288 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS

in the place, where you are, which is the only use of travelling: and (by the way) the pleasures of a gentleman are only to be found in the best company; for that riot which low company, most falkely and impudently, call pleasure, is only the venality of a flwine.

I ask hard and uninterrupted study, from you, but one year more; after that, you shall have, every day, more and more time for your amusements. A few hours each day will then be sufficient for application, and the others cannot be better employed than in the pleasures of good company. Adieu.

LETTER CXIX.

London, May the 17th, O. S. 1748.

DEAR BOY,

I Received, yesterday, your letter of the 16th, N. S. and have, in confequence of it, written, this day, to Sir Charles Williams, to thank him for all the civilities he has shown you. Your first setting out at Court has, I find, been very favourable; and his Polifh Majefly has diftinguifhed you. I hope you received that mark of diffination with refpect, and with fleadineſs, which is the proper behaviour of a man of fashion. People of a low, obſcure education, cannot ſtand the rays of greatneſs; they are frightened out of their wits when Kings and great Men ſpeak to them; they are awkward, afhamed, and do not know what nor how to anſwer: whereas les Lonnêtes gens are not dazzled by ſuperior rank: they know and pay all the refpect that is due to it; but they do it without being difconcerted; and can converſe juſt as eafily with a King, as with any one of his ſubjects. That is the great advantage of being introduced young into good company,

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pany, and been uſed early to converſe with one's ſupernors. How many men have I seen here, who, after having had the full benefit of an English education, firſt at ſchool, and then at the university; when they have been preſented to the King, did not know whether they ſlood upon their heads or their heels? If the King ſpoke to them, they were annihilated; they trembled, endeavoured to put their hands in their pockets and miſſed them, let their hats ſull, and were afhamed to take them up; and, in ſhort, put themſelves in every attitude but the right, that is, the eafy and natural one. The Characteriſtique of a well-bred man is, to converſe with his inferiors without inſolence, and with his ſupernors with refpect, and with eafe. He talks to Kings, without concern; he trifles with women of the firſt condition, with familiarity, gaiety, but refpect; and converſes with his equals, whether he is acquainted with them or not, upon general, common topics, that are not, however, quite frivolous, without the leaſt concern of mind, or awkwardneſs of body: neither of which can appear to advantage, but when they are perfectly eafe.

The tea-things, which Sir Charles Williams has given you, I would have you make a prefent of to your Mamma, and ſend them to her by Duval, when he returns. You owe her, not only duty, but likewife great obligations, for her care and tenderneſs; and, conſequently, cannot take too many opportunities of ſhowing your gratitude.

I am inpatient to receive your account of Drefden, and likewife your anſwers to the many queſtions that I aſked you. Adieu for this time, and God bleſs you!

VOL. I.

Pp

LETTER

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS

LETTER CXX.

London, May the 27th, O. S. 1748.

DEAR BOY,

THIS, and the two next years, make so important a period of your life, that I cannot help repeating to you my exhortations, my commands, and (what I hope will be still more prevailing with you than either) my earneſt entreaties, to employ them well. Every moment that you now lobe, is so much character and advantage loft; as, on the other hand, every moment that you now employ uſefully, is so much time wifely laid out, at moſt prodigious intereſt. Thefe two years muſt lay the foundations of all the knowledge that you will ever have; you may build upon them afterwards as much as you pleafe, but it will be too late to lay any new ones. Let me beg of you, therefore, to grudge no labour nor pains to acquire, in time, that ſtock of knowledge, without which you never can rife, but muſt make a very infignificant figure in the world. Conſider your own ſituation; you have not the advantage of rank and fortune to bear you up; I ſhall, very probably, be out of the world, before you can properly be ſaid to be in it. What then will you have to rely on but your own merit? That alone muſt raife you, and that alone will raife you, if you have but enough of it. I have often heard and read of oppreſſed and unrewarded merit, but I have oftener (I might ſay always) ſeen great merit make its way, and meet with its reward, to a certain degree at leaſt, in ſpight of all difficulties. By merit, I mean the moral virtues, knowledge, and manners; as to the moral virtues, I ſay nothing to you, they ſpeak beſt for themselves, nor can I ſupſect that they want any recommendation with you; I will, therefore, only

TO HISSON.

only affure you, that, without them, you will be moſt un-
happy.

