<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0042" id="link2H_4_0042"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER XL </h2>
<h3> LONDON, May 27, O. S. 1748. </h3>
<p>DEAR BOY: This and the two next years make so important a period of your
life, that I cannot help repeating to you my exhortations, my commands,
and (what I hope will be still more prevailing with you than either) my
earnest entreaties, to employ them well. Every moment that you now lose,
is so much character and advantage lost; as, on the other hand, every
moment that you now employ usefully, is so much time wisely laid out, at
most prodigious interest. These two years must lay the foundations of all
the knowledge that you will ever have; you may build upon them afterward
as much as you please, but it will be too late to lay any new ones. Let me
beg of you, therefore, to grudge no labor nor pains to acquire, in time,
that stock of knowledge, without which you never can rise, but must make a
very insignificant figure in the world. Consider your own situation; you
have not the advantage of rank or fortune to bear you up; I shall, very
probably, be out of the world before you can properly be said to be in it.
What then will you have to rely on but your own merit? That alone must
raise you, and that alone will raise you, if you have but enough of it. I
have often heard and read of oppressed and unrewarded merit, but I have
oftener (I might say always) seen great merit make its way, and meet with
its reward, to a certain degree at least, in spite of all difficulties. By
merit, I mean the moral virtues, knowledge, and manners; as to the moral
virtues, I say nothing to you; they speak best for themselves, nor can I
suspect that they want any recommendation with you; I will therefore only
assure you, that without them you will be most unhappy.</p>
<p>As to knowledge, I have often told you, and I am persuaded you are
thoroughly convinced, how absolutely necessary it is to you, whatever your
destination may be. But as knowledge has a most extensive meaning, and as
the life of man is not long enough to acquire, nor his mind capable of
entertaining and digesting, all parts of knowledge, I will point out those
to which you should particularly apply, and which, by application, you may
make yourself perfect master of. Classical knowledge, that is, Greek and
Latin, is absolutely necessary for everybody; because everybody has agreed
to think and to call it so. And the word ILLITERATE, in its common
acceptation, means a man who is ignorant of those two languages. You are
by this time, I hope, pretty near master of both, so that a small part of
the day dedicated to them, for two years more, will make you perfect in
that study. Rhetoric, logic, a little geometry, and a general notion of
astronomy, must, in their turns, have their hours too; not that I desire
you should be deep in any one of these; but it is fit you should know
something of them all. The knowledge more particularly useful and
necessary for you, considering your destination, consists of modern
languages, modern history, chronology, and geography, the laws of nations,
and the 'jus publicum Imperii'. You must absolutely speak all the modern
Languages, as purely and correctly as the natives of the respective
countries: for whoever does not speak a language perfectly and easily,
will never appear to advantage in conversation, nor treat with others in
it upon equal terms. As for French, you have it very well already; and
must necessarily, from the universal usage of that language, know it
better and better every day: so that I am in no pain about that: German, I
suppose, you know pretty well by this time, and will be quite master of it
before you leave Leipsig: at least, I am sure you may. Italian and Spanish
will come in their turns, and, indeed, they are both so easy, to one who
knows Latin and French, that neither of them will cost you much time or
trouble. Modern history, by which I mean particularly the history of the
last three centuries, should be the object of your greatest and constant
attention, especially those parts of it which relate more immediately to
the great powers of Europe. This study you will carefully connect with
chronology and geography; that is, you will remark and retain the dates of
every important event; and always read with the map by you, in which you
will constantly look for every place mentioned: this is the only way of
retaining geography; for, though it is soon learned by the lump, yet, when
only so learned, it is still sooner forgot.</p>
<p>Manners, though the last, and it may be the least ingredient of real
merit, are, however, very far from being useless in its composition; they
adorn, and give an additional force and luster to both virtue and
knowledge. They prepare and smooth the way for the progress of both; and
are, I fear, with the bulk of mankind, more engaging than either.
Remember, then, the infinite advantage of manners; cultivate and improve
your own to the utmost good sense will suggest the great rules to you,
good company will do the rest. Thus you see how much you have to do; and
how little time to do it in: for when you are thrown out into the world,
as in a couple of years you must be, the unavoidable dissipation of
company, and the necessary avocations of some kind of business or other,
will leave you no time to undertake new branches of knowledge: you may,
indeed, by a prudent allotment of your time, reserve some to complete and
finish the building; but you will never find enough to lay new
foundations. I have such an opinion of your understanding, that I am
convinced you are sensible of these truths; and that, however hard and
laborious your present uninterrupted application may seem to you, you will
rather increase than lessen it. For God's sake, my dear boy, do not
squander away one moment of your time, for every moment may be now most
usefully employed. Your future fortune, character, and figure in the
world, entirely depend upon your use or abuse of the two next years. If
you do but employ them well, what may you not reasonably expect to be, in
time? And if you do not, what may I not reasonably fear you will be? You
are the only one I ever knew, of this country, whose education was, from
the beginning, calculated for the department of foreign affairs; in
consequence of which, if you will invariably pursue, and diligently
qualify yourself for that object, you may make yourself absolutely
necessary to the government, and, after having received orders as a
minister abroad, send orders, in your turn, as Secretary of State at home.
Most of our ministers abroad have taken up that department occasionally,
without having ever thought of foreign affairs before; many of them,
without speaking any one foreign language; and all of them without manners
which are absolutely necessary toward being well received, and making a
figure at foreign courts. They do the business accordingly, that is, very
ill: they never get into the secrets of these courts, for want of
insinuation and address: they do not guess at their views, for want of
knowing their interests: and, at last, finding themselves very unfit for,
soon grow weary of their commissions, and are impatient to return home,
where they are but too justly laid aside and neglected. Every moment's
conversation may, if you please, be of use to you; in this view, every
public event, which is the common topic of conversation, gives you an
opportunity of getting some information. For example, the preliminaries of
peace, lately concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, will be the common subject of
most conversations; in which you will take care to ask the proper
questions: as, what is the meaning of the Assiento contract for negroes,
between England and Spain; what the annual ship; when stipulated; upon
what account suspended, etc. You will likewise inform yourself about
Guastalla, now given to Don Philip, together with Parma and Placentia; who
they belonged to before; what claim or pretensions Don Philip had to them;
what they are worth; in short, everything concerning them. The cessions
made by the Queen of Hungary to the King of Sardinia, are, by these
preliminaries, confirmed and secured to him: you will inquire, therefore,
what they are, and what they are worth. This is the kind of knowledge
which you should be most thoroughly master of, and in which conversation
will help you almost as much as books: but both are best. There are
histories of every considerable treaty, from that of Westphalia to that of
Utrecht, inclusively; all which I would advise you to read. Pore
Bougeant's, of the treaty of Westphalia, is an excellent one; those of
Nimeguen, Ryswick, and Utrecht, are not so well written; but are, however,
very useful. 'L'Histoire des Traites de Paix', in two volumes, folio,
which I recommended to you some time ago, is a book that you should often
consult, when you hear mention made of any treaty concluded in the
seventeenth century.</p>
<p>Upon the whole, if you have a mind to be considerable, and to shine
hereafter, you must labor hard now. No quickness of parts, no vivacity,
will do long, or go far, without a solid fund of knowledge; and that fund
of knowledge will amply repay all the pains that you can take in acquiring
it. Reflect seriously, within yourself, upon all this, and ask yourself
whether I can have any view, but your interest, in all that I recommend to
you. It is the result of my experience, and flows from that tenderness and
affection with which, while you deserve them, I shall be, Yours.</p>
<p>Make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him that I have received his
letter of the 24th, N. S.</p>
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