reason to expect at my age, and with my constitution: however, I feel a +gradual decay, though a gentle one; and I think that I shall not tumble, +but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life. When that will be, I +neither know nor care, for I am very weary. God bless you! + +Mallet died two days ago, of a diarrhoea, which he had carried with him +to France, and brought back again hither. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 2, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 22d past; +and I delayed answering your former in daily, or rather hourly +expectation of informing you of the birth of a new Ministry; but in vain; +for, after a thousand conferences, all things remain still in the state +which I described to you in my last. Lord S. has, I believe, given you a +pretty true account of the present state of things; but my Lord is much +mistaken, I am persuaded, when he says that THE KING HAS THOUGHT PROPER +TO RE-ESTABLISH HIS OLD SERVANTS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HIS AFFAIRS; for he +shows them all the public dislike possible; and, at his levee, hardly +speaks to any of them; but speaks by the hour to anybody else. +Conferences, in the meantime, go on, of which it is easy to guess the +main subject, but impossible, for me at least, to know the particulars; +but this I will venture to prophesy, that the whole will soon centre in +Mr. Pitt. + +You seem not to know the character of the Queen: here it is. She is a +good woman, a good wife, a tender mother; and an unmeddling Queen. The +King loves her as a woman; but, I verily believe, has never yet spoke one +word to her about business. I have now told you all that I know of these +affairs; which, I believe, is as much as anybody else knows, who is not +in the secret. In the meantime, you easily guess that surmises, +conjectures, and reports are infinite; and if, as they say, truth is but +one, one million at least of these reports must be false; for they differ +exceedingly. + +You have lost an honest servant by the death of poor Louis; I would +advise you to take a clever young Saxon in his room, of whose character +you may get authentic testimonies, instead of sending for one to France, +whose character you can only know from far. + +When I hear more, I will write more; till when, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 15, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I told you in my last, that you should hear from me +again, as soon as I had anything more to write; and now I have too much +to write, therefore will refer you to the "Gazette," and the office +letters, for all that has been done; and advise you to suspend your +opinion, as I do, about all that is to be done. Many more changes are +talked of, but so idly, and variously, that I give credit to none of +them. There has been pretty clean sweeping already; and I do not +remember, in my time, to have seen so much at once, as an entire new +Board of Treasury, and two new Secretaries of State, 'cum multis aliis', +etc. + +Here is a new political arch almost built, but of materials of so +different a nature, and without a key-stone, that it does not, in my +opinion, indicate either strength or duration. It will certainly require +repairs, and a key-stone next winter; and that key-stone will, and must +necessarily be, Mr. Pitt. It is true he might have been that keystone +now; and would have accepted it, but not without Lord Temple's consent, +and Lord Temple positively refused. There was evidently some trick in +this, but what is past my conjecturing. 'Davus sum, non OEdipus'. + +There is a manifest interregnum in the Treasury; for I do suppose that +Lord Rockingham and Mr. Dowdeswell will not think proper to be very +active. General Conway, who is your Secretary, has certainly parts at +least equal to his business, to which, I dare say, he will apply. The +same may be said, I believe, of the Duke of Grafton; and indeed there is +no magic requisite for the executive part of those employments. The +ministerial part is another thing; they must scramble with their +fellow-servants, for power and favor, as well as they can. Foreign +affairs are not so much as mentioned, and, I verily believe, not thought +of. But surely some counterbalance would be necessary to the Family +compact; and, if not soon contracted, will be too late. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 17, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You are now two letters in my debt; and I fear the gout +has been the cause of your contracting that debt. When you are not able +to write yourself, let your Secretary send me two or three lines to +acquaint me how you are. + +You have now seen by the London "Gazette," what changes have really been +made at court; but, at the same time, I believe you have seen that there +must be more, before a Ministry can be settled; what those will be, God +knows. Were I to conjecture, I should say that the whole will centre, +before it is long, in Mr. Pitt and Co., the present being an +heterogeneous jumble of youth and caducity, which cannot be efficient. + +Charles Townshend calls the present a Lutestring Ministry; fit only for +the summer. The next session will be not only a warm, but a violent one, +as you will easily judge; if you look over the names of the INS and of +the OUTS. + +I feel this beginning of the autumn, which is already very cold: the +leaves are withered, fall apace, and seem to intimate that I must follow +them; which I shall do without reluctance, being extremely weary of this +silly world. God bless you, both in it and after it! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIX + +BLACKHEATH, August 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received but four days ago your letter of the 2d +instant. I find by it that you are well, for you are in good spirits. +Your notion of the new birth or regeneration of the Ministry is a very +just one; and that they have not yet the true seal of the covenant is, I +dare say, very true; at least it is not in the possession of either of +the Secretaries of State, who have only the King's seal; nor do I believe +(whatever his Grace may imagine) that it is even in the possession of the +Lord Privy Seal. I own I am lost, in considering the present situation of +affairs; different conjectures present themselves to my mind, but none +that it can rest upon. The next session must necessarily clear up matters +a good deal; for I believe it will be the warmest and most acrimonious +one that has been known, since that of the Excise. The late Ministry, THE +PRESENT OPPOSITION, are determined to attack Lord B-----publicly in +parliament, and reduce the late Opposition, THE PRESENT MINISTRY, to +protect him publicly, in consequence of their supposed treaty with him. +'En attendant mieux', the paper war is carried on with much fury and +scurrility on all sides, to the great entertainment of such lazy and +impartial people as myself: I do not know whether you have the "Daily +Advertiser," and the "Public Advertiser," in which all political letters +are inserted, and some very well-written ones on both sides; but I know +that they amuse me, 'tant bien que mal', for an hour or two every +morning. Lord T------is the supposed author of the pamphlet you mention; +but I think it is above him. Perhaps his brother C----T------, who is by +no means satisfied with the present arrangement, may have assisted him +privately. As to this latter, there was a good ridiculous paragraph in +the newspapers two or three days ago. WE HEAR THAT THE RIGHT HONORABLE +MR. C-----T------IS INDISPOSED AT HIS HOUSE IN OXFORDSHIRE, OF A PAIN IN +HIS SIDE; BUT IT IS NOT SAID IN WHICH SIDE. + +I do not find that the Duke of York has yet visited you; if he should, it +may be expensive, 'mais on trouvera moyen'. As for the lady, if you +should be very sharp set for some English flesh, she has it amply in her +power to supply you if she pleases. Pray tell me in your next, what you +think of, and how you like, Prince Henry of Prussia. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXX + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your great character of Prince Henry, which I take to be +a very just one, lowers the King of Prussia's a great deal; and probably +that is the cause of their being so ill together. But the King of +Prussia, with his good parts, should reflect upon that trite and true +maxim, 'Qui invidet minor', or Mr. de la Rouchefoucault's, 'Que l'envie +est la plus basse de toutes les passions, puisqu'on avoue bien des +crimes, mais que personae n'avoue l'envie'. I thank God, I never was +sensible of that dark and vile passion, except that formerly I have +sometimes envied a successful rival with a fine woman. But now that cause +is ceased, and consequently the effects. + +What shall I, or rather what can I tell you of the political world here? +The late Ministers accuse the present with having done nothing, the +present accuse the late ones with having done much worse than nothing. +Their writers abuse one another most scurrilously, but sometimes with +wit. I look upon this to be 'peloter en attendant partie', till battle +begins in St., Stephen's Chapel. How that will end, I protest I cannot +conjecture; any farther than this, that if Mr. Pitt does not come into +the assistance of the present ministers, they will have much to do to +stand their ground. C-----T------will play booty; and who else have they? +Nobody but C-----, who has only good sense, but not the necessary talents +nor experience, 'AEre ciere viros martemque accendere cantu'. I never +remember, in all my time, to have seen so problematical a state of +affairs, and a man would be much puzzled which side to bet on. + +Your guest, Miss C-----, is another problem which I cannot solve. She no +more wanted the waters of Carlsbadt than you did. Is it to show the Duke +of Kingston that he cannot live without her? a dangerous experiment! +which may possibly convince him that he can. There is a trick no doubt in +it; but what, I neither know nor care; you did very well to show her +civilities, 'cela ne gute jamais rien'. I will go to my waters, that is, +the Bath waters, in three weeks or a month, more for the sake of bathing +than of drinking. The hot bath always promotes my perspiration, which is +sluggish, and supples my stiff rheumatic limbs. 'D'ailleurs', I am at +present as well, and better than I could reasonably expect to be, 'annu +septuagesimo primo'. May you be so as long, 'y mas'! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXI + +LONDON, October 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter of the 10th 'sonica'; for I set +out for Bath to-morrow morning. + +If the use of those waters does me no good, the shifting the scene for +some time will at least amuse me a little; and at my age, and with my +infirmities, 'il faut faire de tout bois feche'. Some variety is as +necessary for the mind as some medicines are for the body. + +Here is a total stagnation of politics, which, I suppose, will continue +till the parliament sits to do business, and that will not be till about +the middle of January; for the meeting on the 17th December is only for +the sake of some new writs. The late ministers threaten the present ones; +but the latter do not seem in the least afraid of the former, and for a +very good reason, which is, that they have the distribution of the loaves +and fishes. I believe it is very certain that Mr. Pitt will never come +into this, or any other administration: he is absolutely a cripple all +the year, and in violent pain at least half of it. Such physical ills are +great checks to two of the strongest passions to which human nature is +liable, love and ambition. Though I cannot persuade myself that the +present ministry can be long lived, I can as little imagine who or what +can succeed them, 'telle est la-disette de sujets papables'. The Duke of +swears that he will have Lord personally attacked in both Houses; but I +do not see how, without endangering himself at the same time. + +Miss C------is safely arrived here, and her Duke is fonder of her than +ever. It was a dangerous experiment that she tried, in leaving him so +long; but it seems she knew her man. + +I pity you for the inundation of your good countrymen, which overwhelms +you; 'je sais ce qu'en vaut l'aune. It is, besides, expensive, but, as I +look upon the expense to be the least evil of the two, I will see if a +New-Year's gift will not make it up. + +As I am now upon the wing, I will only add, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXII + +BATH, November 28, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 10th. I +have now been here a month, bathing and drinking the waters, for +complaints much of the same kind as yours, I mean pains in my legs, hips, +and arms: whether gouty or rheumatic, God knows; but, I believe, both, +that fight without a decision in favor of either, and have absolutely +reduced me to the miserable situation of the Sphinx's riddle, to walk +upon three legs; that is, with the assistance of my stick, to walk, or +rather hobble, very indifferently. I wish it were a declared gout, which +is the distemper of a gentleman; whereas the rheumatism is the distemper +of a hackney-coachman or chairman, who is obliged to be out in all +weathers and at all hours. + +I think you will do very right to ask leave, and I dare say you will +easily get it, to go to the baths in Suabia; that is, supposing that you +have consulted some skillful physician, if such a one there be, either at +Dresden or at Leipsic, about the nature of your distemper, and the nature +of those baths; but, 'suos quisque patimur manes'. We have but a bad +bargain, God knows, of this life, and patience is the only way not to +make bad worse. Mr. Pitt keeps his bed here, with a very real gout, and +not a political one, as is often suspected. + +Here has been a congress of most of the 'ex Ministres'. If they have +raised a battery, as I suppose they have, it is a masked one, for nothing +has transpired; only they confess that they intend a most vigorous +attack. 'D'ailleurs', there seems to be a total suspension of all +business, till the meeting of the parliament, and then 'Signa canant'. I +am very glad that at this time you are out of it: and for reasons that I +need not mention: you would certainly have been sent for over, and, as +before, not paid for your journey. + +Poor Harte is very ill, and condemned to the Hot well at Bristol. He is a +better poet than philosopher: for all this illness and melancholy +proceeds originally from the ill success of his "Gustavus Adolphus." He +is grown extremely devout, which I am very glad of, because that is +always a comfort to the afflicted. + +I cannot present Mr. Larpent with my New-Year's gift, till I come to +town, which will be before Christmas at farthest; till when, God bless +you! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXIII + +LONDON, December 27, 1765. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here from Bath last Monday, rather, but not +much better, than when I went over there. My rheumatic pains, in my legs +and hips, plague me still, and I must never expect to be quite free from +them. + +You have, to be sure, had from the office an account of what the +parliament did, or rather did not do, the day of their meeting; and the +same point will be the great object at their next meeting; I mean the +affair of our American Colonies, relatively to the late imposed +Stamp-duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay. The +Administration are for some indulgence and forbearance to those froward +children of their mother country; the Opposition are for taking vigorous, +as they call them, but I call them violent measures; not less than 'les +dragonnades'; and to have the tax collected by the troops we have there. +For my part, I never saw a froward child mended by whipping; and I would +not have the mother country become a stepmother. Our trade to America +brings in, 'communibus annis', two millions a year; and the Stamp-duty is +estimated at but one hundred thousand pounds a year; which I would by no +means bring into the stock of the Exchequer, at the loss or even the risk +of a million a year to the national stock. + +I do not tell you of the Garter given away yesterday, because the +newspapers will; but, I must observe, that the Prince of Brunswick's +riband is a mark of great distinction to that family; which I believe, is +the first (except our own Royal Family) that has ever had two blue +ribands at a time; but it must be owned they deserve them. + +One hears of nothing now in town, but the separation of men and their +wives. Will Finch, the Ex-vice Chamberlain, Lord Warwick, and your friend +Lord Bolingbroke. I wonder at none of them for parting; but I wonder at +many for still living together; for in this country it is certain that +marriage is not well understood. + +I have this day sent Mr. Larpent two hundred pounds for your +Christmas-box, of which I suppose he will inform you by this post. Make +this Christmas as merry a one as you can; for 'pour le peu du bon tems +qui nous reste, rien nest si funeste, qu'un noir chagrin'. For the new +years--God send you many, and happy ones! Adieu. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse +American Colonies +Be neither transported nor depressed by the accidents of life +Doing, 'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing +EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST +Everything has a better and a worse side +Extremely weary of this silly world +Gainer by your misfortune +I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know +If I cared to know, you should have cared to have written +Intrinsic, and not their imaginary value +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good +National honor and interest have been sacrificed to private +Neither abilities or words enough to call a coach +Neither know nor care, (when I die) for I am very weary +Never saw a froward child mended by whipping +Never to trust implicitly to the informations of others +Not make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them +Not tumble, but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life +Nothing much worth either desiring or fearing +Often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows +Only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his wife +Oysters, are only in season in the R months +Patience is the only way not to make bad worse +Recommends self-conversation to all authors +Return you the ball 'a la volee' +Settled here for good, as it is called +Stamp-duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay +Thinks himself much worse than he is +To seem to have forgotten what one remembers +We shall be feared, if we do not show that we fear +Whatever one must do, one should do 'de bonne grace' +Who takes warning by the fate of others? +Women are all so far Machiavelians + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters to His Son, 1759-1765 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS TO HIS SON, 1759-1765 *** + +***** This file should be named 3359.txt or 3359.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/5/3359/ + +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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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +Letters to His Son, 1759-65 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + + + + + LETTERS TO HIS SON + By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD + + on the Fine Art of becoming a + + MAN OF THE WORLD + + and a + + GENTLEMAN + + + + +LETTER CCXXXVII + +LONDON, New-year's Day, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Molti e felici', and I have done upon that subject, one +truth being fair, upon the most lying day in the whole year. + +I have now before me your last letter of the 21st December, which I am +glad to find is a bill of health: but, however, do not presume too much +upon it, but obey and honor your physician, "that thy days may be long in +the land." + +Since my last, I have heard nothing more concerning the ribband ; but I +take it for granted it will be disposed of soon. By the way, upon +reflection, I am not sure that anybody but a knight can, according to +form, be employed to make a knight. I remember that Sir Clement Cotterel +was sent to Holland, to dub the late Prince of Orange, only because he +was a knight himself; and I know that the proxies of knights, who cannot +attend their own installations, must always be knights. This did not +occur to me before, and perhaps will not to the person who was to +recommend you: I am sure I will not stir it; and I only mention it now, +that you may be in all events prepared for the disappointment, if it +should happen. + +G----- is exceedingly flattered with your account, that three thousand of +his countrymen; all as little as himself, should be thought a sufficient +guard upon three-and-twenty thousand of all the nations in Europe; not +that he thinks himself, by any means, a little man, for when he would +describe a tall handsome man, he raises himself up at least half an inch +to represent him. + +The private news from Hamburg is, that his Majesty's Resident there is +woundily in love with Madame -------; if this be true, God send him, +rather than her, a good DELIVERY! She must be 'etrennee' at this season, +and therefore I think you should be so too: so draw upon me as soon as +you please, for one hundred pounds. + +Here is nothing new, except the unanimity with which the parliament gives +away a dozen of millions sterling; and the unanimity of the public is as +great in approving of it, which has stifled the usual political and +polemical argumentations. + +Cardinal Bernis's disgrace is as sudden, and hitherto as little +understood, as his elevation was. I have seen his poems, printed at +Paris, not by a friend, I dare say; and to judge by them, I humbly +conceive his Eminency is a p-----y. I will say nothing of that excellent +headpiece that made him and unmade him in the same month, except O KING, +LIVE FOREVER. + +Good-night to you, whoever you pass it with. + + + + +LETTER CCXXXVIII + +LONDON, February 2, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am now (what I have very seldom been) two letters in +your debt: the reason was, that my head, like many other heads, has +frequently taken a wrong turn; in which case, writing is painful to me, +and therefore cannot be very pleasant to my readers. + +I wish you would (while you have so good an opportunity as you have at +Hamburg) make yourself perfectly master of that dull but very useful +knowledge, the course of exchange, and the causes of its almost perpetual +variations; the value and relation of different coins, the specie, the +banco, usances, agio, and a thousand other particulars. You may with +ease learn, and you will be very glad when you have learned them; for, +in your business, that sort of knowledge will often prove necessary. + +I hear nothing more of Prince Ferdinand's garter: that he will have one +is very certain; but when, I believe, is very uncertain; all the other +postulants wanting to be dubbed at the same time, which cannot be, as +there is not ribband enough for them. + +If the Russians move in time, and in earnest, there will be an end of our +hopes and of our armies in Germany: three such mill-stones as Russia, +France, and Austria, must, sooner or later, in the course of the year, +grind his Prussian Majesty down to a mere MARGRAVE of Brandenburg. But I +have always some hopes of a change under a 'Gunarchy' --[Derived from the +Greek word 'Iuvn' a woman, and means female government]--where whim and +humor commonly prevail, reason very seldom, and then only by a lucky +mistake. + +I expect the incomparable fair one of Hamburg, that prodigy of beauty, +and paragon of good sense, who has enslaved your mind, and inflamed your +heart. If she is as well 'etrennee' as you say she shall, you will be +soon out of her chains; for I have, by long experience, found women to be +like Telephus's spear, if one end kills, the other cures. + +There never was so quiet, nor so silent a session of parliament as the +present; Mr. Pitt declares only what he would have them do, and they do +it 'nemine contradicente', Mr. Viner only expected. + +Duchess Hamilton is to be married, to-morrow, to Colonel Campbell, the +son of General Campbell, who will some day or other be Duke of Argyle, +and have the estate. She refused the Duke of B-----r for him. + +Here is a report, but I believe a very groundless one, that your old +acquaintance, the fair Madame C------e, is run away from her husband, +with a jeweler, that 'etrennes' her, and is come over here; but I dare +say it is some mistake, or perhaps a lie. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXXXIX + +LONDON, February 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: In your last letter, of the 7th, you accuse me, most +unjustly, of being in arrears in my correspondence; whereas, if our +epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be +brought in considerably debtor. I do not see how any of my letters to +you can miscarry, unless your office-packet miscarries too, for I always +send them to the office. Moreover, I might have a justifiable excuse for +writing to you seldomer than usual, for to be sure there never was a +period of time, in the middle of a winter, and the parliament sitting, +that supplied so little matter for a letter. Near twelve millions have +been granted this year, not only 'nemine contradicente', but, 'nemine +quicquid dicente'. The proper officers bring in the estimates; it is +taken for granted that they are necessary and frugal; the members go to +dinner; and leave Mr. West and Mr. Martin to do the rest. + +I presume you have seen the little poem of the "Country Lass," by Soame +Jenyns, for it was in the "Chronicle"; as was also an answer to it, from +the "Monitor." They are neither of them bad performances; the first is +the neatest, and the plan of the second has the most invention. I send +you none of those 'pieces volantes' in my letters, because they are all +printed in one or other of the newspapers, particularly in the +"Chronicles" ; and I suppose that you and others have all those papers +among you at Hamburg; in which case it would be only putting you to the +unnecessary expense of double postage. + +I find you are sanguine about the King of Prussia this year; I allow his +army will be what you say; but what will that be 'vis-a-vis' French, +Austrians, Imperialists, Swedes, and Russians, who must amount to more +than double that number? Were the inequality less, I would allow for the +King of Prussia's being so much 'ipse agmen' as pretty nearly to balance +the account. In war, numbers are generally my omens; and, I confess, +that in Germany they seem not happy ones this year. In America. I +think, we are sure of success, and great success; but how we shall be +able to strike a balance, as they call it, between good success there, +and ill success upon the continent, so as to come at a peace; is more +than I can discover. + +Lady Chesterfield makes you her compliments, and thanks you for your +offer; but declines troubling you, being discouraged by the ill success +of Madame Munchausen's and Miss Chetwynd's commissions, the former for +beef, and the latter for gloves; neither of which have yet been executed, +to the dissatisfaction of both. