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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, 1749 + +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 LXII + +LONDON, January 10, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received your letter of the 31st December, N. S. Your +thanks for my present, as you call it, exceed the value of the present; +but the use, which you assure me that you will make of it, is the thanks +which I desire to receive. Due attention to the inside of books, and due +contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense +and his books. + +Now that you are going a little more into the world; I will take this +occasion to explain my intentions as to your future expenses, that you +may know what you have to expect from me, and make your plan accordingly. +I shall neither deny nor grudge you any money, that may be necessary for +either your improvement or your pleasures: I mean the pleasures of a +rational being. Under the head of improvement, I mean the best books, +and the best masters, cost what they will; I also mean all the expense of +lodgings, coach, dress; servants, etc., which, according to the several +places where you may be, shall be respectively necessary to enable you to +keep the best company. Under the head of rational pleasures, +I comprehend, first, proper charities, to real and compassionate objects +of it; secondly, proper presents to those to whom you are obliged, or +whom you desire to oblige; thirdly, a conformity of expense to that of +the company which you keep; as in public spectacles; your share of little +entertainments; a few pistoles at games of mere commerce; and other +incidental calls of good company. The only two articles which I will +never supply, are the profusion of low riot, and the idle lavishness of +negligence and laziness. A fool squanders away, without credit or +advantage to himself, more than a man of sense spends with both. The +latter employs his money as he does his time, and never spends a shilling +of the one, nor a minute of the other, but in something that is either +useful or rationally pleasing to himself or others. The former buys +whatever he does not want, and does not pay for what he does want. He +cannot withstand the charms of a toyshop; snuff-boxes, watches, heads of +canes, etc., are his destruction. His servants and tradesmen conspire +with his own indolence to cheat him; and, in a very little time, he is +astonished, in the midst of all the ridiculous superfluities, to find +himself in want of all the real comforts and necessaries of life. +Without care and method, the largest fortune will not, and with them, +almost the smallest will, supply all necessary expenses. As far as you +can possibly, pay ready money for everything you buy and avoid bills. +Pay that money, too, yourself, and not through the hands of any servant, +who always either stipulates poundage, or requires a present for his good +word, as they call it. Where you must have bills (as for meat and drink, +clothes, etc.), pay them regularly every month, and with your own hand. +Never, from a mistaken economy, buy a thing you do not want, because it +is cheap; or from a silly pride, because it is dear. Keep an account in +a book of all that you receive, and of all that you pay; for no man who +knows what he receives and what he pays ever runs out. I do not mean +that you should keep an account of the shillings and half-crowns which +you may spend in chair-hire, operas, etc.: they are unworthy of the time, +and of the ink that they would consume; leave such minutia to dull, +penny-wise fellows; but remember, in economy, as well as in every other +part of life, to have the proper attention to proper objects, and the +proper contempt for little ones. A strong mind sees things in their true +proportions; a weak one views them through a magnifying medium, which, +like the microscope, makes an elephant of a flea: magnifies all little +objects, but cannot receive great ones. I have known many a man pass for +a miser, by saving a penny and wrangling for twopence, who was undoing +himself at the same time by living above his income, and not attending to +essential articles which were above his 'portee'. The sure +characteristic of a sound and strong mind, is to find in everything those +certain bounds, 'quos ultra citrave nequit consistere rectum'. These +boundaries are marked out by a very fine line, which only good sense and +attention can discover; it is much too fine for vulgar eyes. In manners, +this line is good-breeding; beyond it, is troublesome ceremony; short of +it, is unbecoming negligence and inattention. In morals, it divides +ostentatious puritanism from criminal relaxation; in religion, +superstition from impiety: and, in short, every virtue from its kindred +vice or weakness. I think you have sense enough to discover the line; +keep it always in your eye, and learn to walk upon it; rest upon Mr. +Harte, and he will poise you till you are able to go alone. By the way, +there are fewer people who walk well upon that line, than upon the slack +rope; and therefore a good performer shines so much the more. + +Your friend Comte Pertingue, who constantly inquires after you, has +written to Comte Salmour, the Governor of the Academy at Turin, to +prepare a room for you there immediately after the Ascension: and has +recommended you to him in a manner which I hope you will give him no +reason to repent or be ashamed of. As Comte Salmour's son, now residing +at The Hague, is my particular acquaintance, I shall have regular and +authentic accounts of all that you do at Turin. + +During your stay at Berlin, I expect that you should inform yourself +thoroughly of the present state of the civil, military, and +ecclesiastical government of the King of Prussia's dominions; +particularly of the military, which is upon a better footing in that +country than in any other in Europe. + +You will attend at the reviews, see the troops exercised, and inquire +into the numbers of troops and companies in the respective regiments of +horse, foot, and dragoons; the numbers and titles of the commissioned and +non-commissioned officers in the several troops and companies; and also +take care to learn the technical military terms in the German language; +for though you are not to be a military man, yet these military matters +are so frequently the subject of conversation, that you will look very +awkwardly if you are ignorant of them. Moreover, they are commonly the +objects of negotiation, and, as such, fall within your future profession. +You must also inform yourself of the reformation which the King of +Prussia has lately made in the law; by which he has both lessened the +number, and shortened the duration of law-suits; a great work, and worthy +of so great a prince! As he is indisputably the ablest prince in Europe, +every part of his government deserves your most diligent inquiry, and +your most serious attention. It must be owned that you set out well, as +a young politician, by beginning at Berlin, and then going to Turin, +where you will see the next ablest monarch to that of Prussia; so that, +if you are capable of making political reflections, those two princes +will furnish you with sufficient matter for them. + +I would have you endeavor to get acquainted with Monsieur de Maupertuis, +who is so eminently distinguished by all kinds of learning and merit, +that one should be both sorry and ashamed of having been even a day in +the same place with him, and not to have seen him. If you should have no +other way of being introduced to him, I will send you a letter from +hence. Monsieur Cagenoni, at Berlin, to whom I know you are recommended, +is a very able man of business, thoroughly informed of every part of +Europe; and his acquaintance, if you deserve and improve it as you should +do, may be of great use to you. + +Remember to take the best dancing-master at Berlin, more to teach you to +sit, stand, and walk gracefully, than to dance finely. The Graces, the +Graces; remember the Graces! Adieu! + + + + +LETTER LXIII + +LONDON, January 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received your letter of the l2th, N. S., in which I was +surprised to find no mention of your approaching journey to Berlin, +which, according to the first plan, was to be on the 20th, N. S., and +upon which supposition I have for some time directed my letters to you, +and Mr. Harte, at Berlin. I should be glad that yours were more minute +with regard to your motions and transactions; and I desire that, for the +future, they may contain accounts of what and who you see and hear, in +your several places of residence; for I interest myself as much in the +company you keep, and the pleasures you take, as in the studies you +pursue; and therefore, equally desire to be informed of them all. +Another thing I desire, which is, that you will acknowledge my letters by +their dates, that I may know which you do, and which you do not receive. + +As you found your brain considerably affected by the cold, you were very +prudent not to turn it to poetry in that situation; and not less +judicious in declining the borrowed aid of a stove, whose fumigation, +instead of inspiration, would at best have produced what Mr. Pope calls a +souterkin of wit. I will show your letter to Duval, by way of +justification for not answering his challenge; and I think he must allow +the validity of it; for a frozen brain is as unfit to answer a challenge +in poetry, as a blunt sword is for a single combat. + +You may if you please, and therefore I flatter myself that you will, +profit considerably by your stay at Berlin, in the article of manners and +useful knowledge. Attention to what you will see and hear there, +together with proper inquiries, and a little care and method in taking +notes of what is more material, will procure you much useful knowledge. +Many young people are so light, so dissipated, and so incurious, that +they can hardly be said to see what they see, or hear what they hear: +that is, they hear in so superficial and inattentive a manner, that they +might as well not see nor hear at all. For instance, if they see a +public building, as a college, an hospital, an arsenal, etc., they +content themselves with the first 'coup d'oeil', and neither take the +time nor the trouble of informing themselves of the material parts of +them; which are the constitution, the rules, and the order and economy in +the inside. You will, I hope, go deeper, and make your way into the +substance of things. For example, should you see a regiment reviewed at +Berlin or Potsdam, instead of contenting yourself with the general +glitter of the collective corps, and saying, 'par maniere d'acquit', that +is very fine, I hope you will ask what number of troops or companies it +consists of; what number of officers of the Etat Major, and what number +of subalternes; how many 'bas officiers', or non-commissioned officers, +as sergeants, corporals, 'anspessades, frey corporals', etc., their pay, +their clothing, and by whom; whether by the colonels, or captains, or +commissaries appointed for that purpose; to whom they are accountable; +the method of recruiting, completing, etc. + +The same in civil matters: inform yourself of the jurisdiction of a court +of justice; of the rules and numbers and endowments of a college, or an +academy, and not only of the dimensions of the respective edifices; and +let your letters to me contain these informations, in proportion as you +acquire them. + +I often reflect, with the most flattering hopes, how proud I shall be of +you, if you should profit, as you may, of the opportunities which you +have had, still have, and will have, of arriving at perfection; and, +on the other hand, with dread of the grief and shame you will give me +if you do not. May the first be the case! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER LXIV + +LONDON, February 7, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: You are now come to an age capable of reflection, and I hope +you will do, what, however, few people at your age do, exert it for your +own sake in the search of truth and sound knowledge. I will confess (for +I am not unwilling to discover my secrets to you) that it is not many +years since I have presumed to reflect for myself. Till sixteen or +seventeen I had no reflection; and for many years after that, I made no +use of what I had. I adopted the notions of the books I read, or the +company I kept, without examining whether they were just or not; and I +rather chose to run the risk of easy error, than to take the time and +trouble of investigating truth. Thus, partly from laziness, partly from +dissipation, and partly from the 'mauvaise honte' of rejecting +fashionable notions, I was (as I have since found) hurried away by +prejudices, instead of being guided by reason; and quietly cherished +error, instead of seeking for truth. But since I have taken the trouble +of reasoning for myself, and have had the courage to own that I do so, +you cannot imagine how much my notions of things are altered, and in how +different a light I now see them, from that in which I formerly viewed +them, through the deceitful medium of prejudice or authority. Nay, I may +possibly still retain many errors, which, from long habit, have perhaps +grown into real opinions; for it is very difficult to distinguish habits, +early acquired and long entertained, from the result of our reason and +reflection. + +My first prejudice (for I do not mention the prejudices of boys, and +women, such as hobgoblins, ghosts, dreams, spilling salt, etc.) was my +classical enthusiasm, which I received from the books I read, and the +masters who explained them to me. I was convinced there had been no +common sense nor common honesty in the world for these last fifteen +hundred years; but that they were totally extinguished with the ancient +Greek and Roman governments. Homer and Virgil could have no faults, +because they were ancient; Milton and Tasso could have no merit, because +they were modern. And I could almost have said, with regard to the +ancients, what Cicero, very absurdly and unbecomingly for a philosopher, +says with regard to Plato, 'Cum quo errare malim quam cum aliis recte +sentire'. Whereas now, without any extraordinary effort of genius, I +have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as it +is at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and +customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can +no more suppose that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred +or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or +vegetables were better then than they are now. I dare assert too, in +defiance of the favorers of the ancients, that Homer's hero, Achilles, +was both a brute and a scoundrel, and consequently an improper character +for the hero of an epic poem; he had so little regard for his country, +that he would not act in defense of it, because he had quarreled with +Agamemnon about a w---e; and then afterward, animated by private +resentment only, he went about killing people basely, I will call it, +because he knew himself invulnerable; and yet, invulnerable as he was, +he wore the strongest armor in the world; which I humbly apprehend to be +a blunder; for a horse-shoe clapped to his vulnerable heel would have +been sufficient. On the other hand, with submission to the favorers of +the moderns, I assert with Mr. Dryden, that the devil is in truth the +hero of Milton's poem; his plan, which he lays, pursues, and at last +executes, being the subject of the poem. From all which considerations +I impartially conclude that the ancients had their excellencies and their +defects, their virtues and their vices, just like the moderns; pedantry +and affectation of learning decide clearly in favor of the former; vanity +and ignorance, as peremptorily in favor of the latter. Religious +prejudices kept pace with my classical ones; and there was a time when I +thought it impossible for the honestest man in the world to be saved out +of the pale of the Church of England, not considering that matters of +opinion do not depend upon the will; and that it is as natural, and as +allowable, that another man should differ in opinion from me, as that I +should differ from him; and that if we are both sincere, we are both +blameless; and should consequently have mutual indulgence for each other. + +The next prejudices that I adopted were those of the 'beau monde', in +which as I was determined to shine, I took what are commonly called the +genteel vices to be necessary. I had heard them reckoned so, and without +further inquiry I believed it, or at least should have been ashamed to +have denied it, for fear of exposing myself to the ridicule of those whom +I considered as the models of fine gentlemen. But I am now neither +ashamed nor afraid to assert that those genteel vices, as they are +falsely called, are only so many blemishes in the character of even a man +of the world and what is called a fine gentleman, and degrade him in the +opinions of those very people, to whom he, hopes to recommend himself by +them. Nay, this prejudice often extends so far, that I have known people +pretend to vices they had not, instead of carefully concealing those they +had. + +Use and assert your own reason; reflect, examine, and analyze everything, +in order to form a sound and mature judgment; let no (authority) impose +upon your understanding, mislead your actions, or dictate your +conversation. Be early what, if you are not, you will when too late wish +you had been. Consult your reason betimes: I do not say that it will +always prove an unerring guide; for human reason is not infallible; but +it will prove the least erring guide that you can follow. Books and +conversation may assist it; but adopt neither blindly and implicitly; try +both by that best rule, which God has given to direct us, reason. Of all +the troubles, do not decline, as many people do, that of thinking. The +herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all +adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so, +as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet than their +own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they +are. We have many of those useful prejudices in this country, which I +should be very sorry to see removed. The good Protestant conviction, +that the Pope is both Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon, is a more +effectual preservative in this country against popery, than all the solid +and unanswerable arguments of Chillingworth. + +The idle story of the pretender's having been introduced in a warming pan +into the queen's bed, though as destitute of all probability as of all +foundation, has been much more prejudicial to the cause of Jacobitism +than all that Mr. Locke and others have written, to show the +unreasonableness and absurdity of the doctrines of indefeasible +hereditary right, and unlimited passive obedience. And that silly, +sanguine notion, which is firmly entertained here, that one Englishman +can beat three Frenchmen, encourages, and has sometimes enabled, one +Englishman in reality to beat two. + +A Frenchman ventures, his life with alacrity 'pour l'honneur du Roi'; +were you to change the object, which he has been taught to have in view, +and tell him that it was 'pour le bien de la Patrie', he would very +probably run away. Such gross local prejudices prevail with the herd of +mankind, and do not impose upon cultivated, informed, and reflecting +minds. But then they are notions equally false, though not so glaringly +absurd, which are entertained by people of superior and improved +understandings, merely for want of the necessary pains to investigate, +the proper attention to examine, and the penetration requisite to +determine the truth. Those are the prejudices which I would have you +guard against by a manly exertion and attention of your reasoning +faculty. To mention one instance of a thousand that I could give you: It +is a general prejudice, and has been propagated for these sixteen hundred +years, that arts and sciences cannot flourish under an absolute +government; and that genius must necessarily be cramped where freedom is +restrained. This sounds plausible, but is false in fact. Mechanic arts, +as agriculture, etc., will indeed be discouraged where the profits and +property are, from the nature of the government, insecure. But why the +despotism of a government should cramp the genius of a mathematician, +an astronomer, a poet, or an orator, I confess I never could discover. +It may indeed deprive the poet or the orator of the liberty of treating +of certain subjects in the manner they would wish, but it leaves them +subjects enough to exert genius upon, if they have it. Can an author +with reason complain that he is cramped and shackled, if he is not at +liberty to publish blasphemy, bawdry, or sedition? all which are equally +prohibited in the freest governments, if they are wise and well regulated +ones. This is the present general complaint of the French authors; but +indeed chiefly of the bad ones. No wonder, say they, that England +produces so many great geniuses; people there may think as they please, +and publish what they think. Very true, but what hinders them from +thinking as they please? If indeed they think in manner destructive of +all religion, morality, or good manners, or to the disturbance of the +state, an absolute government will certainly more effectually prohibit +them from, or punish them for publishing such thoughts, than a free one +could do. But how does that cramp the genius of an epic, dramatic, or +lyric poet? or how does it corrupt the eloquence of an orator in the +pulpit or at the bar? The number of good French authors, such as +Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, and La Fontaine, who seemed to +dispute it with the Augustan age, flourished under the despotism of Lewis +XIV.; and the celebrated authors of the Augustan age did not shine till +after the fetters were riveted upon the Roman people by that cruel and +worthless Emperor. The revival of letters was not owing, neither, to any +free government, but to the encouragement and protection of Leo X. and +Francis I; the one as absolute a pope, and the other as despotic a +prince, as ever reigned. Do not mistake, and imagine that while I am +only exposing a prejudice, I am speaking in favor of arbitrary power; +which from my soul I abhor, and look upon as a gross and criminal +violation of the natural rights of mankind. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXV + +LONDON, February 28, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I was very much pleased with the account that you gave me of +your reception at Berlin; but I was still better pleased with the account +which Mr. Harte sent me of your manner of receiving that reception; for +he says that you behaved yourself to those crowned heads with all the +respect and modesty due to them; but at the same time, without being any +more embarrassed than if you had been conversing with your equals. This +easy respect is the perfection of good-breeding, which nothing but +superior good sense, or a long usage of the world, can produce, and as in +your case it could not be the latter, it is a pleasing indication to me +of the former. + +You will now, in the course of a few months, have been rubbed at three of +the considerable courts of Europe,-Berlin, Dresden, and Vienna; so that I +hope you will arrive at Turin tolerably smooth and fit for the last +polish. There you may get the best, there being no court I know of that +forms more well-bred, and agreeable people. Remember now, that good- +breeding, genteel carriage, address, and even dress (to a certain +degree), are become serious objects, and deserve a part of your +attention. + +The day, if well employed, is long enough for them all. One half of it +bestowed upon your studies and your exercises, will finish your mind and +your body; the remaining part of it, spent in good company, will form +your manners, and complete your character. What would I not give to have +you read Demosthenes critically in the morning, and understand him better +than anybody; at noon, behave yourself better than any person at court; +and in the evenings, trifle more agreeably than anybody in mixed +companies? All this you may compass if you please; you have the means, +you have the opportunities. Employ them, for God's sake, while you may, +and make yourself that all-accomplished man that I wish to have you. It +entirely depends upon these two years; they are the decisive ones. + +I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to Monsieur Capello, +at Venice, which you will deliver him immediately upon your arrival, +accompanying it with compliments from me to him and Madame, both of whom +you have seen here. He will, I am sure, be both very civil and very +useful to you there, as he will also be afterward at Rome, where he is +appointed to go ambassador. By the way, wherever you are, I would advise +you to frequent, as much as you can, the Venetian Ministers; who are +always better informed of the courts they reside at than any other +minister; the strict and regular accounts, which they are obliged to give +to their own government, making them very diligent and inquisitive. + +You will stay at Venice as long as the Carnival lasts; for though I am +impatient to have you at Turin, yet I would wish you to see thoroughly +all that is to be seen at so singular a place as Venice, and at so +showish a time as the Carnival. You will take also particular care to +view all those meetings of the government, which strangers are allowed to +see; as the Assembly of the Senate, etc., and also to inform yourself of +that peculiar and intricate form of government. There are books which +give an account of it, among which the best is Amelot de la Houssaye, +which I would advise you to read previously; it will not only give you a +general notion of that constitution, but also furnish you with materials +for proper questions and oral informations upon the place, which are +always the best. There are likewise many very valuable remains, in +sculpture and paintings, of the best masters, which deserve your +attention. + +I suppose you will be at Vienna as soon as this letter will get thither; +and I suppose, too, that I must not direct above one more to you there. +After which, my next shall be directed to you at Venice, the only place +where a letter will be likely to find you, till you are at Turin; but you +may, and I desire that you will write to me, from the several places in +your way, from whence the post goes. + +I will send you some other letters for Venice, to Vienna, or to your +banker at Venice, to whom you will, upon your arrival there, send for +them: For I will take care to have you so recommended from place to +place, that you shall not run through them, as most of your countrymen +do, without the advantage of seeing and knowing what best deserves to be +seen and known; I mean the men and the manners. + +God bless you, and make you answer my wishes: I will now say, my hopes! +Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXVI + +DEAR BOY: I direct this letter to your banker at Venice, the surest place +for you to meet with it, though I suppose that it will be there some time +before you; for, as your intermediate stay anywhere else will be short, +and as the post from hence, in this season of easterly winds is +uncertain, I direct no more letters to Vienna; where I hope both you and +Mr. Harte will have received the two letters which I sent you +respectively; with a letter of recommendation to Monsieur Capello, at +Venice, which was inclosed in mine to you. I will suppose too, that the +inland post on your side of the water has not done you justice; for I +received but one single letter from you, and one from Mr. Harte, during +your whole stay at Berlin; from whence I hoped for, and expected very +particular accounts. + +I persuade myself, that the time you stay at Venice will be properly +employed, in seeing all that is to be seen in that extraordinary place: +and in conversing with people who can inform you, not of the raree-shows +of the town, but of the constitution of the government; for which purpose +I send you the inclosed letters of recommendation from Sir James Grey, +the King's Resident at Venice, but who is now in England. These, with +mine to Monsieur Capello, will carry you, if you will go, into all the +best company at Venice. + +But the important point; and the important place, is Turin; for there I +propose your staying a considerable time, to pursue your studies, learn +your exercises, and form your manners. I own, I am not without my +anxiety for the consequence of your stay there, which must be either very +good or very bad. To you it will be entirely a new scene. Wherever you +have hitherto been, you have conversed, chiefly, with people wiser and +discreeter than yourself; and have been equally out of the way of bad +advice or bad example; but in the Academy at Turin you will probably meet +with both, considering the variety of young fellows about your own age; +among whom it is to be expected that some will be dissipated and idle, +others vicious and profligate. I will believe, till the contrary +appears, that you have sagacity enough to distinguish the good from the +bad characters; and both sense and virtue enough to shun the latter, and +connect yourself with the former: but however, for greater security, and +for your sake alone, I must acquaint you that I have sent positive orders +to Mr. Harte to carry you off, instantly, to a place which I have named +to him, upon the very first symptom which he shall discover in you, +of drinking, gaming, idleness, or disobedience to his orders; so that, +whether Mr. Harte informs me or not of the particulars, I shall be able +to judge of your conduct in general by the time of your stay at Turin. +If it is short, I shall know why; and I promise you, that you shall soon +find that I do; but if Mr. Harte lets you continue there, as long as I +propose that you should, I shall then be convinced that you make the +proper use of your time; which is the only thing I have to ask of you. +One year is the most that I propose you should stay at Turin; and that +year, if you employ it well, perfects you. One year more of your late +application, with Mr. Harte, will complete your classical studies. You +will be likewise master of your exercises in that time; and will have +formed yourself so well at that court, as to be fit to appear +advantageously at any other. These will be the happy effects of your +year's stay at Turin, if you behave, and apply yourself there as you have +done at Leipsig; but if either ill advice, or ill example, affect and +seduce you, you are ruined forever. I look upon that year as your +decisive year of probation; go through it well, and you will be all +accomplished, and fixed in my tenderest affection forever; but should the +contagion of vice of idleness lay hold of you there, your character, your +fortune, my hopes, and consequently my favor are all blasted, and you are +undone. The more I love you now, from the good opinion I have of you, +the greater will be my indignation if I should have reason to change it. +Hitherto you have had every possible proof of my affection, because you +have deserved it; but when you cease to deserve it, you may expect every +possible mark of my resentment. To leave nothing doubtful upon this +important point I will tell you fairly, beforehand, by what rule I shall +judge of your conduct--by Mr. Harte's accounts. He will not I am sure, +nay, I will say more, he cannot be in the wrong with regard to you. He +can have no other view but your good; and you will, I am sure, allow that +he must be a better judge of it than you can possibly be at your age. +While he is satisfied, I shall be so too; but whenever he is dissatisfied +with you, I shall be much more so. If he complains, you must be guilty; +and I shall not have the least regard for anything that you may allege in +your own defense. + +I will now tell you what I expect and insist upon from you at Turin: +First, that you pursue your classical and other studies every morning +with Mr. Harte, as long and in whatever manner Mr. Harte shall be pleased +to require; secondly, that you learn, uninterruptedly, your exercises of +riding, dancing, and fencing; thirdly, that you make yourself master of +the Italian language; and lastly, that you pass your evenings in the best +company. I also require a strict conformity to the hours and rules of +the Academy. If you will but finish your year in this manner at Turin, +I have nothing further to ask of you; and I will give you everything that +you can ask of me. You shall after that be entirely your own master; +I shall think you safe; shall lay aside all authority over you, and +friendship shall be our mutual and only tie. Weigh this, I beg of you, +deliberately in your own mind; and consider whether the application and +the degree of restraint which I require but for one year more, will not +be amply repaid by all the advantages, and the perfect liberty, which you +will receive at the end of it. Your own good sense will, I am sure, not +allow you to hesitate one moment in your choice. God bless you! Adieu. + +P. S. Sir James Grey's letters not being yet sent to me, as I thought +they would, I shall inclose them in my next, which I believe will get to +Venice as soon as you. + + + + +LETTER LXVII + +LONDON, April 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I received, by the last mail, a letter from Mr. Harte, dated +Prague, April the 1st, N. S., for which I desire you will return him my +thanks, and assure him that I extremely approve of what he has done, and +proposes eventually to do, in your way to Turin. Who would have thought +you were old enough to have been so well acquainted with the heroes of +the 'Bellum Tricennale', as to be looking out for their great-grandsons +in Bohemia, with that affection with which, I am informed, you seek for +the Wallsteins, the Kinskis, etc. As I cannot ascribe it to your age, +I must to your consummate knowledge of history, that makes every country, +and every century, as it were, your own. Seriously, I am told, that you +are both very strong and very correct in history; of which I am extremely +glad. This is useful knowledge. + +Comte du Perron and Comte Lascaris are arrived here: the former gave me a +letter from Sir Charles Williams, the latter brought me your orders. +They are very pretty men, and have both knowledge and manners; which, +though they always ought, seldom go together. I examined them, +particularly Comte Lascaris, concerning you; their report is a very +favorable one, especially on the side of knowledge; the quickness of +conception which they allow you I can easily credit; but the attention +which they add to it pleases me the more, as I own I expected it less. +Go on in the pursuit and the increase of knowledge; nay, I am sure you +will, for you now know too much to stop; and, if Mr. Harte would let you +be idle, I am convinced you would not. But now that you have left +Leipsig, and are entered into the great world, remember there is another +object that must keep pace with, and accompany knowledge; I mean manners, +politeness, and the Graces; in which Sir Charles Williams, though very +much your friend, owns that you are very deficient. The manners of +Leipsig must be shook off; and in that respect you must put on the new +man. No scrambling at your meals, as at a German ordinary; no awkward +overturns of glasses, plates, and salt-cellars; no horse play. On the +contrary, a gentleness of manners, a graceful carriage, and an +insinuating address, must take their place. I repeat, and shall never +cease repeating to you, THE GRACES, THE GRACES. + +I desire that as soon as ever you get to Turin you will apply yourself +diligently to the Italian language; that before you leave that place, +you may know it well enough to be able to speak tolerably when you get to +Rome; where you will soon make yourself perfectly master of Italian, from +the daily necessity you will be under of speaking it. In the mean time, +I insist upon your not neglecting, much less forgetting, the German you +already know; which you may not only continue but improve, by speaking it +constantly to your Saxon boy, and as often as you can to the several +Germans you will meet in your travels. You remember, no doubt, that you +must never write to me from Turin, but in the German language and +character. + +I send you the inclosed letter of recommendation to Mr. Smith the King's +Consul at Venice; who can, and I daresay will, be more useful to you +there than anybody. Pray make your court, and behave your best, to +Monsieur and Madame Capello, who will be of great use to you at Rome. +Adieu! Yours tenderly. + + + + +LETTER LXVIII + +LONDON, April 19, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: This letter will, I believe, still find you at Venice in all +the dissipation of masquerades, ridottos, operas, etc. With all my +heart; they are decent evening's amusements, and very properly succeed +that serious application to which I am sure you devote your mornings. +There are liberal and illiberal pleasures as well as liberal and +illiberal arts: There are some pleasures that degrade a gentleman as much +as some trades could do. Sottish drinking, indiscriminate gluttony, +driving coaches, rustic sports, such as fox-chases, horse-races, etc., +are in my opinion infinitely below the honest and industrious profession +of a tailor and a shoemaker, which are said to 'deroger'. + +As you are now in a musical country, where singing, fiddling, and piping, +are not only the common topics of conversation, but almost the principal +objects of attention, I cannot help cautioning you against giving in to +those (I will call them illiberal) pleasures (though music is commonly +reckoned one of the liberal arts) to the degree that most of your +countrymen do, when they travel in Italy. If you love music, hear it; go +to operas, concerts, and pay fiddlers to play to you; but I insist upon +your neither piping nor fiddling yourself. It puts a gentleman in a very +frivolous, contemptible light; brings him into a great deal of bad +company; and takes up a great deal of time, which might be much better +employed. Few things would mortify me more, than to see you bearing a +part in a concert, with a fiddle under your chin, or a pipe in your +mouth. + +I have had a great deal of conversation with Comte du Perron and Comte +Lascaris upon your subject: and I will tell you, very truly, what Comte +du Perron (who is, in my opinion, a very pretty man) said of you: 'Il a +de l'esprit, un savoir peu commun a son age, une grande vivacite, et +quand il aura pris des manieres il sera parfait; car il faut avouer qu'il +sent encore le college; mars cela viendra'. I was very glad to hear, +from one whom I think so good a judge, that you wanted nothing but 'des +manieres', which I am convinced you will now soon acquire, in the company +which henceforward you are likely to keep. But I must add, too, that if +you should not acquire them, all the rest will be of little use to you. +By 'manieres', I do not mean bare common civility; everybody must have +that who would not be kicked out of company; but I mean engaging, +insinuating, shining manners; distinguished politeness, an almost +irresistible address; a superior gracefulness in all you say and do. +It is this alone that can give all your other talents their full lustre +and value; and, consequently, it is this which should now be thy +principal object of your attention. Observe minutely, wherever you go, +the allowed and established models of good-breeding, and form yourself +upon them. Whatever pleases you most in others, will infallibly please +others in you. I have often repeated this to you; now is your time of +putting it in practice. + +Pray make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him I have received his +letter from Vienna of the 16th N. S., but that I shall not trouble him +with an answer to it till I have received the other letter which he +promises me, upon the subject of one of my last. I long to hear from him +after your settlement at Turin: the months that you are to pass there +will be very decisive ones for you. The exercises of the Academy, and +the manners of courts must be attended to and acquired; and, at the same +time, your other studies continued. I am sure you will not pass, nor +desire, one single idle hour there: for I do not foresee that you can, in +any part of your life, put out six months to greater interest, than those +next six at Turin. + +We will talk hereafter about your stay at Rome and in other parts of +Italy. This only I will now recommend to you; which is, to extract the +spirit of every place you go to. In those places which are only +distinguished by classical fame, and valuable remains of antiquity, have +your classics in your hand and in your head; compare the ancient +geography and descriptions with the modern, and never fail to take notes. +Rome will furnish you with business enough of that sort; but then it +furnishes you with many other objects well deserving your attention, such +as deep ecclesiastical craft and policy. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXIX + +LONDON, April 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received your letter from Vienna, of the 19th N. S., +which gives me great uneasiness upon Mr. Harte's account. You and I have +reason to interest ourselves very particularly in everything that relates +to him. I am glad, however, that no bone is broken or dislocated; which +being the case, I hope he will have been able to pursue his journey to +Venice. In that supposition I direct this letter to you at Turin; where +it will either find, or at least not wait very long for you, as I +calculate that you will be there by the end of next month, N. S. I hope +you reflect how much you have to do there, and that you are determined to +employ every moment of your time accordingly. You have your classical +and severer studies to continue with Mr. Harte; you have your exercises +to learn; the turn and manners of a court to acquire; reserving always +some time for the decent amusements and pleasures of a gentleman. You +see I am never against pleasures; I loved them myself when I was of your +age, and it is as reasonable that you should love them now. But I insist +upon it that pleasures are very combinable with both business and +studies, and have a much better relish from the mixture. The man who +cannot join business and pleasure is either a formal coxcomb in the one, +or a sensual beast in the other. Your evenings I therefore allot for +company, assemblies, balls, and such sort of amusements, as I look upon +those to be the best schools for the manners of a gentleman; which +nothing can give but use, observation, and experience. You have, +besides, Italian to learn, to which I desire you will diligently apply; +for though French is, I believe, the language of the court at Turin, yet +Italian will be very necessary for you at Rome, and in other parts of +Italy; and if you are well grounded in it while you are at Turin (as you +easily may, for it is a very easy language), your subsequent stay at Rome +will make you perfect in it. I would also have you acquire a general +notion of fortification; I mean so far as not to be ignorant of the +terms, which you will often hear mentioned in company, such as ravelin, +bastion; glacis, contrescarpe, etc. In order to this, I do not propose +that you should make a study of fortification, as if you were to be an +engineer, but a very easy way of knowing as much as you need know of +them, will be to visit often the fortifications of Turin, in company with +some old officer or engineer, who will show and explain to you the +several works themselves; by which means you will get a clearer notion of +them than if you were to see them only upon paper for seven years +together. Go to originals whenever you can, and trust to copies and +descriptions as little as possible. At your idle hours, while you are at +Turin, pray read the history of the House of Savoy, which has produced a +great many very great men. The late king, Victor Amedee, was undoubtedly +one, and the present king is, in my opinion, another. In general, I +believe that little princes are more likely to be great men than those +whose more extensive dominions and superior strength flatter them with a +security, which commonly produces negligence and indolence. A little +prince, in the neighborhood of great ones, must be alert and look out +sharp, if he would secure his own dominions: much more still if he would +enlarge them. He must watch for conjunctures or endeavor to make them. +No princes have ever possessed this art better than those of the House of +Savoy; who have enlarged their dominions prodigiously within a century by +profiting of conjunctures. + +I send you here inclosed a letter from Comte Lascaris, who is a warm +friend of yours: I desire that you will answer it very soon and +cordially, and remember to make your compliments in it to Comte du +Perron. A young man should never be wanting in those attentions; they +cost little and bring in a great deal, by getting you people's good word +and affection. They gain the heart, to which I have always advised you +to apply yourself particularly; it guides ten thousand for one that, +reason influences. + +I cannot end this letter or (I believe) any other, without repeating my +recommendation of THE GRACES. They are to be met with at Turin: for +God's sake, sacrifice to them, and they will be propitious. People +mistake grossly, to imagine that the least awkwardness, either in matter +or manner, mind or body, is an indifferent thing and not worthy of +attention. It may possibly be a weakness in me, but in short we are all +so made: I confess to you fairly, that when you shall come home and that +I first see you, if I find you ungraceful in your address, and awkward in +your person and dress, it will be impossible for me to love you half so +well as I should otherwise do, let your intrinsic merit and knowledge be +ever so great. If that would be your case with me, as it really would, +judge how much worse it might be with others, who have not the same +affection and partiality for you, and to whose hearts you must make your +own way. + +Remember to write to me constantly while you are in Italy, in the German +language and character, till you can write to me in Italian; which will +not be till you have been some time at Rome. + +Adieu, my dear boy: may you turn out what Mr. Harte and I wish you. I +must add that if you do not, it will be both your own fault and your own +misfortune. + + + + +LETTER LXX + +LONDON, May 15, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: This letter will, I hope, find you settled to your serious +studies, and your necessary exercises at Turin, after the hurry and the +dissipation of the Carnival at Venice. I mean that your stay at Turin +should, and I flatter myself that it will, be an useful and ornamental +period of your education; but at the same time I must tell you, that all +my affection for you has never yet given me so much anxiety, as that +which I now feel. While you are in danger, I shall be in fear; and you +are in danger at Turin. Mr. Harte will by his care arm you as well as he +can against it; but your own good sense and resolution can alone make you +invulnerable. I am informed, there are now many English at the Academy +at Turin; and I fear those are just so many dangers for you to encounter. +Who they are, I do not know; but I well know the general ill conduct, the +indecent behavior, and the illiberal views, of my young countrymen. +abroad; especially wherever they are in numbers together. Ill example is +of itself dangerous enough; but those who give it seldom stop there; +they add their infamous exhortations and invitations; and, if they fail, +they have recourse to ridicule, which is harder for one of your age and +inexperience to withstand than either of the former. Be upon your guard, +therefore, against these batteries, which will all be played upon you. +You are not sent abroad to converse with your own countrymen: among them, +in general, you will get, little knowledge, no languages, and, I am sure, +no manners. I desire that you will form no connections, nor (what they +impudently call) friendships with these people; which are, in truth, +only combinations and conspiracies against good morals and good manners. +There is commonly, in young people, a facility that makes them unwilling +to refuse anything that is asked of them; a 'mauvaise honte' that makes +them ashamed to refuse; and, at the same time, an ambition of pleasing +and shining in the company they keep: these several causes produce the +best effect in good company, but the very worst in bad. If people had no +vices but their own, few would have so many as they have. For my own +part, I would sooner wear other people's clothes than their vices; and +they would sit upon me just as well. I hope you will have none; but if +ever you have, I beg, at least, they may be all your own. Vices of +adoption are, of all others, the most disgraceful and unpardonable. +There are degrees in vices, as well as in virtues; and I must do my +countrymen the justice to say, that they generally take their vices in +the lower degree. Their gallantry is the infamous mean debauchery of +stews, justly attended and rewarded by the loss of their health, as well +as their character. Their pleasures of the table end in beastly +drunkenness, low riot, broken windows, and very often (as they well +deserve), broken bones. They game for the sake of the vice, not of the +amusement; and therefore carry it to excess; undo, or are undone by their +companions. By such conduct, and in such company abroad, they come home, +the unimproved, illiberal, and ungentlemanlike creatures that one daily +sees them, that is, in the park and in the streets, for one never meets +them in good company; where they have neither manners to present +themselves, nor merit to be received. But, with the manners of footmen +and grooms, they assume their dress too; for you must have observed them +in the streets here, in dirty blue frocks, with oaken sticks in their +ends, and their hair greasy and unpowdered, tucked up under their hats of +an enormous size. Thus finished and adorned by their travels, they +become the disturbers of play-houses; they break the windows, and +commonly the landlords, of the taverns where they drink; and are at once +the support, the terror, and the victims, of the bawdy-houses they +frequent. These poor mistaken people think they shine, and so they do +indeed; but it is as putrefaction shines in the dark. + +I am not now preaching to you, like an old fellow, upon their religious +or moral texts; I am persuaded that you do not want the best instructions +of that kind: but I am advising you as a friend, as a man of the world, +as one who would not have you old while you are young, but would have you +to take all the pleasures that reason points out, and that decency +warrants. I will therefore suppose, for argument's sake (for upon no +other account can it be supposed), that all the vices above mentioned +were perfectly innocent in themselves: they would still degrade, vilify, +and sink those who practiced them; would obstruct their rising in the +world by debasing their characters; and give them low turn of mind, and +manners absolutely inconsistent with their making any figure in upper +life and great business. + +What I have now said, together with your own good sense, is, I hope, +sufficient to arm you against the seduction, the invitations, or the +profligate exhortations (for I cannot call them temptations) of those +unfortunate young people. On the other hand, when they would engage you +in these schemes, content yourself with a decent but steady refusal; +avoid controversy upon such plain points. You are too young to convert +them; and, I trust, too wise to be converted by them. Shun them not only +in reality, but even in appearance, if you would be well received in good +company; for people will always be shy of receiving a man who comes from +a place where the plague rages, let him look ever so healthy. There are +some expressions, both in French and English, and some characters, both +in those two and in other countries, which have, I dare say, misled many +young men to their ruin. 'Une honnete debauche, une jolie debauche; "An +agreeable rake, a man of pleasure." Do not think that this means +debauchery and profligacy; nothing like it. It means, at most, the +accidental and unfrequent irregularities of youth and vivacity, in +opposition to dullness, formality, and want of spirit. A 'commerce +galant', insensibly formed with a woman of fashion; a glass of wine or +two too much, unwarily taken in the warmth and joy of good company; or +some innocent frolic, by which nobody is injured, are the utmost bounds +of that life of pleasure, which a man of sense and decency, who has a +regard for his character, will allow himself, or be allowed by others. +Those who transgress them in the hopes of shining, miss their aim, and +become infamous, or at least, contemptible. + +The length or shortness of your stay at Turin will sufficiently inform me +(even though Mr. Harte should not) of your conduct there; for, as I have +told you before, Mr. Harte has the strictest orders to carry you away +immediately from thence, upon the first and least symptom of infection +that he discovers about you; and I know him to be too conscientiously +scrupulous, and too much your friend and mine not to execute them +exactly. Moreover, I will inform you, that I shall have constant +accounts of your behavior from Comte Salmour, the Governor of the +Academy, whose son is now here, and my particular friend. I have, also, +other good channels of intelligence, of which I do not apprise you. But, +supposing that all turns out well at Turin, yet, as I propose your being +at Rome for the jubilee, at Christmas, I desire that you will apply +yourself diligently to your exercises of dancing, fencing, and riding at +the Academy; as well for the sake of your health and growth, as to +fashion and supple you. You must not neglect your dress neither, but +take care to be 'bien mis'. Pray send for the best operator for the +teeth at Turin, where I suppose there is some famous one; and let him put +yours in perfect order; and then take care to keep them so, afterward, +yourself. You had very good teeth, and I hope they are so still; but +even those who have bad ones, should keep them clean; for a dirty mouth +is, in my mind, ill manners. In short, neglect nothing that can possibly +please. A thousand nameless little things, which nobody can describe, +but which everybody feels, conspire to form that WHOLE of pleasing; as +the several pieces of a Mosaic work though, separately, of little beauty +or value, when properly joined, form those beautiful figures which please +everybody. A look, a gesture, an attitude, a tone of voice, all bear +their parts in the great work of pleasing. The art of pleasing is more +particularly necessary in your intended profession than perhaps in any +other; it is, in truth, the first half of your business; for if you do +not please the court you are sent to, you will be of very little use to +the court you are sent from. Please the eyes and the ears, they will +introduce you to the heart; and nine times in ten, the heart governs the +understanding. + +Make your court particularly, and show distinguished attentions to such +men and women as are best at court, highest in the fashion, and in the +opinion of the public; speak advantageously of them behind their backs, +in companies whom you have reason to believe will tell them again. +Express your admiration of the many great men that the House of Savoy has +produced; observe that nature, instead of being exhausted by those +efforts, seems to have redoubled them, in the person of the present King, +and the Duke of Savoy; wonder, at this rate, where it will end, and +conclude that it must end in the government of all Europe. Say this, +likewise, where it will probably be repeated; but say it unaffectedly, +and, the last especially, with a kind of 'enjouement'. These little arts +are very allowable, and must be made use of in the course of the world; +they are pleasing to one party, useful to the other, and injurious to +nobody. + +What I have said with regard to my countrymen in general, does not extend +to them all without exception; there are some who have both merit and +manners. Your friend, Mr. Stevens, is among the latter; and I approve of +your connection with him. You may happen to meet with some others, whose +friendship may be of great use to you hereafter, either from their +superior talents, or their rank and fortune; cultivate them; but then I +desire that Mr. Harte may be the judge of those persons. + +Adieu my dear child! Consider seriously the importance of the two next +years to your character, your figure, and your fortune. + + + + +LETTER LXXI + +LONDON, May 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I recommended to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art; +that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, +to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to +repeat and even amplify the praise to the party concerned. This is, of +all flattery, the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual. +There are other, and many other, inoffensive arts of this kind, which are +necessary in the course of the world, and which he who practices the +earliest, will please the most, and rise the soonest. The spirits and +vivacity of youth are apt to neglect them as useless, or reject them as +troublesome. But subsequent knowledge and experience of the world +reminds us of their importance, commonly when it is too late. The +principal of these things is the mastery of one's temper, and that +coolness of mind, and serenity of countenance, which hinders us from +discovering by words, actions, or even looks, those passions or +sentiments by which we are inwardly moved or agitated; and the discovery +of which gives cooler and abler people such infinite advantages over us, +not only in great business, but in all the most common occurrences of +life. A man who does not possess himself enough to hear disagreeable +things without visible marks of anger and change of countenance, or +agreeable ones, without sudden bursts of joy and expansion of +countenance, is at the mercy of every artful knave or pert coxcomb; the +former will provoke or please you by design, to catch unguarded words or +looks by which he will easily decipher the secrets of your heart, of +which you should keep the key yourself, and trust it with no man living. +The latter will, by his absurdity, and without intending it, produce the +same discoveries of which other people will avail themselves. You will +say, possibly, that this coolness must be constitutional, and +consequently does not depend upon the will: and I will allow that +constitution has some power over us; but I will maintain, too, that +people very often, to excuse themselves, very unjustly accuse their +constitutions. Care and reflection, if properly used, will get the +better: and a man may as surely get a habit of letting his reason prevail +over his constitution, as of letting, as most people do, the latter +prevail over the former. If you find yourself subject to sudden starts +of passion or madness (for I see no difference between them but in their +duration), resolve within yourself, at least, never to speak one word +while you feel that emotion within you. Determine, too, to keep your +countenance as unmoved and unembarrassed as possible; which steadiness +you may get a habit of, by constant attention. I should desire nothing +better, in any negotiation, than to have to do with one of those men of +warm, quick passions; which I would take care to set in motion. By +artful provocations I would extort rash unguarded expressions; and, +by hinting at all the several things that I could suspect, infallibly +discover the true one, by the alteration it occasioned in the countenance +of the person. 'Volto sciolto con pensieri stretti', is a most useful +maxim in business. It is so necessary at some games, such as 'Berlan +Quinze', etc., that a man who had not the command of his temper and +countenance, would infallibly be outdone by those who had, even though +they played fair. Whereas, in business, you always play with sharpers; +to whom, at least, you should give no fair advantages. It may be +objected, that I am now recommending dissimulation to you; I both own and +justify it. It has been long said, 'Qui nescit dissimulare nescit +regnare': I go still further, and say, that without some dissimulation no +business can be carried on at all. It is SIMULATION that is false, mean, +and criminal: that is the cunning which Lord Bacon calls crooked or left- +handed wisdom, and which is never made use of but by those who have not +true wisdom. And the same great man says, that dissimulation is only to +hide our own cards, whereas simulation is put on, in order to look into +other people's. Lord Bolingbroke, in his "Idea of a Patriot King," which +he has lately published, and which I will send you by the first +opportunity, says very justly that simulation is a STILETTO,--not only an +unjust but an unlawful weapon, and the use of it very rarely to be +excused, never justified. Whereas dissimulation is a shield, as secrecy +is armor; and it is no more possible to preserve secrecy in business, +without same degree of dissimulation, than it is to succeed in business +without secrecy. He goes on, and says, that those two arts of +dissimulation and secrecy are like the alloy mingled with pure ore: a +little is necessary, and will not debase the coin below its proper +standard; but if more than that little be employed (that is, simulation +and cunning), the coin loses its currency, and the coiner his credit. + +Make yourself absolute master, therefore, of your temper and your +countenance, so far, at least, as that no visible change do appear in +either, whatever you may feel inwardly. This may be difficult, but it is +by no means impossible; and, as a man of sense never attempts +impossibilities on one hand, on the other, he is never discouraged by +difficulties: on the contrary, he redoubles his industry and his +diligence; he perseveres, and infallibly prevails at last. In any point +which prudence bids you pursue, and which a manifest utility attends, let +difficulties only animate your industry, not deter you from the pursuit. +If one way has failed, try another; be active, persevere, and you will +conquer. Some people are to be reasoned, some flattered, some +intimidated, and some teased into a thing; but, in general, all are to be +brought into it at last, if skillfully applied to, properly managed, and +indefatigably attacked in their several weak places. The time should +likewise be judiciously chosen; every man has his 'mollia tempora', but +that is far from being all day long; and you would choose your time very +ill, if you applied to a man about one business, when his head was full +of another, or when his heart was full of grief, anger, or any other +disagreeable sentiment. + +In order to judge of the inside of others, study your own; for men in +general are very much alike; and though one has one prevailing passion, +and another has another, yet their operations are much the same; and +whatever engages or disgusts, pleases or offends you, in others will, +'mutatis mutandis', engage, disgust, please, or offend others, in you. +Observe with the utmost attention all the operations of your own mind, +the nature of your passions, and the various motives that determine your +will; and you may, in a great degree, know all mankind. For instance, do +you find yourself hurt and mortified when another makes you feel his +superiority, and your own inferiority, in knowledge, parts, rank, or +fortune? You will certainly take great care not to make a person whose +good will, good word, interest, esteem, or friendship, you would gain, +feel that superiority in you, in case you have it. If disagreeable +insinuations, sly sneers, or repeated contradictions, tease and irritate +you, would you use them where you wish to engage and please? Surely not, +and I hope you wish to engage and please, almost universally. The +temptation of saying a smart and witty thing, or 'bon mot'; and the +malicious applause with which it is commonly received, has made people +who can say them, and, still oftener, people who think they can, but +cannot, and yet try, more enemies, and implacable ones too, than any one +other thing that I know of: When such things, then, shall happen to be +said at your expense (as sometimes they certainly will), reflect +seriously upon the sentiments of uneasiness, anger, and resentment which +they excite in you; and consider whether it can be prudent, by the same +means, to excite the same sentiments in others against you. It is a +decided folly to lose a friend for a jest; but, in my mind, it is not a +much less degree of folly to make an enemy of an indifferent and neutral +person, for the sake of a 'bon mot'. When things of this kind happen to +be said of you, the most prudent way is to seem not to suppose that they +are meant at you, but to dissemble and conceal whatever degree of anger +you may feel inwardly; but, should they be so plain that you cannot be +supposed ignorant of their meaning, to join in the laugh of the company +against yourself; acknowledge the hit to be a fair one, and the jest a +good one, and play off the whole thing in seeming good humor; but by no +means reply in the same way; which only shows that you are hurt, and +publishes the victory which you might have concealed. Should the thing +said, indeed injure your honor or moral character, there is but one +proper reply; which I hope you never will have occasion to make. + +As the female part of the world has some influence, and often too much, +over the male, your conduct with regard to women (I mean women of +fashion, for I cannot suppose you capable of conversing with any others) +deserves some share in your reflections. They are a numerous and +loquacious body: their hatred would be more prejudicial than their +friendship can be advantageous to you. A general complaisance and +attention to that sex is therefore established by custom, and certainly +necessary. But where you would particularly please anyone, whose +situation, interest, or connections, can be of use to you, you must show +particular preference. The least attentions please, the greatest charm +them. The innocent but pleasing flattery of their persons, however +gross, is greedily swallowed and kindly digested: but a seeming regard +for their understandings, a seeming desire of, and deference for, their +advice, together with a seeming confidence in their moral virtues, turns +their heads entirely in your favor. Nothing shocks them so much as the +least appearance of that contempt which they are apt to suspect men of +entertaining of their capacities; and you may be very sure of gaining +their friendship if you seem to think it worth gaining. Here +dissimulation is very often necessary, and even simulation sometimes +allowable; which, as it pleases them, may, be useful to you, and is +injurious to nobody. + +This torn sheet, which I did not observe when I began upon it, as it +alters the figure, shortens, too, the length of my letter. It may very +well afford it: my anxiety for you carries me insensibly to these +lengths. I am apt to flatter myself, that my experience, at the latter +end of my life, may be of use to you at the beginning of yours; and I do +not grudge the greatest trouble, if it can procure you the least +advantage. I even repeat frequently the same things, the better to +imprint them on your young, and, I suppose, yet giddy mind; and I shall +think that part of my time the best employed, that contributes to make +you employ yours well. God bless you, child! + + + + +LETTER LXXII + +LONDON, June 16, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I do not guess where this letter will find you, but I hope it +will find you well: I direct it eventually to Laubach; from whence I +suppose you have taken care to have your letters sent after you. I +received no account from Mr. Harte by last post, and the mail due this +day is not yet come in; so that my informations come down no lower than +the 2d June, N. S., the date of Mr, Harte's last letter. As I am now +easy about your health, I am only curious about your motions, which I +hope have been either to Inspruck or Verona; for I disapprove extremely +of your proposed long and troublesome journey to Switzerland. Wherever +you may be, I recommend to you to get as much Italian as you can, before +you go either to Rome or Naples: a little will be of great use to you +upon the road; and the knowledge of the grammatical part, which you can +easily acquire in two or three months, will not only facilitate your +progress, but accelerate your perfection in that language, when you go to +those places where it is generally spoken; as Naples, Rome, Florence, +etc. + +Should the state of your health not yet admit of your usual application +to books, you may, in a great degree, and I hope you will, repair that +loss by useful and instructive conversations with Mr. Harte: you may, +for example, desire him to give you in conversation the outlines, at +least, of Mr. Locke's logic; a general notion of ethics, and a verbal +epitome of rhetoric; of all which Mr. Harte will give you clearer ideas +in half an hour, by word of mouth, than the books of most of the dull +fellows who have written upon those subjects would do in a week. + +I have waited so long for the post, which I hoped would come, that the +post, which is just going out, obliges me to cut this letter short. God +bless you, my dear child! and restore you soon to perfect health! + +My compliments to Mr. Harte; to whose care your life is the least thing +that you owe. + + + + +LETTER LXXIII + +LONDON, June 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: The outside of your letter of the 7th N. S., directed by your +own hand, gave me more pleasure than the inside of any other letter ever +did. I received it yesterday at the same time with one from Mr. Harts of +the 6th. They arrived at a very proper time, for they found a +consultation of physicians in my room, upon account of a fever which I +had for four or five days, but which has now entirely left me. As Mr. +Harte Says THAT YOUR LUNGS NOW AND THEN GIVE YOU A LITTLE PAIN, and that +YOUR SWELLINGS COME AND GO VARIABLY, but as he mentions nothing of your +coughing, spitting, or sweating, the doctors take it for granted that you +are entirely free from those three bad symptoms: and from thence +conclude, that, the pain which you sometimes feel upon your lungs is only +symptomatical of your rheumatic disorder, from the pressure of the +muscles which hinders the free play of the lungs. But, however, as the +lungs are a point of the utmost importance and delicacy, they insist upon +your drinking, in all events, asses' milk twice a day, and goats' whey as +often as you please, the oftener the better: in your common diet, they +recommend an attention to pectorals, such as sago, barley, turnips, etc. +These rules are equally good in rheumatic as in consumptive cases; you +will therefore, I hope, strictly observe them; for I take it for granted +that you are above the silly likings or dislikings, in which silly people +indulge their tastes, at the expense of their health. + +I approve of your going to Venice, as much as I disapproved of your going +to Switzerland. I suppose that you are by this time arrived; and, in +that supposition, I direct this letter there. But if you should find the +heat too great, or the water offensive, at this time of the year, I would +have you go immediately to Verona, and stay there till the great heats +are over, before you return to Venice. + +The time which you will probably pass at Venice will allow you to make +yourself master of that intricate and singular form of government, of +which few of our travelers know anything. Read, ask, and see everything +that is relative to it. There are likewise many valuable remains of the +remotest antiquity, and many fine pieces of the Antico-moderno, all which +deserve a different sort of attention from that which your countrymen +commonly give them. They go to see them, as they go to see the lions, +and kings on horseback, at the Tower here, only to say that they have +seen them. You will, I am sure, view them in another light; you will +consider them as you would a poem, to which indeed they are akin. You +will observe whether the sculptor has animated his stone, or the painter +his canvas, into the just expression of those sentiments and passions +which should characterize and mark their several figures. You will +examine, likewise, whether in their groups there be a unity of action, +or proper relation; a truth of dress and manners. Sculpture and painting +are very justly called liberal arts; a lively and strong imagination, +together with a just observation, being absolutely necessary to excel in +either; which, in my opinion, is by no means the case of music, though +called a liberal art, and now in Italy placed even above the other two; +a proof of the decline of that country. The Venetian school produced +many great painters, such as Paul Veronese, Titian, Palma, etc., of whom +you will see, as well in private houses as in churches, very fine pieces. +The Last Supper, of Paul Veronese, in the church of St. George, is +reckoned his capital performance, and deserves your attention; as does +also the famous picture of the Cornaro Family, by Titian. A taste for +sculpture and painting is, in my mind, as becoming as a taste for +fiddling and piping is unbecoming, a man of fashion. The former is +connected with history and poetry; the latter, with nothing that I know +of but bad company. + +Learn Italian as fast as ever you can, that you may be able to understand +it tolerably, and speak it a little before you go to Rome and Naples: +There are many good historians in that language, and excellent +translations of the ancient Greek and Latin authors; which are called the +Collana; but the only two Italian poets that deserve your acquaintance +are Ariosto and Tasso; and they undoubtedly have great merit. + +Make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him that I have consulted +about his leg, and that if it was only a sprain, he ought to keep a tight +bandage about the part, for a considerable time, and do nothing else to +it. Adieu! 