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 be little occasion for your
presence at Hamburg this year. Lord Holderness will only tell you, in his
letter, that, as he had some reason to believe his moving this matter
would be disagreeable to the King, he resolved, for your sake, not to
mention it. You must answer his letter upon that footing simply, and
thank him for this mark of his friendship, for he has really acted as
your friend. I make no doubt of your having willing leave to return in
autumn, for the whole winter. In the meantime, make the best of your
‘sejour’ where you are; drink the Pyrmont waters, and no wine but
Rhenish, which, in your case is the only proper one for you.
Next week Mr. Harte will send you his “Gustavus Adolphus,” in two
quartos; it will contain many new particulars of the life of that real
hero, as he has had abundant and authentic materials, which have never
yet appeared. It will, upon the whole, be a very curious and valuable
history; though, between you and me, I could have wished that he had been
more correct and elegant in his style. You will find it dedicated to one
of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune the luxuriant praises
bestowed upon him, and yet has left enough of all conscience to satisfy a
reasonable man. Harte has been very much out of order these last three or
four months, but is not the less intent upon sowing his lucerne, of which
he had six crops last year, to his infinite joy, and, as he says, profit.
As a gardener, I shall probably have as much joy, though not quite so
much profit, by thirty or forty shillings; for there is the greatest
promise of fruit this year at ‘Blackheath, that ever I saw in my life.
Vertumnus and Pomona have been very propitious to me: as for Priapus,
that tremendous garden god, as I no longer invoke him, I cannot expect
his protection from the birds and the thieves.
Adieu! I will conclude like a pedant, ‘Levius fit patientia quicquid
corrigere est nefas.’