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<h2> LETTER VIII </h2>
<h3> LONDON, April 3, O. S. 1747 </h3>
<p>DEAR BOY: If I am rightly informed, I am now writing to a fine gentleman,
in a scarlet coat laced with gold, a brocade waistcoat, and all other
suitable ornaments. The natural partiality of every author for his own
works makes me very glad to hear that Mr. Harte has thought this last
edition of mine worth so fine a binding; and, as he has bound it in red,
and gilt it upon the back, I hope he will take care that it shall be
LETTERED too. A showish binding attracts the eyes, and engages the
attention of everybody; but with this difference, that women, and men who
are like women, mind the binding more than the book; whereas men of sense
and learning immediately examine the inside; and if they find that it does
not answer the finery on the outside, they throw it by with the greater
indignation and contempt. I hope that, when this edition of my works shall
be opened and read, the best judges will find connection, consistency,
solidity, and spirit in it. Mr. Harte may 'recensere' and 'emendare,' as
much as he pleases; but it will be to little purpose, if you do not
cooperate with him. The work will be imperfect.</p>
<p>I thank you for your last information of our success in the Mediterranean,
and you say very rightly that a secretary of state ought to be well
informed. I hope, therefore, you will take care that I shall. You are near
the busy scene in Italy; and I doubt not but that, by frequently looking
at the map, you have all that theatre of the war very perfect in your
mind.</p>
<p>I like your account of the salt works; which shows that you gave some
attention while you were seeing them. But notwithstanding that, by your
account, the Swiss salt is (I dare say) very good, yet I am apt to suspect
that it falls a little short of the true Attic salt in which there was a
peculiar quickness and delicacy. That same Attic salt seasoned almost all
Greece, except Boeotia, and a great deal of it was exported afterward to
Rome, where it was counterfeited by a composition called Urbanity, which
in some time was brought to very near the perfection of the original Attic
salt. The more you are powdered with these two kinds of salt, the better
you will keep, and the more you will be relished.</p>
<p>Adieu! My compliments to Mr. Harte and Mr. Eliot.</p>
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<h2> LETTER IX </h2>
<h3> LONDON, April 14, O. S. 1747. </h3>
<p>DEAR BOY: If you feel half the pleasure from the consciousness of doing
well, that I do from the informations I have lately received in your favor
from Mr. Harte, I shall have little occasion to exhort or admonish you any
more to do what your own satisfaction and self love will sufficiently
prompt you to. Mr. Harte tells me that you attend, that you apply to your
studies; and that beginning to understand, you begin to taste them. This
pleasure will increase, and keep pace with your attention; so that the
balance will be greatly to your advantage. You may remember, that I have
always earnestly recommended to you, to do what you are about, be that
what it will; and to do nothing else at the same time. Do not imagine that
I mean by this, that you should attend to and plod at your book all day
long; far from it; I mean that you should have your pleasures too; and
that you should attend to them for the time; as much as to your studies;
and, if you do not attend equally to both, you will neither have
improvement nor satisfaction from either. A man is fit for neither
business nor pleasure, who either cannot, or does not, command and direct
his attention to the present object, and, in some degree, banish for that
time all other objects from his thoughts. If at a ball, a supper, or a
party of pleasure, a man were to be solving, in his own mind, a problem in
Euclid, he would be a very bad companion, and make a very poor figure in
that company; or if, in studying a problem in his closet, he were to think
of a minuet, I am apt to believe that he would make a very poor
mathematician. There is time enough for everything, in the course of the
day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the
year, if you will do two things at a time. The Pensionary de Witt, who was
torn to pieces in the year 1672, did the whole business of the Republic,
and yet had time left to go to assemblies in the evening, and sup in
company. Being asked how he could possibly find time to go through so much
business, and yet amuse himself in the evenings as he did, he answered,
there was nothing so easy; for that it was only doing one thing at a time,
and never putting off anything till to-morrow that could be done to-day.
This steady and undissipated attention to one object is a sure mark of a
superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation are the never-failing
symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind. When you read Horace, attend to the
justness of his thoughts, the happiness of his diction, and the beauty of
his poetry; and do not think of Puffendorf de Homine el Cive; and, when
you are reading Puffendorf, do not think of Madame de St. Germain; nor of
Puffendorf, when you are talking to Madame de St. Germain.</p>
<p>Mr. Harte informs me, that he has reimbursed you of part of your losses in
Germany; and I consent to his reimbursing you of the whole, now that I
know you deserve it. I shall grudge you nothing, nor shall you want
anything that you desire, provided you deserve it; so that you see, it is
in your own power to have whatever you please.</p>
<p>There is a little book which you read here with Monsieur Codere entitled,
'Maniere de bien penser dans les Ouvrages d'Esprit,' written by Pyre
Bonhours. I wish you would read this book again at your leisure hours, for
it will not only divert you, but likewise form your taste, and give you a
just manner of thinking. Adieu!</p>
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<h2> LETTER X </h2>
<h3> LONDON, June 30, O. S. 1747 </h3>
<p>DEAR BOY: I was extremely pleased with the account which you gave me in
your last, of the civilities that you received in your Swiss progress; and
I have written, by this post, to Mr. Burnaby, and to the 'Avoyer,' to
thank them for their parts. If the attention you met with pleased you, as
I dare say it did, you will, I hope, draw this general conclusion from it,
that attention and civility please all those to whom they are paid; and
that you will please others in proportion as you are attentive and civil
to them.</p>
<p>Bishop Burnet has wrote his travels through Switzerland; and Mr. Stanyan,
from a long residence there, has written the best account, yet extant, of
the Thirteen Cantons; but those books will be read no more, I presume,
after you shall have published your account of that country. I hope you
will favor me with one of the first copies. To be serious; though I do not
desire that you should immediately turn author, and oblige the world with
your travels; yet, wherever you go, I would have you as curious and
inquisitive as if you did intend to write them. I do not mean that you
should give yourself so much trouble, to know the number of houses,
inhabitants, signposts, and tombstones, of every town that you go through;
but that you should inform yourself, as well as your stay will permit you,
whether the town is free, or to whom it belongs, or in what manner:
whether it has any peculiar privileges or customs; what trade or
manufactures; and such other particulars as people of sense desire to
know. And there would be no manner of harm if you were to take memorandums
of such things in a paper book to help your memory. The only way of
knowing all these things is to keep the best company, who can best inform
you of them. I am just now called away; so good night.</p>
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