the Graces, the morbidezza of Guido; but that is a great deal. You must get them foon, or you will never get them at all.-Addio ! LETTER XCI. Idle and Foolish Companions... The French ill-educated and trifling...Caution against frequenting Coffee-houfes...Knave ry of Parifians. Gambling. MY DEAR FRIEND, London, April the 26th, As your journey to Paris approaches, and as that period will, one way or another, be of infinite confe. quence to you, my letters will henceforwards be prin cipally calculated for that meridian. You will be left there to your own discretion, instead of Mr. Harte's; and you will allow me, I am fure, to diftruft a little the difcretion of eighteen. You will find in the Academy a number of young fellows much lefs difcreet than yourself. Thefe will all be your acquaintances; but look about you first, and inquire into their respec tive characters, before you form any connections among them; and, cæteris paribus, fingle out those of the mol confiderable rank and family. Show them a diftin guishing attention, by which means you will get into their respective houfes, and keep the best company All thofe French young fellows are excellively étourdis: be upon your guard against scrapes and quarrels: have no corporeal pleafantries with them, no jeux de main, t no coups de chambriére, which frequently bring on quar rels. Be as lively as they, if you please, but at the fame time be a little wifer than they. As to letters, you will find moft of them ignorant; do not reproach your them with that ignorance, nor make them feel periority. It is not their fault that they are all bred up for the army; but,on the other hand,do not allow ther ignorance and idleness to break in upon thofe morn ing hours which you may be able to allot to your ferious studies. No breakfaftings with them, which Anglice, manual wit. Giddy. fu confume a great deal or time; but tell them (not magifterially and fententioufly) that you will read two or three hours in the morning, and that for the rest of the day you are very much at their fervice. Though by the way, I hope you will keep wifer company in the evenings. I must infift upon your never going to what is calledthe English coffee-houfe at Paris, which is the refort of all the fcrub English, and also of the fugitive and tainted Scotch and Irish party quarrels, and drunken fquabbles, are very frequent there; and I do not know a more degrading place in all Paris. Coffeehoufes and taverns are by no means credible at Paris. Be cautiously upon your guard against the infinite number of fine-dreffed and fine-spoken chevaliers d'induftrie and avanturiers, which fwarm at Paris; and keep every body civilly at arms length, of whofe real character or rank you are not previously informed. Monfieur le Compte or monfieur le Chevalier in a handfome laced coat et très bien mis accofts you at the play, or fome other public place; he conceives at firft fight an infinite regard for you, he fees that you are a ftranger of the first diftinétion, he offers you his fervices. and wishes nothing more ardently than to contribute, as far as may be in his little power, to procure you les agrémens de Paris. He is acquainted with fome ladies of condition, qui préfèrent une petite fociété agréable, et des petits foupers aimables d'honnê es gens, au tumulte et à la diffipa tion de Paris; and he will, with the greatest pleasure imaginable, have the honour of introducing you to thefe ladies of quality.-Well, if you were to accept of this kind offer, and go with him, you would find a handfome, painted, and difeafed ftrumpet, in a tarnish ed filver or gold fecond-hand robe; playing a fham party at cards for livres, with three or four fharpers well dreffed enough,and dignified by the titles of Mar quis, Compte, and Chevalier. The lady receives you in the most polite and gracious manner, and with al *The amulements of Paris. Who prefer a fmall and agreeable fociety, and a little fupper, with pleafant and honourable perfon to the tumultuous diffipation of Paris. thofe compliments de routine which every French-weman has equally. Though fhe loves retirement, and fhuns le grand monde, § yet he confeffes herfelf obliged to the Marquis for having procured her fo inestimable,fo accomplished an acquaintance as yourfelf; but her concert is how to amufe you,for fhe never fuffers play at her house for above a livre, if you can amufe your felf with that low play till fupper. Accordingly you fit down to that little play, at which the good company take care that you fhall win fifteen or fixteen livres, which gives them an opportunity of celebrating both your good luck, and your good play. Supper comes up, and a good one it is, upon the ftrength of your being to pay for it. La Marquise en fait les honneurs au mieux, talks fentiments, mœurs et morales; interJarded with enjouement and accompanied with fome oblique ogles, which bid you not defpair in time. After fupper, pharaon, lanfquenet, or quinze, happen accidentally to be mentioned: the Chevalier