'Jubeo te bene valere'. + + + + +LETTER LXXIV + +LONDON, July 6, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: As I am now no longer in pain about your health, which I trust +is perfectly restored; and as, by the various accounts I have had of you, +I need not be in pain about your learning, our correspondence may, for +the future, turn upon less important points, comparatively; though still +very important ones: I mean, the knowledge of the world, decorum, +manners, address, and all those (commonly called little) accomplishments, +which are absolutely necessary to give greater accomplishments their +full, value and lustre. + +Had I the admirable ring of Gyges, which rendered the wearer invisible; +and had I, at the same time, those magic powers, which were very common +formerly, but are now very scarce, of transporting myself, by a wish, to +any given place, my first expedition would be to Venice, there to +RECONNOITRE you, unseen myself. I would first take you in the morning, +at breakfast with Mr. Harte, and attend to your natural and unguarded +conversation with him; from whence, I think, I could pretty well judge of +your natural turn of mind. How I should rejoice if I overheard you +asking him pertinent questions upon useful subjects! or making judicious +reflections upon the studies of that morning, or the occurrences of the +former day! Then I would follow you into the different companies of the +day, and carefully observe in what manner you presented yourself to, and +behaved yourself with, men of sense and dignity; whether your address was +respectful, and yet easy; your air modest, and yet unembarrassed; and I +would, at the same time, penetrate into their thoughts, in order to know +whether your first 'abord' made that advantageous impression upon their +fancies, which a certain address, air, and manners, never fail doing. +I would afterward follow you to the mixed companies of the evening; such +as assemblies, suppers, etc., and there watch if you trifled gracefully +and genteelly: if your good-breeding and politeness made way for your +parts and knowledge. With what pleasure should I hear people cry out, +'Che garbato cavaliere, com' e pulito, disinvolto, spiritoso'! If all +these things turned out to my mind, I would immediately assume my own +shape, become visible, and embrace you: but if the contrary happened, I +would preserve my invisibility, make the best of my way home again, and +sink my disappointment upon you and the world. As, unfortunately, these +supernatural powers of genii, fairies, sylphs, and gnomes, have had the +fate of the oracles they succeeded, and have ceased for some time, I must +content myself (till we meet naturally, and in the common way) with Mr. +Harte's written accounts of you, and the verbal ones which I now and then +receive from people who have seen you. However, I believe it would do +you no harm, if you would always imagine that I were present, and saw and +heard everything you did and said. + +There is a certain concurrence of various little circumstances which +compose what the French call 'l'aimable'; and which, now that you are +entering into the world, you ought to make it your particular study to +acquire. Without them, your learning will be pedantry, your conversation +often improper, always unpleasant, and your figure, however good in +itself, awkward and unengaging. A diamond, while rough, has indeed its +intrinsic value; but, till polished, is of no use, and would neither be +sought for nor worn. Its great lustre, it is true, proceeds from its +solidity and strong cohesion of parts; but without the last polish, it +would remain forever a dirty, rough mineral, in the cabinets of some few +curious collectors. You have; I hope, that solidity and cohesion of +parts; take now as much pains to get the lustre. Good company, if you +make the right use of it, will cut you into shape, and give you the true +brilliant polish. A propos of diamonds: I have sent you by Sir James +Gray, the King's Minister, who will be at Venice about the middle of +September, my own diamond buckles; which are fitter for your young feet +than for my old ones: they will properly adorn you; they would only +expose me. If Sir James finds anybody whom he can trust, and who will be +at Venice before him, he will send them by that person; but if he should +not, and that you should be gone from Venice before he gets there, he +will in that case give them to your banker, Monsieur Cornet, to forward +to you, wherever you may then be. You are now of an age, at which the +adorning your person is not only not ridiculous, but proper and becoming. +Negligence would imply either an indifference about pleasing, or else an +insolent security of pleasing, without using those means to which others +are obliged to have recourse. A thorough cleanliness in your person is +as necessary for your own health, as it is not to be offensive to other +people. Washing yourself, and rubbing your body and limbs frequently +with a fleshbrush, will conduce as much to health as to cleanliness. A +particular attention to the cleanliness of your mouth, teeth, hands, and +nails, is but common decency, in order not to offend people's eyes and +noses. + +I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to the Duke of +Nivernois, the French Ambassador at Rome; who is, in my opinion, one of +the prettiest men I ever knew in my life. I do not know a better model +for you to form yourself upon; pray observe and frequent him as much as +you can. He will show you what manners and graces are. I shall, by +successive posts, send you more letters, both for Rome and Naples, where +it will be your own fault entirely if you do not keep the very best +company. + +As you will meet swarms of Germans wherever you go, I desire that you +will constantly converse with them in their own language, which will +improve you in that language, and be, at the same time, an agreeable +piece of civility to them. + +Your stay in Italy will, I do not doubt, make you critically master of +Italian; I know it may, if you please, for it is a very regular, and +consequently a very easy language. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER LXXV + +LONDON, July 20, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I wrote to Mr. Harte last Monday, the 17th, O. S., in answer to +his letter of the 20th June, N. S., which I had received but the day +before, after an interval of eight posts; during which I did not know +whether you or he existed, and indeed I began to think that you did not. +By that letter you ought at this time to be at Venice; where I hope you +are arrived in perfect health, after the baths of Tiefler, in case you +have made use of them. I hope they are not hot baths, if your lungs are +still tender. + +Your friend, the Comte d'Einsiedlen, is arrived here: he has been at my +door, and I have been at his; but we have not yet met. He will dine with +me some day this week. Comte Lascaris inquires after you very +frequently, and with great affection; pray answer the letter which I +forwarded to you a great while ago from him. You may inclose your answer +to me, and I will take care to give it him. Those attentions ought never +to be omitted; they cost little, and please a great deal; but the neglect +of them offends more than you can yet imagine. Great merit, or great +failings, will make you be respected or despised; but trifles, little +attentions, mere nothings, either done, or neglected, will make you +either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine +yourself why you like such and such people, and dislike such and such +others; and you will find, that those different sentiments proceed from +very slight causes. Moral virtues are the foundation of society in +general, and of friendship in particular; but attentions, manners, and +graces, both adorn and strengthen them. My heart is so set upon your +pleasing, and consequently succeeding in the world, that possibly I have +already (and probably shall again) repeat the same things over and over +to you. However, to err, if I do err, on the surer side, I shall +continue to communicate to you those observations upon the world which +long experience has enabled me to make, and which I have generally found +to hold true. Your youth and talents, armed with my experience, may go a +great way; and that armor is very much at your service, if you please to +wear it. I premise that it is not my imagination, but my memory, that +gives you these rules: I am not writing pretty; but useful reflections. +A man of sense soon discovers, because he carefully observes, where, and +how long, he is welcome; and takes care to leave the company, at least as +soon as he is wished out of it. Fools never perceive where they are +either ill-timed or illplaced. + +I am this moment agreeably stopped, in the course of my reflections, by +the arrival of Mr. Harte's letter of the 13th July, N. S., to Mr. +Grevenkop, with one inclosed for your Mamma. I find by it that many of +his and your letters to me must have miscarried; for he says that I have +had regular accounts of you: whereas all those accounts have been only +his letter of the 6th and yours of the 7th June, N. S.; his of the 20th +June, N. S., to me; and now his of the 13th July, N. S., to Mr. +Grevenkop. However, since you are so well, as Mr. Harte says you are, +all is well. I am extremely glad that you have no complaint upon your +lungs; but I desire that you will think you have, for three or four +months to come. Keep in a course of asses' or goats' milk, for one is as +good as the other, and possibly ,the latter is the best; and let your +common food be as pectoral as you can conveniently make it. Pray tell +Mr. Harte that, according to his desire, I have wrote a letter of thanks +to Mr. Firmian. I hope you write to him too, from time to time. The +letters of recommendation of a man of his merit and learning will, to be +sure, be of great use to you among the learned world in Italy; that is, +provided you take care to keep up to the character he gives you in them; +otherwise they will only add to your disgrace. + +Consider that you have lost a good deal of time by your illness; fetch it +up now that you are well. At present you should be a good economist of +your moments, of which company and sights will claim a considerable +share; so that those which remain for study must be not only attentively, +but greedily employed. But indeed I do not suspect you of one single +moment's idleness in the whole day. Idleness is only the refuge of weak +minds, and the holiday of fools. I do not call good company and liberal +pleasures, idleness; far from it: I recommend to you a good share of +both. + +I send you here inclosed a letter for Cardinal Alexander Albani, which +you will give him, as soon as you get to Rome, and before you deliver any +others; the Purple expects that preference; go next to the Duc de +Nivernois, to whom you are recommended by several people at Paris, as +well as by myself. Then you may carry your other letters occasionally. + +Remember to pry narrowly into every part of the government of Venice: +inform yourself of the history of that republic, especially of its most +remarkable eras; such as the Ligue de eambray, in 1509, by which it had +like to have been destroyed; and the conspiracy formed by the Marquis de +Bedmar, the Spanish Ambassador, to subject it to the Crown of Spain. The +famous disputes between that republic and the Pope are worth your +knowledge; and the writings of the celebrated and learned Fra Paolo di +Sarpi, upon that occasion, worth your reading. It was once the greatest +commercial power in Europe, and in the 14th and 15th centuries made a +considerable figure; but at present its commerce is decayed, and its +riches consequently decreased; and, far from meddling now with the +affairs of the Continent, it owes its security to its neutrality and +inefficiency; and that security will last no longer than till one of the +great Powers in Europe engrosses the rest of Italy; an event which this +century possibly may, but which the next probably will see. + +Your friend Comte d'Ensiedlen and his governor, have been with me this +moment, and delivered me your letter from Berlin, of February the 28th, +N. S. I like them both so well that I am glad you did; and still gladder +to hear what they say of you. Go on, and continue to deserve the praises +of those who deserve praises themselves. Adieu. + +I break open this letter to acknowledge yours of the 30th June, N. S., +which I have but this instant received, though thirteen days antecedent +in date to Mr. Harte's last. I never in my life heard of bathing four +hours a day; and I am impatient to hear of your safe arrival at Venice, +after so extraordinary an operation. + + + + +LETTER LXXVI + +LONDON, July 30, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Mr. Harte's letters and yours drop in upon me most irregularly; +for I received, by the last post, one from Mr. Harte, of the 9th, N. S., +and that which Mr. Grevenkop had received from him, the post before, was +of the 13th; at last, I suppose, I shall receive them all. + +I am very glad that my letter, with Dr. Shaw's opinion, has lessened your +bathing; for since I was born, I never heard of bathing four hours a-day; +which would surely be too much, even in Medea's kettle, if you wanted (as +you do not yet) new boiling. + +Though, in that letter of mine, I proposed your going to Inspruck, it was +only in opposition to Lausanne, which I thought much too long and painful +a journey for you; but you will have found, by my subsequent letters, +that I entirely approved of Venice; where I hope you have now been some +time, and which is a much better place for you to reside at, till you go +to Naples, than either Tieffer or Laubach. I love capitals extremely; it +is in capitals that the best company is always to be found; and +consequently, the best manners to be learned. The very best provincial +places have some awkwardness, that distinguish their manners from those +of the metropolis. 'A propos' of capitals, I send you here two letters +of recommendation to Naples, from Monsieur Finochetti, the Neapolitan +Minister at The Hague; and in my next I shall send you two more, from the +same person, to the same place. + +I have examined Comte d'Einsiedlen so narrowly concerning you, that I +have extorted from him a confession that you do not care to speak German, +unless to such as understand no other language. At this rate, you will +never speak it well, which I am very desirous that you should do, and of +which you would, in time, find the advantage. Whoever has not the +command of a language, and does not speak it with facility, will always +appear below himself when he converses in that language; the want of +words and phrases will cramp and lame his thoughts. As you now know +German enough to express yourself tolerably, speaking it very often will +soon make you speak it very well: and then you will appear in it whatever +you are. What with your own Saxon servant and the swarms of Germans you +will meet with wherever you go, you may have opportunities of conversing +in that language half the day; and I do very seriously desire that you +will, or else all the pains that you have already taken about it are +lost. You will remember likewise, that, till you can write in Italian, +you are always to write to me in German. + +Mr. Harte's conjecture concerning your distemper seems to be a very +reasonable one; it agrees entirely with mine, which is the universal rule +by which every man judges of another man's opinion. But, whatever may +have been the cause of your rheumatic disorder, the effects are still to +be attended to; and as there must be a remaining acrimony in your blood, +you ought to have regard to that, in your common diet as well as in your +medicines; both which should be of a sweetening alkaline nature, and +promotive of perspiration. Rheumatic complaints are very apt to return, +and those returns would be very vexatious and detrimental to you; at your +age, and in your course of travels. Your time is, now particularly, +inestimable; and every hour of it, at present, worth more than a year +will be to you twenty years hence. You are now laying the foundation of +your future character and fortune; and one single stone wanting in that +foundation is of more consequence than fifty in the superstructure; which +can always be mended and embellished if the foundation is solid. To +carry on the metaphor of building: I would wish you to be a Corinthian +edifice upon a Tuscan foundation; the latter having the utmost strength +and solidity to support, and the former all possible ornaments to +decorate. The Tuscan column is coarse, clumsy, and unpleasant; nobody +looks at it twice; the Corinthian fluted column is beautiful and +attractive; but without a solid foundation, can hardly be seen twice, +because it must soon tumble down. Yours affectionately. + + + + +LETTER LXXVII + +LONDON, August 7, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By Mr. Harte's letter to me of the 18th July N. S., which I +received by the last post, I am at length informed of the particulars +both of your past distemper, and of your future motions. As to the +former, I am now convinced, and so is Dr. Shaw, that your lungs were only +symptomatically affected; and that the rheumatic tendency is what you are +chiefly now to guard against, but (for greater security) with due +attention still to your lungs, as if they had been, and still were, a +little affected. In either case, a cooling, pectoral regimen is equally +good. By cooling, I mean cooling in its consequences, not cold to the +palate; for nothing is more dangerous than very cold liquors, at the very +time that one longs for them the most; which is, when one is very hot. +Fruit, when full ripe, is very wholesome; but then it must be within +certain bounds as to quantity; for I have known many of my countrymen die +of bloody-fluxes, by indulging in too great a quantity of fruit, in those +countries where, from the goodness and ripeness of it, they thought it +could do them no harm. 'Ne quid nimis', is a most excellent rule in +everything; but commonly the least observed, by people of your age, in +anything. + +As to your future motions, I am very well pleased with them, and greatly +prefer your intended stay at Verona to Venice, whose almost stagnating +waters must, at this time of the year, corrupt the air. Verona has a +pure and clear air, and, as I am informed, a great deal of good company. +Marquis Maffei, alone, would be worth going there for. You may, I think, +very well leave Verona about the middle of September, when the great +heats will be quite over, and then make the best of your way to Naples; +where, I own, I want to have you by way of precaution (I hope it is +rather over caution) in case of the last remains of a pulmonic disorder. +The amphitheatre at Verona is worth your attention; as are also many +buildings there and at Vicenza, of the famous Andrea Palladio, whose +taste and style of buildings were truly antique. It would not be amiss, +if you employed three or four days in learning the five orders of +architecture, with their general proportions; and you may know all that +you need know of them in that time. Palladio's own book of architecture +is the best you can make use of for that purpose, skipping over the +mechanical part of it, such as the materials, the cement, etc. + +Mr. Harte tells me, that your acquaintance with the classics is renewed; +the suspension of which has been so short, that I dare say it has +produced no coldness. I hope and believe, you are now so much master of +them, that two hours every day, uninterruptedly, for a year or two more, +will make you perfectly so; and I think you cannot now allot them a +greater share than that of your time, considering the many other things +you have to learn and to do. You must know how to speak and write +Italian perfectly; you must learn some logic, some geometry, and some +astronomy; not to mention your exercises, where they are to be learned; +and, above all, you must learn the world, which is not soon learned; and +only to be learned by frequenting good and various companies. + +Consider, therefore, how precious every moment of time is to you now. +The more you apply to your business, the more you will taste your +pleasures. The exercise of the mind in the morning whets the appetite +for the pleasures of the evening, as much as the exercise of the body +whets the appetite for dinner. Business and pleasure, rightly +understood, mutually assist each other, instead of being enemies, as +silly or dull people often think them. No man tastes pleasures truly, +who does not earn them by previous business, and few people do business +well, who do nothing else. Remember that when I speak of pleasures, I +always mean the elegant pleasures of a rational being, and, not the +brutal ones of a swine. I mean 'la bonne Chere', short of gluttony; +wine, infinitely short of drunkenness; play, without the least gaming; +and gallantry without debauchery. There is a line in all these things +which men of sense, for greater security, take care to keep a good deal +on the right side of; for sickness, pain, contempt and infamy, lie +immediately on the other side of it. Men of sense and merit, in all +other respects, may have had some of these failings; but then those few +examples, instead of inviting us to imitation, should only put us the +more upon our guard against such weaknesses: and whoever thinks them +fashionable, will not be so himself; I have often known a fashionable man +have some one vice; but I never in my life knew a vicious man a +fashionable man. Vice is as degrading as it is criminal. God bless you, +my dear child! + + + + +LETTER LXXVIII + +LONDON, August 20, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Let us resume our reflections upon men, their characters, their +manners, in a word, our reflections upon the world. They may help you to +form yourself, and to know others; a knowledge very useful at all ages, +very rare at yours. It seems as if it were nobody's business to +communicate it to young men. Their masters teach them, singly, the +languages or the sciences of their several departments; and are indeed +generally incapable of teaching them the world: their parents are often +so too, or at least neglect doing it, either from avocations, +indifference, or from an opinion that throwing them into the world (as +they call it) is the best way of teaching it them. This last notion is +in a great degree true; that is, the world can doubtless never be well +known by theory: practice is absolutely necessary; but surely it is of +great use to a young man, before he sets out for that country full of +mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made +by some experienced traveler. + +There is a certain dignity of manners absolutely necessary, to make even +the most valuable character either respected or respectable.--[Meaning +worthy of respect.] + +Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, waggery, +and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a +degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow; and a merry +fellow was never yet a respectable man. Indiscriminate familiarity +either offends your superiors, or else dubbs you their dependent and led +captain. It gives your inferiors just, but troublesome and improper +claims of equality. A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of +them is the least related to wit. Whoever is admitted or sought for, in +company, upon any other account than that of his merit and manners, is +never respected there, but only made use of. We will have such-a-one, +for he sings prettily; we will invite such-a-one to a ball, for he dances +well; we will have such-a-one at supper, for he is always joking and +laughing; we will ask another, because he plays deep at all games, or +because he can drink a great deal. These are all vilifying distinctions, +mortifying preferences, and exclude all ideas of esteem and regard. +Whoever is HAD (as it is called) in company for the sake of any one thing +singly, is singly that thing and will never be considered in any other +light; consequently never respected, let his merits be what they will. + +This dignity of manners, which I recommend so much to you, is not only as +different from pride, as true courage is from blustering, or true wit +from joking; but is absolutely inconsistent with it; for nothing vilifies +and degrades more than pride. The pretensions of the proud man are +oftener treated with sneer and contempt, than with indignation; as we +offer ridiculously too little to a tradesman, who asks ridiculously too +much for his goods; but we do not haggle with one who only asks a just +and reasonable price. + +Abject flattery and indiscriminate assentation degrade as much as +indiscriminate contradiction and noisy debate disgust. But a modest +assertion of one's own opinion, and a complaisant acquiescence to other +people's, preserve dignity. + +Vulgar, low expressions, awkward motions and address, vilify, as they +imply either a very low turn of mind, or low education and low company. + +Frivolous curiosity about trifles, and a laborious attention to little +objects which neither require nor deserve a moment's thought, lower a +man; who from thence is thought (and not unjustly) incapable of greater +matters. Cardinal de Retz, very sagaciously, marked out Cardinal Chigi +for a little mind, from the moment that he told him he had wrote three +years with the same pen, and that it was an excellent good one still. + +A certain degree of exterior seriousness in looks and motions gives +dignity, without excluding wit and decent cheerfulness, which are always +serious themselves. A constant smirk upon the face, and a whifing +activity of the body, are strong indications of futility. Whoever is in +a hurry, shows that the thing he is about is too big for him. Haste and +hurry are very different things. + +I have only mentioned some of those things which may, and do, in the +opinion of the world, lower and sink characters, in other respects +valuable enough,--but I have taken no notice of those that affect and +sink the moral characters. They are sufficiently obvious. A man who has +patiently been kicked may as well pretend to courage, as a man blasted by +vices and crimes may to dignity of any kind. But an exterior decency and +dignity of manners will even keep such a man longer from sinking, than +otherwise he would be: of such consequence is the [****], even though +affected and put on! Pray read frequently, and with the utmost +attention, nay, get by heart, if you can, that incomparable chapter in +Cicero's "Offices," upon the [****], or the Decorum. It contains +whatever is necessary for the dignity of manners. + +In my next I will send you a general map of courts; a region yet +unexplored by you, but which you are one day to inhabit. The ways are +generally crooked and full of turnings, sometimes strewed with flowers, +sometimes choked up with briars; rotten ground and deep pits frequently +lie concealed under a smooth and pleasing surface; all the paths are +slippery, and every slip is dangerous. Sense and discretion must +accompany you at your first setting out; but, notwithstanding those, till +experience is your guide, you will every now and then step out of your +way, or stumble. + +Lady Chesterfield has just now received your German letter, for which she +thanks you; she says the language is very correct; and I can plainly see +that the character is well formed, not to say better than your English +character. Continue to write German frequently, that it may become quite +familiar to you. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXIX + +LONDON, August 21, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By the last letter that I received from Mr. Harte, of the 31st +July, N. S., I suppose you are now either at Venice or Verona, and +perfectly re covered of your late illness: which I am daily more and more +convinced had no consumptive tendency; however, for some time still, +'faites comme s'il y en avoit', be regular, and live pectorally. + +You will soon be at courts, where, though you will not be concerned, yet +reflection and observation upon what you see and hear there may be of use +to you, when hereafter you may come to be concerned in courts yourself. +Nothing in courts is exactly as it appears to be; often very different; +sometimes directly contrary. Interest, which is the real spring of +everything there, equally creates and dissolves friendship, produces and +reconciles enmities: or, rather, allows of neither real friendships nor +enmities; for, as Dryden very justly observes, POLITICIANS NEITHER LOVE +NOR HATE. This is so true, that you may think you connect yourself with +two friends to-day, and be obliged tomorrow to make your option between +them as enemies; observe, therefore, such a degree of reserve with your +friends as not to put yourself in their power, if they should become your +enemies; and such a degree of moderation with your enemies, as not to +make it impossible for them to become your friends. + +Courts are, unquestionably, the seats of politeness and good-breeding; +were they not so, they would be the seats of slaughter and desolation. +Those who now smile upon and embrace, would affront and stab each other, +if manners did not interpose; but ambition and avarice, the two +prevailing passions at courts, found dissimulation more effectual than +violence; and dissimulation introduced that habit of politeness, which +distinguishes the courtier from the country gentleman. In the former +case the strongest body would prevail; in the latter, the strongest mind. + +A man of parts and efficiency need not flatter everybody at court; but he +must take great care to offend nobody personally; it being in the power +of every man to hurt him, who cannot serve him. Homer supposes a chain +let down from Jupiter to the earth, to connect him with mortals. There +is, at all courts, a chain which connects the prince or the minister with +the page of the back stairs, or the chamber-maid. The king's wife, or +mistress, has an influence over him; a lover has an influence over her; +the chambermaid, or the valet de chambre, has an influence over both, and +so ad infinitum. You must, therefore, not break a link of that chain, by +which you hope to climb up to the prince. + +You must renounce courts if you will not connive at knaves, and tolerate +fools. Their number makes them considerable. You should as little +quarrel as connect yourself with either. + +Whatever you say or do at court, you may depend upon it, will be known; +the business of most of those, who crowd levees and antichambers, being +to repeat all that they see or hear, and a great deal that they neither +see nor hear, according as they are inclined to the persons concerned, or +according to the wishes of those to whom they hope to make their court. +Great caution is therefore necessary; and if, to great caution, you can +join seeming frankness and openness, you will unite what Machiavel +reckons very difficult but very necessary to be united; 'volto sciolto e +pensieri stretti'. + +Women are very apt to be mingled in court intrigues; but they deserve +attention better than confidence; to hold by them is a very precarious +tenure. + +I am agreeably interrupted in these reflections by a letter which I have +this moment received from Baron Firmian. It contains your panegyric, and +with the strongest protestations imaginable that he does you only +justice. I received this favorable account of you with pleasure, and I +communicate it to you with as much. While you deserve praise, it is +reasonable you should know that you meet with it; and I make no doubt, +but that it will encourage you in persevering to deserve it. This is one +paragraph of the Baron's letter: Ses moeurs dans un age si tendre, +reglees selon toutes les loix d'une morale exacte et sensee; son +application (that is what I like) a tout ce qui s'appelle etude serieuse, +et Belles Lettres,---- ["Notwithstanding his great youth, his manners are +regulated by the most unexceptionable rules of sense and of morality. +His application THAT IS WHAT I LIKE to every kind of serious study, as +well as to polite literature, without even the least appearance of +ostentatious pedantry, render him worthy of your most tender affection; +and I have the honor of assuring you, that everyone cannot but be pleased +with the acquisition of his acquaintance or of his friendship. I have +profited of it, both here and at Vienna; and shall esteem myself very +happy to make use of the permission he has given me of continuing it by +letter." Reputation, like health, is preserved and increased by the +same means by which it is acquired. Continue to desire and deserve +praise, and you will certainly find it. Knowledge, adorned by manners, +will infallibly procure it. Consider, that you have but a little way +further to get to your journey's end; therefore, for God's sake, do not +slacken your pace; one year and a half more of sound application, Mr. +Harte assures me, will finish this work; and when this work is finished +well, your own will be very easily done afterward. 'Les Manieres et les +Graces' are no immaterial parts of that work; and I beg that you will +give as much of your attention. to them as to your books. Everything +depends upon them; 'senza di noi ogni fatica e vana'. The various +companies you now go into will procure them you, if you will carefully +observe, and form yourself upon those who have them. + +Adieu! God bless you! and may you ever deserve that affection with which +I am now, Yours. + + + + +LETTER LXXX + +LONDON, September 5, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY : I have received yours from Laubach, of the 17th of August, +N. S., with the inclosed for Comte Lascaris; which I have given him, and +with which he is extremely pleased, as I am with your account of +Carniola. I am very glad that you attend to, and inform yourself of, the +political objects of the country you go through. Trade and manufactures +are very considerable, not to say the most important ones; for, though +armies and navies are the shining marks of the strength of countries, +they would be very ill paid, and consequently fight very ill, if +manufactures and commerce did not support them. You have certainly +observed in Germany the inefficiency of great powers, with great tracts +of country and swarms of men; which are absolutely useless, if not paid +by other powers who have the resources of manufactures and commerce. +This we have lately experienced to be the case of the two empresses of +Germany and Russia: England, France, and Spain, must pay their respective +allies, or they may as well be without them. + +I have not the least objection to your taking, into the bargain, the +observation of natural curiosities; they are very welcome, provided they +do not take up the room of better things. But the forms of government, +the maxims of policy, the strength or weakness, the trade and commerce, +of the several countries you see or hear of are the important objects, +which I recommend to your most minute inquiries, and most serious +attention. I thought that the republic of Venice had by this time laid +aside that silly and frivolous piece of policy, of endeavoring to conceal +their form of government; which anybody may know, pretty nearly, by +taking the pains to read four or five books, which explain all the great +parts of it; and as for some of the little wheels of that machine, the +knowledge of them would be as little useful to others as dangerous to +themselves. Their best policy (I can tell them) is to keep quiet, and to +offend no one great power, by joining with another. Their escape, after +the Ligue of Cambray, should prove a useful lesson to them. + +I am glad you frequent the assemblies at Venice. Have you seen Monsieur +and Madame Capello, and how did they receive you? Let me know who are +the ladies whose houses you frequent the most. Have you seen the +Comptesse d'Orselska, Princess of Holstein? Is Comte Algarotti, who was +the TENANT there, at Venice? + +You will, in many parts of Italy, meet with numbers of the Pretender's +people (English, Scotch, and Irish fugitives), especially at Rome; +probably the Pretender himself. It is none of your business to declare +war to these people, as little as it is your interest, or, I hope, your +inclination, to connect yourself with them; and therefore I recommend to +you a perfect neutrality. Avoid them as much as you can with decency and +good manners; but when you cannot, avoid any political conversation or +debates with them; tell them that you do not concern yourself with +political matters: that you are neither maker nor a deposer of kings; +that when you left England, you left a king in it, and have not since +heard either of his death, or of any revolution that has happened; and +that you take kings and kingdoms as you find them; but enter no further +into matters with them, which can be of no use, and might bring on heats +and quarrels. When you speak of the old Pretender, you will call him +only the Chevalier de St. George;--but mention him as seldom as possible. +Should he chance to speak to you at any assembly (as, I am told, he +sometimes does to the English), be sure that you seem not to know him; +and answer him civilly, but always either in French or in Italian; and +give him, in the former, the appellation of Monsieur, and in the latter, +of Signore. Should you meet with the Cardinal of York, you will be under +no difficulty; for he has, as Cardinal, an undoubted right to 'Eminenza'. +Upon the whole, see any of those people as little as possible; when you +do see them, be civil to them, upon the footing of strangers; but never +be drawn into any altercations with them about the imaginary right of +their king, as they call him. + +It is to no sort of purpose to talk to those people of the natural rights +of mankind, and the particular constitution of this country. Blinded by +prejudices, soured by misfortunes, and tempted by their necessities, they +are as incapable of reasoning rightly, as they have hitherto been of +acting wisely. The late Lord Pembroke never would know anything that he +had not a mind to know; and, in this case, I advise you to follow his +example. Never know either the father or the two sons, any otherwise +than as foreigners; and so, not knowing their pretensions, you have no +occasion to dispute them. + +I can never help recommending to you the utmost attention and care, to +acquire 'les Manieres, la Tournure, et les Graces, d'un galant homme, et +d'un homme de cour'. They should appear in every look, in every action; +in your address, and even in your dress, if you would either please or +rise in the world. That you may do both (and both are in your power) is +most ardently wished you, by Yours. + +P. S. I made Comte Lascaris show me your letter, which I liked very +well; the style was easy and natural, and the French pretty correct. +There were so few faults in the orthography, that a little more +observation of the best French authors would make you a correct master of +that necessary language. + +I will not conceal from you, that I have lately had extraordinary good +accounts of you, from an unexpected and judicious person, who promises me +that, with a little more of the world, your manners and address will +equal your knowledge. This is the more pleasing to me, as those were the +two articles of which I was the most doubtful. These commendations will +not, I am persuaded, make you vain and coxcomical, but only encourage you +to go on in the right way. + + + + +LETTER LXXXI + +LONDON, September 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: It seems extraordinary, but it is very true, that my anxiety +for you increases in proportion to the good accounts which I receive of +you from all hands. I promise myself so much from you, that I dread the +least disappointment. You are now so near the port, which I have so long +wished and labored to bring you safe into, that my concern would be +doubled, should you be shipwrecked within sight of it. The object, +therefore, of this letter is (laying aside all the authority of a parent) +to conjure you as a friend, by the affection you have for me (and surely +you have reason to have some), and by the regard you have for yourself, +to go on, with assiduity and attention, to complete that work which, of +late, you have carried on so well, and which is now so near being +finished. My wishes and my plan were to make you shine and distinguish +yourself equally in the learned and the polite world. Few have been able +to do it. Deep learning is generally tainted with pedantry, or at least +unadorned by manners: as, on the other hand, polite manners and the turn +of the world are too often unsupported by knowledge, and consequently end +contemptibly, in the frivolous dissipation of drawing-rooms and ruelles. +You are now got over the dry and difficult parts of learning; what +remains requires much more time than trouble. You have lost time by your +illness; you must regain it now or never. I therefore most earnestly +desire, for your own sake, that for these next six months, at least six +hours every morning, uninterruptedly, may be inviolably sacred to your +studies with Mr. Harte. I do not know whether he will require so much; +but I know that I do, and hope you will, and consequently prevail with +him to give you that time; I own it is a good deal: but when both you and +he consider that the work will be so much better, and so much sooner +done, by such an assiduous and continued application, you will, neither +of you, think it too much, and each will find his account in it. So much +for the mornings, which from your own good sense, and Mr. Harte's +tenderness and care of you, will, I am sure, be thus well employed. +It is not only reasonable, but useful too, that your evenings should be +devoted to amusements and pleasures: and therefore I not only allow, but +recommend, that they should be employed at assemblies, balls, SPECTACLES, +and in the best companies; with this restriction only, that the +consequences of the evening's diversions may not break in upon the +morning's studies, by breakfastings, visits, and idle parties into the +country. At your age, you need not be ashamed, when any of these morning +parties are proposed, to say that you must beg to be excused, for you are +obliged to devote your mornings to Mr. Harte; that I will have it so; and +that you dare not do otherwise. Lay it all upon me; though I am +persuaded it will be as much your own inclination as it is mine. But +those frivolous, idle people, whose time hangs upon their own hands, and +who desire to make others lose theirs too, are not to be reasoned with: +and indeed it would be doing them too much honor. The shortest civil +answers are the best; I CANNOT, I DARE NOT, instead of I WILL NOT; for if +you were to enter with them into the necessity of study end the +usefulness of knowledge, it would only furnish them with matter for silly +jests; which, though I would not have you mind, I would not have you +invite. I will suppose you at Rome studying six hours uninterruptedly +with Mr. Harte, every morning, and passing your evenings with the best +company of Rome, observing their manners and forming your own; and I will +suppose a number of idle, sauntering, illiterate English, as there +commonly is there, living entirely with one another, supping, drinking, +and sitting up late at each other's lodgings; commonly in riots and +scrapes when drunk, and never in good company when sober. I will take +one of these pretty fellows, and give you the dialogue between him and +yourself; such as, I dare say, it will be on his side; and such as, I +hope, it will be on yours:-- + +Englishman. Will you come and breakfast with me tomorrow? there will be +four or five of our countrymen; we have provided chaises, and we will +drive somewhere out of town after breakfast. + +Stanhope. I am very sorry I cannot; but I am obliged to be at home all +morning. + +Englishman. Why, then, we will come and breakfast with you. + +Stanhope. I can't do that neither; I am engaged. + +Englishman. Well, then, let it be the next day. + +Stanhope. To tell you the truth, it can be no day in the morning; for I +neither go out, nor see anybody at home before twelve. + +Englishman. And what the devil do you do with yourself till twelve +o'clock? + +Stanhope. I am not by myself; I am with Mr. Harte. + +Englishman. Then what the devil do you do with him? + +Stanhope. We study different things; we read, we converse. + +Englishman. Very pretty amusement indeed! Are you to take orders then? + +Stanhope. Yes, my father's orders, I believe I must take. + +Englishman. Why hast thou no more spirit, than to mind an old fellow a +thousand miles off? + +Stanhope. If I don't mind his orders he won't mind my draughts. + +Englishman. What, does the old prig threaten then? threatened folks live +long; never mind threats. + +Stanhope. No, I can't say that he has ever threatened me in his life; +but I believe I had best not provoke him. + +Englishman. Pooh! you would have one angry letter from the old fellow, +and there would be an end of it. + +Stanhope. You mistake him mightily; he always does more than he says. +He has never been angry with me yet, that I remember, in his life; but if +I were to provoke him, I am sure he would never forgive me; he would be +coolly immovable, and I might beg and pray, and write my heart out to no +purpose. + +Englishman. Why, then, he is an old dog, that's all I can say; and pray +are you to obey your dry-nurse too, this same, and what's his name--Mr. +Harte? + +Stanhope. Yes. + +Englishman. So he stuffs you all morning with Greek, and Latin, and +Logic, and all that. Egad I have a dry-nurse too, but I never looked +into a book with him in my life; I have not so much as seen the face of +him this week, and don't care a louse if I never see it again. + +Stanhope. My dry-nurse never desires anything of me that is not +reasonable, and for my own good; and therefore I like to be with him. + +Englishman. Very sententious and edifying, upon my word! at this rate +you will be reckoned a very good young man. + +Stanhope. Why, that will do me no harm. + +Englishman. Will you be with us to-morrow in the evening, then? We +shall be ten with you; and I have got some excellent good wine; and we'll +be very merry. + +Stanhope. I am very much obliged to you, but I am engaged for all the +evening, to-morrow; first at Cardinal Albani's; and then to sup at the +Venetian Ambassadress's. + +Englishman. How the devil can you like being always with these +foreigners? I never go among them with all their formalities and +ceremonies. I am never easy in company with them, and I don't know why, +but I am ashamed. + +Stanhope. I am neither ashamed nor afraid; I am very, easy with them; +they are very easy with me; I get the language, and I see their +characters, by conversing with them; and that is what we are sent abroad +for, is it not? + +Englishman. I hate your modest women's company; your women of fashion as +they call 'em; I don't know what to say to them, for my part. + +Stanhope. Have you ever conversed with them? + +Englishman. No; I never conversed with them; but have been sometimes in +their company, though much against my will. + +Stanhope. But at least they have done you no hurt; which is, probably, +more than you can say of the women you do converse with. + +Englishman. That's true, I own; but for all that, I would rather keep +company with my surgeon half the year, than with your women of fashion +the year round. + +Stanhope. Tastes are different, you know, and every man follows his own. + +Englishman. That's true; but thine's a devilish odd one, Stanhope. All +morning with thy dry-nurse; all the evening in formal fine company; and +all day long afraid of Old Daddy in England. Thou art a queer fellow, +and I am afraid there is nothing to be made of thee. + +Stanhope. I am afraid so too. + +Englishman. Well, then, good night to you; you have no objection, I +hope, to my being drunk to-night, which I certainly will be. + +Stanhope. Not in the least; nor to your being sick tomorrow, which you +as certainly will be; and so good night, too. + + +You will observe, that I have not put into your mouth those good +arguments which upon such an occasion would, I am sure, occur to you; +as piety and affection toward me; regard and friendship for Mr. Harte; +respect for your own moral character, and for all the relative duties of +man, son, pupil, and citizen. Such solid arguments would be thrown away +upon such shallow puppies. Leave them to their ignorance and to their +dirty, disgraceful vices. They will severely feel the effects of them, +when it will be too late. Without the comfortable refuge of learning, +and with all the sickness and pains of a ruined stomach, and a rotten +carcass, if they happen to arrive at old age, it is an uneasy and +ignominious one. The ridicule which such fellows endeavor to throw upon +those who are not like them, is, in the opinion of all men of sense, the +most authentic panegyric. Go on, then, my dear child, in the way you are +in, only for a year and a half more: that is all I ask of you. After +that, I promise that you shall be your own master, and that I will +pretend to no other title than that of your best and truest friend. You +shall receive advice, but no orders, from me; and in truth you will want +no other advice but such as youth and inexperience must necessarily +require. You shall certainly want nothing that is requisite, not only +for your conveniency, but also for your pleasures; which I always desire +shall be gratified. You will suppose that I mean the pleasures 'd'un +honnete homme'. + +While you are learning Italian, which I hope you do with diligence, pray +take care to continue your German, which you may have frequent +opportunities of speaking. I would also have you keep up your knowledge +of the 'Jus Publicum Imperii', by looking over, now and then, those +INESTIMABLE MANUSCRIPTS which Sir Charles Williams, who arrived here last +week, assures me you have made upon that subject. It will be of very +great use to you, when you come to be concerned in foreign affairs; as +you shall be (if you qualify yourself for them) younger than ever any +other was: I mean before you are twenty. Sir Charles tells me, that he +will answer for your learning; and that, he believes, you will acquire +that address, and those graces, which are so necessary to give it its +full lustre and value. But he confesses, that he doubts more of the +latter than of the former. The justice which he does Mr. Harte, in his +panegyrics of him, makes me hope that there is likewise a great deal of +truth in his encomiums of you. Are you pleased with, and proud of the +reputation which you have already acquired? Surely you are, for I am +sure I am. Will you do anything to lessen or forfeit it? Surely you +will not. And will you not do all you can to extend and increase it? +Surely you will. It is only going on for a year and a half longer, as +you have gone on for the two years last past, and devoting half the day +only to application; and you will be sure to make the earliest figure and +fortune in the world, that ever man made. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXII + +LONDON, September 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: If I had faith in philters and love potions, I should suspect +that you had given Sir Charles Williams some, by the manner in which he +speaks of you, not only to me, but to everybody else. I will not repeat +to you what he says of the extent and correctness of your knowledge, as +it might either make you vain, or persuade you that you had already +enough of what nobody can have too much. You will easily imagine how +many questions I asked, and how narrowly I sifted him upon your subject; +he answered me, and I dare say with truth, just as I could have wished; +till satisfied entirely with his accounts of your character and learning, +I inquired into other matters, intrinsically indeed of less consequence, +but still of great consequence to every man, and of more to you than to +almost any man: I mean, your address, manners, and air. To these +questions, the same truth which he had observed before, obliged him to +give me much less satisfactory answers. And as he thought himself, in +friendship both to you and me, obliged to tell me the disagreeable as +well as the agreeable truths, upon the same principle I think myself +obliged to repeat them to you. + +He told me then, that in company you were frequently most PROVOKINGLY +inattentive, absent; and distrait; that you came into a room, and +presented yourself, very awkwardly; that at table you constantly threw +down knives, forks, napkins, bread, etc., and that you neglected your +person and dress, to a degree unpardonable at any age, and much more so +at yours. + +These things, howsoever immaterial they may seem to people who do not +know the world, and the nature of mankind, give me, who know them to be +exceedingly material, very great concern. I have long distrusted you, +and therefore frequently admonished you, upon these articles; and I tell +you plainly, that I shall not be easy till I hear a very different +account of them. I know no one thing more offensive to a company than +that inattention and DISTRACTION. It is showing them the utmost +contempt; and people never forgive contempt. No man is distrait with the +man he fears, or the woman he loves; which is a proof that every man can +get the better of that DISTRACTION, when he thinks it worth his while to +do so; and, take my word for it, it is always worth his while. For my +own part, I would rather be in company with a dead man, than with an +absent one; for if the dead man gives me no pleasure; at least he shows +me no contempt; whereas, the absent man, silently indeed, but very +plainly, tells me that he does not think me worth his attention. +Besides, can an absent man make any observations upon the characters. +customs, and manners of the company? No. He may be in the best +companies all his lifetime (if they will admit him, which, if I were +they, I would not) and never be one jot the wiser. I never will converse +with an absent man; one may as well talk to a deaf one. It is, in truth, +a practical blunder, to address ourselves to a man who we see plainly +neither hears, minds, or understands us. Moreover, I aver that no man +is, in any degree, fit for either business or conversation, who cannot +and does not direct and command his attention to the present object, be +that what it will. You know, by experience, that I grudge no expense in +your education, but I will positively not keep you a Flapper. You may +read, in Dr. Swift, the description of these flappers, and the use they +were of to your friends the Laputans; whose minds (Gulliver says) are so +taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak nor +attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external +traction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those +people who are able to afford it, always keep a flapper in their family, +as one of their domestics; nor ever walk about, or make visits without +him. This flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his master +in his walks; and, upon occasion, to give a soft flap upon his eyes, +because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest +danger of falling down every precipice, and bouncing his head against +every post, and, in the streets, of jostling others, or being jostled +into the kennel himself. If CHRISTIAN will undertake this province into +the bargain, with all my heart; but I will not allow him any increase of +wages upon that score. In short, I give you fair warning, that, when we +meet, if you are absent in mind, I will soon be absent in body; for it +will be impossible for me to stay in the room; and if at table you throw +down your knife, plate, bread, etc., and hack the wing of a chicken for +half an hour, without being able to cut it off, and your sleeve all the +time in another dish, I must rise from the table to escape the fever you +would certainly give me. Good God! how I should be shocked, if you came +into my room, for the first time, with two left legs, presenting yourself +with all the graces and dignity of a tailor, and your clothes hanging +upon you, like those in Monmouth street, upon tenter-hooks! whereas, I +expect, nay, require, to see you present yourself with the easy and +genteel air of a man of fashion, who has kept good company. I expect you +not only well dressed but very well dressed; I expect a gracefulness in +all your motions, and something particularly engaging in your address, +All this I expect, and all this it is in your power, by care and +attention, to make me find; but to tell you the plain truth, if I do not +find it, we shall not converse very much together; for I cannot stand +inattention and awkwardness; it would endanger my health. You have often +seen, and I have as often made you observe L----'s distinguished +inattention and awkwardness. Wrapped up, like a Laputan, in intense +thought, and possibly sometimes in no thought at all (which, I believe, +is very often the case with absent people), he does not know his most +intimate acquaintance by sight, or answers them as if he were at cross +purposes. He leaves his hat in one room, his sword in another, and would +leave his shoes in a third, if his buckles, though awry, did not save +them: his legs and arms, by his awkward management of them, seem to have +undergone the question extraordinaire; and his head, always hanging upon +one or other of his shoulders, seems to have received the first stroke +upon a block. I sincerely value and esteem him for his parts, learning, +and virtue; but, for the soul of me, I cannot love him in company. This +will be universally the case, in common life, of every inattentive, +awkward man, let his real merit and knowledge be ever so great. When I +was of your age, I desired to shine, as far as I was able, in every part +of life; and was as attentive to my manners, my dress, and my air, in +company of evenings, as to my books and my tutor in the mornings. A +young fellow should be ambitious to shine in everything--and, of the two, +always rather overdo than underdo. These things are by no means trifles: +they are of infinite consequence to those who are to be thrown into the +great world, and who would make a figure or a fortune in it. It is not +sufficient to deserve well; one must please well too. Awkward, +disagreeable merit will never carry anybody far. Wherever you find a +good dancing-master, pray let him put you upon your haunches; not so much +for the sake of dancing, as for coming into a room, and presenting +yourself genteelly and gracefully. Women, whom you ought to endeavor to +please, cannot forgive vulgar and awkward air and gestures; 'il leur faut +du brillant'. The generality of men are pretty like them, and are +equally taken by the same exterior graces. + +I am very glad that you have received the diamond buckles safe; all I +desire in return for them is, that they may be buckled even upon your +feet, and that your stockings may not hide them. I should be sorry that +you were an egregious fop; but, I protest, that of the two, I would +rather have you a fop than a sloven. I think negligence in my own dress, +even at my age, when certainly I expect no advantages from my dress, +would be indecent with regard to others. I have done with fine clothes; +but I will have my plain clothes fit me, and made like other people's: In +the evenings, I recommend to you the company of women of fashion, who +have a right to attention and will be paid it. Their company will smooth +your manners, and give you a habit of attention and respect, of which you +will find the advantage among men. + +My plan for you, from the beginning, has been to make you shine equally +in the learned and in the polite world; the former part is almost +completed to my wishes, and will, I am persuaded, in a little time more, +be quite so. The latter part is still in your power to complete; and I +flatter myself that you will do it, or else the former part will avail +you very little; especially in your department, where the exterior +address and graces do half the business; they must be the harbingers of +your merit, or your merit will be very coldly received; all can, and do +judge of the former, few of the latter. + +Mr. Harte tells me that you have grown very much since your illness; if +you get up to five feet ten, or even nine inches, your figure will +probably be a good one; and if well dressed and genteel, will probably +please; which is a much greater advantage to a man than people commonly +think. Lord Bacon calls it a letter of recommendation. + +I would wish you to be the omnis homo, 'l'homme universel'. You are +nearer it, if you please, than ever anybody was at your age; and if you +will but, for the course of this next year only, exert your whole +attention to your studies in the morning, and to your address, manners, +air and tournure in the evenings, you will be the man I wish you, and the +man that is rarely seen. + +Our letters go, at best, so irregularly, and so often miscarry totally, +that for greater security I repeat the same things. So, though I +acknowledged by last post Mr. Harte's letter of the 8th September, N. S., +I acknowledge it again by this to you. If this should find you still at +Verona, let it inform you that I wish you would set out soon for Naples; +unless Mr. Harte should think it better for you to stay at Verona, or any +other place on this side Rome, till you go there for the Jubilee. Nay, +if he likes it better, I am very willing that you should go directly from +Verona to Rome; for you cannot have too much of Rome, whether upon +account of the language, the curiosities, or the company. My only reason +for mentioning Naples, is for the sake of the climate, upon account of +your health; but if Mr. Harte thinks that your health is now so well +restored as to be above climate, he may steer your course wherever he +thinks proper: and, for aught I know, your going directly to Rome, and +consequently staying there so much the longer, may be as well as anything +else. I think you and I cannot put our affairs in better hands than in +Mr. Harte's; and I will stake his infallibility against the Pope's, with +some odds on his side. Apropos of the Pope: remember to be presented to +him before you leave Rome, and go through the necessary ceremonies for +it, whether of kissing his slipper or his b---h; for I would never +deprive myself of anything that I wanted to do or see, by refusing to +comply with an established custom. When I was in Catholic countries, +I never declined kneeling in their churches at the elevation, nor +elsewhere, when the Host went by. It is a complaisance due to the custom +of the place, and by no means, as some silly people have imagined, an +implied approbation of their doctrine. Bodily attitudes and situations +are things so very indifferent in themselves, that I would quarrel with +nobody about them. It may, indeed, be improper for Mr. Harte to pay that +tribute of complaisance, upon account of his character. + +This letter is a very long, and possibly a very tedious one; but my +anxiety for your perfection is so great, and particularly at this +critical and decisive period of your life, that I am only afraid of +omitting, but never of repeating, or dwelling too long upon anything that +I think may be of the least use to you. Have the same anxiety for +yourself, that I have for you, and all will do well. Adieu! my dear +child. + + + + +LETTER LXXXIII + +LONDON, September 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: A vulgar, ordinary way of thinking, acting, or speaking, +implies a low education, and a habit of low company. Young people +contract it at school, or among servants, with whom they are too often +used to converse; but after they frequent good company, they must want +attention and observation very much, if they do not lay it quite aside; +and, indeed, if they do not, good company will be very apt to lay them +aside. The various kinds of vulgarisms are infinite; I cannot pretend to +point them out to you; but I will give some samples, by which you may +guess at the rest. + +A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. +He suspects himself to be slighted, thinks everything that is said meant +at him: if the company happens to laugh, he is persuaded they laugh at +him; he grows angry and testy, says something very impertinent, and draws +himself into a scrape, by showing what he calls a proper spirit, and +asserting himself. A man of fashion does not suppose himself to be +either the sole or principal object of the thoughts, looks, or words of +the company; and never suspects that he is either slighted or laughed at, +unless he is conscious that he deserves it. And if (which very seldom +happens) the company is absurd or ill-bred enough to do either, he does +not care twopence, unless the insult be so gross and plain as to require +satisfaction of another kind. As he is above trifles, he is never +vehement and eager about them; and, wherever they are concerned, rather +acquiesces than wrangles. A vulgar man's conversation always savors +strongly of the lowness of his education and company. It turns chiefly +upon his domestic affairs, his servants, the excellent order he keeps in +his own family, and the little anecdotes of the neighborhood; all which +he relates with emphasis, as interesting matters. He is a man gossip. + +Vulgarism in language is the next and distinguishing characteristic of +bad company and a bad education. A man of fashion avoids nothing with +more care than that. Proverbial expressions and trite sayings are the +flowers of the rhetoric of a vulgar man. Would he say that men differ in +their tastes; he both supports and adorns that opinion by the good old +saying, as he respectfully calls it, that WHAT IS ONE MAN'S MEAT, IS +ANOTHER MAN'S P01SON. If anybody attempts being SMART, as he calls it, +upon him, he gives them TIT FOR TAT, aye, that he does. He has always +some favorite word for the time being; which, for the sake of using +often, he commonly abuses. Such as VASTLY angry, VASTLY kind, VASTLY +handsome, and VASTLY ugly. Even his pronunciation of proper words +carries the mark of the beast along with it. He calls the earth YEARTH; +he is OBLEIGED, not OBLIGED to you. He goes TO WARDS, and not TOWARDS, +such a place. He sometimes affects hard words, by way of ornament, which +he always mangles like a learned woman. A man of fashion never has +recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms; uses neither favorite words +nor hard words; but takes great care to speak very correctly and +grammatically, and to pronounce properly; that is, according to the usage +of the best companies. + +An awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions, and a certain left- +handedness (if I may use that word), loudly proclaim low education and +low company; for it is impossible to suppose that a man can have +frequented good company, without having catched something, at least, of +their air and motions. A new raised man is distinguished in a regiment +by his awkwardness; but he must be impenetrably dull, if, in a month or +two's time, he cannot perform at least the common manual exercise, and +look like a soldier. The very accoutrements of a man of fashion are +grievous encumbrances to a vulgar man. He is at a loss what to do with +his hat, when it is not upon his head; his cane (if unfortunately he +wears one) is at perpetual war with every cup of tea or coffee he drinks; +destroys them first, and then accompanies them in their fall. His sword +is formidable only to his own legs, which would possibly carry him fast +enough out of the way of any sword but his own. His clothes fit him so +ill, and constrain him so much, that he seems rather, their prisoner +than their proprietor. He presents himself in company like a criminal in +a court of justice; his very air condemns him; and people of fashion will +no more connect themselves with the one, than people of character will +with the other. This repulse drives and sinks him into low company; a +gulf from whence no man, after a certain age, ever emerged. + +'Les manieres nobles et aisees, la tournure d'un homme de condition, le +ton de la bonne compagnie, les graces, le jeune sais quoi, qui plait', +are as necessary to adorn and introduce your intrinsic merit and +knowledge, as the polish is to the diamond; which, without that polish, +would never be worn, whatever it might weigh. Do not imagine that these +accomplishments are only useful with women; they are much more so with +men. In a public assembly, what an advantage has a graceful speaker, +with genteel motions, a handsome figure, and a liberal air, over one who +shall speak full as much good sense, but destitute of these ornaments? +In business, how prevalent are the graces, how detrimental is the want of +them? By the help of these I have known some men refuse favors less +offensively than others granted them. The utility of them in courts and +negotiations is inconceivable. You gain the hearts, and consequently the +secrets, of nine in ten, that you have to do with, in spite even of their +prudence; which will, nine times in ten, be the dupe of their hearts and +of their senses. Consider the importance of these things as they +deserve, and you will not lose one minute in the pursuit of them. + +You are traveling now in a country once so famous both for arts and arms, +that (however degenerate at present) it still deserves your attention and +reflection. View it therefore with care, compare its former with its +present state, and examine into the causes of its rise and its decay. +Consider it classically and politically, and do not run through it, as +too many of your young countrymen do, musically, and (to use a ridiculous +word) KNICK-KNACKICALLY. No piping nor fiddling, I beseech you; no days +lost in poring upon almost imperceptible 'intaglios and cameos': and do +not become a virtuoso of small wares. Form a taste of painting, +sculpture, and architecture, if you please, by a careful examination of +the works of the best ancient and modern artists; those are liberal arts, +and a real taste and knowledge of them become a man of fashion very well. +But, beyond certain bounds, the man of taste ends, and the frivolous +virtuoso begins. + +Your friend Mendes, the good Samaritan, dined with me yesterday. He has +more good-nature and generosity than parts. However, I will show him all +the civilities that his kindness to you so justly deserves. He tells me +that you are taller than I am, which I am very glad of: I desire that you +may excel me in everything else too; and, far from repining, I shall +rejoice at your superiority. He commends your friend Mr. Stevens +extremely; of whom too I have heard so good a character from other +people, that I am very glad of your connection with him. It may prove of +use to you hereafter. When you meet with such sort of Englishmen abroad, +who, either from their parts or their rank, are likely to make a figure +at home, I would advise you to cultivate them, and get their favorable +testimony of you here, especially those who are to return to England +before you. Sir Charles Williams has puffed you (as the mob call it) +here extremely. If three or four more people of parts do the same, +before you come back, your first appearance in London will be to great +advantage. Many people do, and indeed ought, to take things upon trust; +many more do, who need not; and few dare dissent from an established +opinion. