Letters to His Son 1756-58 | Page 7

you see or hear, that is very remarkable: I do not mean a German
ALBUM stuffed with people's names, and Latin sentences; but I mean
such a book, as, if you do not keep now, thirty years hence you would
give a great deal of money to have kept. 'A propos de bottes', for I am
told he always wears his; was his Royal Highness very gracious to you,
or not? I have my doubts about it. The neutrality which he has
concluded with Marechal de Richelieu, will prevent that bloody battle
which you expected; but what the King of Prussia will say to it is
another point. He was our only ally; at present, probably we have not
one in the world. If the King of Prussia can get at Monsieur de
Soubize's, and the Imperial army, before other troops have joined them,
I think he will beat them but what then? He has three hundred thousand
men to encounter afterward. He must submit; but he may say with truth,
'Si Pergama dextra defendi potuissent'. The late action between the

Prussians and Russians has only thinned the human species, without
giving either party a victory; which is plain by each party's claiming it.
Upon my word, our species will pay very dear for the quarrels and
ambition of a few, and those by no means the most valuable part of it.
If the many were wiser than they are, the few must be quieter, and
would perhaps be juster and better than they are.
Hamburg, I find, swarms with Grafs, Graffins, Fursts, and Furstins,
Hocheits, and Durchlaugticheits. I am glad of it, for you must
necessarily be in the midst of them; and I am still more glad, that, being
in the midst of them, you must necessarily be under some constraint of
ceremony; a thing which you do not love, but which is, however, very
useful.
I desired you in my last, and I repeat it again in this, to give me an
account of your private and domestic life.
How do you pass your evenings? Have they, at Hamburg, what are
called at Paris 'des Maisons', where one goes without ceremony, sups or
not, as one pleases? Are you adopted in any society? Have you any
rational brother ministers, and which? What sort of things are your
operas? In the tender, I doubt they do not excel; for 'mein lieber schatz',
and the other tendernesses of the Teutonic language, would, in my
mind, sound but indifferently, set to soft music; for the bravura parts, I
have a great opinion of them; and 'das, der donner dich erschlage', must
no doubt, make a tremendously fine piece of 'recitativo', when uttered
by an angry hero, to the rumble of a whole orchestra, including drums,
trumpets, and French horns. Tell me your whole allotment of the day,
in which I hope four hours, at least, are sacred to writing; the others
cannot be better employed than in LIBERAL pleasures. In short, give
me a full account of yourself, in your un-ministerial character, your
incognito, without your 'fiocchi'. I love to see those, in whom I interest
myself, in their undress, rather than in gala; I know them better so. I
recommend to you, 'etiam atque etiam', method and order in everything
you undertake. Do you observe it in your accounts? If you do not, you
will be a beggar, though you were to receive the appointments of a
Spanish Ambassador extraordinary, which are a thousand pistoles a
month; and in your ministerial business, if you have no regular and
stated hours for such and such parts of it, you will be in the hurry and
confusion of the Duke of N-----, doing everything by halves, and

nothing well, nor soon. I suppose you 'have been feasted through the
Corps diplomatique at Hamburg, excepting Monsieur Champeaux; with
whom, however, I hope you live 'poliment et galamment', at all third
places.
Lord Loudon is much blamed here for his 'retraite des dix milles', for it
is said that he had above that number, and might consequently have
acted offensively, instead of retreating; especially as his retreat was
contrary to the unanimous opinion(as it is now said) of the council of
war. In our Ministry, I suppose, things go pretty quietly, for the D. of N.
has not plagued me these two months. When his Royal Highness comes
over, which I take it for granted he will do very soon, the great push
will, I presume, be made at his Grace and Mr. Pitt; but without effect if
they agree, as it is visibly their interest to do; and, in that case, their
parliamentary strength will support them against all attacks. You may
remember, I said at first, that the popularity would soon be on