to you, that they will cost you no more trouble.
As I have laid this down to be mechanical and attainable
by whoever will take the necessary pains, there will
be no great vanity in my saying, that I saw the importance
of the object so early, and attended to it so young,
that it would now cost me more trouble to speak or
write ungrammatically, vulgarly, and inelegantly,
than ever it did to avoid doing so. The late Lord
Bolingbroke, without the least trouble, talked all
day long, full as elegantly as he wrote. Why?
Not by a peculiar gift from heaven; but, as he has
often told me himself, by an early and constant attention
to his style. The present Solicitor-General,
Murray,—[Created Lord Mansfield in the year
1756.]—has less law than many lawyers, but
has more practice than any; merely upon account of
his eloquence, of which he has a never-failing stream.
I remember so long ago as when I was at Cambridge,
whenever I read pieces of eloquence (and indeed they
were my chief study) whether ancient or modern, I
used to write down the shining passages, and then
translate them, as well and as elegantly as ever I
could; if Latin or French, into English; if English,
into French. This, which I practiced for some
years, not only improved and formed my style, but imprinted
in my mind and memory the best thoughts of the best
authors. The trouble was little, but the advantage
I have experienced was great. While you are abroad,
you can neither have time nor opportunity to read pieces
of English or parliamentary eloquence, as I hope you
will carefully do when you return; but, in the meantime,
whenever pieces of French eloquence come in your way,
such as the speeches of persons received into the
Academy, ‘orasions funebres’, representations
of the several parliaments to the King, etc.,
read them in that view, in that spirit; observe the
harmony, the turn and elegance of the style; examine
in what you think it might have been better; and consider
in what, had you written it yourself; you might have
done worse. Compare the different manners of
expressing the same thoughts in different authors;
and observe how differently the same things appear
in different dresses. Vulgar, coarse, and ill-chosen
words, will deform and degrade the best thoughts as
much as rags and dirt will the best figure. In
short, you now know your object; pursue it steadily,
and have no digressions that are not relative to,
and connected with, the main action. Your success
in parliament will effectually remove all other
objections; either a foreign or a domestic destination
will no longer be refused you, if you make your way
to it through Westminster.
I think I may now say, that I am quite recovered from my late illness, strength and spirits excepted, which are not yet restored. Aix-la-Chapelle and Spa will, I believe, answer all my purposes.
I long to hear an account of your reception at Berlin, which I fancy will be a most gracious one. Adieu.