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXL + +LONDON, March 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your letter of the 20th past lying before me, +by which you despond, in my opinion too soon, of dubbing your Prince; for +he most certainly will have the Garter; and he will as probably have it +before the campaign opens, as after. His campaign must, I doubt, at best +be a defensive one; and he will show great skill in making it such; for +according to my calculation, his enemies will be at least double his +number. Their troops, indeed, may perhaps be worse than his; but then +their number will make up that defect, as it will enable them to +undertake different operations at the same time. I cannot think that the +King of Denmark will take a part in the present war; which he cannot do +without great possible danger; and he is well paid by France for his +neutrality; is safe, let what will turn out; and, in the meantime, +carries on his commerce with great advantage and security; so that that +consideration will not retard your visit to your own country, whenever +you have leave to return, and that your own ARRANGEMENTS will allow you. +A short absence animates a tender passion, 'et l'on ne recule que pour +mieux sauter', especially in the summer months; so that I would advise +you to begin your journey in May, and continue your absence from the dear +object of your vows till after the dog-days, when love is said to be +unwholesome. We have been disappointed at Martinico; I wish we may not +be so at Guadaloupe, though we are landed there; for many difficulties +must be got over before we can be in possession of the whole island. +A pro pos de bottes; you make use of two Spanish words, very properly, +in your letter; were I you, I would learn the Spanish language, if there +were a Spaniard at Hamburg who could teach me; and then you would be +master of all the European languages that are useful; and, in my mind, +it is very convenient, if not necessary, for a public man to understand +them all, and not to be obliged to have recourse to an interpreter for +those papers that chance or business may throw in his way. I learned +Spanish when I was older than you; convinced by experience that, in +everything possible, it was better to trust to one's self than to any +other body whatsoever. Interpreters, as well as relaters, are often +unfaithful, and still oftener incorrect, puzzling, and blundering. In +short, let it be your maxim through life to know all you can know, +yourself; and never to trust implicitly to the informations of others. +This rule has been of infinite service to me in the course of my life. + +I am rather better than I was; which I owe not to my physicians, but to +an ass and a cow, who nourish me, between them, very plentifully and +wholesomely; in the morning the ass is my nurse, at night the cow; and I +have just now, bought a milch-goat, which is to graze, and nurse me at +Blackheath. I do not know what may come of this latter, and I am not +without apprehensions that it may make a satyr of me; but, should I find +that obscene disposition growing upon me, I will check it in time, for +fear of endangering my life and character by rapes. And so we heartily +bid you farewell. + + + + +LETTER CCXLI + +LONDON, March 30, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I do not like these frequent, however short, returns of +your illness; for I doubt they imply either want of skill in your +physician, or want of care in his patient. Rhubarb, soap, and chalybeate +medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for obstructions of the +liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary, and that for a long +continuance. Acids are good for you, but you do not love them; and sweet +things are bad for you, and you do love them. There is another thing +very bad for you, and I fear you love it too much. When I was in +Holland, I had a slow fever that hung upon me a great while; I consulted +Boerhaave, who prescribed me what I suppose was proper, for it cured me; +but he added, by way of postscript to his prescription, 'Venus rarius +colatur'; which I observed, and perhaps that made the medicines more +effectual. + +I doubt we shall be mutually disappointed in our hopes of seeing one +another this spring, as I believe you will find, by a letter which you +will receive at the same time with this, from Lord Holderness; but as +Lord Holderness will not tell you all, I will, between you and me, supply +that defect. I must do him the justice to say that he has acted in the +most kind and friendly manner possible to us both. When the King read +your letter, in which you desired leave to return, for the sake of +drinking the Tunbridge waters, he said, "If he wants steel waters, those +of Pyrmont are better than Tunbridge, and he can have them very fresh at +Hamburg. I would rather he had asked me to come last autumn, and had +passed the winter here; for if he returns now, I shall have nobody in +those quarters to inform me of what passes; and yet it will be a very- +busy and important scene." Lord Holderness, who found that it would not +be liked, resolved to push it no further; and replied, he was very sure +that when you knew his Majesty had the least objection to your return at +this time, you would think of it no longer; and he owned that he (Lord +Holderness) had given you encouragement for this application last year, +then thinking and hoping that there would be little occasion for your +presence at Hamburg this year. Lord Holderness will only tell you, in +his letter, that, as he had some reason to believe his moving this matter +would be disagreeable to the King, he resolved, for your sake, not to +mention it. You must answer his letter upon that footing simply, and +thank him for this mark of his friendship, for he has really acted as +your friend. I make no doubt of your having willing leave to return in +autumn, for the whole winter. In the meantime, make the best of your +'sejour' where you are; drink the Pyrmont waters, and no wine but +Rhenish, which, in your case is the only proper one for you. + +Next week Mr. Harte will send you his "Gustavus Adolphus," in two +quartos; it will contain many new particulars of the life of that real +hero, as he has had abundant and authentic materials, which have never +yet appeared. It will, upon the whole, be a very curious and valuable +history; though, between you and me, I could have wished that he had been +more correct and elegant in his style. You will find it dedicated to one +of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune the luxuriant praises +bestowed upon him, and yet has left enough of all conscience to satisfy a +reasonable man. Harte has been very much out of order these last three +or four months, but is not the less intent upon sowing his lucerne, of +which he had six crops last year, to his infinite joy, and, as he says, +profit. As a gardener, I shall probably have as much joy, though not +quite so much profit, by thirty or forty shillings; for there is the +greatest promise of fruit this year at 'Blackheath, that ever I saw in my +life. Vertumnus and Pomona have been very propitious to me: as for +Priapus, that tremendous garden god, as I no longer invoke him, I cannot +expect his protection from the birds and the thieves. + +Adieu! I will conclude like a pedant, 'Levius fit patientia quicquid +corrigere est nefas.' + + + + +LETTER CCXLII + +LONDON, April 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: With humble submission to you, I still say that if Prince +Ferdinand can make a defensive campaign this year, he will have done a +great deal, considering the great inequality of numbers. The little +advantages of taking a regiment or two prisoners, or cutting another to +pieces, are but trifling articles in the great account; they are only the +pence, the pounds are yet to come; and I take it for granted, that +neither the French, nor the Court of Vienna, will have 'le dementi' of +their main object, which is unquestionably Hanover; for that is the +'summa summarum'; and they will certainly take care to draw a force +together for this purpose, too great for any that Prince Ferdinand has, +or can have, to oppose them. In short, mark the end on't, 'j'en augure +mal'. If France, Austria, the Empire, Russia, and Sweden, are not, at +long run, too hard for the two Electors of Hanover and Brandenburg, there +must be some invisible power, some tutelar deities, that miraculously +interpose in favor of the latter. + +You encourage me to accept all the powers that goats, asses, and bulls, +can give me, by engaging for my not making an ill use of them; but I own, +I cannot help distrusting myself a little, or rather human nature; for it +is an old and very true observation, that there are misers of money, but +none of power; and the non-use of the one, and the abuse of the other, +increase in proportion to their quantity. + +I am very sorry to tell you that Harte's "Gustavus Adolphus" does not +take at all, and consequently sells very little: it is certainly +informing, and full of good matter; but it is as certain too, that the +style is execrable: where the devil he picked it up, I cannot conceive, +for it is a bad style, of a new and singular kind; it is full of +Latinisms, Gallicisms, Germanisms, and all isms but Anglicisms; in some +places pompous, in others vulgar and low. Surely, before the end of the +world, people, and you in particular, will discover that the MANNER, in +everything, is at least as important as the matter; and that the latter +never can please, without a good degree of elegance in the former. This +holds true in everything in life: in writing, conversing, business, the +help of the Graces is absolutely necessary; and whoever vainly thinks +himself above them, will find he is mistaken when it will be too late to +court them, for they will not come to strangers of an advanced age. +There is an history lately come out, of the "Reign of Mary Queen of +Scots" and her son (no matter by whom) King James, written by one +Robertson, a Scotchman, which for clearness, purity, and dignity of +style, I will not scruple to compare with the best historians extant, +not excepting Davila, Guicciardini, and perhaps Livy. Its success has +consequently been great, and a second edition is already published and +bought up. I take it for granted, that it is to be had, or at least +borrowed, at Hamburg, or I would send it to you. + +I hope you drink the Pyrmont waters every morning. The health of the +mind depends so much upon the health of the body, that the latter +deserves the utmost attention, independently of the senses. God send you +a very great share of both! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIII + +LONDON, April 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND : I have received your two letters of the loth and 13th, +by the last mail; and I will begin my answer to them, by observing to you +that a wise man, without being a Stoic, considers, in all misfortunes +that befall him, their best as well as their worst side; and everything +has a better and a worse side. I have strictly observed that rule for +many years, and have found by experience that some comfort is to be +extracted, under most moral ills, by considering them in every light, +instead of dwelling, as people are too apt to do, upon the gloomy side of +the object. Thank God, the disappointment that you so pathetically groan +under, is not a calamity which admits of no consolation. Let us simplify +it, and see what it amounts to. You are pleased with the expectation of +coming here next month, to see those who would have been pleased with +seeing you. That, from very natural causes, cannot be, and you must pass +this summer at Hamburg, and next winter in England, instead of passing +this summer in England, and next winter at Hamburg. Now, estimating +things fairly, is not the change rather to your advantage? Is not the +summer more eligible, both for health and pleasure, than the winter, in +that northern frozen zone? And will not the winter in England supply you +with more pleasures than the summer, in an empty capital, could have +done? So far then it appears, that you are rather a gainer by your +misfortune. + +The TOUR too, which you propose making to Lubeck, Altena, etc., will both +amuse and inform you; for, at your age, one cannot see too many different +places and people; since at the age you are now of, I take it for granted +that you will not see them superficially, as you did when you first went +abroad. + +This whole matter then, summed up, amounts to no more than this--that you +will be here next winter, instead of this summer. Do not think that all +I have said is the consolation only of an old philosophical fellow, +almost insensible of pleasure or pain, offered to a young fellow who has +quick sensations of both. No, it is the rational philosophy taught me by +experience and knowledge of the world, and which I have practiced above +thirty years. + +I always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse by fretting; +this enabled me to go through the various scenes of life in which I have +been an actor, with more pleasure and less pain than most people. You +will say, perhaps, one cannot change one's nature; and that if a person +is born of a very sensible, gloomy temper, and apt to see things in the +worst light, they cannot help it, nor new-make themselves. I will admit +it, to a certain degree; and but to a certain degree; for though we +cannot totally change our nature, we may in a great measure correct it, +by reflection and philosophy; and some philosophy is a very necessary +companion in this world, where, even to the most fortunate, the chances +are greatly against happiness. + +I am not old enough, nor tenacious enough, to pretend not to understand +the main purport of your last letter; and to show you that I do, you may +draw upon me for two hundred pounds, which, I hope, will more than clear +you. + +Good-night: 'aquam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem': Be neither +transported nor depressed by the accidents of life. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIV + +BLACKHEATH, May 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your secretary's last letter of the 4th, which I received +yesterday, has quieted my fears a good deal, but has not entirely +dissipated them. YOUR FEVER STILL CONTINUES, he says, THOUGH IN A LESS +DEGREE. Is it a continued fever, or an intermitting one? If the former, +no wonder that you are weak, and that your head aches. If the latter, +why has not the bark, in substance and large doses, been administered? +for if it had, it must have stopped it by this time. Next post, I hope, +will set me quite at ease. Surely you have not been so regular as you +ought, either in your medicines or in your general regimen, otherwise +this fever would not have returned; for the Doctor calls it, YOUR FEVER +RETURNED, as if you had an exclusive patent for it. You have now had +illnesses enough, to know the value of health, and to make you implicitly +follow the prescriptions of your physician in medicines, and the rules of +your own common sense in diet; in which, I can assure you, from my own +experience, that quantity is often worse than quality; and I would rather +eat half a pound of bacon at a meal, than two pounds of any the most +wholesome food. + +I have been settled here near a week, to my great satisfaction; 'c'est ma +place', and I know it, which is not given to everybody. Cut off from +social life by my deafness, as well as other physical ills, and being at +best but the ghost of my former self, I walk here in silence and solitude +as becomes a ghost: with this only difference, that I walk by day, +whereas, you know, to be sure, that other ghosts only appear by night. +My health, however, is better than it was last year, thanks to my almost +total milk diet. This enables me to vary my solitary amusements, and +alternately to scribble as well as read, which I could not do last year. +Thus I saunter away the remainder, be it more or less, of an agitated and +active life, now reduced (and I am not sure that I am a loser by the +change) to so quiet and serene a one, that it may properly be called +still life. + +The French whisper in confidence, in order that it may be the more known +and the more credited, that they intend to invade us this year, in no +less than three places; that is England, Scotland, and Ireland. Some of +our great men, like the devils, believe and tremble; others, and one +little one whom I know, laugh at it; and, in general, it seems to be but +a poor, instead of a formidable scarecrow. While somebody was at the +head of a moderate army, and wanted (I know why) to be at the head of a +great one, intended invasions were made an article of political faith; +and the belief of them was required, as in the Church the belief of some +absurdities, and even impossibilities, is required upon pain of heresy, +excommunication, and consequently damnation, if they tend to the power +and interest of the heads of the Church. But now that there is a general +toleration, and that the best subjects, as well as the best Christians, +may believe what their reasons find their consciences suggest, it is +generally and rationally supposed the French will threaten and not +strike, since we are so well prepared, both by armies and fleets, to +receive and, I may add, to destroy them. Adieu! God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 15, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your letter of the 5th, which I received yesterday, gave +me great satisfaction, being all in your own hand; though it contains +great, and I fear just complaints of your ill state of health. You do +very well to change the air; and I hope that change will do well by you. +I would therefore have you write after the 20th of August, to Lord +Holderness, to beg of him to obtain his Majesty's leave for you to return +to England for two or three months, upon account of your health. Two or +three months is an indefinite time, which may afterward insensibly +stretched to what length one pleases; leave that to me. In the meantime, +you may be taking your measures with the best economy. + +The day before yesterday, an express arrived from Guadaloupe which +brought an account of our being in possession of the whole island. And I +make no manner of doubt but that, in about two months, we shall have as +good news from Crown-point, Quebec, etc. Our affairs in Germany, I fear, +will not be equally prosperous; for I have very little hopes for the King +of Prussia or Prince Ferdinand. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLVI + +BLACKHEATH, June 25, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The two last mails have brought me no letter from you or +your secretary. I will take this as a sign that you are better; but, +however, if you thought that I cared to know, you should have cared to +have written. Here the weather has been very fine for a fortnight +together, a longer term than in this climate we are used to hold fine +weather by. I hope it is so, too, at Hamburg, or at least at the villa +to which you are gone; but pray do not let it be your 'villa viciosa', as +those retirements are often called, and too often prove; though, by the +way, the original name was 'villa vezzosa'; and by wags miscalled +'viciosa'. + +I have a most gloomy prospect of affairs in Germany; the French are +already in possession of Cassel, and of the learned part of Hanover, that +is Gottingen; where I presume they will not stop 'pour l'amour des belles +lettres', but rather go on to the capital, and study them upon the coin. +My old acquaintance, Monsieur Richelieu, made a great progress there in +metallic learning and inscriptions. If Prince Ferdinand ventures a +battle to prevent it, I dread the consequences; the odds are too great +against him. The King of Prussia is still in a worse situation; for he +has the Hydra to encounter; and though he may cut off a head or two, +there will still be enough left to devour him at last. I have, as you +know, long foretold the now approaching catastrophe; but I was Cassandra. +Our affairs in the new world have a much more pleasing aspect; Guadaloupe +is a great acquisition, and Quebec, which I make no doubt of, will still +be greater. But must all these advantages, purchased at the price of so +much English blood and treasure, be at last sacrificed as a peace- +offering? God knows what consequences such a measure may produce; the +germ of discontent is already great, upon the bare supposition of the +case; but should it be realized, it will grow to a harvest of +disaffection. + +You are now, to be sure, taking the previous necessary measures for your +return here in the autumn and I think you may disband your whole family, +excepting your secretary, your butler, who takes care of your plate, +wine, etc., one or at most two, maid servants, and your valet de chambre +and one footman, whom you will bring over with you. But give no mortal, +either there or here, reason to think that you are not to return to +Hamburg again. If you are asked about it, say, like Lockhart, that you +are 'le serviteur des Evenemens'; for your present appointments will do +you no hurt here, till you have some better destination. At that season +of the year, I believe it will be better for you to come by sea than by +land, but that you will be best able to judge of from the then +circumstances of your part in the world. + +Your old friend Stevens is dead of the consumption that has long been +undermining him. God bless you, and send you health. + + + +[Another two year lapse in the letters. D.W.] + + + +LETTER CCXLVII + +BATH, February 26, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am very glad to hear that your election is finally +settled, and to say the truth, not sorry that Mr. ---- has been compelled +to do, 'de mauvaise grace', that which he might have done at first in a +friendly and handsome manner. However, take no notice of what is passed, +and live with him as you used to do before; for, in the intercourse of +the world, it is often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows, and +to have forgotten what one remembers. + +I have just now finished Coleman's play, and like it very well; it is +well conducted, and the characters are well preserved. I own, I expected +from the author more dialogue wit; but, as I know that he is a most +scrupulous classic, I believe he did not dare to put in half so much wit +as he could have done, because Terence had not a single grain; and it +would have been 'crimen laesae antiquitatis'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXLVIII + +BATH, November 21, I76I. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 19th. If +I find any alterations by drinking these waters, now six days, it is +rather for the better; but, in six days more, I think I shall find with +more certainty what humor they are in with me; if kind, I will profit of, +but not abuse their kindness; all things have their bounds, 'quos ultra +citrave nequit consistere rectum'; and I will endeavor to nick that +point. + +The (queen's jointure is larger than, from SOME REASONS, I expected it +would be, though not greater than the very last precedent authorized. +The case of the late Lord Wilmington was, I fancy, remembered. + +I have now good reason to believe that Spain will declare war to us, that +is, that it will very soon, if it has not already, avowedly assist +France, in case the war continues. This will be a great triumph to Mr. +Pitt, and fully justify his plan of beginning with Spain first, and +having the first blow, which is often half the battle. + +Here is a great deal of company, and what is commonly called good +company, that is, great quality. I trouble them very little, except at +the pump, where my business calls me; for what is company to a deaf man, +or a deaf man to company? + +Lady Brown, whom I have seen, and who, by the way, has got the gout in +her eye, inquired very tenderly after you. And so I elegantly rest, +Yours, till death. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIX + +BATH, December 6, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have been in your debt some time, which, you know, +I am not very apt to be: but it was really for want of specie to pay. +The present state of my invention does not enable me to coin; and you +would have had as little pleasure in reading, as I should have in writing +'le coglionerie' of this place; besides, that I am very little mingled in +them. I do not know whether I shall be able to follow, your advice, and +cut a winner; for, at present, I have neither won nor lost a single +shilling. I will play on this week only; and if I have a good run, I +will carry it off with me; if a bad one, the loss can hardly amount to +anything considerable in seven days, for I hope to see you in town to- +morrow sevennight. + +I had a dismal letter from Harte, last week; he tells me that he is at +nurse with a sister in Berkshire; that he has got a confirmed jaundice, +besides twenty other distempers. The true cause of these complaints I +take to be the same that so greatly disordered, and had nearly destroyed +the most august House of Austria, about one hundred and thirty years ago; +I mean Gustavus Adolphus; who neither answered his expectations in point +of profit nor reputation, and that merely by his own fault, in not +writing it in the vulgar tongue; for as to facts I will maintain that it +is one of the best histories extant. + +'Au revoir', as Sir Fopling says, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCL + +BATH, November 2, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as I proposed, last Sunday; but as ill +as I feared I should be when I saw you. Head, stomach, and limbs, all +out of order. + +I have yet seen nobody but Villettes, who is settled here for good, as it +is called. What consequences has the Duke of Devonshire's resignation +had? He has considerable connections and relations; but whether any of +them are resigned enough to resign with him, is another matter. There +will be, to be sure, as many, and as absurd reports, as there are in the +law books; I do not desire to know either; but inform me of what facts +come to your knowledge, and of such reports only as you believe are +grounded. