LETTER CXIV.

Love and Hatred equally critical... Attentions in Company...Cos ftitution of Things at Paris...Difference between Seeing and Staring.

MY DEAR FRIENDS

London, March the 11th

I RECEIVED by the laft poft a letter from Abbé

Guafco, in which he joins his reprefentations to thofe of Lord Albemarle, against your remaining any longer in your very bad lodgings at the academy; and, as I do not find that any advantage can arife to you, from being interne in an academy, which is full as far from the riding-houfe, and from all your other masters, as your lodgings will probably be, I agree to your remor ing to an hotel garni; the Abbé will help you to find one, as I defire him by the inclofed, which you will give him. I muft, however, annex one condition to your going into private lodgings, which is, an abfolute exclufion of English breakfasts and fuppers at them; the former confume the whole morning, and the latter employ the evenings very ill, in fenfelefs toafting l'Angloife in their infernal claret.. You will be fure to go to the riding-houfe as often as poffible, that is, whenever your new bufinefs at Lord Albermarle's does not hinder you. By the way, you may make your lodg ings for one whole year certain, by which means you may get them much cheaper; for though I intend to fee you here in lefs than a year, it will be but for little time, and you will return to Paris again, where I intend you fhall ftay till the end of April twelve month; at which time, provided you have got all paliteffes, les manières, les attentions, et les graces du bear monde, I fhall place you in fome business suitable to your deftination.

I have received, at last, your prefent of the carto from Dominichino, by Blanchét. It is very finely done it is pity that he did not take in all the figures of the original. I will hang it up, where it shall be your ow again fome time or other.

* A. furnished houfe.

Mr. Harte is returned in perfect health from Cornwall, and has taken poffeffion of his prebendal houfe at Windfor, which is a very pretty one. As I dare fay you will always feel, I hope you will always exprefs, the ftrongeft fentiments of gratitude and friendship for him. Write to him frequently, and attend to the letters you receive from him. He fhall be with us at Blackheath, alias babiole, all the time that I propofe you fhall be there, which, I believe, will be the month of Auguft next.

Having thus mentioned to you the probable time of our meeting, I will prepare you a little for it. Hatred, jealoufy, or envy, make moft people attentive to dif cover the leaft defects of thofe they do not love; they rejoice at every new discovery they make of that kind, and take care to publish it." I thank God, I do not know what thofe three ungenerous paflions are, having never felt the m in my own breast! but love has juft the fame effect upon me, except that I conceal, inftead of publifhing, the defects which my attention makes me difcover in thofe I love. I curioufly pry into them; Ianalyfe them; and withing either to find them perfect, or to make them, fo, nothing efcapes me, and I foon difcover every the leaft gradation towards, or from that perfection. You muit, therefore, expect the moft critical examen that ever any body underwent : I hall difcover your leaft, as well as your greatest de-. fects, and I fhall very freely tell you of them, Non quod dio habeam, fed quod amem. But I fhall tell them you tête-à-tête, and as Micio, not as Demea; and I will tell them to nobody elfe. I think it but fair to inform you beforehand, where I fufpect that my criticisms are. likely to fall; and that is more upon the outward, than upon the inward man. I neither fufpect your heart nor your head; but, to be plain with you, L have a ftrange diftruft of your air, your addrefs, your manners, your tournure, and particularly of your énunciation and elegancy of ftyle. Thefe will be all put to the trial; for while you are with me, you must do the

*Not because I hate, but because I love you.

honours of my houfe and table; the leaft inaccuracy or inelegancy will not efcape me; as you will find by a look at the time, and by a remonftrance afterwards when we are alone. You will fee a great deal of com pany of all forts at Babiole, and particularly foreigners. Make, therefore, in the mean time, all thefe exterior and ornamental qualifications your peculiar care, an disappoint all my imaginary fchemes of criticism. Some authors have criticifed their own works firft, in hopes of hindering others from doing it afterwards: but then they do it themfelves with fo much tendernefs and partiality for their own production, that not not only the production itself, but the preventive crit icifm is criticifed. I am not one of those authors; but, on the contrary, my feverity increafes with my fondnefs for my work; and if you will but effectuall correct all the faults I fhall find, I will enfure you from all fubfequent criticifms from other quarters.

