Page:Letters, sentences and maxims.djvu/75

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LORD CHESTERFIELD'S LETTERS, SENTENCES,

AND MAXIMS.

Travel in Holland.—On me dit, Monsieur! que vous vous disposez à voyager, et que vous débutez par la Hollande. De sorte j'ai crû de mon devoir, de vous souhaiter un bon voyage, et des vents favorables. Vous aurez la bonté, j'espère, de me faire part de votre arrivée à la Haye; et si après cela, dans le cours de vos voyages, vous faites quelques remarques curieuses, vous voudrez bien me les communiquer.

La Hollande, où vous allez, est de beaucoup la plus belle, et la plus riche des Sept Provinces-Unies, qui, toutes ensemble, forment la République. Les autres sont celles de Gueldres, Zélande, Frise, Utrecht, Groningue, et Over-Yssel. Les Sept Provinces composent, ce qu'on appelle les Etats Généraux des Provinces-Unies, et font une République très-puissante, et très-considérable.^[1]

↑ This first letter will form a key to Chesterfield's character. It is partly badinage, and yet contains the elements of his lordship's idea. He has already begun to teach "Mr. Stanhope," and addresses as Monsieur a child of the mature age of five years. We have purposely omitted other letters, some in Latin, Phillipo Stanhope, adhuc puerulo, which contain merely historical and geographical information fit for a little schoolboy.

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[1] This first letter will form a key to Chesterfield's character. It is partly badinage, and yet contains the elements of his lordship's idea. He has already begun to teach "Mr. Stanhope," and addresses as Monsieur a child of the mature age of five years. We have purposely omitted other letters, some in Latin, Phillipo Stanhope, adhuc puerulo, which contain merely historical and geographical information fit for a little schoolboy.

[1]