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLI + +BATH, November 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter, and believe that your +preliminaries are very near the mark; and, upon that supposition, I think +we have made a tolerable good bargain with Spain; at least full as good +as I expected, and almost as good as I wished, though I do not believe +that we have got ALL Florida; but if we have St. Augustin, I suppose +that, by the figure of 'pars pro toto', will be called all Florida. We +have by no means made so good a bargain with France; for, in truth, what +do we get by it, except Canada, with a very proper boundary of the river +Mississippi! and that is all. As for the restrictions upon the French +fishery in Newfoundland, they are very well 'per la predica', and for the +Commissary whom we shall employ: for he will have a good salary from +hence, to see that those restrictions are complied with; and the French +will double that salary, that he may allow them all to be broken through. +It is plain to me, that the French fishery will be exactly what it was +before the war. + +The three Leeward islands, which the French yield to us, are not, all +together, worth half so much as that of St. Lucia, which we give up to +them. Senegal is not worth one quarter of Goree. The restrictions of +the French in the East Indies are as absurd and impracticable as those of +Newfoundland; and you will live to see the French trade to the East +Indies, just as they did before the war. But after all I have said, the +articles are as good as I expected with France, when I considered that no +one single person who carried on this negotiation on our parts was ever +concerned or consulted in any negotiation before. Upon the whole, then, +the acquisition of Canada has cost us fourscore millions sterling. I am +convinced we might have kept Guadaloupe, if our negotiators had known how +to have gone about it. + +His most faithful Majesty of Portugal is the best off of anybody in this, +transaction, for he saves his kingdom by it, and has not laid out one +moidore in defense of it. Spain, thank God, in some measure, 'paye les +pots cassis'; for, besides St. Augustin, logwood, etc., it has lost at +least four millions sterling, in money, ships, etc. + +Harte is here, who tells me he has been at this place these three years, +excepting some few excursions to his sister; he looks ill, and laments +that he has frequent fits of the yellow jaundice. He complains of his +not having heard from you these four years; you should write to him. +These waters have done me a great deal of good, though I drink but two- +thirds of a pint in the whole day, which is less than the soberest of my +countrymen drink of claret at every meal. + +I should naturally think, as you do, that this session will be a stormy +one, that is, if Mr. Pitt takes an active part; but if he is pleased, as +the Ministers say, there is no other AEolus to blow a storm. The Dukes +of Cumberland, Newcastle, and Devonshire, have no better troops to attack +with than the militia; but Pitt alone is ipse agmen. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLII + +BATH, November 27, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND : I received your letter this morning, and return you the +ball 'a la volee'. The King's speech is a very prudent one; and as I +suppose that the addresses in answer to it were, as usual, in almost the +same words, my Lord Mayor might very well call them innocent. As his +Majesty expatiates so much upon the great ACHIEVEMENTS of the war, I +cannot help hoping that, when the preliminaries shall be laid before +Parliament IN DUE TIME, which, I suppose, means after the respective +ratifications of all the contracting parties, that some untalked of and +unexpected advantage will break out in our treaty with France; St. Lucia, +at least. I see in the newspapers an article which I by no means like, +in our treaty with Spain; which is, that we shall be at liberty to cut +logwood in the Bay of Campeachy, BUT BY PAYING FOR IT. Who does not see +that this condition may, and probably will, amount to a prohibition, by +the price which the Spaniards may set it at? It was our undoubted right, +and confirmed to us by former treaties, before the war, to cut logwood +gratis; but this new stipulation (if true) gives us a privilege something +like a reprieve to a criminal, with a 'non obstante' to be hanged. + +I now drink so little water, that it can neither do me good nor hurt; but +as I bathe but twice a-week, that operation, which does my rheumatic +carcass good, will keep me here some time longer than you had allowed. + +Harte is going to publish a new edition of his "Gustavus," in octavo; +which, he tells me, he has altered, and which, I could tell him, he +should translate into English, or it will not sell better than the +former; for, while the world endures, style and manner will be regarded, +at least as much as matter. And so, 'Diem vous aye dans sa sainte +garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLIII + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, with the inclosed +preliminaries, which we have had here these three days; and I return +them, since you intend to keep them, which is more than I believe the +French will. I am very glad to find that the French are to restore all +the conquests they made upon us in the East Indies during this war; and I +cannot doubt but they will likewise restore to us all the cod that they +shall take within less than three leagues of our coasts in North America +(a distance easily measured, especially at sea), according to the spirit, +though not the letter of the treaty. I am informed that the strong +opposition to the peace will be in the House of Lords, though I cannot +well conceive it; nor can I make out above six or seven, who will be +against it upon a division, unless (which I cannot suppose) some of the +Bishops should vote on the side of their maker. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLIV + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter, which gave me a very +clear account of the debate in your House. It is impossible for a human +creature to speak well for three hours and a half; I question even if +Belial, who, according to Milton, was the orator of the fallen angels, +ever spoke so long at a time. + +There must have been, a trick in Charles Townshend's speaking for the +Preliminaries; for he is infinitely above having an opinion. Lord +Egremont must be ill, or have thoughts of going into some other place; +perhaps into Lord Granville's, who they say is dying: when he dies, the +ablest head in England dies too, take it for all in all. + +I shall be in town, barring accidents, this day sevennight, by +dinnertime; when I have ordered a haricot, to which you will be very +welcome, about four o'clock. 'En attendant Dieu vous aye dans sa sainte +garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, by the last mail, your letter of the 4th, +from The Hague; so far so good. + +You arrived 'sonica' at The Hague, for our Ambassador's entertainment; I +find he has been very civil to you. You are in the right to stop for two +or three days at Hanau, and make your court to the lady of that place. +--[Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of England, Landgravine of Hesse.]-- +Your Excellency makes a figure already in the newspapers; and let them, +and others, excellency you as much as they please, but pray suffer not +your own servants to do it. + +Nothing new of any kind has happened here since you went; so I will wish +you a good-night, and hope God will bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter from Ratisbon, where I +am glad that you are arrived safe. You are, I find, over head and ears +engaged in ceremony and etiquette. You must not yield in anything +essential, where your public character may suffer; but I advise you, at +the same time, to distinguish carefully what may, and what may not affect +it, and to despise some German 'minutiae'; such as one step lower or +higher upon the stairs, a bow more or less, and such sort of trifles. + +By what I see in Cressener's letter to you, the cheapness of wine +compensates the quantity, as the cheapness of servants compensates the +number that you must make use of. + +Write to your mother often, if it be but three words, to prove your +existence; for, when she does not hear from you, she knows to a +demonstration that you are dead, if not buried. + +The inclosed is a letter of the utmost consequence, which I was desired +to forward, with care and speed, to the most Serene LOUIS. + +My head is not well to-day. So God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVII + +BLACKHEATH, August 1, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I hope that by this time you are pretty well settled at +Ratisbon, at least as to the important points of the ceremonial; so that +you may know, to precision, to whom you must give, and from whom you must +require the 'seine Excellentz'. Those formalities are, no doubt, +ridiculous enough in themselves; but yet they are necessary for manners, +and sometimes for business; and both would suffer by laying them quite +aside. + +I have lately had an attack of a new complaint, which I have long +suspected that I had in my body, 'in actu primo', as the pedants call it, +but which I never felt in 'actu secundo' till last week, and that is a +fit of the stone or gravel. It was, thank God, but a slight one; but it +was 'dans toutes les formes'; for it was preceded by a pain in my loins, +which I at first took for some remains of my rheumatism; but was soon +convinced of my mistake, by making water much blacker than coffee, with a +prodigious sediment of gravel. I am now perfectly easy again, and have +no more indications of this complaint. + +God keep you from that and deafness! Other complaints are the common, +and almost the inevitable lot of human nature, but admit of some +mitigation. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 22, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will, by this post, hear from others that Lord +Egremont died two days ago of an apoplexy; which, from his figure, and +the constant plethora he lived in, was reasonably to be expected. You +will ask me, who is to be Secretary in his room: To which I answer, that +I do not know. I should guess Lord Sandwich, to be succeeded in the +Admiralty by Charles Townshend; unless the Duke of Bedford, who seems to +have taken to himself the department of Europe, should have a mind to it. +This event may perhaps produce others; but, till this happened, +everything was in a state of inaction, and absolutely nothing was done. +Before the next session, this chaos must necessarily take some form, +either by a new jumble of its own atoms, or by mixing them with the more +efficient ones of the opposition. + +I see by the newspapers, as well as by your letter, that the difficulties +still exist about your ceremonial at Ratisbon; should they, from pride +and folly, prove insuperable, and obstruct your real business, there is +one expedient which may perhaps remove difficulties, and which I have +often known practiced; but which I believe our people know here nothing +of; it is, to have the character of MINISTER only in your ostensible +title, and that of envoy extraordinary in your pocket, to produce +occasionally, especially if you should be sent to any of the Electors in +your neighborhood; or else, in any transactions that you may have, in +which your title of envoy extraordinary may create great difficulties, to +have a reversal given you, declaring that the temporary suspension of +that character, 'ne donnera pas la moindre atteinte ni a vos droits, +ni a vos pretensions'. As for the rest, divert yourself as well as you +can, and eat and drink as little as you can. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 1, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Great news! The King sent for Mr. Pitt last Saturday, +and the conference lasted a full hour; on the Monday following another +conference, which lasted much longer; and yesterday a third, longer , +than either. You take for granted, that the treaty was concluded and +ratified; no such matter, for this last conference broke it entirely off; +and Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple went yesterday evening to their respective +country houses. Would you know what it broke off upon, you must ask the +newsmongers, and the coffee-houses; who, I dare say, know it all very +minutely; but I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know, +honestly and humbly confess, that I cannot tell you; probably one party +asked too much, and the other would grant too little. However, the +King's dignity was not, in my mind, much consulted by their making him +sole plenipotentiary of a treaty, which they were not in all events +determined to conclude. It ought surely to have been begun by some +inferior agent, and his Majesty should only have appeared in rejecting or +ratifying it. Louis XIV. never sat down before a town in person, that +was not sure to be taken. + +However, 'ce qui est differe n'est pas perdu'; for this matter must be +taken up again, and concluded before the meeting of the parliament, +and probably upon more disadvantageous terms to the present Ministers, +who have tacitly admitted, by this negotiation, what their enemies have +loudly proclaimed, that they are not able to carry on affairs. So much +'de re politica'. + +I have at last done the best office that can be done to most married +people; that is, I have fixed the separation between my brother and his +wife; and the definitive treaty of peace will be proclaimed in about a +fortnight; for the only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his +wife, is, doubtless, a separation. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLX + +BLACKHEATH, September 30, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will have known, long before this, from the office, +that the departments are not cast as you wished; for Lord Halifax, as +senior, had of course his choice, and chose the southern, upon account of +the colonies. The Ministry, such as it is, is now settled 'en attendant +mieux'; but, in, my opinion cannot, as they are, meet the parliament. + +The only, and all the efficient people they have, are in the House of +Lords: for since Mr. Pitt has firmly engaged Charles Townshend to him, +there is not a man of the court side, in the House of Commons, who has +either abilities or words enough to call a coach. Lord B---- is +certainly playing 'un dessous de cartes', and I suspect that it is with +Mr. Pitt; but what that 'dessous' is, I do not know, though all the +coffeehouses do most exactly. + +The present inaction, I believe, gives you leisure enough for 'ennui', +but it gives you time enough too for better things; I mean reading useful +books; and, what is still more useful, conversing with yourself some part +of every day. Lord Shaftesbury recommends self-conversation to all +authors; and I would recommend it to all men; they would be the better +for it. Some people have not time, and fewer have inclination, to enter +into that conversation; nay, very many dread it, and fly to the most +trifling dissipations, in order to avoid it; but, if a man would allot +half an hour every night for this self-conversation, and recapitulate +with himself whatever he has done, right or wrong, in the course of the +day, he would be both the better and the wiser for it. My deafness gives +me more than a sufficient time for self-conversation; and I have found +great advantages from it. My brother and Lady Stanhope are at last +finally parted. I was the negotiator between them; and had so much +trouble in it, that I would much rather negotiate the most difficult +point of the 'jus publicum Sacri Romani Imperii' with the whole Diet of +Ratisbon, than negotiate any point with any woman. If my brother had had +some of those self-conversations, which I recommend, he would not, I +believe, at past sixty, with a crazy, battered constitution, and deaf +into the bargain, have married a young girl, just turned of twenty, full +of health, and consequently of desires. But who takes warning by the +fate of others? This, perhaps, proceeds from a negligence of +selfconversation. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 17, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The last mail brought me your letter of the 2d instant, +as the former had brought me that of the 25th past. I did suppose that +you would be sent over, for the first day of the session; as I never knew +a stricter muster, and no furloughs allowed. I am very sorry for it, for +the reasons you hint at; but, however, you did very prudently, in doing, +'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing; and let that be your +rule in every thing for the rest of your life. Avoid disagreeable things +as much as by dexterity you can; but when they are unavoidable, do them +with seeming willingness and alacrity. Though this journey is ill-timed +for you in many respects, yet, in point of FINANCES, you will be a gainer +by it upon the whole; for, depend upon it, they will keep you here till +the very last day of the session: and I suppose you have sold your +horses, and dismissed some of your servants. Though they seem to +apprehend the first day of the session so much, in my opinion their +danger will be much greater in the course of it. + +When you are at Paris, you will of course wait upon Lord Hertford, and +desire him to present you to the King; at the same time make my +compliments to him, and thank him for the very obliging message he left +at my house in town; and tell him, that, had I received it in time from +thence, I would have come to town on purpose to have returned it in +person. If there are any new little books at Paris, pray bring them me. +I have already Voltaire's 'Zelis dans le Bain', his 'Droit du Seigneur', +and 'Olympie'. Do not forget to call once at Madame Monconseil's, and as +often as you please at Madame du Pin's. Au revoir. + + + + +LETTER CCLXII + +BATH, November 24, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as you suppose in your letter, last +Sunday ; but after the worst day's journey I ever had in my life: it +snowed and froze that whole morning, and in the evening it rained and +thawed, which made the roads so slippery, that I was six hours coming +post from the Devizes, which is but eighteen miles from hence; so that, +but for the name of coming post, I might as well have walked on foot. I +have not yet quite got over my last violent attack, and am weak and +flimsy. + +I have now drank the waters but three days; so that, without a miracle, +I cannot yet expect much alteration, and I do not in the least expect a +miracle. If they proved 'les eaux de Jouvence' to me, that would be a +miracle indeed; but, as the late Pope Lambertini said, 'Fra noi, gli +miracoli sono passati girt un pezzo'. + +I have seen Harte, who inquired much after you: he is dejected and +dispirited, and thinks himself much worse than he is, though he has +really a tendency to the jaundice. I have yet seen nobody else, nor do I +know who here is to be seen; for I have not yet exhibited myself to +public view, except at the pump, which, at the time I go to it, is the +most private place in Bath. + +After all the fears and hopes, occasioned severally by the meeting of the +parliament, in my opinion, it will prove a very easy session. Mr. Wilkes +is universally given up; and if the ministers themselves do not wantonly +raise difficulties, I think they will meet with none. A majority of two +hundred is a great anodyne. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIII + +BATH, December 3, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Last post brought me your letter of the 29th past. I +suppose C----- T----- let off his speech upon the Princess's portion, +chiefly to show that he was of the opposition; for otherwise, the point +was not debatable, unless as to the quantum, against which something +might be said; for the late Princess of Orange (who was the eldest +daughter of a king) had no more, and her two sisters but half, if I am +not mistaken. + +It is a great mercy that Mr. Wilkes, the intrepid defender of our rights +and liberties, is out of danger, and may live to fight and write again in +support of them; and it is no less a mercy, that God hath raised up the +Earl of S------ to vindicate and promote true religion and morality. +These two blessings will justly make an epoch in the annals of this +country. + +I have delivered your message to Harte, who waits with impatience for +your letter. He is very happy now in having free access to all Lord +Craven's papers, which, he says, give him great lights into the 'bellum +tricenale'; the old Lord Craven having been the professed and valorous +knight-errant, and perhaps something more, to the Queen of Bohemia; at +least, like Sir Peter Pride, he had the honor of spending great part of +his estate in her royal cause: + +I am by no means right yet; I am very weak and flimsy still; but the +doctor assures me that strength and spirits will return; if they do, +'lucro apponam', I will make the best of them; if they do not, I will not +make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them. I have +lived long enough, and observed enough, to estimate most things at their +intrinsic, and not their imaginary value; and, at seventy, I find nothing +much worth either desiring or fearing. But these reflections, which suit +with seventy, would be greatly premature at two-and-thirty. So make the +best of your time; enjoy the present hour, but 'memor ultimae'. God +bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIV + +BATH, December 18, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, in which you +reproach me with not having written to you this week. The reason was, +that I did not know what to write. There is that sameness in my life +here, that EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST. I see very few people; +and, in the literal sense of the word, I hear nothing. + +Mr. L------ and Mr. C----- I hold to be two very ingenious men; and your +image of the two men ruined, one by losing his law-suit, and the other by +carrying it, is a very just one. To be sure, they felt in themselves +uncommon talents for business and speaking, which were to reimburse them. + +Harte has a great poetical work to publish, before it be long; he has +shown me some parts of it. He had entitled it "Emblems," but I persuaded +him to alter that name for two reasons; the first was, because they were +not emblems, but fables; the second was, that if they had been emblems, +Quarles had degraded and vilified that name to such a degree, that it is +impossible to make use of it after him; so they are to be called fables, +though moral tales would, in my mind, be the properest name. If you ask +me what I think of those I have seen, I must say, that 'sunt plura bona, +quaedam mediocria, et quaedam----' + +Your report of future changes, I cannot think is wholly groundless; for +it still runs strongly in my head, that the mine we talked of will be +sprung, at or before the end of the session. + +I have got a little more strength, but not quite the strength of +Hercules; so that I will not undertake, like him, fifty deflorations in +one night; for I really believe that I could not compass them. So good- +night, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXV + +BATH, December 24, 1763. + +DEAR FRIEND: I confess I was a good deal surprised at your pressing me so +strongly to influence Parson Rosenhagen, when you well know the +resolution I had made several years ago, and which I have scrupulously +observed ever since, not to concern myself, directly or indirectly, in +any party political contest whatsoever. Let parties go to loggerheads as +much and as long as they please; I will neither endeavor to part them, +nor take the part of either; for I know them all too well. But you say, +that Lord Sandwich has been remarkably civil, and kind to you. I am very +glad of it, and he can by no means impute to you my obstinacy, folly, or +philosophy, call it what you please: you may with great truth assure him, +that you did all you could to obey his commands. + +I am sorry to find that you are out of order, but I hope it is only a +cold; should it be anything more, pray consult Dr. Maty, who did you so +much good in your last illness, when the great medicinal Mattadores did +you rather harm. I have found a Monsieur Diafoirus here, Dr. Moisy, who +has really done me a great deal of good; and I am sure I wanted it a +great deal when I came here first. I have recovered some strength, and a +little more will give me as much as I can make use of. + +Lady Brown, whom I saw yesterday, makes you many compliments; and I wish +you a merry Christmas, and a good-night. Adieu ! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVI + +BATH, December 31, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Gravenkop wrote me word, by the last post, that you were +laid up with the gout: but I much question it, that is, whether it is the +gout or not. Your last illness, before you went abroad, was pronounced +the gout, by the skillful, and proved at last a mere rheumatism. Take +care that the same mistake is not made this year; and that by giving you +strong and hot medicines to throw out the gout, they do not inflame the +rheumatism, if it be one. + +Mr. Wilkes has imitated some of the great men of antiquity, by going into +voluntary exile: it was his only way of defeating both his creditors and +his prosecutors. Whatever his friends, if he has any, give out of his +returning soon, I will answer for it, that it will be a long time before +that soon comes. + +I have been much out of order these four days of a violent cold which I +do not know how I got, and which obliged me to suspend drinking the +waters: but it is now so much better, that I propose resuming them for +this week, and paying my court to you in town on Monday or Tuesday seven- +night: but this is 'sub spe rati' only. