第62章 LETTER XLVII

LONDON,August 23,O.S.1748.

DEAR BOY:Your friend,Mr.Eliot,has dined with me twice since Ireturned here,and I can say with truth that while I had the seals,I never examined or sifted a state prisoner with so much care and curiosity as I did him.Nay,I did more;for,contrary to the laws of this country,I gave him in some manner,the QUESTION ordinary and extraordinary;and I have infinite pleasure in telling you that the rack which I put him to,did not extort from him one single word that was not such as I wished to hear of you.I heartily congratulate you upon such an advantageous testimony,from so creditable a witness.'Laudati a laudato viro',is one of the greatest pleasures and honors a rational being can have;may you long continue to deserve it!Your aversion to drinking and your dislike to gaming,which Mr.Eliot assures me are both very strong,give me,the greatest joy imaginable,for your sake:as the former would ruin both your constitution and understanding,and the latter your fortune and character.Mr.Harte wrote me word some time ago,and Mr.Eliot confirms it now,that you employ your pin money in a very different manner,from that in which pin money is commonly lavished:

not in gew-gaws and baubles,but in buying good and useful books.This is an excellent symptom,and gives me very good hopes.Go on thus,my dear boy,but for these next two years,and I ask no more.You must then make such a figure and such a fortune in the world as I wish you,and as I have taken all these pains to enable you to do.After that time Iallow you to be as idle as ever you please;because I am sure that you will not then please to be so at all.The ignorant and the weak are only idle;but those who have once acquired a good stock of knowledge,always desire to increase it.Knowledge is like power in this respect,that those who have the most,are most desirous of having more.It does not clog,by possession,but increases desire;which is the case of very few pleasures.

Upon receiving this congratulatory letter,and reading your own praises,I am sure that it must naturally occur to you,how great a share of them you owe to Mr.Harte's care and attention;and,consequently,that your regard and affection for him must increase,if there be room for it,in proportion as you reap,which you do daily,the fruits of his labors.

I must not,however,conceal from you that there was one article in which your own witness,Mr.Eliot,faltered;for,upon my questioning him home as to your manner of speaking,he could not say that your utterance was either distinct or graceful.I have already said so much to you upon this point that I can add nothing.I will therefore only repeat this truth,which is,that if you will not speak distinctly and graceful,nobody will desire to hear you.I am glad to learn that Abbe Mably's 'Droit Public de l'Europe'makes a part of your evening amusements.It is a very useful book,and gives a clear deduction of the affairs of Europe,from the treaty of Munster to this time.Pray read it with attention,and with the proper maps;always recurring to them for the several countries or towns yielded,taken,or restored.Pyre Bougeant's third volume will give you the best idea of the treaty of Munster,and open to you the several views of the belligerent'and contracting parties,and there never were greater than at that time.The House of Austria,in the war immediately preceding that treaty,intended to make itself absolute in the empire,and to overthrow the rights of the respective states of it.The view of France was to weaken and dismember the House of Austria to such a degree,as that it should no longer be a counterbalance to that of Bourbon.Sweden wanted possessions on the continent of Germany,not only to supply the necessities of its own poor and barren country,but likewise to hold the balance in the empire between the House of Austria and the States.The House of Brandenburg wanted to aggrandize itself by pilfering in the fire;changed sides occasionally,and made a good bargain at last;for I think it got,at the peace,nine or ten bishoprics secularized.So that we may date,from the treaty of Munster,the decline of the House of Austria,the great power of the House of Bourbon,and the aggrandizement of that of Bradenburg:

which,I am much mistaken,if it stops where it is now.

Make my compliments to Lord Pulteney,to whom I would have you be not only attentive,but useful,by setting him (in case he wants it)a good example of application and temperance.I begin to believe that,as Ishall be proud of you,others will be proud too of imitating you:Those expectations of mine seem now so well grounded,that my disappointment,and consequently my anger,will be so much the greater if they fail;but as things stand now,I am most affectionately and tenderly,Yours.