<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0194" id="link2H_4_0194"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CXCII </h2>
<h3> LONDON, December 25, 1753 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday again I received two letters at once from you,
the one of the 7th, the other of the 15th, from Manheim.</p>
<p>You never had in your life so good a reason for not writing, either to me
or to anybody else, as your sore finger lately furnished you. I believe it
was painful, and I am glad it is cured; but a sore finger, however
painful, is a much less evil than laziness, of either body or mind, and
attended by fewer ill consequences.</p>
<p>I am very glad to hear that you were distinguished at the court of Manheim
from the rest of your countrymen and fellow-travelers: it is a sign that
you had better manners and address than they; for take it for granted, the
best-bred people will always be the best received wherever they go. Good
manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial life;
returns are equally expected for both; and people will no more advance
their civility to a bear, than their money to a bankrupt. I really both
hope and believe, that the German courts will do you a great deal of good;
their ceremony and restraint being the proper correctives and antidotes
for your negligence and inattention. I believe they would not greatly
relish your weltering in your own laziness, and an easy chair; nor take it
very kindly, if, when they spoke to you or you to them, you looked another
way, as much as to say, kiss my b——h. As they give, so they
require attention; and, by the way, take this maxim for an undoubted
truth, That no young man can possibly improve in any company, for which he
has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.</p>
<p>I dare not trust to Meyssonier's report of his Rhenish, his Burgundy not
having answered either his account or my expectations. I doubt, as a wine
merchant, he is the 'perfidus caupo', whatever he may be as a banker. I
shall therefore venture upon none of his wine; but delay making my
provision of Old Hock, till I go abroad myself next spring: as I told you
in the utmost secrecy, in my last, that I intend to do; and then probably
I may taste some that I like, and go upon sure ground. There is commonly
very good, both at Aix-la-Chapelle and Liege, where I formerly got some
excellent, which I carried with me to Spa, where I drank no other wine.</p>
<p>As my letters to you frequently miscarry, I will repeat in this that part
of my last which related to your future motions. Whenever you shall be
tired of Berlin, go to Dresden; where Sir Charles Williams will be, who
will receive you with open arms. He dined with me to-day, and sets out for
Dresden in about six weeks. He spoke of you with great kindness and
impatience to see you again. He will trust and employ you in business (and
he is now in the whole secret of importance) till we fix our place to meet
in: which probably will be Spa. Wherever you are, inform yourself minutely
of, and attend particularly to the affairs of France; they grow serious,
and in my opinion will grow more and more so every day. The King is
despised and I do not wonder at it; but he has brought it about to be
hated at the same time, which seldom happens to the same man. His
ministers are known to be as disunited as incapable; he hesitates between
the Church and the parliaments, like the ass in the fable, that starved
between two hampers of hay: too much in love with his mistress to part
with her, and too much afraid of his soul to enjoy her; jealous of the
parliaments, who would support his authority; and a devoted bigot to the
Church, that would destroy it. The people are poor, consequently
discontented; those who have religion, are divided in their notions of it;
which is saying that they hate one another. The clergy never do forgive;
much less will they forgive the parliament; the parliament never will
forgive them. The army must, without doubt, take, in their own minds at
last, different parts in all these disputes, which upon occasion would
break out. Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute
power for the time being, are always the destroyers of it, too, by
frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it. This
was the case of the Praetorian bands, who deposed and murdered the
monsters they had raised to oppress mankind. The Janissaries in turkey,
and the regiments of guards in Russia, do the same now. The French nation
reasons freely, which they never did before, upon matters of religion and
government, and begin to be 'sprejiudicati'; the officers do so too; in
short, all the symptoms, which I have ever met with in history previous to
great changes and revolutions in government, now exist, and daily
increase, in France. I am glad of it; the rest of Europe will be the
quieter, and have time to recover. England, I am sure, wants rest, for it
wants men and money; the Republic of the United Provinces wants both still
more; the other Powers cannot well dance, when neither France, nor the
maritime powers, can, as they used to do, pay the piper. The first
squabble in Europe, that I foresee, will be about the Crown of Poland,
should the present King die: and therefore I wish his Majesty a long life
and a merry Christmas. So much for foreign politics; but 'a propos' of
them, pray take care, while you are in those parts of Germany, to inform
yourself correctly of all the details, discussions, and agreements, which
the several wars, confiscations, bans, and treaties, occasioned between
the Bavarian and Palatine Electorates; they are interesting and curious.</p>
<p>I shall not, upon the occasion of the approaching new year, repeat to you
the wishes which I continue to form for you; you know them all already,
and you know that it is absolutely in your power to satisfy most of them.
Among many other wishes, this is my most earnest one: That you would open
the new year with a most solemn and devout sacrifice to the Graces; who
never reject those that supplicate them with fervor; without them, let me
tell you, that your friend Dame Fortune will stand you in little stead;
may they all be your friends! Adieu.</p>
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