Letters to His Son 1756-58 | Page 6

letters which he has received from you
hitherto, dated the 15th, 19th, 23d, and 26th August; and also a draught
of that which he wrote to you the 9th instant. I am very well pleased
with all your letters; and, what is better, I can tell you that the King is
so too; and he said, but three days ago, to Monsieur Munchausen, HE
(meaning you) SETS OUT VERY WELL, AND I LIKE HIS

LETTERS; PROVIDED THAT, LIKE MOST OF MY ENGLISH
MINISTERS ABROAD, HE DOES NOT GROW IDLE HEREAFTER.
So that here is both praise to flatter, and a hint to warn you. What Lord
Holderness recommends to you, being by the King's order, intimates
also a degree of approbation; for the BLACKER INK, AND THE
LARGER CHARACTER, show, that his Majesty, whose eyes are
grown weaker, intends to read all your letters himself. Therefore, pray
do not neglect to get the blackest ink you can; and to make your
secretary enlarge his hand, though 'd'ailleurs' it is a very good one.
Had I been to wish an advantageous situation for you, and a good debut
in it, I could not have wished you either better than both have hitherto
proved. The rest will depend entirely upon yourself; and I own I begin
to have much better hopes than I had; for I know, by my own
experience, that the more one works, the more willing one is to work.
We are all, more or less, 'des animaux d'habitude'. I remember very
well, that when I was in business, I wrote four or five hours together
every day, more willingly than I should now half an hour; and this is
most certain, that when a man has applied himself to business half the
day, the other half, goes off the more cheerfully and agreeably. This I
found so sensibly, when I was at The Hague, that I never tasted
company so well nor was so good company myself, as at the suppers of
my post days. I take Hamburg now to be 'le centre du refuge Allemand'.
If you have any Hanover 'refugies' among them, pray take care to be
particularly attentive to them. How do you like your house? Is it a
convenient one? Have the 'Casserolles' been employed in it yet? You
will find 'les petits soupers fins' less expensive, and turn to better
account, than large dinners for great companies.
I hope you have written to the Duke of Newcastle; I take it for granted
that you have to all your brother ministers of the northern department.
For God's sake be diligent, alert, active, and indefatigable in your
business. You want nothing but labor and industry to be, one day,
whatever you please, in your own way.
We think and talk of nothing here but Brest, which is universally
supposed to be the object of our great expedition. A great and
important object it is. I suppose the affair must be brusque, or it will not
do. If we succeed, it will make France put some water to its wine. As
for my own private opinion, I own I rather wish than hope success.

However, should our expedition fail, 'Magnis tamen excidit ausis', and
that will be better than our late languid manner of making war.
To mention a person to you whom I am very indifferent about, I mean
myself, I vegetate still just as I did when we parted; but I think I begin
to be sensible of the autumn of the year; as well as of the autumn of my
own life. I feel an internal awkwardness, which, in about three weeks, I
shall carry with me to the Bath, where I hope to get rid of it, as I did
last year. The best cordial I could take, would be to hear, from time to
time, of your industry and diligence; for in that case I should
consequently hear of your success. Remember your own motto,
'Nullum numen abest si sit prudentia'. Nothing is truer. Yours.

LETTER CCVII
BLACKHEATH, September 23, 1757
MY DEAR FRIEND: I received but the day before yesterday your
letter of the 3d, from the headquarters at Selsingen; and, by the way, it
is but the second that I have received from you since your arrival at
Hamburg. Whatever was the cause of your going to the army, I approve
of the effect; for I would have you, as much as possible, see everything
that is to be seen. That is the true useful knowledge, which informs and
improves us when we are young, and amuses us and others when we
are old; 'Olim haec meminisse juvabit'. I could wish that you would
(but I know you will not) enter in a book, a short note only, of whatever