will hear you twice, who can help it.  If you write epistles as well as Cicero, but in a very bad hand, and very ill-spelled, whoever receives will laugh at them; and if you had the figure of Adonis, with an awkward air and motions, it will disgust instead of pleasing.  Study manner, therefore, in everything, if you would be anything.  My principal inquiries of my friends at Paris, concerning you, will be relative to your manner of doing whatever you do.  I shall not inquire whether you understand Demosthenes, Tacitus, or the ’Jus Publicum Imperii’; but I shall inquire, whether your utterance is pleasing, your style not only pure, but elegant, your manners noble and easy, your air and address engaging in short, whether you are a gentleman, a man of fashion, and fit to keep good company, or not; for, till I am satisfied in these particulars, you and I must by no means meet; I could not possibly stand it.  It is in your power to become all this at Paris, if you please.  Consult with Lady Hervey and Madame Monconseil upon all these matters; and they will speak to you, and advise you freely.  Tell them, that ‘bisogna compatire ancora’, that you are utterly new in the world; that you are desirous to form yourself; that you beg they will reprove, advise, and correct you; that you know that none can do it so well; and that you will implicitly follow their directions.  This, together with your careful observation of the manners of the best company, will really form you.

Abbe Guasco, a friend of mine, will come to you as soon as he knows of your arrival at Paris; he is well received in the best companies there, and will introduce you to them.  He will be desirous to do you any service he can; he is active and curious, and can give you information upon most things.  He is a sort of ‘complaisant’ of the President Montesquieu, to whom you have a letter.

I imagine that this letter will not wait for you very long at Paris, where I reckon you will be in about a fortnight.  Adieu.

LETTER CXXV

London, December 24, 1750

Dear friend:  At length you are become a Parisian, and consequently must be addressed in French; you will also answer me in the same language, that I may be able to judge of the degree in which you possess the elegance, the delicacy, and the orthography of that language which is, in a manner, become the universal one of Europe.  I am assured that you speak it well, but in that well there are gradations.  He, who in the provinces might be reckoned to speak correctly, would at Paris be looked upon as an ancient Gaul.  In that country of mode, even language is subservient to fashion, which varies almost as often as their clothes.