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<h2> LETTER CXIX </h2>
<h3> LONDON, October 22, O. S. 1750 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: This letter will, I am persuaded, find you, and I hope
safely, arrived at Montpelier; from whence I trust that Mr. Harte's
indisposition will, by being totally removed, allow you to get to Paris
before Christmas. You will there find two people who, though both English,
I recommend in the strongest manner possible to your attention; and advise
you to form the most intimate connections with them both, in their
different ways. The one is a man whom you already know something of, but
not near enough: it is the Earl of Huntingdon; who, next to you, is the
truest object of my affection and esteem; and who (I am proud to say it)
calls me, and considers me as his adopted father. His parts are as quick
as his knowledge is extensive; and if quality were worth putting into an
account, where every other item is so much more valuable, he is the first
almost in this country: the figure he will make in it, soon after he
returns to it, will, if I am not more mistaken than ever I was in my life,
equal his birth and my hopes. Such a connection will be of infinite
advantage to you; and, I can assure you, that he is extremely disposed to
form it upon my account; and will, I hope and believe, desire to improve
and cement it upon your own.</p>
<p>In our parliamentary government, connections are absolutely necessary;
and, if prudently formed and ably maintained, the success of them is
infallible. There are two sorts of connections, which I would always
advise you to have in view. The first I will call equal ones; by which I
mean those, where the two connecting parties reciprocally find their
account, from pretty near an equal degree of parts and abilities. In
those, there must be a freer communication; each must see that the other
is able, and be convinced that he is willing to be of use to him. Honor
must be the principle of such connections; and there must be a mutual
dependence, that present and separate interest shall not be able to break
them. There must be a joint system of action; and, in case of different
opinions, each must recede a little, in order at last to form an unanimous
one. Such, I hope, will be your connection with Lord Huntingdon. You will
both come into parliament at the same time; and if you have an equal share
of abilities and application, you and he, with other young people, with
whom you will naturally associate, may form a band which will be respected
by any administration, and make a figure in the public. The other sort of
connections I call unequal ones; that is, where the parts are all on one
side, and the rank and fortune on the other. Here, the advantage is all on
one side; but that advantage must be ably and artfully concealed.
Complaisance, an engaging manner, and a patient toleration of certain airs
of superiority, must cement them. The weaker party must be taken by the
heart, his head giving no hold; and he must be governed by being made to
believe that he governs. These people, skillfully led, give great weight
to their leader. I have formerly pointed out to you a couple that I take
to be proper objects for your skill; and you will meet with twenty more,
for they are very rife.</p>
<p>The other person whom I recommended to you is a woman; not as a woman, for
that is not immediately my business; besides, I fear that she is turned of
fifty. It is Lady Hervey, whom I directed you to call upon at Dijon, but
who, to my great joy, because to your great advantage, passes all this
winter at Paris. She has been bred all her life at courts; of which she
has acquired all the easy good-breeding and politeness, without the
frivolousness. She has all the reading that a woman should have; and more
than any woman need have; for she understands Latin perfectly well, though
she wisely conceals it. As she will look upon you as her son, I desire
that you will look upon her as my delegate: trust, consult, and apply to
her without reserve. No woman ever had more than she has, 'le ton de la
parfaitement bonne compagnie, les manieres engageantes, et le je ne sais
quoi qui plait'. Desire her to reprove and correct any, and every, the
least error and inaccuracy in your manners, air, address, etc. No woman in
Europe can do it so well; none will do it more willingly, or in a more
proper and obliging manner. In such a case she will not put you out of
countenance, by telling you of it in company; but either intimate it by
some sign, or wait for an opportunity when you are alone together. She is
also in the best French company, where she will not only introduce but
PUFF you, if I may use so low a word. And I can assure you that it is no
little help, in the 'beau monde', to be puffed there by a fashionable
woman. I send you the inclosed billet to carry her, only as a certificate
of the identity of your person, which I take it for granted she could not
know again.</p>
<p>You would be so much surprised to receive a whole letter from me without
any mention of the exterior ornaments necessary for a gentleman, as
manners, elocution, air, address, graces, etc., that, to comply with your
expectations, I will touch upon them; and tell you, that when you come to
England, I will show you some people, whom I do not now care to name,
raised to the highest stations singly by those exterior and adventitious
ornaments, whose parts would never have entitled them to the smallest
office in the excise. Are they then necessary, and worth acquiring, or
not? You will see many instances of this kind at Paris, particularly a
glaring one, of a person—[M. le Marechal de Richelieu]—raised
to the highest posts and dignities in France, as well as to be absolute
sovereign of the 'beau monde', simply by the graces of his person and
address; by woman's chit-chat, accompanied with important gestures; by an
imposing air and pleasing abord. Nay, by these helps, he even passes for a
wit, though he hath certainly no uncommon share of it. I will not name
him, because it would be very imprudent in you to do it. A young fellow,
at his first entrance into the 'beau monde', must not offend the king 'de
facto' there. It is very often more necessary to conceal contempt than
resentment, the former forgiven, but the latter sometimes forgot.</p>
<p>There is a small quarto book entitled, 'Histoire Chronologique de la
France', lately published by Le President Henault, a man of parts and
learning, with whom you will probably get acquainted at Paris. I desire
that it may always lie upon your table, for your recourse as often as you
read history. The chronology, though chiefly relative to the history of
France, is not singly confined to it; but the most interesting events of
all the rest of Europe are also inserted, and many of them adorned by
short, pretty, and just reflections. The new edition of 'Les Memoires de
Sully', in three quarto volumes, is also extremely well worth your
reading, as it will give you a clearer, and truer notion of one of the
most interesting periods of the French history, than you can yet have
formed from all the other books you may have read upon the subject. That
prince, I mean Henry the Fourth, had all the accomplishments and virtues
of a hero, and of a king, and almost of a man. The last are the most
rarely seen. May you possess them all! Adieu.</p>
<p>Pray make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and let him know that I have this
moment received his letter of the 12th, N. S., from Antibes. It requires
no immediate answer; I shall therefore delay mine till I have another from
him. Give him the inclosed, which I have received from Mr. Eliot.</p>
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