XLI. Good Breeding Important in Diplomacy XLII. Great Events from Trivial Causes XLIII. "The Tongue to Persuade " XLVII. To acquire the Graces, etc. LIV. English and French Plays Compared LV. Utility of aiming at Perfection Chesterfield's Letters to his Eodson. X. True Wit and its Judicious Use. XI. Raillery, Mimicry, Wags, and Witlings XXVI. The Veracity of a Gentleman XXVIII. The Indecent Ostentation of Vices In applying himself to the formation of his son as a polite man in society, Lord Chesterfield has not given us a treatise on duty as Cicero has; but he has left letters which, by their mixture of justness and lightness, by certain lightsome airs which insensibly mingle with the serious graces, preserve the medium between the Mémoires du Chevalier de Grammont and Télémaque. SAINTE-BEUVE. Viewed as compositions, they appear almost unrivalled for a serious epistolary style. LORD MAHON. INTRODUCTION. In summarizing the character of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, Lecky the historian describes him as a man of "delicate but fastidious taste," "low moral principle," and "hard, keen, and worldly wisdom;" and this estimate, with an undue stress upon "low moral principle," fairly expresses the conventional idea of the brilliant eighteenth century statesman and wit. It may be said of Lord Chesterfield and it is a rather uncommon thing to say of one of his countrymen-that his reputation has suffered more from his preaching than from his practice. Weighed fairly in the balance with his contemporaries and co-equals, he loses in great measure the invidious distinction usually bestowed upon him; and those conversant with his philosophy will readily conjecture that had he intended his preaching for the morally-sensitive ear of the British public, he would have more carefully observed his own organic maxim,-"Le Grand Art, et le plus necessaire de tous, c'est L'Art de Plaire." Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son were written in the closest confidence, with no thought to their future publication. After the death of both writer and recipient, they were published by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope, the son's widow, as a speculative venture, - a profitable one, as it proved, the public being as ready to purchase as to condemn; and the annals of literature record few more curious turns of fortune than that which has ranked this arch-diplomat and consummate master of the art of self-repression in the category of men who have frankly confessed themselves to the world. Parental affection impelled him to discover to his son the springs of action that had governed his conduct and promoted his success in life; and the chance that led to his enduring literary fame has also installed him (with some injustice) as high priest and exemplar of fashionable vice and insincerity. To the same chance we owe our possession of a volume remarkable alike for its diction, wit, variety of argument and illustration, and keen insight into the worldly motives of worldly people. There are serious defects in Lord Chesterfield's theory of life and savoir vivre; but these eliminated, his system has an important advantage over many loftier ones in that it is the fruit of experience, and humanly practicable. Despite the overstrained censure of prejudice and cant, the letters have maintained their high rank in literature; and we may justly assume that their imperfections are greatly outweighed by their merits. It will be remembered that Dr. Johnson—in a lucid interval of fair-mindedness once said of them, "Take out |