Perhaps, like most
landed gentlemen, an addition to my annuity would suit you
better than a sum of money given at once; perhaps the sum
itself may be too considerable. Whatever you may think
proper to bestow on me, or in whatever manner, will be
received with equal gratitude.
"I intended to stop here, but as I abhor the least
appearance of art, I think it better to lay open my whole
scheme at once. The unhappy war which now desolates Europe
will oblige me to defer seeing France till a peace. But that
reason can have no influence on Italy, a country which every
scholar must long to see. Should you grant my request, and
not disapprove of my manner of employing your bounty, I
would leave England this autumn and pass the winter at
Lausanne with M. de Voltaire and my old friends. In the
spring I would cross the Alps, and after some stay in Italy,
as the war must then be terminated, return home through
France, to live happily with you and my dear mother. I am
now two-and-twenty; a tour must take up a considerable time;
and although I believe you have no thoughts of settling me
soon (and I am sure I have not), yet so many things may
intervene that the man who does not travel early runs a
great risk of not travelling at all.
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