ot accept of it. 'La comtesse veut
plaider', and I fancy 'faire autre chose si elle peut. Jubeo to bene
valere.

LETTER CCXXI

BLACKHEATH, May 18, O. S. 1758.

MY DEAR FRIEND: I have your letter of the 9th now before me, and condole
with you upon the present solitude and inaction of Hamburg. You are now
shrunk from the dignity and importance of a consummate minister, to be
but, as it were, a common man. But this has, at one time or another, been
the case of most great men; who have not always had equal opportunities
of exerting their talents. The greatest must submit to the capriciousness
of fortune; though they can, better than others, improve the favorable
moments. For instance, who could have thought, two years ago, that you
would have been the Atlas of the Northern Pole; but the Good Genius of
the North ordered it so; and now that you have set that part of the globe
right, you return to 'otium cum dignitate'. But to be serious: now that
you cannot have much office business to do, I could tell you what to do,
that would employ you, I should think, both usefully and agreeably. I
mean, that you should write short memoirs of that busy scene, in which
you have been enough concerned, since your arrival at Hamburg, to be able
to put together authentic facts and anecdotes. I do not know whether you
will give yourself the trouble to do it or not; but I do know, that if
you will, 'olim hcec meminisse juvabit'. I would have them short, but
correct as to facts and dates.

I have told Alt, in the strongest manner, your lamentations for the loss
of the House of Cassel, 'et il en fera rapport a son Serenissime Maitre'.
When you are quite idle (as probably you may be, some time this summer),
why should you not ask leave to make a tour to Cassel for a week? which
would certainly be granted you from hence, and which would be looked upon
as a 'bon procede' at Cassel.

The King of Prussia is probably, by this time, at the gates of Vienna,
making the Queen of Hungary really do what Monsieur de Bellisle only
threatened; sign a peace upon the ramparts of her capital. If she is
obstinate, and will not, she must fly either to Presburg or to Inspruck,
and Vienna must fall. But I think he will offer her reasonable conditions
enough for herself; and I suppose, that, in that case, Caunitz will be
reasonable enough to advise her to accept of them. What turn would the
war take then? Would the French and Russians carry it on without her