You ask me what I think of the death of poor Iwan, and of the person who ordered it.  You may remember that I often said, she would murder or marry him, or probably both; she has chosen the safest alternative; and has now completed her character of femme forte, above scruples and hesitation.  If Machiavel were alive, she would probably be his heroine, as Caesar Borgia was his hero.  Women are all so far Machiavelians, that they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation.  She will, perhaps, meet, before it is long, with some Scythian as free from prejudices as herself.  If there is one Oliver Cromwell in the three regiments of guards, he will probably, for the sake of his dear country, depose and murder her; for that is one and the same thing in Russia.

You seem now to have settled, and ‘bien nippe’ at Dresden.  Four sedentary footmen, and one running one, ‘font equipage leste’.  The German ones will give you, ‘seine Excellentz’; and the French ones, if you have any, Monseigneur.

My own health varies, as usual, but never deviates into good.  God bless you, and send you better!

LETTER CCLXXI

Blackheath, October 4, 1764.

My dear friend:  I have now your last letter, of the 16th past, lying before me, and I gave your inclosed to Grevenkop, which has put him into a violent bustle to execute your commissions, as well and as cheap as possible.  I refer him to his own letter.  He tells you true as to Comtesse Cosel’s diamonds, which certainly nobody will buy here, unsight unseen, as they call it; so many minutiae concurring to increase or lessen the value of a diamond.  Your Cheshire cheese, your Burton ale and beer, I charge myself with, and they shall be sent you as soon as possible.  Upon this occasion I will give you a piece of advice, which by experience I know to be useful.  In all commissions, whether from men or women, ’point de galanterie’, bring them in your account, and be paid to the uttermost farthing; but if you would show them ‘une galanterie’, let your present be of something that is not in your commission, otherwise you will be the ‘Commissionaire banal’ of all the women of Saxony.  ‘A propos’, Who is your Comtesse de Cosel?  Is she daughter, or grand-daughter, of the famous Madame de Cosel, in King Augustus’s time?  Is she young or old, ugly or handsome?

I do not wonder that people are wonderfully surprised at our tameness and forbearance, with regard to France and Spain.  Spain, indeed, has lately agreed to our cutting log wood, according to the treaty, and sent strict orders to their governor to allow it; but you will observe too, that there is not one word of reparation for the losses we lately sustained there.  But France is not even so tractable; it will pay but half the money due, upon a liquidated account, for