LETTER CXXXVII

London, April 7, O. S. 1751

My dear friend:  Here you have, altogether, the pocketbooks, the compasses, and the patterns.  When your three Graces have made their option, you need only send me, in a letter small pieces of the three mohairs they fix upon.  If I can find no way of sending them safely and directly to Paris, I will contrive to have them left with Madame Morel, at Calais, who, being Madame Monconseil’s agent there, may find means of furthering them to your three ladies, who all belong to your friend Madame Monconseil.  Two of the three, I am told, are handsome; Madame Polignac, I can swear, is not so; but, however, as the world goes, two out of three is a very good composition.

You will also find in the packet a compass ring set round with little diamonds, which I advise you to make a present of to Abbe Guasco, who has been useful to you, and will continue to be so; as it is a mere bauble, you must add to the value of it by your manner of giving it him.  Show it him first, and, when he commends it, as probably he will, tell him that it is at his service, ’et que comme il est toujours par vole et par chemins, il est absolument necessaire qu’il ale une boussole’.  All those little gallantries depend entirely upon the manner of doing them; as, in truth, what does not?  The greatest favors may be done so awkwardly and bunglingly as to offend; and disagreeable things may be done so agreeably as almost to oblige.  Endeavor to acquire this great secret; it exists, it is to be found, and is worth a great deal more than the grand secret of the alchemists would be if it were, as it is not, to be found.  This is only to be learned in courts, where clashing views, jarring opinions, and cordial hatreds, are softened and kept within decent bounds by politeness and manners.  Frequent, observe, and learn courts.  Are you free of that of St. Cloud?  Are you often at Versailles?  Insinuate and wriggle yourself into favor at those places.  L’Abbe de la Ville, my old friend, will help you at the latter; your three ladies may establish you in the former.  The good-breeding ‘de la ville et de la cour’ [of the city and of the court] are different; but without deciding which is intrinsically the best, that of the court is, without doubt, the most necessary for you, who are to live, to grow, and to rise in courts.  In two years’ time, which will be as soon as you are fit for it, I hope to be able to plant you in the soil of a young court here:  where, if you have all the address, the suppleness and versatility of a good courtier, you will have a great chance of thriving and flourishing.  Young favor is easily acquired if the proper means are employed; and, when acquired, it is warm, if not durable; and the warm moments must be snatched and improved.  ’Quitte pour ce qui en pent arriver apres’.  Do not mention this view of mine for you to any one mortal; but learn to keep your own secrets, which, by the way, very few people can do.