BLACKHEATH,June 25,1759
MY DEAR FRIEND:The two last mails have brought me no letter from you or your secretary.I will take this as a sign that you are better;but,however,if you thought that I cared to know,you should have cared to have written.Here the weather has been very fine for a fortnight together,a longer term than in this climate we are used to hold fine weather by.I hope it is so,too,at Hamburg,or at least at the villa to which you are gone;but pray do not let it be your 'villa viciosa',as those retirements are often called,and too often prove;though,by the way,the original name was 'villa vezzosa';and by wags miscalled 'viciosa'.
I have a most gloomy prospect of affairs in Germany;the French are already in possession of Cassel,and of the learned part of Hanover,that is Gottingen;where I presume they will not stop 'pour l'amour des belles lettres',but rather go on to the capital,and study them upon the coin.
My old acquaintance,Monsieur Richelieu,made a great progress there in metallic learning and inscriptions.If Prince Ferdinand ventures a battle to prevent it,I dread the consequences;the odds are too great against him.The King of Prussia is still in a worse situation;for he has the Hydra to encounter;and though he may cut off a head or two,there will still be enough left to devour him at last.I have,as you know,long foretold the now approaching catastrophe;but I was Cassandra.
Our affairs in the new world have a much more pleasing aspect;Guadaloupe is a great acquisition,and Quebec,which I make no doubt of,will still be greater.But must all these advantages,purchased at the price of so much English blood and treasure,be at last sacrificed as a peace-offering?God knows what consequences such a measure may produce;the germ of discontent is already great,upon the bare supposition of the case;but should it be realized,it will grow to a harvest of disaffection.
You are now,to be sure,taking the previous necessary measures for your return here in the autumn and I think you may disband your whole family,excepting your secretary,your butler,who takes care of your plate,wine,etc.,one or at most two,maid servants,and your valet de chambre and one footman,whom you will bring over with you.But give no mortal,either there or here,reason to think that you are not to return to Hamburg again.If you are asked about it,say,like Lockhart,that you are 'le serviteur des Evenemens';for your present appointments will do you no hurt here,till you have some better destination.At that season of the year,I believe it will be better for you to come by sea than by land,but that you will be best able to judge of from the then circumstances of your part in the world.
Your old friend Stevens is dead of the consumption that has long been undermining him.God bless you,and send you health.
[Another two year lapse in the letters.D.W.]