Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1766-71 , livre ebook

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. MY DEAR FRIEND: I received two days ago your letter of the 25th past; and your former, which you mention in it, but ten days ago; this may easily be accounted for from the badness of the weather, and consequently of the roads. I hardly remember so severe a win ter; it has occasioned many illnesses here. I am sure it pinched my crazy carcass so much that, about three weeks ago, I was obliged to be let blood twice in four days, which I found afterward was very necessary, by the relief it gave to my head and to the rheumatic pains in my limbs; and from the execrable kind of blood which I lost.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819947844
Langue	English

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LETTER CCLXXXIV
LONDON, February 11, 1766
MY DEAR FRIEND: I received two days ago your letterof the 25th past; and your former, which you mention in it, but tendays ago; this may easily be accounted for from the badness of theweather, and consequently of the roads. I hardly remember so severea win ter; it has occasioned many illnesses here. I am sure itpinched my crazy carcass so much that, about three weeks ago, I wasobliged to be let blood twice in four days, which I found afterwardwas very necessary, by the relief it gave to my head and to therheumatic pains in my limbs; and from the execrable kind of bloodwhich I lost.
Perhaps you expect from me a particular account ofthe present state of affairs here; but if you do you will bedisappointed; for no man living (and I still less than anyone)knows what it is; it varies, not only daily, but hourly.
Most people think, and I among the rest, that thedate of the present Ministers is pretty near out; but how soon weare to have a new style, God knows. This, however, is certain, thatthe Ministers had a contested election in the House of Commons, andgot it but by eleven votes; too small a majority to carry anything;the next day they lost a question in the House of Lords, by three.The question in the House of Lords was, to enforce the execution ofthe Stamp-act in the colonies 'vi et armis'. What conclusions youwill draw from these premises, I do not know; but I protest I drawnone; but only stare at the present undecipherable state ofaffairs, which, in fifty years' experience, I have never seenanything like. The Stamp-act has proved a most pernicious measure;for, whether it is repealed or not, which is still very doubtful,it has given such terror to the Americans, that our trade with themwill not be, for some years, what it used to be; and great numbersof our manufacturers at home will be turned a starving for want ofthat employment which our very profitable trade to America foundthem: and hunger is always the cause of tumults and sedition.
As you have escaped a fit of the gout in this severecold weather, it is to be hoped you may be entirely free from it,till next winter at least.
P. S. Lord having parted with his wife, now, keepsanother w— -e, at a great expense. I fear he is totally undone.
LETTER CCLXXXV
LONDON, March 17, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: You wrong me in thinking me in yourdebt; for I never receive a letter of yours, but I answer it by thenext post, or the next but one, at furthest: but I can easilyconceive that my two last letters to you may have been drowned orfrozen in their way; for portents and prodigies of frost, snow, andinundations, have been so frequent this winter, that they havealmost lost their names.
You tell me that you are going to the baths ofBADEN; but that puzzles me a little, so I recommend this letter tothe care of Mr. Larpent, to forward to you; for Baden I take to bethe general German word for baths, and the particular ones aredistinguished by some epithet, as Weissbaden, Carlsbaden, etc. Ihope they are not cold baths, which I have a very ill opinion of,in all arthritic or rheumatic cases; and your case I take to be acompound of both, but rather more of the latter.
You will probably wonder that I tell you nothing ofpublic matters; upon which I shall be as secret as Hotspur's gentleKate, who would not tell what she did not know; but what issingular, nobody seems to know any more of them than I do. Peoplegape, stare, conjecture, and refine. Changes of the Ministry, or inthe Ministry at least, are daily reported and foretold, but of whatkind, God only knows. It is also very doubtful whether Mr. Pittwill come into the Administration or not; the two presentSecretaries are extremely desirous that he should; but the othersthink of the horse that called the man to its assistance. I willsay nothing to you about American affairs, because I have not pens,ink, or paper enough to give you an intelligible account of them.They have been the subjects of warm and acrimonious debates, bothin the Lords and Commons, and in all companies.
The repeal of the Stamp-act is at last carriedthrough. I am glad of it, and gave my proxy for it, because I sawmany more inconveniences from the enforcing than from the repealingit.
Colonel Browne was with me the other day, andassured me that he left you very well. He said he saw you at Spa,but I did not remember him; though I remember his two brothers, theColonel and the ravisher, very well. Your Saxon colonel has thebrogue exceedingly. Present my respects to Count Flemming; I amvery sorry for the Countess's illness; she was a most well-bredwoman.