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 20, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 3d from +Prague, but I never received that which you mention from Ratisbon; this +made me think you in such rapid motion, that I did not know where to take +aim. I now suppose that you are arrived, though not yet settled, at +Dresden; your audiences and formalities are, to be sure, over, and that +is great ease of mind to you. + +I have no political events to acquaint you with; the summer is not the +season for them, they ripen only in winter; great ones are expected +immediately before the meeting of parliament, but that, you know, is +always the language of fears and hopes. However, I rather believe that +there will be something patched up between the INS and the OUTS. + +The whole subject of conversation, at present, is the death and will of +Lord Bath: he has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds in land and +money; four hundred thousand pounds in cash, stocks, and mortgages; his +own estate, in land, was improved to fifteen thousand pounds a-year, and +the Bradford estate, which he ----- is as much; both which, at only five- +and twenty years' purchase, amount to eight hundred thousand pounds; and +all this he has left to his brother, General Pulteney, and in his own +disposal, though he never loved him. The legacies he has left are +trifling; for, in truth, he cared for nobody: the words GIVE and BEQUEATH +were too shocking for him to repeat, and so he left all in one word to +his brother. The public, which was long the dupe of his simulation and +dissimulation, begins to explain upon him; and draws such a picture of +him as I gave you long ago. + +Your late secretary has been with me three or four times; he wants +something or another, and it seems all one to him what, whether civil or +military; in plain English, he wants bread. He has knocked at the doors +of some of the ministers, but to no purpose. I wish with all my heart +that I could help him: I told him fairly that I could not, but advised +him to find some channel to Lord B-----, which, though a Scotchman, he +told me he could not. He brought a packet of letters from the office to +you, which I made him seal up; and keep it for you, as I suppose it makes +up the series of your Ratisbon letters. + +As for me, I am just what I was when you left me, that is, nobody. Old +age steals upon me insensibly. I grow weak and decrepit, but do not +suffer, and so I am content. + +Forbes brought me four books of yours, two of which were Bielefeldt's +"Letters," in which, to my knowledge, there are many notorious lies. + +Make my compliments to Comte Einsiedel, whom I love and honor much; and +so good-night to 'seine Excellentz'. + +Now our correspondence may be more regular, and I expect a letter from +you every fortnight. I will be regular on my part: but write oftener to +your mother, if it be but three lines. + + + + +LETTER CCLXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, July 27,1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, two days ago, your letter of the 11th from +Dresden, where I am very glad that, you are safely arrived at last. The +prices of the necessaries of life are monstrous there; and I do not +conceive how the poor natives subsist at all, after having been so long +and so often plundered by their own as well as by other sovereigns. + +As for procuring you either the title or the appointments of +Plenipotentiary, I could as soon procure them from the Turkish as from +the English Ministry; and, in truth, I believe they have it not to give. + +Now to come to your civil list, if one may compare small things with +great: I think I have found out a better refreshment for it than you +propose; for to-morrow I shall send to your cashier, Mr. Larpent, five +hundred pounds at once, for your use, which, I presume, is better than by +quarterly payments; and I am very apt to think that next midsummer day, +he will have the same sum, and for the same use, consigned to him. + +It is reported here, and I believe not without some foundation, that the +queen of Hungary has acceded to the Family Compact between France and +Spain: if so, I am sure it behooves us to form in time a counter +alliance, of at least equal strength; which I could easily point out, but +which, I fear, is not thought of here. + +The rage of marrying is very prevalent; so that there will be probably a +great crop of cuckolds next winter, who are at present only 'cocus en +herbs'. It will contribute to population, and so far must be allowed to +be a public benefit. Lord G------, Mr. B-------, and Mr. D-------, are, +in this respect, very meritorious; for they have all married handsome +women, without one shilling fortune. Lord must indeed take some pains to +arrive at that dignity: but I dare say he will bring it about, by the +help of some young Scotch or Irish officer. Good-night, and God bless +you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 3, 1764. + +DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter of the 13th past. I see that +your complete arrangement approaches, and you need not be in a hurry to +give entertainments, since so few others do. + +Comte Flemming is the man in the world the best calculated to retrieve +the Saxon finances, which have been all this century squandered and +lavished with the most absurd profusion: he has certainly abilities, +and I believe integrity; I dare answer for him, that the gentleness and +flexibility of his temper will not prevail with him to yield to the +importunities of craving and petulant applications. I see in him another +Sully; and therefore I wish he were at the head of our finances. + +France and Spain both insult us, and we take it too tamely; for this is, +in my opinion, the time for us to talk high to them. France, I am +persuaded, will not quarrel with us till it has got a navy at least equal +to ours, which cannot be these three or four years at soonest; and then, +indeed, I believe we shall hear of something or other; therefore, this is +the moment for us to speak loud; and we shall be feared, if we do not +show that we fear. + +Here is no domestic news of changes and chances in the political world; +which, like oysters, are only in season in the R months, when the +parliament sits. I think there will be some then, but of what kind, God +knows. + +I have received a book for you, and one for myself, from Harte. It is +upon agriculture, and will surprise you, as I confess it did me. This +work is not only in English, but good and elegant English; he has even +scattered graces upon his subject; and in prose, has come very near +Virgil's "Georgics" in verse. I have written to him, to congratulate his +happy transformation. As soon as I can find an opportunity, I will send +you your copy. You (though no Agricola) will read it with pleasure. + +I know Mackenzie, whom you mention. 'C'est une delie; sed cave'. + +Make mine and Lady Chesterfield's compliments to Comte et Comtesse +Flemming; and so, 'Dieu vous aye en sa sainte garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLXX + +BLACKHEATH, September 14, 1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter of the 30th past, by +which I find that you had not then got mine, which I sent you the day +after I had received your former; you have had no great loss of it; for, +as I told you in my last, this inactive season of the year supplies no +materials for a letter; the winter may, and probably will, produce an +abundant crop, but of what grain I neither know, guess, nor care. I take +it for granted, that Lord B------ 'surnagera encore', but by the +assistance of what bladders or cork-waistcoats God only knows. The death +of poor Mr. Legge, the epileptic fits of the Duke of Devonshire, for +which he is gone to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the advanced age of the Duke of +Newcastle, seem to facilitate an accommodation, if Mr. Pitt and Lord Bute +are inclined to it. + +You ask me what I think of the death of poor Iwan, and of the person who +ordered it. You may remember that I often said, she would murder or +marry him, or probably both; she has chosen the safest alternative; and +has now completed her character of femme forte, above scruples and +hesitation. If Machiavel were alive, she would probably be his heroine, +as Caesar Borgia was his hero. Women are all so far Machiavelians, that +they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too +strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation. She +will, perhaps, meet, before it is long, with some Scythian as free from +prejudices as herself. If there is one Oliver Cromwell in the three +regiments of guards, he will probably, for the sake of his dear country, +depose and murder her; for that is one and the same thing in Russia. + +You seem now to have settled, and 'bien nippe' at Dresden. Four +sedentary footmen, and one running one, 'font equipage leste'. The +German ones will give you, 'seine Excellentz'; and the French ones, if +you have any, Monseigneur. + +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good. God bless +you, and send you better! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 4, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your last letter, of the 16th past, lying +before me, and I gave your inclosed to Grevenkop, which has put him into +a violent bustle to execute your commissions, as well and as cheap as +possible. I refer him to his own letter. He tells you true as to +Comtesse Cosel's diamonds, which certainly nobody will buy here, unsight +unseen, as they call it; so many minutiae concurring to increase or +lessen the value of a diamond. Your Cheshire cheese, your Burton ale and +beer, I charge myself with, and they shall be sent you as soon as +possible. Upon this occasion I will give you a piece of advice, which by +experience I know to be useful. In all commissions, whether from men or +women, 'point de galanterie', bring them in your account, and be paid to +the uttermost farthing; but if you would show them 'une galanterie', +let your present be of something that is not in your commission, +otherwise you will be the 'Commissionaire banal' of all the women of +Saxony. 'A propos', Who is your Comtesse de Cosel? Is she daughter, or +grand-daughter, of the famous Madame de Cosel, in King Augustus's time? +Is she young or old, ugly or handsome? + +I do not wonder that people are wonderfully surprised at our tameness and +forbearance, with regard to France and Spain. Spain, indeed, has lately +agreed to our cutting log wood, according to the treaty, and sent strict +orders to their governor to allow it; but you will observe too, that +there is not one word of reparation for the losses we lately sustained +there. But France is not even so tractable; it will pay but half the +money due, upon a liquidated account, for the maintenance of their +prisoners. Our request, to have the Comte d'Estaing recalled and +censured, they have absolutely rejected, though, by the laws of war, he +might be hanged for having twice broke his parole. This does not do +France honor: however, I think we shall be quiet, and that at the only +time, perhaps this century, when we might, with safety, be otherwise: but +this is nothing new, nor the first time, by many, when national honor and +interest have been sacrificed to private. It has always been so: and one +may say, upon this occasion, what Horace says upon another, 'Nam fuit +ante Helenam'. + +I have seen 'les Contes de Guillaume Vade', and like most of them so +little, that I can hardly think them Voltaire's, but rather the scraps +that have fallen from his table, and been worked up by inferior workmen, +under his name. I have not seen the other book you mention, the +'Dictionnaire Portatif'. It is not yet come over. + +I shall next week go to take my winter quarters in London, the weather +here being very cold and damp, and not proper for an old, shattered, and +cold carcass, like mine. In November I will go to the Bath, to careen +myself for the winter, and to shift the scene. Good-night. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXII + +LONDON, October 19, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday morning Mr. ----- came to me, from Lord +Halifax, to ask me whether I thought you would approve of vacating your +seat in parliament, during the remainder of it, upon a valuable +consideration, meaning MONEY. My answer was, that I really did not know +your disposition upon that subject: but that I knew you would be very +willing, in general, to accommodate them, so far as lay in your power: +that your election, to my knowledge, had cost you two thousand pounds; +that this parliament had not sat above half its time; and that, for my +part, I approved of the measure well enough, provided you had an +equitable equivalent. I take it for granted that you will have a letter +from ------, by this post, to that effect, so that you must consider what +you will do. What I advise is this: Give them a good deal of 'Galbanum' +in the first part of your letter. 'Le Galbanum ne coute rien'; and then +say that you are willing to do as they please; but that you hope an +equitable consideration will be had to the two thousand pounds, which +your seat cost you in the present parliament, of which not above half the +term is expired. Moreover, that you take the liberty to remind them, +that your being sent from Ratisbon, last session, when you were just +settled there, put you to the expense of three or four hundred pounds, +for which you were allowed nothing; and that, therefore, you hope they +will not think one thousand pounds too much, considering all these +circumstances: but that, in all events, you will do whatever they desire. +Upon the whole, I think this proposal advantageous to you, as you +probably will not make use of your seat this parliament; and, further, as +it will secure you from another unpaid journey from Dresden, in case they +meet, or fear to meet, with difficulties in any ensuing session of the +present parliament. Whatever one must do, one should do 'de bonne +grace'. 'Dixi'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIII + +BATH, November 10, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am much concerned at the account you gave me of +yourself, in your last letter. There is, to be sure, at such a town as +Dresden, at least some one very skillful physician, whom I hope you have +consulted; and I would have you acquaint him with all your several +attacks of this nature, from your great one at Laubach, to your late one +at Dresden: tell him, too, that in your last illness in England, the +physicians mistook your case, and treated it as the gout, till Maty came, +who treated it as a rheumatism, and cured you. In my own opinion, +you have never had the gout, but always the rheumatism; which, to my +knowledge, is as painful as the gout can possibly be, and should be +treated in a quite different way; that is, by cooling medicines and +regimen, instead of those inflammatory cordials which they always +administer where they suppose the gout, to keep it, as they say, out of +the stomach. + +I have been here now just a week; but have hitherto drank so little of +the water, that I can neither speak well nor ill of it. The number of +people in this place is infinite; but very few whom I know. Harte seems +settled here for life. He is not well, that is certain; but not so ill +neither as he thinks himself, or at least would be thought. + +I long for your answer to my last letter, containing a certain proposal, +which, by this time, I suppose has been made you, and which, in the main, +I approve of your accepting. + +God bless you, my dear friend! and send you better health! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIV + +LONDON, February 26, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your last letter, of the 5th, gave me as much pleasure +as your former had given me uneasiness; and Larpent's acknowledgment of +his negligence frees you from those suspicions, which I own I did +entertain, and which I believe every one would, in the same concurrence +of circumstances, have entertained. So much for that. + +You may depend upon what I promised you, before midsummer next, at +farthest, and AT LEAST. + +All I can say of the affair between you, of the Corps Diplomatique, and +the Saxon Ministers, is, 'que voila bien du bruit pour une omelette au +lard'. It will most certainly be soon made up; and in that negotiation +show yourself as moderate and healing as your instructions from hence +will allow, especially to Comte de Flemming. The King of Prussia, I +believe, has a mind to insult him personally, as an old enemy, or else to +quarrel with Saxony, that dares not quarrel with him; but some of the +Corps Diplomatique here assure me it is only a pretense to recall his +envoy, and to send, when matters shall be made up, a little secretary +there, 'a moins de fraix', as he does now to Paris and London. + +Comte Bruhl is much in fashion here; I like him mightily; he has very +much 'le ton de la bonne campagnie'. Poor Schrader died last Saturday, +without the least pain or sickness. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXV + +LONDON, April 22, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The day before yesterday I received your letter of the +3d instant. I find that your important affair of the ceremonial is +adjusted at last, as I foresaw it would be. Such minutiae are often laid +hold on as a pretense, for powers who have a mind to quarrel; but are +never tenaciously insisted upon where there is neither interest nor +inclination to break. Comte Flemming, though a hot, is a wise man; and I +was sure would not break, both with England and Hanover, upon so trifling +a point, especially during a minority. 'A propos' of a minority; the +King is to come to the House to-morrow, to recommend a bill to settle a +Regency, in case of his demise while his successor is a minor. Upon the +King's late illness, which was no trifling one, the whole nation cried +out aloud for such a bill, for reasons which will readily occur to you, +who know situations, persons, and characters here. I do not know the +particulars of this intended bill; but I wish it may be copied exactly +from that which was passed in the late King's time, when the present King +was a minor. I am sure there cannot be a better. + +You inquire about Monsieur de Guerchy's affair; and I will give you as +succinct an account as I can of so extraordinary and perplexed a +transaction: but without giving you my own opinion of it by the common +post. You know what passed at first between Mr. de Guerchy and Monsieur +d'Eon, in which both our Ministers and Monsieur de Guerchy, from utter +inexperience in business, puzzled themselves into disagreeable +difficulties. About three or four months ago, Monsieur du Vergy +published in a brochure, a parcel of letters, from himself to the Duc de +Choiseul; in which he positively asserts that Monsieur de Guerchy +prevailed with him (Vergy) to come over into England to assassinate +d'Eon; the words are, as well as I remember, 'que ce n'etoit pas pour se +servir de sa plume, mais de son epee, qu'on le demandoit en Angleterre'. +This accusation of assassination, you may imagine, shocked Monsieur de +Guerchy, who complained bitterly to our Ministers; and they both puzzled +on for some time, without doing anything, because they did not know what +to do. At last du Vergy, about two months ago, applied himself to the +Grand Jury of Middlesex, and made oath that Mr. de Guerchy had hired him +(du Vergy) to assassinate d'Eon. Upon this deposition, the Grand jury +found a bill of intended murder against Monsieur de Guerchy; which bill, +however, never came to the Petty Jury. The King granted a 'noli +prosequi' in favor of Monsieur de Guerchy; and the Attorney-General is +actually prosecuting du Vergy. Whether the King can grant a 'noli +prosequi' in a criminal case, and whether 'le droit des gens' extends to +criminal cases, are two points which employ our domestic politicians, and +the whole Corps Diplomatique. 'Enfin', to use a very coarse and vulgar +saying, 'il y a de la merde au bout du baton, quelque part'. + +I see and hear these storms from shore, 'suave mari magno', etc. I enjoy +my own security and tranquillity, together with better health than I had +reason to expect at my age, and with my constitution: however, I feel a +gradual decay, though a gentle one; and I think that I shall not tumble, +but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life. When that will be, +I neither know nor care, for I am very weary. God bless you! + +Mallet died two days ago, of a diarrhoea, which he had carried with him +to France, and brought back again hither. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 2, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 22d past; +and I delayed answering your former in daily, or rather hourly +expectation of informing you of the birth of a new Ministry; but in vain; +for, after a thousand conferences, all things remain still in the state +which I described to you in my last. Lord S. has, I believe, given you +a pretty true account of the present state of things; but my Lord is much +mistaken, I am persuaded, when he says that THE KING HAS THOUGHT PROPER +TO RE-ESTABLISH HIS OLD SERVANTS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HIS AFFAIRS; for +he +shows them all the public dislike possible; and, at his levee, hardly +speaks to any of them; but speaks by the hour to anybody else. +Conferences, in the meantime, go on, of which it is easy to guess the +main subject, but impossible, for me at least, to know the particulars; +but this I will venture to prophesy, that the whole will soon centre in +Mr. Pitt. + +You seem not to know the character of the Queen: here it is. She is a +good woman, a good wife, a tender mother; and an unmeddling Queen. The +King loves her as a woman; but, I verily believe, has never yet spoke one +word to her about business. I have now told you all that I know of these +affairs; which, I believe, is as much as anybody else knows, who is not +in the secret. In the meantime, you easily guess that surmises, +conjectures, and reports are infinite; and if, as they say, truth is but +one, one million at least of these reports must be false; for they differ +exceedingly. + +You have lost an honest servant by the death of poor Louis; I would +advise you to take a clever young Saxon in his room, of whose character +you may get authentic testimonies, instead of sending for one to France, +whose character you can only know from far. + +When I hear more, I will write more; till when, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 15, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I told you in my last, that you should hear from me +again, as soon as I had anything more to write; and now I have too much +to write, therefore will refer you to the "Gazette," and the office +letters, for all that has been done; and advise you to suspend your +opinion, as I do, about all that is to be done. Many more changes are +talked of, but so idly, and variously, that I give credit to none of +them. There has been pretty clean sweeping already; and I do not +remember, in my time, to have seen so much at once, as an entire new +Board of Treasury, and two new Secretaries of State, 'cum multis aliis', +etc. + +Here is a new political arch almost built, but of materials of so +different a nature, and without a key-stone, that it does not, in my +opinion, indicate either strength or duration. It will certainly require +repairs, and a key-stone next winter; and that key-stone will, and must +necessarily be, Mr. Pitt. It is true he might have been that keystone +now; and would have accepted it, but not without Lord Temple's consent, +and Lord Temple positively refused. There was evidently some trick in +this, but what is past my conjecturing. 'Davus sum, non OEdipus'. + +There is a manifest interregnum in the Treasury; for I do suppose that +Lord Rockingham and Mr. Dowdeswell will not think proper to be very +active. General Conway, who is your Secretary, has certainly parts at +least equal to his business, to which, I dare say, he will apply. The +same may be said, I believe, of the Duke of Grafton; and indeed there is +no magic requisite for the executive part of those employments. The +ministerial part is another thing; they must scramble with their fellow- +servants, for power and favor, as well as they can. Foreign affairs are +not so much as mentioned, and, I verily believe, not thought of. But +surely some counterbalance would be necessary to the Family compact; and, +if not soon contracted, will be too late. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 17, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You are now two letters in my debt; and I fear the gout +has been the cause of your contracting that debt. When you are not able +to write yourself, let your Secretary send me two or three lines to +acquaint me how you are. + +You have now seen by the London "Gazette," what changes have really been +made at court; but, at the same time, I believe you have seen that there +must be more, before a Ministry can be settled; what those will be, God +knows. Were I to conjecture, I should say that the whole will centre, +before it is long, in Mr. Pitt and Co., the present being an +heterogeneous jumble of youth and caducity, which cannot be efficient. + +Charles Townshend calls the present a Lutestring Ministry; fit only for +the summer. The next session will be not only a warm, but a violent one, +as you will easily judge; if you look over the names of the INS and of +the OUTS. + +I feel this beginning of the autumn, which is already very cold: the +leaves are withered, fall apace, and seem to intimate that I must follow +them; which I shall do without reluctance, being extremely weary of this +silly world. God bless you, both in it and after it! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIX + +BLACKHEATH, August 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received but four days ago your letter of the 2d +instant. I find by it that you are well, for you are in good spirits. +Your notion of the new birth or regeneration of the Ministry is a very +just one; and that they have not yet the true seal of the covenant is, +I dare say, very true; at least it is not in the possession of either of +the Secretaries of State, who have only the King's seal; nor do I believe +(whatever his Grace may imagine) that it is even in the possession of the +Lord Privy Seal. I own I am lost, in considering the present situation +of affairs; different conjectures present themselves to my mind, but none +that it can rest upon. The next session must necessarily clear up +matters a good deal; for I believe it will be the warmest and most +acrimonious one that has been known, since that of the Excise. The late +Ministry, THE PRESENT OPPOSITION, are determined to attack Lord B----- +publicly in parliament, and reduce the late Opposition, THE PRESENT +MINISTRY, to protect him publicly, in consequence of their supposed +treaty with him. 'En attendant mieux', the paper war is carried on with +much fury and scurrility on all sides, to the great entertainment of such +lazy and impartial people as myself: I do not know whether you have the +"Daily Advertiser," and the "Public Advertiser," in which all political +letters are inserted, and some very well-written ones on both sides; but +I know that they amuse me, 'tant bien que mal', for an hour or two every +morning. Lord T------ is the supposed author of the pamphlet you +mention; but I think it is above him. Perhaps his brother C---- T------, +who is by no means satisfied with the present arrangement, may have +assisted him privately. As to this latter, there was a good ridiculous +paragraph in the newspapers two or three days ago. WE HEAR THAT THE +RIGHT HONORABLE MR. C-----T------ IS INDISPOSED AT HIS HOUSE IN +OXFORDSHIRE, OF A PAIN IN HIS SIDE; BUT IT IS NOT SAID IN WHICH SIDE. + +I do not find that the Duke of York has yet visited you; if he should, it +may be expensive, 'mais on trouvera moyen'. As for the lady, if you +should be very sharp set for some English flesh, she has it amply in her +power to supply you if she pleases. Pray tell me in your next, what you +think of, and how you like, Prince Henry of Prussia. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXX + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your great character of Prince Henry, which I take to be +a very just one, lowers the King of Prussia's a great deal; and probably +that is the cause of their being so ill together. But the King of +Prussia, with his good parts, should reflect upon that trite and true +maxim, 'Qui invidet minor', or Mr. de la Rouchefoucault's, 'Que l'envie +est la plus basse de toutes les passions, puisqu'on avoue bien des +crimes, mais que personae n'avoue l'envie'. I thank God, I never was +sensible of that dark and vile passion, except that formerly I have +sometimes envied a successful rival with a fine woman. But now that +cause is ceased, and consequently the effects. + +What shall I, or rather what can I tell you of the political world here? +The late Ministers accuse the present with having done nothing, the +present accuse the late ones with having done much worse than nothing. +Their writers abuse one another most scurrilously, but sometimes with +wit. I look upon this to be 'peloter en attendant partie', till battle +begins in St., Stephen's Chapel. How that will end, I protest I cannot +conjecture; any farther than this, that if Mr. Pitt does not come into +the assistance of the present ministers, they will have much to do to +stand their ground. C----- T------ will play booty; and who else have +they? Nobody but C-----, who has only good sense, but not the necessary +talents nor experience, 'AEre ciere viros martemque accendere cantu'. +I never remember, in all my time, to have seen so problematical a state +of affairs, and a man would be much puzzled which side to bet on. + +Your guest, Miss C----- , is another problem which I cannot solve. She +no more wanted the waters of Carlsbadt than you did. Is it to show the +Duke of Kingston that he cannot live without her? a dangerous experiment! +which may possibly convince him that he can. There is a trick no doubt +in it; but what, I neither know nor care; you did very well to show her +civilities, 'cela ne gute jamais rien'. I will go to my waters, that is, +the Bath waters, in three weeks or a month, more for the sake of bathing +than of drinking. The hot bath always promotes my perspiration, which is +sluggish, and supples my stiff rheumatic limbs. 