giving you thus an account of my conduct. I will tell you that being appointed also historiographer of France, I write the history of the late fatal war, which did much harm to all the parties, and did good only to the king of Prussia. I wish I could show you what I have wrote upon that subject. I hope I have done justice to the great duke of Cumberland. My history shall not be the work of a courtier, nor that of a partial man, but that of a lover of mankind.
As to the tragedy of Sémiramis, I’ll send it to you within a month or two. I always remember with great pleasure, that I dedicated to you the tender tragedy of Zaïre. This Sémiramis is quite of an other king. I have tryed, though it was a hard task, to change our French petits-maîtres into Athenian hearers. The transformation is not quite performed but the pièce has met with great applause. It has the fate of moral books that please many, without mending any body.
I am now, my dear friend, at the court of king Stanislas, where I have passed some months with all the easines and cheerfulness that I enjoyed once at Wandsworth : for you must know that king Stanislas is a kind of Falkener. He his indeed the best man alive. But, for fear you should take me for a wanderer of courts and a vagabond courtier, I will tell you that I am here with the very same friend whom I never parted from for these twenty years past, the lady du Châtelet, who comments Newton, and is now about printing a French translation of it ; she is the friend I mean.
I have at Paris some enemies, such as Pope had at London and I despise them as he did. In short, I live as happy as my condition can permit
Excepto quod non simul esses, cætera lætus !
I return you a thousand thanks, my dearest and worthy friend. I wish you all the happiness you deserve ; and I’ll be yours for ever[1].
- ↑ Tracduction : Cher monsieur, votre lettre m’a fait le plus sensible plaisir, car, lorsque mon amitié pour vous a commencé, ce fut un bail pour la vie. Le temps, qui altère toute chose, et particulièrement mon pauvre corps usé, n’a pas changé mes sentiments. Vous m’apprenez que vous êtes mari et père j’espère que vous êtes doublement heureux. Il convient au secrétaire d’un grand général d’épouser la fille d’un grand capitaine, et je suis vraiment ravi de voir le sang de Marlborough mêlé à
