… find anywhere more agreeable conversation than among the French’. 2 2 . John Constable, The Conversation of Gentlemen (London: J. Hoyles, 1738), p. 90. As conversation was not just talk and ‘could function as a metonym for all kinds of … The Polite Philosopher [1734], (Dublin: Robert Freebairn) pp. 42, 46. 10 . [Mary Wray], The Ladies Library [1722] (London: Jacob Tonson), pp. 12, 16. 11 . Joseph Spence, 'Letters from The Grand Tour 1730 1741', in Slava Klima (ed.) Joseph Spence: Letters from The Grand Tour, (London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1975), p. 9-10. Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by …