'D'ailleurs', I am at +present as well, and better than I could reasonably expect to be, 'annu +septuagesimo primo'. May you be so as long, 'y mas'! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXI + +LONDON, October 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter of the l0th 'sonica'; for I set +out for Bath to-morrow morning. + +If the use of those waters does me no good, the shifting the scene for +some time will at least amuse me a little; and at my age, and with my +infirmities, 'il faut faire de tout bois feche'. Some variety is as +necessary for the mind as some medicines are for the body. + +Here is a total stagnation of politics, which, I suppose, will continue +till the parliament sits to do business, and that will not be till about +the middle of January; for the meeting on the 17th December is only for +the sake of some new writs. The late ministers threaten the present +ones; but the latter do not seem in the least afraid of the former, and +for a very good reason, which is, that they have the distribution of the +loaves and fishes. I believe it is very certain that Mr. Pitt will never +come into this, or any other administration: he is absolutely a cripple +all the year, and in violent pain at least half of it. Such physical +ills are great checks to two of the strongest passions to which human +nature is liable, love and ambition. Though I cannot persuade myself +that the present ministry can be long lived, I can as little imagine who +or what can succeed them, 'telle est la-disette de sujets papables'. +The Duke of swears that he will have Lord personally attacked in both +Houses; but I do not see how, without endangering himself at the same +time. + +Miss C------ is safely arrived here, and her Duke is fonder of her than +ever. It was a dangerous experiment that she tried, in leaving him so +long; but it seems she knew her man. + +I pity you for the inundation of your good countrymen, which overwhelms +you; 'je sais ce qu'en vaut l'aune. It is, besides, expensive, but, as I +look upon the expense to be the least evil of the two, I will see if a +New-Year's gift will not make it up. + +As I am now upon the wing, I will only add, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXII + +BATH, November 28, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the l0th. +I have now been here a month, bathing and drinking the waters, for +complaints much of the same kind as yours, I mean pains in my legs, hips, +and arms: whether gouty or rheumatic, God knows; but, I believe, both, +that fight without a decision in favor of either, and have absolutely +reduced me to the miserable situation of the Sphinx's riddle, to walk +upon three legs; that is, with the assistance of my stick, to walk, or +rather hobble, very indifferently. I wish it were a declared gout, which +is the distemper of a gentleman; whereas the rheumatism is the distemper +of a hackney-coachman or chairman, who is obliged to be out in all +weathers and at all hours. + +I think you will do very right to ask leave, and I dare say you will +easily get it, to go to the baths in Suabia ; that is, supposing that you +have consulted some skillful physician, if such a one there be, either at +Dresden or at Leipsic, about the nature of your distemper, and the nature +of those baths; but, 'suos quisque patimur manes'. We have but a bad +bargain, God knows, of this life, and patience is the only way not to +make bad worse. Mr. Pitt keeps his bed here, with a very real gout, and +not a political one, as is often suspected. + +Here has been a congress of most of the 'ex Ministres'. If they have +raised a battery, as I suppose they have, it is a masked one, for nothing +has transpired ; only they confess that they intend a most vigorous +attack. 'D'ailleurs', there seems to be a total suspension of all +business, till the meeting of the parliament, and then 'Signa canant'. +I am very glad that at this time you are out of it: and for reasons that +I need not mention: you would certainly have been sent for over, and, as +before, not paid for your journey. + +Poor Harte is very ill, and condemned to the Hot well at Bristol. He is +a better poet than philosopher: for all this illness and melancholy +proceeds originally from the ill success of his "Gustavus Adolphus." +He is grown extremely devout, which I am very glad of, because that is +always a comfort to the afflicted. + +I cannot present Mr. Larpent with my New-Year's gift, till I come to +town, which will be before Christmas at farthest; till when, God bless +you! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXIII + +LONDON, December 27, 1765. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here from Bath last Monday, rather, but not +much better, than when I went over there. My rheumatic pains, in my legs +and hips, plague me still, and I must never expect to be quite free from +them. + +You have, to be sure, had from the office an account of what the +parliament did, or rather did not do, the day of their meeting; and the +same point will be the great object at their next meeting; I mean the +affair of our American Colonies, relatively to the late imposed Stamp- +duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay. The Administration +are for some indulgence and forbearance to those froward children of +their mother country; the Opposition are for taking vigorous, as they +call them, but I call them violent measures; not less than 'les +dragonnades'; and to have the tax collected by the troops we have there. +For my part, I never saw a froward child mended by whipping; and I would +not have the mother country become a stepmother. Our trade to America +brings in, 'communibus annis', two millions a year; and the Stamp-duty is +estimated at but one hundred thousand pounds a year; which I would by no +means bring into the stock of the Exchequer, at the loss or even the risk +of a million a year to the national stock. + +I do not tell you of the Garter given away yesterday, because the +newspapers will; but, I must observe, that the Prince of Brunswick's +riband is a mark of great distinction to that family; which I believe, is +the first (except our own Royal Family) that has ever had two blue +ribands at a time; but it must be owned they deserve them. + +One hears of nothing now in town, but the separation of men and their +wives. Will Finch, the Ex-vice Chamberlain, Lord Warwick, and your +friend Lord Bolingbroke. I wonder at none of them for parting; but I +wonder at many for still living together; for in this country it is +certain that marriage is not well understood. + +I have this day sent Mr. Larpent two hundred pounds for your Christmas- +box, of which I suppose he will inform you by this post. Make this +Christmas as merry a one as you can; for 'pour le peu du bon tems qui +nous reste, rien nest si funeste, qu'un noir chagrin'. For the new years +--God send you many, and happy ones! Adieu. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse . . . . . . +American Colonies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Be neither transported nor depressed by the accidents of life. . . . . +Doing, 'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing . . . . . . . . +EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Everything has a better and a worse side . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Extremely weary of this silly world. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Gainer by your misfortune. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know. . . . . . . . . +If I cared to know, you should have cared to have written. . . . . . . +Intrinsic, and not their imaginary value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good . . . . . +National honor and interest have been sacrificed to private. . . . . . +Neither abilities or words enough to call a coach. . . . . . . . . . . +Neither know nor care, (when I die) for I am very weary . . . . . . . +Never saw a froward child mended by whipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Never to trust implicitly to the informations of others. . . . . . . . +Not make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them. . . . +Not tumble, but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life . . . . +Nothing much worth either desiring or fearing. . . . . . . . . . . . . +Often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows . . . . . . . . . . +Only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his wife . . . . . . . +Oysters, are only in season in the R months. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Patience is the only way not to make bad worse . . . . . . . . . . . . +Recommends self-conversation to all authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Return you the ball 'a la volee' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Settled here for good, as it is called . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Stamp-duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay . . . . . . . +Thinks himself much worse than he is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +To seem to have forgotten what one remembers . . . . . . . . . . . . . +We shall be feared, if we do not show that we fear . . . . . . . . . . +Whatever one must do, one should do 'de bonne grace' . . . . . . . . . +Who takes warning by the fate of others? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Women are all so far Machiavelians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1759-65 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + diff --git a/old/lc09s10.zip b/old/lc09s10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d55093b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc09s10.zip diff --git a/old/lc09s11.txt b/old/lc09s11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..efda3e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc09s11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2354 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1759-65 +#9 in our series by The Earl of Chesterfield + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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D.W.] + + + + + + LETTERS TO HIS SON + 1759-65 + + By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD + + on the Fine Art of becoming a + + MAN OF THE WORLD + + and a + + GENTLEMAN + + + +LETTER CCXXXVII + +LONDON, New-year's Day, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: 'Molti e felici', and I have done upon that subject, one +truth being fair, upon the most lying day in the whole year. + +I have now before me your last letter of the 21st December, which I am +glad to find is a bill of health: but, however, do not presume too much +upon it, but obey and honor your physician, "that thy days may be long in +the land." + +Since my last, I have heard nothing more concerning the ribband; but I +take it for granted it will be disposed of soon. By the way, upon +reflection, I am not sure that anybody but a knight can, according to +form, be employed to make a knight. I remember that Sir Clement Cotterel +was sent to Holland, to dub the late Prince of Orange, only because he +was a knight himself; and I know that the proxies of knights, who cannot +attend their own installations, must always be knights. This did not +occur to me before, and perhaps will not to the person who was to +recommend you: I am sure I will not stir it; and I only mention it now, +that you may be in all events prepared for the disappointment, if it +should happen. + +G----- is exceedingly flattered with your account, that three thousand of +his countrymen; all as little as himself, should be thought a sufficient +guard upon three-and-twenty thousand of all the nations in Europe; not +that he thinks himself, by any means, a little man, for when he would +describe a tall handsome man, he raises himself up at least half an inch +to represent him. + +The private news from Hamburg is, that his Majesty's Resident there is +woundily in love with Madame -------; if this be true, God send him, +rather than her, a good DELIVERY! She must be 'etrennee' at this season, +and therefore I think you should be so too: so draw upon me as soon as +you please, for one hundred pounds. + +Here is nothing new, except the unanimity with which the parliament gives +away a dozen of millions sterling; and the unanimity of the public is as +great in approving of it, which has stifled the usual political and +polemical argumentations. + +Cardinal Bernis's disgrace is as sudden, and hitherto as little +understood, as his elevation was. I have seen his poems, printed at +Paris, not by a friend, I dare say; and to judge by them, I humbly +conceive his Eminency is a p-----y. I will say nothing of that excellent +headpiece that made him and unmade him in the same month, except O KING, +LIVE FOREVER. + +Good-night to you, whoever you pass it with. + + + + +LETTER CCXXXVIII + +LONDON, February 2, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am now (what I have very seldom been) two letters in +your debt: the reason was, that my head, like many other heads, has +frequently taken a wrong turn; in which case, writing is painful to me, +and therefore cannot be very pleasant to my readers. + +I wish you would (while you have so good an opportunity as you have at +Hamburg) make yourself perfectly master of that dull but very useful +knowledge, the course of exchange, and the causes of its almost perpetual +variations; the value and relation of different coins, the specie, the +banco, usances, agio, and a thousand other particulars. You may with +ease learn, and you will be very glad when you have learned them; for, +in your business, that sort of knowledge will often prove necessary. + +I hear nothing more of Prince Ferdinand's garter: that he will have one +is very certain; but when, I believe, is very uncertain; all the other +postulants wanting to be dubbed at the same time, which cannot be, as +there is not ribband enough for them. + +If the Russians move in time, and in earnest, there will be an end of our +hopes and of our armies in Germany: three such mill-stones as Russia, +France, and Austria, must, sooner or later, in the course of the year, +grind his Prussian Majesty down to a mere MARGRAVE of Brandenburg. But I +have always some hopes of a change under a 'Gunarchy'--[Derived from the +Greek word 'Iuvn' a woman, and means female government]--where whim and +humor commonly prevail, reason very seldom, and then only by a lucky +mistake. + +I expect the incomparable fair one of Hamburg, that prodigy of beauty, +and paragon of good sense, who has enslaved your mind, and inflamed your +heart. If she is as well 'etrennee' as you say she shall, you will be +soon out of her chains; for I have, by long experience, found women to be +like Telephus's spear, if one end kills, the other cures. + +There never was so quiet, nor so silent a session of parliament as the +present; Mr. Pitt declares only what he would have them do, and they do +it 'nemine contradicente', Mr. Viner only expected. + +Duchess Hamilton is to be married, to-morrow, to Colonel Campbell, the +son of General Campbell, who will some day or other be Duke of Argyle, +and have the estate. She refused the Duke of B-----r for him. + +Here is a report, but I believe a very groundless one, that your old +acquaintance, the fair Madame C------e, is run away from her husband, +with a jeweler, that 'etrennes' her, and is come over here; but I dare +say it is some mistake, or perhaps a lie. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXXXIX + +LONDON, February 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: In your last letter, of the 7th, you accuse me, most +unjustly, of being in arrears in my correspondence; whereas, if our +epistolary accounts were fairly liquidated, I believe you would be +brought in considerably debtor. I do not see how any of my letters to +you can miscarry, unless your office-packet miscarries too, for I always +send them to the office. Moreover, I might have a justifiable excuse for +writing to you seldomer than usual, for to be sure there never was a +period of time, in the middle of a winter, and the parliament sitting, +that supplied so little matter for a letter. Near twelve millions have +been granted this year, not only 'nemine contradicente', but, 'nemine +quicquid dicente'. The proper officers bring in the estimates; it is +taken for granted that they are necessary and frugal; the members go to +dinner; and leave Mr. West and Mr. Martin to do the rest. + +I presume you have seen the little poem of the "Country Lass," by Soame +Jenyns, for it was in the "Chronicle"; as was also an answer to it, from +the "Monitor." They are neither of them bad performances; the first is +the neatest, and the plan of the second has the most invention. I send +you none of those 'pieces volantes' in my letters, because they are all +printed in one or other of the newspapers, particularly in the +"Chronicles"; and I suppose that you and others have all those papers +among you at Hamburg; in which case it would be only putting you to the +unnecessary expense of double postage. + +I find you are sanguine about the King of Prussia this year; I allow his +army will be what you say; but what will that be 'vis-a-vis' French, +Austrians, Imperialists, Swedes, and Russians, who must amount to more +than double that number? Were the inequality less, I would allow for the +King of Prussia's being so much 'ipse agmen' as pretty nearly to balance +the account. In war, numbers are generally my omens; and, I confess, +that in Germany they seem not happy ones this year. In America. I +think, we are sure of success, and great success; but how we shall be +able to strike a balance, as they call it, between good success there, +and ill success upon the continent, so as to come at a peace; is more +than I can discover. + +Lady Chesterfield makes you her compliments, and thanks you for your +offer; but declines troubling you, being discouraged by the ill success +of Madame Munchausen's and Miss Chetwynd's commissions, the former for +beef, and the latter for gloves; neither of which have yet been executed, +to the dissatisfaction of both. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXL + +LONDON, March 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your letter of the 20th past lying before me, +by which you despond, in my opinion too soon, of dubbing your Prince; for +he most certainly will have the Garter; and he will as probably have it +before the campaign opens, as after. His campaign must, I doubt, at best +be a defensive one; and he will show great skill in making it such; for +according to my calculation, his enemies will be at least double his +number. Their troops, indeed, may perhaps be worse than his; but then +their number will make up that defect, as it will enable them to +undertake different operations at the same time. I cannot think that the +King of Denmark will take a part in the present war; which he cannot do +without great possible danger; and he is well paid by France for his +neutrality; is safe, let what will turn out; and, in the meantime, +carries on his commerce with great advantage and security; so that that +consideration will not retard your visit to your own country, whenever +you have leave to return, and that your own ARRANGEMENTS will allow you. +A short absence animates a tender passion, 'et l'on ne recule que pour +mieux sauter', especially in the summer months; so that I would advise +you to begin your journey in May, and continue your absence from the dear +object of your vows till after the dog-days, when love is said to be +unwholesome. We have been disappointed at Martinico; I wish we may not +be so at Guadaloupe, though we are landed there; for many difficulties +must be got over before we can be in possession of the whole island. +A pro pos de bottes; you make use of two Spanish words, very properly, +in your letter; were I you, I would learn the Spanish language, if there +were a Spaniard at Hamburg who could teach me; and then you would be +master of all the European languages that are useful; and, in my mind, +it is very convenient, if not necessary, for a public man to understand +them all, and not to be obliged to have recourse to an interpreter for +those papers that chance or business may throw in his way. I learned +Spanish when I was older than you; convinced by experience that, in +everything possible, it was better to trust to one's self than to any +other body whatsoever. Interpreters, as well as relaters, are often +unfaithful, and still oftener incorrect, puzzling, and blundering. In +short, let it be your maxim through life to know all you can know, +yourself; and never to trust implicitly to the informations of others. +This rule has been of infinite service to me in the course of my life. + +I am rather better than I was; which I owe not to my physicians, but to +an ass and a cow, who nourish me, between them, very plentifully and +wholesomely; in the morning the ass is my nurse, at night the cow; and I +have just now, bought a milch-goat, which is to graze, and nurse me at +Blackheath. I do not know what may come of this latter, and I am not +without apprehensions that it may make a satyr of me; but, should I find +that obscene disposition growing upon me, I will check it in time, for +fear of endangering my life and character by rapes. And so we heartily +bid you farewell. + + + + +LETTER CCXLI + +LONDON, March 30, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I do not like these frequent, however short, returns of +your illness; for I doubt they imply either want of skill in your +physician, or want of care in his patient. Rhubarb, soap, and chalybeate +medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for obstructions of the +liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary, and that for a long +continuance. Acids are good for you, but you do not love them; and sweet +things are bad for you, and you do love them. There is another thing +very bad for you, and I fear you love it too much. When I was in +Holland, I had a slow fever that hung upon me a great while; I consulted +Boerhaave, who prescribed me what I suppose was proper, for it cured me; +but he added, by way of postscript to his prescription, 'Venus rarius +colatur'; which I observed, and perhaps that made the medicines more +effectual. + +I doubt we shall be mutually disappointed in our hopes of seeing one +another this spring, as I believe you will find, by a letter which you +will receive at the same time with this, from Lord Holderness; but as +Lord Holderness will not tell you all, I will, between you and me, supply +that defect. I must do him the justice to say that he has acted in the +most kind and friendly manner possible to us both. When the King read +your letter, in which you desired leave to return, for the sake of +drinking the Tunbridge waters, he said, "If he wants steel waters, those +of Pyrmont are better than Tunbridge, and he can have them very fresh at +Hamburg. I would rather he had asked me to come last autumn, and had +passed the winter here; for if he returns now, I shall have nobody in +those quarters to inform me of what passes; and yet it will be a very- +busy and important scene." Lord Holderness, who found that it would not +be liked, resolved to push it no further; and replied, he was very sure +that when you knew his Majesty had the least objection to your return at +this time, you would think of it no longer; and he owned that he (Lord +Holderness) had given you encouragement for this application last year, +then thinking and hoping that there would be little occasion for your +presence at Hamburg this year. Lord Holderness will only tell you, in +his letter, that, as he had some reason to believe his moving this matter +would be disagreeable to the King, he resolved, for your sake, not to +mention it. You must answer his letter upon that footing simply, and +thank him for this mark of his friendship, for he has really acted as +your friend. I make no doubt of your having willing leave to return in +autumn, for the whole winter. In the meantime, make the best of your +'sejour' where you are; drink the Pyrmont waters, and no wine but +Rhenish, which, in your case is the only proper one for you. + +Next week Mr. Harte will send you his "Gustavus Adolphus," in two +quartos; it will contain many new particulars of the life of that real +hero, as he has had abundant and authentic materials, which have never +yet appeared. It will, upon the whole, be a very curious and valuable +history; though, between you and me, I could have wished that he had been +more correct and elegant in his style. You will find it dedicated to one +of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune the luxuriant praises +bestowed upon him, and yet has left enough of all conscience to satisfy a +reasonable man. Harte has been very much out of order these last three +or four months, but is not the less intent upon sowing his lucerne, of +which he had six crops last year, to his infinite joy, and, as he says, +profit. As a gardener, I shall probably have as much joy, though not +quite so much profit, by thirty or forty shillings; for there is the +greatest promise of fruit this year at 'Blackheath, that ever I saw in my +life. Vertumnus and Pomona have been very propitious to me: as for +Priapus, that tremendous garden god, as I no longer invoke him, I cannot +expect his protection from the birds and the thieves. + +Adieu! I will conclude like a pedant, 'Levius fit patientia quicquid +corrigere est nefas.' + + + + +LETTER CCXLII + +LONDON, April 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: With humble submission to you, I still say that if Prince +Ferdinand can make a defensive campaign this year, he will have done a +great deal, considering the great inequality of numbers. The little +advantages of taking a regiment or two prisoners, or cutting another to +pieces, are but trifling articles in the great account; they are only the +pence, the pounds are yet to come; and I take it for granted, that +neither the French, nor the Court of Vienna, will have 'le dementi' of +their main object, which is unquestionably Hanover; for that is the +'summa summarum'; and they will certainly take care to draw a force +together for this purpose, too great for any that Prince Ferdinand has, +or can have, to oppose them. In short, mark the end on't, 'j'en augure +mal'. If France, Austria, the Empire, Russia, and Sweden, are not, at +long run, too hard for the two Electors of Hanover and Brandenburg, there +must be some invisible power, some tutelar deities, that miraculously +interpose in favor of the latter. + +You encourage me to accept all the powers that goats, asses, and bulls, +can give me, by engaging for my not making an ill use of them; but I own, +I cannot help distrusting myself a little, or rather human nature; for it +is an old and very true observation, that there are misers of money, but +none of power; and the non-use of the one, and the abuse of the other, +increase in proportion to their quantity. + +I am very sorry to tell you that Harte's "Gustavus Adolphus" does not +take at all, and consequently sells very little: it is certainly +informing, and full of good matter; but it is as certain too, that the +style is execrable: where the devil he picked it up, I cannot conceive, +for it is a bad style, of a new and singular kind; it is full of +Latinisms, Gallicisms, Germanisms, and all isms but Anglicisms; in some +places pompous, in others vulgar and low. Surely, before the end of the +world, people, and you in particular, will discover that the MANNER, in +everything, is at least as important as the matter; and that the latter +never can please, without a good degree of elegance in the former. This +holds true in everything in life: in writing, conversing, business, the +help of the Graces is absolutely necessary; and whoever vainly thinks +himself above them, will find he is mistaken when it will be too late to +court them, for they will not come to strangers of an advanced age. +There is an history lately come out, of the "Reign of Mary Queen of +Scots" and her son (no matter by whom) King James, written by one +Robertson, a Scotchman, which for clearness, purity, and dignity of +style, I will not scruple to compare with the best historians extant, +not excepting Davila, Guicciardini, and perhaps Livy. Its success has +consequently been great, and a second edition is already published and +bought up. I take it for granted, that it is to be had, or at least +borrowed, at Hamburg, or I would send it to you. + +I hope you drink the Pyrmont waters every morning. The health of the +mind depends so much upon the health of the body, that the latter +deserves the utmost attention, independently of the senses. God send you +a very great share of both! