Letters to His Son 1766-71 | Page 4

meal of them. D.W.]

LETTERS TO HIS SON 1766-71
By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
on the Fine Art of becoming a
MAN OF THE WORLD
and a

GENTLEMAN

LETTER CCLXXXIV
LONDON, February 11, 1766
MY DEAR FRIEND: I received two days ago your letter of the 25th
past; and your former, which you mention in it, but ten days ago; this
may easily be accounted for from the badness of the weather, and
consequently of the roads. I hardly remember so severe a win ter; it has
occasioned many illnesses here. I am sure it pinched my crazy carcass
so much that, about three weeks ago, I was obliged to be let blood
twice in four days, which I found afterward was very necessary, by the
relief it gave to my head and to the rheumatic pains in my limbs; and
from the execrable kind of blood which I lost.
Perhaps you expect from me a particular account of the present state of
affairs here; but if you do you will be disappointed; for no man living
(and I still less than anyone) knows what it is; it varies, not only daily,
but hourly.
Most people think, and I among the rest, that the date of the present
Ministers is pretty near out; but how soon we are to have a new style,
God knows. This, however, is certain, that the Ministers had a
contested election in the House of Commons, and got it but by eleven
votes; too small a majority to carry anything; the next day they lost a
question in the House of Lords, by three. The question in the House of
Lords was, to enforce the execution of the Stamp-act in the colonies 'vi
et armis'. What conclusions you will draw from these premises, I do not
know; but I protest I draw none; but only stare at the present
undecipherable state of affairs, which, in fifty years' experience, I have
never seen anything like. The Stamp-act has proved a most pernicious
measure; for, whether it is repealed or not, which is still very doubtful,
it has given such terror to the Americans, that our trade with them will
not be, for some years, what it used to be; and great numbers of our
manufacturers at home will be turned a starving for want of that
employment which our very profitable trade to America found them:
and hunger is always the cause of tumults and sedition.
As you have escaped a fit of the gout in this severe cold weather, it is to
be hoped you may be entirely free from it, till next winter at least.
P. S. Lord having parted with his wife, now, keeps another w---e, at a

great expense. I fear he is totally undone.

LETTER CCLXXXV
LONDON, March 17, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: You wrong me in thinking me in your debt; for I
never receive a letter of yours, but I answer it by the next post, or the
next but one, at furthest: but I can easily conceive that my two last
letters to you may have been drowned or frozen in their way; for
portents and prodigies of frost, snow, and inundations, have been so
frequent this winter, that they have almost lost their names.
You tell me that you are going to the baths of BADEN; but that puzzles
me a little, so I recommend this letter to the care of Mr. Larpent, to
forward to you; for Baden I take to be the general German word for
baths, and the particular ones are distinguished by some epithet, as
Weissbaden, Carlsbaden, etc. I hope they are not cold baths, which I
have a very ill opinion of, in all arthritic or rheumatic cases; and your
case I take to be a compound of both, but rather more of the latter.
You will probably wonder that I tell you nothing of public matters;
upon which I shall be as secret as Hotspur's gentle Kate, who would not
tell what she did not know; but what is singular, nobody seems to know
any more of them than I do. People gape, stare, conjecture, and refine.
Changes of the Ministry, or in the Ministry at least, are daily reported
and foretold, but of what kind, God only knows. It is also very doubtful
whether Mr. Pitt will come into the Administration or not; the two
present Secretaries are extremely desirous that he should; but the others
think of the horse that called the man to its assistance. I will say
nothing to you about American affairs, because I have not pens, ink, or
paper enough to give you an intelligible account of them. They have
been the subjects of warm and acrimonious debates, both in the Lords
and Commons,