BC_1763_EMONTAGU_GL

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<Q A 1763? TC GL EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU
[}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO LORD LYTTELTON. 8TH. 1763? HAGUE. bMS ENG 1365 (147)}]
<P1>
Hague ye 8=th= [\ADDED? 1763\] My Lord
   Your Lordship will think I am become perfectly dutch if I tell you that the paragraph which pleased me most in your very elegant letter was that which contain'd an account of your being grown fat. You will expect that I should tell you my next wish is to hear you are grown rich, that as I prefer embonpoint to talents, I prefer wealth to virtue; but I have not been long enough in this part of the World to consider riches as a blessing equal to health. I think I have rather lost some of my respect for wealth since I was [\WORD DELETED\] [\hither/]. Here is a rich state without honour & glory among nations, & many rich individuals without respect & regard among Mankind. The sight of Holland is very amusing, it is the disgrace of nature & honour of art. [\hither INTO Hither\] ought all statesmen & legislators to repair; they will see good government & good laws go further to make a nation prosper than soil & climate. The despotick Monarch whose subjects are hungry & naked should see
<P2>
how the natives of Holland thrive in this wretched Country, while his people starve in a fruitfull soil. We had a tedious journey to Utrecht, from thence to Amsterdam We went in the States yatcht, our journey therefore was easy, & by the novelty of the objects pleasant. We staid a whole day at Amsterdam which as a place of trade is astonishing but I should [\as soon/] wish myself a Carrier who sets up at the White horse or black Eagle in Bishops gate street, as an Amsterdam Merchant [\always to travel never to rest, &/] always to get & never to enjoy, is absurd; & these mony getting people, who live with their noses over a ditch, are amongst those whom Satan cheats out of this World. We came in a States yatcht from Amsterdam to the Hague, almost the whole way we saw fine Houses & gardens, that is to say, houses & gardens of expence, but in so wretched a taste I should prefer a cottage & a green field to the best of them. I know not how it is, but the countenances, the language, the edifices of these people give me pain. The Hague is realy very pretty, & by being the residence of Foreign Ministers, the Court &
<P3>
the States, I believe it is not a [\very/] unpleasant place to live in. Not that I should even stay here six Months, unless London Paris & Rome should be burnt down to the ground. I was much pleased this morning with seeing M=r= Fagels library. [\he INTO He\] has a fine collection of books & medals & drawings. [\to INTO To\] meet the Muses & the beaux arts in the house of y=e= Greffier of this rich Republick gave me great pleasure. My mind had been stifled with the idea of heaps of [\imprisond/] wealth to which elegance never gave form, nor liberality a [\vent\] . I was [\delighted\] to find myself in a very handsome agreable house nobly furnish'd, no foppery or ostentation but a modest appearance, & a handsome enjoyment of riches. M=r= Fagel seems a respectable man, & his son is a very pretty kind of young man. We dined yesterday with Count Bentinck at his Country house, where we were very elegantly entertaind. Yesterday Prince Lewis made a most splendid entertainment for My Lord Bath. I think we had above an 100 dishes. His Highness's manners are peculiarly obliging
<P4>
and affable, but I must not give all my praise to strangers. Our Ambassador S=r= Joseph Yorke gave us a most elegant & splendid dinner, & every mark of regard & polite attention. He lives generously & nobly, & his manners do more honour to his station than his expence. He is greatly esteem'd & beloved by the dutch, & one must not only be dull but insensible not to have a sense of his merit, which is amiable & agreable as well as solid. Yesterday evening I went to S=r= Joseph Yorkes assembly & supper, at which we had the Foreign Ministers & the dutch Ladies of distinction. My Lord Bath & M=r= Montagu went to wait on the Prince of Orange of whose understanding they make a favorable report. Prince [\Lewis/] takes more than Paternal care of him, but the jealousy of the States is such he is kept up very strictly, it seems absurd than the Stadtholder of a Republick should live [\in/] [\in INTO ye?\] retired state of an [\a...ick\] Monarch. I am now in an Inn at Rotterdam, but in half an hour shall be on board the States yatch which is to carry us to Moordyck. If my head is
<P5>
[\REST MISSING\]