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIII + +LONDON, April 27, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your two letters of the 10th and 13th, +by the last mail; and I will begin my answer to them, by observing to you +that a wise man, without being a Stoic, considers, in all misfortunes +that befall him, their best as well as their worst side; and everything +has a better and a worse side. I have strictly observed that rule for +many years, and have found by experience that some comfort is to be +extracted, under most moral ills, by considering them in every light, +instead of dwelling, as people are too apt to do, upon the gloomy side of +the object. Thank God, the disappointment that you so pathetically groan +under, is not a calamity which admits of no consolation. Let us simplify +it, and see what it amounts to. You are pleased with the expectation of +coming here next month, to see those who would have been pleased with +seeing you. That, from very natural causes, cannot be, and you must pass +this summer at Hamburg, and next winter in England, instead of passing +this summer in England, and next winter at Hamburg. Now, estimating +things fairly, is not the change rather to your advantage? Is not the +summer more eligible, both for health and pleasure, than the winter, in +that northern frozen zone? And will not the winter in England supply you +with more pleasures than the summer, in an empty capital, could have +done? So far then it appears, that you are rather a gainer by your +misfortune. + +The TOUR too, which you propose making to Lubeck, Altena, etc., will both +amuse and inform you; for, at your age, one cannot see too many different +places and people; since at the age you are now of, I take it for granted +that you will not see them superficially, as you did when you first went +abroad. + +This whole matter then, summed up, amounts to no more than this--that you +will be here next winter, instead of this summer. Do not think that all +I have said is the consolation only of an old philosophical fellow, +almost insensible of pleasure or pain, offered to a young fellow who has +quick sensations of both. No, it is the rational philosophy taught me by +experience and knowledge of the world, and which I have practiced above +thirty years. + +I always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse by fretting; +this enabled me to go through the various scenes of life in which I have +been an actor, with more pleasure and less pain than most people. You +will say, perhaps, one cannot change one's nature; and that if a person +is born of a very sensible, gloomy temper, and apt to see things in the +worst light, they cannot help it, nor new-make themselves. I will admit +it, to a certain degree; and but to a certain degree; for though we +cannot totally change our nature, we may in a great measure correct it, +by reflection and philosophy; and some philosophy is a very necessary +companion in this world, where, even to the most fortunate, the chances +are greatly against happiness. + +I am not old enough, nor tenacious enough, to pretend not to understand +the main purport of your last letter; and to show you that I do, you may +draw upon me for two hundred pounds, which, I hope, will more than clear +you. + +Good-night: 'aquam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem': Be neither +transported nor depressed by the accidents of life. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIV + +BLACKHEATH, May 16, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your secretary's last letter of the 4th, which I received +yesterday, has quieted my fears a good deal, but has not entirely +dissipated them. YOUR FEVER STILL CONTINUES, he says, THOUGH IN A LESS +DEGREE. Is it a continued fever, or an intermitting one? If the former, +no wonder that you are weak, and that your head aches. If the latter, +why has not the bark, in substance and large doses, been administered? +for if it had, it must have stopped it by this time. Next post, I hope, +will set me quite at ease. Surely you have not been so regular as you +ought, either in your medicines or in your general regimen, otherwise +this fever would not have returned; for the Doctor calls it, YOUR FEVER +RETURNED, as if you had an exclusive patent for it. You have now had +illnesses enough, to know the value of health, and to make you implicitly +follow the prescriptions of your physician in medicines, and the rules of +your own common sense in diet; in which, I can assure you, from my own +experience, that quantity is often worse than quality; and I would rather +eat half a pound of bacon at a meal, than two pounds of any the most +wholesome food. + +I have been settled here near a week, to my great satisfaction; 'c'est ma +place', and I know it, which is not given to everybody. Cut off from +social life by my deafness, as well as other physical ills, and being at +best but the ghost of my former self, I walk here in silence and solitude +as becomes a ghost: with this only difference, that I walk by day, +whereas, you know, to be sure, that other ghosts only appear by night. +My health, however, is better than it was last year, thanks to my almost +total milk diet. This enables me to vary my solitary amusements, and +alternately to scribble as well as read, which I could not do last year. +Thus I saunter away the remainder, be it more or less, of an agitated and +active life, now reduced (and I am not sure that I am a loser by the +change) to so quiet and serene a one, that it may properly be called +still life. + +The French whisper in confidence, in order that it may be the more known +and the more credited, that they intend to invade us this year, in no +less than three places; that is England, Scotland, and Ireland. Some of +our great men, like the devils, believe and tremble; others, and one +little one whom I know, laugh at it; and, in general, it seems to be but +a poor, instead of a formidable scarecrow. While somebody was at the +head of a moderate army, and wanted (I know why) to be at the head of a +great one, intended invasions were made an article of political faith; +and the belief of them was required, as in the Church the belief of some +absurdities, and even impossibilities, is required upon pain of heresy, +excommunication, and consequently damnation, if they tend to the power +and interest of the heads of the Church. But now that there is a general +toleration, and that the best subjects, as well as the best Christians, +may believe what their reasons find their consciences suggest, it is +generally and rationally supposed the French will threaten and not +strike, since we are so well prepared, both by armies and fleets, to +receive and, I may add, to destroy them. Adieu! God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 15, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your letter of the 5th, which I received yesterday, gave +me great satisfaction, being all in your own hand; though it contains +great, and I fear just complaints of your ill state of health. You do +very well to change the air; and I hope that change will do well by you. +I would therefore have you write after the 20th of August, to Lord +Holderness, to beg of him to obtain his Majesty's leave for you to return +to England for two or three months, upon account of your health. Two or +three months is an indefinite time, which may afterward insensibly +stretched to what length one pleases; leave that to me. In the meantime, +you may be taking your measures with the best economy. + +The day before yesterday, an express arrived from Guadaloupe which +brought an account of our being in possession of the whole island. And I +make no manner of doubt but that, in about two months, we shall have as +good news from Crown-point, Quebec, etc. Our affairs in Germany, I fear, +will not be equally prosperous; for I have very little hopes for the King +of Prussia or Prince Ferdinand. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCXLVI + +BLACKHEATH, June 25, 1759 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The two last mails have brought me no letter from you or +your secretary. I will take this as a sign that you are better; but, +however, if you thought that I cared to know, you should have cared to +have written. Here the weather has been very fine for a fortnight +together, a longer term than in this climate we are used to hold fine +weather by. I hope it is so, too, at Hamburg, or at least at the villa +to which you are gone; but pray do not let it be your 'villa viciosa', as +those retirements are often called, and too often prove; though, by the +way, the original name was 'villa vezzosa'; and by wags miscalled +'viciosa'. + +I have a most gloomy prospect of affairs in Germany; the French are +already in possession of Cassel, and of the learned part of Hanover, that +is Gottingen; where I presume they will not stop 'pour l'amour des belles +lettres', but rather go on to the capital, and study them upon the coin. +My old acquaintance, Monsieur Richelieu, made a great progress there in +metallic learning and inscriptions. If Prince Ferdinand ventures a +battle to prevent it, I dread the consequences; the odds are too great +against him. The King of Prussia is still in a worse situation; for he +has the Hydra to encounter; and though he may cut off a head or two, +there will still be enough left to devour him at last. I have, as you +know, long foretold the now approaching catastrophe; but I was Cassandra. +Our affairs in the new world have a much more pleasing aspect; Guadaloupe +is a great acquisition, and Quebec, which I make no doubt of, will still +be greater. But must all these advantages, purchased at the price of so +much English blood and treasure, be at last sacrificed as a peace- +offering? God knows what consequences such a measure may produce; the +germ of discontent is already great, upon the bare supposition of the +case; but should it be realized, it will grow to a harvest of +disaffection. + +You are now, to be sure, taking the previous necessary measures for your +return here in the autumn and I think you may disband your whole family, +excepting your secretary, your butler, who takes care of your plate, +wine, etc., one or at most two, maid servants, and your valet de chambre +and one footman, whom you will bring over with you. But give no mortal, +either there or here, reason to think that you are not to return to +Hamburg again. If you are asked about it, say, like Lockhart, that you +are 'le serviteur des Evenemens'; for your present appointments will do +you no hurt here, till you have some better destination. At that season +of the year, I believe it will be better for you to come by sea than by +land, but that you will be best able to judge of from the then +circumstances of your part in the world. + +Your old friend Stevens is dead of the consumption that has long been +undermining him. God bless you, and send you health. + + + +[Another two year lapse in the letters. D.W.] + + + +LETTER CCXLVII + +BATH, February 26, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am very glad to hear that your election is finally +settled, and to say the truth, not sorry that Mr. ---- has been compelled +to do, 'de mauvaise grace', that which he might have done at first in a +friendly and handsome manner. However, take no notice of what is passed, +and live with him as you used to do before; for, in the intercourse of +the world, it is often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows, and +to have forgotten what one remembers. + +I have just now finished Coleman's play, and like it very well; it is +well conducted, and the characters are well preserved. I own, I expected +from the author more dialogue wit; but, as I know that he is a most +scrupulous classic, I believe he did not dare to put in half so much wit +as he could have done, because Terence had not a single grain; and it +would have been 'crimen laesae antiquitatis'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCXLVIII + +BATH, November 21, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 19th. If +I find any alterations by drinking these waters, now six days, it is +rather for the better; but, in six days more, I think I shall find with +more certainty what humor they are in with me; if kind, I will profit of, +but not abuse their kindness; all things have their bounds, 'quos ultra +citrave nequit consistere rectum'; and I will endeavor to nick that +point. + +The Queen's jointure is larger than, from SOME REASONS, I expected it +would be, though not greater than the very last precedent authorized. +The case of the late Lord Wilmington was, I fancy, remembered. + +I have now good reason to believe that Spain will declare war to us, that +is, that it will very soon, if it has not already, avowedly assist +France, in case the war continues. This will be a great triumph to Mr. +Pitt, and fully justify his plan of beginning with Spain first, and +having the first blow, which is often half the battle. + +Here is a great deal of company, and what is commonly called good +company, that is, great quality. I trouble them very little, except at +the pump, where my business calls me; for what is company to a deaf man, +or a deaf man to company? + +Lady Brown, whom I have seen, and who, by the way, has got the gout in +her eye, inquired very tenderly after you. And so I elegantly rest, +Yours, till death. + + + + +LETTER CCXLIX + +BATH, December 6, 1761. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have been in your debt some time, which, you know, +I am not very apt to be: but it was really for want of specie to pay. +The present state of my invention does not enable me to coin; and you +would have had as little pleasure in reading, as I should have in writing +'le coglionerie' of this place; besides, that I am very little mingled in +them. I do not know whether I shall be able to follow, your advice, and +cut a winner; for, at present, I have neither won nor lost a single +shilling. I will play on this week only; and if I have a good run, I +will carry it off with me; if a bad one, the loss can hardly amount to +anything considerable in seven days, for I hope to see you in town to- +morrow sevennight. + +I had a dismal letter from Harte, last week; he tells me that he is at +nurse with a sister in Berkshire; that he has got a confirmed jaundice, +besides twenty other distempers. The true cause of these complaints I +take to be the same that so greatly disordered, and had nearly destroyed +the most august House of Austria, about one hundred and thirty years ago; +I mean Gustavus Adolphus; who neither answered his expectations in point +of profit nor reputation, and that merely by his own fault, in not +writing it in the vulgar tongue; for as to facts I will maintain that it +is one of the best histories extant. + +'Au revoir', as Sir Fopling says, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCL + +BATH, November 2, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as I proposed, last Sunday; but as ill +as I feared I should be when I saw you. Head, stomach, and limbs, all +out of order. + +I have yet seen nobody but Villettes, who is settled here for good, as it +is called. What consequences has the Duke of Devonshire's resignation +had? He has considerable connections and relations; but whether any of +them are resigned enough to resign with him, is another matter. There +will be, to be sure, as many, and as absurd reports, as there are in the +law books; I do not desire to know either; but inform me of what facts +come to your knowledge, and of such reports only as you believe are +grounded. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLI + +BATH, November 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter, and believe that your +preliminaries are very near the mark; and, upon that supposition, I think +we have made a tolerable good bargain with Spain; at least full as good +as I expected, and almost as good as I wished, though I do not believe +that we have got ALL Florida; but if we have St. Augustin, I suppose +that, by the figure of 'pars pro toto', will be called all Florida. We +have by no means made so good a bargain with France; for, in truth, what +do we get by it, except Canada, with a very proper boundary of the river +Mississippi! and that is all. As for the restrictions upon the French +fishery in Newfoundland, they are very well 'per la predica', and for the +Commissary whom we shall employ: for he will have a good salary from +hence, to see that those restrictions are complied with; and the French +will double that salary, that he may allow them all to be broken through. +It is plain to me, that the French fishery will be exactly what it was +before the war. + +The three Leeward islands, which the French yield to us, are not, all +together, worth half so much as that of St. Lucia, which we give up to +them. Senegal is not worth one quarter of Goree. The restrictions of +the French in the East Indies are as absurd and impracticable as those of +Newfoundland; and you will live to see the French trade to the East +Indies, just as they did before the war. But after all I have said, the +articles are as good as I expected with France, when I considered that no +one single person who carried on this negotiation on our parts was ever +concerned or consulted in any negotiation before. Upon the whole, then, +the acquisition of Canada has cost us fourscore millions sterling. I am +convinced we might have kept Guadaloupe, if our negotiators had known how +to have gone about it. + +His most faithful Majesty of Portugal is the best off of anybody in this, +transaction, for he saves his kingdom by it, and has not laid out one +moidore in defense of it. Spain, thank God, in some measure, 'paye les +pots cassis'; for, besides St. Augustin, logwood, etc., it has lost at +least four millions sterling, in money, ships, etc. + +Harte is here, who tells me he has been at this place these three years, +excepting some few excursions to his sister; he looks ill, and laments +that he has frequent fits of the yellow jaundice. He complains of his +not having heard from you these four years; you should write to him. +These waters have done me a great deal of good, though I drink but two- +thirds of a pint in the whole day, which is less than the soberest of my +countrymen drink of claret at every meal. + +I should naturally think, as you do, that this session will be a stormy +one, that is, if Mr. Pitt takes an active part; but if he is pleased, as +the Ministers say, there is no other AEolus to blow a storm. The Dukes +of Cumberland, Newcastle, and Devonshire, have no better troops to attack +with than the militia; but Pitt alone is ipse agmen. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLII + +BATH, November 27, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, and return you the +ball 'a la volee'. The King's speech is a very prudent one; and as I +suppose that the addresses in answer to it were, as usual, in almost the +same words, my Lord Mayor might very well call them innocent. As his +Majesty expatiates so much upon the great ACHIEVEMENTS of the war, I +cannot help hoping that, when the preliminaries shall be laid before +Parliament IN DUE TIME, which, I suppose, means after the respective +ratifications of all the contracting parties, that some untalked of and +unexpected advantage will break out in our treaty with France; St. Lucia, +at least. I see in the newspapers an article which I by no means like, +in our treaty with Spain; which is, that we shall be at liberty to cut +logwood in the Bay of Campeachy, BUT BY PAYING FOR IT. Who does not see +that this condition may, and probably will, amount to a prohibition, by +the price which the Spaniards may set it at? It was our undoubted right, +and confirmed to us by former treaties, before the war, to cut logwood +gratis; but this new stipulation (if true) gives us a privilege something +like a reprieve to a criminal, with a 'non obstante' to be hanged. + +I now drink so little water, that it can neither do me good nor hurt; but +as I bathe but twice a-week, that operation, which does my rheumatic +carcass good, will keep me here some time longer than you had allowed. + +Harte is going to publish a new edition of his "Gustavus," in octavo; +which, he tells me, he has altered, and which, I could tell him, he +should translate into English, or it will not sell better than the +former; for, while the world endures, style and manner will be regarded, +at least as much as matter. And so, 'Diem vous aye dans sa sainte +garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLIII + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, with the inclosed +preliminaries, which we have had here these three days; and I return +them, since you intend to keep them, which is more than I believe the +French will. I am very glad to find that the French are to restore all +the conquests they made upon us in the East Indies during this war; and I +cannot doubt but they will likewise restore to us all the cod that they +shall take within less than three leagues of our coasts in North America +(a distance easily measured, especially at sea), according to the spirit, +though not the letter of the treaty. I am informed that the strong +opposition to the peace will be in the House of Lords, though I cannot +well conceive it; nor can I make out above six or seven, who will be +against it upon a division, unless (which I cannot suppose) some of the +Bishops should vote on the side of their maker. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLIV + +BATH, December 13, 1762. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter, which gave me a very +clear account of the debate in your House. It is impossible for a human +creature to speak well for three hours and a half; I question even if +Belial, who, according to Milton, was the orator of the fallen angels, +ever spoke so long at a time. + +There must have been, a trick in Charles Townshend's speaking for the +Preliminaries; for he is infinitely above having an opinion. Lord +Egremont must be ill, or have thoughts of going into some other place; +perhaps into Lord Granville's, who they say is dying: when he dies, the +ablest head in England dies too, take it for all in all. + +I shall be in town, barring accidents, this day sevennight, by +dinnertime; when I have ordered a haricot, to which you will be very +welcome, about four o'clock. 'En attendant Dieu vous aye dans sa sainte +garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLV + +BLACKHEATH, June 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, by the last mail, your letter of the 4th, +from The Hague; so far so good. + +You arrived 'sonica' at The Hague, for our Ambassador's entertainment; I +find he has been very civil to you. You are in the right to stop for two +or three days at Hanau, and make your court to the lady of that place. +--[Her Royal Highness Princess Mary of England, Landgravine of Hesse.]-- +Your Excellency makes a figure already in the newspapers; and let them, +and others, excellency you as much as they please, but pray suffer not +your own servants to do it. + +Nothing new of any kind has happened here since you went; so I will wish +you a good-night, and hope God will bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 14, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter from Ratisbon, where I +am glad that you are arrived safe. You are, I find, over head and ears +engaged in ceremony and etiquette. You must not yield in anything +essential, where your public character may suffer; but I advise you, at +the same time, to distinguish carefully what may, and what may not affect +it, and to despise some German 'minutiae'; such as one step lower or +higher upon the stairs, a bow more or less, and such sort of trifles. + +By what I see in Cressener's letter to you, the cheapness of wine +compensates the quantity, as the cheapness of servants compensates the +number that you must make use of. + +Write to your mother often, if it be but three words, to prove your +existence; for, when she does not hear from you, she knows to a +demonstration that you are dead, if not buried. + +The inclosed is a letter of the utmost consequence, which I was desired +to forward, with care and speed, to the most Serene LOUIS. + +My head is not well to-day. So God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVII + +BLACKHEATH, August 1, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I hope that by this time you are pretty well settled at +Ratisbon, at least as to the important points of the ceremonial; so that +you may know, to precision, to whom you must give, and from whom you must +require the 'seine Excellentz'. Those formalities are, no doubt, +ridiculous enough in themselves; but yet they are necessary for manners, +and sometimes for business; and both would suffer by laying them quite +aside. + +I have lately had an attack of a new complaint, which I have long +suspected that I had in my body, 'in actu primo', as the pedants call it, +but which I never felt in 'actu secundo' till last week, and that is a +fit of the stone or gravel. It was, thank God, but a slight one; but it +was 'dans toutes les formes'; for it was preceded by a pain in my loins, +which I at first took for some remains of my rheumatism; but was soon +convinced of my mistake, by making water much blacker than coffee, with a +prodigious sediment of gravel. I am now perfectly easy again, and have +no more indications of this complaint. + +God keep you from that and deafness! Other complaints are the common, +and almost the inevitable lot of human nature, but admit of some +mitigation. