When you come into the House of Commons,if you imagine that speaking plain and unadorned sense and reason will do your business,you will find yourself most grossly mistaken.As a speaker,you will be ranked only according to your eloquence,and by no means according to your matter;everybody knows the matter almost alike,but few can adorn it.I was early convinced of the importance and powers of eloquence;and from that moment I applied myself to it.I resolved not to utter one word,even in common conversation,that should not be the most expressive and the most elegant that the language could supply me with for that purpose;by which means I have acquired such a certain degree of habitual eloquence,that Imust now really take some pains,if,I would express myself very inelegantly.I want to inculcate this known truth into you,which,you seem by no means to be convinced of yet,that ornaments are at present your only objects.Your sole business now is to shine,not to weigh.
Weight without lustre is lead.You had better talk trifles elegantly to the most trifling woman,than coarse in elegant sense to the most solid man;you had better,return a dropped fan genteelly,than give a thousand pounds awkwardly;and you had better refuse a favor gracefully,than to grant it clumsily.Manner is all,in everything:it is by manner only that you can please,and consequently rise.All your Greek will never advance you from secretary to envoy,or from envoy to ambassador;but your address,your manner,your air,if good,very probably may.Marcel can be of much more use to you than Aristotle.I would,upon my word,much rather that you had Lord Bolingbroke's style and eloquence in speaking and writing,than all the learning of the Academy of Sciences,the Royal Society,and the two Universities united.
Having mentioned Lord Bolingbroke's style,which is,undoubtedly,infinitely superior to anybody's,I would have you read his works,which you have,over and-over again,with particular attention to his style.
Transcribe,imitate,emulate it,if possible:that would be of real use to you in the House of Commons,in negotiations,in conversation;with that,you may justly hope to please,to persuade,to seduce,to impose;and you will fail in those articles,in proportion as you fall short of it.Upon the whole,lay aside,during your year's residence at Paris,all thoughts of all that dull fellows call solid,and exert your utmost care to acquire what people of fashion call shining.'Prenez l'eclat et le brillant d'un galant homme'.
Among the commonly called little things,to which you,do not attend,your handwriting is one,which is indeed shamefully bad and illiberal;it is neither the hand of a man of business,nor of a gentleman,but of a truant school-boy;as soon,therefore,as you have done with Abbe Nolet,pray get an excellent writing-master (since you think that you cannot teach yourself to write what hand you please),and let him teach you to write a genteel,legible,liberal hand,and quick;not the hand of a procureur or a writing-master,but that sort of hand in which the first 'Commis'in foreign bureaus commonly write;for I tell you truly,that were I Lord Albemarle,nothing should remain in my bureau written in your present hand.From hand to arms the transition is natural;is the carriage and motion of your arms so too?The motion of the arms is the most material part of a man's air,especially in dancing;the feet are not near so material.If a man dances well from the waist upward,wears his hat well,and moves his head properly,he dances well.Do the women say that you dress well?for that is necessary too for a young fellow.
Have you 'un gout vif',or a passion for anybody?I do not ask for whom:
an Iphigenia would both give you the desire,and teach you the means to please.
In a fortnight or three weeks you will see Sir Charles Hotham at Paris,in his way to Toulouse,where he is to stay a year or two.Pray be very civil to him,but do not carry him into company,except presenting him to Lord Albemarle;for,as he is not to stay at Paris above a week,we do not desire that he should taste of that dissipation:you may show him a play and an opera.Adieu,my dear child.