and I lay more stress upon the likeness of the picture, than upon the taste and skill of the painter.  If this be not already done, I desire that you will have it done forthwith before you leave Venice; and inclose it in a letter to me, which letter, for greater security, I would have you desire Sir James Gray to inclose in his packet to the office; as I, for the same, reason, send this under his cover.  If the picture be done upon vellum, it will be the most portable.  Send me, at the same time, a thread of silk of your own length exactly.  I am solicitous about your figure; convinced, by a thousand instances, that a good one is a real advantage.  ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’, is the first and greatest blessing.  I would add ‘et pulchro’, to complete it.  May you have that and every other!  Adieu.

Have you received my letters of recommendation to Cardinal Albani and the Duke de Nivernois, at Rome?

LETTER LXXXV

London, October 9, O. S. 1749.

Dear boy:  If this letter finds you at all, of which I am very doubtful, it will find you at Venice, preparing for your journey to Rome; which, by my last letter to Mr. Harte, I advised you to make along the coast of the Adriatic, through Rimini, Loretto, Ancona, etc., places that are all worth seeing; but not worth staying at.  And such I reckon all places where the eyes only are employed.  Remains of antiquity, public buildings, paintings, sculptures, etc., ought to be seen, and that with a proper degree of attention; but this is soon done, for they are only outsides.  It is not so with more important objects; the insides of which must be seen; and they require and deserve much more attention.  The characters, the heads, and the, hearts of men, are the useful science of which I would have you perfect master.  That science is best taught and best learned in capitals, where every human passion has its object, and exerts all its force or all its art in the pursuit.  I believe there is no place in the world, where every passion is busier, appears in more shapes, and is conducted with more art, than at Rome.  Therefore, when you are there, do not imagine that the Capitol, the Vatican, and the Pantheon, are the principal objects of your curiosity.  But for one minute that you bestow upon those, employ ten days in informing yourself of the nature of that government, the rise and decay of the papal power, the politics of that court, the ‘Brigues’ of the cardinals, the tricks of the Conclaves; and, in general, everything that relates to the interior of that extraordinary government, founded originally upon the ignorance and superstition of mankind, extended by the weakness of some princes, and the ambition of others; declining of late in proportion as knowledge has increased; and owing its present precarious security, not to the religion, the affection, or the fear of the temporal powers, but to the jealousy of each other.