<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0117" id="link2H_4_0117"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CXV </h2>
<h3> LONDON, June 5, O. S. 1750 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I have received your picture, which I have long waited for
with impatience: I wanted to see your countenance from whence I am very
apt, as I believe most people are, to form some general opinion of the
mind. If the painter has taken you as well as he has done Mr. Harte (for
his picture is by far the most like I ever saw in my life), I draw good
conclusions from your countenance, which has both spirit and finesse in
it. In bulk you are pretty well increased since I saw you; if your height
has not increased in proportion, I desire that you will make haste to,
complete it. Seriously, I believe that your exercises at Paris will make
you shoot up to a good size; your legs, by all accounts, seem to promise
it. Dancing excepted, the wholesome part is the best part of those
academical exercises. 'Ils degraissent leur homme'.</p>
<p>'A propos' of exercises, I have prepared everything for your reception at
Monsieur de la Gueriniere's, and your room, etc., will be ready at your
arrival. I am sure you must be sensible how much better it will be for you
to be interne in the Academy for the first six or seven months at least,
than to be 'en hotel garni', at some distance from it, and obliged to go
to it every morning, let the weather be what it will, not to mention the
loss of time too; besides, by living and boarding in the Academy, you will
make an acquaintance with half the young fellows of fashion at Paris; and
in a very little while be looked upon as one of them in all French
companies: an advantage that has never yet happened to any one Englishman
that I have known. I am sure you do not suppose that the difference of the
expense, which is but a trifle, has any weight with me in this resolution.
You have the French language so perfectly, and you will acquire the French
'tournure' so soon, that I do not know anybody likely to pass their time
so well at Paris as yourself. Our young countrymen have generally too
little French, and too bad address, either to present themselves, or be
well received in the best French companies; and, as a proof of it, there
is no one instance of an Englishman's having ever been suspected of a
gallantry with a French woman of condition, though every French woman of
condition is more than suspected of having a gallantry. But they take up
with the disgraceful and dangerous commerce of prostitutes, actresses,
dancing-women, and that sort of trash; though, if they had common address,
better achievements would be extremely easy. 'Un arrangement', which is in
plain English a gallantry, is, at Paris, as necessary a part of a woman of
fashion's establishment, as her house, stable, coach, etc. A young fellow
must therefore be a very awkward one, to be reduced to, or of a very
singular taste, to prefer drabs and danger to a commerce (in the course of
the world not disgraceful) with a woman of health, education, and rank.
Nothing sinks a young man into low company, both of women and men, so
surely as timidity and diffidence of himself. If he thinks that he shall
not, he may depend upon it he will not please. But with proper endeavors
to please, and a degree of persuasion that he shall, it is almost certain
that he will. How many people does one meet with everywhere, who, with
very moderate parts, and very little knowledge, push themselves pretty
far, simply by being sanguine, enterprising, and persevering? They will
take no denial from man or woman; difficulties do not discourage them;
repulsed twice or thrice, they rally, they charge again, and nine times in
ten prevail at last. The same means will much sooner, and, more certainly,
attain the same ends, with your parts and knowledge. You have a fund to be
sanguine upon, and good forces to rally. In business (talents supposed)
nothing is more effectual or successful, than a good, though concealed
opinion of one's self, a firm resolution, and an unwearied perseverance.
None but madmen attempt impossibilities; and whatever is possible, is one
way or another to be brought about. If one method fails, try another, and
suit your methods to the characters you have to do with. At the treaty of
the Pyrenees, which Cardinal Mazarin and Don Louis de Haro concluded,
'dans l'Isle des Faisans', the latter carried some very important points
by his constant and cool perseverance.</p>
<p>The Cardinal had all the Italian vivacity and impatience; Don Louis all
the Spanish phlegm and tenaciousness. The point which the Cardinal had
most at heart was, to hinder the re-establishment of the Prince of Conde,
his implacable enemy; but he was in haste to conclude, and impatient to
return to Court, where absence is always dangerous. Don Louis observed
this, and never failed at every conference to bring the affair of the
Prince of Conde upon the tapis. The Cardinal for some time refused even to
treat upon it. Don Louis, with the same 'sang froid', as constantly
persisted, till he at last prevailed: contrary to the intentions and the
interest both of the Cardinal and of his Court. Sense must distinguish
between what is impossible, and what is only difficult; and spirit and
perseverance will get the better of the latter. Every man is to be had one
way or another, and every woman almost any way. I must not omit one thing,
which is previously necessary to this, and, indeed, to everything else;
which is attention, a flexibility of attention; never to be wholly
engrossed by any past or future object, but instantly directed to the
present one, be it what it will. An absent man can make but few
observations; and those will be disjointed and imperfect ones, as half the
circumstance must necessarily escape him. He can pursue nothing steadily,
because his absences make him lose his way. They are very disagreeable,
and hardly to be tolerated in old age; but in youth they cannot be
forgiven. If you find that you have the least tendency to them, pray watch
yourself very carefully, and you may prevent them now; but if you let them
grow into habit, you will find it very difficult to cure them hereafter,
and a worse distemper I do not know.</p>
<p>I heard with great satisfaction the other day, from one who has been
lately at Rome, that nobody was better received in the best companies than
yourself. The same thing, I dare say, will happen to you at Paris; where
they are particularly kind to all strangers, who will be civil to them,
and show a desire of pleasing. But they must be flattered a little, not
only by words, but by a seeming preference given to their country, their
manners, and their customs; which is but a very small price to pay for a
very good reception. Were I in Africa, I would pay it to a negro for his
goodwill. Adieu.</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.