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 22, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will, by this post, hear from others that Lord +Egremont died two days ago of an apoplexy; which, from his figure, and +the constant plethora he lived in, was reasonably to be expected. You +will ask me, who is to be Secretary in his room: To which I answer, that +I do not know. I should guess Lord Sandwich, to be succeeded in the +Admiralty by Charles Townshend; unless the Duke of Bedford, who seems to +have taken to himself the department of Europe, should have a mind to it. +This event may perhaps produce others; but, till this happened, +everything was in a state of inaction, and absolutely nothing was done. +Before the next session, this chaos must necessarily take some form, +either by a new jumble of its own atoms, or by mixing them with the more +efficient ones of the opposition. + +I see by the newspapers, as well as by your letter, that the difficulties +still exist about your ceremonial at Ratisbon; should they, from pride +and folly, prove insuperable, and obstruct your real business, there is +one expedient which may perhaps remove difficulties, and which I have +often known practiced; but which I believe our people know here nothing +of; it is, to have the character of MINISTER only in your ostensible +title, and that of envoy extraordinary in your pocket, to produce +occasionally, especially if you should be sent to any of the Electors in +your neighborhood; or else, in any transactions that you may have, in +which your title of envoy extraordinary may create great difficulties, to +have a reversal given you, declaring that the temporary suspension of +that character, 'ne donnera pas la moindre atteinte ni a vos droits, +ni a vos pretensions'. As for the rest, divert yourself as well as you +can, and eat and drink as little as you can. And so God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 1, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Great news! The King sent for Mr. Pitt last Saturday, +and the conference lasted a full hour; on the Monday following another +conference, which lasted much longer; and yesterday a third, longer +than either. You take for granted, that the treaty was concluded and +ratified; no such matter, for this last conference broke it entirely off; +and Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple went yesterday evening to their respective +country houses. Would you know what it broke off upon, you must ask the +newsmongers, and the coffee-houses; who, I dare say, know it all very +minutely; but I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know, +honestly and humbly confess, that I cannot tell you; probably one party +asked too much, and the other would grant too little. However, the +King's dignity was not, in my mind, much consulted by their making him +sole plenipotentiary of a treaty, which they were not in all events +determined to conclude. It ought surely to have been begun by some +inferior agent, and his Majesty should only have appeared in rejecting or +ratifying it. Louis XIV. never sat down before a town in person, that +was not sure to be taken. + +However, 'ce qui est differe n'est pas perdu'; for this matter must be +taken up again, and concluded before the meeting of the parliament, +and probably upon more disadvantageous terms to the present Ministers, +who have tacitly admitted, by this negotiation, what their enemies have +loudly proclaimed, that they are not able to carry on affairs. So much +'de re politica'. + +I have at last done the best office that can be done to most married +people; that is, I have fixed the separation between my brother and his +wife; and the definitive treaty of peace will be proclaimed in about a +fortnight; for the only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his +wife, is, doubtless, a separation. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLX + +BLACKHEATH, September 30, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You will have known, long before this, from the office, +that the departments are not cast as you wished; for Lord Halifax, as +senior, had of course his choice, and chose the southern, upon account of +the colonies. The Ministry, such as it is, is now settled 'en attendant +mieux'; but, in, my opinion cannot, as they are, meet the parliament. + +The only, and all the efficient people they have, are in the House of +Lords: for since Mr. Pitt has firmly engaged Charles Townshend to him, +there is not a man of the court side, in the House of Commons, who has +either abilities or words enough to call a coach. Lord B---- is +certainly playing 'un dessous de cartes', and I suspect that it is with +Mr. Pitt; but what that 'dessous' is, I do not know, though all the +coffeehouses do most exactly. + +The present inaction, I believe, gives you leisure enough for 'ennui', +but it gives you time enough too for better things; I mean reading useful +books; and, what is still more useful, conversing with yourself some part +of every day. Lord Shaftesbury recommends self-conversation to all +authors; and I would recommend it to all men; they would be the better +for it. Some people have not time, and fewer have inclination, to enter +into that conversation; nay, very many dread it, and fly to the most +trifling dissipations, in order to avoid it; but, if a man would allot +half an hour every night for this self-conversation, and recapitulate +with himself whatever he has done, right or wrong, in the course of the +day, he would be both the better and the wiser for it. My deafness gives +me more than a sufficient time for self-conversation; and I have found +great advantages from it. My brother and Lady Stanhope are at last +finally parted. I was the negotiator between them; and had so much +trouble in it, that I would much rather negotiate the most difficult +point of the 'jus publicum Sacri Romani Imperii' with the whole Diet of +Ratisbon, than negotiate any point with any woman. If my brother had had +some of those self-conversations, which I recommend, he would not, I +believe, at past sixty, with a crazy, battered constitution, and deaf +into the bargain, have married a young girl, just turned of twenty, full +of health, and consequently of desires. But who takes warning by the +fate of others? This, perhaps, proceeds from a negligence of +selfconversation. God bless you. + + + + +LETTER CCLXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 17, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The last mail brought me your letter of the 2d instant, +as the former had brought me that of the 25th past. I did suppose that +you would be sent over, for the first day of the session; as I never knew +a stricter muster, and no furloughs allowed. I am very sorry for it, for +the reasons you hint at; but, however, you did very prudently, in doing, +'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing; and let that be your +rule in every thing for the rest of your life. Avoid disagreeable things +as much as by dexterity you can; but when they are unavoidable, do them +with seeming willingness and alacrity. Though this journey is ill-timed +for you in many respects, yet, in point of FINANCES, you will be a gainer +by it upon the whole; for, depend upon it, they will keep you here till +the very last day of the session: and I suppose you have sold your +horses, and dismissed some of your servants. Though they seem to +apprehend the first day of the session so much, in my opinion their +danger will be much greater in the course of it. + +When you are at Paris, you will of course wait upon Lord Hertford, and +desire him to present you to the King; at the same time make my +compliments to him, and thank him for the very obliging message he left +at my house in town; and tell him, that, had I received it in time from +thence, I would have come to town on purpose to have returned it in +person. If there are any new little books at Paris, pray bring them me. +I have already Voltaire's 'Zelis dans le Bain', his 'Droit du Seigneur', +and 'Olympie'. Do not forget to call once at Madame Monconseil's, and as +often as you please at Madame du Pin's. Au revoir. + + + + +LETTER CCLXII + +BATH, November 24, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here, as you suppose in your letter, last +Sunday; but after the worst day's journey I ever had in my life: it +snowed and froze that whole morning, and in the evening it rained and +thawed, which made the roads so slippery, that I was six hours coming +post from the Devizes, which is but eighteen miles from hence; so that, +but for the name of coming post, I might as well have walked on foot. I +have not yet quite got over my last violent attack, and am weak and +flimsy. + +I have now drank the waters but three days; so that, without a miracle, +I cannot yet expect much alteration, and I do not in the least expect a +miracle. If they proved 'les eaux de Jouvence' to me, that would be a +miracle indeed; but, as the late Pope Lambertini said, 'Fra noi, gli +miracoli sono passati girt un pezzo'. + +I have seen Harte, who inquired much after you: he is dejected and +dispirited, and thinks himself much worse than he is, though he has +really a tendency to the jaundice. I have yet seen nobody else, nor do I +know who here is to be seen; for I have not yet exhibited myself to +public view, except at the pump, which, at the time I go to it, is the +most private place in Bath. + +After all the fears and hopes, occasioned severally by the meeting of the +parliament, in my opinion, it will prove a very easy session. Mr. Wilkes +is universally given up; and if the ministers themselves do not wantonly +raise difficulties, I think they will meet with none. A majority of two +hundred is a great anodyne. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIII + +BATH, December 3, 1763. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Last post brought me your letter of the 29th past. I +suppose C----- T----- let off his speech upon the Princess's portion, +chiefly to show that he was of the opposition; for otherwise, the point +was not debatable, unless as to the quantum, against which something +might be said; for the late Princess of Orange (who was the eldest +daughter of a king) had no more, and her two sisters but half, if I am +not mistaken. + +It is a great mercy that Mr. Wilkes, the intrepid defender of our rights +and liberties, is out of danger, and may live to fight and write again in +support of them; and it is no less a mercy, that God hath raised up the +Earl of S------ to vindicate and promote true religion and morality. +These two blessings will justly make an epoch in the annals of this +country. + +I have delivered your message to Harte, who waits with impatience for +your letter. He is very happy now in having free access to all Lord +Craven's papers, which, he says, give him great lights into the 'bellum +tricenale'; the old Lord Craven having been the professed and valorous +knight-errant, and perhaps something more, to the Queen of Bohemia; at +least, like Sir Peter Pride, he had the honor of spending great part of +his estate in her royal cause: + +I am by no means right yet; I am very weak and flimsy still; but the +doctor assures me that strength and spirits will return; if they do, +'lucro apponam', I will make the best of them; if they do not, I will not +make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them. I have +lived long enough, and observed enough, to estimate most things at their +intrinsic, and not their imaginary value; and, at seventy, I find nothing +much worth either desiring or fearing. But these reflections, which suit +with seventy, would be greatly premature at two-and-thirty. So make the +best of your time; enjoy the present hour, but 'memor ultimae'. God +bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIV + +BATH, December 18, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter this morning, in which you +reproach me with not having written to you this week. The reason was, +that I did not know what to write. There is that sameness in my life +here, that EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST. I see very few people; +and, in the literal sense of the word, I hear nothing. + +Mr. L------ and Mr. C----- I hold to be two very ingenious men; and your +image of the two men ruined, one by losing his law-suit, and the other by +carrying it, is a very just one. To be sure, they felt in themselves +uncommon talents for business and speaking, which were to reimburse them. + +Harte has a great poetical work to publish, before it be long; he has +shown me some parts of it. He had entitled it "Emblems," but I persuaded +him to alter that name for two reasons; the first was, because they were +not emblems, but fables; the second was, that if they had been emblems, +Quarles had degraded and vilified that name to such a degree, that it is +impossible to make use of it after him; so they are to be called fables, +though moral tales would, in my mind, be the properest name. If you ask +me what I think of those I have seen, I must say, that 'sunt plura bona, +quaedam mediocria, et quaedam----' + +Your report of future changes, I cannot think is wholly groundless; for +it still runs strongly in my head, that the mine we talked of will be +sprung, at or before the end of the session. + +I have got a little more strength, but not quite the strength of +Hercules; so that I will not undertake, like him, fifty deflorations in +one night; for I really believe that I could not compass them. So good- +night, and God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXV + +BATH, December 24, 1763. + +DEAR FRIEND: I confess I was a good deal surprised at your pressing me so +strongly to influence Parson Rosenhagen, when you well know the +resolution I had made several years ago, and which I have scrupulously +observed ever since, not to concern myself, directly or indirectly, in +any party political contest whatsoever. Let parties go to loggerheads as +much and as long as they please; I will neither endeavor to part them, +nor take the part of either; for I know them all too well. But you say, +that Lord Sandwich has been remarkably civil, and kind to you. I am very +glad of it, and he can by no means impute to you my obstinacy, folly, or +philosophy, call it what you please: you may with great truth assure him, +that you did all you could to obey his commands. + +I am sorry to find that you are out of order, but I hope it is only a +cold; should it be anything more, pray consult Dr. Maty, who did you so +much good in your last illness, when the great medicinal Mattadores did +you rather harm. I have found a Monsieur Diafoirus here, Dr. Moisy, who +has really done me a great deal of good; and I am sure I wanted it a +great deal when I came here first. I have recovered some strength, and a +little more will give me as much as I can make use of. + +Lady Brown, whom I saw yesterday, makes you many compliments; and I wish +you a merry Christmas, and a good-night. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVI + +BATH, December 31, 1763 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Gravenkop wrote me word, by the last post, that you were +laid up with the gout: but I much question it, that is, whether it is the +gout or not. Your last illness, before you went abroad, was pronounced +the gout, by the skillful, and proved at last a mere rheumatism. Take +care that the same mistake is not made this year; and that by giving you +strong and hot medicines to throw out the gout, they do not inflame the +rheumatism, if it be one. + +Mr. Wilkes has imitated some of the great men of antiquity, by going into +voluntary exile: it was his only way of defeating both his creditors and +his prosecutors. Whatever his friends, if he has any, give out of his +returning soon, I will answer for it, that it will be a long time before +that soon comes. + +I have been much out of order these four days of a violent cold which I +do not know how I got, and which obliged me to suspend drinking the +waters: but it is now so much better, that I propose resuming them for +this week, and paying my court to you in town on Monday or Tuesday seven- +night: but this is 'sub spe rati' only. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 20, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 3d from +Prague, but I never received that which you mention from Ratisbon; this +made me think you in such rapid motion, that I did not know where to take +aim. I now suppose that you are arrived, though not yet settled, at +Dresden; your audiences and formalities are, to be sure, over, and that +is great ease of mind to you. + +I have no political events to acquaint you with; the summer is not the +season for them, they ripen only in winter; great ones are expected +immediately before the meeting of parliament, but that, you know, is +always the language of fears and hopes. However, I rather believe that +there will be something patched up between the INS and the OUTS. + +The whole subject of conversation, at present, is the death and will of +Lord Bath: he has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds in land and +money; four hundred thousand pounds in cash, stocks, and mortgages; his +own estate, in land, was improved to fifteen thousand pounds a-year, and +the Bradford estate, which he ----- is as much; both which, at only five- +and twenty years' purchase, amount to eight hundred thousand pounds; and +all this he has left to his brother, General Pulteney, and in his own +disposal, though he never loved him. The legacies he has left are +trifling; for, in truth, he cared for nobody: the words GIVE and BEQUEATH +were too shocking for him to repeat, and so he left all in one word to +his brother. The public, which was long the dupe of his simulation and +dissimulation, begins to explain upon him; and draws such a picture of +him as I gave you long ago. + +Your late secretary has been with me three or four times; he wants +something or another, and it seems all one to him what, whether civil or +military; in plain English, he wants bread. He has knocked at the doors +of some of the ministers, but to no purpose. I wish with all my heart +that I could help him: I told him fairly that I could not, but advised +him to find some channel to Lord B-----, which, though a Scotchman, he +told me he could not. He brought a packet of letters from the office to +you, which I made him seal up; and keep it for you, as I suppose it makes +up the series of your Ratisbon letters. + +As for me, I am just what I was when you left me, that is, nobody. Old +age steals upon me insensibly. I grow weak and decrepit, but do not +suffer, and so I am content. + +Forbes brought me four books of yours, two of which were Bielefeldt's +"Letters," in which, to my knowledge, there are many notorious lies. + +Make my compliments to Comte Einsiedel, whom I love and honor much; and +so good-night to 'seine Excellentz'. + +Now our correspondence may be more regular, and I expect a letter from +you every fortnight. I will be regular on my part: but write oftener to +your mother, if it be but three lines. + + + + +LETTER CCLXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, July 27,1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, two days ago, your letter of the 11th from +Dresden, where I am very glad that, you are safely arrived at last. The +prices of the necessaries of life are monstrous there; and I do not +conceive how the poor natives subsist at all, after having been so long +and so often plundered by their own as well as by other sovereigns. + +As for procuring you either the title or the appointments of +Plenipotentiary, I could as soon procure them from the Turkish as from +the English Ministry; and, in truth, I believe they have it not to give. + +Now to come to your civil list, if one may compare small things with +great: I think I have found out a better refreshment for it than you +propose; for to-morrow I shall send to your cashier, Mr. Larpent, five +hundred pounds at once, for your use, which, I presume, is better than by +quarterly payments; and I am very apt to think that next midsummer day, +he will have the same sum, and for the same use, consigned to him. + +It is reported here, and I believe not without some foundation, that the +queen of Hungary has acceded to the Family Compact between France and +Spain: if so, I am sure it behooves us to form in time a counter +alliance, of at least equal strength; which I could easily point out, but +which, I fear, is not thought of here. + +The rage of marrying is very prevalent; so that there will be probably a +great crop of cuckolds next winter, who are at present only 'cocus en +herbs'. It will contribute to population, and so far must be allowed to +be a public benefit. Lord G------, Mr. B-------, and Mr. D-------, are, +in this respect, very meritorious; for they have all married handsome +women, without one shilling fortune. Lord must indeed take some pains to +arrive at that dignity: but I dare say he will bring it about, by the +help of some young Scotch or Irish officer. Good-night, and God bless +you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXIX + +BLACKHEATH, September 3, 1764. + +DEAR FRIEND: I have received your letter of the 13th past. I see that +your complete arrangement approaches, and you need not be in a hurry to +give entertainments, since so few others do. + +Comte Flemming is the man in the world the best calculated to retrieve +the Saxon finances, which have been all this century squandered and +lavished with the most absurd profusion: he has certainly abilities, +and I believe integrity; I dare answer for him, that the gentleness and +flexibility of his temper will not prevail with him to yield to the +importunities of craving and petulant applications. I see in him another +Sully; and therefore I wish he were at the head of our finances. + +France and Spain both insult us, and we take it too tamely; for this is, +in my opinion, the time for us to talk high to them. France, I am +persuaded, will not quarrel with us till it has got a navy at least equal +to ours, which cannot be these three or four years at soonest; and then, +indeed, I believe we shall hear of something or other; therefore, this is +the moment for us to speak loud; and we shall be feared, if we do not +show that we fear. + +Here is no domestic news of changes and chances in the political world; +which, like oysters, are only in season in the R months, when the +parliament sits. I think there will be some then, but of what kind, God +knows. + +I have received a book for you, and one for myself, from Harte. It is +upon agriculture, and will surprise you, as I confess it did me. This +work is not only in English, but good and elegant English; he has even +scattered graces upon his subject; and in prose, has come very near +Virgil's "Georgics" in verse. I have written to him, to congratulate his +happy transformation. As soon as I can find an opportunity, I will send +you your copy. You (though no Agricola) will read it with pleasure. + +I know Mackenzie, whom you mention. 'C'est une delie; sed cave'. + +Make mine and Lady Chesterfield's compliments to Comte et Comtesse +Flemming; and so, 'Dieu vous aye en sa sainte garde'! + + + + +LETTER CCLXX + +BLACKHEATH, September 14, 1764 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter of the 30th past, by +which I find that you had not then got mine, which I sent you the day +after I had received your former; you have had no great loss of it; for, +as I told you in my last, this inactive season of the year supplies no +materials for a letter; the winter may, and probably will, produce an +abundant crop, but of what grain I neither know, guess, nor care. I take +it for granted, that Lord B------ 'surnagera encore', but by the +assistance of what bladders or cork-waistcoats God only knows. The death +of poor Mr. Legge, the epileptic fits of the Duke of Devonshire, for +which he is gone to Aix-la-Chapelle, and the advanced age of the Duke of +Newcastle, seem to facilitate an accommodation, if Mr. Pitt and Lord Bute +are inclined to it. + +You ask me what I think of the death of poor Iwan, and of the person who +ordered it. You may remember that I often said, she would murder or +marry him, or probably both; she has chosen the safest alternative; and +has now completed her character of femme forte, above scruples and +hesitation. If Machiavel were alive, she would probably be his heroine, +as Caesar Borgia was his hero. Women are all so far Machiavelians, that +they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too +strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation. She +will, perhaps, meet, before it is long, with some Scythian as free from +prejudices as herself. If there is one Oliver Cromwell in the three +regiments of guards, he will probably, for the sake of his dear country, +depose and murder her; for that is one and the same thing in Russia. + +You seem now to have settled, and 'bien nippe' at Dresden. Four +sedentary footmen, and one running one, 'font equipage leste'. The +German ones will give you, 'seine Excellentz'; and the French ones, if +you have any, Monseigneur. + +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good. God bless +you, and send you better! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXI + +BLACKHEATH, October 4, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your last letter, of the 16th past, lying +before me, and I gave your inclosed to Grevenkop, which has put him into +a violent bustle to execute your commissions, as well and as cheap as +possible. I refer him to his own letter. He tells you true as to +Comtesse Cosel's diamonds, which certainly nobody will buy here, unsight +unseen, as they call it; so many minutiae concurring to increase or +lessen the value of a diamond. Your Cheshire cheese, your Burton ale and +beer, I charge myself with, and they shall be sent you as soon as +possible. Upon this occasion I will give you a piece of advice, which by +experience I know to be useful. In all commissions, whether from men or +women, 'point de galanterie', bring them in your account, and be paid to +the uttermost farthing; but if you would show them 'une galanterie', +let your present be of something that is not in your commission, +otherwise you will be the 'Commissionaire banal' of all the women of +Saxony. 'A propos', Who is your Comtesse de Cosel? Is she daughter, or +grand-daughter, of the famous Madame de Cosel, in King Augustus's time? +Is she young or old, ugly or handsome? + +I do not wonder that people are wonderfully surprised at our tameness and +forbearance, with regard to France and Spain. Spain, indeed, has lately +agreed to our cutting log wood, according to the treaty, and sent strict +orders to their governor to allow it; but you will observe too, that +there is not one word of reparation for the losses we lately sustained +there. But France is not even so tractable; it will pay but half the +money due, upon a liquidated account, for the maintenance of their +prisoners. Our request, to have the Comte d'Estaing recalled and +censured, they have absolutely rejected, though, by the laws of war, he +might be hanged for having twice broke his parole. This does not do +France honor: however, I think we shall be quiet, and that at the only +time, perhaps this century, when we might, with safety, be otherwise: but +this is nothing new, nor the first time, by many, when national honor and +interest have been sacrificed to private. It has always been so: and one +may say, upon this occasion, what Horace says upon another, 'Nam fuit +ante Helenam'. + +I have seen 'les Contes de Guillaume Vade', and like most of them so +little, that I can hardly think them Voltaire's, but rather the scraps +that have fallen from his table, and been worked up by inferior workmen, +under his name. I have not seen the other book you mention, the +'Dictionnaire Portatif'. It is not yet come over. + +I shall next week go to take my winter quarters in London, the weather +here being very cold and damp, and not proper for an old, shattered, and +cold carcass, like mine. In November I will go to the Bath, to careen +myself for the winter, and to shift the scene. Good-night. