<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0286" id="link2H_4_0286"></SPAN></p>
<h2> LETTER CCLXXXV </h2>
<h3> LONDON, March 17, 1766. </h3>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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, and in all
companies.</p>
<p>The repeal of the Stamp-act is at last carried through. I am glad of it,
and gave my proxy for it, because I saw many more inconveniences from the
enforcing than from the repealing it.</p>
<p>Colonel Browne was with me the other day, and assured me that he left you
very well. He said he saw you at Spa, but I did not remember him; though I
remember his two brothers, the Colonel and the ravisher, very well. Your
Saxon colonel has the brogue exceedingly. Present my respects to Count
Flemming; I am very sorry for the Countess's illness; she was a most
well-bred woman.</p>
<p>You would hardly think that I gave a dinner to the Prince of Brunswick,
your old acquaintance. I glad it is over; but I could not avoid it. 'Il
m'avait tabli de politesses'. God bless you!</p>
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<h2> LETTER CCLXXXVI </h2>
<h3> BLACKHEATH, June 13, 1766. </h3>
<p>MY DEAR FRIEND: I received yesterday your letter of the 30th past. I
waited with impatience for it, not having received one from you in six
weeks; nor your mother neither, who began to be very sure that you were
dead, if not buried. You should write to her once a week, or at least once
a-fortnight; for women make no allowance either for business or laziness;
whereas I can, by experience, make allowances for both: however, I wish
you would generally write to me once a fortnight.</p>
<p>Last week I paid my midsummer offering, of five hundred pounds, to Mr.
Larpent, for your use, as I suppose he has informed you. I am punctual,
you must allow.</p>
<p>What account shall I give you of ministerial affairs here? I protest I do
not know: your own description of them is as exact a one as any I, who am
upon the place, can give you. It is a total dislocation and 'derangement';
consequently a total inefficiency. When the Duke of Grafton quitted the
seals, he gave that very reason for it, in a speech in the House of Lords:
he declared, "that he had no objection to the persons or the measures of
the present Ministers; but that he thought they wanted strength and
efficiency to carry on proper measures with success; and that he knew but
one man MEANING, AS YOU WILL EASILY SUPPOSE, MR. PITT who could give them
strength and solidity; that, under this person, he should be willing to
serve in any capacity, not only as a General Officer, but as a pioneer;
and would take up a spade and a mattock." When he quitted the seals, they
were offered first to Lord Egmont, then to Lord Hardwicke; who both
declined them, probably for the same reasons that made the Duke of Grafton
resign them; but after their going a-begging for some time, the Duke of———-begged
them, and has them 'faute de mieux'. Lord Mountstuart was never thought of
for Vienna, where Lord Stormont returns in three months; the former is
going to be married to one of the Miss Windsors, a great fortune. To tell
you the speculations, the reasonings, and the conjectures, either of the
uninformed, or even of the best-informed public, upon the present
wonderful situation of affairs, would take up much more time and paper
than either you or I can afford, though we have neither of us a great deal
of business at present.</p>
<p>I am in as good health as I could reasonably expect, at my age, and with
my shattered carcass; that is, from the waist upward; but downward it is
not the same: for my limbs retain that stiffness and debility of my long
rheumatism; I cannot walk half an hour at a time. As the autumn, and still
more as the winter approaches, take care to keep yourself very warm,
especially your legs and feet.</p>
<p>Lady Chesterfield sends you her compliments, and triumphs in the success
of her plaster. God bless you!</p>
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