A man’s address and manner weigh much more with them than his beauty; and, without them, the Abbati and Monsignori will get the better of you.  This address and manner should be exceedingly respectful, but at the same time easy and unembarrassed.  Your chit-chat or ‘entregent’ with them neither can, nor ought to be very solid; but you should take care to turn and dress up your trifles prettily, and make them every now and then convey indirectly some little piece of flattery.  A fan, a riband, or a head-dress, are great materials for gallant dissertations, to one who has got ‘le ton leger et aimable de la bonne compagnie’.  At all events, a man had better talk too much to women, than too little; they take silence for dullness, unless where they think that the passion they have inspired occasions it; and in that case they adopt the notion, that

          Silence in love betrays more woe
          Than words, though ne’er so witty;
          The beggar that is dumb, we know,
          Deserves a double pity.

‘A propos’ of this subject:  what progress do you make in that language, in which Charles the Fifth said that he would choose to speak to his mistress?  Have you got all the tender diminutives, in ‘etta, ina’, and ‘ettina’, which, I presume, he alluded to?  You already possess, and, I hope, take care not to forget, that language which he reserved for his horse.  You are absolutely master, too, of that language in which he said he would converse with men; French.  But, in every language, pray attend carefully to the choice of your words, and to the turn of your expression.  Indeed, it is a point of very great consequence.  To be heard with success, you must be heard with pleasure:  words are the dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt, than your person should.  By the way, do you mind your person and your dress sufficiently?  Do you take great care of your teeth?  Pray have them put in order by the best operator at Rome.  Are you be-laced, bepowdered, and be-feathered, as other young fellows are, and should be?  At your age, ’il faut du brillant, et meme un peu de fracas, mais point de mediocre; il faut un air vif, aise et noble.  Avec les hommes, un maintien respectueux et en meme tems respectable; avec les femmes, un caquet leger, enjoue, et badin, mais toujours fort poli’.

To give you an opportunity of exerting your talents, I send you, here inclosed, a letter of recommendation from Monsieur Villettes to Madame de Simonetti at Milan; a woman of the first fashion and consideration there; and I shall in my next send you another from the same person to Madame Clerici, at the same place.  As these two ladies’ houses are the resort of all the people of fashion at Milan, those two recommendations will introduce you to them all.  Let me know, in due time, if you have received these two letters, that I may have them renewed, in case of accidents.

Adieu, my dear friend!  Study hard; divert yourself heartily; distinguish carefully between the pleasures of a man of fashion, and the vices of a scoundrel; pursue the former, and abhor the latter, like a man of sense.