I have seen 'les Contes de Guillaume Vade', and like most of them so
little, that I can hardly think them Voltaire's, but rather the scraps
that have fallen from his table, and been worked up by inferior workmen,
under his name. I have not seen the other book you mention, the
'Dictionnaire Portatif'. It is not yet come over.

I shall next week go to take my winter quarters in London, the weather
here being very cold and damp, and not proper for an old, shattered, and
cold carcass, like mine. In November I will go to the Bath, to careen
myself for the winter, and to shift the scene. Good-night.




LETTER CCLXXII

LONDON, October 19, 1764.

MY DEAR FRIEND: Yesterday morning Mr.-----came to me, from Lord Halifax,
to ask me whether I thought you would approve of vacating your seat in
parliament, during the remainder of it, upon a valuable consideration,
meaning MONEY. My answer was, that I really did not know your disposition
upon that subject: but that I knew you would be very willing, in general,
to accommodate them, so far as lay in your power: that your election, to
my knowledge, had cost you two thousand pounds; that this parliament had
not sat above half its time; and that, for my part, I approved of the
measure well enough, provided you had an equitable equivalent. I take it
for granted that you will have a letter from------, by this post, to that
effect, so that you must consider what you will do. What I advise is