Letters to His Son 1753-54 | Page 7

prove fatal. I would fain see you what pedants call 'omnis homo', and
what Pope much better calls ALL- ACCOMPLISHED: you have the
means in your power; add the will; and you may bring it about. The
vulgar have a coarse saying, of SPOILING A SHIP FOR A
HALFPENNY WORTH OF TAR; prevent the application by providing
the tar: it is very easily to be had in comparison with what you have
already got.
The fine Mrs. Pitt, who it seems saw you often at Paris, speaking of
you the other day, said, in French, for she speaks little English, . . .
whether it is that you did not pay the homage due to her beauty, or that
it did not strike you as it does others, I cannot determine; but I hope she
had some other reason than truth for saying it. I will suppose that you
did not care a pin for her; but, however, she surely deserved a degree of
propitiatory adoration from you, which I am afraid you neglected. Had
I been in your case, I should have endeavored, at least, to have
supplanted Mr. Mackay in his office of nocturnal reader to her. I played
at cards, two days ago, with your friend Mrs. Fitzgerald, and her most
sublime mother, Mrs. Seagrave; they both inquired after you; and Mrs.

Fitzgerald said, she hoped you went on with your dancing; I said, Yes,
and that you assured me, you had made such considerable
improvements in it, that you had now learned to stand still, and even
upright. Your 'virtuosa', la Signora Vestri, sung here the other day, with
great applause: I presume you are INTIMATELY acquainted with her
merit. Good night to you, whoever you pass it with.
I have this moment received a packet, sealed with your seal, though not
directed by your hand, for Lady Hervey. No letter from you! Are you
not well?

LETTER CLXXXVII
LONDON, May 27, O. S. 1753.
MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this day been tired, jaded, nay, tormented,
by the company of a most worthy, sensible, and learned man, a near
relation of mine, who dined and passed the evening with me. This
seems a paradox, but is a plain truth; he has no knowledge of the world,
no manners, no address; far from talking without book, as is commonly
said of people who talk sillily, he only talks by book; which in general
conversation is ten times worse. He has formed in his own closet from
books, certain systems of everything, argues tenaciously upon those
principles, and is both surprised and angry at whatever deviates from
them. His theories are good, but, unfortunately, are all impracticable.
Why? because he has only read and not conversed. He is acquainted
with books, and an absolute stranger to men. Laboring with his matter,
he is delivered of it with pangs; he hesitates, stops in his utterance, and
always expresses himself inelegantly. His actions are all ungraceful; so
that, with all his merit and knowledge, I would rather converse six
hours with the most frivolous tittle-tattle woman who knew something
of the world, than with him. The preposterous notions of a systematical
man who does not know the world, tire the patience of a man who does.
It would be endless to correct his mistakes, nor would he take it kindly:
for he has considered everything deliberately, and is very sure that he is
in the right. Impropriety is a characteristic, and a never-failing one, of
these people. Regardless, because ignorant, of customs and manners,
they violate them every moment. They often shock, though they never
mean to offend: never attending either to the general character, or the
particular distinguishing circumstances of the people to whom, or

before whom they talk; whereas the knowledge of the world teaches
one, that the very same things which are exceedingly right and proper
in one company, time and place, are exceedingly absurd in others. In
short, a man who has great knowledge, from experience and
observation, of the characters, customs, and manners of mankind, is a
being as different from, and as superior to, a man of mere book and
systematical knowledge, as a well- managed horse is to an ass. Study,
therefore, cultivate, and frequent men and women; not only in their
outward, and consequently, guarded, but in their interior, domestic, and
consequently less disguised, characters and manners. Take your notions
of things, as by observation and experience you find they really are,
and not as you read that they are or should be; for they never are quite
what they should be. For this purpose do not content yourself with
general and common acquaintance; but wherever you can, establish
yourself, with a kind of domestic familiarity, in good houses. For
instance, go