MY DEAR FRIEND: I have now your letter of the 20th past lying before me,
by which you despond, in my opinion too soon, of dubbing your Prince; for
he most certainly will have the Garter; and he will as probably have it
before the campaign opens, as after. His campaign must, I doubt, at best
be a defensive one; and he will show great skill in making it such; for
according to my calculation, his enemies will be at least double his
number. Their troops, indeed, may perhaps be worse than his; but then
their number will make up that defect, as it will enable them to
undertake different operations at the same time. I cannot think that the
King of Denmark will take a part in the present war; which he cannot do
without great possible danger; and he is well paid by France for his
neutrality; is safe, let what will turn out; and, in the meantime,
carries on his commerce with great advantage and security; so that that
consideration will not retard your visit to your own country, whenever
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.