take it from them; and to labor more to put them in conceit with themselves, than to make them admire you. Those whom you can make like themselves better, will, I promise you, like you very well. [Aug. 6, 1750.]
A Portrait.—It is Lady Hervey,[1] whom I
directed you to call upon at Dijon; but who, to my
great joy, because to your great advantage, passes
all this winter at Paris. She has been bred all her
life at courts; of which she has acquired all the easy
good-breeding and politeness, without the frivolousness.
She has all the reading that a woman should
have: and more than any woman need have; for she
understands Latin perfectly well, though she wisely
conceals it. As she will look upon you as her son,
I desire that you will look upon her as my delegate:
trust, consult, and apply to her without reserve. No
woman ever had, more than she has, le ton de la parfaitement
bonne compagnie, les manières engageantes
et le je ne sais quoi qui plaît. Desire her to
reprove and correct any, and every, the least error
and inaccuracy in your manners, air, addresses, etc.
No woman in Europe can do it so well; none will
do it more willingly, or in a more proper and obliging
manner. [Oct. 22, 1750.]
- ↑ The lady was turned fifty, and Chesterfield recommends her as a chaperone.