As to knowledge, I have often told you, and I am perfuaded
you are thoroughly convinced, how abſolutely neceſſary it is
to you, whatever your deſtination may be. But as knowledge
has a moſt extenſive meaning, and as the life of man is not long
enough to acquire, nor his mind capable of entertaining and
digesting all parts of knowledge, I will point out theſe to
which you ſhould particularly apply, and which, by appli-
cation, you may make yourſelf perfect after of. Clauſical
knowledge, that is Greek and Latin, is abſolutely neceſſary for
every body; becauſe every body has agreed to think and to call it
ſo. And the word *illiterate*, in its common acceptation, means a
man who is ignorant of theſe two languages. You are by this
time, I hope, pretty near after of both, so that a ſmall
part of the day dedicated to them, for two years more, will make
you perfect in that ſtudy. Rhetoric, Logic, a little Geometry,
and a general notion of Aſtronomy, muſt, in their turns, have
their hours too; not that I deſire you ſhould be deep in any one
of theſe; but, it is fit, you ſhould know ſomething of them
all. The knowledge more particularly uſeful and neceſſary
for you, confidering your deſtination, confiſts of Modern Lan-
guages, Modern Hiftory, Chronology, and Geography; the
Laws of Nations, and the *jus publicum Imperii*. You muſt ab-
ſolutely ſpeak all the modern languages, as purely and correctly
as the natives of the reſpective countries: for whoever does
not ſpeak a language perfectly and eſtily, will never appear to ad-
vantage in converſation, nor treat with others in it upon equal
terms. As for French, you have it very well already; and muſt
neceſſarily, from the univerſal uſage of that language, know it bet-
ter and better every day: so that I am in no pain about that.

German,

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292 LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS

German, I fuppofe, you know pretty well by this time, and will be quite matter of it before you leave Leipzig: at least I am sure you may. Italian and Spanish will come in their turns, and, indeed, they are both so easy, to one who knows Latin and French, that neither of them will coft you much time or trouble. Modern Hiftory, by which I mean particularly the Hiftory of the laft three centuries, should be the object of your greatest and contant attention, especially those parts of it which relate more immediately to the great Powers of Europe. This study you will carefully connect with Chronology and Geography; that is, you will remark and retain the dates of every important event; and always read with the map by you, in which you will conftantly look for every place mentioned: this is the only way of retaining Geography; for, though it is soon learned by the lump, yet, when only so learned, it is still fonner forgot.

Manners, though the laft, and it may be the laft ingredient of
real merit, are; however, very far from being uselefs in its compo-
fition; they adorn, and give an additional force and luffre to both
virtue and knowledge. They prepare and smooth the way for
the progreſs of both; and are, I fear, with the bulk of mankind,
more engaging than either. Remember, then, the infinite advan-
tage of Manners; cultivate and improve your own to the utmoſt:
good fenſe will fuggeſt the great rules to you, good company will
do the reſt. Thus you fee how much you have to do, and how
little time to do it in: for when you are thrown out into the
world, as in a couple of years you muſt be, the unavoidable diffipa-
tion of company, and the neceſſary avocations of ſome kind
of buſineſs or other, will leave you no time to undertake new
branches of knowledge; you may indeed, by a prudent allotment of
your time, reſerve ſome to compleat and finſh the building; but
you will never find enough to lay new foundations. I have ſuch
an

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TO HIS SON.