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER LXXXIV + +LONDON, October 2, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I received by the last post your letter of the 22d September, +N. S., but I have not received that from Mr. Harte to which you refer, +and which you say contained your reasons for leaving Verona, and +returning to Venice; so that I am entirely ignorant of them. Indeed the +irregularity and negligence of the post provoke me, as they break the +thread of the accounts I want to receive from you, and of the +instructions and orders which I send you, almost every post. Of these +last twenty posts. + +I am sure that I have wrote eighteen, either to you or to Mr. Harte, and +it does not appear by your letter, that all or even any of my letters +have been received. I desire for the future, that both you and Mr. Harte +will constantly, in your letters, mention the dates of mine. Had it not +been for their miscarriage, you would not have, been in the uncertainty +you seem to be in at present, with regard to your future motions. Had +you received my letters, you would have been by this time at Naples: but +we must now take things where they are. + +Upon the receipt, then, of this letter, you will as soon as conveniently +you can, set out for Rome; where you will not arrive too long before the +jubilee, considering the difficulties of getting lodgings, and other +accommodations there at this time. I leave the choice of the route to +you; but I do by no means intend that you should leave Rome after the +jubilee, as you seem to hint in your letter: on the contrary, I will have +Rome your headquarters for six months at least; till you shall have, in a +manner, acquired the 'Jus Civitatis' there. More things are to be seen +and learned there, than in any other town in Europe; there are the best +masters to instruct, and the best companies to polish you. In the spring +you may make (if you please) frequent excursions to Naples; but Rome must +still be your headquarters, till the heats of June drive you from thence +to some other place in Italy, which we shall think of by that time. As +to the expense which you mention, I do not regard it in the least; from +your infancy to this day, I never grudged any expense in your education, +and still less do it now, that it is become more important and decisive: +I attend to the objects of your expenses, but not to the sums. I will +certainly not pay one shilling for your losing your nose, your money, or +your reason; that is, I will not contribute to women, gaming, and +drinking. But I will most cheerfully supply, not only every necessary, +but every decent expense you can make. I do not care what the best +masters cost. I would have you as well dressed, lodged, and attended, as +any reasonable man of fashion is in his travels. I would have you have +that pocket-money that should enable you to make the proper expense 'd'un +honnete homme'. In short, I bar no expense, that has neither vice nor +folly for its object; and under those two reasonable restrictions, draw, +and welcome. + +As for Turin, you may go there hereafter, as a traveler, for a month or +two; but you cannot conveniently reside there as an academician, for +reasons which I have formerly communicated to Mr. Harte, and which Mr. +Villettes, since his return here, has shown me in a still stronger light +than he had done by his letters from Turin, of which I sent copies to Mr. +Harte, though probably he never received them. + +After you have left Rome, Florence is one of the places with which you +should be thoroughly acquainted. I know that there is a great deal of +gaming there; but, at the same time, there are in every place some people +whose fortunes are either too small, or whose understandings are too good +to allow them to play for anything above trifles; and with those people +you will associate yourself, if you have not (as I am assured you have +not, in the least) the spirit of gaming in you. Moreover, at suspected +places, such as Florence, Turin, and Paris, I shall be more attentive to +your draughts, and such as exceed a proper and handsome expense will not +be answered; for I can easily know whether you game or not without being +told. + +Mr. Harte will determine your route to Rome as he shall think best; +whether along the coast of the Adriatic, or that of the Mediterranean, +it is equal to me; but you will observe to come back a different way from +that you went. + +Since your health is so well restored, I am not sorry that you have +returned to Venice, for I love capitals. Everything is best at capitals; +the best masters, the best companions, and the best manners. Many other +places are worth seeing, but capitals only are worth residing at. I am +very glad that Madame Capello received you so well. Monsieur I was sure +would: pray assure them both of my respects, and of my sensibility of +their kindness to you. Their house will be a very good one for you at +Rome; and I would advise you to be domestic in it if you can. But +Madame, I can tell you, requires great attentions. Madame Micheli has +written a very favorable account of you to my friend the Abbe Grossa +Testa, in a letter which he showed me, and in which there are so many +civil things to myself, that I would wish to tell her how much I think +myself obliged to her. I approve very much of the allotment of your time +at Venice; pray go on so for a twelvemonth at least, wherever you are. +You will find your own account in it. + +I like your last letter, which gives me an account of yourself, and your +own transactions; for though I do not recommend the EGOTISM to you, with +regard to anybody else, I desire that you will use it with me, and with +me only. I interest myself in all that you do; and as yet (excepting Mr. +Harte) nobody else does. He must of course know all, and I desire to +know a great deal. + +I am glad you have received, and that you like the diamond buckles. I am +very willing that you should make, but very unwilling that you should CUT +a figure with them at the jubilee; the CUTTING A FIGURE being the very +lowest vulgarism in the English language; and equal in elegancy to Yes, +my Lady, and No, my Lady. The word VAST and VASTLY, you will have found +by my former letter that I had proscribed out of the diction of a +gentleman, unless in their proper signification of sizes and BULK. Not +only in language, but in everything else, take great care that the first +impressions you give of yourself may be not only favorable, but pleasing, +engaging, nay, seducing. They are often decisive; I confess they are a +good deal so with me: and I cannot wish for further acquaintance with a +man whose first 'abord' and address displease me. + +So many of my letters have miscarried, and I know so little which, that I +am forced to repeat the same thing over and over again eventually. This +is one. I have wrote twice to Mr. Harte, to have your picture drawn in +miniature, while you were at Venice; and send it me in a letter: it is +all one to me whether in enamel or in watercolors, provided it is but +very like you. I would have you drawn exactly as you are, and in no +whimsical dress: and I lay more stress upon the likeness of the picture, +than upon the taste and skill of the painter. If this be not already +done, I desire that you will have it done forthwith before you leave +Venice; and inclose it in a letter to me, which letter, for greater +security, I would have you desire Sir James Gray to inclose in his packet +to the office; as I, for the same, reason, send this under his cover. +If the picture be done upon vellum, it will be the most portable. Send +me, at the same time, a thread of silk of your own length exactly. I am +solicitous about your figure; convinced, by a thousand instances, that a +good one is a real advantage. 'Mens sana in corpore sano', is the first +and greatest blessing. I would add 'et pulchro', to complete it. May +you have that and every other! Adieu. + +Have you received my letters of recommendation to Cardinal Albani and the +Duke de Nivernois, at Rome? + + + + +LETTER LXXXV + +LONDON, October 9, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: If this letter finds you at all, of which I am very doubtful, +it will find you at Venice, preparing for your journey to Rome; which, by +my last letter to Mr. Harte, I advised you to make along the coast of the +Adriatic, through Rimini, Loretto, Ancona, etc., places that are all +worth seeing; but not worth staying at. And such I reckon all places +where the eyes only are employed. Remains of antiquity, public +buildings, paintings, sculptures, etc., ought to be seen, and that with a +proper degree of attention; but this is soon done, for they are only +outsides. It is not so with more important objects; the insides of which +must be seen; and they require and deserve much more attention. The +characters, the heads, and the, hearts of men, are the useful science of +which I would have you perfect master. That science is best taught and +best learned in capitals, where every human passion has its object, and +exerts all its force or all its art in the pursuit. I believe there is +no place in the world, where every passion is busier, appears in more +shapes, and is conducted with more art, than at ,Rome. Therefore, when +you are there, do not imagine that the Capitol, the Vatican, and the +Pantheon, are the principal objects of your curiosity. But for one +minute that you bestow upon those, employ ten days in informing yourself +of the nature of that government, the rise and decay of the papal power, +the politics of that court, the 'Brigues' of the cardinals, the tricks of +the Conclaves; and, in general, everything that relates to the interior +of that extraordinary government, founded originally upon the ignorance +and superstition of mankind, extended by the weakness of some princes, +and the ambition of others; declining of late in proportion as knowledge +has increased; and owing its present precarious security, not to the +religion, the affection, or the fear of the temporal powers, but to the +jealousy of each other. The Pope's excommunications are no longer +dreaded; his indulgences little solicited, and sell very cheap; and his +territories formidable to no power, are coveted by many, and will, most +undoubtedly, within a century, be scantled out among the great powers, +who have now a footing in Italy, whenever they can agree upon the +division of the bear's skin. Pray inform yourself thoroughly of the +history of the popes and the popedom; which, for many centuries, is +interwoven with the history of all Europe. Read the best authors who +treat of these matters, and especially Fra Paolo, 'De Beneficiis', a +short, but very material book. You will find at Rome some of all the +religious orders in the Christian world. Inform yourself carefully of +their origin, their founders, their rules, their reforms, and even their +dresses: get acquainted with some of all of them, but particularly with +the Jesuits; whose society I look upon to be the most able and best +governed society in the world. Get acquainted, if you can, with their +General, who always resides at Rome; and who, though he has no seeming +power out of his own society, has (it may be) more real influence over +the whole world, than any temporal prince in it. They have almost +engrossed the education of youth; they are, in general, confessors to +most of the princes of Europe; and they are the principal missionaries +out of it; which three articles give them a most extensive influence and +solid advantages; witness their settlement in Paraguay. The Catholics in +general declaim against that society; and yet are all governed by +individuals of it. They have, by turns, been banished, and with infamy, +almost every country in Europe; and have always found means to be +restored, even with triumph. In short, I know no government in the world +that is carried on upon such deep principles of policy, I will not add +morality. Converse with them, frequent them, court them; but know them. + +Inform yourself, too, of that infernal court, the Inquisition; which, +though not so considerable at Rome as in Spain and Portugal, will, +however, be a good sample to you of what the villainy of some men can +contrive, the folly of others receive, and both together establish, in +spite of the first natural principles of reason, justice, and equity. + +These are the proper and useful objects of the attention of a man of +sense, when he travels; and these are the objects for which I have sent +you abroad; and I hope you will return thoroughly informed of them. + +I receive this very moment Mr. Harte's letter of the 1st October, N. S., +but I never received his former, to which he refers in this, and you +refer in your last; in which he gave me the reasons for your leaving +Verona so soon; nor have I ever received that letter in which your case +was stated by your physicians. Letters to and from me have worse luck +than other people's; for you have written to me, and I to you, for these +last three months, by way of Germany, with as little success as before. + +I am edified with your morning applications, and your evening gallantries +at Venice, of which Mr. Harte gives me an account. Pray go on with both +there, and afterward at Rome; where, provided you arrive in the beginning +of December, you may stay at Venice as much longer as you please. + +Make my compliments to Sir James Gray and Mr. Smith, with my +acknowledgments for the great civilities they show you. + +I wrote to Mr. Harte by the last post, October the 6th, O. S., and will +write to him in a post or two upon the contents of his last. Adieu! +'Point de distractions'; and remember the GRACES. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVI + +LONDON, October 17, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have at last received Mr. Harte's letter of the 19th +September, N. S., from Verona. Your reasons for leaving that place were +very good ones; and as you stayed there long enough to see what was to be +seen, Venice (as a capital) is, in my opinion, a much better place for +your residence. Capitals are always the seats of arts and sciences, and +the best companies. I have stuck to them all my lifetime, and I advise +you to do so too. + +You will have received in my three or four last letters my directions for +your further motions to another capital, where I propose that your stay +shall be pretty considerable. The expense, I am well aware, will be so +too; but that, as I told you before, will have no weight when your +improvement and advantage are in the other scale. I do not care a groat +what it is, if neither vice nor folly are the objects of it, and if Mr. +Harte gives his sanction. + +I am very well pleased with your account of Carniola; those are the kind +of objects worthy of your inquiries and knowledge. The produce, the +taxes, the trade, the manufactures, the strength, the weakness, the +government of the several countries which a man of sense travels through, +are the material points to which he attends; and leaves the steeples, the +market-places, and the signs, to the laborious and curious researches of +Dutch and German travelers. + +Mr. Harte tells me, that he intends to give you, by means of Signor +Vicentini, a general notion of civil and military architecture; with +which I am very well pleased. They are frequent subjects of +conversation; and it is very right that you should have some idea of the +latter, and a good taste of the former; and you may very soon learn as +much as you need know of either. If you read about one-third of +Palladio's book of architecture with some skillful person, and then, with +that person, examine the best buildings by those rules, you will know the +different proportions of the different orders; the several diameters of +their columns; their intercolumniations, their several uses, etc. The +Corinthian Order is chiefly used in magnificent buildings, where ornament +and decoration are the principal objects; the Doric is calculated for +strength, and the Ionic partakes of the Doric strength, and of the +Corinthian ornaments. The Composite and the Tuscan orders are more +modern, and were unknown to the Greeks; the one is too light, the other +too clumsy. You may soon be acquainted with the considerable parts of +civil architecture; and for the minute and mechanical parts of it, leave +them to masons, bricklayers, and Lord Burlington, who has, to a certain +extent, lessened himself by knowing them too well. Observe the same +method as to military architecture; understand the terms, know the +general rules, and then see them in execution with some skillful person. +Go with some engineer or old officer, and view with care the real +fortifications of some strong place; and you will get a clearer idea of +bastions, half-moons, horn-works, ravelins, glacis, etc., than all the +masters in the world could give you upon paper. And thus much I would, +by all means, have you know of both civil and military architecture. + +I would also have you acquire a liberal taste of the two liberal arts of +painting and sculpture; but without descending into those minutia, which +our modern virtuosi most affectedly dwell upon. Observe the great parts +attentively; see if nature be truly represented; if the passions are +strongly expressed; if the characters are preserved; and leave the +trifling parts, with their little jargon, to affected puppies. I would +advise you also, to read the history of the painters and sculptors, and I +know none better than Felibien's. There are many in Italian; you will +inform yourself which are the best. It is a part of history very +entertaining, curious enough, and not quite useless. All these sort of +things I would have you know, to a certain degree; but remember, that +they must only be the amusements, and not the business of a man of parts. + +Since writing to me in German would take up so much of your time, of +which I would not now have one moment wasted, I will accept of your +composition, and content myself with a moderate German letter once a +fortnight, to Lady Chesterfield or Mr. Gravenkop. My meaning was only +that you should not forget what you had already learned of the German +language and character; but, on the contrary, that by frequent use it +should grow more easy and familiar. Provided you take care of that, I do +not care by what means: but I do desire that you will every day of your +life speak German to somebody or other (for you will meet with Germans +enough), and write a line or two of it every day to keep your hand in. +Why should you not (for instance) write your little memorandums and +accounts in that language and character? by which, too, you would have +this advantage into the bargain, that, if mislaid, few but yourself could +read them. + +I am extremely glad to hear that you like the assemblies at Venice well +enough to sacrifice some suppers to them; for I hear that you do not +dislike your suppers neither. It is therefore plain, that there is +somebody or something at those assemblies, which you like better than +your meat. And as I know that there is none but good company at those +assemblies, I am very glad to find that you like good company so well. +I already imagine that you are a little, smoothed by it; and that you +have either reasoned yourself, or that they have laughed you out of your +absences and DISTRACTIONS; for I cannot suppose that you go there to +insult them. I likewise imagine, that you wish to be welcome where you +wish to go; and consequently, that you both present and behave yourself +there 'en galant homme, et pas in bourgeois'. + +If you have vowed to anybody there one of those eternal passions which I +have sometimes known, by great accident, last three months, I can tell +you that without great attention, infinite politeness, and engaging air +and manners, the omens will be sinister, and the goddess unpropitious. +Pray tell me what are the amusements of those assemblies? Are they +little commercial play, are they music, are they 'la belle conversation', +or are they all three? 'Y file-t-on le parfait amour? Y debite-t-on les +beaux sentimens? Ou est-ce yu'on y parle Epigramme? And pray which is +your department? 'Tutis depone in auribus'. Whichever it is, endeavor +to shine and excel in it. Aim at least at the perfection of everything +that is worth doing at all; and you will come nearer it than you would +imagine; but those always crawl infinitely short of it whose aim is only +mediocrity. Adieu. + +P. S. By an uncommon diligence of the post, I have this moment received +yours of the 9th, N. S. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVII + +LONDON, October 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By my last I only acknowledged, by this I answer, your letter +of the 9th October, N. S. + +I am very glad that you approved of my letter of September the 12th, +O. S., because it is upon that footing that I always propose living with +you. I will advise you seriously, as a friend of some experience, and I +will converse with you cheerfully as a companion; the authority of a +parent shall forever be laid aside; for, wherever it is exerted, it is +useless; since, if you have neither sense nor sentiments enough to follow +my advice as a friend, your unwilling obedience to my orders as a father +will be a very awkward and unavailing one both to yourself and me. +Tacitus, speaking of an army that awkwardly and unwillingly obeyed its +generals only from the fear of punishment, says, they obeyed indeed, 'Sed +ut qua mallent jussa Imperatorum interpretari, quam exequi'. For my own +part, I disclaim such obedience. + +You think, I find, that you do not understand Italian; but I can tell +you, that, like the 'Bourgeois Gentilhomme', who spoke prose without +knowing it, you understand a great deal, though you do not know that you +do; for whoever understands French and Latin so well as you do, +understands at least half the Italian language, and has very little +occasion for a dictionary. And for the idioms, the phrases, and the +delicacies of it, conversation and a little attention will teach them +you, and that soon; therefore, pray speak it in company, right or wrong, +'a tort ou a travers', as soon as ever you have got words enough to ask a +common question, or give a common answer. If you can only say 'buon +giorno', say it, instead of saying 'bon jour', I mean to every Italian; +the answer to it will teach you more words, and insensibly you will be +very soon master of that easy language. You are quite right in not +neglecting your German for it, and in thinking that it will be of more +use to you; it certainly will, in the course of your business; but +Italian has its use too, and is an ornament into the bargain; there being +many very polite and good authors in that language. The reason you +assign for having hitherto met with none of my swarms of Germans in +Italy, is a very solid one; and I can easily conceive, that the expense +necessary for a traveler must amount to a number of thalers, groschen, +and kreutzers, tremendous to a German fortune. However, you will find +several at Rome, either ecclesiastics, or in the suite of the Imperial +Minister; and more, when you come into the Milanese, among the Queen of +Hungary's officers. Besides, you have a Saxon servant, to whom I hope +you speak nothing but German. + +I have had the most obliging letter in the world from Monsieur Capello, +in which he speaks very advantageously of you, and promises you his +protection at Rome. I have wrote him an answer by which I hope I have +domesticated you at his hotel there; which I advise you to frequent as +much as you can. 'Il est vrai qui'il ne paie pas beaucaup de sa figure'; +but he has sense and knowledge at bottom, with a great experience of +business, having been already Ambassador at Madrid, Vienna, and London. +And I am very sure that he will be willing to give you any informations, +in that way, that he can. + +Madame was a capricious, whimsical, fine lady, till the smallpox, which +she got here, by lessening her beauty, lessened her humors too; but, as I +presume it did not change her sex, I trust to that for her having such a +share of them left, as may contribute to smooth and polish you. She, +doubtless, still thinks that she has beauty enough remaining to entitle +her to the attentions always paid to beauty; and she has certainly rank +enough to require respect. Those are the sort of women who polish a +young man the most, and who give him that habit of complaisance, and that +flexibility and versatility of manners which prove of great use to him +with men, and in the course of business. + +You must always expect to hear, more or less, from me, upon that +important subject of manners, graces, address, and that undefinable +'je ne sais quoi' that ever pleases. I have reason to believe that you +want nothing else; but I have reason to fear too, that you want those: +and that want will keep you poor in the midst of all the plenty of +knowledge which you may have treasured up. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVIII + +LONDON, November 3, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: From the time that you have had life, it has been the principle +and favorite object of mine, to make you as perfect as the imperfections +of human nature will allow: in this view, I have grudged no pains nor +expense in your education; convinced that education, more than nature, +is the cause of that great difference which you see in the characters of +men. While you were a child, I endeavored to form your heart habitually +to virtue and honor, before your understanding was capable of showing you +their beauty and utility. Those principles, which you then got, like +your grammar rules, only by rote, are now, I am persuaded, fixed and +confirmed by reason. And indeed they are so plain and clear, that they +require but a very moderate degree of understanding, either to comprehend +or practice them. Lord Shaftesbury says, very prettily, that he would be +virtuous for his own sake, though nobody were to know it; as he would be +clean for his own sake, though nobody were to see him. I have therefore, +since you have had the use of your reason, never written to you upon +those subjects: they speak best for themselves; and I should now just as +soon think of warning you gravely not to fall into the dirt or the fire, +as into dishonor or vice. This view of mine, I consider as fully +attained. My next object was sound and useful learning. My own care +first, Mr. Harte's afterward, and OF LATE (I will own it to your praise) +your own application, have more than answered my expectations in that +particular; and, I have reason to believe, will answer even my wishes. +All that remains for me then to wish, to recommend, to inculcate, to +order, and to insist upon, is good-breeding; without which, all your +other qualifications will be lame, unadorned, and to a certain degree +unavailing. And here I fear, and have too much reason to believe, that +you are greatly deficient. The remainder of this letter, therefore, +shall be (and it will not be the last by a great many) upon that subject. + +A friend of yours and mine has very justly defined good-breeding to be, +THE RESULT OF MUCH GOOD SENSE, SOME GOOD NATURE, AND A LITTLE SELF-DENIAL +FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS, AND WITH A VIEW TO OBTAIN THE SAME INDULGENCE +FROM THEM. Taking this for granted (as I think it cannot be disputed), +it is astonishing to me that anybody who has good sense and good nature +(and I believe you have both), can essentially fail in good-breeding. +As to the modes of it, indeed, they vary according to persons, and +places, and circumstances; and are only to be acquired by observation and +experience: but the substance of it is everywhere and eternally the same. +Good manners are, to particular societies, what good morals are to +society in general; their cement and their security. And, as laws are +enacted to enforce good morals, or at least to prevent the ill effects of +bad ones; so there are certain rules of civility, universally implied and +received, to enforce good manners and punish bad ones. And, indeed, +there seems to me to be less difference, both between the crimes and +between the punishments than at first one would imagine. The immoral +man, who invades another man's property, is justly hanged for it; and the +ill-bred man, who, by his ill-manners, invades and disturbs the quiet and +comforts of private life, is by common consent as justly banished +society. Mutual complaisances, attentions, and sacrifices of little +conveniences, are as natural an implied compact between civilized people, +as protection and obedience are between kings and subjects; whoever, in +either case, violates that compact, justly forfeits all advantages +arising from it. For my own part, I really think, that next to the +consciousness of doing a good action, that of doing a civil one is the +most pleasing; and the epithet which I should covet the most, next to +that of Aristides, would be that of well-bred. Thus much for good- +breeding in general; I will now consider some of the various modes and +degrees of it. + +Very few, scarcely any, are wanting in the respect which they should show +to those whom they acknowledge to be infinitely their superiors; such as +crowned heads, princes, and public persons of distinguished and eminent +posts. It is the manner of showing that respect which is different. The +man of fashion and of the world, expresses it in its fullest extent; but +naturally, easily, and without concern: whereas a man, who is not used to +keep good company, expresses it awkwardly; one sees that he is not used +to it, and that it costs him a great deal: but I never saw the worst-bred +man living guilty of lolling, whistling, scratching his head, and such- +like indecencies, in company that he respected. In such companies, +therefore, the only point to be attended to is to show that respect, +which everybody means to show, in an easy, unembarrassed, and graceful +manner. This is what observation and experience must teach you. + +In mixed companies, whoever is admitted to make part of them, is, for the +time at least, supposed to be upon a footing of equality with the rest: +and consequently, as there is no one principal object of awe and respect, +people are apt to take a greater latitude in their behavior, and to be +less upon their guard; and so they may, provided it be within certain +bounds, which are upon no occasion to be transgressed. But, upon these +occasions, though no one is entitled to distinguished marks of respect, +everyone claims, and very justly, every mark of civility and good- +breeding. Ease is allowed, but carelessness and negligence are strictly +forbidden. If a man accosts you, and talks to you ever so dully or +frivolously, it is worse than rudeness, it is brutality, to show him, by +a manifest inattention to what he says, that you think him a fool or a +blockhead, and not worth hearing. It is much more so with regard to +women; who, of whatever rank they are, are entitled, in consideration of +their sex, not only to an attentive, but an officious good-breeding from +men. Their little wants, likings, dislikes, preferences, antipathies, +fancies, whims, and even impertinencies, must be officiously attended to, +flattered, and, if possible, guessed at and anticipated by a well-bred +man. You must never usurp to yourself those conveniences and 'agremens' +which are of common right; such as the best places, the best dishes, +etc., but on the contrary, always decline them yourself, and offer them +to others; who, in their turns, will offer them to you; so that, upon the +whole, you will in your turn enjoy your share of the common right. It +would be endless for me to enumerate all the particular instances in +which a well-bred man shows his good-breeding in good company; and it +would be injurious to you to suppose that your own good sense will not +point them out to you; and then your own good-nature will recommend, and +your self-interest enforce the practice. + +There is a third sort of good-breeding, in which people are the most apt +to fail, from a very mistaken notion that they cannot fail at all. I +mean with regard to one's most familiar friends and acquaintances, or +those who really are our inferiors; and there, undoubtedly, a greater +degree of ease is not only allowed, but proper, and contributes much to +the comforts of a private, social life. But that ease and freedom have +their bounds too, which must by no means be violated. A certain degree +of negligence and carelessness becomes injurious and insulting, from the +real or supposed inferiority of the persons: and that delightful liberty +of conversation among a few friends is soon destroyed, as liberty often +has been, by being carried to licentiousness. But example explains +things best, and I will put a pretty strong case. Suppose you and me +alone together; I believe you will allow that I have as good a right to +unlimited freedom in your company, as either you or I can possibly have +in any other; and I am apt to believe too, that you would indulge me in +that freedom as far as anybody would. But, notwithstanding this, do you +imagine that I should think there were no bounds to that freedom? I +assure you, I should not think so; and I take myself to be as much tied +down by a certain degree of good manners to you, as by other degrees of +them to other people. Were I to show you, by a manifest inattention to +what you said to me, that I was thinking of something else the whole +time; were I to yawn extremely, snore, or break wind in your company, I +should think that I behaved myself to you like a beast, and should not +expect that you would care to frequent me. No. The most familiar and +intimate habitudes, connections, and friendships, require a degree of +good-breeding, both to preserve and cement them. If ever a man and his +wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass nights as well as days +together, absolutely lay aside all good-breeding, their intimacy will +soon degenerate into a coarse familiarity, infallibly productive of +contempt or disgust. The best of us have our bad sides, and it is as +imprudent, as it is ill-bred, to exhibit them. I shall certainly not use +ceremony with you; it would be misplaced between us: but I shall +certainly observe that degree of good-breeding with you, which is, in the +first place, decent, and which I am sure is absolutely necessary to make +us like one another's company long. + +I will say no more, now, upon this important subject of good-breeding, +upon which I have already dwelt too long, it may be, for one letter; and +upon which I shall frequently refresh your memory hereafter; but I will +conclude with these axioms: + +That the deepest learning, without good-breeding, is unwelcome and +tiresome pedantry, and of use nowhere but in a man's own closet; and +consequently of little or no use at all. + +That a man, Who is not perfectly well-bred, is unfit for good company and +unwelcome in it; will consequently dislike it soon, afterward renounce +it; and be reduced to solitude, or, what is worse, low and bad company. + +That a man who is not well-bred, is full as unfit for business as for +company. + +Make then, my dear child, I conjure you, good-breeding the great object +of your thoughts and actions, at least half the day. Observe carefully +the behavior and manners of those who are distinguished by their good- +breeding; imitate, nay, endeavor to excel, that you may at least reach +them; and be convinced that good-breeding is, to all worldly +qualifications, what charity is to all Christian virtues. Observe how it +adorns merit, and how often it covers the want of it. May you wear it to +adorn, and not to cover you! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXIX + +LONDON, November 14, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: There is a natural good-breeding which occurs to every man of +common sense, and is practiced by every man, of common good-nature. This +good-breeding is general, independent of modes, and consists in endeavors +to please and oblige our fellow-creatures by all good offices, short of +moral duties. This will be practiced by a good-natured American savage, +as essentially as by the best-bred European. But then, I do not take it +to extend to the sacrifice of our own conveniences, for the sake of other +people's. Utility introduced this sort of good-breeding as it introduced +commerce; and established a truck of the little 'agremens' and pleasures +of life. I sacrifice such a conveniency to you, you sacrifice another to +me; this commerce circulates, and every individual finds his account in +it upon the whole. The third sort of good-breeding is local, and is +variously modified, in not only different countries, but in different +towns of the same country. But it must be founded upon the two former +sorts; they are the matter to which, in this case, fashion and custom +only give the different shapes and impressions. Whoever has the two +first sorts will easily acquire this third sort of good-breeding, which +depends singly upon attention and observation. It is, properly, the +polish, the lustre, the last finishing stroke of good-breeding. It is to +be found only in capitals, and even there it varies; the good-breeding of +Rome differing, in some things, from that of Paris; that of Paris, in +others, from that of Madrid; and that of Madrid, in many things, from +that of London. A man of sense, therefore, carefully attends to the +local manners of the respective places where he is, and takes for his +models those persons whom he observes to be at the head of fashion and +good-breeding. He watches how they address themselves to their +superiors, how they accost their equals, and how they treat their +inferiors; and lets none of those little niceties escape him which are to +good-breeding what the last delicate and masterly touches are to a good +picture; and of which the vulgar have no notion, but by which good judges +distinguish the master. He attends even to their air, dress, and +motions, and imitates them, liberally, and not servilely; he copies, but +does not mimic. These personal graces are of very great consequence. +They anticipate the sentiments, before merit can engage the +understanding; they captivate the heart, and give rise, I believe, to the +extravagant notions of charms and philters. Their effects were so +surprising, that they were reckoned supernatural. The most graceful and +best-bred men, and the handsomest and genteelest women, give the most +philters; and, as I verily believe, without the least assistance of the +devil. Pray be not only well dressed, but shining in your dress; let it +have 'du brillant'. I do not mean by a clumsy load of gold and silver, +but by the taste and fashion of it. The women like and require it; they +think it an attention due to them; but, on the other hand, if your +motions and carriage are not graceful, genteel, and natural, your fine +clothes will only display your awkwardness the more. But I am unwilling +to suppose you still awkward; for surely, by this time, you must have +catched a good air in good company. When you went from hence you were +naturally awkward; but your awkwardness was adventitious and +Westmonasterial. Leipsig, I apprehend, is not the seat of the Graces; +and I presume you acquired none there. But now, if you will be pleased +to observe what people of the first fashion do with their legs and arms, +heads and bodies, you will reduce yours to certain decent laws of motion. +You danced pretty well here, and ought to dance very well before you come +home; for what one is obliged to do sometimes, one ought to be able to do +well. Besides, 'la belle danse donne du brillant a un jeune homme'. +And you should endeavor to shine. A calm serenity, negative merit and +graces, do not become your age. You should be 'alerte, adroit, vif'; be +wanted, talked of, impatiently expected, and unwillingly parted with in +company. I should be glad to hear half a dozen women of fashion say, +'Ou est donc le petit Stanhope? due ne vient-il? Il faut avouer qu'il +est aimable'. All this I do not mean singly with regard to women as the +principal object; but, with regard to men, and with a view of your making +yourself considerable. For with very small variations, the same things +that please women please men; and a man whose manners are softened and +polished by women of fashion, and who is formed by them to an habitual +attention and complaisance, will please, engage, and connect men, much +easier and more than he would otherwise. You must be sensible that you +cannot rise in the world, without forming connections, and engaging +different characters to conspire in your point. You must make them your +dependents without their knowing it, and dictate to them while you seem +to be directed by them. Those necessary connections can never be formed, +or preserved, but by an uninterrupted series of complaisance, attentions, +politeness, and some constraint. You must engage their hearts, if you +would have their support; you must watch the 'mollia tempora', and +captivate them by the 'agremens' and charms of conversation. People will +not be called out to your service, only when you want them; and, if you +expect to receive strength from them, they must receive either pleasure +or advantage from you. + +I received in this instant a letter from Mr. Harte, of the 2d N. S., +which I will answer soon; in the meantime, I return him my thanks for it, +through you. The constant good accounts which he gives me of you, will +make me suspect him of partiality, and think him 'le medecin tant mieux'. +Consider, therefore, what weight any future deposition of his against you +must necessarily have with me. As, in that case, he will be a very +unwilling, he must consequently be a very important witness. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XC + +DEAR Boy: My last was upon the subject of good-breeding; but I think it +rather set before you the unfitness and disadvantages of ill-breeding, +than the utility and necessity of good; it was rather negative than +positive. This, therefore, should go further, and explain to you the +necessity, which you, of all people living, lie under, not only of being +positively and actively well-bred, but of shining and distinguishing +yourself by your good-breeding. Consider your own situation in every +particular, and judge whether it is not essentially your interest, by +your own good-breeding to others, to secure theirs to you and that, let +me assure you, is the only way of doing it; for people will repay, and +with interest too, inattention with inattention, neglect with neglect, +and ill manners with worse: which may engage you in very disagreeable +affairs. In the next place, your profession requires, more than any +other, the nicest and most distinguished good-breeding. You will +negotiate with very little success, if you do not previously, by your +manners, conciliate and engage the affections of those with whom you are +to negotiate. Can you ever get into the confidence and the secrets of +the courts where you may happen to reside, if you have not those +pleasing, insinuating manners, which alone can procure them? Upon my +word, I do not say too much, when I say that superior good-breeding, +insinuating manners, and genteel address, are half your business. Your +knowledge will have but very little influence upon the mind, if your +manners prejudice the heart against you; but, on the other hand, how +easily will you DUPE the understanding, where you have first engaged the +heart? and hearts are by no means to be gained by that mere common +civility which everybody practices. Bowing again to those who bow to +you, answering dryly those who speak to you, and saying nothing offensive +to anybody, is such negative good-breeding that it is only not being a +brute; as it would be but a very poor commendation of any man's +cleanliness to say that he did not stink. It is an active, cheerful, +officious, seducing, good-breeding that must gain you the good-will and +first sentiments of men, and the affections of the women. You must +carefully watch and attend to their passions, their tastes, their little +humors and weaknesses, and 'aller au devant'. You must do it at the same +time with alacrity and 'empressement', and not as if you graciously +condescended to humor their weaknesses. + +For instance, suppose you invited anybody to dine or sup with you, you +ought to recollect if you had observed that they had any favorite dish, +and take care to provide it for them; and when it came you should say, +You SEEMED TO ME, AT SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE, TO GIVE THIS DISH A +PREFERENCE, AND THEREFORE I ORDERED IT; THIS IS THE WINE THAT I OBSERVED +YOU LIKED, AND THEREFORE I PROCURED SOME. The more trifling these things +are, the more they prove your attention for the person, and are +consequently the more engaging. Consult your own breast, and recollect +how these little attentions, when shown you by others, flatter that +degree of self-love and vanity from which no man living is free. Reflect +how they incline and attract you to that person, and how you are +propitiated afterward to all which that person says or does. The same +causes will have the same effects in your favor. Women, in a great +degree, establish or destroy every man's reputation of good-breeding; you +must, therefore, in a manner, overwhelm them with these attentions: they +are used to them, they expect them, and, to do them justice, they +commonly requite them. You must be sedulous, and rather over officious +than under, in procuring them their coaches, their chairs, their +conveniences in public places: not see what you should not see; and +rather assist, where you cannot help seeing. Opportunities of showing +these attentions present themselves perpetually; but if they do not, make +them. As Ovid advises his lover, when he sits in the Circus near his +mistress, to wipe the dust off her neck, even if there be none: 'Si +nullus, tamen excute nullum'. Your conversation with women should always +be respectful; but, at the same time, enjoue, and always addressed to +their vanity. Everything you say or do should convince them of the +regard you have (whether you have it or not) for their beauty, their wit, +or their merit. Men have possibly as much vanity as women, though of +another kind; and both art and good-breeding require, that, instead of +mortifying, you should please and flatter it, by words and looks of +approbation. Suppose (which is by no means improbable) that, at your +return to England, I should place you near the person of some one of the +royal family; in that situation, good-breeding, engaging address, adorned +with all the graces that dwell at courts, would very probably make you a +favorite, and, from a favorite, a minister; but all the knowledge and +learning in the world, without them, never would. The penetration of +princes seldom goes deeper than the surface. + +It is the exterior that always engages their hearts; and I would never +advise you to give yourself much trouble about their understanding. +Princes in general (I mean those 'Porphyrogenets' who are born and bred +in purple) are about the pitch of women; bred up like them, and are to be +addressed and gained in the same manner. They always see, they seldom +weigh. Your lustre, not your solidity, must take them; your inside will +afterward support and secure what your outside has acquired. With weak +people (and they undoubtedly are three parts in four of mankind) good- +breeding, address, and manners are everything; they can go no deeper; but +let me assure you that they are a great deal even with people of the best +understandings. Where the eyes are not pleased, and the heart is not +flattered, the mind will be apt to stand out. Be this right or wrong, +I confess I am so made myself. Awkwardness and ill-breeding shock me to +that degree, that where I meet with them, I cannot find in my heart to +inquire into the intrinsic merit of that person--I hastily decide in +myself that he can have none; and am not sure that I should not even be +sorry to know that he had any. I often paint you in my imagination, in +your present 'lontananza', and, while I view you in the light of ancient +and modern learning, useful and ornamental knowledge, I am charmed with +the prospect; but when I view you in another light, and represent you +awkward, ungraceful, ill-bred, with vulgar air and manners, shambling +toward me with inattention and DISTRACTIONS, I shall not pretend to +describe to you what I feel; but will do as a skillful painter did +formerly--draw a veil before the countenance of the father. + +I dare say you know already enough of architecture, to know that the +Tuscan is the strongest and most solid of all the orders; but at the same +time, it is the coarsest and clumsiest of them. Its solidity does +extremely well for the foundation and base floor of a great edifice; but +if the whole building be Tuscan, it will attract no eyes, it will stop no +passengers, it will invite no interior examination; people will take it +for granted that the finishing and furnishing cannot be worth seeing, +where the front is so unadorned and clumsy. But if, upon the solid +Tuscan foundation, the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian orders rise +gradually with all their beauty, proportions, and ornaments, the fabric +seizes the most incurious eye, and stops the most careless passenger; who +solicits admission as a favor, nay, often purchases it. Just so will it +fare with your, tittle fabric, which, at present, I fear, has more of the +Tuscan than of the Corinthian order. You must absolutely change the +whole front, or nobody will knock at the door. The several parts, which +must compose this new front, are elegant, easy, natural, superior good- +breeding; an engaging address; genteel motions; an insinuating softness +in your looks, words, and actions; a spruce, lively air, fashionable +dress; and all the glitter that a young fellow should have. + +I am sure you would do a great deal for my sake; and therefore consider +at your return here, what a disappointment and concern it would be to me, +if I could not safely depute you to do the honors of my house and table; +and if I should be ashamed to present you to those who frequent both. +Should you be awkward, inattentive, and distrait, and happen to meet Mr. +L----- at my table, the consequences of that meeting must be fatal; you +would run your heads against each other, cut each other's fingers, +instead of your meat, or die by the precipitate infusion of scalding +soup. + +This is really so copious a subject, that there is no end of being either +serious or ludicrous upon it. It is impossible, too, to enumerate or +state to you the various cases in good-breeding; they are infinite; there +is no situation or relation in the world so remote or so intimate, that +does not require a degree of it. Your own good sense must point it out +to you; your own good-nature must incline, and your interest prompt you +to practice it; and observation and experience must give you the manner, +the air and the graces which complete the whole. + +This letter will hardly overtake you, till you are at or near Rome. +I expect a great deal in every way from your six months' stay there. +My morning hopes are justly placed in Mr. Harte, and the masters he will +give you; my evening ones, in the Roman ladies: pray be attentive to +both. But I must hint to you, that the Roman ladies are not 'les femmes +savantes, et ne vous embrasseront point pour Pamour du Grec. They must +have 'ilgarbato, il leggiadro, it disinvolto, il lusinghiero, quel non so +che, che piace, che alletta, che incanta'. + +I have often asserted, that the profoundest learning and the politest +manners were by no means incompatible, though so seldom found united in +the same person; and I have engaged myself to exhibit you, as a proof of +the truth of this assertion. Should you, instead of that, happen to +disprove me, the concern indeed would be mine, but the loss will be +yours. Lord Bolingbroke is a strong instance on my side of the question; +he joins to the deepest erudition, the most elegant politeness and good- +breeding that ever any courtier and man of the world was adorned with. +And Pope very justly called him "All-accomplished St. John," with regard +to his knowledge and his manners. He had, it is true, his faults; which +proceeded from unbounded ambition, and impetuous passions; but they have +now subsided by age and experience; and I can wish you nothing better +than to be, what he is now, without being what he has been formerly. His +address pre-engages, his eloquence persuades, and his knowledge informs +all who approach him. Upon the whole, I do desire, and insist, that from +after dinner till you go to bed, you make good-breeding, address, and +manners, your serious object and your only care. Without them, you will +be nobody; with them, you may be anything. + +Adieu, my dear child! My compliments to Mr. Harte. + + + + +LETTER XCI + +LONDON, November 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR Boy: Every rational being (I take it for granted) proposes to +himself some object more important than mere respiration and obscure +animal existence. He desires to distinguish himself among his fellow- +creatures; and, 'alicui negotio intentus, prreclari facinoris, aut artis +bonae, faman quaerit'. Caesar, when embarking in a storm, said, that it +was not necessary he should live; but that it was absolutely necessary he +should get to the place to which he was going. And Pliny leaves mankind +this only alternative; either of doing what deserves to be written, or of +writing what deserves to be read. As for those who do neither, 'eorum +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo; quoniam de utraque siletur'. You have, I +am convinced, one or both of these objects in view; but you must know and +use the necessary means, or your pursuit will be vain and frivolous. In +either case, 'Sapere est princihium et fons'; but it is by no means all. +That knowledge must be adorned, it must have lustre as well as weight, +or it will be oftener taken, for lead than for gold. Knowledge you have, +and will have: I am easy upon that article. But my business, as your +friend, is not to compliment you upon what you have, but to tell you with +freedom what you want; and I must tell you plainly, that I fear you want +everything but knowledge. + +I have written to you so often, of late, upon good-breeding, address, +'les manieres liantes', the Graces, etc., that I shall confine this +letter to another subject, pretty near akin to them, and which, I am +sure, you are full as deficient in; I mean Style. + +Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your +style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much +disadvantage, and be as ill received as your person, though ever so well +proportioned, would, if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters. It is not +every understanding that can judge of matter; but every ear can and does +judge, more or less, of style: and were I either to speak or write to the +public, I should prefer moderate matter, adorned with all the beauties +and elegancies of style, to the strongest matter in the world, ill-worded +and ill-delivered. Your business is negotiation abroad, and oratory in +the House of Commons at home. What figure can you make, in either case, +if your style be inelegant, I do not say bad? Imagine yourself writing +an office-letter to a secretary of state, which letter is to be read by +the whole Cabinet Council, and very possibly afterward laid before +parliament; any one barbarism, solecism, or vulgarism in it, would, in a +very few days, circulate through the whole kingdom, to your disgrace and +ridicule. For instance, I will suppose you had written the following +letter from The Hague to the Secretary of State at London; and leave you +to suppose the consequences of it: + +MY LORD: I HAD, last night, the honor of your Lordship's letter of the +24th; and will SET ABOUT DOING the orders contained THEREIN; and IF so BE +that I can get that affair done by the next post, I will not fail FOR TO +give your Lordship an account of it by NEXT POST. I have told the French +Minister, AS HOW THAT IF that affair be not soon concluded, your Lordship +would think it ALL LONG OF HIM; and that he must have neglected FOR TO +have wrote to his court about it. I must beg leave to put your Lordship +in mind AS HOW, that I am now full three quarter in arrear; and if SO BE +that I do not very soon receive at least one half year, I shall CUT A +VERY BAD FIGURE; FOR THIS HERE place is very dear. I shall be VASTLY +BEHOLDEN to your Lordship for THAT THERE mark of your favor; and so I +REST or REMAIN, Your, etc. + + +You will tell me, possibly, that this is a caricatura of an illiberal and +inelegant style: I will admit it; but assure you, at the same time, that +a dispatch with less than half these faults would blow you up forever. +It is by no means sufficient to be free from faults, in speaking and +writing; but you must do both correctly and elegantly. In faults of this +kind, it is not 'ille optimus qui minimis arguetur'; but he is +unpardonable who has any at all, because it is his own fault: he need +only attend to, observe, and imitate the best authors. + +It is a very true saying, that a man must be born a poet, but that he may +make himself an orator; and the very first principle of an orator is to +speak his own language, particularly, with the utmost purity and +elegance. A man will be forgiven even great errors in a foreign +language; but in his own, even the least slips are justly laid hold of +and ridiculed. + +A person of the House of Commons, speaking two years ago upon naval +affairs; asserted, that we had then the finest navy UPON THE FACE OF THE +YEARTH. This happy mixture of blunder and vulgarism, you may easily +imagine, was matter of immediate ridicule; but I can assure you that it +continues so still, and will be remembered as long as he lives and +speaks. Another, speaking in defense of a gentleman, upon whom a censure +was moved, happily said that he thought that gentleman was more LIABLE to +be thanked and rewarded, than censured. You know, I presume, that LIABLE +can never be used in a good sense. + +You have with you three or four of the best English authors, Dryden, +Atterbury, and Swift; read them with the utmost care, and with a +particular view to their language, and they may possibly correct that +CURIOUS INFELICITY OF DICTION, which you acquired at Westminster. +Mr. Harte excepted, I will admit that you have met with very few English +abroad, who could improve your style; and with many, I dare say, who +speak as ill as yourself, and, it may be, worse; you must, therefore, +take the more pains, and consult your authors and Mr. Harte the more. +I need not tell you how attentive the Romans and Greeks, particularly the +Athenians, were to this object. It is also a study among the Italians +and the French; witness their respective academies and dictionaries for +improving and fixing their languages. To our shame be it spoken, it is +less attended to here than in any polite country; but that is no reason +why you should not attend to it; on the contrary, it will distinguish you +the more. Cicero says, very truly, that it is glorious to excel other +men in that very article, in which men excel brutes; SPEECH. + +Constant experience has shown me, that great purity and elegance of +style, with a graceful elocution, cover a multitude of faults, in either +a speaker or a writer. For my own part, I confess (and I believe most +people are of my mind) that if a speaker should ungracefully mutter or +stammer out to me the sense of an angel, deformed by barbarism and +solecisms, or larded with vulgarisms, he should never speak to me a +second time, if I could help it. Gain the heart, or you gain nothing; +the eyes and the ears are the only roads to the heart. Merit and +knowledge will not gain hearts, though they will secure them when gained. +Pray, have that truth ever in your mind. Engage the eyes by your +address, air, and motions; soothe the ears by the elegance and harmony of +your diction; the heart will certainly follow; and the whole man, or +woman, will as certainly follow the heart. I must repeat it to you, +over and over again, that with all the knowledge which you may have at +present, or hereafter acquire, and with all merit that ever man had, +if you have not a graceful address, liberal and engaging manners, +a prepossessing air, and a good degree of eloquence in speaking and +writing; you will be nobody; but will have the daily mortification of +seeing people, with not one-tenth part of your merit or knowledge, get +the start of you, and disgrace you, both in company and in business. + +You have read "Quintilian," the best book in the world to form an orator; +pray read 'Cicero de Oratore', the best book in the world to finish one. +Translate and retranslate from and to Latin, Greek, and English; make +yourself a pure and elegant English style: it requires nothing but +application. I do not find that God has made you a poet; and I am very +glad that he has not: therefore, for God's sake, make yourself an orator, +which you may do. Though I still call you boy, I consider you no longer +as such; and when I reflect upon the prodigious quantity of manure that +has been laid upon you, I expect that you should produce more at +eighteen, than uncultivated soils do at eight-and-twenty. + +Pray tell Mr. Harte that I have received his letter of the 13th, N. S. +Mr. Smith was much in the right not to let you go, at this time of the +year, by sea; in the summer you may navigate as much as you please; as, +for example, from Leghorn to Genoa, etc. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCII + +LONDON, November 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: While the Roman Republic flourished, while glory was pursued, +and virtue practiced, and while even little irregularities and +indecencies, not cognizable by law, were, however, not thought below the +public care, censors were established, discretionally to supply, in +particular cases, the inevitable defects of the law, which must and can +only be general. This employment I assume to myself with regard to your +little republic, leaving the legislative power entirely to Mr. Harte; I +hope, and believe, that he will seldom, or rather never, have occasion to +exert his supreme authority; and I do by no means suspect you of any +faults that may require that interposition. But, to tell you the plain +truth, I am of opinion that my censorial power will not be useless to +you, nor a sinecure to me. The sooner you make it both, the better for +us both. I can now exercise this employment only upon hearsay, or, at +most, written evidence; and therefore shall exercise it with great lenity +and some diffidence; but when we meet, and that I can form my judgment +upon ocular and auricular evidence, I shall no more let the least +impropriety, indecorum, or irregularity pass uncensured, than my +predecessor Cato did. I shall read you with the attention of a critic, +not with the partiality of an author: different in this respect, indeed, +from most critics, that I shall seek for faults only to correct and not +to expose them. I have often thought, and still think, that there are +few things which people in general know less, than how to love and how to +hate. They hurt those they love by a mistaken indulgence, by a +blindness, nay, often by a partiality to their faults. Where they hate +they hurt themselves, by ill-timed passion and rage. Fortunately for +you, I never loved you in that mistaken manner. From your infancy, I +made you the object of my most serious attention, and not my plaything. +I consulted your real good, not your humors or fancies; and I shall +continue to do so while you want it, which will probably be the case +during our joint lives; for, considering the difference of our ages, in +the course of nature, you will hardly have acquired experience enough of +your own, while I shall be in condition of lending you any of mine. +People in general will much better bear being, told of their vices or +crimes, than of their little failings and weaknesses. They, in some +degree, justify or excuse (as they think) the former, by strong passions, +seductions, and artifices of others, but to be told of, or to confess, +their little failings and weaknesses, implies an inferiority of parts, +too mortifying to that self-love and vanity, which are inseparable from +our natures. I have been intimate enough with several people to tell +them that they had said or done a very criminal thing; but I never was +intimate enough with any man, to tell him, very seriously, that he had +said or done a very foolish one. Nothing less than the relation between +you and me can possibly authorize that freedom; but fortunately for you, +my parental rights, joined to my censorial powers, give it me in its +fullest extent, and my concern for you will make me exert it. Rejoice, +therefore, that there is one person in the world who can and will tell +you what will be very useful to you to know, and yet what no other man +living could or would tell you. Whatever I shall tell you of this kind, +you are very sure, can have no other motive than your interest; I can +neither be jealous nor envious of your reputation or fortune, which I +must be both desirous and proud to establish and promote; I cannot be +your rival either in love or in business; on the contrary, I want the +rays of your rising to reflect new lustre upon my setting light. In +order to this, I shall analyze you minutely, and censure you freely, that +you may not (if possible) have one single spot, when in your meridian. + +There is nothing that a young fellow, at his first appearance in the +world, has more reason to dread,, and consequently should take more pains +to avoid, than having any ridicule fixed upon him. It degrades him with +the most reasonable part of mankind; but it ruins him with the rest; and +I have known many a man undone by acquiring a ridiculous nickname: I +would not, for all the riches in the world, that you should acquire one +when you return to England. Vices and crimes excite hatred and reproach; +failings, weaknesses, and awkwardnesses, excite ridicule; they are laid +hold of by mimics, who, though very contemptible wretches themselves, +often, by their buffoonery, fix ridicule upon their betters. The little +defects in manners, elocution, address, and air (and even of figure, +though very unjustly), are the objects of ridicule, and the causes of +nicknames. You cannot imagine the grief it would give me, and the +prejudice it would do you, if, by way of distinguishing you from others +of your name, you should happen to be called Muttering Stanhope, Absent +Stanhope, Ill-bred Stanhope, or Awkward, Left-legged Stanhope: therefore, +take great care to put it out of the power of Ridicule itself to give you +any of these ridiculous epithets; for, if you get one, it will stick to +you, like the envenomed shirt. The very first day that I see you, +I shall be able to tell you, and certainly shall tell you, what degree of +danger you are in; and I hope that my admonitions, as censor, may prevent +the censures of the public. Admonitions are always useful; is this one +or not? You are the best judge; it is your own picture which I send you, +drawn, at my request, by a lady at Venice: pray let me know how far, in +your conscience, you think it like; for there are some parts of it which +I wish may, and others, which I should be sorry were. I send you, +literally, the copy of that part of her letter, to her friend here, which +relates to you. --[In compliance to your orders, I have examined young +Stanhope carefully, and think I have penetrated into his character. This +is his portrait, which I take to be a faithful one. His face is +pleasing, his countenance sensible, and his look clever. His figure is +at present rather too square; but if he shoots up, which he has matter +and years for, he will then be of a good size. He has, undoubtedly, a +great fund of acquired knowledge; I am assured that he is master of the +learned languages. As for French, I know he speaks it perfectly, and, I +am told, German as well. The questions he asks are judicious; and denote +a thirst after knowledge. I cannot say that he appears equally desirous +of pleasing, for he seems to neglect attentions and the graces. He does +not come into a room well, nor has he that easy, noble carriage, which +would be proper for him. It is true, he is as yet young and +inexperienced; one may therefore reasonably hope that his exercises, +which he has not yet gone through, and good company, in which he is still +a novice, will polish, and give all that is wanting to complete him. +What seems necessary for that purpose, would, be an attachment to some +woman of fashion, and who knows the world. Some Madame de l'Ursay would +be the proper person. In short, I can assure you, that he has everything +which Lord Chesterfield can wish him, excepting that carriage, those +graces, and the style used in the best company; which he will certainly +acquire in time, and by frequenting the polite world. If he should not, +it would be great pity, since he so well deserves to possess them. You +know their importance. My Lord, his father, knows it too, he being +master of them all. To conclude, if little Stanhope acquires the graces, +I promise you he will make his way; if not, he will be stopped in a +course, the goal of which he might attain with honor.] + +Tell Mr. Harte that I have this moment received his letter of the 22d, +N. S., and that I approve extremely of the long stay you have made at +Venice. I love long residences at capitals; running post through +different places is a most unprofitable way of traveling, and admits of +no application. Adieu. + +You see, by this extract, of what consequence other people think these +things. Therefore, I hope you will no longer look upon them as trifles. +It is the character of an able man to despise little things in great +business: but then he knows what things are little, and what not. He +does not suppose things are little, because they are commonly called so: +but by the consequences that may or may not attend them. If gaining +people's affections, and interesting their hearts in your favor, be of +consequence, as it undoubtedly is, he knows very well that a happy +concurrence of all those, commonly called little things, manners, air, +address, graces, etc., is of the utmost consequence, and will never be at +rest till he has acquired them. The world is taken by the outside of +things, and we must take the world as it is; you nor I cannot set it +right. I know, at this time, a man of great quality and station, who has +not the parts of a porter; but raised himself to the station he is in, +singly by having a graceful figure, polite manners, and an engaging +address; which, by the way, he only acquired by habit; for he had not +sense enough to get them by reflection. Parts and habit should conspire +to complete you. You will have the habit of good company, and you have +reflection in your power. + + + + +LETTER XCIII + +LONDON, December 5, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Those who suppose that men in general act rationally, because +they are called rational creatures, know very little of the world, and if +they act themselves upon that supposition, will nine times in ten find +themselves grossly mistaken. That man is, 'animal bipes, implume, +risibile', I entirely agree; but for the 'rationale', I can only allow it +him 'in actu primo' (to talk logic) and seldom in 'actu secundo'. Thus, +the speculative, cloistered pedant, in his solitary cell, forms systems +of things as they should be, not as they are; and writes as decisively +and absurdly upon war, politics, manners, and characters, as that pedant +talked, who was so kind as to instruct Hannibal in the art of war. Such +closet politicians never fail to assign the deepest motives for the most +trifling actions; instead of often ascribing the greatest actions to the +most trifling causes, in which they would be much seldomer mistaken. +They read and write of kings, heroes, and statesmen, as never doing +anything but upon the deepest principles of sound policy. But those who +see and observe kings, heroes, and statesmen, discover that they have +headaches, indigestions, humors, and passions, just like other people; +everyone of which, in their turns, determine their wills, in defiance of +their reason. Had we only read in the "Life of Alexander," that he +burned Persepolis, it would doubtless have been accounted for from deep +policy: we should have been told, that his new conquest could not have +been secured without the destruction of that capital, which would have +been the constant seat of cabals, conspiracies, and revolts. But, +luckily, we are informed at the same time, that this hero, this demi-god, +this son and heir of Jupiter Ammon, happened to get extremely drunk with +his w---e; and, by way of frolic, destroyed one of the finest cities in +the world. Read men, therefore, yourself, not in books but in nature. +Adopt no systems, but study them yourself. Observe their weaknesses, +their passions, their humors, of all which their understandings are, nine +times in ten, the dupes. You will then know that they are to be gained, +influenced, or led, much oftener by little things than by great ones; +and, consequently, you will no longer think those things little, which +tend to such great purposes. + +Let us apply this now to the particular object of this letter; I mean, +speaking in, and influencing public assemblies. The nature of our +constitution makes eloquence more useful, and more necessary, in this +country than in any other in Europe. A certain degree of good sense and +knowledge is requisite for that, as well as for everything else; but +beyond that, the purity of diction, the elegance of style, the harmony of +periods, a pleasing elocution, and a graceful action, are the things +which a public speaker should attend to the most; because his audience +certainly does, and understands them the best; or rather indeed +understands little else. The late Lord Chancellor Cowper's strength as +an orator lay by no means in his reasonings, for he often hazarded very +weak ones. But such was the purity and elegance of his style, such the +propriety and charms of his elocution, and such the gracefulness of his +action, that he never spoke without universal applause; the ears and the +eyes gave him up the hearts and the understandings of the audience. On +the contrary, the late Lord Townshend always spoke materially, with +argument and knowledge, but never pleased. Why? His diction was not +only inelegant, but frequently ungrammatical, always vulgar; his cadences +false, his voice unharmonious, and his action ungraceful. Nobody heard +him with patience; and the young fellows used to joke upon him, and +repeat his inaccuracies. The late Duke of Argyle, though the weakest +reasoner, was the most pleasing speaker I ever knew in my life. He +charmed, he warmed, he forcibly ravished the audience; not by his matter +certainly, but by his manner of delivering it. A most genteel figure, +a graceful, noble air, an harmonious voice, an elegance of style, and a +strength of emphasis, conspired to make him the most affecting, +persuasive, and applauded speaker I ever saw. I was captivated like +others; but when I came home, and coolly considered what he had said, +stripped of all those ornaments in which he had dressed it, I often found +the matter flimsy, the arguments weak, and I was convinced of the power +of those adventitious concurring circumstances, which ignorance of +mankind only calls trifling ones. Cicero, in his book 'De Oratore', in +order to raise the dignity of that profession which he well knew himself +to be at the head of, asserts that a complete orator must be a complete +everything, lawyer, philosopher, divine, etc. That would be extremely +well, if it were possible: but man's life is not long enough; and I hold +him to be the completest orator, who speaks the best upon that subject +which occurs; whose happy choice of words, whose lively imagination, +whose elocution and action adorn and grace his matter, at the same time +that they excite the attention and engage the passions of his audience. + +You will be of the House of Commons as soon as you are of age; and you +must first make a figure there, if you would make a figure, or a fortune, +in your country. This you can never do without that correctness and +elegance in your own language, which you now seem to neglect, and which +you have entirely to learn. Fortunately for you, it is to be learned. +Care and observation will do it; but do not flatter yourself, that all +the knowledge, sense, and reasoning in the world will ever make you a +popular and applauded speaker, without the ornaments and the graces of +style, elocution, and action. Sense and argument, though coarsely +delivered, will have their weight in a private conversation, with two or +three people of sense; but in a public assembly they will have none, if +naked and destitute of the advantages I have mentioned. Cardinal de Retz +observes, very justly, that every numerous assembly is a mob, influenced +by their passions, humors, and affections, which nothing but eloquence +ever did or ever can engage. This is so important a consideration for +everybody in this country, and more particularly for you, that I +earnestly recommend it to your most serious care and attention. Mind +your diction, in whatever language you either write or speak; contract a +habit of correctness and elegance. Consider your style, even in the +freest conversation and most familiar letters. After, at least, if not +before, you have said a thing, reflect if you could not have said it +better. Where you doubt of the propriety or elegance of a word or a +phrase, consult some good dead or living authority in that language. Use +yourself to translate, from various languages into English; correct those +translations till they satisfy your ear, as well as your understanding. +And be convinced of this truth, that the best sense and reason in the +world will be as unwelcome in a public assembly, without these ornaments, +as they will in public companies, without the assistance of manners and +politeness. If you will please people, you must please them in their own +way; and, as you cannot make them what they should be, you must take them +as they are. I repeat it again, they are only to be taken by 'agremens', +and by what flatters their senses and their hearts. Rabelais first wrote +a most excellent book, which nobody liked; then, determined to conform to +the public taste, he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, which everybody +liked, extravagant as it was. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCIV + +LONDON, December 9, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: It is now above forty years since I have never spoken nor +written one single word, without giving myself at least one moment's time +to consider whether it was a good or a bad one, and whether I could not +find out a better in its place. An unharmonious and rugged period, at +this time, shocks my ears; and I, like all the rest of the world, will +willingly exchange and give up some degree of rough sense, for a good +degree of pleasing sound. I will freely and truly own to you, without +either vanity or false modesty, that whatever reputation I have acquired +as a speaker, is more owing to my constant attention to my diction than +to my matter, which was necessarily just the same as other people's. +When you come into parliament, your reputation as a speaker will depend +much more upon your words, and your periods, than upon the subject. The +same matter occurs equally to everybody of common sense, upon the same +question; the dressing it well, is what excites the attention and +admiration of the audience. + +It is in parliament that I have set my heart upon your making a figure; +it is there that I want to have you justly proud of yourself, and to make +me justly proud of you. This means that you must be a good speaker +there; I use the word MUST, because I know you may if you will. The +vulgar, who are always mistaken, look upon a speaker and a comet with the +same astonishment and admiration, taking them both for preternatural +phenomena. This error discourages many young men from attempting that +character; and good speakers are willing to have their talent considered +as something very extraordinary, if not, a peculiar gift of God to his +elect. But let you and me analyze and simplify this good speaker; let us +strip him of those adventitious plumes with which his own pride, and the +ignorance of others, have decked him, and we shall find the true +definition of him to be no more than this: A man of good common sense who +reasons justly and expresses himself elegantly on that subject upon which +he speaks. There is, surely, no witchcraft in this. A man of sense, +without a superior and astonishing degree of parts, will not talk +nonsense upon any subject; nor will he, if he has the least taste or +application, talk inelegantly. What then does all this mighty art and +mystery of speaking in parliament amount to? Why, no more than this: +that the man who speaks in the House of Commons, speaks in that House, +and to four hundred people, that opinion upon a given subject which he +would make no difficulty of speaking in any house in England, round the +fire, or at table, to any fourteen people whatsoever; better judges, +perhaps, and severer critics of what he says, than any fourteen gentlemen +of the House of Commons. + +I have spoken frequently in parliament, and not always without some +applause; and therefore I can assure you, from my experience, that there +is very little in it. The elegance of the style, and the turn of the +periods, make the chief impression upon the hearers. Give them but one +or two round and harmonious periods in a speech, which they will retain +and repeat; and they will go home as well satisfied as people do from an +opera, humming all the way one or two favorite tunes that have struck +their ears, and were easily caught. Most people have ears, but few have +judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch their +judgments, such as they are. + +Cicero, conscious that he was at the top of his profession (for in his +time eloquence was a profession), in order to set himself off, defines in +his treatise 'De Oratore', an orator to be such a man as never was, nor +never will be; and, by his fallacious argument, says that he must know +every art and science whatsoever, or how shall he speak upon them? But, +with submission to so great an authority, my definition of an orator is +extremely different from, and I believe much truer than his. I call that +man an orator, who reasons justly, and expresses himself elegantly, upon +whatever subject he treats. Problems in geometry, equations in algebra, +processes in chemistry, and experiments in anatomy, are never, that I +have heard of, the object of eloquence; and therefore I humbly conceive, +that a man may be a very fine speaker, and yet know nothing of geometry, +algebra, chemistry, or anatomy. The subjects of all parliamentary +debates are subjects of common sense singly. + +Thus I write whatever occurs to me, that I think may contribute either to +form or inform you. May my labor not be in vain! and it will not, if you +will but have half the concern for yourself that I have for you. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCV + +LONDON; December 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Lord Clarendon in his history says of Mr. John Hampden THAT HE +HAD A HEAD TO CONTRIVE, A TONGUE TO PERSUADE, AND A HAND TO EXECUTE +ANY +MISCHIEF. I shall not now enter into the justness of this character of +Mr. Hampden, to whose brave stand against the illegal demand of ship- +money we owe our present liberties; but I mention it to you as the +character, which with the alteration of one single word, GOOD, instead of +MISCHIEF, I would have you aspire to, and use your utmost endeavors to +deserve. The head to contrive, God must to a certain degree have given +you; but it is in your own power greatly to improve it, by study, +observation, and reflection. As for the TONGUE TO PERSUADE, it wholly +depends upon yourself; and without it the best head will contrive to very +little purpose. The hand to execute depends likewise, in my opinion, +in a great measure upon yourself. Serious reflection will always give +courage in a good cause; and the courage arising from reflection is of a +much superior nature to the animal and constitutional courage of a foot +soldier. The former is steady and unshaken, where the 'nodus' is 'dignus +vindice'; the latter is oftener improperly than properly exerted, but +always brutally. + +The second member of my text (to speak ecclesiastically) shall be the +subject of my following discourse; THE TONGUE TO PERSUADE--as judicious, +preachers recommend those virtues, which they think their several +audiences want the most; such as truth and continence, at court; +disinterestedness, in the city; and sobriety, in the country. + +You must certainly, in the course of your little experience, have felt +the different effects of elegant and inelegant speaking. Do you not +suffer, when people accost you in a stammering or hesitating manner, in +an untuneful voice, with false accents and cadences; puzzling and +blundering through solecisms, barbarisms, and vulgarisms; misplacing even +their bad words, and inverting all method? Does not this prejudice you +against their matter, be it what it will; nay, even against their +persons? I am sure it does me. On the other hand, do you not feel +yourself inclined, prepossessed, nay, even engaged in favor of those who +address you in the direct contrary manner? The effects of a correct and +adorned style of method and perspicuity, are incredible toward +persuasion; they often supply the want of reason and argument, but, when +used in the support of reason and argument, they are irresistible. The +French attend very much to the purity and elegance of their style, even +in common conversation; insomuch that it is a character to say of a man +'qu'il narre bien'. Their conversations frequently turn upon the +delicacies of their language, and an academy is employed in fixing it. +The 'Crusca', in Italy, has the same object; and I have met with very few +Italians, who did not speak their own language correctly and elegantly. +How much more necessary is it for an Englishman to do so, who is to speak +it in a public assembly, where the laws and liberties of his country are +the subjects of his deliberation? The tongue that would persuade there, +must not content itself with mere articulation. You know what pains +Demosthenes took to correct his naturally bad elocution; you know that he +declaimed by the seaside in storms, to prepare himself for the noise of +the tumultuous assemblies he was to speak to; and you can now judge of +the correctness and elegance of his style. He thought all these things +of consequence, and he thought right; pray do you think so too? It is of +the utmost consequence to you to be of that opinion. If you have the +least defect in your elocution, take the utmost care and pains to correct +it. Do not neglect your style, whatever language you speak in, or +whoever you speak to, were it your footman. Seek always for the best +words and the happiest expressions you can find. Do not content yourself +with being barely understood; but adorn your thoughts, and dress them as +you would your person; which, however well proportioned it might be, it +would be very improper and indecent to exhibit naked, or even worse +dressed than people of your sort are. + +I have sent you in a packet which your Leipsig acquaintance, Duval, sends +to his correspondent at Rome, Lord Bolingbroke's book,--["Letters on the +Spirit of Patriotism," on the Idea of a Patriot King which he published +about a year ago.]-- I desire that you will read it over and over again, +with particular attention to the style, and to all those beauties of +oratory with which it is adorned. Till I read that book, I confess I did +not know all the extent and powers of the English language. Lord +Bolingbroke has both a tongue and a pen to persuade; his manner of +speaking in private conversation is full as elegant as his writings; +whatever subject he either speaks or writes upon, he adorns with the most +splendid eloquence; not a studied or labored eloquence, but such a +flowing happiness of diction, which (from care perhaps at first) is +become so habitual to him, that even his most familiar conversations, if +taken down in writing, would bear the press, without the least correction +either as to method or style. If his conduct, in the former part of his +life, had been equal to all his natural and acquired talents, he would +most justly have merited the epithet of all-accomplished. He is himself +sensible of his past errors: those violent passions which seduced him in +his youth, have now subsided by age; and take him as he is now, the +character of all-accomplished is more his due than any man's I ever knew +in my life. + +But he has been a most mortifying instance of the violence of human +passions and of the weakness of the most exalted human reason. His +virtues and his vices, his reason and his passions, did not blend +themselves by a gradation of tints, but formed a shining and sudden +contrast. Here the darkest, there the most splendid colors; and both +rendered more shining from their proximity. Impetuosity, excess, and +almost extravagance, characterized not only his passions, but even his +senses. His youth was distinguished by all the tumult and storm of +pleasures, in which he most licentiously triumphed, disdaining all +decorum. His fine imagination has often been heated and exhausted, with +his body, in celebrating and deifying the prostitute of the night; and +his convivial joys were pushed to all the extravagance of frantic +Bacchanals. Those passions were interrupted but by a stronger ambition. +The former impaired both his constitution and his character, but the +latter destroyed both his fortune and his reputation. + +He has noble and generous sentiments, rather than fixed reflected +principles of good nature and friendship; but they are more violent than +lasting, and suddenly and often varied to their opposite extremes, with +regard to the same persons. He receives the common attentions of +civility as obligations, which he returns with interest; and resents with +passion the little inadvertencies of human nature, which he repays with +interest too. Even a difference of opinion upon a philosophical subject +would provoke, and prove him no practical philosopher at least. + +Notwithstanding the dissipation of his youth, and the tumultuous +agitation of his middle age, he has an infinite fund of various and +almost universal knowledge, which, from the clearest and quickest +conception, and happiest memory, that ever man was blessed with, he +always carries about him. It is his pocket-money, and he never has +occasion to draw upon a book for any sum. He excels more particularly in +history, as his historical works plainly prove. The relative political +and commercial interests of every country in Europe, particularly of his +own, are better known to him, than perhaps to any man in it; but how +steadily he has pursued the latter, in his public conduct, his enemies, +of all parties and denominations, tell with joy. + +He engaged young, and distinguished himself in business; and his +penetration was almost intuition. I am old enough to have heard him +speak in parliament. And I remember that, though prejudiced against him +by party, I felt all the force and charms of his eloquence. Like Belial +in Milton, "he made the worse appear the better cause." All the internal +and external advantages and talents of an orator are undoubtedly his. +Figure, voice, elocution, knowledge, and, above all, the purest and most +florid diction, with the justest metaphors and happiest images, had +raised him to the post of Secretary at War, at four-and-twenty years old, +an age at which others are hardly thought fit for the smallest +employments. + +During his long exile in France, he applied himself to study with his +characteristical ardor; and there he formed and chiefly executed the plan +of a great philosophical work. The common bounds of human knowledge are +too narrow for his warm and aspiring imagination. He must go 'extra +flammantia maenia Mundi', and explore the unknown and unknowable regions +of metaphysics; which open an unbounded field for the excursion of an +ardent imagination; where endless conjectures supply the defect of +unattainable knowledge, and too often usurp both its name and its +influence. + +He has had a very handsome person, with a most engaging address in his +air and manners; he has all the dignity and good-breeding which a man of +quality should or can have, and which so few, in this country at least, +really have. + +He professes himself a deist; believing in a general Providence, but +doubting of, though by no means rejecting (as is commonly supposed) the +immortality of the soul and a future state. + +Upon the whole, of this extraordinary man, what can we say, but, alas, +poor human nature! + +In your destination, you will have frequent occasions to speak in public; +to princes and states abroad; to the House of Commons at home; judge, +then, whether eloquence is necessary for you or not; not only common +eloquence, which is rather free from faults than adorned by beauties; but +the highest, the most shining degree of eloquence. For God's sake, have +this object always in your view and in your thoughts. Tune your tongue +early to persuasion; and let no jarring, dissonant accents ever fall from +it, Contract a habit of speaking well upon every occasion, and neglect +yourself in no one. Eloquence and good-breeding, alone, with an +exceeding small degree of parts and knowledge, will carry a man a great +way; with your parts and knowledge, then, how far will they not carry +you? Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCVI + +LONDON, December 16, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR Boy: This letter will, I hope, find you safely arrived and well +settled at Rome, after the usual distresses and accidents of a winter +journey; which are very proper to teach you patience. Your stay there I +look upon as a very important period of your life; and I do believe that +you will fill it up well. I hope you will employ the mornings diligently +with Mr. Harte, in acquiring weight; and the evenings in the best +companies at Rome, in acquiring lustre. A formal, dull father, would +recommend to you to plod out the evenings, too, at home, over a book by a +dim taper; but I recommend to you the evenings for your pleasures, which +are as much a part of your education, and almost as necessary a one, as +your morning studies. Go to whatever assemblies or SPECTACLES people of +fashion go to, and when you are there do as they do. Endeavor to +outshine those who shine there the most, get the 'Garbo', the +'Gentilezza', the 'Leggeadria' of the; Italians; make love to the most +impertinent beauty of condition that you meet with, and be gallant with +all the rest. Speak Italian, right or wrong, to everybody; and if you do +but laugh at yourself first for your bad Italian, nobody else will laugh +at you for it. That is the only way to speak it perfectly; which I +expect you will do, because I am sure you may, before you leave Rome. +View the most curious remains of antiquity with a classical spirit; and +they will clear up to you many passages of the classical authors; +particularly the Trajan and Antonine Columns; where you find the warlike +instruments, the dresses, and the triumphal ornaments of the Romans. Buy +also the prints and explanations of all those respectable remains of +Roman grandeur, and compare them with the originals. Most young +travelers are contented with a general view of those things, say they are +very fine, and then go about their business. I hope you will examine +them in a very different way. 'Approfondissez' everything you see or +hear; and learn, if you can, the WHY and the WHEREFORE. Inquire into the +meaning and the objects of the innumerable processions, which you will +see at Rome at this time. Assist at all the ceremonies, and know the +reason, or at least the pretenses of them, and however absurd they may +be, see and speak of them with great decency. Of all things, I beg of +you not to herd with your own countrymen, but to be always either with +the Romans, or with the foreign ministers residing at Rome. You are sent +abroad to see the manners and characters, and learn the languages of +foreign countries; and not to converse with English, in English; which +would defeat all those ends. Among your graver company, I recommend (as +I have done before) the Jesuits to you; whose learning and address will +both please and improve you; inform yourself, as much as you can, of the +history, policy, and practice of that society, from the time of its +founder, Ignatius of Loyola, who was himself a madman. If you would know +their morality, you will find it fully and admirably stated in 'Les +Lettres d'un Provincial', by the famous Monsieur Pascal; and it is a book +very well worth your reading. Few people see what they see, or hear what +they hear; that is, they see and hear so inattentively and superficially, +that they are very little the better for what they do see and hear. +This, I dare say, neither is, nor will be your case. You will +understand, reflect upon, and consequently retain, what you see and hear. +You have still two years good, but no more, to form your character in the +world decisively; for, within two months after your arrival in England, +it will be finally and irrevocably determined, one way or another, in the +opinion of the public. Devote, therefore, these two years to the pursuit +of perfection; which ought to be everybody's object, though in some +particulars unattainable; those who strive and labor the most, will come +the nearest to it. But, above all things, aim at it in the two important +arts of speaking and pleasing; without them all your other talents are +maimed and crippled. They are the wings upon which you must soar above +other people; without them you will only crawl with the dull mass of +mankind. Prepossess by your air, address, and manners; persuade by your +tongue; and you will easily execute what your head has contrived. I +desire that you will send me very minute accounts from Rome, not of what +you see, but, of who you see; of your pleasures and entertainments. Tell +me what companies you frequent most, and how you are received. + + + + +LETTER XCVII + +LONDON, December 19, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: The knowledge of mankind is a very use ful knowledge for +everybody; a most necessary one for you, who are destined to an active, +public life. You will have to do with all sorts of characters; you +should, therefore, know them thoroughly, in order to manage them ably. +This knowledge is not to be gotten systematically; you must acquire it +yourself by your own observation and sagacity; I will give you such hints +as I think may be useful land-marks in your intended progress. + +I have often told you (and it is most true) that, with regard to mankind, +we must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, +though, in the main, true ones. We must not suppose that, because a man +is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, +because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act +invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No. We are +complicated machines: and though we have one main-spring, that gives +motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in +their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion. Let us +exemplify. I will suppose ambition to be (as it commonly is) the +predominant passion of a minister of state; and I will suppose that +minister to be an able one. Will he, therefore, invariably pursue the +object of that predominant passion? May I be sure that he will do so and +so, because he ought? Nothing less. Sickness or low spirits, may damp +this predominant passion; humor and peevishness may triumph over it; +inferior passions may, at times, surprise it and prevail. Is this +ambitious statesman amorous? Indiscreet and unguarded confidences, made +in tender moments, to his wife or his mistress, may defeat all his +schemes. Is he avaricious? Some great lucrative object, suddenly +presenting itself, may unravel all the work of his ambition. Is he +passionate? Contradiction and provocation (sometimes, it may be, too, +artfully intended) may extort rash and inconsiderate expressions, or +actions destructive of his main object. Is he vain, and open to +flattery? An artful, flattering favorite may mislead him; and even +laziness may, at certain moments, make him neglect or omit the necessary +steps to that height at which he wants to arrive. Seek first, then, for +the predominant passion of the character which you mean to engage and +influence, and address yourself to it; but without defying or despising +the inferior passions; get them in your interest too, for now and then +they will have their turns. In many cases, you may not have it in your +power to contribute to the gratification of the prevailing passion; then +take the next best to your aid. There are many avenues to every man; and +when you cannot get at him through the great one, try the serpentine +ones, and you will arrive at last. + +There are two inconsistent passions, which, however, frequently accompany +each other, like man and wife; and which, like man and wife too, are +commonly clogs upon each other. I mean ambition and avarice: the latter +is often the true cause of the former, and then is the predominant +passion. It seems to have been so in Cardinal Mazarin, who did anything, +submitted to anything, and forgave anything, for the sake of plunder. +He loved and courted power, like a usurer, because it carried profit +along with it. Whoever should have formed his opinion, or taken his +measures, singly, from the ambitious part of Cardinal Mazarin's +character, would have found himself often mistaken. Some who had found +this out, made their fortunes by letting him cheat them at play. On the +contrary, Cardinal Richelieu's prevailing passion seems to have been +ambition, and his immense riches only the natural consequences of that +ambition gratified; and yet, I make no doubt, but that ambition had now +and then its turn with the former, and avarice with the latter. +Richelieu (by the way) is so strong a proof of the inconsistency of human +nature, that I cannot help observing to you, that while he absolutely +governed both his king and his country, and was, in a great degree, the +arbiter of the fate of all Europe, he was more jealous of the great +reputation of Corneille than of the power of Spain; and more flattered +with being thought (what he was not) the best poet, than with being +thought (what he certainly was) the greatest statesman in Europe; and +affairs stood still while he was concerting the criticism upon the Cid. +Could one think this possible, if one did not know it to be true? Though +men are all of one composition, the several ingredients are so +differently proportioned ,in each individual, that no two are exactly +alike; and no one at all times like himself. The ablest man will +sometimes do weak things; the proudest man, mean things; the honestest +man, ill things; and the wickedest man, good ones. Study individuals +then, and if you take (as you ought to do,) their outlines from their +prevailing passion, suspend your last finishing strokes till you have +attended to, and discovered the operations of their inferior passions, +appetites, and humors. A man's general character may be that of the +honestest man of the world: do not dispute it; you might be thought +envious or ill-natured; but, at the same time, do not take this probity +upon trust to such a degree as to put your life, fortune, or reputation +in his power. This honest man may happen to be your rival in power, in +interest, or in love; three passions that often put honesty to most +severe trials, in which it is too often cast; but first analyze this +honest man yourself; and then only you will be able to judge how far you +may, or may not, with safety trust him. + +Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but +two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics. +An Agrippina may sacrifice them to ambition, or a Messalina to lust; but +those instances are rare; and, in general, all they say, and all they do, +tends to the gratification of their vanity or their love. He who +flatters them most, pleases them best; and they are the most in love with +him, who they think is the most in love with them. No adulation is too +strong for them; no assiduity too great; no simulation of passion too +gross; as, on the other hand, the least word or action that can possibly +be construed into a slight or contempt, is unpardonable, and never +forgotten. Men are in this respect tender too, and will sooner forgive +an injury than an insult. Some men are more captious than others; some +are always wrongheaded; but every man living has such a share of vanity, +as to be hurt by marks of slight and contempt. Every man does not +pretend to be a poet, a mathematician, or a statesman, and considered as +such; but every man pretends to common sense, and to fill his place in +the world with common decency; and, consequently, does not easily forgive +those negligences, inattentions and slights which seem to call in +question, or utterly deny him both these pretensions. + +Suspect, in general, those who remarkably affect any one virtue; who +raise it above all others, and who, in a manner, intimate that they +possess it exclusively. I say suspect them, for they are commonly +impostors; but do not be sure that they are always so; for I have +sometimes known saints really religious, blusterers really brave, +reformers of manners really honest, and prudes really chaste. Pry into +the recesses of their hearts yourself, as far as you are able, and never +implicitly adopt a character upon common fame; which, though generally +right as to the great outlines of characters, is always wrong in some +particulars. + +Be upon your guard against those who upon very slight acquaintance, +obtrude their unasked and unmerited friendship and confidence upon you; +for they probably cram you with them only for their own eating; but, at +the same time, do not roughly reject them upon that general supposition. +Examine further, and see whether those unexpected offers flow from a warm +heart and a silly head, or from a designing head and a cold heart; for +knavery and folly have often the same symptoms. In the first case, there +is no danger in accepting them, 'valeant quantum valere possunt'. In the +latter case, it may be useful to seem to accept them, and artfully to +turn the battery upon him who raised it. + +There is an incontinency of friendship among young fellows, who are +associated by their mutual pleasures only, which has, very frequently, +bad consequences. A parcel of warm hearts and inexperienced heads, +heated by convivial mirth, and possibly a little too much wine, vow, and +really mean at the time, eternal friendships to each other, and +indiscreetly pour out their whole souls in common, and without the least +reserve. These confidences are as indiscreetly repealed as they were +made; for new pleasures and new places soon dissolve this ill-cemented +connection; and then very ill uses are made of these rash confidences. +Bear your part, however, in young companies; nay, excel, if you can, in +all the social and convivial joy and festivity that become youth. Trust +them with your love tales, if you please; but keep your serious views +secret. Trust those only to some tried friend, more experienced than +yourself, and who, being in a different walk of life from you, is not +likely to become your rival; for I would not advise you to depend so much +upon the heroic virtue of mankind, as to hope or believe that your +competitor will ever be your friend, as to the object of that +competition. + +These are reserves and cautions very necessary to have, but very +imprudent to show; the 'volto sciolto' should accompany them. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCVIII + +DEAR BOY: Great talents and great virtues (if you should have them) will +procure you the respect and the admiration of mankind; but it is the +lesser talents, the 'leniores virtutes', which must procure you their +love and affection. The former, unassisted and unadorned by the latter, +will extort praise; but will, at the same time, excite both fear and +envy; two sentiments absolutely incompatible with love and affection. + +Caesar had all the great vices, and Cato all the great virtues, that men +could have. But Caesar had the 'leniores virtutes' which Cato wanted, +and which made him beloved, even by his enemies, and gained him the +hearts of mankind, in spite of their reason: while Cato was not even +beloved by his friends, notwithstanding the esteem and respect which they +could not refuse to his virtues; ,and I am apt to think, that if Caesar +had wanted, and Cato possessed, those 'leniores virtutes', the former +would not have attempted (at least with success), and the latter could +have protected, the liberties of Rome. Mr. Addison, in his "Cato," says +of Caesar (and I believe with truth), + + "Curse on his virtues, they've undone his country." + +By which he means those lesser, but engaging virtues of gentleness, +affability, complaisance, and good humor. The knowledge of a scholar, +the courage of a hero, and the virtue of a Stoic, will be admired; but if +the knowledge be accompanied with arrogance, the courage with ferocity, +and the virtue with inflexible severity, the man will never be loved. +The heroism of Charles XII. of Sweden (if his brutal courage deserves +that name) was universally admired, but the man nowhere beloved. Whereas +Henry IV. of France, who had full as much courage, and was much longer +engaged in wars, was generally beloved upon account of his lesser and +social virtues. We are all so formed, that our understandings are +generally the DUPES of our hearts, that is, of our passions; and the +surest way to the former is through the latter, which must be engaged by +the 'leniores virtutes' alone, and the manner of exerting them. The +insolent civility of a proud man is (for example) if possible, more +shocking than his rudeness could be; because he shows you by his manner +that he thinks it mere condescension in him; and that his goodness alone +bestows upon you what you have no pretense to claim. He intimates his +protection, instead of his friendship, by a gracious nod, instead of a +usual bow; and rather signifies his consent that you may, than his +invitation that you should sit, walk, eat, or drink with him. + +The costive liberality of a purse-proud man insults the distresses it +sometimes relieves; he takes care to make you feel your own misfortunes, +and the difference between your situation and his; both which he +insinuates to be justly merited: yours, by your folly; his, by his +wisdom. The arrogant pedant does not communicate, but promulgates his +knowledge. He does not give it you, but he inflicts it upon you; and is +(if possible) more desirous to show you your own ignorance than his own +learning. Such manners as these, not only in the particular instances +which I have mentioned, but likewise in all others, shock and revolt that +little pride and vanity which every man has in his heart; and obliterate +in us the obligation for the favor conferred, by reminding us of the +motive which produced, and the manner which accompanied it. + +These faults point out their opposite perfections, and your own good +sense will naturally suggest them to you. + +But besides these lesser virtues, there are what may be called the lesser +talents, or accomplishments, which are of great use to adorn and +recommend all the greater; and the more so, as all people are judges of +the one, and but few are of the other. Everybody feels the impression, +which an engaging address, an agreeable manner of speaking, and an easy +politeness, makes upon them; and they prepare the way for the favorable +reception of their betters. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCIX + +LONDON, December 26, O. S. 1749. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The new year is the season in which custom seems more +particularly to authorize civil and harmless lies, under the name of +compliments. People reciprocally profess wishes which they seldom form; +and concern, which they seldom feel. This is not the case between you +and me, where truth leaves no room for compliments. + +'Dii tibi dent annos, de to nam caetera sumes', was said formerly to one +by a man who certainly did not think it. With the variation of one word +only, I will with great truth say it to you. I will make the first part +conditional by changing, in the second, the 'nam' into 'si'. May you +live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer! or may you rather die +before you cease to be fit to live, than after! My true tenderness for +you makes me think more of the manner than of the length of your life, +and forbids me to wish it prolonged, by a single day, that should bring +guilt, reproach, and shame upon you. I have not malice enough in my +nature, to wish that to my greatest enemy. You are the principal object +of all my cares, the only object of all my hopes; I have now reason to +believe, that you will reward the former, and answer the latter; in that +case, may you live long, for you must live happy; 'de te nam caetera +sumes'. Conscious virtue is the only solid foundation of all happiness; +for riches, power, rank, or whatever, in the common acceptation of the +word, is supposed to constitute happiness, will never quiet, much less +cure, the inward pangs of guilt. To that main wish, I will add those of +the good old nurse of Horace, in his epistle to Tibullus: 'Sapere', you +have it in a good degree already. 'Et fari ut possit quae sentiat'. +Have you that? More, much more is meant by it, than common speech or +mere articulation. I fear that still remains to be wished for, and I +earnestly wish it to you. 'Gratia and Fama' will inevitably accompany +the above-mentioned qualifications. The 'Valetudo' is the only one that +is not in your own power; Heaven alone can grant it you, and may it do so +abundantly! As for the 'mundus victus, non deficiente crumena', do you +deserve, and I will provide them. + +It is with the greatest pleasure that I consider the fair prospect which +you have before you. You have seen, read, and learned more, at your age, +than most young fellows have done at two or three-and-twenty. Your +destination is a shining one, and leads to rank, fortune, and +distinction. Your education has been calculated for it; and, to do you +justice, that education has not been thrown away upon you. You want but +two things, which do not want conjuration, but only care, to acquire: +eloquence and manners; that is, the graces of speech, and the graces of +behavior. You may have them; they are as much in your power as powdering +your hair is; and will you let the want of them obscure (as it certainly +will do) that shining prospect which presents itself to you. I am sure +you will not. They are the sharp end, the point of the nail that you are +driving, which must make way first for the larger and more solid parts to +enter. Supposing your moral character as pure, and your knowledge as +sound, as I really believe them both to be; you want nothing for that +perfection, which I have so constantly wished you, and taken so much +pains to give you, but eloquence and politeness. A man who is not born +with a poetical genius, can never be a poet, or at best an extremely bad +one; but every man, who can speak at all, can speak elegantly and +correctly if he pleases, by attending to the best authors and orators; +and, indeed, I would advise those who do not speak elegantly, not to +speak at all; for I am sure they will get more by their silence than by +their speech. As for politeness: whoever keeps good company, and is not +polite, must have formed a resolution, and take some pains not to be so; +otherwise he would naturally and insensibly take the air, the address, +and the turn of those he converses with. You will, probably, in the +course of this year, see as great a variety of good company in the +several capitals you will be at, as in any one year of your life; and +consequently must (I should hope) catch some of their manners, almost +whether you will or not; but, as I dare say you will endeavor to do it, +I am convinced you will succeed, and that I shall have pleasure of +finding you, at your return here, one of the best-bred men in Europe. + +I imagine, that when you receive my letters, and come to those parts of +them which relate to eloquence and politeness, you say, or at least +think, What, will he never have done upon those two subjects? Has he not +said all he can say upon them? Why the same thing over and over again? +If you do think or say so, it must proceed from your not yet knowing the +infinite importance of these two accomplishments, which I cannot +recommend to you too often, nor inculcate too strongly. But if, on the +contrary, you are convinced of the utility, or rather the necessity of +those two accomplishments, and are determined to acquire them, my +repeated admonitions are only unnecessary; and I grudge no trouble which +can possibly be of the least use to you. + +I flatter myself, that your stay at Rome will go a great way toward +answering all my views: I am sure it will, if you employ your time, and +your whole time, as you should. Your first morning hours, I would have +you devote to your graver studies with Mr. Harte; the middle part of the +day I would have employed in seeing things; and the evenings in seeing +people. You are not, I hope, of a lazy, inactive turn, in either body or +mind; and, in that case, the day is full long enough for everything; +especially at Rome, where it is not the fashion, as it is here and at +Paris, to embezzle at least half of it at table. But if, by accident, +two or three hours are sometimes wanting for some useful purpose, borrow +them from your sleep. Six, or at most seven hours sleep is, for a +constancy, as much as you or anybody can want; more is only laziness and +dozing; and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying. If, by +chance, your business, or your pleasures, should keep you up till four or +five o'clock in the morning, I would advise you, however, to rise exactly +at your usual time, that you may not lose the precious morning hours; and +that the want of sleep may force you to go to bed earlier the next night. +This is what I was advised to do when very young, by a very wise man; and +what, I assure you, I always did in the most dissipated part of my life. +I have very often gone to bed at six in the morning and rose, +notwithstanding, at eight; by which means I got many hours in the morning +that my companions lost; and the want of sleep obliged me to keep good +hours the next, or at least the third night. To this method I owe the +greatest part of my reading: for, from twenty to forty, I should +certainly have read very little, if I had not been up while my +acquaintances were in bed. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, +and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no +procrastination; never put off till to-morrow what you can do today. +That was the rule of the famous and unfortunate Pensionary De Witt; who, +by strictly following it, found time, not only to do the whole business +of the republic, but to pass his evenings at assemblies and suppers, as +if he had had nothing else to do or think of. + +Adieu, my dear friend, for such I shall call you, and as such I shall, +for the future, live with you; for I disclaim all titles which imply an +authority, that I am persuaded you will never give me occasion to +exercise. + +'Multos et felices', most sincerely, to Mr. Harte. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + +A joker is near akin to a buffoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Ablest man will sometimes do weak things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Above trifles, he is never vehement and eager about them . . . . . . . +Advise those who do not speak elegantly, not to speak. . . . . . . . . +Always does more than he says. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Always some favorite word for the time being . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Arrogant pedant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Ascribing the greatest actions to the most trifling causes . . . . . . +Assign the deepest motives for the most trifling actions . . . . . . . +Attend to the objects of your expenses, but not to the sums. . . . . . +Attention to the inside of books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions. . . . . . . . . . . +Being in the power of every man to hurt him. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Can hardly be said to see what they see. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Cardinal Mazarin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Cardinal Richelieu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Complaisance due to the custom of the place. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Conjectures supply the defect of unattainable knowledge. . . . . . . . +Connive at knaves, and tolerate fools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Corneille. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Deep learning is generally tainted with pedantry . . . . . . . . . . . +Deepest learning, without good-breeding, is unwelcome. . . . . . . . . +Desirous of pleasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Dictate to them while you seem to be directed by them. . . . . . . . . +Dissimulation is only to hide our own cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Do not become a virtuoso of small wares. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Does not give it you, but he inflicts it upon you. . . . . . . . . . . +Endeavors to please and oblige our fellow-creatures. . . . . . . . . . +Every man pretends to common sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Every numerous assembly is a mob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Eyes and the ears are the only roads to the heart. . . . . . . . . . . +Few dare dissent from an established opinion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . +Few things which people in general know less, than how to love . . . . +Flattering people behind their backs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Fools never perceive where they are either ill-timed . . . . . . . . . +Friendship upon very slight acquaintance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Frivolous curiosity about trifles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Frivolous, idle people, whose time hangs upon their own hands. . . . . +Gain the heart, or you gain nothing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +General conclusions from certain particular principles . . . . . . . . +Good manners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Haste and hurry are very different things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Herd of mankind can hardly be said to think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Human nature is always the same. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Hurt those they love by a mistaken indulgence. . . . . . . . . . . . . +Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +If I don't mind his orders he won't mind my draughts.. . . . . . . . . +Inattention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Inattentive, absent; and distrait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Incontinency of friendship among young fellows . . . . . . . . . . . . +Indiscriminate familiarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Inquisition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Insist upon your neither piping nor fiddling yourself. . . . . . . . . +Insolent civility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +It is not sufficient to deserve well; one must please well too . . . . +Know the true value of time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Known people pretend to vices they had not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Knows what things are little, and what not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Learn, if you can, the WHY and the WHEREFORE . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Leave the company, at least as soon as he is wished out of it. . . . . +Led, much oftener by little things than by great ones. . . . . . . . . +Little failings and weaknesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Love with him, who they think is the most in love with them. . . . . . +Machiavel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Mastery of one's temper. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +May you live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer!. . . . . . +May you rather die before you cease to be fit to live. . . . . . . . . +Moderation with your enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears. . . . +Never implicitly adopt a character upon common fame. . . . . . . . . . +Never would know anything that he had not a mind to know . . . . . . . +Nickname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +No man is distrait with the man he fears, or the woman he loves. . . . +Nothing in courts is exactly as it appears to be . . . . . . . . . . . +Our understandings are generally the DUPES of our hearts . . . . . . . +People will repay, and with interest too, inattention. . . . . . . . . +Perfection of everything that is worth doing at all. . . . . . . . . . +Pliny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +POLITICIANS NEITHER LOVE NOR HATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Public speaking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Quietly cherished error, instead of seeking for truth. . . . . . . . . +Reciprocally profess wishes which they seldom form . . . . . . . . . . +Reserve with your friends. