drunk, and where they either quarrel among themfeives, or fally forth, commit fome riot in the streets, and are taken up by the watch. Thofe who do not fpeak French before they go are fure to learn none there. Their tender vows are addreffed to their Irish laundrefs, unless by chance fome itinerant English woman, cloped from her husband, or her creditors, defrauds her of them. Thus they return home more petulant, but not more informed, than when they left. its and fhow, as they think, their improvement, by affectedly both speaking and dreffing in broken French. Hung tu Romane caveto §. Connect yourfelf, while you are in France, intirely with the French; improve yourself with the old, divert yourself with the young; conform cheerfully to their cuftoms, but not to their vices. Do not however remonftrate or preach against them, for remonftrances do not fuit with your age. In French companies in general you will not find much learning, therefore take care not to brandifh yours in their faces. People hate thofe who make them feel their own inferiority. Conceal all your learning carefully, and referve it for the company of les gens d'églife, or les gens de robe; and even then let them rather extort it from you, than find you over willing to draw it. You are then thought, from that feeming unwillingnefs, to have ftill more knowledge than it may be you really have, and with the additional merit of modefty into the bargain. A man of learning, if he affects to fhow it, is queftioned, and he is reckoned only fuperficial; but if afterwards it appears that he really has it, he is pronounced a pedant. Real merit of any kind cannot long be concealed; it will be discovered, and nothing can depreciate it, but a man's exhibiting it himself. It may not always be rewarded as it ought; but it will always be known. You will in' general find the women of the beau monde at Paris more inftructed than the men, who are bred up fingly for the army, and thrown into it at twelve or thirteen years old; but then that fort of ed ucation, which makes them ignorant of books, gives them a great knowledge of the world, an eafy addrefs, and polite manners. Fashion is more tyrannical at Paris than in any other place in the world; it governs even more abfolutely than their king, which is faying a great deal. The leaft revolt against it is punifhed by profcription. You muft obferve, and conform to all the minutie of it, if you will be in fafhion there yourfelf; and if you are not in fashion, you are nobody. Get therefore, at all events, into the company of thofe men and women. who give the ton; and though at firft you should be admitted upon that shining theatre only as a mute, perfift, perfevere, and you will foon have a part given you. Take great care never to tell in one company what you fee or hear in another, much lefs to divert the prefent company at the expenfe of the laft; but let. difcretion and fecrecy be known parts of your char acter. They will carry you much farther, and much fafer, than more fhining talents. Be upon your guard against quarrels at Paris; honour is extremely nice there, though the afferting it is exceedingly penal. Paris is the place in the world where, if you please, you may be unite the utile and the dulce 1. Even. your pleafurcs will be your improvements, if you take them with the people of the place, and in high life. From what you have hitherto done every where elfe, I have just reafon to believe that you will do every thing you ought at Paris. Remember that it is your decifive moment; whatever you do there will be known to thoufands here; and your character there, whatever it is, will get before you hither. You will meet with it at London. May you and I both have reason to rejoice at that meeting!-Adieu ! The ufeful and the pleasant, LETTER XCIII. Men of Pleafure...German and Italian Languages. MY DEAR FRIEND, London, May the 8th. AT your age, the love of pleafures is extremely nat Ат ural, and the enjoyment of them not unbecoming; but the danger, at your age, is miftaking the object, and fetting out wrong in the purfuit. The character of a man of pleasure dazzles young eyes; they do not fee their way to it diftinctly, and fall into vice and profligacy. I remember a strong inftance of this a great many years ago. A young fellow, determined to fhine as a iman of pleasure, was at the play, called The Libertine Deftro ed, a tranflation of Le Fefiin de Pierre of Moliere. He was fo ftruck with what he thought the fine character of the Libertine, that he fwere he would be the Libertine Deftroyed. Some friends afked him, whether he had not better content himself with being only the Libertine, without being deftroyed? to which he answered with great warmth, "No; for that being destroyed was the perfection of the