now,
honestly and humbly confess, that I cannot tell you; probably one party
asked too much, and the other would grant too little. However, the King's
dignity was not, in my mind, much consulted by their making him sole
plenipotentiary of a treaty, which they were not in all events determined
to conclude. It ought surely to have been begun by some inferior agent,
and his Majesty should only have appeared in rejecting or ratifying it.
Louis XIV. never sat down before a town in person, that was not sure to
be taken.

However, 'ce qui est differe n'est pas perdu'; for this matter must be
taken up again, and concluded before the meeting of the parliament, and
probably upon more disadvantageous terms to the present Ministers, who
have tacitly admitted, by this negotiation, what their enemies have
loudly proclaimed, that they are not able to carry on affairs. So much
'de re politica'.

I have at last done the best office that can be done to most married
people; that is, I have fixed the separation between my brother and his
wife; and the definitive treaty of peace will be proclaimed in about a
fortnight; for the only solid and lasting peace, between a man and his
wife, is, doubtless, a separation. God bless you!

LETTER CCLX

BLACKHEATH, September 30, 1763

MY DEAR FRIEND: You will have known, long before this, from the office,
that the departments are not cast as you wished; for Lord Halifax, as
senior, had of course his choice, and chose the southern, upon account of
the colonies. The Ministry, such as it is, is now settled 'en attendant
mieux'; but, in, my opinion cannot, as they are, meet the parliament.

The only, and all the efficient people they have, are in the House of
Lords: for since Mr. Pitt has firmly engaged Charles Townshend to him,
there is not a man of the court side, in the House of Commons, who has
either abilities or words enough to call a coach. Lord B----is certainly
playing 'un dessous de cartes', and I suspect that it is with Mr. Pitt;
but what that 'dessous' is, I do not know, though all the coffeehouses do
most exactly.

The present inaction, I believe, gives you leisure enough for 'ennui',
but it gives you time enough too for better things; I mean reading useful
books; and, what is still more useful, conversing with yourself some part
of every day. Lord Shaftesbury recommends self-conversation to all
authors; and I would recommend it to all men; they would be the better
for it. Some p