Den Haag, 21 Maart 1741.
......You will oblige me much if you can send me a copy of a book lately published containing the Debates in both houses of Parliament for several years past, which has been taken ill, and the Printer put in prison. It has made a great deal of noise;... I wish that I could make use of the opportunity of the yacht that is coming over to take a turn to England. Nothing in the world could give me greater recreation and refreshment than that. Beside the unspeakable satisfaction of seeing and talking with you, and renewing our acquaintance, I have such a mechanical affection for the country you are in, that it is somewhat like what the Suisses call la Maladie du pais. I call it mechanical tho upon reflecting I really beleive it is grounded on reason, and on the respect and veneration I have every day more and more for true merit and vertue, which I may boldly say I never met with so much of as in my own family nor enjoy'd the pleasure of so much as in England, tho that has been but short......
Everything is so embroil'd that it is not possible to form any notion of what is doing about us. And in this confusion, the only thing that can be foreseen with any sort of certainly is that France will gain by it. But how, when, what measures she will take, or actually has taken, and what is her particular plan, is what nobody can tell.
Pray don't think I seek to lay the blame on others. There is such a general want of spirit throughout all Europe, at least in these parts of it, that it is like a body without a soul. It is the effect of a Peace of 28 years. And nothing can rouse People out of it, but an imminent danger. You will, may be, say, the danger is great already, but it is not enough, since it does not do its effect.
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