le hopes, at my age, of ever being otherwise. I often wish for the
end of the wretched remnant of my life; and that wish is a rational one;
but then the innate principle of self-preservation, wisely implanted in
our natures for obvious purposes, opposes that wish, and makes us
endeavor to spin out our thread as long as we can, however decayed and
rotten it may be; and, in defiance of common sense, we seek on for that
chymic gold, which beggars us when old.

Whatever your amusements, or pleasures, may be at Hamburg, I dare say you
taste them more sensibly than ever you did in your life, now that you
have business enough to whet your appetite to them. Business, one-half of
the day, is the best preparation for the pleasures of the other half. I
hope, and believe, that it will be with you as it was with an apothecary
whom I knew at Twickenham. A considerable estate fell to him by an
unexpected accident; upon which he thought it decent to leave off his
business; accordingly he generously gave up his shop and his stock to his
head man, set up his coach, and resolved to live like a gentleman; but,
in less than a month, the man, used to business, found, that living like
a gentleman was dying of ennui; upon which he bought his shop and stock,
resumed his trade, and lived very happily, after he had something to do.
Adieu.

LETTER CCXVII

LONDON, February 24, 1758

MY DEAR FRIEND: I received yesterday your letter of the 2d instant, with
the inclosed; which I return you, that there may be no chasm in your
papers. I had heard before of Burrish's death, and had taken some steps
thereupon; but I very soon dropped that affair, for ninety-nine good
reasons; the first of which was, that nonody is to go in his room, and
that, had he lived, he was to have been recalled from Munich. But another
reason, more flattering for you, was, that you could not be spared from
Hamburg. Upon the whole, I am not sorry for it, as the place where you
are now is the great entrepot of business; and, when it ceases to be so,
you will necessarily go to some of the courts in the neighborhood
(Berlin, I hope and believe), which will be a much more desirable
situation than to rush at Munich, where we can never have any business
beyond a subsidy. Do but go on, and exert yourself were you are, and
better things will soon follow.

Surely the inaction of our army at Hanover continues too long. We
expected wonders from it some time ago, and yet nothing is a