Letters to His Son 1759-65 | Page 6

you have leave to return, and that your own
ARRANGEMENTS will allow you. A short absence animates a tender
passion, 'et l'on ne recule que pour mieux sauter', especially in the
summer months; so that I would advise you to begin your journey in
May, and continue your absence from the dear object of your vows till
after the dog-days, when love is said to be unwholesome. We have

been disappointed at Martinico; I wish we may not be so at Guadaloupe,
though we are landed there; for many difficulties must be got over
before we can be in possession of the whole island. A pro pos de bottes;
you make use of two Spanish words, very properly, in your letter; were
I you, I would learn the Spanish language, if there were a Spaniard at
Hamburg who could teach me; and then you would be master of all the
European languages that are useful; and, in my mind, it is very
convenient, if not necessary, for a public man to understand them all,
and not to be obliged to have recourse to an interpreter for those papers
that chance or business may throw in his way. I learned Spanish when I
was older than you; convinced by experience that, in everything
possible, it was better to trust to one's self than to any other body
whatsoever. Interpreters, as well as relaters, are often unfaithful, and
still oftener incorrect, puzzling, and blundering. In short, let it be your
maxim through life to know all you can know, yourself; and never to
trust implicitly to the informations of others. This rule has been of
infinite service to me in the course of my life.
I am rather better than I was; which I owe not to my physicians, but to
an ass and a cow, who nourish me, between them, very plentifully and
wholesomely; in the morning the ass is my nurse, at night the cow; and
I have just now, bought a milch-goat, which is to graze, and nurse me
at Blackheath. I do not know what may come of this latter, and I am not
without apprehensions that it may make a satyr of me; but, should I
find that obscene disposition growing upon me, I will check it in time,
for fear of endangering my life and character by rapes. And so we
heartily bid you farewell.

LETTER CCXLI
LONDON, March 30, 1759
MY DEAR FRIEND: I do not like these frequent, however short,
returns of your illness; for I doubt they imply either want of skill in
your physician, or want of care in his patient. Rhubarb, soap, and
chalybeate medicines and waters, are almost always specifics for
obstructions of the liver; but then a very exact regimen is necessary,
and that for a long continuance. Acids are good for you, but you do not
love them; and sweet things are bad for you, and you do love them.
There is another thing very bad for you, and I fear you love it too much.

When I was in Holland, I had a slow fever that hung upon me a great
while; I consulted Boerhaave, who prescribed me what I suppose was
proper, for it cured me; but he added, by way of postscript to his
prescription, 'Venus rarius colatur'; which I observed, and perhaps that
made the medicines more effectual.
I doubt we shall be mutually disappointed in our hopes of seeing one
another this spring, as I believe you will find, by a letter which you will
receive at the same time with this, from Lord Holderness; but as Lord
Holderness will not tell you all, I will, between you and me, supply that
defect. I must do him the justice to say that he has acted in the most
kind and friendly manner possible to us both. When the King read your
letter, in which you desired leave to return, for the sake of drinking the
Tunbridge waters, he said, "If he wants steel waters, those of Pyrmont
are better than Tunbridge, and he can have them very fresh at Hamburg.
I would rather he had asked me to come last autumn, and had passed
the winter here; for if he returns now, I shall have nobody in those
quarters to inform me of what passes; and yet it will be a very- busy
and important scene." Lord Holderness, who found that it would not be
liked, resolved to push it no further; and replied, he was very sure that
when you knew his Majesty had the least objection to your return at
this time, you would think of it no longer; and he owned that he (Lord
Holderness) had given you encouragement for this application last year,
then thinking and hoping that there would