me
the account, which I will pay; for I do not intend that, from, this time
forward the two boys should cost you one shilling. I am, with great
truth, Madam, your faithful, humble servant,
CHESTERFIELD.

LETTER CCCXIII

MADAM: As some day must be fixed for sending the boys to school, do you
approve of the 8th of next month? By which time the weather will probably
be warm and settled, and you will be able to equip them completely.

I will upon that day send my coach to you, to carry you and the boys to
Loughborough House, with all their immense baggage. I must recommend to
you, when you leave them there, to suppress, as well as you can, the
overgrowings of maternal tenderness; which would grieve the poor boys the
more, and give them a terror of their new establishment. I am, with great
truth, Madam, your faithful, humble servant,
CHESTERFIELD.

LETTER CCCXIV

BATH, October 11, 1769.

MADAM: Nobody can be more willing and ready to obey orders than I am; but
then I must like the orders and the orderer. Your orders and yourself
come under this description; and therefore I must give you an account of
my arrival and existence, such as it is, here. I got hither last Sunday,
the day after I left London, less fatigued than I expected to have been;
and now crawl about this place upon my three legs, but am kept in
countenance by many of my fellow-crawlers; the last part of the Sphinx's
riddle approaches, and I shall soon end, as I began, upon all fours.

When you happen to see either Monsieur or Madame Perny, I beg you will
give them this melancholic proof of my caducity, and tell them that the
last time I went to see the boys, I carried the Michaelmas quarterage in
my pocket; and when I was there I totally forgot it; but assure them,
that I have not the least intention to bilk them, and will pay them
faithfully the two quarters together, at Christmas.

I hope our two boys are well, for then I am sure you are so. I am, with
great truth and esteem, your most faithful, humble servant,
CHESTERFIELD.

LETTER CCCXV

BATH, October 28, 1769.

MADAM: Your kind anxiety for my health and life is more than, in my
opinion, they are both worth; without the former the latter is a burden;
and, indeed, I am very weary of it. I think I have got some benefit by
drinking these waters, and by bathing, for my old stiff, rheumatic limbs;
for, I believe, I could now outcrawl a snail, or perhaps even a tortoise.

I hop