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Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1753-54 by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield
page 33 of 61 (54%)
call 'concetti spiritosissimi'; the Spaniards 'agudeze'; and we,
affectation and quaintness. I hope you have endeavored to suit your
'Traineau' to the character of the fair-one whom it is to contain. If she
is of an irascible, impetuous disposition (as fine women can sometimes
be), you will doubtless place her in the body of a lion, a tiger, a
dragon, or some tremendous beast of prey and fury; if she is a sublime
and stately beauty, which I think more probable (for unquestionably she
is 'hogh gebohrne'), you will, I suppose, provide a magnificent swan or
proud peacock for her reception; but if she is all tenderness and
softness, you have, to be sure, taken care amorous doves and wanton
sparrows should seem to flutter round her. Proper mottos, I take it for
granted, that you have eventually prepared; but if not, you may find a
great many ready-made ones in 'Les Entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugene, sur
les Devises', written by Pere Bouhours, and worth your reading at any
time. I will not say to you, upon this occasion, like the father in Ovid,

"Parce, puer, stimulis, et fortius utere loris."

On the contrary, drive on briskly; it is not the chariot of the sun that
you drive, but you carry the sun in your chariot; consequently, the
faster it goes, the less it will be likely to scorch or consume. This is
Spanish enough, I am sure.

If this finds you still at Munich, pray make many compliments from me to
Mr. Burrish, to whom I am very much obliged for all his kindness to you;
it is true, that while I had power I endeavored to serve him; but it is
as true too, that I served many others more, who have neither returned
nor remembered those services.

I have been very ill this last fortnight, of your old Carniolian
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