But, if this
boon be granted to my merits and my prayers, at any rate I shall from
this moment retire from the world. From henceforth my _secret influence_
is brought to its close. I will no longer be the unseen original of the
grand movements of the figures that fill the political stage. I will
stand aloof from the giddy herd. I will not stray from my little vortex.
I will look down upon the transactions of courts and ministers, like an
etherial being from a superior element. There I shall hope to see your
lordship outstrip your contemporaries, and tower above the pigmies of
the day. To repeat an idea before delivered, might be unbecoming in a
fine writer, but it is characteristic and beautiful under the personage
of a preceptor. The fitnesses which nature bestowed upon your frame
would not have done alone. But joined with the lessons I have taught
you, they cannot fail, unless I grossly flatter myself, to make the part
which your lordship shall act sufficiently conspicuous.
Receive then, my lord, with that docility and veneration, which have at
all times made the remembrance of you pleasant and reviving to my heart,
the last communications of the instructor of your choice. Yes, my lord,
from henceforth you shall see me, you shall hear from me no more.
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