第80章 LETTER LVI(2)

Of all the men that ever I knew in my life (and I knew him extremely well),the late Duke of Marlborough possessed the graces in the highest degree,not to say engrossed them;and indeed he got the most by them;for I will venture (contrary to the custom of profound historians,who always assign deep causes for great events),to ascribe the better half of the Duke of Marlborough's greatness and riches to those graces.He was eminently illiterate;wrote bad English and spelled it still worse.

He had no share of what is commonly called PARTS:that is,he had no brightness,nothing shining in his genius.He had most undoubtedly,an excellent good plain understanding with sound judgment.But these alone,would probably have raised him but something higher than they found him;which was page to King James the Second's queen.There the Graces protected and promoted him;for while he was an ensign of the Guards,the Duchess of Cleveland,then favorite mistress to King Charles the Second,struck by those very Graces,gave him five thousand pounds,with which he immediately bought an annuity for his life of five hundred pounds a year,of my grandfather Halifax;which was the foundation of his subsequent fortune.His figure was beautiful;but his manner was irresistible,by either man or woman.It was by this engaging,graceful manner,that he was enabled,during all his war,to connect the various and jarring powers of the Grand Alliance,and to carry them on to the main object of the war,notwithstanding their private and separate views,jealousies,and wrongheadednesses.Whatever court he went to (and he was often obliged to go himself to some resty and refractory ones),he as constantly prevailed,and brought them into his measures.The Pensionary Heinsius,a venerable old minister,grown gray in business,and who had governed the republic of the United Provinces for more than forty years,was absolutely governed by the Duke of Marlborough,as that republic feels to this day.He was always cool;and nobody ever observed the least variation in his countenance;he could refuse more gracefully than other people could grant;and those who went away from him the most dissatisfied as to the substance of their business,were yet personally charmed with him and,in some degree,comforted by his manner.With all his gentleness and gracefulness,no man living was more conscious of his situation,nor maintained his dignity better.

With the share of knowledge which you have already gotten,and with the much greater which I hope you will soon acquire,what may you not expect to arrive at,if you join all these graces to it?In your destination particularly,they are in truth half your business:for,if you once gain the affections as well as the esteem of the prince or minister of the court to which you are sent,I will answer for it,that will effectually do the business of the court that sent you;otherwise it is up-hill work.

Do not mistake,and think that these graces which I so often and so earnestly recommend to you,should only accompany important transactions,and be worn only 'les jours de gala';no,they should,if possible,accompany every,the least thing you do or say;for,if you neglect them in little things,they will leave you in great ones.I should,for instance,be extremely concerned to see you even drink a cup of coffee ungracefully,and slop yourself with it,by your awkward manner of holding it;nor should I like to see your coat buttoned,or your shoes buckled awry.But I should be outrageous,if I heard you mutter your words unintelligibly,stammer,in your speech,or hesitate,misplace,and mistake in your narrations;and I should run away from you with greater rapidity,if possible,than I should now run to embrace you,if I found you destitute of all those graces which I have set my heart upon their making you one day,'omnibus ornatum excellere rebus'.

This subject is inexhaustible,as it extends to everything that is to be said or done:but I will leave it for the present,as this letter is already pretty long.Such is my desire,my anxiety for your perfection,that I never think I have said enough,though you may possibly think that I have said too much;and though,in truth,if your own good sense is not sufficient to direct you,in many of these plain points,all that I or anybody else can say will be insufficient.But where you are concerned,I am the insatiable man in Horace,who covets still a little corner more to complete the figure of his field.I dread every little corner that may deform mine,in which I would have (if possible)no one defect.

I this moment receive yours of the 17th,N.S.,and cannot condole with you upon the secession of your German 'Commensaux';who both by your and Mr.Harte's description,seem to be 'des gens d'une amiable absence';and,if you can replace them by any other German conversation,you will be a gainer by the bargain.I cannot conceive,if you understand German well enough to read any German book,how the writing of the German character can be so difficult and tedious to you,the twenty-four letters being very soon learned;and I do not expect that you should write yet with the utmost purity and correctness,as to the language:what I meant by your writing once a fortnight to Grevenkop,was only to make the written character familiar to you.However,I will be content with one in three weeks or so.

I believe you are not likely to see Mr.Eliot again soon,he being still in Cornwall with his father;who,I hear,is not likely to recover.

Adieu.