chateau de rivieres.

The account Augustus Fitzmaurice gave me of Mr. Bertills was such as confirmed my own ideas of him, and made me quit England, and leave you in his power, with perfect satisfaction; or be assured, I had not departed without giving you some substantial proof of my esteem and friendship. I rejoice to find, by your letters, that I was not mistaken in my opinion, and that I may now congratulate you on an accession to your natural right. May you, my dear Charles, use your fortune as your father did! He displayed a benevolence of disposition which made all around him happy; and I can have no doubt of your doing the same, as I know nothing in which your disposition and sentiments differ from his, except a certain degree of rashness in forming/ your judgment of men and things: but time and experience will correct that, and their efforts will be aided by your readiness to yield to conviction. You have already seen your error in many instances, and with candor condemn yourself. I imagine you have now discarded all narrow prejudices against citizens and traders; and, in future, will judge of persons only by their sentiments and conduct.

I have reason to apologize for not writing to you sooner, but I have really had no leisure; and indeed you forbad my doing it often, by extorting from me a promise not to habituate myself frequently, or for any length of time, to sedentary amusements, till my health was restored. I remind you of this, Charles, lest you should think me unkind; however, I have the pleasure to tell you, I am much better; and, perhaps, I owe it in a great measure to your advice in this respect, as I have kept my word with you tho’ it has often been a great piece of self-denial to me: but it is a maxim of mine that every man should hold a promise sacred even in the most trivial concerns of life./

We had very stormy weather from Dover to Calais.