<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0243" id="link2H_4_0243"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CCXLI </h2>
<h3> LONDON, March 30, 1759 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I do not like these frequent, however short, returns of
your illness; for I doubt they imply either want of skill in your
physician, or want of care in his patient. Rhubarb, soap, and chalybeate
medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for obstructions of the
liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary, and that for a long
continuance. Acids are good for you, but you do not love them; and sweet
things are bad for you, and you do love them. There is another thing very
bad for you, and I fear you love it too much. When I was in Holland, I had
a slow fever that hung upon me a great while; I consulted Boerhaave, who
prescribed me what I suppose was proper, for it cured me; but he added, by
way of postscript to his prescription, 'Venus rarius colatur'; which I
observed, and perhaps that made the medicines more effectual.</p>
<p>I doubt we shall be mutually disappointed in our hopes of seeing one
another this spring, as I believe you will find, by a letter which you
will receive at the same time with this, from Lord Holderness; but as Lord
Holderness will not tell you all, I will, between you and me, supply that
defect. I must do him the justice to say that he has acted in the most
kind and friendly manner possible to us both. When the King read your
letter, in which you desired leave to return, for the sake of drinking the
Tunbridge waters, he said, "If he wants steel waters, those of Pyrmont are
better than Tunbridge, and he can have them very fresh at Hamburg. I would
rather he had asked me to come last autumn, and had passed the winter
here; for if he returns now, I shall have nobody in those quarters to
inform me of what passes; and yet it will be a very busy and important
scene." Lord Holderness, who found that it would not be liked, resolved to
push it no further; and replied, he was very sure that when you knew his
Majesty had the least objection to your return at this time, you would
think of it no longer; and he owned that he (Lord Holderness) had given
you encouragement for this application last year, then thinking and hoping
that there would be little occasion for your presence at Hamburg this
year. Lord Holderness will only tell you, in his letter, that, as he had
some reason to believe his moving this matter would be disagreeable to the
King, he resolved, for your sake, not to mention it. You must answer his
letter upon that footing simply, and thank him for this mark of his
friendship, for he has really acted as your friend. I make no doubt of
your having willing leave to return in autumn, for the whole winter. In
the meantime, make the best of your 'sejour' where you are; drink the
Pyrmont waters, and no wine but Rhenish, which, in your case is the only
proper one for you.</p>
<p>Next week Mr. Harte will send you his "Gustavus Adolphus," in two quartos;
it will contain many new particulars of the life of that real hero, as he
has had abundant and authentic materials, which have never yet appeared.
It will, upon the whole, be a very curious and valuable history; though,
between you and me, I could have wished that he had been more correct and
elegant in his style. You will find it dedicated to one of your
acquaintance, who was forced to prune the luxuriant praises bestowed upon
him, and yet has left enough of all conscience to satisfy a reasonable
man. Harte has been very much out of order these last three or four
months, but is not the less intent upon sowing his lucerne, of which he
had six crops last year, to his infinite joy, and, as he says, profit. As
a gardener, I shall probably have as much joy, though not quite so much
profit, by thirty or forty shillings; for there is the greatest promise of
fruit this year at 'Blackheath, that ever I saw in my life. Vertumnus and
Pomona have been very propitious to me: as for Priapus, that tremendous
garden god, as I no longer invoke him, I cannot expect his protection from
the birds and the thieves.</p>
<p>Adieu! I will conclude like a pedant, 'Levius fit patientia quicquid
corrigere est nefas.'</p>
<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0244" id="link2H_4_0244"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CCXLII </h2>
<h3> LONDON, April 16, 1759 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: With humble submission to you, I still say that if Prince
Ferdinand can make a defensive campaign this year, he will have done a
great deal, considering the great inequality of numbers. The little
advantages of taking a regiment or two prisoners, or cutting another to
pieces, are but trifling articles in the great account; they are only the
pence, the pounds are yet to come; and I take it for granted, that neither
the French, nor the Court of Vienna, will have 'le dementi' of their main
object, which is unquestionably Hanover; for that is the 'summa summarum';
and they will certainly take care to draw a force together for this
purpose, too great for any that Prince Ferdinand has, or can have, to
oppose them. In short, mark the end on't, 'j'en augure mal'. If France,
Austria, the Empire, Russia, and Sweden, are not, at long run, too hard
for the two Electors of Hanover and Brandenburg, there must be some
invisible power, some tutelar deities, that miraculously interpose in
favor of the latter.</p>
<p>You encourage me to accept all the powers that goats, asses, and bulls,
can give me, by engaging for my not making an ill use of them; but I own,
I cannot help distrusting myself a little, or rather human nature; for it
is an old and very true observation, that there are misers of money, but
none of power; and the non-use of the one, and the abuse of the other,
increase in proportion to their quantity.</p>
<p>I am very sorry to tell you that Harte's "Gustavus Adolphus" does not take
at all, and consequently sells very little: it is certainly informing, and
full of good matter; but it is as certain too, that the style is
execrable: where the devil he picked it up, I cannot conceive, for it is a
bad style, of a new and singular kind; it is full of Latinisms,
Gallicisms, Germanisms, and all isms but Anglicisms; in some places
pompous, in others vulgar and low. Surely, before the end of the world,
people, and you in particular, will discover that the MANNER, in
everything, is at least as important as the matter; and that the latter
never can please, without a good degree of elegance in the former. This
holds true in everything in life: in writing, conversing, business, the
help of the Graces is absolutely necessary; and whoever vainly thinks
himself above them, will find he is mistaken when it will be too late to
court them, for they will not come to strangers of an advanced age. There
is an history lately come out, of the "Reign of Mary Queen of Scots" and
her son (no matter by whom) King James, written by one Robertson, a
Scotchman, which for clearness, purity, and dignity of style, I will not
scruple to compare with the best historians extant, not excepting Davila,
Guicciardini, and perhaps Livy. Its success has consequently been great,
and a second edition is already published and bought up. I take it for
granted, that it is to be had, or at least borrowed, at Hamburg, or I
would send it to you.</p>
<p>I hope you drink the Pyrmont waters every morning. The health of the mind
depends so much upon the health of the body, that the latter deserves the
utmost attention, independently of the senses. God send you a very great
share of both! Adieu.</p>
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