whole." This, extravagant as it feems in this light, is really the cafe of many an unfortunate young fellow, who, captivated by the name of pleasures, rufhes indifcriminately, and without tafte, into them all, and is finally deftroyed. I am not ftoically advifing, nor preaching to you, to be a ftoic at your age; far from it: I am pointing out to you the paths to pleafures, and I am endeavouring only to quicken and heighten them for you. Enjoy pleafures, but let them be your own, and then you will tafte them but adopt none; truft to nature for genuine ones. The pleafures that you would feel, you muft earn the man who gives himself up to all, feels none fenfibly. Sardanapalus, I am convinced, never in his life felt any. Thofe only who join ferious occupations with pleafures, feel either as they should do. A uninterrupted life of pleafures is as infipid as contemptible. Some hours given every day to ferious bufinefs muft whet both the mind and the senses, to enjoy thofe of pleasure. A furfeited glutton, an ema ucation, which makes them ignorant of books, gives them a great knowledge of the world, an eafy addrefs, and polite manners. Fashion is more tyrannical at Paris than in any other place in the world; it governs even more abfolutely than their king, which is faying a great deal. The leaft revolt against it is punished by profcription. You muft obferve, and conform to all the minutie of it, if you will be in fafhion there yourfelf; and if you are not in fashion, you are nobody. Get therefore, at all events, into the company of those men and women. who give the ton; and though at firft you fhould be admitted upon that thiming theatre only as a mute, perfift, perfevere, and you will foon have a part given you. Take great care never to tell in one company what you fee or hear in another, much lefs to divert the prefent company at the expenfe of the laft; but let difcretion and fecrecy be known parts of your character. They will carry you much farther, and much fafer, than more fhining talents. Be upon your guard against quarrels at Paris; honour is extremeTy nice there, though the afferting it is exceedingly penal. Paris is the place in the world where, if you pleafe, you may beft unite the utile and the dulce . Even your pleafures will be your improvements, if you take them with the people of the place, and in high life. From what you have hitherto done every where elfe, I have just reafon to believe that you will do every thing you ought at Paris. Remember that it is your decifive moment; whatever you do there will be known to thousands here; and your character there, whatever it is, will get before you hither. You will meet with it at London. May you and I both have reason to rejoice at that meeting!-Adieu ! The ufeful and the pleasant, LETTER XCIII. Men of Pleafure...German and Italian Languages. MY DEAR FRIEND, London, May the 8th. AT your age, the love of pleafures is extremely nat Ат ural, and the enjoyment of them not unbecoming, but the danger, at your age, is miftaking the object, and fetting out wrong in the purfuit. The character of a man of pleasure dazzles young eyes; they do not fee their way to it distinctly, and fall into vice and profligacy. I remember a strong inftance of this a great many years ago. A young fellow, determined to thine as a inan of pleasure, was at the play, called The Libertine Defro ed, a tranflation of Le Feftin de Pierre of Moliere. He was fo ftruck with what he thought the fine character of the Libertine, that he fwere he would be the Libertine Deftroyed. Some friends afked him, whether he had not better content himself with being only the Libertine, without being destroyed? to which he answered with great warmth, "No; for that being destroyed was the perfection of the whole." This, extravagant as it feems in this light, is really the cafe of many an unfortunate young fellow, who, captivated by the name of pleasures, rushes indifcriminately, and without tafte, into them all, and is finally deftroyed. I am not ftoically advifing, nor preaching to you, to be a ftoic at your age; far from it: I am pointing out to you the paths to pleafures, and I am endeavouring only to quicken and heighten them for you. Enjoy pleafures, but let them be your own, and then you will tafte them but adopt none; trust to nature for genuine ones. The pleafures that you would feel, you muft earn the man who gives himself up to all, feels none fenfibly. Sardanapalus, I am convinced, never in his life felt any. Thofe only who join ferious occupations with pleafures, feel either as they fhould do. An uninterrupted life of pleafures is as infipid as contemptible. Some hours given every day to ferious bufinefs muft whet both the mind and the fenfes, to enjoy thofe of pleasure. A furfeited glutton, an ema |