BLACKHEATH, September 17, 1757

MY DEAR FRIEND: Lord Holderness has been so kind as to communicate to me
all the letters which he has received from you hitherto, dated the 15th,
19th, 23d, and 26th August; and also a draught of that which he wrote to
you the 9th instant. I am very well pleased with all your letters; and,
what is better, I can tell you that the King is so too; and he said, but
three days ago, to Monsieur Munchausen, HE (meaning you) SETS OUT VERY
WELL, AND I LIKE HIS LETTERS; PROVIDED THAT, LIKE MOST OF MY ENGLISH
MINISTERS ABROAD, HE DOES NOT GROW IDLE HEREAFTER. So that here is both
praise to flatter, and a hint to warn you. What Lord Holderness
recommends to you, being by the King's order, intimates also a degree of
approbation; for the BLACKER INK, AND THE LARGER CHARACTER, show, that
his Majesty, whose eyes are grown weaker, intends to read all your
letters himself. Therefore, pray do not neglect to get the blackest ink
you can; and to make your secretary enlarge his hand, though 'd'ailleurs'
it is a very good one.

Had I been to wish an advantageous situation for you, and a good debut in
it, I could not have wished you either better than both have hitherto
proved. The rest will depend entirely upon yourself; and I own I begin to
have much better hopes than I had; for I know, by my own experience, that
the more one works, the more willing one is to work. We are all, more or
less, 'des animaux d'habitude'. I remember very well, that when I was in
business, I wrote four or five hours together every day, more willingly
than I should now half an hour; and this is most certain, that when a man
has applied himself to business half the day, the other half, goes off
the more cheerfully and agreeably. This I found so sensibly, when I was
at The Hague, that I never tasted company so well nor was so good company
myself, as at the suppers of my post days. I take Hamburg now to be 'le