would protract my absence three weeks, and I am impatient to be in my own cave, notwithstanding the wisdom I imbibe every day.  But one cannot sacrifice one’s self wholly to the public:  Titus and Wilkes have now and then lost a day.  Adieu, my dear lord!  Be assured that I shall not disdain yours and Lady Strafford’s conversation, though you have nothing but the goodness of your hearts, and the simplicity of your manners, to recommend you to the more enlightened understanding of your old friend.

(1090) Alluding to the number of remonstrances, under the name of petitions, which were presented this year from the livery of London, and many other corporate bodies, on the subject of the Middlesex election.

Letter 371 To George Montagu, Esq.  Paris, Sunday night, Sept. 17, 1769. (page 557)

I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must tell you how agreeably I passed the day.  I wished for you; the same scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has amused us both ever since we were born.

Well then:  I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs. Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh’s sister, and the Count de Grave, one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive.  Our first object was to see Madame du Barri.(1091) Being too early for mass, we saw the Dauphin and his brothers at dinner.  The eldest is the picture of the Duke of Grafton, except that he is more fair, and will be taller.  He has a sickly air, and no grace.  The Count de Provence has a very pleasing countenance, with an air of more sense than the Count d’Artois, the genius of the family.  They already tell as many bon-mots of the latter as of Henri Quatre and Louis Quatorze.  He is very fat, and the most like his grandfather of all the children.  You may imagine this royal mess did not occupy us long:  thence to the chapel, where a first row in the balconies was kept for us.  Madame du Barri arrived over against us below, without rouge, without powder, and indeed sans avoir fait sa toilette; an odd appearance, as she was so conspicuous, close to the altar, and amidst both court and people.  She is pretty, when you consider her; yet so little striking, that I never should have asked who she was.  There is nothing bold, assuming, or affected in her manner.  Her husband’s sister was alone, with her.  In the tribune above, surrounded by prelates, was the amorous and still handsome King.  One could not help smiling at the mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality.  From chapel we went to the dinner of the elder Mesdames.  We were almost stifled in the antechamber, where their dishes were heating over charcoal, and where we could not stir for the press.  When the doors are opened every body rushes in, princes of the blood, cordons bleus, abb`es, housemaids, and the Lord knows who and what.  Yet, so used are their highnesses to this trade, that they eat as comfortably and heartily as you or I could do in our own parlours.