Letters to His Son 1766-71 | Page 8

me how you are.
God bless you; and, particularly, may He send you health, for that is the
greatest blessing!

LETTER CCXCI
BLACKHEATH, September 30, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: I received, yesterday, with great pleasure, your
letter of the 18th, by which I consider this last ugly bout as over; and,
to prevent its return, I greatly approve of your plan for the south of
France, where I recommend for your principal residence, Pezenas
Toulouse, or Bordeaux; but do not be persuaded to go to Aix en
Provence, which, by experience, I know to be at once the hottest and
the coldest place in the world, from the ardor of the Provencal sun, and
the sharpness of the Alpine winds. I also earnestly recommend to you,
for your complaint upon your breast, to take, twice a-day, asses' or
(what is better mares' milk), and that for these six months at least.
Mingle turnips, as much as you can, with your diet.
I have written, as you desired, to Mr. Secretary Conway; but I will
answer for it that there will be no difficulty to obtain the leave you ask.
There is no new event in the political world since my last; so God bless
you!

LETTER CCXCII

LONDON, October 29, 7766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: The last mail brought me your letter of the 17th.
I am glad to hear that your breast is so much better. You will find both
asses' and mares' milk enough in the south of France, where it was
much drank when I was there. Guy Patin recommends to a patient to
have no doctor but a horse, and no apothecary but an ass. As for your
pains and weakness in your limbs, 'je vous en offre autant'; I have never
been free from them since my last rheumatism. I use my legs as much
as I can, and you should do so too, for disuse makes them worse. I
cannot now use them long at a time, because of the weakness of old age;
but I contrive to get, by different snatches, at least two hours' walking
every day, either in my garden or within doors, as the weather permits.
I set out to- morrow for Bath, in hopes of half repairs, for Medea's
kettle could not give me whole ones; the timbers of my wretched vessel
are too much decayed to be fitted out again for use. I shall see poor
Harte there, who, I am told, is in a miserable way, between some real
and some imaginary distempers.
I send you no political news, for one reason, among others, which is
that I know none. Great expectations are raised of this session, which
meets the 11th of next month; but of what kind nobody knows, and
consequently everybody conjectures variously. Lord Chatham comes to
town to-morrow from Bath, where he has been to refit himself for the
winter campaign; he has hitherto but an indifferent set of aides-decamp;
and where he will find better, I do not know. Charles Townshend and
he are already upon ill terms. 'Enfin je n'y vois goutte'; and so God
bless you!

LETTER CCXCIII
BATH, November 15, 1766.
MY DEAR FRIEND: I have this moment received your letter of the 5th
instant from Basle. I am very glad to find that your breast is relieved,
though perhaps at the expense of your legs: for, if the humor be either
gouty or rheumatic, it had better be in your legs than anywhere else. I
have consulted Moisy, the great physician of this place, upon it; who
says, that at this distance he dares not prescribe anything, as there may
be such different causes for your complaint, which must be well
weighed by a physician upon the spot; that is, in short, that he knows

nothing of the matter. I will therefore tell you my own case, in 1732,
which may be something parallel to yours. I had that year been
dangerously ill of a fever in Holland; and when I was recovered of it,
the febrific humor fell into my legs, and swelled them to that degree,
and chiefly in the evening, that it was as painful to me as it was
shocking to others. I came to England with them in this condition; and
consulted Mead, Broxholme, and Arbuthnot, who none of them did me
the least good; but, on the contrary, increased the swelling, by applying
poultices and emollients. In this condition I remained near six months,
till finding that the doctors could do me no good, I resolved to consult
Palmer, the most eminent surgeon of St. Thomas's Hospital. He
immediately told me that the physicians had pursued a very wrong
method, as the swelling of my legs proceeded only from a relaxation
and weakness