(for friend you are, tho’ a minister), it is that I am unable to be a witness of your new sort of glory and felicity. Had I not regulated my life after a way which makes me a kind of solitaire, I would fly to that nation of savage slaves, whom I hate, to see the nian I love. What wouldmiy entertainment be ! and how full the overflowings of my heart, in contemplating my dear Falkener, amidst so many Infidels of all hues, smiling with his humane philosophy at the superstitious follies that reign on the one side at Stamboul, and on the other at Galata ! I would not admire, as milady Mary Wortbley Montagu says,
The vizir proud, distinguished from the rest ;
Six slaves in gay attire, his bridle hold,
His bridle rich with gems, his stirrups gold !
For, how the devil ! should I admire a slave upon a horse ? My friend Falkener I sbould admire !
But I must bid adieu ! to the great town of Constantin, and stay in my little corner of the world, in that very same castle where you were invited to come in your way to Paris, in case you sbould have taken the road of Calais to Marseille[1]. Your taking an other way, was certainly a sad disappointment for me, and especially to that lady who makes use of your Locke and of more of your other books. Upon my word ! a French lady who reads Newton, Locke, Addison and Pope, and who retires from the bubbles and the stunning noise of Paris, to cultivate in the country the great and amiable genius she is born with, is more valuable than your Constantinople and all the Turkish empire !
You may confidently write to me, by the way of Marseille, chez Mme la marquise du Châtelet, à Cirey en Champagne. Be sure I shall not stir from that spot of ground, before the favour of your letter comes to me.
You well see, perbaps, a renegade, the bastard offspring of an Irishman, who went at Paris, by the name of Mac-Carthy ; a busy, bold, stirring and not a scrupulous man. He had the honour, by chance, of being known to the marquise du Châtelet ; but was expelled from her bouse for his rogueries and impudence, before he left Paris, with two young men in debt, whom he seduced to turn musulmen. His story and his character must be known at Constantinople. I would fain know what sort of life he leads now with the followers of Mohammed. But, what
- ↑ Voyez la lettre 508.
