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<h2> LETTER CCXXVI </h2>
<h3> BLACKHEATH, July 18, 1758. </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday I received your letter of the 4th; and my last
will have informed you that I had received your former, concerning the
Rhenish, about which I gave you instructions. If 'vinum Mosellanum est
omni tempore sanum', as the Chapter of Treves asserts, what must this
'vinum Rhenanum' be, from its superior strength and age? It must be the
universal panacea.</p>
<p>Captain Howe is to sail forthwith somewhere or another, with about 8,000
land forces on board him; and what is much more, Edward the White Prince.
It is yet a secret where they are going; but I think it is no secret, that
what 16,000 men and a great fleet could not do, will not be done by 8,000
men and a much smaller fleet. About 8,500 horse, foot, and dragoons, are
embarking, as fast as they can, for Embden, to reinforce Prince
Ferdinand's army; late and few, to be sure, but still better than never,
and none. The operations in Moravia go on slowly, and Olmutz seems to be a
tough piece of work; I own I begin to be in pain for the King of Prussia;
for the Russians now march in earnest, and Marechal Dann's army is
certainly superior in number to his. God send him a good delivery!</p>
<p>You have a Danish army now in your neighborhood, and they say a very fine
one; I presume you will go to see it, and, if you do, I would advise you
to go when the Danish Monarch comes to review it himself; 'pour prendre
langue de ce Seigneur'. The rulers of the earth are all worth knowing;
they suggest moral reflections: and the respect that one naturally has for
God's vicegerents here on earth, is greatly increased by acquaintance with
them.</p>
<p>Your card-tables are gone, and they inclose some suits of clothes, and
some of these clothes inclose a letter.</p>
<p>Your friend Lady———is gone into the country with her
Lord, to negotiate, coolly and at leisure, their intended separation. My
Lady insists upon my Lord's dismissing the———, as
ruinous to his fortune; my Lord insists, in his turn, upon my Lady's
dismissing Lord—————; my Lady replies, that
that is unreasonable, since Lord creates no expense to the family, but
rather the contrary. My Lord confesses that there is some weight in this
argument: but then pleads sentiment: my Lady says, a fiddlestick for
sentiment, after having been married so long. How this matter will end, is
in the womb of time, 'nam fuit ante Helenam'.</p>
<p>You did very well to write a congratulatory letter to Prince Ferdinand;
such attentions are always right, and always repaid in some way or other.</p>
<p>I am glad you have connected your negotiations and anecdotes; and, I hope,
not with your usual laconism. Adieu! Yours.</p>
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<h2> LETTER CCXXVII </h2>
<h3> BLACKHEATH, August 1, 1758 </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I think the Court of Cassel is more likely to make you a
second visit at Hamburg, than you are to return theirs at Cassel; and
therefore, till that matter is clearer, I shall not mention it to Lord
Holderness.</p>
<p>By the King of Prussia's disappointment in Moravia, by the approach of the
Russians, and the intended march of Monsieur de Soubize to Hanover, the
waters seem to me to be as much troubled as ever. 'Je vois tres noir
actuellement'; I see swarms of Austrians, French, Imperialists, Swedes,
and Russians, in all near four hundred thousand men, surrounding the King
of Prussia and Prince Ferdinand, who have about a third of that number.
Hitherto they have only buzzed, but now I fear they will sting.</p>
<p>The immediate danger of this country is being drowned; for it has not
ceased raining these three months, and withal is extremely cold. This
neither agrees with me in itself, nor in its consequences; for it hinders
me from taking my necessary exercise, and makes me very unwell. As my head
is always the part offending, and is so at present, I will not do, like
many writers, write without a head; so adieu.</p>
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<h2> LETTER CCXXVIII </h2>
<h3> BLACKHEATH, August 29, 1758. </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: Your secretary's last letter brought me the good news that
the fever had left you, and I will believe that it has: but a postscript
to it, of only two lines, under your own hand, would have convinced me
more effectually of your recovery. An intermitting fever, in the intervals
of the paroxysms, would surely have allowed you to have written a few
lines with your own hand, to tell me how you were; and till I receive a
letter (as short as you please) from you yourself, I shall doubt of the
exact truth of any other accounts.</p>
<p>I send you no news, because I have none; Cape Breton, Cherbourg, etc., are
now old stories; we expect a new one soon from Commodore Howe, but from
whence we know not. From Germany we hope for good news: I confess I do
not, I only wish it. The King of Prussia is marched to fight the Russians,
and I believe will beat them, if they stand; but what then? What shall he
do next, with the three hundred and fourscore thousand men now actually at
work upon him? He will do all that man can do, but at last 'il faut
succomber'.</p>
<p>Remember to think yourself less well than you are, in order to be quite
so; be very regular, rather longer than you need; and then there will be
no danger of a relapse. God bless you.</p>
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