fent, the general rules of our prefent commerce with France. It is true too, that our commodities, which go to France, muft go in our bottoms; the French having imitated, in many refpects, our famous act of navigation, as it is commonly called. This act was made in the year 1652, in the parliament held by Oliver Cromwell. It forbids all foreign fhips to bring into England any merchandife or commodities whatsoever, that were not of the growth and produce of that country to which thofe fhips belonged, under penalty of the forfeiture of fuch fhips. This act was particu larly levelled at the Dutch; who were, at that time the carriers of almost all Europe, and got immenfely by freight. Upon this principle, of the advantages ariing from freight, there is a provifion in the fame act, hat even the growth and produce of our own colonies n America fhall not be carried thence to any other counry in Europe, without first touching in England; but his claute has lately been repealed, in the inftances of ome perishable commodities, fuch as rice, &c. which re allowed to be carried directly from our American olonies to other countries. The act alfo provides, hat two-thirds, I think, of thofe who navigate the faid hips, fhall be British fubjects. There is an excellent, ittle book, written by the famous Monfieur Huet, Evêque d'Avranches, fur le commerce des Anciens, which s very well worth your reading, and very foon read. It will give you a clear notion of the rife and progrefs of commerce. There are many other books, which take ip the history of commerce, where Monfieur d'Avanches leaves it, and bring it down to these times: I advise you to read fome of them with care; commerce being a very effential part of political knowledge in every country; but more particularly in this, which owes all its riches and power to it.

*

I come now to another part of your letter; which is the orthography, if I may call bad fpelling orthography. You fpell induce, enduce; and grandeur, you spell gran dure; two faults, of which few of my houfe-maids

* Qn the commerce of the ancients.

R

would have been guilty. I muft tell you, that orthog raphy, in the true fenfe of the word, is fo abfolutely neceffary for a man of letters, or a gentleman, that one falfe fpelling may fix a ridicule upon him for the rest of his life, and I know a man of quality who never recovered the ridicule of having spelled wholesome without the w.

Reading with care will fecure every body from false fpelling; for books are always well fpelled, according to the orthography of the times. Some words are indeed doubtful, being fpelled differently, by different authors of equal authority; but those are few; and in thofe cafes every man has his option, because he may plead his authority either way: but, where there is but one right way, as in the two words above-mentioned, it is unpardonable, and ridiculous, for a gentleman to mifs it even a woman of a tolerable education would defpife, and laugh at a lover, who fhould fend her an ill-fpelled billet-doux. I fear, and fufpect, that you have taken it into your head, in, moft cafes, that the matter is all, and the manner little or nothing. If you have, undeceive yourself, and be convinced, that in every thing, the manner is full as important as the matter. If you speak the fenfe of an angel in bad words, and with a difagreeable utterance, nobody will hear you twice, who can help it. If you write epiftles as well as Cicero, but in a very bad hand, and very ill-fpelled, whoever receives, will laugh at them; and if you had the figure of an Adonis, with an awkward air and motions, it will difguft inftead of pleafing. Study man ner therefore in every thing, if you would be any thing. My principal inquiries of my friends at Paris, concerning you, will be relative to your manner of doing whatever you do. I fhall not inquire, whether you underftand Demofthenes, Tacitus, or the jus publicum imperii; but I fhall inquire, whether your utterance is pleafing, your ftyle not only pure, but elegant, your manners noble and eafy, your air and address engaging; in fhort, whether you are a gentleman, a man of fathion, and fit to keep good company, or not; for till am fatisfied in thefe particulars, you and I muft by no

Means meet; I could not poffibly ftand it. It is in your power to become all this at Paris, if you please. Confult with Lady Hervey, and Madame Monconfeil, upon all these matters; and they will fpeak to you, and advise you freely. Tell them, that you are utterly new in the world, that you are defirous to form yourself, that you beg they will reprove, advife, and correct you; that you know that none can do it fo well; and that you will implicitly follow their directions. This, together with your careful obfervation of the manners of the best company, will really form you.

Abbé Guafco, a friend of mine will come to you, is foon as he knows of your arrival at Paris; he is well eceived in the best companies there, and will introduce ou to them. He will be defirous to do you any ferice he can; he is active and curious, and can give you nformation upon moft things. He is a fort of complaiant of the prefident Montefquieu, to whom you have letter.

I imagine that this letter will not wait for you very ong at Paris, where I reckon you will be in about a ortnight.-Adieu !