an opinion of your understanding, that I am convinced you are
fenſible of those truths; and that, however hard and laborious
your present uninterrupted application may seem to you, you will
rather increase than lessen it. For God's fake, my dear boy, do not
quander away one moment of your time, for every moment may
be now moſt usefully employed. Your future fortune, character,
and figure in the world, entirely depend upon your use or abuse of
the two next years. If you do but employ them well, what may
you not reasonably expect to be in time? and, if you do not,
what may I not reasonably fear you will be? You are the only
one I ever knew, of this country, whose education was, from the
beginning, calculated for the department of foreign affairs: in
conſequence of which, if you will invariably purfue, and dili-
gently qualify your ſelf for that object, you may make your ſelf
absolutely neceſſary to the Government; and, after having receiv-
ed orders as a Minifter abroad, ſend orders, in your turn, as Se-
cretary of State at home. Moſt of our Minifters abroad have
taken up that department occasionally, without having ever
thought of foreign affairs before; many of them, without speaking
any one foreign language; and all of them, without the Manners
which are absolutely neceſſary towards being well received, and
making a figure at foreign Courts. They do the buſineſs accord-
ingly, that is, very ill: they never get into the secrets of those
Courts, for want of infinuation and addreſs: they do not guesſ
at their views, for want of knowing their intereſts: and, at laſt,
finding them ſelvſ very unfit for, ſoon grow weary of, their com-
mifſions, and are impatient to return home; where they are but
too justly laid afide and neglected. Every moment's converſa-
tion may, if you pleafe, be of use to you: in this view, every
public event, which is the common topic of converſation, gives
you an opportunity of getting ſome information. For example;
the

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294

the preliminaries of peace, lately concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle, will be the common subject of most conversations; in which you will take care to ask the proper questions: as, what is the meaning of the Affiento contract for negroes, between England and Spain; what the annual ship; when flipulated; upon what account suspended, &c. You will, likewise, inform yourself about Guaftalla, now given to Don Philip, together with Parma and Placentia: who they belonged to before; what claim or pretenfions Don Philip had to them; what they are worth; in short, every thing concerning them. The cessions, made by the Queen of Hungary to the King of Sardinia, are, by thefe preliminaries, confirmed and ſecured to him: you will inquire, therefore, what they are, and what they are worth. This is the kind of knowledge which you ſhould be moſt thoroughly maſter of, and in which, converſation will help you almoſt as much as books: but both are beſt. There are hiftories of every confidentable Treaty, from that of Węſphalia to that of Utrecht, incluſively; all which I would advife you to read. Pere Bougeant's, of the Treaty of Węſphalia, is an excellent one; thofe of Nimeguen, Ryſwick, and Utrecht, are not ſo well written; but are, however, very uſeful. L'Histoire des Traités de Paix, in two volumes ſolio, which I recommended to you ſome time ago, is a book that you ſhould often confult, when you hear mention made of any treaty concluded in the ſeventeenth century.

Upon the whole, if you have a mind to be confiderable, and to ſhine hereafter, you muſt labour hard now. No quickneſs of parts, no vivacity, will do long, or go far, without a ſolid fund of knowledge: and that fund of knowledge will amply repay all the pains that you can take in acquiring it. Reflect ſeriously, within yourſelf, upon all this, and ask yourſelf, whether I can have any view, but your intereſt, in all that I recommend to you.

It

TO HIS SON.

295

It is the reſult of my experience, and flows from that tenderneſs and affection with which, while you deferve them, I ſhall be Yours.

Make my compliments to Mr. Harte, and tell him, that I have received his letter of the 24th, N. S.

LETTER CXXI.

London, May the 31st, O.S. 1748.

