[31] Chesterfield had inclosed in a letter from Mr. Stanhope’s mamma one from his own sister, thanking the boy for some Arquebusade water. His lordship sent a rough copy of a polite answer to this note.
[32] Lord Chesterfield had been urging his son to send a Dresden tea-service to his mother, which he did.
[33] A pun; the pillars from Canons in Middlesex.
[34] It is well, in the present state of society, to reflect upon the intimacy here shown between persons in trade and those in high life.
[35] A somewhat curious use of the phrase, but well explained by Johnson.
[36] De Retz, from whose “Mémoires” Lord Chesterfield quoted a sentence in the commencement of the letter.
[37] The author, as he says, often repeats himself; see ante, p. 180.
[38] Pic-nic. Johnson does not mention this word, nor do his predecessors, Ashe and Bailey. Richardson does not give it even in his supplement. Worcester cites Widegren, 1788; this then is the earliest use of the word by an author of weight.
[39] On a German question.
[40] An open face with a close (or secret) mind.