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Six, or at most seven hours sleep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Sooner forgive an injury than an insult. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +There are many avenues to every man. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Those who remarkably affect any one virtue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Three passions that often put honesty to most severe trials. . . . . . +To great caution, you can join seeming frankness and openness. . . . . +Trifling parts, with their little jargon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +Truth leaves no room for compliments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +We have many of those useful prejudices in this country. . . . . . . . +Whatever pleases you most in others. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +World is taken by the outside of things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1749 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + diff --git a/old/lc03s10.zip b/old/lc03s10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0b8c99 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc03s10.zip diff --git a/old/lc03s11.txt b/old/lc03s11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dcb9745 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc03s11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4893 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1749 +#3 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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Your +thanks for my present, as you call it, exceed the value of the present; +but the use, which you assure me that you will make of it, is the thanks +which I desire to receive. Due attention to the inside of books, and due +contempt for the outside, is the proper relation between a man of sense +and his books. + +Now that you are going a little more into the world; I will take this +occasion to explain my intentions as to your future expenses, that you +may know what you have to expect from me, and make your plan accordingly. +I shall neither deny nor grudge you any money, that may be necessary for +either your improvement or your pleasures: I mean the pleasures of a +rational being. Under the head of improvement, I mean the best books, +and the best masters, cost what they will; I also mean all the expense of +lodgings, coach, dress; servants, etc., which, according to the several +places where you may be, shall be respectively necessary to enable you to +keep the best company. Under the head of rational pleasures, +I comprehend, first, proper charities, to real and compassionate objects +of it; secondly, proper presents to those to whom you are obliged, or +whom you desire to oblige; thirdly, a conformity of expense to that of +the company which you keep; as in public spectacles; your share of little +entertainments; a few pistoles at games of mere commerce; and other +incidental calls of good company. The only two articles which I will +never supply, are the profusion of low riot, and the idle lavishness of +negligence and laziness. A fool squanders away, without credit or +advantage to himself, more than a man of sense spends with both. The +latter employs his money as he does his time, and never spends a shilling +of the one, nor a minute of the other, but in something that is either +useful or rationally pleasing to himself or others. The former buys +whatever he does not want, and does not pay for what he does want. He +cannot withstand the charms of a toyshop; snuff-boxes, watches, heads of +canes, etc., are his destruction. His servants and tradesmen conspire +with his own indolence to cheat him; and, in a very little time, he is +astonished, in the midst of all the ridiculous superfluities, to find +himself in want of all the real comforts and necessaries of life. +Without care and method, the largest fortune will not, and with them, +almost the smallest will, supply all necessary expenses. As far as you +can possibly, pay ready money for everything you buy and avoid bills. +Pay that money, too, yourself, and not through the hands of any servant, +who always either stipulates poundage, or requires a present for his good +word, as they call it. Where you must have bills (as for meat and drink, +clothes, etc.), pay them regularly every month, and with your own hand. +Never, from a mistaken economy, buy a thing you do not want, because it +is cheap; or from a silly pride, because it is dear. Keep an account in +a book of all that you receive, and of all that you pay; for no man who +knows what he receives and what he pays ever runs out. I do not mean +that you should keep an account of the shillings and half-crowns which +you may spend in chair-hire, operas, etc.: they are unworthy of the time, +and of the ink that they would consume; leave such minutia to dull, +penny-wise fellows; but remember, in economy, as well as in every other +part of life, to have the proper attention to proper objects, and the +proper contempt for little ones. A strong mind sees things in their true +proportions; a weak one views them through a magnifying medium, which, +like the microscope, makes an elephant of a flea: magnifies all little +objects, but cannot receive great ones. I have known many a man pass for +a miser, by saving a penny and wrangling for twopence, who was undoing +himself at the same time by living above his income, and not attending to +essential articles which were above his 'portee'. The sure +characteristic of a sound and strong mind, is to find in everything those +certain bounds, 'quos ultra citrave nequit consistere rectum'. These +boundaries are marked out by a very fine line, which only good sense and +attention can discover; it is much too fine for vulgar eyes. In manners, +this line is good-breeding; beyond it, is troublesome ceremony; short of +it, is unbecoming negligence and inattention. In morals, it divides +ostentatious puritanism from criminal relaxation; in religion, +superstition from impiety: and, in short, every virtue from its kindred +vice or weakness. I think you have sense enough to discover the line; +keep it always in your eye, and learn to walk upon it; rest upon Mr. +Harte, and he will poise you till you are able to go alone. By the way, +there are fewer people who walk well upon that line, than upon the slack +rope; and therefore a good performer shines so much the more. + +Your friend Comte Pertingue, who constantly inquires after you, has +written to Comte Salmour, the Governor of the Academy at Turin, to +prepare a room for you there immediately after the Ascension: and has +recommended you to him in a manner which I hope you will give him no +reason to repent or be ashamed of. As Comte Salmour's son, now residing +at The Hague, is my particular acquaintance, I shall have regular and +authentic accounts of all that you do at Turin. + +During your stay at Berlin, I expect that you should inform yourself +thoroughly of the present state of the civil, military, and +ecclesiastical government of the King of Prussia's dominions; +particularly of the military, which is upon a better footing in that +country than in any other in Europe. + +You will attend at the reviews, see the troops exercised, and inquire +into the numbers of troops and companies in the respective regiments of +horse, foot, and dragoons; the numbers and titles of the commissioned and +non-commissioned officers in the several troops and companies; and also +take care to learn the technical military terms in the German language; +for though you are not to be a military man, yet these military matters +are so frequently the subject of conversation, that you will look very +awkwardly if you are ignorant of them. Moreover, they are commonly the +objects of negotiation, and, as such, fall within your future profession. +You must also inform yourself of the reformation which the King of +Prussia has lately made in the law; by which he has both lessened the +number, and shortened the duration of law-suits; a great work, and worthy +of so great a prince! As he is indisputably the ablest prince in Europe, +every part of his government deserves your most diligent inquiry, and +your most serious attention. It must be owned that you set out well, as +a young politician, by beginning at Berlin, and then going to Turin, +where you will see the next ablest monarch to that of Prussia; so that, +if you are capable of making political reflections, those two princes +will furnish you with sufficient matter for them. + +I would have you endeavor to get acquainted with Monsieur de Maupertuis, +who is so eminently distinguished by all kinds of learning and merit, +that one should be both sorry and ashamed of having been even a day in +the same place with him, and not to have seen him. If you should have no +other way of being introduced to him, I will send you a letter from +hence. Monsieur Cagenoni, at Berlin, to whom I know you are recommended, +is a very able man of business, thoroughly informed of every part of +Europe; and his acquaintance, if you deserve and improve it as you should +do, may be of great use to you. + +Remember to take the best dancing-master at Berlin, more to teach you to +sit, stand, and walk gracefully, than to dance finely. The Graces, the +Graces; remember the Graces! Adieu! + + + + +LETTER LXIII + +LONDON, January 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received your letter of the l2th, N. S., in which I was +surprised to find no mention of your approaching journey to Berlin, +which, according to the first plan, was to be on the 20th, N. S., and +upon which supposition I have for some time directed my letters to you, +and Mr. Harte, at Berlin. I should be glad that yours were more minute +with regard to your motions and transactions; and I desire that, for the +future, they may contain accounts of what and who you see and hear, in +your several places of residence; for I interest myself as much in the +company you keep, and the pleasures you take, as in the studies you +pursue; and therefore, equally desire to be informed of them all. +Another thing I desire, which is, that you will acknowledge my letters by +their dates, that I may know which you do, and which you do not receive. + +As you found your brain considerably affected by the cold, you were very +prudent not to turn it to poetry in that situation; and not less +judicious in declining the borrowed aid of a stove, whose fumigation, +instead of inspiration, would at best have produced what Mr. Pope calls a +souterkin of wit. I will show your letter to Duval, by way of +justification for not answering his challenge; and I think he must allow +the validity of it; for a frozen brain is as unfit to answer a challenge +in poetry, as a blunt sword is for a single combat. + +You may if you please, and therefore I flatter myself that you will, +profit considerably by your stay at Berlin, in the article of manners and +useful knowledge. Attention to what you will see and hear there, +together with proper inquiries, and a little care and method in taking +notes of what is more material, will procure you much useful knowledge. +Many young people are so light, so dissipated, and so incurious, that +they can hardly be said to see what they see, or hear what they hear: +that is, they hear in so superficial and inattentive a manner, that they +might as well not see nor hear at all. For instance, if they see a +public building, as a college, an hospital, an arsenal, etc., they +content themselves with the first 'coup d'oeil', and neither take the +time nor the trouble of informing themselves of the material parts of +them; which are the constitution, the rules, and the order and economy in +the inside. You will, I hope, go deeper, and make your way into the +substance of things. For example, should you see a regiment reviewed at +Berlin or Potsdam, instead of contenting yourself with the general +glitter of the collective corps, and saying, 'par maniere d'acquit', that +is very fine, I hope you will ask what number of troops or companies it +consists of; what number of officers of the Etat Major, and what number +of subalternes; how many 'bas officiers', or non-commissioned officers, +as sergeants, corporals, 'anspessades, frey corporals', etc., their pay, +their clothing, and by whom; whether by the colonels, or captains, or +commissaries appointed for that purpose; to whom they are accountable; +the method of recruiting, completing, etc. + +The same in civil matters: inform yourself of the jurisdiction of a court +of justice; of the rules and numbers and endowments of a college, or an +academy, and not only of the dimensions of the respective edifices; and +let your letters to me contain these informations, in proportion as you +acquire them. + +I often reflect, with the most flattering hopes, how proud I shall be of +you, if you should profit, as you may, of the opportunities which you +have had, still have, and will have, of arriving at perfection; and, +on the other hand, with dread of the grief and shame you will give me +if you do not. May the first be the case! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER LXIV + +LONDON, February 7, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: You are now come to an age capable of reflection, and I hope +you will do, what, however, few people at your age do, exert it for your +own sake in the search of truth and sound knowledge. I will confess (for +I am not unwilling to discover my secrets to you) that it is not many +years since I have presumed to reflect for myself. Till sixteen or +seventeen I had no reflection; and for many years after that, I made no +use of what I had. I adopted the notions of the books I read, or the +company I kept, without examining whether they were just or not; and I +rather chose to run the risk of easy error, than to take the time and +trouble of investigating truth. Thus, partly from laziness, partly from +dissipation, and partly from the 'mauvaise honte' of rejecting +fashionable notions, I was (as I have since found) hurried away by +prejudices, instead of being guided by reason; and quietly cherished +error, instead of seeking for truth. But since I have taken the trouble +of reasoning for myself, and have had the courage to own that I do so, +you cannot imagine how much my notions of things are altered, and in how +different a light I now see them, from that in which I formerly viewed +them, through the deceitful medium of prejudice or authority. Nay, I may +possibly still retain many errors, which, from long habit, have perhaps +grown into real opinions; for it is very difficult to distinguish habits, +early acquired and long entertained, from the result of our reason and +reflection. + +My first prejudice (for I do not mention the prejudices of boys, and +women, such as hobgoblins, ghosts, dreams, spilling salt, etc.) was my +classical enthusiasm, which I received from the books I read, and the +masters who explained them to me. I was convinced there had been no +common sense nor common honesty in the world for these last fifteen +hundred years; but that they were totally extinguished with the ancient +Greek and Roman governments. Homer and Virgil could have no faults, +because they were ancient; Milton and Tasso could have no merit, because +they were modern. And I could almost have said, with regard to the +ancients, what Cicero, very absurdly and unbecomingly for a philosopher, +says with regard to Plato, 'Cum quo errare malim quam cum aliis recte +sentire'. Whereas now, without any extraordinary effort of genius, I +have discovered that nature was the same three thousand years ago as it +is at present; that men were but men then as well as now; that modes and +customs vary often, but that human nature is always the same. And I can +no more suppose that men were better, braver, or wiser, fifteen hundred +or three thousand years ago, than I can suppose that the animals or +vegetables were better then than they are now. I dare assert too, in +defiance of the favorers of the ancients, that Homer's hero, Achilles, +was both a brute and a scoundrel, and consequently an improper character +for the hero of an epic poem; he had so little regard for his country, +that he would not act in defense of it, because he had quarreled with +Agamemnon about a w---e; and then afterward, animated by private +resentment only, he went about killing people basely, I will call it, +because he knew himself invulnerable; and yet, invulnerable as he was, +he wore the strongest armor in the world; which I humbly apprehend to be +a blunder; for a horse-shoe clapped to his vulnerable heel would have +been sufficient. On the other hand, with submission to the favorers of +the moderns, I assert with Mr. Dryden, that the devil is in truth the +hero of Milton's poem; his plan, which he lays, pursues, and at last +executes, being the subject of the poem. From all which considerations +I impartially conclude that the ancients had their excellencies and their +defects, their virtues and their vices, just like the moderns; pedantry +and affectation of learning decide clearly in favor of the former; vanity +and ignorance, as peremptorily in favor of the latter. Religious +prejudices kept pace with my classical ones; and there was a time when I +thought it impossible for the honestest man in the world to be saved out +of the pale of the Church of England, not considering that matters of +opinion do not depend upon the will; and that it is as natural, and as +allowable, that another man should differ in opinion from me, as that I +should differ from him; and that if we are both sincere, we are both +blameless; and should consequently have mutual indulgence for each other. + +The next prejudices that I adopted were those of the 'beau monde', in +which as I was determined to shine, I took what are commonly called the +genteel vices to be necessary. I had heard them reckoned so, and without +further inquiry I believed it, or at least should have been ashamed to +have denied it, for fear of exposing myself to the ridicule of those whom +I considered as the models of fine gentlemen. But I am now neither +ashamed nor afraid to assert that those genteel vices, as they are +falsely called, are only so many blemishes in the character of even a man +of the world and what is called a fine gentleman, and degrade him in the +opinions of those very people, to whom he, hopes to recommend himself by +them. Nay, this prejudice often extends so far, that I have known people +pretend to vices they had not, instead of carefully concealing those they +had. + +Use and assert your own reason; reflect, examine, and analyze everything, +in order to form a sound and mature judgment; let no (authority) impose +upon your understanding, mislead your actions, or dictate your +conversation. Be early what, if you are not, you will when too late wish +you had been. Consult your reason betimes: I do not say that it will +always prove an unerring guide; for human reason is not infallible; but +it will prove the least erring guide that you can follow. Books and +conversation may assist it; but adopt neither blindly and implicitly; try +both by that best rule, which God has given to direct us, reason. Of all +the troubles, do not decline, as many people do, that of thinking. The +herd of mankind can hardly be said to think; their notions are almost all +adoptive; and, in general, I believe it is better that it should be so, +as such common prejudices contribute more to order and quiet than their +own separate reasonings would do, uncultivated and unimproved as they +are. We have many of those useful prejudices in this country, which I +should be very sorry to see removed. The good Protestant conviction, +that the Pope is both Antichrist and the Whore of Babylon, is a more +effectual preservative in this country against popery, than all the solid +and unanswerable arguments of Chillingworth. + +The idle story of the pretender's having been introduced in a warming pan +into the queen's bed, though as destitute of all probability as of all +foundation, has been much more prejudicial to the cause of Jacobitism +than all that Mr. Locke and others have written, to show the +unreasonableness and absurdity of the doctrines of indefeasible +hereditary right, and unlimited passive obedience. And that silly, +sanguine notion, which is firmly entertained here, that one Englishman +can beat three Frenchmen, encourages, and has sometimes enabled, one +Englishman in reality to beat two. + +A Frenchman ventures, his life with alacrity 'pour l'honneur du Roi'; +were you to change the object, which he has been taught to have in view, +and tell him that it was 'pour le bien de la Patrie', he would very +probably run away. Such gross local prejudices prevail with the herd of +mankind, and do not impose upon cultivated, informed, and reflecting +minds. But then they are notions equally false, though not so glaringly +absurd, which are entertained by people of superior and improved +understandings, merely for want of the necessary pains to investigate, +the proper attention to examine, and the penetration requisite to +determine the truth. Those are the prejudices which I would have you +guard against by a manly exertion and attention of your reasoning +faculty. To mention one instance of a thousand that I could give you: It +is a general prejudice, and has been propagated for these sixteen hundred +years, that arts and sciences cannot flourish under an absolute +government; and that genius must necessarily be cramped where freedom is +restrained. This sounds plausible, but is false in fact. Mechanic arts, +as agriculture, etc., will indeed be discouraged where the profits and +property are, from the nature of the government, insecure. But why the +despotism of a government should cramp the genius of a mathematician, +an astronomer, a poet, or an orator, I confess I never could discover. +It may indeed deprive the poet or the orator of the liberty of treating +of certain subjects in the manner they would wish, but it leaves them +subjects enough to exert genius upon, if they have it. Can an author +with reason complain that he is cramped and shackled, if he is not at +liberty to publish blasphemy, bawdry, or sedition? all which are equally +prohibited in the freest governments, if they are wise and well regulated +ones. This is the present general complaint of the French authors; but +indeed chiefly of the bad ones. No wonder, say they, that England +produces so many great geniuses; people there may think as they please, +and publish what they think. Very true, but what hinders them from +thinking as they please? If indeed they think in manner destructive of +all religion, morality, or good manners, or to the disturbance of the +state, an absolute government will certainly more effectually prohibit +them from, or punish them for publishing such thoughts, than a free one +could do. But how does that cramp the genius of an epic, dramatic, or +lyric poet? or how does it corrupt the eloquence of an orator in the +pulpit or at the bar? The number of good French authors, such as +Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, and La Fontaine, who seemed to +dispute it with the Augustan age, flourished under the despotism of Lewis +XIV.; and the celebrated authors of the Augustan age did not shine till +after the fetters were riveted upon the Roman people by that cruel and +worthless Emperor. The revival of letters was not owing, neither, to any +free government, but to the encouragement and protection of Leo X. and +Francis I; the one as absolute a pope, and the other as despotic a +prince, as ever reigned. Do not mistake, and imagine that while I am +only exposing a prejudice, I am speaking in favor of arbitrary power; +which from my soul I abhor, and look upon as a gross and criminal +violation of the natural rights of mankind. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXV + +LONDON, February 28, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I was very much pleased with the account that you gave me of +your reception at Berlin; but I was still better pleased with the account +which Mr. Harte sent me of your manner of receiving that reception; for +he says that you behaved yourself to those crowned heads with all the +respect and modesty due to them; but at the same time, without being any +more embarrassed than if you had been conversing with your equals. This +easy respect is the perfection of good-breeding, which nothing but +superior good sense, or a long usage of the world, can produce, and as in +your case it could not be the latter, it is a pleasing indication to me +of the former. + +You will now, in the course of a few months, have been rubbed at three of +the considerable courts of Europe,-Berlin, Dresden, and Vienna; so that I +hope you will arrive at Turin tolerably smooth and fit for the last +polish. There you may get the best, there being no court I know of that +forms more well-bred, and agreeable people. Remember now, that good- +breeding, genteel carriage, address, and even dress (to a certain +degree), are become serious objects, and deserve a part of your +attention. + +The day, if well employed, is long enough for them all. One half of it +bestowed upon your studies and your exercises, will finish your mind and +your body; the remaining part of it, spent in good company, will form +your manners, and complete your character. What would I not give to have +you read Demosthenes critically in the morning, and understand him better +than anybody; at noon, behave yourself better than any person at court; +and in the evenings, trifle more agreeably than anybody in mixed +companies? All this you may compass if you please; you have the means, +you have the opportunities. Employ them, for God's sake, while you may, +and make yourself that all-accomplished man that I wish to have you. It +entirely depends upon these two years; they are the decisive ones. + +I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to Monsieur Capello, +at Venice, which you will deliver him immediately upon your arrival, +accompanying it with compliments from me to him and Madame, both of whom +you have seen here. He will, I am sure, be both very civil and very +useful to you there, as he will also be afterward at Rome, where he is +appointed to go ambassador. By the way, wherever you are, I would advise +you to frequent, as much as you can, the Venetian Ministers; who are +always better informed of the courts they reside at than any other +minister; the strict and regular accounts, which they are obliged to give +to their own government, making them very diligent and inquisitive. + +You will stay at Venice as long as the Carnival lasts; for though I am +impatient to have you at Turin, yet I would wish you to see thoroughly +all that is to be seen at so singular a place as Venice, and at so +showish a time as the Carnival. You will take also particular care to +view all those meetings of the government, which strangers are allowed to +see; as the Assembly of the Senate, etc., and also to inform yourself of +that peculiar and intricate form of government. There are books which +give an account of it, among which the best is Amelot de la Houssaye, +which I would advise you to read previously; it will not only give you a +general notion of that constitution, but also furnish you with materials +for proper questions and oral informations upon the place, which are +always the best. There are likewise many very valuable remains, in +sculpture and paintings, of the best masters, which deserve your +attention. + +I suppose you will be at Vienna as soon as this letter will get thither; +and I suppose, too, that I must not direct above one more to you there. +After which, my next shall be directed to you at Venice, the only place +where a letter will be likely to find you, till you are at Turin; but you +may, and I desire that you will write to me, from the several places in +your way, from whence the post goes. + +I will send you some other letters for Venice, to Vienna, or to your +banker at Venice, to whom you will, upon your arrival there, send for +them: For I will take care to have you so recommended from place to +place, that you shall not run through them, as most of your countrymen +do, without the advantage of seeing and knowing what best deserves to be +seen and known; I mean the men and the manners. + +God bless you, and make you answer my wishes: I will now say, my hopes! +Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXVI + +DEAR BOY: I direct this letter to your banker at Venice, the surest place +for you to meet with it, though I suppose that it will be there some time +before you; for, as your intermediate stay anywhere else will be short, +and as the post from hence, in this season of easterly winds is +uncertain, I direct no more letters to Vienna; where I hope both you and +Mr. Harte will have received the two letters which I sent you +respectively; with a letter of recommendation to Monsieur Capello, at +Venice, which was inclosed in mine to you. I will suppose too, that the +inland post on your side of the water has not done you justice; for I +received but one single letter from you, and one from Mr. Harte, during +your whole stay at Berlin; from whence I hoped for, and expected very +particular accounts. + +I persuade myself, that the time you stay at Venice will be properly +employed, in seeing all that is to be seen in that extraordinary place: +and in conversing with people who can inform you, not of the raree-shows +of the town, but of the constitution of the government; for which purpose +I send you the inclosed letters of recommendation from Sir James Grey, +the King's Resident at Venice, but who is now in England. These, with +mine to Monsieur Capello, will carry you, if you will go, into all the +best company at Venice. + +But the important point; and the important place, is Turin; for there I +propose your staying a considerable time, to pursue your studies, learn +your exercises, and form your manners. I own, I am not without my +anxiety for the consequence of your stay there, which must be either very +good or very bad. To you it will be entirely a new scene. Wherever you +have hitherto been, you have conversed, chiefly, with people wiser and +discreeter than yourself; and have been equally out of the way of bad +advice or bad example; but in the Academy at Turin you will probably meet +with both, considering the variety of young fellows about your own age; +among whom it is to be expected that some will be dissipated and idle, +others vicious and profligate. I will believe, till the contrary +appears, that you have sagacity enough to distinguish the good from the +bad characters; and both sense and virtue enough to shun the latter, and +connect yourself with the former: but however, for greater security, and +for your sake alone, I must acquaint you that I have sent positive orders +to Mr. Harte to carry you off, instantly, to a place which I have named +to him, upon the very first symptom which he shall discover in you, +of drinking, gaming, idleness, or disobedience to his orders; so that, +whether Mr. Harte informs me or not of the particulars, I shall be able +to judge of your conduct in general by the time of your stay at Turin. +If it is short, I shall know why; and I promise you, that you shall soon +find that I do; but if Mr. Harte lets you continue there, as long as I +propose that you should, I shall then be convinced that you make the +proper use of your time; which is the only thing I have to ask of you. +One year is the most that I propose you should stay at Turin; and that +year, if you employ it well, perfects you. One year more of your late +application, with Mr. Harte, will complete your classical studies. You +will be likewise master of your exercises in that time; and will have +formed yourself so well at that court, as to be fit to appear +advantageously at any other. These will be the happy effects of your +year's stay at Turin, if you behave, and apply yourself there as you have +done at Leipsig; but if either ill advice, or ill example, affect and +seduce you, you are ruined forever. I look upon that year as your +decisive year of probation; go through it well, and you will be all +accomplished, and fixed in my tenderest affection forever; but should the +contagion of vice of idleness lay hold of you there, your character, your +fortune, my hopes, and consequently my favor are all blasted, and you are +undone. The more I love you now, from the good opinion I have of you, +the greater will be my indignation if I should have reason to change it. +Hitherto you have had every possible proof of my affection, because you +have deserved it; but when you cease to deserve it, you may expect every +possible mark of my resentment. To leave nothing doubtful upon this +important point I will tell you fairly, beforehand, by what rule I shall +judge of your conduct--by Mr. Harte's accounts. He will not I am sure, +nay, I will say more, he cannot be in the wrong with regard to you. He +can have no other view but your good; and you will, I am sure, allow that +he must be a better judge of it than you can possibly be at your age. +While he is satisfied, I shall be so too; but whenever he is dissatisfied +with you, I shall be much more so. If he complains, you must be guilty; +and I shall not have the least regard for anything that you may allege in +your own defense. + +I will now tell you what I expect and insist upon from you at Turin: +First, that you pursue your classical and other studies every morning +with Mr. Harte, as long and in whatever manner Mr. Harte shall be pleased +to require; secondly, that you learn, uninterruptedly, your exercises of +riding, dancing, and fencing; thirdly, that you make yourself master of +the Italian language; and lastly, that you pass your evenings in the best +company. I also require a strict conformity to the hours and rules of +the Academy. If you will but finish your year in this manner at Turin, +I have nothing further to ask of you; and I will give you everything that +you can ask of me. You shall after that be entirely your own master; +I shall think you safe; shall lay aside all authority over you, and +friendship shall be our mutual and only tie. Weigh this, I beg of you, +deliberately in your own mind; and consider whether the application and +the degree of restraint which I require but for one year more, will not +be amply repaid by all the advantages, and the perfect liberty, which you +will receive at the end of it. Your own good sense will, I am sure, not +allow you to hesitate one moment in your choice. God bless you! Adieu. + +P. S. Sir James Grey's letters not being yet sent to me, as I thought +they would, I shall inclose them in my next, which I believe will get to +Venice as soon as you. + + + + +LETTER LXVII + +LONDON, April 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I received, by the last mail, a letter from Mr. Harte, dated +Prague, April the 1st, N. S., for which I desire you will return him my +thanks, and assure him that I extremely approve of what he has done, and +proposes eventually to do, in your way to Turin. Who would have thought +you were old enough to have been so well acquainted with the heroes of +the 'Bellum Tricennale', as to be looking out for their great-grandsons +in Bohemia, with that affection with which, I am informed, you seek for +the Wallsteins, the Kinskis, etc. As I cannot ascribe it to your age, +I must to your consummate knowledge of history, that makes every country, +and every century, as it were, your own. Seriously, I am told, that you +are both very strong and very correct in history; of which I am extremely +glad. This is useful knowledge. + +Comte du Perron and Comte Lascaris are arrived here: the former gave me a +letter from Sir Charles Williams, the latter brought me your orders. +They are very pretty men, and have both knowledge and manners; which, +though they always ought, seldom go together. I examined them, +particularly Comte Lascaris, concerning you; their report is a very +favorable one, especially on the side of knowledge; the quickness of +conception which they allow you I can easily credit; but the attention +which they add to it pleases me the more, as I own I expected it less. +Go on in the pursuit and the increase of knowledge; nay, I am sure you +will, for you now know too much to stop; and, if Mr. Harte would let you +be idle, I am convinced you would not. But now that you have left +Leipsig, and are entered into the great world, remember there is another +object that must keep pace with, and accompany knowledge; I mean manners, +politeness, and the Graces; in which Sir Charles Williams, though very +much your friend, owns that you are very deficient. The manners of +Leipsig must be shook off; and in that respect you must put on the new +man. No scrambling at your meals, as at a German ordinary; no awkward +overturns of glasses, plates, and salt-cellars; no horse play. On the +contrary, a gentleness of manners, a graceful carriage, and an +insinuating address, must take their place. I repeat, and shall never +cease repeating to you, THE GRACES, THE GRACES. + +I desire that as soon as ever you get to Turin you will apply yourself +diligently to the Italian language; that before you leave that place, +you may know it well enough to be able to speak tolerably when you get to +Rome; where you will soon make yourself perfectly master of Italian, from +the daily necessity you will be under of speaking it. In the mean time, +I insist upon your not neglecting, much less forgetting, the German you +already know; which you may not only continue but improve, by speaking it +constantly to your Saxon boy, and as often as you can to the several +Germans you will meet in your travels. You remember, no doubt, that you +must never write to me from Turin, but in the German language and +character. + +I send you the inclosed letter of recommendation to Mr. Smith the King's +Consul at Venice; who can, and I daresay will, be more useful to you +there than anybody. Pray make your court, and behave your best, to +Monsieur and Madame Capello, who will be of great use to you at Rome. +Adieu! Yours tenderly. + + + + +LETTER LXVIII + +LONDON, April 19, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: This letter will, I believe, still find you at Venice in all +the dissipation of masquerades, ridottos, operas, etc. With all my +heart; they are decent evening's amusements, and very properly succeed +that serious application to which I am sure you devote your mornings. +There are liberal and illiberal pleasures as well as liberal and +illiberal arts: There are some pleasures that degrade a gentleman as much +as some trades could do. Sottish drinking, indiscriminate gluttony, +driving coaches, rustic sports, such as fox-chases, horse-races, etc., +are in my opinion infinitely below the honest and industrious profession +of a tailor and a shoemaker, which are said to 'deroger'. + +As you are now in a musical country, where singing, fiddling, and piping, +are not only the common topics of conversation, but almost the principal +objects of attention, I cannot help cautioning you against giving in to +those (I will call them illiberal) pleasures (though music is commonly +reckoned one of the liberal arts) to the degree that most of your +countrymen do, when they travel in Italy. If you love music, hear it; go +to operas, concerts, and pay fiddlers to play to you; but I insist upon +your neither piping nor fiddling yourself. It puts a gentleman in a very +frivolous, contemptible light; brings him into a great deal of bad +company; and takes up a great deal of time, which might be much better +employed. Few things would mortify me more, than to see you bearing a +part in a concert, with a fiddle under your chin, or a pipe in your +mouth. + +I have had a great deal of conversation with Comte du Perron and Comte +Lascaris upon your subject: and I will tell you, very truly, what Comte +du Perron (who is, in my opinion, a very pretty man) said of you: 'Il a +de l'esprit, un savoir peu commun a son age, une grande vivacite, et +quand il aura pris des manieres il sera parfait; car il faut avouer qu'il +sent encore le college; mars cela viendra'. I was very glad to hear, +from one whom I think so good a judge, that you wanted nothing but 'des +manieres', which I am convinced you will now soon acquire, in the company +which henceforward you are likely to keep. But I must add, too, that if +you should not acquire them, all the rest will be of little use to you. +By 'manieres', I do not mean bare common civility; everybody must have +that who would not be kicked out of company; but I mean engaging, +insinuating, shining manners; distinguished politeness, an almost +irresistible address; a superior gracefulness in all you say and do. +It is this alone that can give all your other talents their full lustre +and value; and, consequently, it is this which should now be thy +principal object of your attention. Observe minutely, wherever you go, +the allowed and established models of good-breeding, and form yourself +upon them. Whatever pleases you most in others, will infallibly please +others in you. I have often repeated this to you; now is your time of +putting it in practice. + +Pray make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him I have received his +letter from Vienna of the 16th N. S., but that I shall not trouble him +with an answer to it till I have received the other letter which he +promises me, upon the subject of one of my last. I long to hear from him +after your settlement at Turin: the months that you are to pass there +will be very decisive ones for you. The exercises of the Academy, and +the manners of courts must be attended to and acquired; and, at the same +time, your other studies continued. I am sure you will not pass, nor +desire, one single idle hour there: for I do not foresee that you can, in +any part of your life, put out six months to greater interest, than those +next six at Turin. + +We will talk hereafter about your stay at Rome and in other parts of +Italy. This only I will now recommend to you; which is, to extract the +spirit of every place you go to. In those places which are only +distinguished by classical fame, and valuable remains of antiquity, have +your classics in your hand and in your head; compare the ancient +geography and descriptions with the modern, and never fail to take notes. +Rome will furnish you with business enough of that sort; but then it +furnishes you with many other objects well deserving your attention, such +as deep ecclesiastical craft and policy. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXIX + +LONDON, April 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received your letter from Vienna, of the 19th N. S., +which gives me great uneasiness upon Mr. Harte's account. You and I have +reason to interest ourselves very particularly in everything that relates +to him. I am glad, however, that no bone is broken or dislocated; which +being the case, I hope he will have been able to pursue his journey to +Venice. In that supposition I direct this letter to you at Turin; where +it will either find, or at least not wait very long for you, as I +calculate that you will be there by the end of next month, N. S. I hope +you reflect how much you have to do there, and that you are determined to +employ every moment of your time accordingly. You have your classical +and severer studies to continue with Mr. Harte; you have your exercises +to learn; the turn and manners of a court to acquire; reserving always +some time for the decent amusements and pleasures of a gentleman. You +see I am never against pleasures; I loved them myself when I was of your +age, and it is as reasonable that you should love them now. But I insist +upon it that pleasures are very combinable with both business and +studies, and have a much better relish from the mixture. The man who +cannot join business and pleasure is either a formal coxcomb in the one, +or a sensual beast in the other. Your evenings I therefore allot for +company, assemblies, balls, and such sort of amusements, as I look upon +those to be the best schools for the manners of a gentleman; which +nothing can give but use, observation, and experience. You have, +besides, Italian to learn, to which I desire you will diligently apply; +for though French is, I believe, the language of the court at Turin, yet +Italian will be very necessary for you at Rome, and in other parts of +Italy; and if you are well grounded in it while you are at Turin (as you +easily may, for it is a very easy language), your subsequent stay at Rome +will make you perfect in it. I would also have you acquire a general +notion of fortification; I mean so far as not to be ignorant of the +terms, which you will often hear mentioned in company, such as ravelin, +bastion; glacis, contrescarpe, etc. In order to this, I do not propose +that you should make a study of fortification, as if you were to be an +engineer, but a very easy way of knowing as much as you need know of +them, will be to visit often the fortifications of Turin, in company with +some old officer or engineer, who will show and explain to you the +several works themselves; by which means you will get a clearer notion of +them than if you were to see them only upon paper for seven years +together. Go to originals whenever you can, and trust to copies and +descriptions as little as possible. At your idle hours, while you are at +Turin, pray read the history of the House of Savoy, which has produced a +great many very great men. The late king, Victor Amedee, was undoubtedly +one, and the present king is, in my opinion, another. In general, I +believe that little princes are more likely to be great men than those +whose more extensive dominions and superior strength flatter them with a +security, which commonly produces negligence and indolence. A little +prince, in the neighborhood of great ones, must be alert and look out +sharp, if he would secure his own dominions: much more still if he would +enlarge them. He must watch for conjunctures or endeavor to make them. +No princes have ever possessed this art better than those of the House of +Savoy; who have enlarged their dominions prodigiously within a century by +profiting of conjunctures. + +I send you here inclosed a letter from Comte Lascaris, who is a warm +friend of yours: I desire that you will answer it very soon and +cordially, and remember to make your compliments in it to Comte du +Perron. A young man should never be wanting in those attentions; they +cost little and bring in a great deal, by getting you people's good word +and affection. They gain the heart, to which I have always advised you +to apply yourself particularly; it guides ten thousand for one that, +reason influences. + +I cannot end this letter or (I believe) any other, without repeating my +recommendation of THE GRACES. They are to be met with at Turin: for +God's sake, sacrifice to them, and they will be propitious. People +mistake grossly, to imagine that the least awkwardness, either in matter +or manner, mind or body, is an indifferent thing and not worthy of +attention. It may possibly be a weakness in me, but in short we are all +so made: I confess to you fairly, that when you shall come home and that +I first see you, if I find you ungraceful in your address, and awkward in +your person and dress, it will be impossible for me to love you half so +well as I should otherwise do, let your intrinsic merit and knowledge be +ever so great. If that would be your case with me, as it really would, +judge how much worse it might be with others, who have not the same +affection and partiality for you, and to whose hearts you must make your +own way. + +Remember to write to me constantly while you are in Italy, in the German +language and character, till you can write to me in Italian; which will +not be till you have been some time at Rome. + +Adieu, my dear boy: may you turn out what Mr. Harte and I wish you. I +must add that if you do not, it will be both your own fault and your own +misfortune. + + + + +LETTER LXX + +LONDON, May 15, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: This letter will, I hope, find you settled to your serious +studies, and your necessary exercises at Turin, after the hurry and the +dissipation of the Carnival at Venice. I mean that your stay at Turin +should, and I flatter myself that it will, be an useful and ornamental +period of your education; but at the same time I must tell you, that all +my affection for you has never yet given me so much anxiety, as that +which I now feel. While you are in danger, I shall be in fear; and you +are in danger at Turin. Mr. Harte will by his care arm you as well as he +can against it; but your own good sense and resolution can alone make you +invulnerable. I am informed, there are now many English at the Academy +at Turin; and I fear those are just so many dangers for you to encounter. +Who they are, I do not know; but I well know the general ill conduct, the +indecent behavior, and the illiberal views, of my young countrymen. +abroad; especially wherever they are in numbers together. Ill example is +of itself dangerous enough; but those who give it seldom stop there; +they add their infamous exhortations and invitations; and, if they fail, +they have recourse to ridicule, which is harder for one of your age and +inexperience to withstand than either of the former. Be upon your guard, +therefore, against these batteries, which will all be played upon you. +You are not sent abroad to converse with your own countrymen: among them, +in general, you will get, little knowledge, no languages, and, I am sure, +no manners. I desire that you will form no connections, nor (what they +impudently call) friendships with these people; which are, in truth, +only combinations and conspiracies against good morals and good manners. +There is commonly, in young people, a facility that makes them unwilling +to refuse anything that is asked of them; a 'mauvaise honte' that makes +them ashamed to refuse; and, at the same time, an ambition of pleasing +and shining in the company they keep: these several causes produce the +best effect in good company, but the very worst in bad. If people had no +vices but their own, few would have so many as they have. For my own +part, I would sooner wear other people's clothes than their vices; and +they would sit upon me just as well. I hope you will have none; but if +ever you have, I beg, at least, they may be all your own. Vices of +adoption are, of all others, the most disgraceful and unpardonable. +There are degrees in vices, as well as in virtues; and I must do my +countrymen the justice to say, that they generally take their vices in +the lower degree. Their gallantry is the infamous mean debauchery of +stews, justly attended and rewarded by the loss of their health, as well +as their character. Their pleasures of the table end in beastly +drunkenness, low riot, broken windows, and very often (as they well +deserve), broken bones. They game for the sake of the vice, not of the +amusement; and therefore carry it to excess; undo, or are undone by their +companions. By such conduct, and in such company abroad, they come home, +the unimproved, illiberal, and ungentlemanlike creatures that one daily +sees them, that is, in the park and in the streets, for one never meets +them in good company; where they have neither manners to present +themselves, nor merit to be received. But, with the manners of footmen +and grooms, they assume their dress too; for you must have observed them +in the streets here, in dirty blue frocks, with oaken sticks in their +ends, and their hair greasy and unpowdered, tucked up under their hats of +an enormous size. Thus finished and adorned by their travels, they +become the disturbers of play-houses; they break the windows, and +commonly the landlords, of the taverns where they drink; and are at once +the support, the terror, and the victims, of the bawdy-houses they +frequent. These poor mistaken people think they shine, and so they do +indeed; but it is as putrefaction shines in the dark. + +I am not now preaching to you, like an old fellow, upon their religious +or moral texts; I am persuaded that you do not want the best instructions +of that kind: but I am advising you as a friend, as a man of the world, +as one who would not have you old while you are young, but would have you +to take all the pleasures that reason points out, and that decency +warrants. I will therefore suppose, for argument's sake (for upon no +other account can it be supposed), that all the vices above mentioned +were perfectly innocent in themselves: they would still degrade, vilify, +and sink those who practiced them; would obstruct their rising in the +world by debasing their characters; and give them low turn of mind, and +manners absolutely inconsistent with their making any figure in upper +life and great business. + +What I have now said, together with your own good sense, is, I hope, +sufficient to arm you against the seduction, the invitations, or the +profligate exhortations (for I cannot call them temptations) of those +unfortunate young people. On the other hand, when they would engage you +in these schemes, content yourself with a decent but steady refusal; +avoid controversy upon such plain points. You are too young to convert +them; and, I trust, too wise to be converted by them. Shun them not only +in reality, but even in appearance, if you would be well received in good +company; for people will always be shy of receiving a man who comes from +a place where the plague rages, let him look ever so healthy. There are +some expressions, both in French and English, and some characters, both +in those two and in other countries, which have, I dare say, misled many +young men to their ruin. 'Une honnete debauche, une jolie debauche; "An +agreeable rake, a man of pleasure." Do not think that this means +debauchery and profligacy; nothing like it. It means, at most, the +accidental and unfrequent irregularities of youth and vivacity, in +opposition to dullness, formality, and want of spirit. A 'commerce +galant', insensibly formed with a woman of fashion; a glass of wine or +two too much, unwarily taken in the warmth and joy of good company; or +some innocent frolic, by which nobody is injured, are the utmost bounds +of that life of pleasure, which a man of sense and decency, who has a +regard for his character, will allow himself, or be allowed by others. +Those who transgress them in the hopes of shining, miss their aim, and +become infamous, or at least, contemptible. + +The length or shortness of your stay at Turin will sufficiently inform me +(even though Mr. Harte should not) of your conduct there; for, as I have +told you before, Mr. Harte has the strictest orders to carry you away +immediately from thence, upon the first and least symptom of infection +that he discovers about you; and I know him to be too conscientiously +scrupulous, and too much your friend and mine not to execute them +exactly. Moreover, I will inform you, that I shall have constant +accounts of your behavior from Comte Salmour, the Governor of the +Academy, whose son is now here, and my particular friend. I have, also, +other good channels of intelligence, of which I do not apprise you. But, +supposing that all turns out well at Turin, yet, as I propose your being +at Rome for the jubilee, at Christmas, I desire that you will apply +yourself diligently to your exercises of dancing, fencing, and riding at +the Academy; as well for the sake of your health and growth, as to +fashion and supple you. You must not neglect your dress neither, but +take care to be 'bien mis'. Pray send for the best operator for the +teeth at Turin, where I suppose there is some famous one; and let him put +yours in perfect order; and then take care to keep them so, afterward, +yourself. You had very good teeth, and I hope they are so still; but +even those who have bad ones, should keep them clean; for a dirty mouth +is, in my mind, ill manners. In short, neglect nothing that can possibly +please. A thousand nameless little things, which nobody can describe, +but which everybody feels, conspire to form that WHOLE of pleasing; as +the several pieces of a Mosaic work though, separately, of little beauty +or value, when properly joined, form those beautiful figures which please +everybody. A look, a gesture, an attitude, a tone of voice, all bear +their parts in the great work of pleasing. The art of pleasing is more +particularly necessary in your intended profession than perhaps in any +other; it is, in truth, the first half of your business; for if you do +not please the court you are sent to, you will be of very little use to +the court you are sent from. Please the eyes and the ears, they will +introduce you to the heart; and nine times in ten, the heart governs the +understanding. + +Make your court particularly, and show distinguished attentions to such +men and women as are best at court, highest in the fashion, and in the +opinion of the public; speak advantageously of them behind their backs, +in companies whom you have reason to believe will tell them again. +Express your admiration of the many great men that the House of Savoy has +produced; observe that nature, instead of being exhausted by those +efforts, seems to have redoubled them, in the person of the present King, +and the Duke of Savoy; wonder, at this rate, where it will end, and +conclude that it must end in the government of all Europe. Say this, +likewise, where it will probably be repeated; but say it unaffectedly, +and, the last especially, with a kind of 'enjouement'. These little arts +are very allowable, and must be made use of in the course of the world; +they are pleasing to one party, useful to the other, and injurious to +nobody. + +What I have said with regard to my countrymen in general, does not extend +to them all without exception; there are some who have both merit and +manners. Your friend, Mr. Stevens, is among the latter; and I approve of +your connection with him. You may happen to meet with some others, whose +friendship may be of great use to you hereafter, either from their +superior talents, or their rank and fortune; cultivate them; but then I +desire that Mr. Harte may be the judge of those persons. + +Adieu my dear child! Consider seriously the importance of the two next +years to your character, your figure, and your fortune. + + + + +LETTER LXXI + +LONDON, May 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I recommended to you, in my last, an innocent piece of art; +that of flattering people behind their backs, in presence of those who, +to make their own court, much more than for your sake, will not fail to +repeat and even amplify the praise to the party concerned. This is, of +all flattery, the most pleasing, and consequently the most effectual. +There are other, and many other, inoffensive arts of this kind, which are +necessary in the course of the world, and which he who practices the +earliest, will please the most, and rise the soonest. The spirits and +vivacity of youth are apt to neglect them as useless, or reject them as +troublesome. But subsequent knowledge and experience of the world +reminds us of their importance, commonly when it is too late. The +principal of these things is the mastery of one's temper, and that +coolness of mind, and serenity of countenance, which hinders us from +discovering by words, actions, or even looks, those passions or +sentiments by which we are inwardly moved or agitated; and the discovery +of which gives cooler and abler people such infinite advantages over us, +not only in great business, but in all the most common occurrences of +life. A man who does not possess himself enough to hear disagreeable +things without visible marks of anger and change of countenance, or +agreeable ones, without sudden bursts of joy and expansion of +countenance, is at the mercy of every artful knave or pert coxcomb; the +former will provoke or please you by design, to catch unguarded words or +looks by which he will easily decipher the secrets of your heart, of +which you should keep the key yourself, and trust it with no man living. +The latter will, by his absurdity, and without intending it, produce the +same discoveries of which other people will avail themselves. You will +say, possibly, that this coolness must be constitutional, and +consequently does not depend upon the will: and I will allow that +constitution has some power over us; but I will maintain, too, that +people very often, to excuse themselves, very unjustly accuse their +constitutions. Care and reflection, if properly used, will get the +better: and a man may as surely get a habit of letting his reason prevail +over his constitution, as of letting, as most people do, the latter +prevail over the former. If you find yourself subject to sudden starts +of passion or madness (for I see no difference between them but in their +duration), resolve within yourself, at least, never to speak one word +while you feel that emotion within you. Determine, too, to keep your +countenance as unmoved and unembarrassed as possible; which steadiness +you may get a habit of, by constant attention. I should desire nothing +better, in any negotiation, than to have to do with one of those men of +warm, quick passions; which I would take care to set in motion. By +artful provocations I would extort rash unguarded expressions; and, +by hinting at all the several things that I could suspect, infallibly +discover the true one, by the alteration it occasioned in the countenance +of the person. 