with his once fuppofed patron, that he forbore not ever after to fpcak of him in terms of the greatest contempt. How far Johnson was right in his opinion of this popular nobleman, or whether he is to be fufpected of having refented more than he ought to have done, the coldness of his reception, or the disappointment of his hopes, will beft appear by a survey of his character, as it arifes out of the memoirs of his life prefixed to his miscellaneous works, and the fentiments and principles which, for the inftruction of his fon, he, in a course of letters to him, from time to time communicated, and with the utmoft folicitude laboured to inculcate and enforce. His lordship's defcent was from an illuftrious, though not a very ancient family. Being, as himself relates, rather neglected by his father, and in his tender years bereft of his mother, the care of his education devolved on his grandmother, the marchionefs of Halifax, a woman of exemplary virtue and difcretion, who fearing, perhaps, the contagion of a public feminary, kept him in her family, and with the beft aff tance of inftructors that fhe could procure, conferred on him all the benefits that could be hoped for in a courfe of domeftic education. At the age of eighteen he was fent to Trinity hall, Cambridge, where, as he informs us, he had a great deal of business on his hands, for he spent above an hour every day in studying the civil law, and as much in philofophy, and attended the mathematical lectures of the blind man [profeffor Saunderfon] so that, adds he, I am now fully employed. But notwithstanding N withstanding this intense application to his ftudies, this hopeful young nobleman seems to have brought from the university lefs of what all fuch feminaries profess to teach, found learning and good morals, than a hatred of that pedantry and illiberality of manners, which, throughout his writings, he reprobates as the infeparable concomitant of all academical inftitutions. As I have not taken upon me the office of his lordfhip's biographer, I fhall content myself with mentioning only thofe circumftances of his life and conduct that may serve to difplay his genuine character, and enable the world to determine whether it was fuch a one as a wife man would chufe as a model for imitation, or the ftandard by which he would form his own. After about two years stay at the university, lord Stanhope, for that was then his only title, went abroad to travel, and at that enchanting place the Hague, began to be acquainted with the world. The college rust, which, if we may believe his panegyrist, he contracted in the univerfity during fo long a refidence there, he found means to rub off, and exchanged for the polish of gaming, which rendered him the dupe of knaves and sharpers almoft throughout his life, and this not from any real propenfity to this pernicious vice, arising either from avarice or the exercise of those mental powers that make it a delight to many, but to acquire, what throughout his life he feems to have above all things been defirous of, the infipid character of a man of fashion. Nature, it must be owned, had endowed him with fine parts, and these he cultivated with all the industry usually practised by fuch as prefer the femblance of what what is really fit, just, lovely, honourable, to the qualities themselves; thus he had eloquence without learning, complaifance without friendship, and gallantry without love. Not much to his honour, he, in the year 1715, fuffered himself to be chofen for a Cornish borough, and took his feat in the houfe of commons, at an age when it was in the power of any fingle member, by the speaking of a very few words, to have turned him. out of it. Upon a hint of his incapacity, occafioned by a pert speech of his making, he had the prudence to quit the house and retire to Paris, glad of an opportunity of finishing his noviciate in a city that abounded with thofe pleasures and amufements that best fuit with a mind to which ftudy and the rational exercife of its faculties are labour. Upon the death of his father in 1726, he fucceeded to his title, and his feat in the house of peers. His fpeeches in that affembly, which were, though flimfy, florid, gave him, as that fpecies of eloquence will ever do, the reputation of a fine orator; and in this he was fo confident, that he has not fcrupled to confefs, that he has spoken with great applaufe, as on the bill for reforming the calendar, on fubjects that he understood not. For my own part,' fays he, I could just as foon have talked Celtic or Sclavonian to them [the lords] as aftronomy, and they would have understood me full as well; fo I refolved to do better than fpeak to the purpose, and to please instead of informing 'them;' and for this he gives as a reason, what perhaps will be found to be a true one, that every nu • Letters to his fon, number 215. merous affembly is a mob, and to fuch a one reafon and good fenfe are never to be talked. In addition to his character of an orator and a statesman, he was emulous of that of a poet, his pretenfions to which were founded on fundry little compofitions in verfe that from time to time appeared in collections of that kind; elegant it must be confeffed; but generally immoral and oft times profane. His diffimulation, deep and refined as it was, did not lead him to profefs any fincere regard to virtue or religion the groffer immoralities he affects to speak of with abhorrence; but fuch as might be practifed without the lofs of health and reputation he seemed to think there was no law againft. He was therefore, if fecret, vain in his amours, and though, fetting afide his mien, his person had little to recommend it, for he was low of ftature, had coarfe features, and a cadaverous complexion*, his confidence in the profecution of them was fuch as expofed him to greater rifques of perfonal fafety than moft men would chufe to run; and of this I fhall now produce an inftance. A lady of high quality, and a relation of one who had the story from her own mouth and told it me, having been married fome few years but never having brought her lord a child, was furprised one morning by a vifit from lord Chesterfield, whom she had frequently feen and converfed with at court. After the ufual compli He was alfo long-vifaged and long-necked, but from the fhoulders to the waist very fhort, which a wit once obferving, faid, he was a giant cut down, alluding to the practice of cutting down fhips of war to render them more active. ments ments had paffed, his lordship in that eafy gay style which he so strongly recommends to his fon, gave her to understand, that he fhould be happy to form fuch a connection with her ladyfhip, as it was more than probable might give being to an heir to the honours and poffeffions of that noble family into which she had matched. I will not attempt to defcribe the indignation which the lady felt at fuch an unexampled instance of impudence as the propofal indicated. She rose from her chair, and with all the dignity of infulted modefty, commanded this well-bred lover, this minion of the graces, to quit her houfe, with this menace, Think yourself well off, my lord, that for this affront I do not order my fervants to push you headlong out of doors.' It is a refinement in modern gallantry, but an affront to human policy, to recognize in public, by the unqualified appellation of fon, thofe to whom the laws of moft civilized countries deny not only that but the privilege of heirs; yet this has this flave to forms and ufages done in a series of letters to a young gentleman begotten by him out of wedlock, and in the life-time of one to whom we muft fuppofe he once tendered himself, his honours, his poffeffions, and his heart. With a folicitude for his welfare, commendable it must be faid in its general intention, he takes on himself to mold his perfon, to form his manners, and to furnish his mind. In the firft of these particulars his lordship had great difficulties to encounter: the clay he had chosen to work upon was ftiff, and refifted the plastic touch the boy was encumbered with flesh, and nature had fo carelessly compacted his limbs as fcarcely |