and therefore one seldom does it at all; whereas those who have
a great deal of business, must (to use a vulgar expression) buckle to it;
and then they always find time enough to do it in. I hope your own
experience has by this time convinced you of this truth.

I received your last of the 8th. It is now quite over with a very great
man, who will still be a very great man, though a very unfortunate one.
He has qualities of the mind that put him above the reach of these
misfortunes; and if reduced, as perhaps he may, to the 'marche' of
Brandenburg, he will always find in himself the comfort, and with all the
world the credit, of a philosopher, a legislator, a patron, and a
professor of arts and sciences. He will only lose the fame of a
conqueror; a cruel fame, that arises from the destruction of the human
species. Could it be any satisfaction to him to know, I could tell him,
that he is at this time the most popular man in this kingdom; the whole
nation being enraged at that neutrality which hastens and completes his
ruin. Between you and me, the King was not less enraged at it himself,
when he saw the terms of it; and it affected his health more than all
that had happened before. Indeed it seems to me a voluntary concession of
the very worst that could have happened in the worst event. We now begin
to think that our great and secret expedition is intended for Martinico
and St. Domingo; if that be true, and we succeed in the attempt, we shall
recover, and the French lose, one of the most valuable branches of
commerce--I mean sugar. The French now supply all the foreign markets in
Europe with that commodity; we only supply ourselves with it. This would
make us some amends for our ill luck, or ill conduct in North America;
where Lord Loudon, with twelve thousand men, thought himself no match for
the French with but seven; and Admiral Holborne, with seventeen ships of
the line, declined attacking the French, because they had eighteen, and a
greater weight of METAL, according to the new sea-phrase, which was
unknown to Blake. I hear that letters have been sent to both with very
severe reprimands. I am told, and I believe it is true, that we are
negotiating with the Corsican, I will not say rebels, but asserters of
their natural rights; to receive them, and whatever form of government
they think fit to establish, under our protection, upon condition of
their delivering up to us Port Ajaccio; which may be made so strong and
so