'Volto sciolto con pensieri stretti', is a most useful +maxim in business. It is so necessary at some games, such as 'Berlan +Quinze', etc., that a man who had not the command of his temper and +countenance, would infallibly be outdone by those who had, even though +they played fair. Whereas, in business, you always play with sharpers; +to whom, at least, you should give no fair advantages. It may be +objected, that I am now recommending dissimulation to you; I both own and +justify it. It has been long said, 'Qui nescit dissimulare nescit +regnare': I go still further, and say, that without some dissimulation no +business can be carried on at all. It is SIMULATION that is false, mean, +and criminal: that is the cunning which Lord Bacon calls crooked or left- +handed wisdom, and which is never made use of but by those who have not +true wisdom. And the same great man says, that dissimulation is only to +hide our own cards, whereas simulation is put on, in order to look into +other people's. Lord Bolingbroke, in his "Idea of a Patriot King," which +he has lately published, and which I will send you by the first +opportunity, says very justly that simulation is a STILETTO,--not only an +unjust but an unlawful weapon, and the use of it very rarely to be +excused, never justified. Whereas dissimulation is a shield, as secrecy +is armor; and it is no more possible to preserve secrecy in business, +without same degree of dissimulation, than it is to succeed in business +without secrecy. He goes on, and says, that those two arts of +dissimulation and secrecy are like the alloy mingled with pure ore: a +little is necessary, and will not debase the coin below its proper +standard; but if more than that little be employed (that is, simulation +and cunning), the coin loses its currency, and the coiner his credit. + +Make yourself absolute master, therefore, of your temper and your +countenance, so far, at least, as that no visible change do appear in +either, whatever you may feel inwardly. This may be difficult, but it is +by no means impossible; and, as a man of sense never attempts +impossibilities on one hand, on the other, he is never discouraged by +difficulties: on the contrary, he redoubles his industry and his +diligence; he perseveres, and infallibly prevails at last. In any point +which prudence bids you pursue, and which a manifest utility attends, let +difficulties only animate your industry, not deter you from the pursuit. +If one way has failed, try another; be active, persevere, and you will +conquer. Some people are to be reasoned, some flattered, some +intimidated, and some teased into a thing; but, in general, all are to be +brought into it at last, if skillfully applied to, properly managed, and +indefatigably attacked in their several weak places. The time should +likewise be judiciously chosen; every man has his 'mollia tempora', but +that is far from being all day long; and you would choose your time very +ill, if you applied to a man about one business, when his head was full +of another, or when his heart was full of grief, anger, or any other +disagreeable sentiment. + +In order to judge of the inside of others, study your own; for men in +general are very much alike; and though one has one prevailing passion, +and another has another, yet their operations are much the same; and +whatever engages or disgusts, pleases or offends you, in others will, +'mutatis mutandis', engage, disgust, please, or offend others, in you. +Observe with the utmost attention all the operations of your own mind, +the nature of your passions, and the various motives that determine your +will; and you may, in a great degree, know all mankind. For instance, do +you find yourself hurt and mortified when another makes you feel his +superiority, and your own inferiority, in knowledge, parts, rank, or +fortune? You will certainly take great care not to make a person whose +good will, good word, interest, esteem, or friendship, you would gain, +feel that superiority in you, in case you have it. If disagreeable +insinuations, sly sneers, or repeated contradictions, tease and irritate +you, would you use them where you wish to engage and please? Surely not, +and I hope you wish to engage and please, almost universally. The +temptation of saying a smart and witty thing, or 'bon mot'; and the +malicious applause with which it is commonly received, has made people +who can say them, and, still oftener, people who think they can, but +cannot, and yet try, more enemies, and implacable ones too, than any one +other thing that I know of: When such things, then, shall happen to be +said at your expense (as sometimes they certainly will), reflect +seriously upon the sentiments of uneasiness, anger, and resentment which +they excite in you; and consider whether it can be prudent, by the same +means, to excite the same sentiments in others against you. It is a +decided folly to lose a friend for a jest; but, in my mind, it is not a +much less degree of folly to make an enemy of an indifferent and neutral +person, for the sake of a 'bon mot'. When things of this kind happen to +be said of you, the most prudent way is to seem not to suppose that they +are meant at you, but to dissemble and conceal whatever degree of anger +you may feel inwardly; but, should they be so plain that you cannot be +supposed ignorant of their meaning, to join in the laugh of the company +against yourself; acknowledge the hit to be a fair one, and the jest a +good one, and play off the whole thing in seeming good humor; but by no +means reply in the same way; which only shows that you are hurt, and +publishes the victory which you might have concealed. Should the thing +said, indeed injure your honor or moral character, there is but one +proper reply; which I hope you never will have occasion to make. + +As the female part of the world has some influence, and often too much, +over the male, your conduct with regard to women (I mean women of +fashion, for I cannot suppose you capable of conversing with any others) +deserves some share in your reflections. They are a numerous and +loquacious body: their hatred would be more prejudicial than their +friendship can be advantageous to you. A general complaisance and +attention to that sex is therefore established by custom, and certainly +necessary. But where you would particularly please anyone, whose +situation, interest, or connections, can be of use to you, you must show +particular preference. The least attentions please, the greatest charm +them. The innocent but pleasing flattery of their persons, however +gross, is greedily swallowed and kindly digested: but a seeming regard +for their understandings, a seeming desire of, and deference for, their +advice, together with a seeming confidence in their moral virtues, turns +their heads entirely in your favor. Nothing shocks them so much as the +least appearance of that contempt which they are apt to suspect men of +entertaining of their capacities; and you may be very sure of gaining +their friendship if you seem to think it worth gaining. Here +dissimulation is very often necessary, and even simulation sometimes +allowable; which, as it pleases them, may, be useful to you, and is +injurious to nobody. + +This torn sheet, which I did not observe when I began upon it, as it +alters the figure, shortens, too, the length of my letter. It may very +well afford it: my anxiety for you carries me insensibly to these +lengths. I am apt to flatter myself, that my experience, at the latter +end of my life, may be of use to you at the beginning of yours; and I do +not grudge the greatest trouble, if it can procure you the least +advantage. I even repeat frequently the same things, the better to +imprint them on your young, and, I suppose, yet giddy mind; and I shall +think that part of my time the best employed, that contributes to make +you employ yours well. God bless you, child! + + + + +LETTER LXXII + +LONDON, June 16, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I do not guess where this letter will find you, but I hope it +will find you well: I direct it eventually to Laubach; from whence I +suppose you have taken care to have your letters sent after you. I +received no account from Mr. Harte by last post, and the mail due this +day is not yet come in; so that my informations come down no lower than +the 2d June, N. S., the date of Mr, Harte's last letter. As I am now +easy about your health, I am only curious about your motions, which I +hope have been either to Inspruck or Verona; for I disapprove extremely +of your proposed long and troublesome journey to Switzerland. Wherever +you may be, I recommend to you to get as much Italian as you can, before +you go either to Rome or Naples: a little will be of great use to you +upon the road; and the knowledge of the grammatical part, which you can +easily acquire in two or three months, will not only facilitate your +progress, but accelerate your perfection in that language, when you go to +those places where it is generally spoken; as Naples, Rome, Florence, +etc. + +Should the state of your health not yet admit of your usual application +to books, you may, in a great degree, and I hope you will, repair that +loss by useful and instructive conversations with Mr. Harte: you may, +for example, desire him to give you in conversation the outlines, at +least, of Mr. Locke's logic; a general notion of ethics, and a verbal +epitome of rhetoric; of all which Mr. Harte will give you clearer ideas +in half an hour, by word of mouth, than the books of most of the dull +fellows who have written upon those subjects would do in a week. + +I have waited so long for the post, which I hoped would come, that the +post, which is just going out, obliges me to cut this letter short. God +bless you, my dear child! and restore you soon to perfect health! + +My compliments to Mr. Harte; to whose care your life is the least thing +that you owe. + + + + +LETTER LXXIII + +LONDON, June 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: The outside of your letter of the 7th N. S., directed by your +own hand, gave me more pleasure than the inside of any other letter ever +did. I received it yesterday at the same time with one from Mr. Harts of +the 6th. They arrived at a very proper time, for they found a +consultation of physicians in my room, upon account of a fever which I +had for four or five days, but which has now entirely left me. As Mr. +Harte Says THAT YOUR LUNGS NOW AND THEN GIVE YOU A LITTLE PAIN, and that +YOUR SWELLINGS COME AND GO VARIABLY, but as he mentions nothing of your +coughing, spitting, or sweating, the doctors take it for granted that you +are entirely free from those three bad symptoms: and from thence +conclude, that, the pain which you sometimes feel upon your lungs is only +symptomatical of your rheumatic disorder, from the pressure of the +muscles which hinders the free play of the lungs. But, however, as the +lungs are a point of the utmost importance and delicacy, they insist upon +your drinking, in all events, asses' milk twice a day, and goats' whey as +often as you please, the oftener the better: in your common diet, they +recommend an attention to pectorals, such as sago, barley, turnips, etc. +These rules are equally good in rheumatic as in consumptive cases; you +will therefore, I hope, strictly observe them; for I take it for granted +that you are above the silly likings or dislikings, in which silly people +indulge their tastes, at the expense of their health. + +I approve of your going to Venice, as much as I disapproved of your going +to Switzerland. I suppose that you are by this time arrived; and, in +that supposition, I direct this letter there. But if you should find the +heat too great, or the water offensive, at this time of the year, I would +have you go immediately to Verona, and stay there till the great heats +are over, before you return to Venice. + +The time which you will probably pass at Venice will allow you to make +yourself master of that intricate and singular form of government, of +which few of our travelers know anything. Read, ask, and see everything +that is relative to it. There are likewise many valuable remains of the +remotest antiquity, and many fine pieces of the Antico-moderno, all which +deserve a different sort of attention from that which your countrymen +commonly give them. They go to see them, as they go to see the lions, +and kings on horseback, at the Tower here, only to say that they have +seen them. You will, I am sure, view them in another light; you will +consider them as you would a poem, to which indeed they are akin. You +will observe whether the sculptor has animated his stone, or the painter +his canvas, into the just expression of those sentiments and passions +which should characterize and mark their several figures. You will +examine, likewise, whether in their groups there be a unity of action, +or proper relation; a truth of dress and manners. Sculpture and painting +are very justly called liberal arts; a lively and strong imagination, +together with a just observation, being absolutely necessary to excel in +either; which, in my opinion, is by no means the case of music, though +called a liberal art, and now in Italy placed even above the other two; +a proof of the decline of that country. The Venetian school produced +many great painters, such as Paul Veronese, Titian, Palma, etc., of whom +you will see, as well in private houses as in churches, very fine pieces. +The Last Supper, of Paul Veronese, in the church of St. George, is +reckoned his capital performance, and deserves your attention; as does +also the famous picture of the Cornaro Family, by Titian. A taste for +sculpture and painting is, in my mind, as becoming as a taste for +fiddling and piping is unbecoming, a man of fashion. The former is +connected with history and poetry; the latter, with nothing that I know +of but bad company. + +Learn Italian as fast as ever you can, that you may be able to understand +it tolerably, and speak it a little before you go to Rome and Naples: +There are many good historians in that language, and excellent +translations of the ancient Greek and Latin authors; which are called the +Collana; but the only two Italian poets that deserve your acquaintance +are Ariosto and Tasso; and they undoubtedly have great merit. + +Make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him that I have consulted +about his leg, and that if it was only a sprain, he ought to keep a tight +bandage about the part, for a considerable time, and do nothing else to +it. Adieu! 'Jubeo te bene valere'. + + + + +LETTER LXXIV + +LONDON, July 6, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: As I am now no longer in pain about your health, which I trust +is perfectly restored; and as, by the various accounts I have had of you, +I need not be in pain about your learning, our correspondence may, for +the future, turn upon less important points, comparatively; though still +very important ones: I mean, the knowledge of the world, decorum, +manners, address, and all those (commonly called little) accomplishments, +which are absolutely necessary to give greater accomplishments their +full, value and lustre. + +Had I the admirable ring of Gyges, which rendered the wearer invisible; +and had I, at the same time, those magic powers, which were very common +formerly, but are now very scarce, of transporting myself, by a wish, to +any given place, my first expedition would be to Venice, there to +RECONNOITRE you, unseen myself. I would first take you in the morning, +at breakfast with Mr. Harte, and attend to your natural and unguarded +conversation with him; from whence, I think, I could pretty well judge of +your natural turn of mind. How I should rejoice if I overheard you +asking him pertinent questions upon useful subjects! or making judicious +reflections upon the studies of that morning, or the occurrences of the +former day! Then I would follow you into the different companies of the +day, and carefully observe in what manner you presented yourself to, and +behaved yourself with, men of sense and dignity; whether your address was +respectful, and yet easy; your air modest, and yet unembarrassed; and I +would, at the same time, penetrate into their thoughts, in order to know +whether your first 'abord' made that advantageous impression upon their +fancies, which a certain address, air, and manners, never fail doing. +I would afterward follow you to the mixed companies of the evening; such +as assemblies, suppers, etc., and there watch if you trifled gracefully +and genteelly: if your good-breeding and politeness made way for your +parts and knowledge. With what pleasure should I hear people cry out, +'Che garbato cavaliere, com' e pulito, disinvolto, spiritoso'! If all +these things turned out to my mind, I would immediately assume my own +shape, become visible, and embrace you: but if the contrary happened, I +would preserve my invisibility, make the best of my way home again, and +sink my disappointment upon you and the world. As, unfortunately, these +supernatural powers of genii, fairies, sylphs, and gnomes, have had the +fate of the oracles they succeeded, and have ceased for some time, I must +content myself (till we meet naturally, and in the common way) with Mr. +Harte's written accounts of you, and the verbal ones which I now and then +receive from people who have seen you. However, I believe it would do +you no harm, if you would always imagine that I were present, and saw and +heard everything you did and said. + +There is a certain concurrence of various little circumstances which +compose what the French call 'l'aimable'; and which, now that you are +entering into the world, you ought to make it your particular study to +acquire. Without them, your learning will be pedantry, your conversation +often improper, always unpleasant, and your figure, however good in +itself, awkward and unengaging. A diamond, while rough, has indeed its +intrinsic value; but, till polished, is of no use, and would neither be +sought for nor worn. Its great lustre, it is true, proceeds from its +solidity and strong cohesion of parts; but without the last polish, it +would remain forever a dirty, rough mineral, in the cabinets of some few +curious collectors. You have; I hope, that solidity and cohesion of +parts; take now as much pains to get the lustre. Good company, if you +make the right use of it, will cut you into shape, and give you the true +brilliant polish. A propos of diamonds: I have sent you by Sir James +Gray, the King's Minister, who will be at Venice about the middle of +September, my own diamond buckles; which are fitter for your young feet +than for my old ones: they will properly adorn you; they would only +expose me. If Sir James finds anybody whom he can trust, and who will be +at Venice before him, he will send them by that person; but if he should +not, and that you should be gone from Venice before he gets there, he +will in that case give them to your banker, Monsieur Cornet, to forward +to you, wherever you may then be. You are now of an age, at which the +adorning your person is not only not ridiculous, but proper and becoming. +Negligence would imply either an indifference about pleasing, or else an +insolent security of pleasing, without using those means to which others +are obliged to have recourse. A thorough cleanliness in your person is +as necessary for your own health, as it is not to be offensive to other +people. Washing yourself, and rubbing your body and limbs frequently +with a fleshbrush, will conduce as much to health as to cleanliness. A +particular attention to the cleanliness of your mouth, teeth, hands, and +nails, is but common decency, in order not to offend people's eyes and +noses. + +I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to the Duke of +Nivernois, the French Ambassador at Rome; who is, in my opinion, one of +the prettiest men I ever knew in my life. I do not know a better model +for you to form yourself upon; pray observe and frequent him as much as +you can. He will show you what manners and graces are. I shall, by +successive posts, send you more letters, both for Rome and Naples, where +it will be your own fault entirely if you do not keep the very best +company. + +As you will meet swarms of Germans wherever you go, I desire that you +will constantly converse with them in their own language, which will +improve you in that language, and be, at the same time, an agreeable +piece of civility to them. + +Your stay in Italy will, I do not doubt, make you critically master of +Italian; I know it may, if you please, for it is a very regular, and +consequently a very easy language. Adieu! God bless you! + + + + +LETTER LXXV + +LONDON, July 20, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I wrote to Mr. Harte last Monday, the 17th, O. S., in answer to +his letter of the 20th June, N. S., which I had received but the day +before, after an interval of eight posts; during which I did not know +whether you or he existed, and indeed I began to think that you did not. +By that letter you ought at this time to be at Venice; where I hope you +are arrived in perfect health, after the baths of Tiefler, in case you +have made use of them. I hope they are not hot baths, if your lungs are +still tender. + +Your friend, the Comte d'Einsiedlen, is arrived here: he has been at my +door, and I have been at his; but we have not yet met. He will dine with +me some day this week. Comte Lascaris inquires after you very +frequently, and with great affection; pray answer the letter which I +forwarded to you a great while ago from him. You may inclose your answer +to me, and I will take care to give it him. Those attentions ought never +to be omitted; they cost little, and please a great deal; but the neglect +of them offends more than you can yet imagine. Great merit, or great +failings, will make you be respected or despised; but trifles, little +attentions, mere nothings, either done, or neglected, will make you +either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine +yourself why you like such and such people, and dislike such and such +others; and you will find, that those different sentiments proceed from +very slight causes. Moral virtues are the foundation of society in +general, and of friendship in particular; but attentions, manners, and +graces, both adorn and strengthen them. My heart is so set upon your +pleasing, and consequently succeeding in the world, that possibly I have +already (and probably shall again) repeat the same things over and over +to you. However, to err, if I do err, on the surer side, I shall +continue to communicate to you those observations upon the world which +long experience has enabled me to make, and which I have generally found +to hold true. Your youth and talents, armed with my experience, may go a +great way; and that armor is very much at your service, if you please to +wear it. I premise that it is not my imagination, but my memory, that +gives you these rules: I am not writing pretty; but useful reflections. +A man of sense soon discovers, because he carefully observes, where, and +how long, he is welcome; and takes care to leave the company, at least as +soon as he is wished out of it. Fools never perceive where they are +either ill-timed or illplaced. + +I am this moment agreeably stopped, in the course of my reflections, by +the arrival of Mr. Harte's letter of the 13th July, N. S., to Mr. +Grevenkop, with one inclosed for your Mamma. I find by it that many of +his and your letters to me must have miscarried; for he says that I have +had regular accounts of you: whereas all those accounts have been only +his letter of the 6th and yours of the 7th June, N. S.; his of the 20th +June, N. S., to me; and now his of the 13th July, N. S., to Mr. +Grevenkop. However, since you are so well, as Mr. Harte says you are, +all is well. I am extremely glad that you have no complaint upon your +lungs; but I desire that you will think you have, for three or four +months to come. Keep in a course of asses' or goats' milk, for one is as +good as the other, and possibly the latter is the best; and let your +common food be as pectoral as you can conveniently make it. Pray tell +Mr. Harte that, according to his desire, I have wrote a letter of thanks +to Mr. Firmian. I hope you write to him too, from time to time. The +letters of recommendation of a man of his merit and learning will, to be +sure, be of great use to you among the learned world in Italy; that is, +provided you take care to keep up to the character he gives you in them; +otherwise they will only add to your disgrace. + +Consider that you have lost a good deal of time by your illness; fetch it +up now that you are well. At present you should be a good economist of +your moments, of which company and sights will claim a considerable +share; so that those which remain for study must be not only attentively, +but greedily employed. But indeed I do not suspect you of one single +moment's idleness in the whole day. Idleness is only the refuge of weak +minds, and the holiday of fools. I do not call good company and liberal +pleasures, idleness; far from it: I recommend to you a good share of +both. + +I send you here inclosed a letter for Cardinal Alexander Albani, which +you will give him, as soon as you get to Rome, and before you deliver any +others; the Purple expects that preference; go next to the Duc de +Nivernois, to whom you are recommended by several people at Paris, as +well as by myself. Then you may carry your other letters occasionally. + +Remember to pry narrowly into every part of the government of Venice: +inform yourself of the history of that republic, especially of its most +remarkable eras; such as the Ligue de eambray, in 1509, by which it had +like to have been destroyed; and the conspiracy formed by the Marquis de +Bedmar, the Spanish Ambassador, to subject it to the Crown of Spain. The +famous disputes between that republic and the Pope are worth your +knowledge; and the writings of the celebrated and learned Fra Paolo di +Sarpi, upon that occasion, worth your reading. It was once the greatest +commercial power in Europe, and in the 14th and 15th centuries made a +considerable figure; but at present its commerce is decayed, and its +riches consequently decreased; and, far from meddling now with the +affairs of the Continent, it owes its security to its neutrality and +inefficiency; and that security will last no longer than till one of the +great Powers in Europe engrosses the rest of Italy; an event which this +century possibly may, but which the next probably will see. + +Your friend Comte d'Ensiedlen and his governor, have been with me this +moment, and delivered me your letter from Berlin, of February the 28th, +N. S. I like them both so well that I am glad you did; and still gladder +to hear what they say of you. Go on, and continue to deserve the praises +of those who deserve praises themselves. Adieu. + +I break open this letter to acknowledge yours of the 30th June, N. S., +which I have but this instant received, though thirteen days antecedent +in date to Mr. Harte's last. I never in my life heard of bathing four +hours a day; and I am impatient to hear of your safe arrival at Venice, +after so extraordinary an operation. + + + + +LETTER LXXVI + +LONDON, July 30, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Mr. Harte's letters and yours drop in upon me most irregularly; +for I received, by the last post, one from Mr. Harte, of the 9th, N. S., +and that which Mr. Grevenkop had received from him, the post before, was +of the 13th; at last, I suppose, I shall receive them all. + +I am very glad that my letter, with Dr. Shaw's opinion, has lessened your +bathing; for since I was born, I never heard of bathing four hours a-day; +which would surely be too much, even in Medea's kettle, if you wanted (as +you do not yet) new boiling. + +Though, in that letter of mine, I proposed your going to Inspruck, it was +only in opposition to Lausanne, which I thought much too long and painful +a journey for you; but you will have found, by my subsequent letters, +that I entirely approved of Venice; where I hope you have now been some +time, and which is a much better place for you to reside at, till you go +to Naples, than either Tieffer or Laubach. I love capitals extremely; it +is in capitals that the best company is always to be found; and +consequently, the best manners to be learned. The very best provincial +places have some awkwardness, that distinguish their manners from those +of the metropolis. 'A propos' of capitals, I send you here two letters +of recommendation to Naples, from Monsieur Finochetti, the Neapolitan +Minister at The Hague; and in my next I shall send you two more, from the +same person, to the same place. + +I have examined Comte d'Einsiedlen so narrowly concerning you, that I +have extorted from him a confession that you do not care to speak German, +unless to such as understand no other language. At this rate, you will +never speak it well, which I am very desirous that you should do, and of +which you would, in time, find the advantage. Whoever has not the +command of a language, and does not speak it with facility, will always +appear below himself when he converses in that language; the want of +words and phrases will cramp and lame his thoughts. As you now know +German enough to express yourself tolerably, speaking it very often will +soon make you speak it very well: and then you will appear in it whatever +you are. What with your own Saxon servant and the swarms of Germans you +will meet with wherever you go, you may have opportunities of conversing +in that language half the day; and I do very seriously desire that you +will, or else all the pains that you have already taken about it are +lost. You will remember likewise, that, till you can write in Italian, +you are always to write to me in German. + +Mr. Harte's conjecture concerning your distemper seems to be a very +reasonable one; it agrees entirely with mine, which is the universal rule +by which every man judges of another man's opinion. But, whatever may +have been the cause of your rheumatic disorder, the effects are still to +be attended to; and as there must be a remaining acrimony in your blood, +you ought to have regard to that, in your common diet as well as in your +medicines; both which should be of a sweetening alkaline nature, and +promotive of perspiration. Rheumatic complaints are very apt to return, +and those returns would be very vexatious and detrimental to you; at your +age, and in your course of travels. Your time is, now particularly, +inestimable; and every hour of it, at present, worth more than a year +will be to you twenty years hence. You are now laying the foundation of +your future character and fortune; and one single stone wanting in that +foundation is of more consequence than fifty in the superstructure; which +can always be mended and embellished if the foundation is solid. To +carry on the metaphor of building: I would wish you to be a Corinthian +edifice upon a Tuscan foundation; the latter having the utmost strength +and solidity to support, and the former all possible ornaments to +decorate. The Tuscan column is coarse, clumsy, and unpleasant; nobody +looks at it twice; the Corinthian fluted column is beautiful and +attractive; but without a solid foundation, can hardly be seen twice, +because it must soon tumble down. Yours affectionately. + + + + +LETTER LXXVII + +LONDON, August 7, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By Mr. Harte's letter to me of the 18th July N. S., which I +received by the last post, I am at length informed of the particulars +both of your past distemper, and of your future motions. As to the +former, I am now convinced, and so is Dr. Shaw, that your lungs were only +symptomatically affected; and that the rheumatic tendency is what you are +chiefly now to guard against, but (for greater security) with due +attention still to your lungs, as if they had been, and still were, a +little affected. In either case, a cooling, pectoral regimen is equally +good. By cooling, I mean cooling in its consequences, not cold to the +palate; for nothing is more dangerous than very cold liquors, at the very +time that one longs for them the most; which is, when one is very hot. +Fruit, when full ripe, is very wholesome; but then it must be within +certain bounds as to quantity; for I have known many of my countrymen die +of bloody-fluxes, by indulging in too great a quantity of fruit, in those +countries where, from the goodness and ripeness of it, they thought it +could do them no harm. 'Ne quid nimis', is a most excellent rule in +everything; but commonly the least observed, by people of your age, in +anything. + +As to your future motions, I am very well pleased with them, and greatly +prefer your intended stay at Verona to Venice, whose almost stagnating +waters must, at this time of the year, corrupt the air. Verona has a +pure and clear air, and, as I am informed, a great deal of good company. +Marquis Maffei, alone, would be worth going there for. You may, I think, +very well leave Verona about the middle of September, when the great +heats will be quite over, and then make the best of your way to Naples; +where, I own, I want to have you by way of precaution (I hope it is +rather over caution) in case of the last remains of a pulmonic disorder. +The amphitheatre at Verona is worth your attention; as are also many +buildings there and at Vicenza, of the famous Andrea Palladio, whose +taste and style of buildings were truly antique. It would not be amiss, +if you employed three or four days in learning the five orders of +architecture, with their general proportions; and you may know all that +you need know of them in that time. Palladio's own book of architecture +is the best you can make use of for that purpose, skipping over the +mechanical part of it, such as the materials, the cement, etc. + +Mr. Harte tells me, that your acquaintance with the classics is renewed; +the suspension of which has been so short, that I dare say it has +produced no coldness. I hope and believe, you are now so much master of +them, that two hours every day, uninterruptedly, for a year or two more, +will make you perfectly so; and I think you cannot now allot them a +greater share than that of your time, considering the many other things +you have to learn and to do. You must know how to speak and write +Italian perfectly; you must learn some logic, some geometry, and some +astronomy; not to mention your exercises, where they are to be learned; +and, above all, you must learn the world, which is not soon learned; and +only to be learned by frequenting good and various companies. + +Consider, therefore, how precious every moment of time is to you now. +The more you apply to your business, the more you will taste your +pleasures. The exercise of the mind in the morning whets the appetite +for the pleasures of the evening, as much as the exercise of the body +whets the appetite for dinner. Business and pleasure, rightly +understood, mutually assist each other, instead of being enemies, as +silly or dull people often think them. No man tastes pleasures truly, +who does not earn them by previous business, and few people do business +well, who do nothing else. Remember that when I speak of pleasures, I +always mean the elegant pleasures of a rational being, and, not the +brutal ones of a swine. I mean 'la bonne Chere', short of gluttony; +wine, infinitely short of drunkenness; play, without the least gaming; +and gallantry without debauchery. There is a line in all these things +which men of sense, for greater security, take care to keep a good deal +on the right side of; for sickness, pain, contempt and infamy, lie +immediately on the other side of it. Men of sense and merit, in all +other respects, may have had some of these failings; but then those few +examples, instead of inviting us to imitation, should only put us the +more upon our guard against such weaknesses: and whoever thinks them +fashionable, will not be so himself; I have often known a fashionable man +have some one vice; but I never in my life knew a vicious man a +fashionable man. Vice is as degrading as it is criminal. God bless you, +my dear child! + + + + +LETTER LXXVIII + +LONDON, August 20, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Let us resume our reflections upon men, their characters, their +manners, in a word, our reflections upon the world. They may help you to +form yourself, and to know others; a knowledge very useful at all ages, +very rare at yours. It seems as if it were nobody's business to +communicate it to young men. Their masters teach them, singly, the +languages or the sciences of their several departments; and are indeed +generally incapable of teaching them the world: their parents are often +so too, or at least neglect doing it, either from avocations, +indifference, or from an opinion that throwing them into the world (as +they call it) is the best way of teaching it them. This last notion is +in a great degree true; that is, the world can doubtless never be well +known by theory: practice is absolutely necessary; but surely it is of +great use to a young man, before he sets out for that country full of +mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made +by some experienced traveler. + +There is a certain dignity of manners absolutely necessary, to make even +the most valuable character either respected or respectable.--[Meaning +worthy of respect.] + +Horse-play, romping, frequent and loud fits of laughter, jokes, waggery, +and indiscriminate familiarity, will sink both merit and knowledge into a +degree of contempt. They compose at most a merry fellow; and a merry +fellow was never yet a respectable man. Indiscriminate familiarity +either offends your superiors, or else dubbs you their dependent and led +captain. It gives your inferiors just, but troublesome and improper +claims of equality. A joker is near akin to a buffoon; and neither of +them is the least related to wit. Whoever is admitted or sought for, in +company, upon any other account than that of his merit and manners, is +never respected there, but only made use of. We will have such-a-one, +for he sings prettily; we will invite such-a-one to a ball, for he dances +well; we will have such-a-one at supper, for he is always joking and +laughing; we will ask another, because he plays deep at all games, or +because he can drink a great deal. These are all vilifying distinctions, +mortifying preferences, and exclude all ideas of esteem and regard. +Whoever is HAD (as it is called) in company for the sake of any one thing +singly, is singly that thing and will never be considered in any other +light; consequently never respected, let his merits be what they will. + +This dignity of manners, which I recommend so much to you, is not only as +different from pride, as true courage is from blustering, or true wit +from joking; but is absolutely inconsistent with it; for nothing vilifies +and degrades more than pride. The pretensions of the proud man are +oftener treated with sneer and contempt, than with indignation; as we +offer ridiculously too little to a tradesman, who asks ridiculously too +much for his goods; but we do not haggle with one who only asks a just +and reasonable price. + +Abject flattery and indiscriminate assentation degrade as much as +indiscriminate contradiction and noisy debate disgust. But a modest +assertion of one's own opinion, and a complaisant acquiescence to other +people's, preserve dignity. + +Vulgar, low expressions, awkward motions and address, vilify, as they +imply either a very low turn of mind, or low education and low company. + +Frivolous curiosity about trifles, and a laborious attention to little +objects which neither require nor deserve a moment's thought, lower a +man; who from thence is thought (and not unjustly) incapable of greater +matters. Cardinal de Retz, very sagaciously, marked out Cardinal Chigi +for a little mind, from the moment that he told him he had wrote three +years with the same pen, and that it was an excellent good one still. + +A certain degree of exterior seriousness in looks and motions gives +dignity, without excluding wit and decent cheerfulness, which are always +serious themselves. A constant smirk upon the face, and a whifing +activity of the body, are strong indications of futility. Whoever is in +a hurry, shows that the thing he is about is too big for him. Haste and +hurry are very different things. + +I have only mentioned some of those things which may, and do, in the +opinion of the world, lower and sink characters, in other respects +valuable enough,--but I have taken no notice of those that affect and +sink the moral characters. They are sufficiently obvious. A man who has +patiently been kicked may as well pretend to courage, as a man blasted by +vices and crimes may to dignity of any kind. But an exterior decency and +dignity of manners will even keep such a man longer from sinking, than +otherwise he would be: of such consequence is the [****], even though +affected and put on! Pray read frequently, and with the utmost +attention, nay, get by heart, if you can, that incomparable chapter in +Cicero's "Offices," upon the [****], or the Decorum. It contains +whatever is necessary for the dignity of manners. + +In my next I will send you a general map of courts; a region yet +unexplored by you, but which you are one day to inhabit. The ways are +generally crooked and full of turnings, sometimes strewed with flowers, +sometimes choked up with briars; rotten ground and deep pits frequently +lie concealed under a smooth and pleasing surface; all the paths are +slippery, and every slip is dangerous. Sense and discretion must +accompany you at your first setting out; but, notwithstanding those, till +experience is your guide, you will every now and then step out of your +way, or stumble. + +Lady Chesterfield has just now received your German letter, for which she +thanks you; she says the language is very correct; and I can plainly see +that the character is well formed, not to say better than your English +character. Continue to write German frequently, that it may become quite +familiar to you. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXIX + +LONDON, August 21, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By the last letter that I received from Mr. Harte, of the 31st +July, N. S., I suppose you are now either at Venice or Verona, and +perfectly re covered of your late illness: which I am daily more and more +convinced had no consumptive tendency; however, for some time still, +'faites comme s'il y en avoit', be regular, and live pectorally. + +You will soon be at courts, where, though you will not be concerned, yet +reflection and observation upon what you see and hear there may be of use +to you, when hereafter you may come to be concerned in courts yourself. +Nothing in courts is exactly as it appears to be; often very different; +sometimes directly contrary. Interest, which is the real spring of +everything there, equally creates and dissolves friendship, produces and +reconciles enmities: or, rather, allows of neither real friendships nor +enmities; for, as Dryden very justly observes, POLITICIANS NEITHER LOVE +NOR HATE. This is so true, that you may think you connect yourself with +two friends to-day, and be obliged tomorrow to make your option between +them as enemies; observe, therefore, such a degree of reserve with your +friends as not to put yourself in their power, if they should become your +enemies; and such a degree of moderation with your enemies, as not to +make it impossible for them to become your friends. + +Courts are, unquestionably, the seats of politeness and good-breeding; +were they not so, they would be the seats of slaughter and desolation. +Those who now smile upon and embrace, would affront and stab each other, +if manners did not interpose; but ambition and avarice, the two +prevailing passions at courts, found dissimulation more effectual than +violence; and dissimulation introduced that habit of politeness, which +distinguishes the courtier from the country gentleman. In the former +case the strongest body would prevail; in the latter, the strongest mind. + +A man of parts and efficiency need not flatter everybody at court; but he +must take great care to offend nobody personally; it being in the power +of every man to hurt him, who cannot serve him. Homer supposes a chain +let down from Jupiter to the earth, to connect him with mortals. There +is, at all courts, a chain which connects the prince or the minister with +the page of the back stairs, or the chamber-maid. The king's wife, or +mistress, has an influence over him; a lover has an influence over her; +the chambermaid, or the valet de chambre, has an influence over both, and +so ad infinitum. You must, therefore, not break a link of that chain, by +which you hope to climb up to the prince. + +You must renounce courts if you will not connive at knaves, and tolerate +fools. Their number makes them considerable. You should as little +quarrel as connect yourself with either. + +Whatever you say or do at court, you may depend upon it, will be known; +the business of most of those, who crowd levees and antichambers, being +to repeat all that they see or hear, and a great deal that they neither +see nor hear, according as they are inclined to the persons concerned, or +according to the wishes of those to whom they hope to make their court. +Great caution is therefore necessary; and if, to great caution, you can +join seeming frankness and openness, you will unite what Machiavel +reckons very difficult but very necessary to be united; 'volto sciolto e +pensieri stretti'. + +Women are very apt to be mingled in court intrigues; but they deserve +attention better than confidence; to hold by them is a very precarious +tenure. + +I am agreeably interrupted in these reflections by a letter which I have +this moment received from Baron Firmian. It contains your panegyric, and +with the strongest protestations imaginable that he does you only +justice. I received this favorable account of you with pleasure, and I +communicate it to you with as much. While you deserve praise, it is +reasonable you should know that you meet with it; and I make no doubt, +but that it will encourage you in persevering to deserve it. This is one +paragraph of the Baron's letter: Ses moeurs dans un age si tendre, +reglees selon toutes les loix d'une morale exacte et sensee; son +application (that is what I like) a tout ce qui s'appelle etude serieuse, +et Belles Lettres,--"Notwithstanding his great youth, his manners are +regulated by the most unexceptionable rules of sense and of morality. +His application THAT IS WHAT I LIKE to every kind of serious study, as +well as to polite literature, without even the least appearance of +ostentatious pedantry, render him worthy of your most tender affection; +and I have the honor of assuring you, that everyone cannot but be pleased +with the acquisition of his acquaintance or of his friendship. I have +profited of it, both here and at Vienna; and shall esteem myself very +happy to make use of the permission he has given me of continuing it by +letter." Reputation, like health, is preserved and increased by the +same means by which it is acquired. Continue to desire and deserve +praise, and you will certainly find it. Knowledge, adorned by manners, +will infallibly procure it. Consider, that you have but a little way +further to get to your journey's end; therefore, for God's sake, do not +slacken your pace; one year and a half more of sound application, Mr. +Harte assures me, will finish this work; and when this work is finished +well, your own will be very easily done afterward. 'Les Manieres et les +Graces' are no immaterial parts of that work; and I beg that you will +give as much of your attention. to them as to your books. Everything +depends upon them; 'senza di noi ogni fatica e vana'. The various +companies you now go into will procure them you, if you will carefully +observe, and form yourself upon those who have them. + +Adieu! God bless you! and may you ever deserve that affection with which +I am now, Yours. + + + + +LETTER LXXX + +LONDON, September 5, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have received yours from Laubach, of the 17th of August, +N. S., with the inclosed for Comte Lascaris; which I have given him, and +with which he is extremely pleased, as I am with your account of +Carniola. I am very glad that you attend to, and inform yourself of, the +political objects of the country you go through. Trade and manufactures +are very considerable, not to say the most important ones; for, though +armies and navies are the shining marks of the strength of countries, +they would be very ill paid, and consequently fight very ill, if +manufactures and commerce did not support them. You have certainly +observed in Germany the inefficiency of great powers, with great tracts +of country and swarms of men; which are absolutely useless, if not paid +by other powers who have the resources of manufactures and commerce. +This we have lately experienced to be the case of the two empresses of +Germany and Russia: England, France, and Spain, must pay their respective +allies, or they may as well be without them. + +I have not the least objection to your taking, into the bargain, the +observation of natural curiosities; they are very welcome, provided they +do not take up the room of better things. But the forms of government, +the maxims of policy, the strength or weakness, the trade and commerce, +of the several countries you see or hear of are the important objects, +which I recommend to your most minute inquiries, and most serious +attention. I thought that the republic of Venice had by this time laid +aside that silly and frivolous piece of policy, of endeavoring to conceal +their form of government; which anybody may know, pretty nearly, by +taking the pains to read four or five books, which explain all the great +parts of it; and as for some of the little wheels of that machine, the +knowledge of them would be as little useful to others as dangerous to +themselves. Their best policy (I can tell them) is to keep quiet, and to +offend no one great power, by joining with another. Their escape, after +the Ligue of Cambray, should prove a useful lesson to them. + +I am glad you frequent the assemblies at Venice. Have you seen Monsieur +and Madame Capello, and how did they receive you? Let me know who are +the ladies whose houses you frequent the most. Have you seen the +Comptesse d'Orselska, Princess of Holstein? Is Comte Algarotti, who was +the TENANT there, at Venice? + +You will, in many parts of Italy, meet with numbers of the Pretender's +people (English, Scotch, and Irish fugitives), especially at Rome; +probably the Pretender himself. It is none of your business to declare +war to these people, as little as it is your interest, or, I hope, your +inclination, to connect yourself with them; and therefore I recommend to +you a perfect neutrality. Avoid them as much as you can with decency and +good manners; but when you cannot, avoid any political conversation or +debates with them; tell them that you do not concern yourself with +political matters: that you are neither maker nor a deposer of kings; +that when you left England, you left a king in it, and have not since +heard either of his death, or of any revolution that has happened; and +that you take kings and kingdoms as you find them; but enter no further +into matters with them, which can be of no use, and might bring on heats +and quarrels. When you speak of the old Pretender, you will call him +only the Chevalier de St. George;--but mention him as seldom as possible. +Should he chance to speak to you at any assembly (as, I am told, he +sometimes does to the English), be sure that you seem not to know him; +and answer him civilly, but always either in French or in Italian; and +give him, in the former, the appellation of Monsieur, and in the latter, +of Signore. Should you meet with the Cardinal of York, you will be under +no difficulty; for he has, as Cardinal, an undoubted right to 'Eminenza'. +Upon the whole, see any of those people as little as possible; when you +do see them, be civil to them, upon the footing of strangers; but never +be drawn into any altercations with them about the imaginary right of +their king, as they call him. + +It is to no sort of purpose to talk to those people of the natural rights +of mankind, and the particular constitution of this country. Blinded by +prejudices, soured by misfortunes, and tempted by their necessities, they +are as incapable of reasoning rightly, as they have hitherto been of +acting wisely. The late Lord Pembroke never would know anything that he +had not a mind to know; and, in this case, I advise you to follow his +example. Never know either the father or the two sons, any otherwise +than as foreigners; and so, not knowing their pretensions, you have no +occasion to dispute them. + +I can never help recommending to you the utmost attention and care, to +acquire 'les Manieres, la Tournure, et les Graces, d'un galant homme, et +d'un homme de cour'. They should appear in every look, in every action; +in your address, and even in your dress, if you would either please or +rise in the world. That you may do both (and both are in your power) is +most ardently wished you, by Yours. + +P. S. I made Comte Lascaris show me your letter, which I liked very +well; the style was easy and natural, and the French pretty correct. +There were so few faults in the orthography, that a little more +observation of the best French authors would make you a correct master of +that necessary language. + +I will not conceal from you, that I have lately had extraordinary good +accounts of you, from an unexpected and judicious person, who promises me +that, with a little more of the world, your manners and address will +equal your knowledge. This is the more pleasing to me, as those were the +two articles of which I was the most doubtful. These commendations will +not, I am persuaded, make you vain and coxcomical, but only encourage you +to go on in the right way. + + + + +LETTER LXXXI + +LONDON, September 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: It seems extraordinary, but it is very true, that my anxiety +for you increases in proportion to the good accounts which I receive of +you from all hands. I promise myself so much from you, that I dread the +least disappointment. You are now so near the port, which I have so long +wished and labored to bring you safe into, that my concern would be +doubled, should you be shipwrecked within sight of it. The object, +therefore, of this letter is (laying aside all the authority of a parent) +to conjure you as a friend, by the affection you have for me (and surely +you have reason to have some), and by the regard you have for yourself, +to go on, with assiduity and attention, to complete that work which, of +late, you have carried on so well, and which is now so near being +finished. My wishes and my plan were to make you shine and distinguish +yourself equally in the learned and the polite world. Few have been able +to do it. Deep learning is generally tainted with pedantry, or at least +unadorned by manners: as, on the other hand, polite manners and the turn +of the world are too often unsupported by knowledge, and consequently end +contemptibly, in the frivolous dissipation of drawing-rooms and ruelles. +You are now got over the dry and difficult parts of learning; what +remains requires much more time than trouble. You have lost time by your +illness; you must regain it now or never. I therefore most earnestly +desire, for your own sake, that for these next six months, at least six +hours every morning, uninterruptedly, may be inviolably sacred to your +studies with Mr. Harte. I do not know whether he will require so much; +but I know that I do, and hope you will, and consequently prevail with +him to give you that time; I own it is a good deal: but when both you and +he consider that the work will be so much better, and so much sooner +done, by such an assiduous and continued application, you will, neither +of you, think it too much, and each will find his account in it. So much +for the mornings, which from your own good sense, and Mr. Harte's +tenderness and care of you, will, I am sure, be thus well employed. +It is not only reasonable, but useful too, that your evenings should be +devoted to amusements and pleasures: and therefore I not only allow, but +recommend, that they should be employed at assemblies, balls, SPECTACLES, +and in the best companies; with this restriction only, that the +consequences of the evening's diversions may not break in upon the +morning's studies, by breakfastings, visits, and idle parties into the +country. At your age, you need not be ashamed, when any of these morning +parties are proposed, to say that you must beg to be excused, for you are +obliged to devote your mornings to Mr. Harte; that I will have it so; and +that you dare not do otherwise. Lay it all upon me; though I am +persuaded it will be as much your own inclination as it is mine. But +those frivolous, idle people, whose time hangs upon their own hands, and +who desire to make others lose theirs too, are not to be reasoned with: +and indeed it would be doing them too much honor. The shortest civil +answers are the best; I CANNOT, I DARE NOT, instead of I WILL NOT; for if +you were to enter with them into the necessity of study end the +usefulness of knowledge, it would only furnish them with matter for silly +jests; which, though I would not have you mind, I would not have you +invite. I will suppose you at Rome studying six hours uninterruptedly +with Mr. Harte, every morning, and passing your evenings with the best +company of Rome, observing their manners and forming your own; and I will +suppose a number of idle, sauntering, illiterate English, as there +commonly is there, living entirely with one another, supping, drinking, +and sitting up late at each other's lodgings; commonly in riots and +scrapes when drunk, and never in good company when sober. I will take +one of these pretty fellows, and give you the dialogue between him and +yourself; such as, I dare say, it will be on his side; and such as, I +hope, it will be on yours:-- + +Englishman. Will you come and breakfast with me tomorrow? there will be +four or five of our countrymen; we have provided chaises, and we will +drive somewhere out of town after breakfast. + +Stanhope. I am very sorry I cannot; but I am obliged to be at home all +morning. + +Englishman. Why, then, we will come and breakfast with you. + +Stanhope. I can't do that neither; I am engaged. + +Englishman. Well, then, let it be the next day. + +Stanhope. To tell you the truth, it can be no day in the morning; for I +neither go out, nor see anybody at home before twelve. + +Englishman. And what the devil do you do with yourself till twelve +o'clock? + +Stanhope. I am not by myself; I am with Mr. Harte. + +Englishman. Then what the devil do you do with him? + +Stanhope. We study different things; we read, we converse. + +Englishman. Very pretty amusement indeed! Are you to take orders then? + +Stanhope. Yes, my father's orders, I believe I must take. + +Englishman. Why hast thou no more spirit, than to mind an old fellow a +thousand miles off? + +Stanhope. If I don't mind his orders he won't mind my draughts. + +Englishman. What, does the old prig threaten then? threatened folks live +long; never mind threats. + +Stanhope. No, I can't say that he has ever threatened me in his life; +but I believe I had best not provoke him. + +Englishman. Pooh! you would have one angry letter from the old fellow, +and there would be an end of it. + +Stanhope. You mistake him mightily; he always does more than he says. +He has never been angry with me yet, that I remember, in his life; but if +I were to provoke him, I am sure he would never forgive me; he would be +coolly immovable, and I might beg and pray, and write my heart out to no +purpose. + +Englishman. Why, then, he is an old dog, that's all I can say; and pray +are you to obey your dry-nurse too, this same, and what's his name--Mr. +Harte? + +Stanhope. Yes. + +Englishman. So he stuffs you all morning with Greek, and Latin, and +Logic, and all that. Egad I have a dry-nurse too, but I never looked +into a book with him in my life; I have not so much as seen the face of +him this week, and don't care a louse if I never see it again. + +Stanhope. My dry-nurse never desires anything of me that is not +reasonable, and for my own good; and therefore I like to be with him. + +Englishman. Very sententious and edifying, upon my word! at this rate +you will be reckoned a very good young man. + +Stanhope. Why, that will do me no harm. + +Englishman. Will you be with us to-morrow in the evening, then? We +shall be ten with you; and I have got some excellent good wine; and we'll +be very merry. + +Stanhope. I am very much obliged to you, but I am engaged for all the +evening, to-morrow; first at Cardinal Albani's; and then to sup at the +Venetian Ambassadress's. + +Englishman. How the devil can you like being always with these +foreigners? I never go among them with all their formalities and +ceremonies. I am never easy in company with them, and I don't know why, +but I am ashamed. + +Stanhope. I am neither ashamed nor afraid; I am very, easy with them; +they are very easy with me; I get the language, and I see their +characters, by conversing with them; and that is what we are sent abroad +for, is it not? + +Englishman. I hate your modest women's company; your women of fashion as +they call 'em; I don't know what to say to them, for my part. + +Stanhope. Have you ever conversed with them? + +Englishman. No; I never conversed with them; but have been sometimes in +their company, though much against my will. + +Stanhope. But at least they have done you no hurt; which is, probably, +more than you can say of the women you do converse with. + +Englishman. That's true, I own; but for all that, I would rather keep +company with my surgeon half the year, than with your women of fashion +the year round. + +Stanhope. Tastes are different, you know, and every man follows his own. + +Englishman. That's true; but thine's a devilish odd one, Stanhope. All +morning with thy dry-nurse; all the evening in formal fine company; and +all day long afraid of Old Daddy in England. Thou art a queer fellow, +and I am afraid there is nothing to be made of thee. + +Stanhope. I am afraid so too. + +Englishman. Well, then, good night to you; you have no objection, I +hope, to my being drunk to-night, which I certainly will be. + +Stanhope. Not in the least; nor to your being sick tomorrow, which you +as certainly will be; and so good night, too. + + +You will observe, that I have not put into your mouth those good +arguments which upon such an occasion would, I am sure, occur to you; +as piety and affection toward me; regard and friendship for Mr. Harte; +respect for your own moral character, and for all the relative duties of +man, son, pupil, and citizen. Such solid arguments would be thrown away +upon such shallow puppies. Leave them to their ignorance and to their +dirty, disgraceful vices. They will severely feel the effects of them, +when it will be too late. Without the comfortable refuge of learning, +and with all the sickness and pains of a ruined stomach, and a rotten +carcass, if they happen to arrive at old age, it is an uneasy and +ignominious one. The ridicule which such fellows endeavor to throw upon +those who are not like them, is, in the opinion of all men of sense, the +most authentic panegyric. Go on, then, my dear child, in the way you are +in, only for a year and a half more: that is all I ask of you. After +that, I promise that you shall be your own master, and that I will +pretend to no other title than that of your best and truest friend. You +shall receive advice, but no orders, from me; and in truth you will want +no other advice but such as youth and inexperience must necessarily +require. You shall certainly want nothing that is requisite, not only +for your conveniency, but also for your pleasures; which I always desire +shall be gratified. You will suppose that I mean the pleasures 'd'un +honnete homme'. + +While you are learning Italian, which I hope you do with diligence, pray +take care to continue your German, which you may have frequent +opportunities of speaking. I would also have you keep up your knowledge +of the 'Jus Publicum Imperii', by looking over, now and then, those +INESTIMABLE MANUSCRIPTS which Sir Charles Williams, who arrived here last +week, assures me you have made upon that subject. It will be of very +great use to you, when you come to be concerned in foreign affairs; as +you shall be (if you qualify yourself for them) younger than ever any +other was: I mean before you are twenty. Sir Charles tells me, that he +will answer for your learning; and that, he believes, you will acquire +that address, and those graces, which are so necessary to give it its +full lustre and value. But he confesses, that he doubts more of the +latter than of the former. The justice which he does Mr. Harte, in his +panegyrics of him, makes me hope that there is likewise a great deal of +truth in his encomiums of you. Are you pleased with, and proud of the +reputation which you have already acquired? Surely you are, for I am +sure I am. Will you do anything to lessen or forfeit it? Surely you +will not. And will you not do all you can to extend and increase it? +Surely you will. It is only going on for a year and a half longer, as +you have gone on for the two years last past, and devoting half the day +only to application; and you will be sure to make the earliest figure and +fortune in the world, that ever man made. