entire meal of them. D.W.]
LETTERS TO HIS SON 1752
By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
on the Fine Art of becoming a
MAN OF THE WORLD
and a
GENTLEMAN
LETTER CLV
LONDON, January 2, O. S. 1752.
MY DEAR FRIEND: Laziness of mind, or inattention, are as great
enemies to knowledge as incapacity; for, in truth, what difference is
there between a man who will not, and a man who cannot be informed?
This difference only, that the former is justly to be blamed, the latter to
be pitied. And yet how many there are, very capable of receiving
knowledge, who from laziness, inattention, and incuriousness, will not
so much as ask for it, much less take the least pains to acquire it!
Our young English travelers generally distinguish themselves by a
voluntary privation of all that useful knowledge for which they are sent
abroad; and yet, at that age, the most useful knowledge is the most easy
to be acquired; conversation being the book, and the best book in which
it is contained. The drudgery of dry grammatical learning is over, and
the fruits of it are mixed with, and adorned by, the flowers of
conversation. How many of our young men have been a year at Rome,
and as long at Paris, without knowing the meaning and institution of
the Conclave in the former, and of the parliament in the latter? and this
merely for want of asking the first people they met with in those
several places, who could at least have given them some general
notions of those matters.
You will, I hope, be wiser, and omit no opportunity (for opportunities
present themselves every hour of the day) of acquainting yourself with
all those political and constitutional particulars of the kingdom and
government of France. For instance, when you hear people mention le
Chancelier, or 'le Garde de Sceaux', is it any great trouble for you to ask,
or for others to tell you, what is the nature, the powers, the objects, and
the profits of those two employments, either when joined together, as
they often are, or when separate, as they are at present? When you hear
of a gouverneur, a lieutenant du Roi, a commandant, and an intendant
of the same province, is, it not natural, is it not becoming, is it not
necessary, for a stranger to inquire into their respective rights and
privileges? And yet, I dare say, there are very few Englishmen who
know the difference between the civil department of the Intendant, and
the military powers of the others. When you hear (as I am persuaded
you must) every day of the 'Vingtieme', which is one in twenty, and
consequently five per cent., inquire upon what that tax is laid, whether
upon lands, money, merchandise, or upon all three; how levied, and
what it is supposed to produce. When you find in books: (as you will
sometimes) allusion to particular laws and customs, do not rest till you
have traced them up to their source. To give you two examples: you
will meet in some French comedies, 'Cri', or 'Clameur de Haro'; ask
what it means, and you will be told that it is a term of the law in
Normandy, and means citing, arresting, or obliging any person to
appear in the courts of justice, either upon a civil or a criminal account;
and that it is derived from 'a Raoul', which Raoul was anciently Duke
of Normandy, and a prince eminent for his justice; insomuch, that when
any injustice was committed, the cry immediately was, 'Venez, a Raoul,
a Raoul', which words are now corrupted and jumbled into 'haro'.
Another, 'Le vol du Chapon, that is, a certain district of ground
immediately contiguous to the mansion-seat of a family, and answers to
what we call in English DEMESNES. It is in France computed at about
1,600 feet round the house, that being supposed to be the extent of the
capon's flight from 'la basse cour'. This little district must go along with
the mansion-seat, however the rest of the estate may be divided.
I do not mean that you should be a French lawyer; but I would not have
you unacquainted with the general principles of their law, in matters
that occur every day: Such is the nature of their descents, that is, the
inheritance of lands: Do they all go to the eldest son, or are they
equally divided among the children of the deceased? In England, all
lands unsettled descend to the eldest son, as heir-at-law, unless
otherwise disposed of by the father's will, except in the county of Kent,
where a particular custom prevails, called Gavelkind; by which, if the
father dies intestate, all his children divide his lands equally among
them. In Germany, as
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