propofes playing at one of them for half an hour; the Mar quife exclaims against it, and vows the will not fuffer it, but is at last prevailed upon by being affured ne fera que pour des riens. † Then the wished-for moment is come, the operation begins; you are cheated, at beft, of all the money in your pocket; and if you ftay late, very probably robbed of your watch and fnuffbox, poffibly murdered for greater fecurity. This, I can affure you, is not an exaggerated, but a literal defcription of what happens every day to fome raw and inexperienced ftranger at Paris. Remember to receive all these civil gentlemen, who take fuch a fancy to you at first fight, very coldly, and take care always to be previously engaged, whatever party they propofe to you. You may happen fometimes in very great and good companies to meet with fome dexterous gentlemen, who may be very defirous, and alfo very fure, to win your money, if they can but engage you to play Compliments ofcourfe § The great world. The Marchionefs does the honours in the best manner. Manners and morals. That it will be only for trifles. que . with them. Therefore lay it down as an invariable rule never to play with men, but only with women of fathion, at low play, or with women and men mixed. But at the fame time, whenever you are afked to play deeper than you would, do not refuse it gravely and fententiously, alleging the folly of ftaking what would be very inconvenient to one to lofe, againft what one does not want to win; but parry thofe invitations ludicrously. Say, that if you were fure to lofe, you might poffibly play; but that as you may as well win, you dread l'embarras des richesses + ever fince you have feen what an incumbrance they were to poor Harle quin, and that therefore you are determined never to venture the winning above two louis a-day: this fort of light trifling way of declining invitations to vice and folly is more becoming your age, and at the fame time more effectual, than grave philofophical refufals. A young fellow who feems to have no will of his own, and who does every thing that is afked of him, is called a very good natured, but at the fame time is thought a very filly young fellow. Act wifely, upon folid principles, and from true motives, but keep them to yourfelf, and never talk fententiously. When you are invited to drink, fay you wish you could, but that fo little makes you both drunk and fick, que le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle ‡. Pray fhow great attention, and make your court to monfieur de la Guériniére; he is well with Prince. Charles, and many people of the firft diftinctionat Paris; his commendations will raife your character there, not to mention, that his favor will be of use to you in the academy itfelf. Exterior advantages, that laft polifh, and thofe graces, which are fo neceffary to adorn, and give efficacy to the moft folid merit are what you now want. They are only to be acquired in the best companies. You will not want opportunities, for I fhall fend you letters, that will eftablish you in the most diftinguished companies, not only of the heau monde, but of the beaux efprits too. Dedicate there- The embarraffments of riches. The pleasure is not worth the pain fore, I beg of you, that whole year to your own advan tage and final improvement, and do not be diverted from thofe objects by idle diffipations, low feduction, or bad example. After that year, do whatever you pleafe; I will interfere no longer in your conduct. For I hope both you and I fhall be fafe then.-Adieu! LETTER XCII. Defcription of an Englishman in Paris... French, an ignorant People...Women more improved than the Men...Despotic Empire of Fashion. MY DEAR FRIEND, London, April the oth MR. Harte, who in all his letters gives you fome dafh of panegyric, told me in his laft a thing that pleafes me extremely; which was, that at Rome had you conftantly preferred the established Italian affemblies, to the English conventicles fet up against them by dif fenting English ladies. That fhows fenfe, and that you know what you are fent abroad for. It is of much more confequence to know the mores multorum hominum † than the urbes . Pray continue this judicious conduct wherever you go, efpécially at Paris, where, inftead of thirty, you will find above three hundred English, herding together, and converfing with no one French perfon. The life of les milords Anglois is regularly, or if you will irregularly, this. As foon as they rife, which is very late, they breakfast together, to the utter lofs of two good morning hours. Then they go by coachfuls to the Palais, the Invalides, and Notre-Dame; thence to the English coffee-houfe, where they make up their tavern party for dinner. From dinner, where they drink quick, they adjourn in clusters to the play, where they crowd up the ftage, drek up in very clothes, very ill made by a Scotch or Irish taylor. From the play to the tavern again, where they get very Manners of many men. Beware of this man, Roman fine |