You would hardly think that I gave a dinner to thePrince of Brunswick, your old acquaintance. I glad it is over; butI could not avoid it. 'Il m'avait tabli de politesses'. God blessyou!
LETTER CCLXXXVI
BLACKHEATH, June 13, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: I received yesterday your letter ofthe 30th past. I waited with impatience for it, not having receivedone from you in six weeks; nor your mother neither, who began to bevery sure that you were dead, if not buried. You should write toher once a week, or at least once a-fortnight; for women make noallowance either for business or laziness; whereas I can, byexperience, make allowances for both: however, I wish you wouldgenerally write to me once a fortnight.
Last week I paid my midsummer offering, of fivehundred pounds, to Mr. Larpent, for your use, as I suppose he hasinformed you. I am punctual, you must allow.
What account shall I give you of ministerial affairshere? I protest I do not know: your own description of them is asexact a one as any I, who am upon the place, can give you. It is atotal dislocation and 'derangement'; consequently a totalinefficiency. When the Duke of Grafton quitted the seals, he gavethat very reason for it, in a speech in the House of Lords: hedeclared, “that he had no objection to the persons or the measuresof the present Ministers; but that he thought they wanted strengthand efficiency to carry on proper measures with success; and thathe knew but one man MEANING, AS YOU WILL EASILY SUPPOSE, MR. PITTwho could give them strength and solidity; that, under this person,he should be willing to serve in any capacity, not only as aGeneral Officer, but as a pioneer; and would take up a spade and amattock. ” When he quitted the seals, they were offered first toLord Egmont, then to Lord Hardwicke; who both declined them,probably for the same reasons that made the Duke of Grafton resignthem; but after their going a-begging for some time, the Duke of— —— -begged them, and has them 'faute de mieux'. Lord Mountstuart wasnever thought of for Vienna, where Lord Stormont returns in threemonths; the former is going to be married to one of the MissWindsors, a great fortune. To tell you the speculations, thereasonings, and the conjectures, either of the uninformed, or evenof the best-informed public, upon the present wonderful situationof affairs, would take up much more time and paper than either youor I can afford, though we have neither of us a great deal ofbusiness at present.
I am in as good health as I could reasonably expect,at my age, and with my shattered carcass; that is, from the waistupward; but downward it is not the same: for my limbs retain thatstiffness and debility of my long rheumatism; I cannot walk half anhour at a time. As the autumn, and still more as the winterapproaches, take care to keep yourself very warm, especially yourlegs and feet.
Lady Chesterfield sends you her compliments, andtriumphs in the success of her plaster. God bless you!
LETTER CCLXXXVII
BLACKHEATH, July 11, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: You are a happy mortal, to have yourtime thus employed between the great and the fair; I hope you dothe honors of your country to the latter. The Emperor, by youraccount, seems to be very well for an emperor; who, by being abovethe other monarchs in Europe, may justly be supposed to have had aproportionably worse education. I find, by your account of him,that he has been trained up to homicide, the only science in whichprinces are ever instructed; and with good reason, as theirgreatness and glory singly depend upon the numbers of theirfellow-creatures which their ambition exterminates. If a sovereignshould, by great accident, deviate into moderation, justice, andclemency, what a contemptible figure would he make in the catalogueof princes! I have always owned a great regard for King Log. Fromthe interview at Torgaw, between the two monarchs, they will beeither a great deal better or worse together; but I think ratherthe latter; for our namesake, Philip de Co mines, observes, that henever knew any good come from l'abouchement des Rois. The King ofPrussia will exert all his perspicacity to analyze his ImperialMajesty; and I would bet upon the one head of his black eagle,against the two heads of the Austrian eagle; though two heads aresaid, proverbially, to be better than one. I wish I had thedirection of both the monarchs, and they should, together with someof their allies, take Lorraine and Alsace from France. You willcall me 'l'Abbe de St. Pierre'; but I only say what I wish; whereashe thought everything that he wished practicable.
Now to come home. Here are great bustles at Court,and a great change of persons is certainly very near. You will askme, perhaps, who is to be out, and who is to be in? To which Ianswer, I do not know. My conjecture is that, be the new settlementwhat it will, Mr. Pitt will be at the head of it. If he is, Ipresume, 'qu'il aura mis de l'eau dans son vin par rapport a MylordB— — -; when that shall come to be known, as known it certainlywill soon be, he may bid adieu to his popularity. A minister, asminister, is very apt to be the object of public dislike; and afavorite, as favorite, still more so. If any event of this kindhappens, which (if it happens at all) I conjecture will be sometime next week, you shall hear further from me.
I will follow your