LETTER CV.

French Language... Affectation of the French...Wit... French Writers...Progrefs and Decline of Tafte in France... Trou badours... Romances...Falfe Taste of the French.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

London, December the 24th,

AT length you are become a Parifian, and confe

uently must be addreffed in French; you will also anwer me in the fame language, that I may be able to udge of the degree in which you poffefs the elegancy, he delicacy, and the orthography of that language, vhich is, in a manner, become the univerfal one of urope. I am affured that you speak it well; but in

Companion.

that well, there are gradations. He, who in the provinces might be reckoned to speak correctly, would at Paris be looked upon as an ancient Gaul. In that Country of mode, even language is fubfervient to fashion which varies almost as often as their clothes.

The affected, the refined, the neological, or new and fashionable style are at prefent too much in vogue at Paris. Know, obferve, and occafionally converse (if you please) according to thefe different ftyles; but do not let your tafte be affected by them. Wit too is there fubfervient to fashion; and actually, at Paris, one must have wit,* even in defpite of Minerva. Every body runs after; although, if it does not come naturally, and of itself, it cannot be overtaken. But, unfortunately for those who purfue, they feize upon what they take for wit, and endeavour to pass it for fuch upon others. This is, at beft, the lot of Ixion, who embraced a cloud inftead of the goddefs he purfued. Fine fentiments which never existed, falfe and unnatural thoughts, obfcure and far-fought expreffions, not only unintelligible, but which it is even impoffible to decypher, or to guefs at, are all the confequences of this error; and two thirds of the new French books which now appear, are made up of thofe ingredients. It is the new cookery of Parnaffus, in which the ftill is employed instead of the pot and the fpit, and where quintefcences and extracts are chiefly used. The Attic falt is profcribed.

N. B.

You will now and then be obliged to eat of this new cookery, but do not fuffer your tafte to be corrupted by it. And when you in your turn are de firous of treating others, take the good old cookery of Lewis the XIVth's reign for your rule. There were at that time admirable head cooks, fuch as Corneille, Boileau, Racine, and La Fontaine. Whatever they

* it is remarkable that the French have attempted wit more than any other people, and yet have lefs of this quality than any of the re fined and literary nations of Europe Except Moliere, I know of no French writer who can be truly faid to have wit; and most of the French BON MOTS, which in that volatile people excite peals of laugh ter, would be heard with contempt in a well informed company of Englishmen. en,Note of the EDITOR.

prepared was simple, wholefome, and folid. But laying afide all metaphors, do not fuffer yourself to be dazzled by false brilliancy, by unnatural expreffions, nor by thofe antithefes fo much in fashion: as a protection against such innovations, have recourse to your own good fenfe, and to the ancient authors. On the other hand, do not laugh at those who give into fuch errors; you are as yet too young to act the critic, or to ftand forth a fevere avenger of the violated rights of good fenfe. Content yourself with not being perverted, but do not think of converting others; let them quietly enjoy their errors in tafte as well as in religion. Within the courfe of the laft century and an half, tafte in France has (as well as that kingdom itself) undergone many viciffitudes. Under the reign (I do not fay Lewis the Thirteenth, but) of Cardinal de Richelieu, good tafte first began to make its way.

It was

refined under that of Lewis the Fourteenth; a great patron at least, if not a great man. Corneille was the reftorer of true tafte, and the founder of the French theatre; although ratl.er inclined to the Italian concetti, and the Spanih iagudeze. Witness thofe epigrams which he makes Chimene utter in the greatest excefs of grief.

Before his time, that kind of itinerant authors called Troubadours or Romanciers, was a fpecies of madmen, who attracted the admiration of fools. Towards the end of Cardinal de Richelieu's reign, and the beginning of Lewis the Fourteenth's, the temple of tafte was eftablished at the hotel of Rambouillet; but that taste was not judiciously refined: this temple of tafte might more properly have been named a laboratory of wit, where good fenfe was put to the torture, in order to extract from it the most fubtile effence. There it was that Voiture laboured hard, and inceffantly, to create wit. At length Boileau and Moliere fixed the ftandard of true taste. In fpite of the Scuderys, the Calprenedes, &c. they defeated and put to flight Artamencs, Juba, Oroondates, and all thofe heroes of romance who were, notwithstanding, (each of them) as good as an whole army. Thofe madmen then endeav Aa