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.
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 Iwish 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.
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.
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.
