He cannot express the delight he has felt at his friend's proposal; by
the rarest piece of good fortune, it so happens that he himself is in
a somewhat similar position of uncertainty and difficulty; a year ago
Gibbon's letter would have given him pleasure, now it offers
assistance and support. After a few details concerning the tenant who
occupies a portion of his house, he proceeds to urge Gibbon to carry
out the project he had suggested, to break loose from parliament and
politics, for which he was not fit, and to give himself up to the
charms of study and friendship. "Call to mind, my dear friend," he
goes on, "that I saw you enter parliament with regret, and I think I
was only too good a prophet. I am sure that career has caused you more
privations than joys, more pains than pleasures. Ever since I have
known you I have been convinced that your happiness lay in your study
and in society, and that any path which led you elsewhere was a
departure from happiness." Through nine pages of gentle and friendly
eloquence Deyverdun pursues his argument to induce his friend to
clinch the bargain. "I advise you not only not to solicit a place, but
to refuse one if it were offered to you.
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