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXII + +LONDON, October 19, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday morning Mr. ----- came to me, from Lord +Halifax, to ask me whether I thought you would approve of vacating your +seat in parliament, during the remainder of it, upon a valuable +consideration, meaning MONEY. My answer was, that I really did not know +your disposition upon that subject: but that I knew you would be very +willing, in general, to accommodate them, so far as lay in your power: +that your election, to my knowledge, had cost you two thousand pounds; +that this parliament had not sat above half its time; and that, for my +part, I approved of the measure well enough, provided you had an +equitable equivalent. I take it for granted that you will have a letter +from ------, by this post, to that effect, so that you must consider what +you will do. What I advise is this: Give them a good deal of 'Galbanum' +in the first part of your letter. 'Le Galbanum ne coute rien'; and then +say that you are willing to do as they please; but that you hope an +equitable consideration will be had to the two thousand pounds, which +your seat cost you in the present parliament, of which not above half the +term is expired. Moreover, that you take the liberty to remind them, +that your being sent from Ratisbon, last session, when you were just +settled there, put you to the expense of three or four hundred pounds, +for which you were allowed nothing; and that, therefore, you hope they +will not think one thousand pounds too much, considering all these +circumstances: but that, in all events, you will do whatever they desire. +Upon the whole, I think this proposal advantageous to you, as you +probably will not make use of your seat this parliament; and, further, as +it will secure you from another unpaid journey from Dresden, in case they +meet, or fear to meet, with difficulties in any ensuing session of the +present parliament. Whatever one must do, one should do 'de bonne +grace'. 'Dixi'. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIII + +BATH, November 10, 1764. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I am much concerned at the account you gave me of +yourself, in your last letter. There is, to be sure, at such a town as +Dresden, at least some one very skillful physician, whom I hope you have +consulted; and I would have you acquaint him with all your several +attacks of this nature, from your great one at Laubach, to your late one +at Dresden: tell him, too, that in your last illness in England, the +physicians mistook your case, and treated it as the gout, till Maty came, +who treated it as a rheumatism, and cured you. In my own opinion, +you have never had the gout, but always the rheumatism; which, to my +knowledge, is as painful as the gout can possibly be, and should be +treated in a quite different way; that is, by cooling medicines and +regimen, instead of those inflammatory cordials which they always +administer where they suppose the gout, to keep it, as they say, out of +the stomach. + +I have been here now just a week; but have hitherto drank so little of +the water, that I can neither speak well nor ill of it. The number of +people in this place is infinite; but very few whom I know. Harte seems +settled here for life. He is not well, that is certain; but not so ill +neither as he thinks himself, or at least would be thought. + +I long for your answer to my last letter, containing a certain proposal, +which, by this time, I suppose has been made you, and which, in the main, +I approve of your accepting. + +God bless you, my dear friend! and send you better health! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIV + +LONDON, February 26, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your last letter, of the 5th, gave me as much pleasure +as your former had given me uneasiness; and Larpent's acknowledgment of +his negligence frees you from those suspicions, which I own I did +entertain, and which I believe every one would, in the same concurrence +of circumstances, have entertained. So much for that. + +You may depend upon what I promised you, before midsummer next, at +farthest, and AT LEAST. + +All I can say of the affair between you, of the Corps Diplomatique, and +the Saxon Ministers, is, 'que voila bien du bruit pour une omelette au +lard'. It will most certainly be soon made up; and in that negotiation +show yourself as moderate and healing as your instructions from hence +will allow, especially to Comte de Flemming. The King of Prussia, I +believe, has a mind to insult him personally, as an old enemy, or else to +quarrel with Saxony, that dares not quarrel with him; but some of the +Corps Diplomatique here assure me it is only a pretense to recall his +envoy, and to send, when matters shall be made up, a little secretary +there, 'a moins de fraix', as he does now to Paris and London. + +Comte Bruhl is much in fashion here; I like him mightily; he has very +much 'le ton de la bonne campagnie'. Poor Schrader died last Saturday, +without the least pain or sickness. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXV + +LONDON, April 22, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The day before yesterday I received your letter of the +3d instant. I find that your important affair of the ceremonial is +adjusted at last, as I foresaw it would be. Such minutiae are often laid +hold on as a pretense, for powers who have a mind to quarrel; but are +never tenaciously insisted upon where there is neither interest nor +inclination to break. Comte Flemming, though a hot, is a wise man; and I +was sure would not break, both with England and Hanover, upon so trifling +a point, especially during a minority. 'A propos' of a minority; the +King is to come to the House to-morrow, to recommend a bill to settle a +Regency, in case of his demise while his successor is a minor. Upon the +King's late illness, which was no trifling one, the whole nation cried +out aloud for such a bill, for reasons which will readily occur to you, +who know situations, persons, and characters here. I do not know the +particulars of this intended bill; but I wish it may be copied exactly +from that which was passed in the late King's time, when the present King +was a minor. I am sure there cannot be a better. + +You inquire about Monsieur de Guerchy's affair; and I will give you as +succinct an account as I can of so extraordinary and perplexed a +transaction: but without giving you my own opinion of it by the common +post. You know what passed at first between Mr. de Guerchy and Monsieur +d'Eon, in which both our Ministers and Monsieur de Guerchy, from utter +inexperience in business, puzzled themselves into disagreeable +difficulties. About three or four months ago, Monsieur du Vergy +published in a brochure, a parcel of letters, from himself to the Duc de +Choiseul; in which he positively asserts that Monsieur de Guerchy +prevailed with him (Vergy) to come over into England to assassinate +d'Eon; the words are, as well as I remember, 'que ce n'etoit pas pour se +servir de sa plume, mais de son epee, qu'on le demandoit en Angleterre'. +This accusation of assassination, you may imagine, shocked Monsieur de +Guerchy, who complained bitterly to our Ministers; and they both puzzled +on for some time, without doing anything, because they did not know what +to do. At last du Vergy, about two months ago, applied himself to the +Grand Jury of Middlesex, and made oath that Mr. de Guerchy had hired him +(du Vergy) to assassinate d'Eon. Upon this deposition, the Grand jury +found a bill of intended murder against Monsieur de Guerchy; which bill, +however, never came to the Petty Jury. The King granted a 'noli +prosequi' in favor of Monsieur de Guerchy; and the Attorney-General is +actually prosecuting du Vergy. Whether the King can grant a 'noli +prosequi' in a criminal case, and whether 'le droit des gens' extends to +criminal cases, are two points which employ our domestic politicians, and +the whole Corps Diplomatique. 'Enfin', to use a very coarse and vulgar +saying, 'il y a de la merde au bout du baton, quelque part'. + +I see and hear these storms from shore, 'suave mari magno', etc. I enjoy +my own security and tranquillity, together with better health than I had +reason to expect at my age, and with my constitution: however, I feel a +gradual decay, though a gentle one; and I think that I shall not tumble, +but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life. When that will be, +I neither know nor care, for I am very weary. God bless you! + +Mallet died two days ago, of a diarrhoea, which he had carried with him +to France, and brought back again hither. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVI + +BLACKHEATH, July 2, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 22d past; +and I delayed answering your former in daily, or rather hourly +expectation of informing you of the birth of a new Ministry; but in vain; +for, after a thousand conferences, all things remain still in the state +which I described to you in my last. Lord S. has, I believe, given you +a pretty true account of the present state of things; but my Lord is much +mistaken, I am persuaded, when he says that THE KING HAS THOUGHT PROPER +TO RE-ESTABLISH HIS OLD SERVANTS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF HIS AFFAIRS; for +he +shows them all the public dislike possible; and, at his levee, hardly +speaks to any of them; but speaks by the hour to anybody else. +Conferences, in the meantime, go on, of which it is easy to guess the +main subject, but impossible, for me at least, to know the particulars; +but this I will venture to prophesy, that the whole will soon centre in +Mr. Pitt. + +You seem not to know the character of the Queen: here it is. She is a +good woman, a good wife, a tender mother; and an unmeddling Queen. The +King loves her as a woman; but, I verily believe, has never yet spoke one +word to her about business. I have now told you all that I know of these +affairs; which, I believe, is as much as anybody else knows, who is not +in the secret. In the meantime, you easily guess that surmises, +conjectures, and reports are infinite; and if, as they say, truth is but +one, one million at least of these reports must be false; for they differ +exceedingly. + +You have lost an honest servant by the death of poor Louis; I would +advise you to take a clever young Saxon in his room, of whose character +you may get authentic testimonies, instead of sending for one to France, +whose character you can only know from far. + +When I hear more, I will write more; till when, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVII + +BLACKHEATH, July 15, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I told you in my last, that you should hear from me +again, as soon as I had anything more to write; and now I have too much +to write, therefore will refer you to the "Gazette," and the office +letters, for all that has been done; and advise you to suspend your +opinion, as I do, about all that is to be done. Many more changes are +talked of, but so idly, and variously, that I give credit to none of +them. There has been pretty clean sweeping already; and I do not +remember, in my time, to have seen so much at once, as an entire new +Board of Treasury, and two new Secretaries of State, 'cum multis aliis', +etc. + +Here is a new political arch almost built, but of materials of so +different a nature, and without a key-stone, that it does not, in my +opinion, indicate either strength or duration. It will certainly require +repairs, and a key-stone next winter; and that key-stone will, and must +necessarily be, Mr. Pitt. It is true he might have been that keystone +now; and would have accepted it, but not without Lord Temple's consent, +and Lord Temple positively refused. There was evidently some trick in +this, but what is past my conjecturing. 'Davus sum, non OEdipus'. + +There is a manifest interregnum in the Treasury; for I do suppose that +Lord Rockingham and Mr. Dowdeswell will not think proper to be very +active. General Conway, who is your Secretary, has certainly parts at +least equal to his business, to which, I dare say, he will apply. The +same may be said, I believe, of the Duke of Grafton; and indeed there is +no magic requisite for the executive part of those employments. The +ministerial part is another thing; they must scramble with their fellow- +servants, for power and favor, as well as they can. Foreign affairs are +not so much as mentioned, and, I verily believe, not thought of. But +surely some counterbalance would be necessary to the Family compact; and, +if not soon contracted, will be too late. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXVIII + +BLACKHEATH, August 17, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: You are now two letters in my debt; and I fear the gout +has been the cause of your contracting that debt. When you are not able +to write yourself, let your Secretary send me two or three lines to +acquaint me how you are. + +You have now seen by the London "Gazette," what changes have really been +made at court; but, at the same time, I believe you have seen that there +must be more, before a Ministry can be settled; what those will be, God +knows. Were I to conjecture, I should say that the whole will centre, +before it is long, in Mr. Pitt and Co., the present being an +heterogeneous jumble of youth and caducity, which cannot be efficient. + +Charles Townshend calls the present a Lutestring Ministry; fit only for +the summer. The next session will be not only a warm, but a violent one, +as you will easily judge; if you look over the names of the INS and of +the OUTS. + +I feel this beginning of the autumn, which is already very cold: the +leaves are withered, fall apace, and seem to intimate that I must follow +them; which I shall do without reluctance, being extremely weary of this +silly world. God bless you, both in it and after it! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXIX + +BLACKHEATH, August 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received but four days ago your letter of the 2d +instant. I find by it that you are well, for you are in good spirits. +Your notion of the new birth or regeneration of the Ministry is a very +just one; and that they have not yet the true seal of the covenant is, +I dare say, very true; at least it is not in the possession of either of +the Secretaries of State, who have only the King's seal; nor do I believe +(whatever his Grace may imagine) that it is even in the possession of the +Lord Privy Seal. I own I am lost, in considering the present situation +of affairs; different conjectures present themselves to my mind, but none +that it can rest upon. The next session must necessarily clear up +matters a good deal; for I believe it will be the warmest and most +acrimonious one that has been known, since that of the Excise. The late +Ministry, THE PRESENT OPPOSITION, are determined to attack Lord B----- +publicly in parliament, and reduce the late Opposition, THE PRESENT +MINISTRY, to protect him publicly, in consequence of their supposed +treaty with him. 'En attendant mieux', the paper war is carried on with +much fury and scurrility on all sides, to the great entertainment of such +lazy and impartial people as myself: I do not know whether you have the +"Daily Advertiser," and the "Public Advertiser," in which all political +letters are inserted, and some very well-written ones on both sides; but +I know that they amuse me, 'tant bien que mal', for an hour or two every +morning. Lord T------ is the supposed author of the pamphlet you +mention; but I think it is above him. Perhaps his brother C---- T------, +who is by no means satisfied with the present arrangement, may have +assisted him privately. As to this latter, there was a good ridiculous +paragraph in the newspapers two or three days ago. WE HEAR THAT THE +RIGHT HONORABLE MR. C-----T------ IS INDISPOSED AT HIS HOUSE IN +OXFORDSHIRE, OF A PAIN IN HIS SIDE; BUT IT IS NOT SAID IN WHICH SIDE. + +I do not find that the Duke of York has yet visited you; if he should, it +may be expensive, 'mais on trouvera moyen'. As for the lady, if you +should be very sharp set for some English flesh, she has it amply in her +power to supply you if she pleases. Pray tell me in your next, what you +think of, and how you like, Prince Henry of Prussia. God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXX + +MY DEAR FRIEND: Your great character of Prince Henry, which I take to be +a very just one, lowers the King of Prussia's a great deal; and probably +that is the cause of their being so ill together. But the King of +Prussia, with his good parts, should reflect upon that trite and true +maxim, 'Qui invidet minor', or Mr. de la Rouchefoucault's, 'Que l'envie +est la plus basse de toutes les passions, puisqu'on avoue bien des +crimes, mais que personae n'avoue l'envie'. I thank God, I never was +sensible of that dark and vile passion, except that formerly I have +sometimes envied a successful rival with a fine woman. But now that +cause is ceased, and consequently the effects. + +What shall I, or rather what can I tell you of the political world here? +The late Ministers accuse the present with having done nothing, the +present accuse the late ones with having done much worse than nothing. +Their writers abuse one another most scurrilously, but sometimes with +wit. I look upon this to be 'peloter en attendant partie', till battle +begins in St., Stephen's Chapel. How that will end, I protest I cannot +conjecture; any farther than this, that if Mr. Pitt does not come into +the assistance of the present ministers, they will have much to do to +stand their ground. C----- T------ will play booty; and who else have +they? Nobody but C-----, who has only good sense, but not the necessary +talents nor experience, 'AEre ciere viros martemque accendere cantu'. +I never remember, in all my time, to have seen so problematical a state +of affairs, and a man would be much puzzled which side to bet on. + +Your guest, Miss C----- , is another problem which I cannot solve. She +no more wanted the waters of Carlsbadt than you did. Is it to show the +Duke of Kingston that he cannot live without her? a dangerous experiment! +which may possibly convince him that he can. There is a trick no doubt +in it; but what, I neither know nor care; you did very well to show her +civilities, 'cela ne gute jamais rien'. I will go to my waters, that is, +the Bath waters, in three weeks or a month, more for the sake of bathing +than of drinking. The hot bath always promotes my perspiration, which is +sluggish, and supples my stiff rheumatic limbs. 'D'ailleurs', I am at +present as well, and better than I could reasonably expect to be, 'annu +septuagesimo primo'. May you be so as long, 'y mas'! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXI + +LONDON, October 25, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I received your letter of the 10th 'sonica'; for I set +out for Bath to-morrow morning. + +If the use of those waters does me no good, the shifting the scene for +some time will at least amuse me a little; and at my age, and with my +infirmities, 'il faut faire de tout bois feche'. Some variety is as +necessary for the mind as some medicines are for the body. + +Here is a total stagnation of politics, which, I suppose, will continue +till the parliament sits to do business, and that will not be till about +the middle of January; for the meeting on the 17th December is only for +the sake of some new writs. The late ministers threaten the present +ones; but the latter do not seem in the least afraid of the former, and +for a very good reason, which is, that they have the distribution of the +loaves and fishes. I believe it is very certain that Mr. Pitt will never +come into this, or any other administration: he is absolutely a cripple +all the year, and in violent pain at least half of it. Such physical +ills are great checks to two of the strongest passions to which human +nature is liable, love and ambition. Though I cannot persuade myself +that the present ministry can be long lived, I can as little imagine who +or what can succeed them, 'telle est la-disette de sujets papables'. +The Duke of swears that he will have Lord personally attacked in both +Houses; but I do not see how, without endangering himself at the same +time. + +Miss C------ is safely arrived here, and her Duke is fonder of her than +ever. It was a dangerous experiment that she tried, in leaving him so +long; but it seems she knew her man. + +I pity you for the inundation of your good countrymen, which overwhelms +you; 'je sais ce qu'en vaut l'aune. It is, besides, expensive, but, as I +look upon the expense to be the least evil of the two, I will see if a +New-Year's gift will not make it up. + +As I am now upon the wing, I will only add, God bless you! + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXII + +BATH, November 28, 1765 + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 10th. +I have now been here a month, bathing and drinking the waters, for +complaints much of the same kind as yours, I mean pains in my legs, hips, +and arms: whether gouty or rheumatic, God knows; but, I believe, both, +that fight without a decision in favor of either, and have absolutely +reduced me to the miserable situation of the Sphinx's riddle, to walk +upon three legs; that is, with the assistance of my stick, to walk, or +rather hobble, very indifferently. I wish it were a declared gout, which +is the distemper of a gentleman; whereas the rheumatism is the distemper +of a hackney-coachman or chairman, who is obliged to be out in all +weathers and at all hours. + +I think you will do very right to ask leave, and I dare say you will +easily get it, to go to the baths in Suabia; that is, supposing that you +have consulted some skillful physician, if such a one there be, either at +Dresden or at Leipsic, about the nature of your distemper, and the nature +of those baths; but, 'suos quisque patimur manes'. We have but a bad +bargain, God knows, of this life, and patience is the only way not to +make bad worse. Mr. Pitt keeps his bed here, with a very real gout, and +not a political one, as is often suspected. + +Here has been a congress of most of the 'ex Ministres'. If they have +raised a battery, as I suppose they have, it is a masked one, for nothing +has transpired; only they confess that they intend a most vigorous +attack. 'D'ailleurs', there seems to be a total suspension of all +business, till the meeting of the parliament, and then 'Signa canant'. +I am very glad that at this time you are out of it: and for reasons that +I need not mention: you would certainly have been sent for over, and, as +before, not paid for your journey. + +Poor Harte is very ill, and condemned to the Hot well at Bristol. He is +a better poet than philosopher: for all this illness and melancholy +proceeds originally from the ill success of his "Gustavus Adolphus." +He is grown extremely devout, which I am very glad of, because that is +always a comfort to the afflicted. + +I cannot present Mr. Larpent with my New-Year's gift, till I come to +town, which will be before Christmas at farthest; till when, God bless +you! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER CCLXXXIII + +LONDON, December 27, 1765. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: I arrived here from Bath last Monday, rather, but not +much better, than when I went over there. My rheumatic pains, in my legs +and hips, plague me still, and I must never expect to be quite free from +them. + +You have, to be sure, had from the office an account of what the +parliament did, or rather did not do, the day of their meeting; and the +same point will be the great object at their next meeting; I mean the +affair of our American Colonies, relatively to the late imposed Stamp- +duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay. The Administration +are for some indulgence and forbearance to those froward children of +their mother country; the Opposition are for taking vigorous, as they +call them, but I call them violent measures; not less than 'les +dragonnades'; and to have the tax collected by the troops we have there. +For my part, I never saw a froward child mended by whipping; and I would +not have the mother country become a stepmother. Our trade to America +brings in, 'communibus annis', two millions a year; and the Stamp-duty is +estimated at but one hundred thousand pounds a year; which I would by no +means bring into the stock of the Exchequer, at the loss or even the risk +of a million a year to the national stock. + +I do not tell you of the Garter given away yesterday, because the +newspapers will; but, I must observe, that the Prince of Brunswick's +riband is a mark of great distinction to that family; which I believe, is +the first (except our own Royal Family) that has ever had two blue +ribands at a time; but it must be owned they deserve them. + +One hears of nothing now in town, but the separation of men and their +wives. Will Finch, the Ex-vice Chamberlain, Lord Warwick, and your +friend Lord Bolingbroke. I wonder at none of them for parting; but I +wonder at many for still living together; for in this country it is +certain that marriage is not well understood. + +I have this day sent Mr. Larpent two hundred pounds for your Christmas- +box, of which I suppose he will inform you by this post. Make this +Christmas as merry a one as you can; for 'pour le peu du bon tems qui +nous reste, rien nest si funeste, qu'un noir chagrin'. For the new years +--God send you many, and happy ones! Adieu. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Always made the best of the best, and never made bad worse +American Colonies +Be neither transported nor depressed by the accidents of life +Doing, 'de bonne grace', what you could not help doing +EVERY DAY IS STILL BUT AS THE FIRST +Everything has a better and a worse side +Extremely weary of this silly world +Gainer by your misfortune +I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know +If I cared to know, you should have cared to have written +Intrinsic, and not their imaginary value +My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good +National honor and interest have been sacrificed to private +Neither abilities or words enough to call a coach +Neither know nor care, (when I die) for I am very weary +Never saw a froward child mended by whipping +Never to trust implicitly to the informations of others +Not make their want still worse by grieving and regretting them +Not tumble, but slide gently to the bottom of the hill of life +Nothing much worth either desiring or fearing +Often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows +Only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his wife +Oysters, are only in season in the R months +Patience is the only way not to make bad worse +Recommends self-conversation to all authors +Return you the ball 'a la volee' +Settled here for good, as it is called +Stamp-duty, which our Colonists absolutely refuse to pay +Thinks himself much worse than he is +To seem to have forgotten what one remembers +We shall be feared, if we do not show that we fear +Whatever one must do, one should do 'de bonne grace' +Who takes warning by the fate of others? +Women are all so far Machiavelians + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1759-65 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + diff --git a/old/lc09s11.zip b/old/lc09s11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b297c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc09s11.zip |