DEAR BOY,

I HAVE received, with great fatisſaction, your letter of the 28th N. S. from Drefden: it finifhes your ſhort but clear account of the Reformation; which is one of thofe intereſting periods of Modern Hiftory, that cannot be too much studied nor too minutely known by you. There are many great events in Hiftory, which, when once they are over, leave things in the ſituation in which they found them. As for inſtance, the late war; which, excepting the eſtablishment in Italy for Don Philip, leaves things pretty much in ſatu quo; a mutual reſtitution of all acqüifications being flipulated by the preliminaries of the peace. Such events undoubtedly deferve your notice, but yet not ſo minutely as thofe, which are not only important in themſelves, but equally (or it may be more) important by their conſequences too: of this latter ſort were, the progreſs of the Chriſtian Religion in Europe; the invasion of the Goths; the divifion of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern; the eſtablishment and rapid progreſs of Mahometanifm; and, laſtly, the Reformation: all which events produced the greateſt changes in the affairs of Europe, and to one

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or

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS

296

or other of which, the present situation of all the parts of it is
to be traced up.

Next to these, are those events which more immediately
affect particular States and Kingdoms, and which are rec-
moned merely local, though their influence may, and indeed
very often does, indirectly, extend itself further; such as civil
wars, and revolutions, from which a total change in the form of
government frequently flows. The civil wars in England, in the
reign of King Charles I. produced an entire change of the Go-
vernment here, from a limited Monarchy to a Commonwealth, at
first, and afterwards to absolute Power, usurped by Cromwell,
under the pretence of Protection, and the title of Protector.

The Revolution, in 1688, instead of changing, preferred our
form of government; which King James II. intended to subvert,
and establish absolute power in the Crown.

These are the two great epochs in our English History, which
I recommend to your particular attention.

The league formed by the House of Guise, and fomented by the
artifices of Spain, is a most material part of the history of France.
The foundation of it was laid in the reign of Henry II. but the
superstructure was carried on through the successive reigns of
Francis II. Charles IX. and Henry III. till at last it was crushed,
partly by the arms, but more by the apogee, of Henry IV.

In Germany, great events have been frequent, by which the
Imperial dignity has always either gotten or lost: and so far they
have affected the constitution of the Empire. The House of
Austria kept that dignity to itself for near two hundred years,
during which time it was always attempting to extend its
power, by incroaching upon the rights and privileges of the
other States of the Empire; till, at the end of the *bellum tri-
cennale*, the Treaty of Munster, of which France is guarantee,
fixed the respective claims.

Italy

TO HIS SON.

297

Italy has been conflated to pieces, from the time of the
Gothes; by the Popes and the Anti-popes, feverally supported by
other great Powers of Europe, more as their interest than as their
religion led them. By the pretensions aliof France, and the
House of Austria, upon Naples, Sicily, and the Milanese; not to
mention the various lefter caufes of squabbles there, for the little
States, such as Ferrara, Parma, Montferrat, &c.

The Popes, till lately, have always taken a considerable part, and
had great influence in the affairs of Europe: their Excommunica-
tions, Bulls, and Indulgences, flood instead of armies, in the times
of ignorance and bigotry; but now, that mankind is better inform-
ed, the spiritual authority of the Pope is not only less regarded,
but even despised, by the Catholic Princes themselves; and his
Holinefs is actually little more than Bishop of Rome, with large
temporalities; which he is not likely to keep longer than till the
other greater Powers in Italy shall find their conveniency in tak-
ing them from him. Among the modern Popes, Leo the Xth,
Alexander the VIth, and Sixtus Quintus, deferve your particular
notice. The first, among other things, for his own learning and
taflè, and for his encouragement of the reviving Arts and Sciences
in Italy. Under his protection, the Greek and Latin Classics
were most excellently translated into Italian; Painting flourished
and arrived at its perfection; and Sculpture came so near the An-
cients, that the works of his time, both in marble and bronze,
are now called *Antico-Moderno*.

Alexander the VIth, together with his natural son, Cefar
Borgia, was famous for his wickedness; in which he, and his son
too, furiously all imagination. Their lives are well worth your
reading. They were poisoned, themselves, by the poisoned wine
which they had prepared for others: the father died of it, but
Cefar recovered.

Vol. I.

qq

Sixtus