Are you got a little into the interior, into the con ftitution of things at Paris? Have you feen what you have feen thoroughly. For, by the way, few peopl fee what they fee, or hear what they hear. For exam ple, if you go to les Invalides, do you content yourfell with feeing the building, the hall where three or four hundred cripples dine, and the galleries where the lie? Or do you inform yourfelf of the numbers, the conditions of their admiflion, their allowance, the va lue and nature of the fund by which the whole is fup ported? This latter I call fecing, the former is only itaring. Many people take the opportunity of les we cances, to go and fee the empty rooms, where the for eral chambers of the parliament did fit; which rooms are exceedingly like all other large rooms when you go there, let it be when they are full; feed hear what is doing in them; learn their refpec tive conftitutions, jurifdictions, objects and me thods of proceeding; hear fome caufes tried in every one of the different chambers. Approfondifes Les chofes.t

+ Inquire deeply.

I am glad to hear that you are fo well at Marquis de St. Germain, of whom I hear a very good character. How are you with the other foreign minifters at Paris? Do you frequent the Dutch ambaffador or ambafladrefs? Have you any footing at the Nuncio's, or at the Imperial and Spanish abafadors? It is ufe ful. Be more particular in your letters to me, as to your manner of paffing your time, and the company you keep. Where do you dine and fup ofteneft? Whofe houfe is moft your home ?-Adieu!

LETTER CXV.

Leformation of the Calendar...His Lordship's Conduct in that Affair...His Speech in the House of Lords... Lord Macclès"field's... The pleafing Speaker more applauded than the wellinformed...Lord Bolingbroke's Style.

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MY DEAR FRIEND,

London, March the 18th.

IS

ACQUAINTED you in a former letter that I had rought a bill into the houfe of Lords for correcting nd reforming our prefent calendar, which is the Juan; and for adopting the Gregorian. I will now ive you a more particular account of that affair; rom which reflections will naturally occur to you, that hope may be useful, and which I fear you have not nade. It was notorious, that the Julian calendar was Erroneous, and had overcharged the folar year with leven days. Pope Gregory the XIIIth. corrected tis error; his reformed calendar was immediately receiv him by all the catholic powers of Europe, and afterw Paris adopted by all the proteftant ones, except Ruffia, Swe of den, and England. It was not, in my opinion, very op honourable for England to remain in a grofs and avoWed error, efpecially in fuch company; the inconveniency of it was likewife felt by all thofe who had fo reign correfpondences, whether political or mercan_ tile. I determined, therefore, to attempt the reform

At that time Ambaffador from the King of Sardinia to the court of France.

but

ation; I confulted the best lawyers, and the most skilful aftronomers, and we cooked up a bill for that pur pofe. But then my difficulty began: I was to bring in this bill, which was neceffarily compofed of law jargon and aftronomical calculations, to both which I am an utter ftranger. However, it was abfolutely neceffa ry to make the houfe of Lords think that I knew fome. thing of the matter; and alfo, to make them believe that they knew fomething of it themfelves, which they do not. For my own part, I could juft as foon have talked Celtic or Sclavonian to them,as aftronomy; and they would have understood me full as well: fo Irefolved to do better than speak to the purpose, and to pleafe inftead of informing them. I gave them, therefore, only an hiftorical account of calenders, from the Egyptian down to the Gregorian, amufing them now and then with little epifodes; but I was particularly attentive to the choice of my words, to the harmony and roundness of my periods, to my elocution, to my action. This fucceeded, and ever will fucceed; they thought I informed, because I pleased them: and many of them faid, that I had made the whole very clear to them; when, God knows, I had not even at tempted it. Lord Macclesfield, who had the greatest fhare in forming the bill, and who is one of the greateft mathematicians and aftronomers in Europe, fpoke afterwards with infinite knowledge, and all the clearnefs that fo intricate a matter would admit of: but as

Birwords, his periods, and his utterance, were not near itar good as mine, the preference was moft unaticantly, though moft unjustly, given to me. This eral ever be the cafe; every numerous affembly is m zet the individuals who compofe it be what they will Mere reafon and good fenfe is never to be talked to mob: their paffions, their fentiments, their fenfes, and their feeming interefts, are alone to be applied to.

When you come into the houfe of commons, if you imagine that fpeaking plain and unadorned fenfe and reafon will do your bufinefs, you will find yourfelf moft grofsly mistaken. As a fpeaker, you will be ganked only according to your eloquence, and by ne