LONDON,March 12,1768.
MY DEAR FRIEND:The day after I received your letter of the 21st past,I wrote to Lord Weymouth,as you desired;and I send you his answer inclosed,from which (though I have not heard from him since)I take it for granted,and so may you,that his silence signifies his Majesty's consent to your request.Your complicated complaints give me great uneasiness,and the more,as I am convinced that the Montpellier physicians have mistaken a material part of your case;as indeed all the physicians here did,except Dr.Maty.In my opinion,you have no gout,but a very scorbutic and rheumatic habit of body,which should be treated in a very different manner from the gout;and,as I pretend to be a very good quack at least,I would prescribe to you a strict milk diet,with the seeds,such as rice,sago,barley,millet,etc.,for the three summer months at least,and without ever tasting wine.If climate signifies anything (in which,by the way,I have very little faith),you are,in my mind,in the finest climate in the world;neither too hot nor too cold,and always clear;you are with the gayest people living;be gay with them,and do not wear out your eyes with reading at home.'L'ennui'is the English distemper:and a very bad one it is,as I find by every day's experience;for my deafness deprives me of the only rational pleasure that I can have at my age,which is society;so that I read my eyes out every day,that I may not hang myself.
You will not be in this parliament,at least not at the beginning of it.
I relied too much upon Lord C-----'s promise above a year ago at Bath.
He desired that I would leave it to him;that he would make it his own affair,and give it in charge to the Duke of G----,whose province it was to make the parliamentary arrangement.This I depended upon,and I think with reason;but,since that,Lord C has neither seen nor spoken to anybody,and has been in the oddest way in the world.I have sent to the D-----of G------,to know if L-----C----had either spoken or sent to him about it;but he assured me that he had done neither;that all was full,or rather running over,at present;but that,if he could crowd you in upon a vacancy,he would do it with great pleasure.I am extremely sorry for this accident;for I am of a very different opinion from you,about being in parliament,as no man can be of consequence in this country,who is not in it;and,though one may not speak like a Lord Mansfield or a Lord Chatham,one may make a very good figure in a second rank.'Locus est et pluribus umbris'.I do not pretend to give you any account of the present state of this country,or Ministry,not knowing nor guessing it myself.
God bless you,and send you health,which is the first and greatest of all blessings!