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXII + +LONDON, September 22, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: If I had faith in philters and love potions, I should suspect +that you had given Sir Charles Williams some, by the manner in which he +speaks of you, not only to me, but to everybody else. I will not repeat +to you what he says of the extent and correctness of your knowledge, as +it might either make you vain, or persuade you that you had already +enough of what nobody can have too much. You will easily imagine how +many questions I asked, and how narrowly I sifted him upon your subject; +he answered me, and I dare say with truth, just as I could have wished; +till satisfied entirely with his accounts of your character and learning, +I inquired into other matters, intrinsically indeed of less consequence, +but still of great consequence to every man, and of more to you than to +almost any man: I mean, your address, manners, and air. To these +questions, the same truth which he had observed before, obliged him to +give me much less satisfactory answers. And as he thought himself, in +friendship both to you and me, obliged to tell me the disagreeable as +well as the agreeable truths, upon the same principle I think myself +obliged to repeat them to you. + +He told me then, that in company you were frequently most PROVOKINGLY +inattentive, absent; and distrait; that you came into a room, and +presented yourself, very awkwardly; that at table you constantly threw +down knives, forks, napkins, bread, etc., and that you neglected your +person and dress, to a degree unpardonable at any age, and much more so +at yours. + +These things, howsoever immaterial they may seem to people who do not +know the world, and the nature of mankind, give me, who know them to be +exceedingly material, very great concern. I have long distrusted you, +and therefore frequently admonished you, upon these articles; and I tell +you plainly, that I shall not be easy till I hear a very different +account of them. I know no one thing more offensive to a company than +that inattention and DISTRACTION. It is showing them the utmost +contempt; and people never forgive contempt. No man is distrait with the +man he fears, or the woman he loves; which is a proof that every man can +get the better of that DISTRACTION, when he thinks it worth his while to +do so; and, take my word for it, it is always worth his while. For my +own part, I would rather be in company with a dead man, than with an +absent one; for if the dead man gives me no pleasure; at least he shows +me no contempt; whereas, the absent man, silently indeed, but very +plainly, tells me that he does not think me worth his attention. +Besides, can an absent man make any observations upon the characters. +customs, and manners of the company? No. He may be in the best +companies all his lifetime (if they will admit him, which, if I were +they, I would not) and never be one jot the wiser. I never will converse +with an absent man; one may as well talk to a deaf one. It is, in truth, +a practical blunder, to address ourselves to a man who we see plainly +neither hears, minds, or understands us. Moreover, I aver that no man +is, in any degree, fit for either business or conversation, who cannot +and does not direct and command his attention to the present object, be +that what it will. You know, by experience, that I grudge no expense in +your education, but I will positively not keep you a Flapper. You may +read, in Dr. Swift, the description of these flappers, and the use they +were of to your friends the Laputans; whose minds (Gulliver says) are so +taken up with intense speculations, that they neither can speak nor +attend to the discourses of others, without being roused by some external +traction upon the organs of speech and hearing; for which reason, those +people who are able to afford it, always keep a flapper in their family, +as one of their domestics; nor ever walk about, or make visits without +him. This flapper is likewise employed diligently to attend his master +in his walks; and, upon occasion, to give a soft flap upon his eyes, +because he is always so wrapped up in cogitation, that he is in manifest +danger of falling down every precipice, and bouncing his head against +every post, and, in the streets, of jostling others, or being jostled +into the kennel himself. If CHRISTIAN will undertake this province into +the bargain, with all my heart; but I will not allow him any increase of +wages upon that score. In short, I give you fair warning, that, when we +meet, if you are absent in mind, I will soon be absent in body; for it +will be impossible for me to stay in the room; and if at table you throw +down your knife, plate, bread, etc., and hack the wing of a chicken for +half an hour, without being able to cut it off, and your sleeve all the +time in another dish, I must rise from the table to escape the fever you +would certainly give me. Good God! how I should be shocked, if you came +into my room, for the first time, with two left legs, presenting yourself +with all the graces and dignity of a tailor, and your clothes hanging +upon you, like those in Monmouth street, upon tenter-hooks! whereas, I +expect, nay, require, to see you present yourself with the easy and +genteel air of a man of fashion, who has kept good company. I expect you +not only well dressed but very well dressed; I expect a gracefulness in +all your motions, and something particularly engaging in your address, +All this I expect, and all this it is in your power, by care and +attention, to make me find; but to tell you the plain truth, if I do not +find it, we shall not converse very much together; for I cannot stand +inattention and awkwardness; it would endanger my health. You have often +seen, and I have as often made you observe L----'s distinguished +inattention and awkwardness. Wrapped up, like a Laputan, in intense +thought, and possibly sometimes in no thought at all (which, I believe, +is very often the case with absent people), he does not know his most +intimate acquaintance by sight, or answers them as if he were at cross +purposes. He leaves his hat in one room, his sword in another, and would +leave his shoes in a third, if his buckles, though awry, did not save +them: his legs and arms, by his awkward management of them, seem to have +undergone the question extraordinaire; and his head, always hanging upon +one or other of his shoulders, seems to have received the first stroke +upon a block. I sincerely value and esteem him for his parts, learning, +and virtue; but, for the soul of me, I cannot love him in company. This +will be universally the case, in common life, of every inattentive, +awkward man, let his real merit and knowledge be ever so great. When I +was of your age, I desired to shine, as far as I was able, in every part +of life; and was as attentive to my manners, my dress, and my air, in +company of evenings, as to my books and my tutor in the mornings. A +young fellow should be ambitious to shine in everything--and, of the two, +always rather overdo than underdo. These things are by no means trifles: +they are of infinite consequence to those who are to be thrown into the +great world, and who would make a figure or a fortune in it. It is not +sufficient to deserve well; one must please well too. Awkward, +disagreeable merit will never carry anybody far. Wherever you find a +good dancing-master, pray let him put you upon your haunches; not so much +for the sake of dancing, as for coming into a room, and presenting +yourself genteelly and gracefully. Women, whom you ought to endeavor to +please, cannot forgive vulgar and awkward air and gestures; 'il leur faut +du brillant'. The generality of men are pretty like them, and are +equally taken by the same exterior graces. + +I am very glad that you have received the diamond buckles safe; all I +desire in return for them is, that they may be buckled even upon your +feet, and that your stockings may not hide them. I should be sorry that +you were an egregious fop; but, I protest, that of the two, I would +rather have you a fop than a sloven. I think negligence in my own dress, +even at my age, when certainly I expect no advantages from my dress, +would be indecent with regard to others. I have done with fine clothes; +but I will have my plain clothes fit me, and made like other people's: In +the evenings, I recommend to you the company of women of fashion, who +have a right to attention and will be paid it. Their company will smooth +your manners, and give you a habit of attention and respect, of which you +will find the advantage among men. + +My plan for you, from the beginning, has been to make you shine equally +in the learned and in the polite world; the former part is almost +completed to my wishes, and will, I am persuaded, in a little time more, +be quite so. The latter part is still in your power to complete; and I +flatter myself that you will do it, or else the former part will avail +you very little; especially in your department, where the exterior +address and graces do half the business; they must be the harbingers of +your merit, or your merit will be very coldly received; all can, and do +judge of the former, few of the latter. + +Mr. Harte tells me that you have grown very much since your illness; if +you get up to five feet ten, or even nine inches, your figure will +probably be a good one; and if well dressed and genteel, will probably +please; which is a much greater advantage to a man than people commonly +think. Lord Bacon calls it a letter of recommendation. + +I would wish you to be the omnis homo, 'l'homme universel'. You are +nearer it, if you please, than ever anybody was at your age; and if you +will but, for the course of this next year only, exert your whole +attention to your studies in the morning, and to your address, manners, +air and tournure in the evenings, you will be the man I wish you, and the +man that is rarely seen. + +Our letters go, at best, so irregularly, and so often miscarry totally, +that for greater security I repeat the same things. So, though I +acknowledged by last post Mr. Harte's letter of the 8th September, N. S., +I acknowledge it again by this to you. If this should find you still at +Verona, let it inform you that I wish you would set out soon for Naples; +unless Mr. Harte should think it better for you to stay at Verona, or any +other place on this side Rome, till you go there for the Jubilee. Nay, +if he likes it better, I am very willing that you should go directly from +Verona to Rome; for you cannot have too much of Rome, whether upon +account of the language, the curiosities, or the company. My only reason +for mentioning Naples, is for the sake of the climate, upon account of +your health; but if Mr. Harte thinks that your health is now so well +restored as to be above climate, he may steer your course wherever he +thinks proper: and, for aught I know, your going directly to Rome, and +consequently staying there so much the longer, may be as well as anything +else. I think you and I cannot put our affairs in better hands than in +Mr. Harte's; and I will stake his infallibility against the Pope's, with +some odds on his side. Apropos of the Pope: remember to be presented to +him before you leave Rome, and go through the necessary ceremonies for +it, whether of kissing his slipper or his b---h; for I would never +deprive myself of anything that I wanted to do or see, by refusing to +comply with an established custom. When I was in Catholic countries, +I never declined kneeling in their churches at the elevation, nor +elsewhere, when the Host went by. It is a complaisance due to the custom +of the place, and by no means, as some silly people have imagined, an +implied approbation of their doctrine. Bodily attitudes and situations +are things so very indifferent in themselves, that I would quarrel with +nobody about them. It may, indeed, be improper for Mr. Harte to pay that +tribute of complaisance, upon account of his character. + +This letter is a very long, and possibly a very tedious one; but my +anxiety for your perfection is so great, and particularly at this +critical and decisive period of your life, that I am only afraid of +omitting, but never of repeating, or dwelling too long upon anything that +I think may be of the least use to you. Have the same anxiety for +yourself, that I have for you, and all will do well. Adieu! my dear +child. + + + + +LETTER LXXXIII + +LONDON, September 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: A vulgar, ordinary way of thinking, acting, or speaking, +implies a low education, and a habit of low company. Young people +contract it at school, or among servants, with whom they are too often +used to converse; but after they frequent good company, they must want +attention and observation very much, if they do not lay it quite aside; +and, indeed, if they do not, good company will be very apt to lay them +aside. The various kinds of vulgarisms are infinite; I cannot pretend to +point them out to you; but I will give some samples, by which you may +guess at the rest. + +A vulgar man is captious and jealous; eager and impetuous about trifles. +He suspects himself to be slighted, thinks everything that is said meant +at him: if the company happens to laugh, he is persuaded they laugh at +him; he grows angry and testy, says something very impertinent, and draws +himself into a scrape, by showing what he calls a proper spirit, and +asserting himself. A man of fashion does not suppose himself to be +either the sole or principal object of the thoughts, looks, or words of +the company; and never suspects that he is either slighted or laughed at, +unless he is conscious that he deserves it. And if (which very seldom +happens) the company is absurd or ill-bred enough to do either, he does +not care twopence, unless the insult be so gross and plain as to require +satisfaction of another kind. As he is above trifles, he is never +vehement and eager about them; and, wherever they are concerned, rather +acquiesces than wrangles. A vulgar man's conversation always savors +strongly of the lowness of his education and company. It turns chiefly +upon his domestic affairs, his servants, the excellent order he keeps in +his own family, and the little anecdotes of the neighborhood; all which +he relates with emphasis, as interesting matters. He is a man gossip. + +Vulgarism in language is the next and distinguishing characteristic of +bad company and a bad education. A man of fashion avoids nothing with +more care than that. Proverbial expressions and trite sayings are the +flowers of the rhetoric of a vulgar man. Would he say that men differ in +their tastes; he both supports and adorns that opinion by the good old +saying, as he respectfully calls it, that WHAT IS ONE MAN'S MEAT, IS +ANOTHER MAN'S POISON. If anybody attempts being SMART, as he calls it, +upon him, he gives them TIT FOR TAT, aye, that he does. He has always +some favorite word for the time being; which, for the sake of using +often, he commonly abuses. Such as VASTLY angry, VASTLY kind, VASTLY +handsome, and VASTLY ugly. Even his pronunciation of proper words +carries the mark of the beast along with it. He calls the earth YEARTH; +he is OBLEIGED, not OBLIGED to you. He goes TO WARDS, and not TOWARDS, +such a place. He sometimes affects hard words, by way of ornament, which +he always mangles like a learned woman. A man of fashion never has +recourse to proverbs and vulgar aphorisms; uses neither favorite words +nor hard words; but takes great care to speak very correctly and +grammatically, and to pronounce properly; that is, according to the usage +of the best companies. + +An awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions, and a certain left- +handedness (if I may use that word), loudly proclaim low education and +low company; for it is impossible to suppose that a man can have +frequented good company, without having catched something, at least, of +their air and motions. A new raised man is distinguished in a regiment +by his awkwardness; but he must be impenetrably dull, if, in a month or +two's time, he cannot perform at least the common manual exercise, and +look like a soldier. The very accoutrements of a man of fashion are +grievous encumbrances to a vulgar man. He is at a loss what to do with +his hat, when it is not upon his head; his cane (if unfortunately he +wears one) is at perpetual war with every cup of tea or coffee he drinks; +destroys them first, and then accompanies them in their fall. His sword +is formidable only to his own legs, which would possibly carry him fast +enough out of the way of any sword but his own. His clothes fit him so +ill, and constrain him so much, that he seems rather, their prisoner +than their proprietor. He presents himself in company like a criminal in +a court of justice; his very air condemns him; and people of fashion will +no more connect themselves with the one, than people of character will +with the other. This repulse drives and sinks him into low company; a +gulf from whence no man, after a certain age, ever emerged. + +'Les manieres nobles et aisees, la tournure d'un homme de condition, le +ton de la bonne compagnie, les graces, le jeune sais quoi, qui plait', +are as necessary to adorn and introduce your intrinsic merit and +knowledge, as the polish is to the diamond; which, without that polish, +would never be worn, whatever it might weigh. Do not imagine that these +accomplishments are only useful with women; they are much more so with +men. In a public assembly, what an advantage has a graceful speaker, +with genteel motions, a handsome figure, and a liberal air, over one who +shall speak full as much good sense, but destitute of these ornaments? +In business, how prevalent are the graces, how detrimental is the want of +them? By the help of these I have known some men refuse favors less +offensively than others granted them. The utility of them in courts and +negotiations is inconceivable. You gain the hearts, and consequently the +secrets, of nine in ten, that you have to do with, in spite even of their +prudence; which will, nine times in ten, be the dupe of their hearts and +of their senses. Consider the importance of these things as they +deserve, and you will not lose one minute in the pursuit of them. + +You are traveling now in a country once so famous both for arts and arms, +that (however degenerate at present) it still deserves your attention and +reflection. View it therefore with care, compare its former with its +present state, and examine into the causes of its rise and its decay. +Consider it classically and politically, and do not run through it, as +too many of your young countrymen do, musically, and (to use a ridiculous +word) KNICK-KNACKICALLY. No piping nor fiddling, I beseech you; no days +lost in poring upon almost imperceptible 'intaglios and cameos': and do +not become a virtuoso of small wares. Form a taste of painting, +sculpture, and architecture, if you please, by a careful examination of +the works of the best ancient and modern artists; those are liberal arts, +and a real taste and knowledge of them become a man of fashion very well. +But, beyond certain bounds, the man of taste ends, and the frivolous +virtuoso begins. + +Your friend Mendes, the good Samaritan, dined with me yesterday. He has +more good-nature and generosity than parts. However, I will show him all +the civilities that his kindness to you so justly deserves. He tells me +that you are taller than I am, which I am very glad of: I desire that you +may excel me in everything else too; and, far from repining, I shall +rejoice at your superiority. He commends your friend Mr. Stevens +extremely; of whom too I have heard so good a character from other +people, that I am very glad of your connection with him. It may prove of +use to you hereafter. When you meet with such sort of Englishmen abroad, +who, either from their parts or their rank, are likely to make a figure +at home, I would advise you to cultivate them, and get their favorable +testimony of you here, especially those who are to return to England +before you. Sir Charles Williams has puffed you (as the mob call it) +here extremely. If three or four more people of parts do the same, +before you come back, your first appearance in London will be to great +advantage. Many people do, and indeed ought, to take things upon trust; +many more do, who need not; and few dare dissent from an established +opinion. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER LXXXIV + +LONDON, October 2, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I received by the last post your letter of the 22d September, +N. S., but I have not received that from Mr. Harte to which you refer, +and which you say contained your reasons for leaving Verona, and +returning to Venice; so that I am entirely ignorant of them. Indeed the +irregularity and negligence of the post provoke me, as they break the +thread of the accounts I want to receive from you, and of the +instructions and orders which I send you, almost every post. Of these +last twenty posts. + +I am sure that I have wrote eighteen, either to you or to Mr. Harte, and +it does not appear by your letter, that all or even any of my letters +have been received. I desire for the future, that both you and Mr. Harte +will constantly, in your letters, mention the dates of mine. Had it not +been for their miscarriage, you would not have, been in the uncertainty +you seem to be in at present, with regard to your future motions. Had +you received my letters, you would have been by this time at Naples: but +we must now take things where they are. + +Upon the receipt, then, of this letter, you will as soon as conveniently +you can, set out for Rome; where you will not arrive too long before the +jubilee, considering the difficulties of getting lodgings, and other +accommodations there at this time. I leave the choice of the route to +you; but I do by no means intend that you should leave Rome after the +jubilee, as you seem to hint in your letter: on the contrary, I will have +Rome your headquarters for six months at least; till you shall have, in a +manner, acquired the 'Jus Civitatis' there. More things are to be seen +and learned there, than in any other town in Europe; there are the best +masters to instruct, and the best companies to polish you. In the spring +you may make (if you please) frequent excursions to Naples; but Rome must +still be your headquarters, till the heats of June drive you from thence +to some other place in Italy, which we shall think of by that time. As +to the expense which you mention, I do not regard it in the least; from +your infancy to this day, I never grudged any expense in your education, +and still less do it now, that it is become more important and decisive: +I attend to the objects of your expenses, but not to the sums. I will +certainly not pay one shilling for your losing your nose, your money, or +your reason; that is, I will not contribute to women, gaming, and +drinking. But I will most cheerfully supply, not only every necessary, +but every decent expense you can make. I do not care what the best +masters cost. I would have you as well dressed, lodged, and attended, as +any reasonable man of fashion is in his travels. I would have you have +that pocket-money that should enable you to make the proper expense 'd'un +honnete homme'. In short, I bar no expense, that has neither vice nor +folly for its object; and under those two reasonable restrictions, draw, +and welcome. + +As for Turin, you may go there hereafter, as a traveler, for a month or +two; but you cannot conveniently reside there as an academician, for +reasons which I have formerly communicated to Mr. Harte, and which Mr. +Villettes, since his return here, has shown me in a still stronger light +than he had done by his letters from Turin, of which I sent copies to Mr. +Harte, though probably he never received them. + +After you have left Rome, Florence is one of the places with which you +should be thoroughly acquainted. I know that there is a great deal of +gaming there; but, at the same time, there are in every place some people +whose fortunes are either too small, or whose understandings are too good +to allow them to play for anything above trifles; and with those people +you will associate yourself, if you have not (as I am assured you have +not, in the least) the spirit of gaming in you. Moreover, at suspected +places, such as Florence, Turin, and Paris, I shall be more attentive to +your draughts, and such as exceed a proper and handsome expense will not +be answered; for I can easily know whether you game or not without being +told. + +Mr. Harte will determine your route to Rome as he shall think best; +whether along the coast of the Adriatic, or that of the Mediterranean, +it is equal to me; but you will observe to come back a different way from +that you went. + +Since your health is so well restored, I am not sorry that you have +returned to Venice, for I love capitals. Everything is best at capitals; +the best masters, the best companions, and the best manners. Many other +places are worth seeing, but capitals only are worth residing at. I am +very glad that Madame Capello received you so well. Monsieur I was sure +would: pray assure them both of my respects, and of my sensibility of +their kindness to you. Their house will be a very good one for you at +Rome; and I would advise you to be domestic in it if you can. But +Madame, I can tell you, requires great attentions. Madame Micheli has +written a very favorable account of you to my friend the Abbe Grossa +Testa, in a letter which he showed me, and in which there are so many +civil things to myself, that I would wish to tell her how much I think +myself obliged to her. I approve very much of the allotment of your time +at Venice; pray go on so for a twelvemonth at least, wherever you are. +You will find your own account in it. + +I like your last letter, which gives me an account of yourself, and your +own transactions; for though I do not recommend the EGOTISM to you, with +regard to anybody else, I desire that you will use it with me, and with +me only. I interest myself in all that you do; and as yet (excepting Mr. +Harte) nobody else does. He must of course know all, and I desire to +know a great deal. + +I am glad you have received, and that you like the diamond buckles. I am +very willing that you should make, but very unwilling that you should CUT +a figure with them at the jubilee; the CUTTING A FIGURE being the very +lowest vulgarism in the English language; and equal in elegancy to Yes, +my Lady, and No, my Lady. The word VAST and VASTLY, you will have found +by my former letter that I had proscribed out of the diction of a +gentleman, unless in their proper signification of sizes and BULK. Not +only in language, but in everything else, take great care that the first +impressions you give of yourself may be not only favorable, but pleasing, +engaging, nay, seducing. They are often decisive; I confess they are a +good deal so with me: and I cannot wish for further acquaintance with a +man whose first 'abord' and address displease me. + +So many of my letters have miscarried, and I know so little which, that I +am forced to repeat the same thing over and over again eventually. This +is one. I have wrote twice to Mr. Harte, to have your picture drawn in +miniature, while you were at Venice; and send it me in a letter: it is +all one to me whether in enamel or in watercolors, provided it is but +very like you. I would have you drawn exactly as you are, and in no +whimsical dress: and I lay more stress upon the likeness of the picture, +than upon the taste and skill of the painter. If this be not already +done, I desire that you will have it done forthwith before you leave +Venice; and inclose it in a letter to me, which letter, for greater +security, I would have you desire Sir James Gray to inclose in his packet +to the office; as I, for the same, reason, send this under his cover. +If the picture be done upon vellum, it will be the most portable. Send +me, at the same time, a thread of silk of your own length exactly. I am +solicitous about your figure; convinced, by a thousand instances, that a +good one is a real advantage. 'Mens sana in corpore sano', is the first +and greatest blessing. I would add 'et pulchro', to complete it. May +you have that and every other! Adieu. + +Have you received my letters of recommendation to Cardinal Albani and the +Duke de Nivernois, at Rome? + + + + +LETTER LXXXV + +LONDON, October 9, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: If this letter finds you at all, of which I am very doubtful, +it will find you at Venice, preparing for your journey to Rome; which, by +my last letter to Mr. Harte, I advised you to make along the coast of the +Adriatic, through Rimini, Loretto, Ancona, etc., places that are all +worth seeing; but not worth staying at. And such I reckon all places +where the eyes only are employed. Remains of antiquity, public +buildings, paintings, sculptures, etc., ought to be seen, and that with a +proper degree of attention; but this is soon done, for they are only +outsides. It is not so with more important objects; the insides of which +must be seen; and they require and deserve much more attention. The +characters, the heads, and the, hearts of men, are the useful science of +which I would have you perfect master. That science is best taught and +best learned in capitals, where every human passion has its object, and +exerts all its force or all its art in the pursuit. I believe there is +no place in the world, where every passion is busier, appears in more +shapes, and is conducted with more art, than at Rome. Therefore, when +you are there, do not imagine that the Capitol, the Vatican, and the +Pantheon, are the principal objects of your curiosity. But for one +minute that you bestow upon those, employ ten days in informing yourself +of the nature of that government, the rise and decay of the papal power, +the politics of that court, the 'Brigues' of the cardinals, the tricks of +the Conclaves; and, in general, everything that relates to the interior +of that extraordinary government, founded originally upon the ignorance +and superstition of mankind, extended by the weakness of some princes, +and the ambition of others; declining of late in proportion as knowledge +has increased; and owing its present precarious security, not to the +religion, the affection, or the fear of the temporal powers, but to the +jealousy of each other. The Pope's excommunications are no longer +dreaded; his indulgences little solicited, and sell very cheap; and his +territories formidable to no power, are coveted by many, and will, most +undoubtedly, within a century, be scantled out among the great powers, +who have now a footing in Italy, whenever they can agree upon the +division of the bear's skin. Pray inform yourself thoroughly of the +history of the popes and the popedom; which, for many centuries, is +interwoven with the history of all Europe. Read the best authors who +treat of these matters, and especially Fra Paolo, 'De Beneficiis', a +short, but very material book. You will find at Rome some of all the +religious orders in the Christian world. Inform yourself carefully of +their origin, their founders, their rules, their reforms, and even their +dresses: get acquainted with some of all of them, but particularly with +the Jesuits; whose society I look upon to be the most able and best +governed society in the world. Get acquainted, if you can, with their +General, who always resides at Rome; and who, though he has no seeming +power out of his own society, has (it may be) more real influence over +the whole world, than any temporal prince in it. They have almost +engrossed the education of youth; they are, in general, confessors to +most of the princes of Europe; and they are the principal missionaries +out of it; which three articles give them a most extensive influence and +solid advantages; witness their settlement in Paraguay. The Catholics in +general declaim against that society; and yet are all governed by +individuals of it. They have, by turns, been banished, and with infamy, +almost every country in Europe; and have always found means to be +restored, even with triumph. In short, I know no government in the world +that is carried on upon such deep principles of policy, I will not add +morality. Converse with them, frequent them, court them; but know them. + +Inform yourself, too, of that infernal court, the Inquisition; which, +though not so considerable at Rome as in Spain and Portugal, will, +however, be a good sample to you of what the villainy of some men can +contrive, the folly of others receive, and both together establish, in +spite of the first natural principles of reason, justice, and equity. + +These are the proper and useful objects of the attention of a man of +sense, when he travels; and these are the objects for which I have sent +you abroad; and I hope you will return thoroughly informed of them. + +I receive this very moment Mr. Harte's letter of the 1st October, N. S., +but I never received his former, to which he refers in this, and you +refer in your last; in which he gave me the reasons for your leaving +Verona so soon; nor have I ever received that letter in which your case +was stated by your physicians. Letters to and from me have worse luck +than other people's; for you have written to me, and I to you, for these +last three months, by way of Germany, with as little success as before. + +I am edified with your morning applications, and your evening gallantries +at Venice, of which Mr. Harte gives me an account. Pray go on with both +there, and afterward at Rome; where, provided you arrive in the beginning +of December, you may stay at Venice as much longer as you please. + +Make my compliments to Sir James Gray and Mr. Smith, with my +acknowledgments for the great civilities they show you. + +I wrote to Mr. Harte by the last post, October the 6th, O. S., and will +write to him in a post or two upon the contents of his last. Adieu! +'Point de distractions'; and remember the GRACES. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVI + +LONDON, October 17, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: I have at last received Mr. Harte's letter of the 19th +September, N. S., from Verona. Your reasons for leaving that place were +very good ones; and as you stayed there long enough to see what was to be +seen, Venice (as a capital) is, in my opinion, a much better place for +your residence. Capitals are always the seats of arts and sciences, and +the best companies. I have stuck to them all my lifetime, and I advise +you to do so too. + +You will have received in my three or four last letters my directions for +your further motions to another capital, where I propose that your stay +shall be pretty considerable. The expense, I am well aware, will be so +too; but that, as I told you before, will have no weight when your +improvement and advantage are in the other scale. I do not care a groat +what it is, if neither vice nor folly are the objects of it, and if Mr. +Harte gives his sanction. + +I am very well pleased with your account of Carniola; those are the kind +of objects worthy of your inquiries and knowledge. The produce, the +taxes, the trade, the manufactures, the strength, the weakness, the +government of the several countries which a man of sense travels through, +are the material points to which he attends; and leaves the steeples, the +market-places, and the signs, to the laborious and curious researches of +Dutch and German travelers. + +Mr. Harte tells me, that he intends to give you, by means of Signor +Vicentini, a general notion of civil and military architecture; with +which I am very well pleased. They are frequent subjects of +conversation; and it is very right that you should have some idea of the +latter, and a good taste of the former; and you may very soon learn as +much as you need know of either. If you read about one-third of +Palladio's book of architecture with some skillful person, and then, with +that person, examine the best buildings by those rules, you will know the +different proportions of the different orders; the several diameters of +their columns; their intercolumniations, their several uses, etc. The +Corinthian Order is chiefly used in magnificent buildings, where ornament +and decoration are the principal objects; the Doric is calculated for +strength, and the Ionic partakes of the Doric strength, and of the +Corinthian ornaments. The Composite and the Tuscan orders are more +modern, and were unknown to the Greeks; the one is too light, the other +too clumsy. You may soon be acquainted with the considerable parts of +civil architecture; and for the minute and mechanical parts of it, leave +them to masons, bricklayers, and Lord Burlington, who has, to a certain +extent, lessened himself by knowing them too well. Observe the same +method as to military architecture; understand the terms, know the +general rules, and then see them in execution with some skillful person. +Go with some engineer or old officer, and view with care the real +fortifications of some strong place; and you will get a clearer idea of +bastions, half-moons, horn-works, ravelins, glacis, etc., than all the +masters in the world could give you upon paper. And thus much I would, +by all means, have you know of both civil and military architecture. + +I would also have you acquire a liberal taste of the two liberal arts of +painting and sculpture; but without descending into those minutia, which +our modern virtuosi most affectedly dwell upon. Observe the great parts +attentively; see if nature be truly represented; if the passions are +strongly expressed; if the characters are preserved; and leave the +trifling parts, with their little jargon, to affected puppies. I would +advise you also, to read the history of the painters and sculptors, and I +know none better than Felibien's. There are many in Italian; you will +inform yourself which are the best. It is a part of history very +entertaining, curious enough, and not quite useless. All these sort of +things I would have you know, to a certain degree; but remember, that +they must only be the amusements, and not the business of a man of parts. + +Since writing to me in German would take up so much of your time, of +which I would not now have one moment wasted, I will accept of your +composition, and content myself with a moderate German letter once a +fortnight, to Lady Chesterfield or Mr. Gravenkop. My meaning was only +that you should not forget what you had already learned of the German +language and character; but, on the contrary, that by frequent use it +should grow more easy and familiar. Provided you take care of that, I do +not care by what means: but I do desire that you will every day of your +life speak German to somebody or other (for you will meet with Germans +enough), and write a line or two of it every day to keep your hand in. +Why should you not (for instance) write your little memorandums and +accounts in that language and character? by which, too, you would have +this advantage into the bargain, that, if mislaid, few but yourself could +read them. + +I am extremely glad to hear that you like the assemblies at Venice well +enough to sacrifice some suppers to them; for I hear that you do not +dislike your suppers neither. It is therefore plain, that there is +somebody or something at those assemblies, which you like better than +your meat. And as I know that there is none but good company at those +assemblies, I am very glad to find that you like good company so well. +I already imagine that you are a little, smoothed by it; and that you +have either reasoned yourself, or that they have laughed you out of your +absences and DISTRACTIONS; for I cannot suppose that you go there to +insult them. I likewise imagine, that you wish to be welcome where you +wish to go; and consequently, that you both present and behave yourself +there 'en galant homme, et pas in bourgeois'. + +If you have vowed to anybody there one of those eternal passions which I +have sometimes known, by great accident, last three months, I can tell +you that without great attention, infinite politeness, and engaging air +and manners, the omens will be sinister, and the goddess unpropitious. +Pray tell me what are the amusements of those assemblies? Are they +little commercial play, are they music, are they 'la belle conversation', +or are they all three? 'Y file-t-on le parfait amour? Y debite-t-on les +beaux sentimens? Ou est-ce yu'on y parle Epigramme? And pray which is +your department? 'Tutis depone in auribus'. Whichever it is, endeavor +to shine and excel in it. Aim at least at the perfection of everything +that is worth doing at all; and you will come nearer it than you would +imagine; but those always crawl infinitely short of it whose aim is only +mediocrity. Adieu. + +P. S. By an uncommon diligence of the post, I have this moment received +yours of the 9th, N. S. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVII + +LONDON, October 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: By my last I only acknowledged, by this I answer, your letter +of the 9th October, N. S. + +I am very glad that you approved of my letter of September the 12th, +O. S., because it is upon that footing that I always propose living with +you. I will advise you seriously, as a friend of some experience, and I +will converse with you cheerfully as a companion; the authority of a +parent shall forever be laid aside; for, wherever it is exerted, it is +useless; since, if you have neither sense nor sentiments enough to follow +my advice as a friend, your unwilling obedience to my orders as a father +will be a very awkward and unavailing one both to yourself and me. +Tacitus, speaking of an army that awkwardly and unwillingly obeyed its +generals only from the fear of punishment, says, they obeyed indeed, 'Sed +ut qua mallent jussa Imperatorum interpretari, quam exequi'. For my own +part, I disclaim such obedience. + +You think, I find, that you do not understand Italian; but I can tell +you, that, like the 'Bourgeois Gentilhomme', who spoke prose without +knowing it, you understand a great deal, though you do not know that you +do; for whoever understands French and Latin so well as you do, +understands at least half the Italian language, and has very little +occasion for a dictionary. And for the idioms, the phrases, and the +delicacies of it, conversation and a little attention will teach them +you, and that soon; therefore, pray speak it in company, right or wrong, +'a tort ou a travers', as soon as ever you have got words enough to ask a +common question, or give a common answer. If you can only say 'buon +giorno', say it, instead of saying 'bon jour', I mean to every Italian; +the answer to it will teach you more words, and insensibly you will be +very soon master of that easy language. You are quite right in not +neglecting your German for it, and in thinking that it will be of more +use to you; it certainly will, in the course of your business; but +Italian has its use too, and is an ornament into the bargain; there being +many very polite and good authors in that language. The reason you +assign for having hitherto met with none of my swarms of Germans in +Italy, is a very solid one; and I can easily conceive, that the expense +necessary for a traveler must amount to a number of thalers, groschen, +and kreutzers, tremendous to a German fortune. However, you will find +several at Rome, either ecclesiastics, or in the suite of the Imperial +Minister; and more, when you come into the Milanese, among the Queen of +Hungary's officers. Besides, you have a Saxon servant, to whom I hope +you speak nothing but German. + +I have had the most obliging letter in the world from Monsieur Capello, +in which he speaks very advantageously of you, and promises you his +protection at Rome. I have wrote him an answer by which I hope I have +domesticated you at his hotel there; which I advise you to frequent as +much as you can. 'Il est vrai qui'il ne paie pas beaucaup de sa figure'; +but he has sense and knowledge at bottom, with a great experience of +business, having been already Ambassador at Madrid, Vienna, and London. +And I am very sure that he will be willing to give you any informations, +in that way, that he can. + +Madame was a capricious, whimsical, fine lady, till the smallpox, which +she got here, by lessening her beauty, lessened her humors too; but, as I +presume it did not change her sex, I trust to that for her having such a +share of them left, as may contribute to smooth and polish you. She, +doubtless, still thinks that she has beauty enough remaining to entitle +her to the attentions always paid to beauty; and she has certainly rank +enough to require respect. Those are the sort of women who polish a +young man the most, and who give him that habit of complaisance, and that +flexibility and versatility of manners which prove of great use to him +with men, and in the course of business. + +You must always expect to hear, more or less, from me, upon that +important subject of manners, graces, address, and that undefinable +'je ne sais quoi' that ever pleases. I have reason to believe that you +want nothing else; but I have reason to fear too, that you want those: +and that want will keep you poor in the midst of all the plenty of +knowledge which you may have treasured up. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXVIII + +LONDON, November 3, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: From the time that you have had life, it has been the principle +and favorite object of mine, to make you as perfect as the imperfections +of human nature will allow: in this view, I have grudged no pains nor +expense in your education; convinced that education, more than nature, +is the cause of that great difference which you see in the characters of +men. While you were a child, I endeavored to form your heart habitually +to virtue and honor, before your understanding was capable of showing you +their beauty and utility. Those principles, which you then got, like +your grammar rules, only by rote, are now, I am persuaded, fixed and +confirmed by reason. And indeed they are so plain and clear, that they +require but a very moderate degree of understanding, either to comprehend +or practice them. Lord Shaftesbury says, very prettily, that he would be +virtuous for his own sake, though nobody were to know it; as he would be +clean for his own sake, though nobody were to see him. I have therefore, +since you have had the use of your reason, never written to you upon +those subjects: they speak best for themselves; and I should now just as +soon think of warning you gravely not to fall into the dirt or the fire, +as into dishonor or vice. This view of mine, I consider as fully +attained. My next object was sound and useful learning. My own care +first, Mr. Harte's afterward, and OF LATE (I will own it to your praise) +your own application, have more than answered my expectations in that +particular; and, I have reason to believe, will answer even my wishes. +All that remains for me then to wish, to recommend, to inculcate, to +order, and to insist upon, is good-breeding; without which, all your +other qualifications will be lame, unadorned, and to a certain degree +unavailing. And here I fear, and have too much reason to believe, that +you are greatly deficient. The remainder of this letter, therefore, +shall be (and it will not be the last by a great many) upon that subject. + +A friend of yours and mine has very justly defined good-breeding to be, +THE RESULT OF MUCH GOOD SENSE, SOME GOOD NATURE, AND A LITTLE SELF-DENIAL +FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS, AND WITH A VIEW TO OBTAIN THE SAME INDULGENCE +FROM THEM. Taking this for granted (as I think it cannot be disputed), +it is astonishing to me that anybody who has good sense and good nature +(and I believe you have both), can essentially fail in good-breeding. +As to the modes of it, indeed, they vary according to persons, and +places, and circumstances; and are only to be acquired by observation and +experience: but the substance of it is everywhere and eternally the same. +Good manners are, to particular societies, what good morals are to +society in general; their cement and their security. And, as laws are +enacted to enforce good morals, or at least to prevent the ill effects of +bad ones; so there are certain rules of civility, universally implied and +received, to enforce good manners and punish bad ones. And, indeed, +there seems to me to be less difference, both between the crimes and +between the punishments than at first one would imagine. The immoral +man, who invades another man's property, is justly hanged for it; and the +ill-bred man, who, by his ill-manners, invades and disturbs the quiet and +comforts of private life, is by common consent as justly banished +society. Mutual complaisances, attentions, and sacrifices of little +conveniences, are as natural an implied compact between civilized people, +as protection and obedience are between kings and subjects; whoever, in +either case, violates that compact, justly forfeits all advantages +arising from it. For my own part, I really think, that next to the +consciousness of doing a good action, that of doing a civil one is the +most pleasing; and the epithet which I should covet the most, next to +that of Aristides, would be that of well-bred. Thus much for good- +breeding in general; I will now consider some of the various modes and +degrees of it. + +Very few, scarcely any, are wanting in the respect which they should show +to those whom they acknowledge to be infinitely their superiors; such as +crowned heads, princes, and public persons of distinguished and eminent +posts. It is the manner of showing that respect which is different. The +man of fashion and of the world, expresses it in its fullest extent; but +naturally, easily, and without concern: whereas a man, who is not used to +keep good company, expresses it awkwardly; one sees that he is not used +to it, and that it costs him a great deal: but I never saw the worst-bred +man living guilty of lolling, whistling, scratching his head, and such- +like indecencies, in company that he respected. In such companies, +therefore, the only point to be attended to is to show that respect, +which everybody means to show, in an easy, unembarrassed, and graceful +manner. This is what observation and experience must teach you. + +In mixed companies, whoever is admitted to make part of them, is, for the +time at least, supposed to be upon a footing of equality with the rest: +and consequently, as there is no one principal object of awe and respect, +people are apt to take a greater latitude in their behavior, and to be +less upon their guard; and so they may, provided it be within certain +bounds, which are upon no occasion to be transgressed. But, upon these +occasions, though no one is entitled to distinguished marks of respect, +everyone claims, and very justly, every mark of civility and good- +breeding. Ease is allowed, but carelessness and negligence are strictly +forbidden. If a man accosts you, and talks to you ever so dully or +frivolously, it is worse than rudeness, it is brutality, to show him, by +a manifest inattention to what he says, that you think him a fool or a +blockhead, and not worth hearing. It is much more so with regard to +women; who, of whatever rank they are, are entitled, in consideration of +their sex, not only to an attentive, but an officious good-breeding from +men. Their little wants, likings, dislikes, preferences, antipathies, +fancies, whims, and even impertinencies, must be officiously attended to, +flattered, and, if possible, guessed at and anticipated by a well-bred +man. You must never usurp to yourself those conveniences and 'agremens' +which are of common right; such as the best places, the best dishes, +etc., but on the contrary, always decline them yourself, and offer them +to others; who, in their turns, will offer them to you; so that, upon the +whole, you will in your turn enjoy your share of the common right. It +would be endless for me to enumerate all the particular instances in +which a well-bred man shows his good-breeding in good company; and it +would be injurious to you to suppose that your own good sense will not +point them out to you; and then your own good-nature will recommend, and +your self-interest enforce the practice. + +There is a third sort of good-breeding, in which people are the most apt +to fail, from a very mistaken notion that they cannot fail at all. I +mean with regard to one's most familiar friends and acquaintances, or +those who really are our inferiors; and there, undoubtedly, a greater +degree of ease is not only allowed, but proper, and contributes much to +the comforts of a private, social life. But that ease and freedom have +their bounds too, which must by no means be violated. A certain degree +of negligence and carelessness becomes injurious and insulting, from the +real or supposed inferiority of the persons: and that delightful liberty +of conversation among a few friends is soon destroyed, as liberty often +has been, by being carried to licentiousness. But example explains +things best, and I will put a pretty strong case. Suppose you and me +alone together; I believe you will allow that I have as good a right to +unlimited freedom in your company, as either you or I can possibly have +in any other; and I am apt to believe too, that you would indulge me in +that freedom as far as anybody would. But, notwithstanding this, do you +imagine that I should think there were no bounds to that freedom? I +assure you, I should not think so; and I take myself to be as much tied +down by a certain degree of good manners to you, as by other degrees of +them to other people. Were I to show you, by a manifest inattention to +what you said to me, that I was thinking of something else the whole +time; were I to yawn extremely, snore, or break wind in your company, I +should think that I behaved myself to you like a beast, and should not +expect that you would care to frequent me. No. The most familiar and +intimate habitudes, connections, and friendships, require a degree of +good-breeding, both to preserve and cement them. If ever a man and his +wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass nights as well as days +together, absolutely lay aside all good-breeding, their intimacy will +soon degenerate into a coarse familiarity, infallibly productive of +contempt or disgust. The best of us have our bad sides, and it is as +imprudent, as it is ill-bred, to exhibit them. I shall certainly not use +ceremony with you; it would be misplaced between us: but I shall +certainly observe that degree of good-breeding with you, which is, in the +first place, decent, and which I am sure is absolutely necessary to make +us like one another's company long. + +I will say no more, now, upon this important subject of good-breeding, +upon which I have already dwelt too long, it may be, for one letter; and +upon which I shall frequently refresh your memory hereafter; but I will +conclude with these axioms: + +That the deepest learning, without good-breeding, is unwelcome and +tiresome pedantry, and of use nowhere but in a man's own closet; and +consequently of little or no use at all. + +That a man, Who is not perfectly well-bred, is unfit for good company and +unwelcome in it; will consequently dislike it soon, afterward renounce +it; and be reduced to solitude, or, what is worse, low and bad company. + +That a man who is not well-bred, is full as unfit for business as for +company. + +Make then, my dear child, I conjure you, good-breeding the great object +of your thoughts and actions, at least half the day. Observe carefully +the behavior and manners of those who are distinguished by their good- +breeding; imitate, nay, endeavor to excel, that you may at least reach +them; and be convinced that good-breeding is, to all worldly +qualifications, what charity is to all Christian virtues. Observe how it +adorns merit, and how often it covers the want of it. May you wear it to +adorn, and not to cover you! Adieu. + + + + +LETTER LXXXIX + +LONDON, November 14, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: There is a natural good-breeding which occurs to every man of +common sense, and is practiced by every man, of common good-nature. This +good-breeding is general, independent of modes, and consists in endeavors +to please and oblige our fellow-creatures by all good offices, short of +moral duties. This will be practiced by a good-natured American savage, +as essentially as by the best-bred European. But then, I do not take it +to extend to the sacrifice of our own conveniences, for the sake of other +people's. Utility introduced this sort of good-breeding as it introduced +commerce; and established a truck of the little 'agremens' and pleasures +of life. I sacrifice such a conveniency to you, you sacrifice another to +me; this commerce circulates, and every individual finds his account in +it upon the whole. The third sort of good-breeding is local, and is +variously modified, in not only different countries, but in different +towns of the same country. But it must be founded upon the two former +sorts; they are the matter to which, in this case, fashion and custom +only give the different shapes and impressions. Whoever has the two +first sorts will easily acquire this third sort of good-breeding, which +depends singly upon attention and observation. It is, properly, the +polish, the lustre, the last finishing stroke of good-breeding. It is to +be found only in capitals, and even there it varies; the good-breeding of +Rome differing, in some things, from that of Paris; that of Paris, in +others, from that of Madrid; and that of Madrid, in many things, from +that of London. A man of sense, therefore, carefully attends to the +local manners of the respective places where he is, and takes for his +models those persons whom he observes to be at the head of fashion and +good-breeding. He watches how they address themselves to their +superiors, how they accost their equals, and how they treat their +inferiors; and lets none of those little niceties escape him which are to +good-breeding what the last delicate and masterly touches are to a good +picture; and of which the vulgar have no notion, but by which good judges +distinguish the master. He attends even to their air, dress, and +motions, and imitates them, liberally, and not servilely; he copies, but +does not mimic. These personal graces are of very great consequence. +They anticipate the sentiments, before merit can engage the +understanding; they captivate the heart, and give rise, I believe, to the +extravagant notions of charms and philters. Their effects were so +surprising, that they were reckoned supernatural. The most graceful and +best-bred men, and the handsomest and genteelest women, give the most +philters; and, as I verily believe, without the least assistance of the +devil. Pray be not only well dressed, but shining in your dress; let it +have 'du brillant'. I do not mean by a clumsy load of gold and silver, +but by the taste and fashion of it. The women like and require it; they +think it an attention due to them; but, on the other hand, if your +motions and carriage are not graceful, genteel, and natural, your fine +clothes will only display your awkwardness the more. But I am unwilling +to suppose you still awkward; for surely, by this time, you must have +catched a good air in good company. When you went from hence you were +naturally awkward; but your awkwardness was adventitious and +Westmonasterial. Leipsig, I apprehend, is not the seat of the Graces; +and I presume you acquired none there. But now, if you will be pleased +to observe what people of the first fashion do with their legs and arms, +heads and bodies, you will reduce yours to certain decent laws of motion. +You danced pretty well here, and ought to dance very well before you come +home; for what one is obliged to do sometimes, one ought to be able to do +well. Besides, 'la belle danse donne du brillant a un jeune homme'. +And you should endeavor to shine. A calm serenity, negative merit and +graces, do not become your age. You should be 'alerte, adroit, vif'; be +wanted, talked of, impatiently expected, and unwillingly parted with in +company. I should be glad to hear half a dozen women of fashion say, +'Ou est donc le petit Stanhope? due ne vient-il? Il faut avouer qu'il +est aimable'. All this I do not mean singly with regard to women as the +principal object; but, with regard to men, and with a view of your making +yourself considerable. For with very small variations, the same things +that please women please men; and a man whose manners are softened and +polished by women of fashion, and who is formed by them to an habitual +attention and complaisance, will please, engage, and connect men, much +easier and more than he would otherwise. You must be sensible that you +cannot rise in the world, without forming connections, and engaging +different characters to conspire in your point. You must make them your +dependents without their knowing it, and dictate to them while you seem +to be directed by them. Those necessary connections can never be formed, +or preserved, but by an uninterrupted series of complaisance, attentions, +politeness, and some constraint. You must engage their hearts, if you +would have their support; you must watch the 'mollia tempora', and +captivate them by the 'agremens' and charms of conversation. People will +not be called out to your service, only when you want them; and, if you +expect to receive strength from them, they must receive either pleasure +or advantage from you. + +I received in this instant a letter from Mr. Harte, of the 2d N. S., +which I will answer soon; in the meantime, I return him my thanks for it, +through you. The constant good accounts which he gives me of you, will +make me suspect him of partiality, and think him 'le medecin tant mieux'. +Consider, therefore, what weight any future deposition of his against you +must necessarily have with me. As, in that case, he will be a very +unwilling, he must consequently be a very important witness. Adieu! + + + + +LETTER XC + +DEAR Boy: My last was upon the subject of good-breeding; but I think it +rather set before you the unfitness and disadvantages of ill-breeding, +than the utility and necessity of good; it was rather negative than +positive. This, therefore, should go further, and explain to you the +necessity, which you, of all people living, lie under, not only of being +positively and actively well-bred, but of shining and distinguishing +yourself by your good-breeding. Consider your own situation in every +particular, and judge whether it is not essentially your interest, by +your own good-breeding to others, to secure theirs to you and that, let +me assure you, is the only way of doing it; for people will repay, and +with interest too, inattention with inattention, neglect with neglect, +and ill manners with worse: which may engage you in very disagreeable +affairs. In the next place, your profession requires, more than any +other, the nicest and most distinguished good-breeding. You will +negotiate with very little success, if you do not previously, by your +manners, conciliate and engage the affections of those with whom you are +to negotiate. Can you ever get into the confidence and the secrets of +the courts where you may happen to reside, if you have not those +pleasing, insinuating manners, which alone can procure them? Upon my +word, I do not say too much, when I say that superior good-breeding, +insinuating manners, and genteel address, are half your business. Your +knowledge will have but very little influence upon the mind, if your +manners prejudice the heart against you; but, on the other hand, how +easily will you DUPE the understanding, where you have first engaged the +heart? and hearts are by no means to be gained by that mere common +civility which everybody practices. Bowing again to those who bow to +you, answering dryly those who speak to you, and saying nothing offensive +to anybody, is such negative good-breeding that it is only not being a +brute; as it would be but a very poor commendation of any man's +cleanliness to say that he did not stink. It is an active, cheerful, +officious, seducing, good-breeding that must gain you the good-will and +first sentiments of men, and the affections of the women. You must +carefully watch and attend to their passions, their tastes, their little +humors and weaknesses, and 'aller au devant'. You must do it at the same +time with alacrity and 'empressement', and not as if you graciously +condescended to humor their weaknesses. + +For instance, suppose you invited anybody to dine or sup with you, you +ought to recollect if you had observed that they had any favorite dish, +and take care to provide it for them; and when it came you should say, +You SEEMED TO ME, AT SUCH AND SUCH A PLACE, TO GIVE THIS DISH A +PREFERENCE, AND THEREFORE I ORDERED IT; THIS IS THE WINE THAT I OBSERVED +YOU LIKED, AND THEREFORE I PROCURED SOME. The more trifling these things +are, the more they prove your attention for the person, and are +consequently the more engaging. Consult your own breast, and recollect +how these little attentions, when shown you by others, flatter that +degree of self-love and vanity from which no man living is free. Reflect +how they incline and attract you to that person, and how you are +propitiated afterward to all which that person says or does. The same +causes will have the same effects in your favor. Women, in a great +degree, establish or destroy every man's reputation of good-breeding; you +must, therefore, in a manner, overwhelm them with these attentions: they +are used to them, they expect them, and, to do them justice, they +commonly requite them. You must be sedulous, and rather over officious +than under, in procuring them their coaches, their chairs, their +conveniences in public places: not see what you should not see; and +rather assist, where you cannot help seeing. Opportunities of showing +these attentions present themselves perpetually; but if they do not, make +them. As Ovid advises his lover, when he sits in the Circus near his +mistress, to wipe the dust off her neck, even if there be none: 'Si +nullus, tamen excute nullum'. Your conversation with women should always +be respectful; but, at the same time, enjoue, and always addressed to +their vanity. Everything you say or do should convince them of the +regard you have (whether you have it or not) for their beauty, their wit, +or their merit. Men have possibly as much vanity as women, though of +another kind; and both art and good-breeding require, that, instead of +mortifying, you should please and flatter it, by words and looks of +approbation. Suppose (which is by no means improbable) that, at your +return to England, I should place you near the person of some one of the +royal family; in that situation, good-breeding, engaging address, adorned +with all the graces that dwell at courts, would very probably make you a +favorite, and, from a favorite, a minister; but all the knowledge and +learning in the world, without them, never would. The penetration of +princes seldom goes deeper than the surface. + +It is the exterior that always engages their hearts; and I would never +advise you to give yourself much trouble about their understanding. +Princes in general (I mean those 'Porphyrogenets' who are born and bred +in purple) are about the pitch of women; bred up like them, and are to be +addressed and gained in the same manner. They always see, they seldom +weigh. Your lustre, not your solidity, must take them; your inside will +afterward support and secure what your outside has acquired. With weak +people (and they undoubtedly are three parts in four of mankind) good- +breeding, address, and manners are everything; they can go no deeper; but +let me assure you that they are a great deal even with people of the best +understandings. Where the eyes are not pleased, and the heart is not +flattered, the mind will be apt to stand out. Be this right or wrong, +I confess I am so made myself. Awkwardness and ill-breeding shock me to +that degree, that where I meet with them, I cannot find in my heart to +inquire into the intrinsic merit of that person--I hastily decide in +myself that he can have none; and am not sure that I should not even be +sorry to know that he had any. I often paint you in my imagination, in +your present 'lontananza', and, while I view you in the light of ancient +and modern learning, useful and ornamental knowledge, I am charmed with +the prospect; but when I view you in another light, and represent you +awkward, ungraceful, ill-bred, with vulgar air and manners, shambling +toward me with inattention and DISTRACTIONS, I shall not pretend to +describe to you what I feel; but will do as a skillful painter did +formerly--draw a veil before the countenance of the father. + +I dare say you know already enough of architecture, to know that the +Tuscan is the strongest and most solid of all the orders; but at the same +time, it is the coarsest and clumsiest of them. Its solidity does +extremely well for the foundation and base floor of a great edifice; but +if the whole building be Tuscan, it will attract no eyes, it will stop no +passengers, it will invite no interior examination; people will take it +for granted that the finishing and furnishing cannot be worth seeing, +where the front is so unadorned and clumsy. But if, upon the solid +Tuscan foundation, the Doric, the Ionic, and the Corinthian orders rise +gradually with all their beauty, proportions, and ornaments, the fabric +seizes the most incurious eye, and stops the most careless passenger; who +solicits admission as a favor, nay, often purchases it. Just so will it +fare with your, tittle fabric, which, at present, I fear, has more of the +Tuscan than of the Corinthian order. You must absolutely change the +whole front, or nobody will knock at the door. The several parts, which +must compose this new front, are elegant, easy, natural, superior good- +breeding; an engaging address; genteel motions; an insinuating softness +in your looks, words, and actions; a spruce, lively air, fashionable +dress; and all the glitter that a young fellow should have. + +I am sure you would do a great deal for my sake; and therefore consider +at your return here, what a disappointment and concern it would be to me, +if I could not safely depute you to do the honors of my house and table; +and if I should be ashamed to present you to those who frequent both. +Should you be awkward, inattentive, and distrait, and happen to meet Mr. +L----- at my table, the consequences of that meeting must be fatal; you +would run your heads against each other, cut each other's fingers, +instead of your meat, or die by the precipitate infusion of scalding +soup. + +This is really so copious a subject, that there is no end of being either +serious or ludicrous upon it. It is impossible, too, to enumerate or +state to you the various cases in good-breeding; they are infinite; there +is no situation or relation in the world so remote or so intimate, that +does not require a degree of it. Your own good sense must point it out +to you; your own good-nature must incline, and your interest prompt you +to practice it; and observation and experience must give you the manner, +the air and the graces which complete the whole. + +This letter will hardly overtake you, till you are at or near Rome. +I expect a great deal in every way from your six months' stay there. +My morning hopes are justly placed in Mr. Harte, and the masters he will +give you; my evening ones, in the Roman ladies: pray be attentive to +both. But I must hint to you, that the Roman ladies are not 'les femmes +savantes, et ne vous embrasseront point pour Pamour du Grec. They must +have 'ilgarbato, il leggiadro, it disinvolto, il lusinghiero, quel non so +che, che piace, che alletta, che incanta'. + +I have often asserted, that the profoundest learning and the politest +manners were by no means incompatible, though so seldom found united in +the same person; and I have engaged myself to exhibit you, as a proof of +the truth of this assertion. Should you, instead of that, happen to +disprove me, the concern indeed would be mine, but the loss will be +yours. Lord Bolingbroke is a strong instance on my side of the question; +he joins to the deepest erudition, the most elegant politeness and good- +breeding that ever any courtier and man of the world was adorned with. +And Pope very justly called him "All-accomplished St. John," with regard +to his knowledge and his manners. He had, it is true, his faults; which +proceeded from unbounded ambition, and impetuous passions; but they have +now subsided by age and experience; and I can wish you nothing better +than to be, what he is now, without being what he has been formerly. His +address pre-engages, his eloquence persuades, and his knowledge informs +all who approach him. Upon the whole, I do desire, and insist, that from +after dinner till you go to bed, you make good-breeding, address, and +manners, your serious object and your only care. Without them, you will +be nobody; with them, you may be anything. + +Adieu, my dear child! My compliments to Mr. Harte. + + + + +LETTER XCI + +LONDON, November 24, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR Boy: Every rational being (I take it for granted) proposes to +himself some object more important than mere respiration and obscure +animal existence. He desires to distinguish himself among his fellow- +creatures; and, 'alicui negotio intentus, prreclari facinoris, aut artis +bonae, faman quaerit'. Caesar, when embarking in a storm, said, that it +was not necessary he should live; but that it was absolutely necessary he +should get to the place to which he was going. And Pliny leaves mankind +this only alternative; either of doing what deserves to be written, or of +writing what deserves to be read. As for those who do neither, 'eorum +vitam mortemque juxta aestumo; quoniam de utraque siletur'. You have, I +am convinced, one or both of these objects in view; but you must know and +use the necessary means, or your pursuit will be vain and frivolous. In +either case, 'Sapere est princihium et fons'; but it is by no means all. +That knowledge must be adorned, it must have lustre as well as weight, +or it will be oftener taken, for lead than for gold. Knowledge you have, +and will have: I am easy upon that article. But my business, as your +friend, is not to compliment you upon what you have, but to tell you with +freedom what you want; and I must tell you plainly, that I fear you want +everything but knowledge. + +I have written to you so often, of late, upon good-breeding, address, +'les manieres liantes', the Graces, etc., that I shall confine this +letter to another subject, pretty near akin to them, and which, I am +sure, you are full as deficient in; I mean Style. + +Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your +style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as much +disadvantage, and be as ill received as your person, though ever so well +proportioned, would, if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters. It is not +every understanding that can judge of matter; but every ear can and does +judge, more or less, of style: and were I either to speak or write to the +public, I should prefer moderate matter, adorned with all the beauties +and elegancies of style, to the strongest matter in the world, ill-worded +and ill-delivered. Your business is negotiation abroad, and oratory in +the House of Commons at home. What figure can you make, in either case, +if your style be inelegant, I do not say bad? Imagine yourself writing +an office-letter to a secretary of state, which letter is to be read by +the whole Cabinet Council, and very possibly afterward laid before +parliament; any one barbarism, solecism, or vulgarism in it, would, in a +very few days, circulate through the whole kingdom, to your disgrace and +ridicule. For instance, I will suppose you had written the following +letter from The Hague to the Secretary of State at London; and leave you +to suppose the consequences of it: + +MY LORD: I HAD, last night, the honor of your Lordship's letter of the +24th; and will SET ABOUT DOING the orders contained THEREIN; and IF so BE +that I can get that affair done by the next post, I will not fail FOR TO +give your Lordship an account of it by NEXT POST. I have told the French +Minister, AS HOW THAT IF that affair be not soon concluded, your Lordship +would think it ALL LONG OF HIM; and that he must have neglected FOR TO +have wrote to his court about it. I must beg leave to put your Lordship +in mind AS HOW, that I am now full three quarter in arrear; and if SO BE +that I do not very soon receive at least one half year, I shall CUT A +VERY BAD FIGURE; FOR THIS HERE place is very dear. I shall be VASTLY +BEHOLDEN to your Lordship for THAT THERE mark of your favor; and so I +REST or REMAIN, Your, etc. + + +You will tell me, possibly, that this is a caricatura of an illiberal and +inelegant style: I will admit it; but assure you, at the same time, that +a dispatch with less than half these faults would blow you up forever. +It is by no means sufficient to be free from faults, in speaking and +writing; but you must do both correctly and elegantly. In faults of this +kind, it is not 'ille optimus qui minimis arguetur'; but he is +unpardonable who has any at all, because it is his own fault: he need +only attend to, observe, and imitate the best authors. + +It is a very true saying, that a man must be born a poet, but that he may +make himself an orator; and the very first principle of an orator is to +speak his own language, particularly, with the utmost purity and +elegance. A man will be forgiven even great errors in a foreign +language; but in his own, even the least slips are justly laid hold of +and ridiculed. + +A person of the House of Commons, speaking two years ago upon naval +affairs; asserted, that we had then the finest navy UPON THE FACE OF THE +YEARTH. This happy mixture of blunder and vulgarism, you may easily +imagine, was matter of immediate ridicule; but I can assure you that it +continues so still, and will be remembered as long as he lives and +speaks. Another, speaking in defense of a gentleman, upon whom a censure +was moved, happily said that he thought that gentleman was more LIABLE to +be thanked and rewarded, than censured. You know, I presume, that LIABLE +can never be used in a good sense. + +You have with you three or four of the best English authors, Dryden, +Atterbury, and Swift; read them with the utmost care, and with a +particular view to their language, and they may possibly correct that +CURIOUS INFELICITY OF DICTION, which you acquired at Westminster. +Mr. Harte excepted, I will admit that you have met with very few English +abroad, who could improve your style; and with many, I dare say, who +speak as ill as yourself, and, it may be, worse; you must, therefore, +take the more pains, and consult your authors and Mr. Harte the more. +I need not tell you how attentive the Romans and Greeks, particularly the +Athenians, were to this object. It is also a study among the Italians +and the French; witness their respective academies and dictionaries for +improving and fixing their languages. To our shame be it spoken, it is +less attended to here than in any polite country; but that is no reason +why you should not attend to it; on the contrary, it will distinguish you +the more. Cicero says, very truly, that it is glorious to excel other +men in that very article, in which men excel brutes; SPEECH. + +Constant experience has shown me, that great purity and elegance of +style, with a graceful elocution, cover a multitude of faults, in either +a speaker or a writer. For my own part, I confess (and I believe most +people are of my mind) that if a speaker should ungracefully mutter or +stammer out to me the sense of an angel, deformed by barbarism and +solecisms, or larded with vulgarisms, he should never speak to me a +second time, if I could help it. Gain the heart, or you gain nothing; +the eyes and the ears are the only roads to the heart. Merit and +knowledge will not gain hearts, though they will secure them when gained. +Pray, have that truth ever in your mind. Engage the eyes by your +address, air, and motions; soothe the ears by the elegance and harmony of +your diction; the heart will certainly follow; and the whole man, or +woman, will as certainly follow the heart. I must repeat it to you, +over and over again, that with all the knowledge which you may have at +present, or hereafter acquire, and with all merit that ever man had, +if you have not a graceful address, liberal and engaging manners, +a prepossessing air, and a good degree of eloquence in speaking and +writing; you will be nobody; but will have the daily mortification of +seeing people, with not one-tenth part of your merit or knowledge, get +the start of you, and disgrace you, both in company and in business. + +You have read "Quintilian," the best book in the world to form an orator; +pray read 'Cicero de Oratore', the best book in the world to finish one. +Translate and retranslate from and to Latin, Greek, and English; make +yourself a pure and elegant English style: it requires nothing but +application. I do not find that God has made you a poet; and I am very +glad that he has not: therefore, for God's sake, make yourself an orator, +which you may do. Though I still call you boy, I consider you no longer +as such; and when I reflect upon the prodigious quantity of manure that +has been laid upon you, I expect that you should produce more at +eighteen, than uncultivated soils do at eight-and-twenty. + +Pray tell Mr. Harte that I have received his letter of the 13th, N. S. +Mr. Smith was much in the right not to let you go, at this time of the +year, by sea; in the summer you may navigate as much as you please; as, +for example, from Leghorn to Genoa, etc. