Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/174

1774] will bring you into the society of those persons who are the most on your own tone. Fools and stupid people are never afoot before five or six o'clock; that is the time when I return to my chimney corner, where I nearly always find, if not what I should have chosen, at any rate nothing that I wish to avoid.

How is it that I have never yet told you that I am urged, entreated, to go and re-establish my health in England at the house of Lord Shelburne [Marquis of Lansdowne]? He is a man of intellect, the leader of the Opposition; he was the friend of Sterne, and adores his works. See what an attraction he must have for me, and whether I am not much tempted by his obliging invitation. Admit that if you had known of this piece of good fortune you would not have omitted it from my pompous inventory.

Yes, M. de Condorcet is with his mother; he works ten hours a day. He has a score of correspondents, intimate friends; and each, without fatuity, may think himself his first object; never, never did any man have more existence, greater means, so much felicity. I just remember that you have never said a word to me about the Duc de Choiseul; is it because your stay at Chanteloup has left no traces on your journey? Well! here is how he stands in Paris: the public takes no notice of him; it seems to me that the best thing for him at present is to remain in that state of oblivion, for he will gain nothing now by comparisons. We might have owed M. Turgot to him ten years ago, but he preferred to choose such ministers as Laverdy, Maupeou, Terrai, and others.

Your letter to M. d'Alembert is excellent; and as we are very communicative we gave it this evening to M. de Vaines, who was charmed with it, and desires to show it to him who could enjoy it without its alarming his modesty. You will