entrees libres that the French Ambassador has given you;
frequent him, and SPEAK to him. I think you will not do amiss to call
upon Mr. Burrish, at Aix-la-Chapelle, since it is so little out of your
way; and you will do still better, if you would, which I know you will
not, drink those waters for five or six days only, to scour your stomach
and bowels a little; I am sure it would do you a great deal of good Mr.
Burrish can, doubtless, give you the best letters to Munich; and he will
naturally give you some to Comte Preysing, or Comte Sinsheim, and such
sort of grave people; but I could wish that you would ask him for some to
young fellows of pleasure, or fashionable coquettes, that, you may be
'dans l'honnete debauche de Munich'. A propos of your future motions; I
leave you in a great measure the master of them, so shall only suggest my
thoughts to you upon that subject.

You have three electoral courts in view, Bonn, Munich, and Manheim. I
would advise you to see two of them rather cursorily, and fix your
tabernacle at the third, whichever that may be, for a considerable time.
For instance, should you choose (as I fancy you will), to make Manheim
the place of your residence, stay only ten or twelve days at Bonn, and as
long at Munich, and then go and fix at Manheim; and so, vice versa, if
you should like Bonn or Munich better than you think you would Manheim,
make that the place of your residence, and only visit the other two. It
is certain that no man can be much pleased himself, or please others
much, in any place where he is only a bird of passage for eight or ten
days; neither party thinking it worth while to make an acquaintance,
still less to form any connection, for so short a time; but when months
are the case, a man may domesticate himself pretty well, and very soon
not be looked upon as a stranger. This is the real utility of traveling,
when, by contracting a familiarity at any place, you get into the inside
of it, and see it in its undress. That is the only way of knowing the
customs, the manners, and all the little characteristical peculiarities
that distinguish one place from another; but then this familiarity is not
to be brought about by cold, formal visits of half an hour: no; you must
show a willingness, a desire, an impatience of forming connections, 'il
faut s'y preter, et y mettre du liant, du desir de plaire. Whatever you
do approve, you must be lavish in your praises of; and you must learn to
comme