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCII + +LONDON, November 27, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: While the Roman Republic flourished, while glory was pursued, +and virtue practiced, and while even little irregularities and +indecencies, not cognizable by law, were, however, not thought below the +public care, censors were established, discretionally to supply, in +particular cases, the inevitable defects of the law, which must and can +only be general. This employment I assume to myself with regard to your +little republic, leaving the legislative power entirely to Mr. Harte; I +hope, and believe, that he will seldom, or rather never, have occasion to +exert his supreme authority; and I do by no means suspect you of any +faults that may require that interposition. But, to tell you the plain +truth, I am of opinion that my censorial power will not be useless to +you, nor a sinecure to me. The sooner you make it both, the better for +us both. I can now exercise this employment only upon hearsay, or, at +most, written evidence; and therefore shall exercise it with great lenity +and some diffidence; but when we meet, and that I can form my judgment +upon ocular and auricular evidence, I shall no more let the least +impropriety, indecorum, or irregularity pass uncensured, than my +predecessor Cato did. I shall read you with the attention of a critic, +not with the partiality of an author: different in this respect, indeed, +from most critics, that I shall seek for faults only to correct and not +to expose them. I have often thought, and still think, that there are +few things which people in general know less, than how to love and how to +hate. They hurt those they love by a mistaken indulgence, by a +blindness, nay, often by a partiality to their faults. Where they hate +they hurt themselves, by ill-timed passion and rage. Fortunately for +you, I never loved you in that mistaken manner. From your infancy, I +made you the object of my most serious attention, and not my plaything. +I consulted your real good, not your humors or fancies; and I shall +continue to do so while you want it, which will probably be the case +during our joint lives; for, considering the difference of our ages, in +the course of nature, you will hardly have acquired experience enough of +your own, while I shall be in condition of lending you any of mine. +People in general will much better bear being, told of their vices or +crimes, than of their little failings and weaknesses. They, in some +degree, justify or excuse (as they think) the former, by strong passions, +seductions, and artifices of others, but to be told of, or to confess, +their little failings and weaknesses, implies an inferiority of parts, +too mortifying to that self-love and vanity, which are inseparable from +our natures. I have been intimate enough with several people to tell +them that they had said or done a very criminal thing; but I never was +intimate enough with any man, to tell him, very seriously, that he had +said or done a very foolish one. Nothing less than the relation between +you and me can possibly authorize that freedom; but fortunately for you, +my parental rights, joined to my censorial powers, give it me in its +fullest extent, and my concern for you will make me exert it. Rejoice, +therefore, that there is one person in the world who can and will tell +you what will be very useful to you to know, and yet what no other man +living could or would tell you. Whatever I shall tell you of this kind, +you are very sure, can have no other motive than your interest; I can +neither be jealous nor envious of your reputation or fortune, which I +must be both desirous and proud to establish and promote; I cannot be +your rival either in love or in business; on the contrary, I want the +rays of your rising to reflect new lustre upon my setting light. In +order to this, I shall analyze you minutely, and censure you freely, that +you may not (if possible) have one single spot, when in your meridian. + +There is nothing that a young fellow, at his first appearance in the +world, has more reason to dread, and consequently should take more pains +to avoid, than having any ridicule fixed upon him. It degrades him with +the most reasonable part of mankind; but it ruins him with the rest; and +I have known many a man undone by acquiring a ridiculous nickname: I +would not, for all the riches in the world, that you should acquire one +when you return to England. Vices and crimes excite hatred and reproach; +failings, weaknesses, and awkwardnesses, excite ridicule; they are laid +hold of by mimics, who, though very contemptible wretches themselves, +often, by their buffoonery, fix ridicule upon their betters. The little +defects in manners, elocution, address, and air (and even of figure, +though very unjustly), are the objects of ridicule, and the causes of +nicknames. You cannot imagine the grief it would give me, and the +prejudice it would do you, if, by way of distinguishing you from others +of your name, you should happen to be called Muttering Stanhope, Absent +Stanhope, Ill-bred Stanhope, or Awkward, Left-legged Stanhope: therefore, +take great care to put it out of the power of Ridicule itself to give you +any of these ridiculous epithets; for, if you get one, it will stick to +you, like the envenomed shirt. The very first day that I see you, +I shall be able to tell you, and certainly shall tell you, what degree of +danger you are in; and I hope that my admonitions, as censor, may prevent +the censures of the public. Admonitions are always useful; is this one +or not? You are the best judge; it is your own picture which I send you, +drawn, at my request, by a lady at Venice: pray let me know how far, in +your conscience, you think it like; for there are some parts of it which +I wish may, and others, which I should be sorry were. I send you, +literally, the copy of that part of her letter, to her friend here, which +relates to you.--[In compliance to your orders, I have examined young +Stanhope carefully, and think I have penetrated into his character. This +is his portrait, which I take to be a faithful one. His face is +pleasing, his countenance sensible, and his look clever. His figure is +at present rather too square; but if he shoots up, which he has matter +and years for, he will then be of a good size. He has, undoubtedly, a +great fund of acquired knowledge; I am assured that he is master of the +learned languages. As for French, I know he speaks it perfectly, and, I +am told, German as well. The questions he asks are judicious; and denote +a thirst after knowledge. I cannot say that he appears equally desirous +of pleasing, for he seems to neglect attentions and the graces. He does +not come into a room well, nor has he that easy, noble carriage, which +would be proper for him. It is true, he is as yet young and +inexperienced; one may therefore reasonably hope that his exercises, +which he has not yet gone through, and good company, in which he is still +a novice, will polish, and give all that is wanting to complete him. +What seems necessary for that purpose, would, be an attachment to some +woman of fashion, and who knows the world. Some Madame de l'Ursay would +be the proper person. In short, I can assure you, that he has everything +which Lord Chesterfield can wish him, excepting that carriage, those +graces, and the style used in the best company; which he will certainly +acquire in time, and by frequenting the polite world. If he should not, +it would be great pity, since he so well deserves to possess them. You +know their importance. My Lord, his father, knows it too, he being +master of them all. To conclude, if little Stanhope acquires the graces, +I promise you he will make his way; if not, he will be stopped in a +course, the goal of which he might attain with honor.] + +Tell Mr. Harte that I have this moment received his letter of the 22d, +N. S., and that I approve extremely of the long stay you have made at +Venice. I love long residences at capitals; running post through +different places is a most unprofitable way of traveling, and admits of +no application. Adieu. + +You see, by this extract, of what consequence other people think these +things. Therefore, I hope you will no longer look upon them as trifles. +It is the character of an able man to despise little things in great +business: but then he knows what things are little, and what not. He +does not suppose things are little, because they are commonly called so: +but by the consequences that may or may not attend them. If gaining +people's affections, and interesting their hearts in your favor, be of +consequence, as it undoubtedly is, he knows very well that a happy +concurrence of all those, commonly called little things, manners, air, +address, graces, etc., is of the utmost consequence, and will never be at +rest till he has acquired them. The world is taken by the outside of +things, and we must take the world as it is; you nor I cannot set it +right. I know, at this time, a man of great quality and station, who has +not the parts of a porter; but raised himself to the station he is in, +singly by having a graceful figure, polite manners, and an engaging +address; which, by the way, he only acquired by habit; for he had not +sense enough to get them by reflection. Parts and habit should conspire +to complete you. You will have the habit of good company, and you have +reflection in your power. + + + + +LETTER XCIII + +LONDON, December 5, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Those who suppose that men in general act rationally, because +they are called rational creatures, know very little of the world, and if +they act themselves upon that supposition, will nine times in ten find +themselves grossly mistaken. That man is, 'animal bipes, implume, +risibile', I entirely agree; but for the 'rationale', I can only allow it +him 'in actu primo' (to talk logic) and seldom in 'actu secundo'. Thus, +the speculative, cloistered pedant, in his solitary cell, forms systems +of things as they should be, not as they are; and writes as decisively +and absurdly upon war, politics, manners, and characters, as that pedant +talked, who was so kind as to instruct Hannibal in the art of war. Such +closet politicians never fail to assign the deepest motives for the most +trifling actions; instead of often ascribing the greatest actions to the +most trifling causes, in which they would be much seldomer mistaken. +They read and write of kings, heroes, and statesmen, as never doing +anything but upon the deepest principles of sound policy. But those who +see and observe kings, heroes, and statesmen, discover that they have +headaches, indigestions, humors, and passions, just like other people; +everyone of which, in their turns, determine their wills, in defiance of +their reason. Had we only read in the "Life of Alexander," that he +burned Persepolis, it would doubtless have been accounted for from deep +policy: we should have been told, that his new conquest could not have +been secured without the destruction of that capital, which would have +been the constant seat of cabals, conspiracies, and revolts. But, +luckily, we are informed at the same time, that this hero, this demi-god, +this son and heir of Jupiter Ammon, happened to get extremely drunk with +his w---e; and, by way of frolic, destroyed one of the finest cities in +the world. Read men, therefore, yourself, not in books but in nature. +Adopt no systems, but study them yourself. Observe their weaknesses, +their passions, their humors, of all which their understandings are, nine +times in ten, the dupes. You will then know that they are to be gained, +influenced, or led, much oftener by little things than by great ones; +and, consequently, you will no longer think those things little, which +tend to such great purposes. + +Let us apply this now to the particular object of this letter; I mean, +speaking in, and influencing public assemblies. The nature of our +constitution makes eloquence more useful, and more necessary, in this +country than in any other in Europe. A certain degree of good sense and +knowledge is requisite for that, as well as for everything else; but +beyond that, the purity of diction, the elegance of style, the harmony of +periods, a pleasing elocution, and a graceful action, are the things +which a public speaker should attend to the most; because his audience +certainly does, and understands them the best; or rather indeed +understands little else. The late Lord Chancellor Cowper's strength as +an orator lay by no means in his reasonings, for he often hazarded very +weak ones. But such was the purity and elegance of his style, such the +propriety and charms of his elocution, and such the gracefulness of his +action, that he never spoke without universal applause; the ears and the +eyes gave him up the hearts and the understandings of the audience. On +the contrary, the late Lord Townshend always spoke materially, with +argument and knowledge, but never pleased. Why? His diction was not +only inelegant, but frequently ungrammatical, always vulgar; his cadences +false, his voice unharmonious, and his action ungraceful. Nobody heard +him with patience; and the young fellows used to joke upon him, and +repeat his inaccuracies. The late Duke of Argyle, though the weakest +reasoner, was the most pleasing speaker I ever knew in my life. He +charmed, he warmed, he forcibly ravished the audience; not by his matter +certainly, but by his manner of delivering it. A most genteel figure, +a graceful, noble air, an harmonious voice, an elegance of style, and a +strength of emphasis, conspired to make him the most affecting, +persuasive, and applauded speaker I ever saw. I was captivated like +others; but when I came home, and coolly considered what he had said, +stripped of all those ornaments in which he had dressed it, I often found +the matter flimsy, the arguments weak, and I was convinced of the power +of those adventitious concurring circumstances, which ignorance of +mankind only calls trifling ones. Cicero, in his book 'De Oratore', in +order to raise the dignity of that profession which he well knew himself +to be at the head of, asserts that a complete orator must be a complete +everything, lawyer, philosopher, divine, etc. That would be extremely +well, if it were possible: but man's life is not long enough; and I hold +him to be the completest orator, who speaks the best upon that subject +which occurs; whose happy choice of words, whose lively imagination, +whose elocution and action adorn and grace his matter, at the same time +that they excite the attention and engage the passions of his audience. + +You will be of the House of Commons as soon as you are of age; and you +must first make a figure there, if you would make a figure, or a fortune, +in your country. This you can never do without that correctness and +elegance in your own language, which you now seem to neglect, and which +you have entirely to learn. Fortunately for you, it is to be learned. +Care and observation will do it; but do not flatter yourself, that all +the knowledge, sense, and reasoning in the world will ever make you a +popular and applauded speaker, without the ornaments and the graces of +style, elocution, and action. Sense and argument, though coarsely +delivered, will have their weight in a private conversation, with two or +three people of sense; but in a public assembly they will have none, if +naked and destitute of the advantages I have mentioned. Cardinal de Retz +observes, very justly, that every numerous assembly is a mob, influenced +by their passions, humors, and affections, which nothing but eloquence +ever did or ever can engage. This is so important a consideration for +everybody in this country, and more particularly for you, that I +earnestly recommend it to your most serious care and attention. Mind +your diction, in whatever language you either write or speak; contract a +habit of correctness and elegance. Consider your style, even in the +freest conversation and most familiar letters. After, at least, if not +before, you have said a thing, reflect if you could not have said it +better. Where you doubt of the propriety or elegance of a word or a +phrase, consult some good dead or living authority in that language. Use +yourself to translate, from various languages into English; correct those +translations till they satisfy your ear, as well as your understanding. +And be convinced of this truth, that the best sense and reason in the +world will be as unwelcome in a public assembly, without these ornaments, +as they will in public companies, without the assistance of manners and +politeness. If you will please people, you must please them in their own +way; and, as you cannot make them what they should be, you must take them +as they are. I repeat it again, they are only to be taken by 'agremens', +and by what flatters their senses and their hearts. Rabelais first wrote +a most excellent book, which nobody liked; then, determined to conform to +the public taste, he wrote Gargantua and Pantagruel, which everybody +liked, extravagant as it was. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCIV + +LONDON, December 9, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: It is now above forty years since I have never spoken nor +written one single word, without giving myself at least one moment's time +to consider whether it was a good or a bad one, and whether I could not +find out a better in its place. An unharmonious and rugged period, at +this time, shocks my ears; and I, like all the rest of the world, will +willingly exchange and give up some degree of rough sense, for a good +degree of pleasing sound. I will freely and truly own to you, without +either vanity or false modesty, that whatever reputation I have acquired +as a speaker, is more owing to my constant attention to my diction than +to my matter, which was necessarily just the same as other people's. +When you come into parliament, your reputation as a speaker will depend +much more upon your words, and your periods, than upon the subject. The +same matter occurs equally to everybody of common sense, upon the same +question; the dressing it well, is what excites the attention and +admiration of the audience. + +It is in parliament that I have set my heart upon your making a figure; +it is there that I want to have you justly proud of yourself, and to make +me justly proud of you. This means that you must be a good speaker +there; I use the word MUST, because I know you may if you will. The +vulgar, who are always mistaken, look upon a speaker and a comet with the +same astonishment and admiration, taking them both for preternatural +phenomena. This error discourages many young men from attempting that +character; and good speakers are willing to have their talent considered +as something very extraordinary, if not, a peculiar gift of God to his +elect. But let you and me analyze and simplify this good speaker; let us +strip him of those adventitious plumes with which his own pride, and the +ignorance of others, have decked him, and we shall find the true +definition of him to be no more than this: A man of good common sense who +reasons justly and expresses himself elegantly on that subject upon which +he speaks. There is, surely, no witchcraft in this. A man of sense, +without a superior and astonishing degree of parts, will not talk +nonsense upon any subject; nor will he, if he has the least taste or +application, talk inelegantly. What then does all this mighty art and +mystery of speaking in parliament amount to? Why, no more than this: +that the man who speaks in the House of Commons, speaks in that House, +and to four hundred people, that opinion upon a given subject which he +would make no difficulty of speaking in any house in England, round the +fire, or at table, to any fourteen people whatsoever; better judges, +perhaps, and severer critics of what he says, than any fourteen gentlemen +of the House of Commons. + +I have spoken frequently in parliament, and not always without some +applause; and therefore I can assure you, from my experience, that there +is very little in it. The elegance of the style, and the turn of the +periods, make the chief impression upon the hearers. Give them but one +or two round and harmonious periods in a speech, which they will retain +and repeat; and they will go home as well satisfied as people do from an +opera, humming all the way one or two favorite tunes that have struck +their ears, and were easily caught. Most people have ears, but few have +judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch their +judgments, such as they are. + +Cicero, conscious that he was at the top of his profession (for in his +time eloquence was a profession), in order to set himself off, defines in +his treatise 'De Oratore', an orator to be such a man as never was, nor +never will be; and, by his fallacious argument, says that he must know +every art and science whatsoever, or how shall he speak upon them? But, +with submission to so great an authority, my definition of an orator is +extremely different from, and I believe much truer than his. I call that +man an orator, who reasons justly, and expresses himself elegantly, upon +whatever subject he treats. Problems in geometry, equations in algebra, +processes in chemistry, and experiments in anatomy, are never, that I +have heard of, the object of eloquence; and therefore I humbly conceive, +that a man may be a very fine speaker, and yet know nothing of geometry, +algebra, chemistry, or anatomy. The subjects of all parliamentary +debates are subjects of common sense singly. + +Thus I write whatever occurs to me, that I think may contribute either to +form or inform you. May my labor not be in vain! and it will not, if you +will but have half the concern for yourself that I have for you. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCV + +LONDON; December 12, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: Lord Clarendon in his history says of Mr. John Hampden THAT HE +HAD A HEAD TO CONTRIVE, A TONGUE TO PERSUADE, AND A HAND TO EXECUTE +ANY +MISCHIEF. I shall not now enter into the justness of this character of +Mr. Hampden, to whose brave stand against the illegal demand of ship- +money we owe our present liberties; but I mention it to you as the +character, which with the alteration of one single word, GOOD, instead of +MISCHIEF, I would have you aspire to, and use your utmost endeavors to +deserve. The head to contrive, God must to a certain degree have given +you; but it is in your own power greatly to improve it, by study, +observation, and reflection. As for the TONGUE TO PERSUADE, it wholly +depends upon yourself; and without it the best head will contrive to very +little purpose. The hand to execute depends likewise, in my opinion, +in a great measure upon yourself. Serious reflection will always give +courage in a good cause; and the courage arising from reflection is of a +much superior nature to the animal and constitutional courage of a foot +soldier. The former is steady and unshaken, where the 'nodus' is 'dignus +vindice'; the latter is oftener improperly than properly exerted, but +always brutally. + +The second member of my text (to speak ecclesiastically) shall be the +subject of my following discourse; THE TONGUE TO PERSUADE--as judicious, +preachers recommend those virtues, which they think their several +audiences want the most; such as truth and continence, at court; +disinterestedness, in the city; and sobriety, in the country. + +You must certainly, in the course of your little experience, have felt +the different effects of elegant and inelegant speaking. Do you not +suffer, when people accost you in a stammering or hesitating manner, in +an untuneful voice, with false accents and cadences; puzzling and +blundering through solecisms, barbarisms, and vulgarisms; misplacing even +their bad words, and inverting all method? Does not this prejudice you +against their matter, be it what it will; nay, even against their +persons? I am sure it does me. On the other hand, do you not feel +yourself inclined, prepossessed, nay, even engaged in favor of those who +address you in the direct contrary manner? The effects of a correct and +adorned style of method and perspicuity, are incredible toward +persuasion; they often supply the want of reason and argument, but, when +used in the support of reason and argument, they are irresistible. The +French attend very much to the purity and elegance of their style, even +in common conversation; insomuch that it is a character to say of a man +'qu'il narre bien'. Their conversations frequently turn upon the +delicacies of their language, and an academy is employed in fixing it. +The 'Crusca', in Italy, has the same object; and I have met with very few +Italians, who did not speak their own language correctly and elegantly. +How much more necessary is it for an Englishman to do so, who is to speak +it in a public assembly, where the laws and liberties of his country are +the subjects of his deliberation? The tongue that would persuade there, +must not content itself with mere articulation. You know what pains +Demosthenes took to correct his naturally bad elocution; you know that he +declaimed by the seaside in storms, to prepare himself for the noise of +the tumultuous assemblies he was to speak to; and you can now judge of +the correctness and elegance of his style. He thought all these things +of consequence, and he thought right; pray do you think so too? It is of +the utmost consequence to you to be of that opinion. If you have the +least defect in your elocution, take the utmost care and pains to correct +it. Do not neglect your style, whatever language you speak in, or +whoever you speak to, were it your footman. Seek always for the best +words and the happiest expressions you can find. Do not content yourself +with being barely understood; but adorn your thoughts, and dress them as +you would your person; which, however well proportioned it might be, it +would be very improper and indecent to exhibit naked, or even worse +dressed than people of your sort are. + +I have sent you in a packet which your Leipsig acquaintance, Duval, sends +to his correspondent at Rome, Lord Bolingbroke's book,--["Letters on the +Spirit of Patriotism," on the Idea of a Patriot King which he published +about a year ago.]--I desire that you will read it over and over again, +with particular attention to the style, and to all those beauties of +oratory with which it is adorned. Till I read that book, I confess I did +not know all the extent and powers of the English language. Lord +Bolingbroke has both a tongue and a pen to persuade; his manner of +speaking in private conversation is full as elegant as his writings; +whatever subject he either speaks or writes upon, he adorns with the most +splendid eloquence; not a studied or labored eloquence, but such a +flowing happiness of diction, which (from care perhaps at first) is +become so habitual to him, that even his most familiar conversations, if +taken down in writing, would bear the press, without the least correction +either as to method or style. If his conduct, in the former part of his +life, had been equal to all his natural and acquired talents, he would +most justly have merited the epithet of all-accomplished. He is himself +sensible of his past errors: those violent passions which seduced him in +his youth, have now subsided by age; and take him as he is now, the +character of all-accomplished is more his due than any man's I ever knew +in my life. + +But he has been a most mortifying instance of the violence of human +passions and of the weakness of the most exalted human reason. His +virtues and his vices, his reason and his passions, did not blend +themselves by a gradation of tints, but formed a shining and sudden +contrast. Here the darkest, there the most splendid colors; and both +rendered more shining from their proximity. Impetuosity, excess, and +almost extravagance, characterized not only his passions, but even his +senses. His youth was distinguished by all the tumult and storm of +pleasures, in which he most licentiously triumphed, disdaining all +decorum. His fine imagination has often been heated and exhausted, with +his body, in celebrating and deifying the prostitute of the night; and +his convivial joys were pushed to all the extravagance of frantic +Bacchanals. Those passions were interrupted but by a stronger ambition. +The former impaired both his constitution and his character, but the +latter destroyed both his fortune and his reputation. + +He has noble and generous sentiments, rather than fixed reflected +principles of good nature and friendship; but they are more violent than +lasting, and suddenly and often varied to their opposite extremes, with +regard to the same persons. He receives the common attentions of +civility as obligations, which he returns with interest; and resents with +passion the little inadvertencies of human nature, which he repays with +interest too. Even a difference of opinion upon a philosophical subject +would provoke, and prove him no practical philosopher at least. + +Notwithstanding the dissipation of his youth, and the tumultuous +agitation of his middle age, he has an infinite fund of various and +almost universal knowledge, which, from the clearest and quickest +conception, and happiest memory, that ever man was blessed with, he +always carries about him. It is his pocket-money, and he never has +occasion to draw upon a book for any sum. He excels more particularly in +history, as his historical works plainly prove. The relative political +and commercial interests of every country in Europe, particularly of his +own, are better known to him, than perhaps to any man in it; but how +steadily he has pursued the latter, in his public conduct, his enemies, +of all parties and denominations, tell with joy. + +He engaged young, and distinguished himself in business; and his +penetration was almost intuition. I am old enough to have heard him +speak in parliament. And I remember that, though prejudiced against him +by party, I felt all the force and charms of his eloquence. Like Belial +in Milton, "he made the worse appear the better cause." All the internal +and external advantages and talents of an orator are undoubtedly his. +Figure, voice, elocution, knowledge, and, above all, the purest and most +florid diction, with the justest metaphors and happiest images, had +raised him to the post of Secretary at War, at four-and-twenty years old, +an age at which others are hardly thought fit for the smallest +employments. + +During his long exile in France, he applied himself to study with his +characteristical ardor; and there he formed and chiefly executed the plan +of a great philosophical work. The common bounds of human knowledge are +too narrow for his warm and aspiring imagination. He must go 'extra +flammantia maenia Mundi', and explore the unknown and unknowable regions +of metaphysics; which open an unbounded field for the excursion of an +ardent imagination; where endless conjectures supply the defect of +unattainable knowledge, and too often usurp both its name and its +influence. + +He has had a very handsome person, with a most engaging address in his +air and manners; he has all the dignity and good-breeding which a man of +quality should or can have, and which so few, in this country at least, +really have. + +He professes himself a deist; believing in a general Providence, but +doubting of, though by no means rejecting (as is commonly supposed) the +immortality of the soul and a future state. + +Upon the whole, of this extraordinary man, what can we say, but, alas, +poor human nature! + +In your destination, you will have frequent occasions to speak in public; +to princes and states abroad; to the House of Commons at home; judge, +then, whether eloquence is necessary for you or not; not only common +eloquence, which is rather free from faults than adorned by beauties; but +the highest, the most shining degree of eloquence. For God's sake, have +this object always in your view and in your thoughts. Tune your tongue +early to persuasion; and let no jarring, dissonant accents ever fall from +it, Contract a habit of speaking well upon every occasion, and neglect +yourself in no one. Eloquence and good-breeding, alone, with an +exceeding small degree of parts and knowledge, will carry a man a great +way; with your parts and knowledge, then, how far will they not carry +you? Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCVI + +LONDON, December 16, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR Boy: This letter will, I hope, find you safely arrived and well +settled at Rome, after the usual distresses and accidents of a winter +journey; which are very proper to teach you patience. Your stay there I +look upon as a very important period of your life; and I do believe that +you will fill it up well. I hope you will employ the mornings diligently +with Mr. Harte, in acquiring weight; and the evenings in the best +companies at Rome, in acquiring lustre. A formal, dull father, would +recommend to you to plod out the evenings, too, at home, over a book by a +dim taper; but I recommend to you the evenings for your pleasures, which +are as much a part of your education, and almost as necessary a one, as +your morning studies. Go to whatever assemblies or SPECTACLES people of +fashion go to, and when you are there do as they do. Endeavor to +outshine those who shine there the most, get the 'Garbo', the +'Gentilezza', the 'Leggeadria' of the; Italians; make love to the most +impertinent beauty of condition that you meet with, and be gallant with +all the rest. Speak Italian, right or wrong, to everybody; and if you do +but laugh at yourself first for your bad Italian, nobody else will laugh +at you for it. That is the only way to speak it perfectly; which I +expect you will do, because I am sure you may, before you leave Rome. +View the most curious remains of antiquity with a classical spirit; and +they will clear up to you many passages of the classical authors; +particularly the Trajan and Antonine Columns; where you find the warlike +instruments, the dresses, and the triumphal ornaments of the Romans. Buy +also the prints and explanations of all those respectable remains of +Roman grandeur, and compare them with the originals. Most young +travelers are contented with a general view of those things, say they are +very fine, and then go about their business. I hope you will examine +them in a very different way. 'Approfondissez' everything you see or +hear; and learn, if you can, the WHY and the WHEREFORE. Inquire into the +meaning and the objects of the innumerable processions, which you will +see at Rome at this time. Assist at all the ceremonies, and know the +reason, or at least the pretenses of them, and however absurd they may +be, see and speak of them with great decency. Of all things, I beg of +you not to herd with your own countrymen, but to be always either with +the Romans, or with the foreign ministers residing at Rome. You are sent +abroad to see the manners and characters, and learn the languages of +foreign countries; and not to converse with English, in English; which +would defeat all those ends. Among your graver company, I recommend (as +I have done before) the Jesuits to you; whose learning and address will +both please and improve you; inform yourself, as much as you can, of the +history, policy, and practice of that society, from the time of its +founder, Ignatius of Loyola, who was himself a madman. If you would know +their morality, you will find it fully and admirably stated in 'Les +Lettres d'un Provincial', by the famous Monsieur Pascal; and it is a book +very well worth your reading. Few people see what they see, or hear what +they hear; that is, they see and hear so inattentively and superficially, +that they are very little the better for what they do see and hear. +This, I dare say, neither is, nor will be your case. You will +understand, reflect upon, and consequently retain, what you see and hear. +You have still two years good, but no more, to form your character in the +world decisively; for, within two months after your arrival in England, +it will be finally and irrevocably determined, one way or another, in the +opinion of the public. Devote, therefore, these two years to the pursuit +of perfection; which ought to be everybody's object, though in some +particulars unattainable; those who strive and labor the most, will come +the nearest to it. But, above all things, aim at it in the two important +arts of speaking and pleasing; without them all your other talents are +maimed and crippled. They are the wings upon which you must soar above +other people; without them you will only crawl with the dull mass of +mankind. Prepossess by your air, address, and manners; persuade by your +tongue; and you will easily execute what your head has contrived. I +desire that you will send me very minute accounts from Rome, not of what +you see, but, of who you see; of your pleasures and entertainments. Tell +me what companies you frequent most, and how you are received. + + + + +LETTER XCVII + +LONDON, December 19, O. S. 1749. + +DEAR BOY: The knowledge of mankind is a very use ful knowledge for +everybody; a most necessary one for you, who are destined to an active, +public life. You will have to do with all sorts of characters; you +should, therefore, know them thoroughly, in order to manage them ably. +This knowledge is not to be gotten systematically; you must acquire it +yourself by your own observation and sagacity; I will give you such hints +as I think may be useful land-marks in your intended progress. + +I have often told you (and it is most true) that, with regard to mankind, +we must not draw general conclusions from certain particular principles, +though, in the main, true ones. We must not suppose that, because a man +is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or, +because he has such or such a predominant passion, that he will act +invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No. We are +complicated machines: and though we have one main-spring, that gives +motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in +their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion. Let us +exemplify. I will suppose ambition to be (as it commonly is) the +predominant passion of a minister of state; and I will suppose that +minister to be an able one. Will he, therefore, invariably pursue the +object of that predominant passion? May I be sure that he will do so and +so, because he ought? Nothing less. Sickness or low spirits, may damp +this predominant passion; humor and peevishness may triumph over it; +inferior passions may, at times, surprise it and prevail. Is this +ambitious statesman amorous? Indiscreet and unguarded confidences, made +in tender moments, to his wife or his mistress, may defeat all his +schemes. Is he avaricious? Some great lucrative object, suddenly +presenting itself, may unravel all the work of his ambition. Is he +passionate? Contradiction and provocation (sometimes, it may be, too, +artfully intended) may extort rash and inconsiderate expressions, or +actions destructive of his main object. Is he vain, and open to +flattery? An artful, flattering favorite may mislead him; and even +laziness may, at certain moments, make him neglect or omit the necessary +steps to that height at which he wants to arrive. Seek first, then, for +the predominant passion of the character which you mean to engage and +influence, and address yourself to it; but without defying or despising +the inferior passions; get them in your interest too, for now and then +they will have their turns. In many cases, you may not have it in your +power to contribute to the gratification of the prevailing passion; then +take the next best to your aid. There are many avenues to every man; and +when you cannot get at him through the great one, try the serpentine +ones, and you will arrive at last. + +There are two inconsistent passions, which, however, frequently accompany +each other, like man and wife; and which, like man and wife too, are +commonly clogs upon each other. I mean ambition and avarice: the latter +is often the true cause of the former, and then is the predominant +passion. It seems to have been so in Cardinal Mazarin, who did anything, +submitted to anything, and forgave anything, for the sake of plunder. +He loved and courted power, like a usurer, because it carried profit +along with it. Whoever should have formed his opinion, or taken his +measures, singly, from the ambitious part of Cardinal Mazarin's +character, would have found himself often mistaken. Some who had found +this out, made their fortunes by letting him cheat them at play. On the +contrary, Cardinal Richelieu's prevailing passion seems to have been +ambition, and his immense riches only the natural consequences of that +ambition gratified; and yet, I make no doubt, but that ambition had now +and then its turn with the former, and avarice with the latter. +Richelieu (by the way) is so strong a proof of the inconsistency of human +nature, that I cannot help observing to you, that while he absolutely +governed both his king and his country, and was, in a great degree, the +arbiter of the fate of all Europe, he was more jealous of the great +reputation of Corneille than of the power of Spain; and more flattered +with being thought (what he was not) the best poet, than with being +thought (what he certainly was) the greatest statesman in Europe; and +affairs stood still while he was concerting the criticism upon the Cid. +Could one think this possible, if one did not know it to be true? Though +men are all of one composition, the several ingredients are so +differently proportioned in each individual, that no two are exactly +alike; and no one at all times like himself. The ablest man will +sometimes do weak things; the proudest man, mean things; the honestest +man, ill things; and the wickedest man, good ones. Study individuals +then, and if you take (as you ought to do,) their outlines from their +prevailing passion, suspend your last finishing strokes till you have +attended to, and discovered the operations of their inferior passions, +appetites, and humors. A man's general character may be that of the +honestest man of the world: do not dispute it; you might be thought +envious or ill-natured; but, at the same time, do not take this probity +upon trust to such a degree as to put your life, fortune, or reputation +in his power. This honest man may happen to be your rival in power, in +interest, or in love; three passions that often put honesty to most +severe trials, in which it is too often cast; but first analyze this +honest man yourself; and then only you will be able to judge how far you +may, or may not, with safety trust him. + +Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but +two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics. +An Agrippina may sacrifice them to ambition, or a Messalina to lust; but +those instances are rare; and, in general, all they say, and all they do, +tends to the gratification of their vanity or their love. He who +flatters them most, pleases them best; and they are the most in love with +him, who they think is the most in love with them. No adulation is too +strong for them; no assiduity too great; no simulation of passion too +gross; as, on the other hand, the least word or action that can possibly +be construed into a slight or contempt, is unpardonable, and never +forgotten. Men are in this respect tender too, and will sooner forgive +an injury than an insult. Some men are more captious than others; some +are always wrongheaded; but every man living has such a share of vanity, +as to be hurt by marks of slight and contempt. Every man does not +pretend to be a poet, a mathematician, or a statesman, and considered as +such; but every man pretends to common sense, and to fill his place in +the world with common decency; and, consequently, does not easily forgive +those negligences, inattentions and slights which seem to call in +question, or utterly deny him both these pretensions. + +Suspect, in general, those who remarkably affect any one virtue; who +raise it above all others, and who, in a manner, intimate that they +possess it exclusively. I say suspect them, for they are commonly +impostors; but do not be sure that they are always so; for I have +sometimes known saints really religious, blusterers really brave, +reformers of manners really honest, and prudes really chaste. Pry into +the recesses of their hearts yourself, as far as you are able, and never +implicitly adopt a character upon common fame; which, though generally +right as to the great outlines of characters, is always wrong in some +particulars. + +Be upon your guard against those who upon very slight acquaintance, +obtrude their unasked and unmerited friendship and confidence upon you; +for they probably cram you with them only for their own eating; but, at +the same time, do not roughly reject them upon that general supposition. +Examine further, and see whether those unexpected offers flow from a warm +heart and a silly head, or from a designing head and a cold heart; for +knavery and folly have often the same symptoms. In the first case, there +is no danger in accepting them, 'valeant quantum valere possunt'. In the +latter case, it may be useful to seem to accept them, and artfully to +turn the battery upon him who raised it. + +There is an incontinency of friendship among young fellows, who are +associated by their mutual pleasures only, which has, very frequently, +bad consequences. A parcel of warm hearts and inexperienced heads, +heated by convivial mirth, and possibly a little too much wine, vow, and +really mean at the time, eternal friendships to each other, and +indiscreetly pour out their whole souls in common, and without the least +reserve. These confidences are as indiscreetly repealed as they were +made; for new pleasures and new places soon dissolve this ill-cemented +connection; and then very ill uses are made of these rash confidences. +Bear your part, however, in young companies; nay, excel, if you can, in +all the social and convivial joy and festivity that become youth. Trust +them with your love tales, if you please; but keep your serious views +secret. Trust those only to some tried friend, more experienced than +yourself, and who, being in a different walk of life from you, is not +likely to become your rival; for I would not advise you to depend so much +upon the heroic virtue of mankind, as to hope or believe that your +competitor will ever be your friend, as to the object of that +competition. + +These are reserves and cautions very necessary to have, but very +imprudent to show; the 'volto sciolto' should accompany them. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCVIII + +DEAR BOY: Great talents and great virtues (if you should have them) will +procure you the respect and the admiration of mankind; but it is the +lesser talents, the 'leniores virtutes', which must procure you their +love and affection. The former, unassisted and unadorned by the latter, +will extort praise; but will, at the same time, excite both fear and +envy; two sentiments absolutely incompatible with love and affection. + +Caesar had all the great vices, and Cato all the great virtues, that men +could have. But Caesar had the 'leniores virtutes' which Cato wanted, +and which made him beloved, even by his enemies, and gained him the +hearts of mankind, in spite of their reason: while Cato was not even +beloved by his friends, notwithstanding the esteem and respect which they +could not refuse to his virtues; and I am apt to think, that if Caesar +had wanted, and Cato possessed, those 'leniores virtutes', the former +would not have attempted (at least with success), and the latter could +have protected, the liberties of Rome. Mr. Addison, in his "Cato," says +of Caesar (and I believe with truth), + + "Curse on his virtues, they've undone his country." + +By which he means those lesser, but engaging virtues of gentleness, +affability, complaisance, and good humor. The knowledge of a scholar, +the courage of a hero, and the virtue of a Stoic, will be admired; but if +the knowledge be accompanied with arrogance, the courage with ferocity, +and the virtue with inflexible severity, the man will never be loved. +The heroism of Charles XII. of Sweden (if his brutal courage deserves +that name) was universally admired, but the man nowhere beloved. Whereas +Henry IV. of France, who had full as much courage, and was much longer +engaged in wars, was generally beloved upon account of his lesser and +social virtues. We are all so formed, that our understandings are +generally the DUPES of our hearts, that is, of our passions; and the +surest way to the former is through the latter, which must be engaged by +the 'leniores virtutes' alone, and the manner of exerting them. The +insolent civility of a proud man is (for example) if possible, more +shocking than his rudeness could be; because he shows you by his manner +that he thinks it mere condescension in him; and that his goodness alone +bestows upon you what you have no pretense to claim. He intimates his +protection, instead of his friendship, by a gracious nod, instead of a +usual bow; and rather signifies his consent that you may, than his +invitation that you should sit, walk, eat, or drink with him. + +The costive liberality of a purse-proud man insults the distresses it +sometimes relieves; he takes care to make you feel your own misfortunes, +and the difference between your situation and his; both which he +insinuates to be justly merited: yours, by your folly; his, by his +wisdom. The arrogant pedant does not communicate, but promulgates his +knowledge. He does not give it you, but he inflicts it upon you; and is +(if possible) more desirous to show you your own ignorance than his own +learning. Such manners as these, not only in the particular instances +which I have mentioned, but likewise in all others, shock and revolt that +little pride and vanity which every man has in his heart; and obliterate +in us the obligation for the favor conferred, by reminding us of the +motive which produced, and the manner which accompanied it. + +These faults point out their opposite perfections, and your own good +sense will naturally suggest them to you. + +But besides these lesser virtues, there are what may be called the lesser +talents, or accomplishments, which are of great use to adorn and +recommend all the greater; and the more so, as all people are judges of +the one, and but few are of the other. Everybody feels the impression, +which an engaging address, an agreeable manner of speaking, and an easy +politeness, makes upon them; and they prepare the way for the favorable +reception of their betters. Adieu. + + + + +LETTER XCIX + +LONDON, December 26, O. S. 1749. + +MY DEAR FRIEND: The new year is the season in which custom seems more +particularly to authorize civil and harmless lies, under the name of +compliments. People reciprocally profess wishes which they seldom form; +and concern, which they seldom feel. This is not the case between you +and me, where truth leaves no room for compliments. + +'Dii tibi dent annos, de to nam caetera sumes', was said formerly to one +by a man who certainly did not think it. With the variation of one word +only, I will with great truth say it to you. I will make the first part +conditional by changing, in the second, the 'nam' into 'si'. May you +live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer! or may you rather die +before you cease to be fit to live, than after! My true tenderness for +you makes me think more of the manner than of the length of your life, +and forbids me to wish it prolonged, by a single day, that should bring +guilt, reproach, and shame upon you. I have not malice enough in my +nature, to wish that to my greatest enemy. You are the principal object +of all my cares, the only object of all my hopes; I have now reason to +believe, that you will reward the former, and answer the latter; in that +case, may you live long, for you must live happy; 'de te nam caetera +sumes'. Conscious virtue is the only solid foundation of all happiness; +for riches, power, rank, or whatever, in the common acceptation of the +word, is supposed to constitute happiness, will never quiet, much less +cure, the inward pangs of guilt. To that main wish, I will add those of +the good old nurse of Horace, in his epistle to Tibullus: 'Sapere', you +have it in a good degree already. 'Et fari ut possit quae sentiat'. +Have you that? More, much more is meant by it, than common speech or +mere articulation. I fear that still remains to be wished for, and I +earnestly wish it to you. 'Gratia and Fama' will inevitably accompany +the above-mentioned qualifications. The 'Valetudo' is the only one that +is not in your own power; Heaven alone can grant it you, and may it do so +abundantly! As for the 'mundus victus, non deficiente crumena', do you +deserve, and I will provide them. + +It is with the greatest pleasure that I consider the fair prospect which +you have before you. You have seen, read, and learned more, at your age, +than most young fellows have done at two or three-and-twenty. Your +destination is a shining one, and leads to rank, fortune, and +distinction. Your education has been calculated for it; and, to do you +justice, that education has not been thrown away upon you. You want but +two things, which do not want conjuration, but only care, to acquire: +eloquence and manners; that is, the graces of speech, and the graces of +behavior. You may have them; they are as much in your power as powdering +your hair is; and will you let the want of them obscure (as it certainly +will do) that shining prospect which presents itself to you. I am sure +you will not. They are the sharp end, the point of the nail that you are +driving, which must make way first for the larger and more solid parts to +enter. Supposing your moral character as pure, and your knowledge as +sound, as I really believe them both to be; you want nothing for that +perfection, which I have so constantly wished you, and taken so much +pains to give you, but eloquence and politeness. A man who is not born +with a poetical genius, can never be a poet, or at best an extremely bad +one; but every man, who can speak at all, can speak elegantly and +correctly if he pleases, by attending to the best authors and orators; +and, indeed, I would advise those who do not speak elegantly, not to +speak at all; for I am sure they will get more by their silence than by +their speech. As for politeness: whoever keeps good company, and is not +polite, must have formed a resolution, and take some pains not to be so; +otherwise he would naturally and insensibly take the air, the address, +and the turn of those he converses with. You will, probably, in the +course of this year, see as great a variety of good company in the +several capitals you will be at, as in any one year of your life; and +consequently must (I should hope) catch some of their manners, almost +whether you will or not; but, as I dare say you will endeavor to do it, +I am convinced you will succeed, and that I shall have pleasure of +finding you, at your return here, one of the best-bred men in Europe. + +I imagine, that when you receive my letters, and come to those parts of +them which relate to eloquence and politeness, you say, or at least +think, What, will he never have done upon those two subjects? Has he not +said all he can say upon them? Why the same thing over and over again? +If you do think or say so, it must proceed from your not yet knowing the +infinite importance of these two accomplishments, which I cannot +recommend to you too often, nor inculcate too strongly. But if, on the +contrary, you are convinced of the utility, or rather the necessity of +those two accomplishments, and are determined to acquire them, my +repeated admonitions are only unnecessary; and I grudge no trouble which +can possibly be of the least use to you. + +I flatter myself, that your stay at Rome will go a great way toward +answering all my views: I am sure it will, if you employ your time, and +your whole time, as you should. Your first morning hours, I would have +you devote to your graver studies with Mr. Harte; the middle part of the +day I would have employed in seeing things; and the evenings in seeing +people. You are not, I hope, of a lazy, inactive turn, in either body or +mind; and, in that case, the day is full long enough for everything; +especially at Rome, where it is not the fashion, as it is here and at +Paris, to embezzle at least half of it at table. But if, by accident, +two or three hours are sometimes wanting for some useful purpose, borrow +them from your sleep. Six, or at most seven hours sleep is, for a +constancy, as much as you or anybody can want; more is only laziness and +dozing; and is, I am persuaded, both unwholesome and stupefying. If, by +chance, your business, or your pleasures, should keep you up till four or +five o'clock in the morning, I would advise you, however, to rise exactly +at your usual time, that you may not lose the precious morning hours; and +that the want of sleep may force you to go to bed earlier the next night. +This is what I was advised to do when very young, by a very wise man; and +what, I assure you, I always did in the most dissipated part of my life. +I have very often gone to bed at six in the morning and rose, +notwithstanding, at eight; by which means I got many hours in the morning +that my companions lost; and the want of sleep obliged me to keep good +hours the next, or at least the third night. To this method I owe the +greatest part of my reading: for, from twenty to forty, I should +certainly have read very little, if I had not been up while my +acquaintances were in bed. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, +and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no +procrastination; never put off till to-morrow what you can do today. +That was the rule of the famous and unfortunate Pensionary De Witt; who, +by strictly following it, found time, not only to do the whole business +of the republic, but to pass his evenings at assemblies and suppers, as +if he had had nothing else to do or think of. + +Adieu, my dear friend, for such I shall call you, and as such I shall, +for the future, live with you; for I disclaim all titles which imply an +authority, that I am persuaded you will never give me occasion to +exercise. + +'Multos et felices', most sincerely, to Mr. Harte. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A joker is near akin to a buffoon +Ablest man will sometimes do weak things +Above trifles, he is never vehement and eager about them +Advise those who do not speak elegantly, not to speak +Always does more than he says +Always some favorite word for the time being +Architecture +Arrogant pedant +Ascribing the greatest actions to the most trifling causes +Assign the deepest motives for the most trifling actions +Attend to the objects of your expenses, but not to the sums +Attention to the inside of books +Awkward address, ungraceful attitudes and actions +Being in the power of every man to hurt him +Can hardly be said to see what they see +Cardinal Mazarin +Cardinal Richelieu +Complaisance due to the custom of the place +Conjectures supply the defect of unattainable knowledge +Connive at knaves, and tolerate fools +Corneille +Deep learning is generally tainted with pedantry +Deepest learning, without good-breeding, is unwelcome +Desirous of pleasing +Dictate to them while you seem to be directed by them +Dissimulation is only to hide our own cards +Do not become a virtuoso of small wares +Does not give it you, but he inflicts it upon you +Endeavors to please and oblige our fellow-creatures +Every man pretends to common sense +Every numerous assembly is a mob +Eyes and the ears are the only roads to the heart +Few dare dissent from an established opinion +Few things which people in general know less, than how to love +Flattering people behind their backs +Fools never perceive where they are either ill-timed +Friendship upon very slight acquaintance +Frivolous curiosity about trifles +Frivolous, idle people, whose time hangs upon their own hands +Gain the heart, or you gain nothing +General conclusions from certain particular principles +Good manners +Haste and hurry are very different things +Herd of mankind can hardly be said to think +Human nature is always the same +Hurt those they love by a mistaken indulgence +Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds +If I don't mind his orders he won't mind my draughts +Inattention +Inattentive, absent; and distrait +Incontinency of friendship among young fellows +Indiscriminate familiarity +Inquisition +Insist upon your neither piping nor fiddling yourself +Insolent civility +It is not sufficient to deserve well; one must please well too +Know the true value of time +Known people pretend to vices they had not +Knows what things are little, and what not +Learn, if you can, the WHY and the WHEREFORE +Leave the company, at least as soon as he is wished out of it +Led, much oftener by little things than by great ones +Little failings and weaknesses +Love with him, who they think is the most in love with them +Machiavel +Mastery of one's temper +May you live as long as you are fit to live, but no longer! +May you rather die before you cease to be fit to live +Moderation with your enemies +Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears +Never implicitly adopt a character upon common fame +Never would know anything that he had not a mind to know +Nickname +No man is distrait with the man he fears, or the woman he loves +Nothing in courts is exactly as it appears to be +Our understandings are generally the DUPES of our hearts +People will repay, and with interest too, inattention +Perfection of everything that is worth doing at all +Pliny +POLITICIANS NEITHER LOVE NOR HATE +Public speaking +Quietly cherished error, instead of seeking for truth +Reciprocally profess wishes which they seldom form +Reserve with your friends +Six, or at most seven hours sleep +Sooner forgive an injury than an insult +Style +There are many avenues to every man +Those who remarkably affect any one virtue +Three passions that often put honesty to most severe trials +To great caution, you can join seeming frankness and openness +Trifling parts, with their little jargon +Truth leaves no room for compliments +We have many of those useful prejudices in this country +Whatever pleases you most in others +World is taken by the outside of things + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Letters to His Son, 1749 +by The Earl of Chesterfield + diff --git a/old/lc03s11.zip b/old/lc03s11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e9caa89 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/lc03s11.zip |