<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0166" id="link2H_4_0166"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CLXIV </h2>
<h3> LONDON, April 73, O. S. 1752 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I receive this moment your letter of the 19th, N. S., with
the inclosed pieces relative to the present dispute between the King and
the parliament. I shall return them by Lord Huntingdon, whom you will soon
see at Paris, and who will likewise carry you the piece, which I forgot in
making up the packet I sent you by the Spanish Ambassador. The
representation of the parliament is very well drawn, 'suaviter in modo,
fortiter in re'. They tell the King very respectfully, that, in a certain
case, WHICH THEY SHOULD THINK IT CRIMINAL To SUPPOSE, they would not obey
him. This hath a tendency to what we call here revolution principles. I do
not know what the Lord's anointed, his vicegerent upon earth, divinely
appointed by him, and accountable to none but him for his actions, will
either think or do, upon these symptoms of reason and good sense, which
seem to be breaking out all over France: but this I foresee, that, before
the end of this century, the trade of both king and priest will not be
half so good a one as it has been. Du Clos, in his "Reflections," hath
observed, and very truly, 'qu'il y a un germe de raison qui commence a se
developper en France';—a developpement that must prove fatal to
Regal and Papal pretensions. Prudence may, in many cases, recommend an
occasional submission to either; but when that ignorance, upon which an
implicit faith in both could only be founded, is once removed, God's
Vicegerent, and Christ's Vicar, will only be obeyed and believed, as far
as what the one orders, and the other says, is conformable to reason and
to truth.</p>
<p>I am very glad (to use a vulgar expression) that You MAKE AS IF YOU WERE
NOT WELL, though you really are; I am sure it is the likeliest way to keep
so. Pray leave off entirely your greasy, heavy pastry, fat creams, and
indigestible dumplings; and then you need not confine yourself to white
meats, which I do not take to be one jot wholesomer than beef, mutton, and
partridge.</p>
<p>Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV. It
came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how
history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written. I am
sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers.
Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked:
for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses;
reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded. It
is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts, for
the use of men of parts. Weak minds will not like it, even though they do
not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their admiration. Dull
ones will want those minute and uninteresting details with which most
other histories are encumbered. He tells me all I want to know, and
nothing more. His reflections are short, just, and produce others in his
readers. Free from religious, philosophical, political and national
prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all those
matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must always
be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly that he
often says much less than he would say, if he might. He hath made me much
better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the innumerable
volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this reflection to
me, which I have never made before—His vanity, not his knowledge,
made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences in his
country. He opened in a manner the human understanding in France, and
brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and greatly
exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan. This was great
and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement, the applause,
and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince. What is much
more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the human mind just
where he pleased; and seemed to say, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no
farther." For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his power, free and
rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a French head during his
reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age produced, never
entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the infallibility of
the Church. Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant of their natural
rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith triumphed, in
those great minds, over silent and passive reason. The reverse of this
seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself; fancy and
invention fade and decline.</p>
<p>I will send you a copy of this history by Lord Huntingdon, as I think it
very probable that it is not allowed to be published and sold at Paris.
Pray read it more than once, and with attention, particularly the second
volume, which contains short, but very clear accounts of many very
interesting things, which are talked of by everybody, though fairly.
understood by very few. There are two very puerile affectations which I
wish this book had been free from; the one is, the total subversion of all
the old established French orthography; the other is, the not making use
of any one capital letter throughout the whole book, except at the
beginning of a paragraph. It offends my eyes to see rome, paris, france,
Caesar, I henry the fourth, etc., begin with small letters; and I do not
conceive that there can be any reason for doing it, half so strong as the
reason of long usage is to the contrary. This is an affectation below
Voltaire; who, I am not ashamed to say, that I admire and delight in, as
an author, equally in prose and in verse.</p>
<p>I had a letter a few days ago from Monsieur du Boccage, in which he says,
'Monsieur Stanhope s'est jete dans la politique, et je crois qu'il y
reussira': You do very well, it is your destination; but remember that, to
succeed in great things, one must first learn to please in little ones.
Engaging manners and address must prepare the way for superior knowledge
and abilities to act with effect. The late Duke of Marlborough's manners
and address prevailed with the first king of Prussia, to let his troops
remain in the army of the Allies, when neither their representations, nor
his own share in the common cause could do it. The Duke of Marlborough had
no new matter to urge to him; but had a manner, which he could not, nor
did not, resist. Voltaire, among a thousand little delicate strokes of
that kind, says of the Duke de la Feuillade, 'qu'il etoit l'homme le plus
brillant et le plus aimable du royaume; et quoique gendre du General et
Ministre, il avoit pour lui la faveur publique'. Various little
circumstances of that sort will often make a man of great real merit be
hated, if he hath not address and manners to make him be loved. Consider
all your own circumstances seriously; and you will find that, of all arts,
the art of pleasing is the most necessary for you to study and possess. A
silly tyrant said, 'oderint modo timeant'; a wise man would have said,
'modo ament nihil timendum est mihi'. Judge from your own daily
experience, of the efficacy of that pleasing 'je ne sais quoi', when you
feel, as you and everybody certainly does, that in men it is more engaging
than knowledge, in women than beauty.</p>
<p>I long to see Lord and Lady———-(who are not yet
arrived), because they have lately seen you; and I always fancy, that I
can fish out something new concerning you, from those who have seen you
last: not that I shall much rely upon their accounts, because I distrust
the judgment of Lord and Lady———-, in those matters
about which I am most inquisitive. They have ruined their own son by what
they called and thought loving him. They have made him believe that the
world was made for him, not he for the world; and unless he stays abroad a
great while, and falls into very good company, he will expect, what he
will never find, the attentions and complaisance from others, which he has
hitherto been used to from Papa and Mamma. This, I fear, is too much the
case of Mr. ----; who, I doubt, will be run through the body, and be near
dying, before he knows how to live. However you may turn out, you can
never make me any of these reproaches. I indulged no silly, womanish
fondness for you; instead of inflicting my tenderness upon you, I have
taken all possible methods to make you deserve it; and thank God you do;
at least, I know but one article, in which you are different from what I
could wish you; and you very well know what that is I want: That I and all
the world should like you, as well as I love you. 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.