Meanwhile, Mitchell in the year 1766, to a new English secretary of foreign affairs, about Fritz:
The duty of my station, as well as the affection I bear to your Lordship as a friend, oblige me to disclose to you some of the weaknesses of my hero. Great men have their failings; if they had not, they would be too much for humanity. His is that of vanity, and a desire on every occasion to have the lead, or, at least, to seem to have it. The first might be dangerous; the second, I mean the appearance of leading, may be yielded with advantage, in order to draw him into such measures as are for his interest, but without shocking his vanity.
Re: Andrew Mitchell: First Impressions
The duty of my station, as well as the affection I bear to your Lordship as a friend, oblige me to disclose to you some of the weaknesses of my hero. Great men have their failings; if they had not, they would be too much for humanity. His is that of vanity, and a desire on every occasion to have the lead, or, at least, to seem to have it. The first might be dangerous; the second, I mean the appearance of leading, may be yielded with advantage, in order to draw him into such measures as are for his interest, but without shocking his vanity.