merous affembly is a mob, and to fuch a one reafon and good sense are never to be talked.

In addition to his character of an orator and a statef man, 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 against. He was therefore, if fecret, vain in his amours, and though, fetting afide his mien, his perfon had little to recommend it, for he was low of ftature, had coarse features, and a cadaverous complexion †, his confidence in the prosecution of them was fuch as expofed him to greater rifques of perfonal fafety than most men would chufe to run; and of this I fhall now produce an instance.

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 furprized one morning by a vifit from lord Chesterfield, whom she had frequently feen and conversed with at court. After the ufual compli

+ He was alfo long-vifaged and long-necked, but from the fhoulders to the waift 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 ftyle which he fo ftrongly recommends to his fon, gave her to understand, that he should be happy to form fuch a connection with her ladyship, as it was more than probable might give being to an heir to the honours and poffeffions of that noble family into which fhe 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 house, with this menace, Think yourself well off, my lord, that for this < affront I do not order my fervants to push you head' long out of doors.'

It is arefinement 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 most 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 he 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 first of these particulars his lordship had great difficulties to encounter: the clay he had chofen to work upon was ftiff, and refifted the plaftic touch the boy was encumbered with flesh, and nature had fo carelessly compacted his limbs as scarcely

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to leave them the power of flexure. In a word, in infancy he was fhapeless, and in youth a looby. Never did a fhe-bear with more anxious affiduity labour to lick her cub into fhape than this fond parent did to correct the errors of nature in the formation of this his darling: the head, the shoulders and the hands, were, by turns, the objects of his care; but the legs and feet feem to have engaged most of his attention: these upon his being fent abroad, were committed to the care of a dancing-mafter at Paris, whofe inftructions he estimates at a higher rate than the precepts of Ariftotle *. He recommends to form his manners les agrémens et les graces, † les manieres, la tournure, et les usages du beau monde ; and is perpetually reminding him of that trite maxim Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re.' ||

The beft furniture of a young man's mind are the precepts of religion and found morality. Not a word of either of thefe do we meet with in two quarto volumes of those letters which I am now citing, but in them precepts of a different kind, such as respect his pleasures, abound. Affuming an air of fapience, which was not very natural to his Lordship, he remarks, that in the course of the world the qualifications of the cameleon are often neceffary, nay, they must be carried a little farther, and exerted a little fooner; for you should,' adds he to a certain degree take the hue of either the man or woman that you want and wish to be upon terms with.' Fatherly curiofity then prompts him to an enquiry into certain particulars, which these his own words will go near to explain :

Letter 215. Letter 214. Letter 217. Letter 213.

Apropos :

Apropos have you yet found out at Paris any friendly and hofpitable Madame de Lurfay, qui veut * bien fe charger du foin de vous éduquer? And have you had any occafion of representing to her, qu' elle 'faifoit donc des noeuds? But I afk your pardon, 'Sir, for the abruptness of the question, and acknow'ledge that I anı meddling with matters that are out ' of my department. However, in matters of lefs importance I defire to be de vos fecrets le fidele dé'pofitaire. Truft me with the general turn and co'lour of your amusements at Paris. Is it le fracas 'du grand monde, comédies, bals, opéras, cour, &c.? Or is it des petites focietés moins bruiantes 'mais pas pour cela moins agréables? Where are you ⚫ the most établi? Where are you le petit Stanhope?

Voyez vous encore jour, à quelque arrangement 'honnêtte?' Letter 212.

Farther to initiate him into vice, he recommends to him the turning over men by day and women

by night,' for thus it pleases him to render the precept Nocturna versate manu verfate diurna†; and with matchless effrontery and total disregard for the perfonal fafety of him whom he is inftructing, advifes him, in effect, to rifque being run through the body, or the breaking his neck out of a bed chamber window, by commencing an intrigue with a new-married. and virtuous young lady. Hear the documents of our Mentor to this purpose: Go,' fays he, among

women, with the good qualities of your fex, and you will acquire from them the foftnefs and the graces of theirs. Men will then add affection to the esteem

which they before had for you.-Women are the only refiners of the merit of men: it is true they cannot add weight; but they polish and give luftre to it. Apropos : I am affured that Madame de Blot, although she has no great regularity of feaC tures, is notwithstanding, exceffively pretty, and that for all that, fhe has as yet been fcrupulously 'conftant to her husband, though the has now been married above a year. Surely fhe does not reflect that woman wants polishing. I would have you polish one another reciprocally. Affiduities, at'tentions, tender looks, and paffionate declarations on your fide, will produce fome irrefolute wishes at leaft on hers, and when even the flightest wishes 'arife, the rest will foon follow *.'

Finally, to attain these and the other ends which his lordship points out as the objects of his fon's purfuit, he inculcates in the ftrongest terms the practice of those arts of crooked cunning, which, as lord Bacon has remarked, oftner defeat than effect their purpose, and together with thefe, the general exercise of that diffimulation which was one of the most prominent features in his own character.'

The letters from lord Chesterfield to his fon are two hundred and eighty-five in number. The precepts contained in them are multifarious, and it is to be feared that they have not only been adopted by many ignorant parents and indifcreet tutors, but that they have greatly tended to corrupt the morals of the rifing generation. As an antidote to the poifon which they must be fuppofed to have diffused, I fhall

* Letter 218.

here