The Entire PG Edition of Chesterfield | Page 9

I cannot forgive in anybody is sauntering, and
doing nothing at all, with a thing so precious as time, and so
irrecoverable when lost.
Are you acquainted with any ladies at Lausanne? and do you behave
yourself with politeness enough to make them desire your company?
I must finish: God bless you!

LETTER V
LONDON, February 24, O. S. 1747
SIR: In order that we may, reciprocally, keep up our French, which, for
want of practice, we might forget; you will permit me to have the honor
of assuring you of my respects in that language: and be so good to
answer me in the same. Not that I am apprehensive of your forgetting
to speak French: since it is probable that two-thirds of our daily prattle
is in that language; and because, if you leave off writing French, you
may perhaps neglect that grammatical purity, and accurate orthography,
which, in other languages, you excel in; and really, even in French, it is
better to write well than ill. However, as this is a language very proper

for sprightly, gay subjects, I shall conform to that, and reserve those
which are serious for English. I shall not therefore mention to you, at
present, your Greek or Latin, your study of the Law of Nature, or the
Law of Nations, the Rights of People, or of Individuals; but rather
discuss the subject of your Amusements and Pleasures; for, to say the
truth, one must have some. May I be permitted to inquire of what
nature yours are? Do they consist in little commercial play at cards in
good company? are they little agreeable suppers, at which cheerfulness
and decency are united? or, do you pay court to some fair one, who
requires such attentions as may be of use in contributing to polish you?
Make me your confidant upon this subject; you shall not find a severe
censor: on the contrary, I wish to obtain the employment of minister to
your pleasures: I will point them out, and even contribute to them.
Many young people adopt pleasures, for which they have not the least
taste, only because they are called by that name. They often mistake so
totally, as to imagine that debauchery is pleasure. You must allow that
drunkenness, which is equally destructive to body and mind, is a fine
pleasure. Gaming, that draws you into a thousand scrapes, leaves you
penniless, and gives you the air and manners of an outrageous madman,
is another most exquisite pleasure; is it not? As to running after women,
the consequences of that vice are only the loss of one's nose, the total
destruction of health, and, not unfrequently, the being run through the
body.
These, you see, are all trifles; yet this is the catalogue of pleasures of
most of those young people, who never reflecting themselves, adopt,
indiscriminately, what others choose to call by the seducing name of
pleasure. I am thoroughly persuaded you will not fall into such errors;
and that, in the choice of your amusements, you will be directed by
reason, and a discerning taste. The true pleasures of a gentleman are
those of the table, but within the bound of moderation; good company,
that is to say, people of merit; moderate play, which amuses, without
any interested views; and sprightly gallant conversations with women
of fashion and sense.
These are the real pleasures of a gentleman; which occasion neither
sickness, shame, nor repentance. Whatever exceeds them, becomes low
vice, brutal passion, debauchery, and insanity of, mind; all of which, far
from giving satisfaction, bring on dishonor and disgrace. Adieu.

LETTER VI
LONDON, March 6, O. S. 1747
DEAR BOY: Whatever you do, will always affect me, very sensibly,
one way or another; and I am now most agreeably affected, by two
letters, which I have lately seen from Lausanne, upon your subject; the
one from Madame St. Germain, the other from Monsieur Pampigny:
they both give so good an account of you, that I thought myself obliged,
in justice both to them and, to you, to let you know it. Those who
deserve a good character, ought to have the satisfaction of knowing that
they have it, both as a reward and as an encouragement. They write,
that you are not only 'decrotte,' but tolerably well-bred; and that the
English crust of awkward bashfulness, shyness, and roughness (of
which, by the bye, you had your share) is pretty well rubbed off. I am
most heartily glad of it; for, as I have often told you, those lesser talents,
of an engaging, insinuating manner, an easy good-breeding, a genteel
behavior and address, are of infinitely more advantage than they are
generally thought to be, especially here in England. Virtue and learning,
like gold, have their intrinsic value but if