courtier; and to join, what is feldom joined in any of my countrymen, books and the world. They are commonly twenty years old before they have fpoken to any body above their school-master and the fellows of their college. If they happen to have learning, it is only Greek and Latin; but not one word of modern history, or modern languages. Thus prepared they go abroad, as they call it but, in truth, they stay at home all that while; for being very awkward, confoundedly afhamed, and not speaking the languages, they go into no foreign company, at least none good; but dine and fup with one another only at the tavern. Such examples, I am fure, you will not imitate, but even carefully avoid. You will always take care to keep the best company in the place where you are, which is the only ufe 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, moft falfely and impudently call pleasure, is only the fenfuality of the fwine.-Adieu ! DIAR BOY, LETTER LV. London, May the 17th. I RECEIVED, yesterday, your letter of the 16th, 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 firft fetting out at court has I find been very favourable; and his Polish Majefty has diftinguifhed you. I hope you received that mark of diftinction with refpect, and with fteadinefs, which is the proper behaviour of a man of fashion. People of a low, obfcure education, cannot ftand the rays of greatnefs; they are frightened out of their wits when kings and great men fpeak to them; they are awkward, afhamed, and do not know what nor how to answer : whereas les honnêtes gens are not dazzled by fuperior rank: they know and pay all the refpect that is due to it; but they do it without being difconcerted; and can converfe juft as easily with a king as with any one of his fubjects. That is the great advantage of being introduced young into good company, and being used early to converfe with one's fuperiors. How many men have I feen here, who, after having had the full benefit of an English education, firft at fchool, and then at the university, when they have been prefented to the king, did not know whether they ftood 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 miffed them, let their hats fall, and were afhamed to take them up; and, in fhort, put themfelves in every attidude but the right, that is, the eafy and natural one. The character. iftic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without infolence, and with his fuperiors with refpect, and with eafe. He talks to kings without concern; he trifles with women of the firft condition with familiarity, gaiety, but refpect; and converfes with his equals, whether he is acquainted with them or not, upon general common topics, that are not, however, quite frivolous, without the leaft concern of mind, or awkwardpefs of body; neither of which can appear to advantage but when they are perfectly eafy. DEAR BOY, LETTER LVI. Inftructions in the Study of Hiftory. London, May the gift. HAVE received, with great fatisfaction, your letof the 28th, from Drefden: it finithes your fhort but clear account of the Reformation; which is one of thofe interefting periods of modern hiftory, that cannot be too much ftudied nor too minutely known by you. There are many great events in history, which, when once they are over, leave things in the fituation in which they found them. As for inftance, the late war which, excepting the establishment in Italy for Don Philip, leaves things pretty much in ftatu quo a mutual restitution of all acquifitions being ftipulated by the preliminaries of the peace. Such events undoubtedly deferve your notice, but yet not fo minutely as thofe, which are not only important in themfelves, but equally (or it may be more) important by their confequences too of this latter fort were the progrefs of the Chriftian religion in Europe; the invafion of the Goths; the divifion of the Roman Empire into Weftern and Eaftern; the establishment and rapid progrefs of Mahometanifm; and, lastly, the Reformation: all which events produced the greateft changes in the af fairs of Europe, and to one or other of which the prefent fituation of all the parts of it is to be traced up. Next to these are thofe events which more immediately affect particular states and kingdoms, and which are reckoned merely local, though their influence may, and indeed very often does, indirectly, extend itself further; fuch 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 government here, from a limited monarchy to a commonwealth, at first, and afterwards to abfolute power, ufurped by Cromwell, under the pretence of protection, and the title of protector. The revolution, in 1688, instead of changing, preferved our form of government; which king James II. intended to fubvert, and establish abfolute power in the crown. Thefe are the two great epochs in our English hif tory, which I recommend to your particular attention. The league formed by the houfe of Guife, and fomented by the artifices of Spain, is a moft material part of the hiftory of France. The foundation of it was laid in the reign of Henry II. but the fuperftructure was carried on through the fucceffive reigns of Francis II. Charles IX. and Henry III. till at last it was * In the ftate in which they were. erufhed, partly by the arms, but more by the apoftacy of Henry IV. In Germany, great events have been frequent, by which the imperial dignity has always either gotten or loft: and fo far they have affected the conftitution of the empire. The houfe of Auftria kept that dignity to itself for near two hundred years, during which time it was always attempting to extend its power, by encroaching upon the rights and privileges of the other ftates of the empire; till, at the end of the bellum tricennale, the treaty of Munfter, of which France is guarantee, fixed the refpective claims. Italy has been conftantly torn to pieces, from the time of the Goths, by the popes and the antipopes, feverally fupported by other great powers of Europe, more as their intereft than as their religion led them by the pretenfions alfo of France, and the houfe of Auftria, upon Naples, Sicily, and the Milanefe; not to mention the various leffer caufes of fquabbles there,. for the little ftates, fuch as Ferrara, Parma, Montfer rat, &c. The popes, till lately, have always taken a confiderable part, and had great influence in the affairs of Europe; their excommunications, bulls, and indulgences, ftood inftead of armies, in the times of ignorance and. bigotry; but now, that mankind are better informed, the spiritual authority of the pope is not only lefs regarded, but even defpifed, by the catholic princes themfelves; and his holiness is actually little more than bifhop of Rome, with large temporalities; which he is not likely to keep longer than till the other greater powers in Italy fhall find their conveniency in taking them from him. Among the modern popes, Leo the Tenth, Alexander the Sixth, and Sextus Quintus, deferve your particular notice. The first, The firft, among other things, for his own learning and tafte, and for his encouragement of the reviving arts and fciences in Italy. Under his protection, the Greek and Latin claffics were most excellently tranflated into Italian; paint The thirty years war. ing flourished and arrived at its perfection; and fculp ture came fo near the ancients, that the works of his time, both in marble and bronze, are now called Antico-Moderno. Alexander the Sixth, together with his natural fon, Cefar Borgia, was famous for his wickednefs; in which he, and his fon too, furpaffed all imagination. Their lives are well worth your reading. They were poifoned themselves by the poifoned wine which they had prepared for others: the father died of it, but Cefar recovered. Sextus the Fifth was the fon of a fwineherd; and raised himself to the popedom by his abilities: he was a great knave, but an able and a fingular one. Here is hiftory enough for to-day; you fhall have fome more foon.-Adieu ! I DEAR BOY, LETTER LVII. Attention to Inferiors. London, July the ift. AM extremely well pleafed with the courfe of ftudies which Mr. Harte informs me you are now in, and with the degree of application which he affures me you have to them. Solid knowledge, as I have often told you, is the first and great foundation of your future fortune and character; for I never mention to you the two much greater points of religion and morality, because I cannot poffibly fufpect you as to either of them. This folid knowledge you are in a fair way of acquiring; you may if you pleafe; and, I will add, that nobody ever had the means of acquiring it more in their power than you have. But remember, that manners must adorn knowledge, and fmooth its way through the world. Like a great, rough diamond, it may do very well in a clofet, by way of curiofity, and alfo for its intrinfic value; but it will never be worn, nor fhine, if it is not polifhed. It is upon this article, I confefs, that |