BATH, February 26, 1761.
MY DEAR FRIEND: I am very glad to hear that your election is finally
settled, and to say the truth, not sorry that Mr.----has been compelled
to do, ‘de mauvaise grace’, that which he might have done at first in a
friendly and handsome manner. However, take no notice of what is passed,
and live with him as you used to do before; for, in the intercourse of
the world, it is often necessary to seem ignorant of what one knows, and
to have forgotten what one remembers.
I have just now finished Coleman’s play, and like it very well; it is
well conducted, and the characters are well preserved. I own, I expected
from the author more dialogue wit; but, as I know that he is a most
scrupulous classic, I believe he did not dare to put in half so much wit
as he could have done, because Terence had not a single grain; and it
would have been ‘crimen laesae antiquitatis’. God bless you!