GREENWICH,June 3o,O.S.1751.
MY DEAR FRIEND:Pray give the inclosed to our friend the Abbe;it is to congratulate him upon his 'Canonicat',which I am really very glad of,and I hope it will fatten him up to Boileau's 'Chanoine';at present he is as meagre as an apostle or a prophet.By the way,has he ever introduced you to la Duchesse d'Aiguillon?If he has not,make him present you;and if he has,frequent her,and make her many compliments from me.She has uncommon,sense and knowledge for a woman,and her house is the resort of one set of 'les beaux esprits.It is a satisfaction and a sort of credit to be acquainted with those gentlemen;and it puts a young fellow in fashion.'A propos des beaux esprits',you have 'les entries'at Lady Sandwich's;who,old as she was,when I saw her last,had the strongest parts of any woman I ever knew in my life?
If you are not acquainted with her,either the Duchesse d'Aiguillon or Lady Hervey can,and I dare say will;introduce you.I can assure you,it is very well worth your while,both upon her own account,and for the sake of the people of wit and learning who frequent her.In such companies there is always something to be learned as well as manners;the conversation turns upon something above trifles;some point of literature,criticism,history,etc.,is discussed with ingenuity and good manners;for I must do the French people of learning justice;they are not bears,as most of ours are:they are gentlemen.
Our Abbe writes me word that you were gone to Compiegne:I am very glad of it;other courts must form you for your own.He tells me too,that you have left off riding at the 'manege';I have no objection to that,it takes up a great deal of the morning;and if you have got a genteel and firm seat on horseback,it is enough for you,now that tilts and tournaments are laid aside.I suppose you have hunted at Compiegne.The King's hunting there,I am told,is a fine sight.The French manner of hunting is gentlemanlike;ours is only for bumpkins and boobies.The poor beasts are here pursued and run down by much greater beasts than themselves,and the true British fox-hunter is most undoubtedly a species appropriated and peculiar to this country,which no other part of the globe produces.
I hope you apply the time you have saved from the riding-house to useful more than to learned purposes;for I can assure you they are very different things.I would have you allow but one hour a-day for Greek;and that more to keep what you have than to increase it:by Greek,I mean useful Greek books,such as Demosthenes,Thucydides,etc.,and not the poets,with whom you are already enough acquainted.Your Latin will take care of itself.Whatever more time you may have for reading,pray bestow it upon those books which are immediately relative to your destination;such as modern history,in the modern languages,memoirs,anecdotes,letters,negotiations,etc.Collect also,if you can,authentically,the present state of all the courts and countries in Europe,the characters of the kings and princes,their wives,their ministers,and their w----s;their several views,connections,and interests;the state of their FINANCES,their military force,their trade,manufactures,and commerce.
That is the useful,the necessary knowledge for you,and indeed for every gentleman.But with all this,remember,that living books are much better than dead ones;and throw away no time (for it is thrown away)with the latter,which you can employ well with the former;for books must now be your only amusement,but,by no means your business.I had much rather that you were passionately in love with some determined coquette of condition (who would lead you a dance,fashion,supple,and polish you),than that you knew all Plato and Aristotle by heart:an hour at Versailles,Compiegne,or St.Cloud,is now worth more to you than three hours in your closet,with the best books that ever were written.
I hear the dispute between the court and the clergy is made up amicably,both parties have yielded something;the king being afraid of losing more of his soul,and the clergy more of their revenue.Those gentlemen are very skillful in making the most of the vices and the weaknesses of the laity.I hope you have read and informed yourself fully of everything relative to that affair;it is a very important question,in which the priesthood of every country in Europe is highly concerned.If you would be thoroughly convinced that their tithes are of divine institution,and their property the property of God himself,not to be touched by any power on earth,read Fra Paolo De Beneficiis,an excellent and short book;for which,and some other treaties against the court of Rome,he was stilettoed;which made him say afterward,upon seeing an anonymous book written against him by order of the Pope,'Conosco bene to stile Romano'.
The parliament of Paris,and the states of Languedoc,will,I believe,hardly scramble off;having only reason and justice,but no terrors on their side.Those are political and constitutional questions that well deserve your attention and inquiries.I hope you are thoroughly master of them.It is also worth your while to collect and keep all the pieces written upon those subjects.
I hope you have been thanked by your ladies,at least,if not paid in money,for the mohairs,which I sent by a courier to Paris,some time ago,instead of sending them to Madame Morel,at Calais,as I told you Ishould.Do they like them;and do they like you the better for getting them?'Le petite Blot devroit au moins payer de sa personne'.As for Madame de Polignac,I believe you will very willingly hold her excused from personal payment.
Before you return to England,pray go again to Orli,for two or three days,and also to St.Cloud,in order to secure a good reception there at your return.Ask the Marquis de Matignon too,if he has any orders for you in England,or any letters or packets for Lord Bolingbroke.Adieu!
Go on and prosper.