THE LONDON REVIEW, FOR MARCH, 1777. Mifcellaneous Works of the late Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield: confifting of Letters to his Friends, never before printed, and various other Articles. To which are prefixed, Memoirs of his Life, tending to illuftrate the Civil, Literary, and Political, Hiftory of his Time. By M. Maty, M. D. late Principal Librarian of the British Museum, and Secretary to the Royal Society. In Two Volumes, 4to. 21. 2s. Dilly. The editor of this work obferves, in a fhort introduction to his account of the life of the author, that " it is from the Rumber and variety of private memoirs, and the collifion of oppofite teftimonies, that the judicious reader is enabled to ftrike out light, and find his way through that darkness and confufion, in which he is at first involved by them.” "It is," fays he," from obferving different individuals, that we may be enabled to draw the outlines of that extraordinary complicated being, man. The characteristics of any country or age must be deduced from the feparate characters of perfons, who, however diftinguishable in many refpects, ftill preferve a family likeness. From the life of almost any one individual, but chiefly from the lives of fuch eminent men as feemed deftined to enlighten or to adorn fociety, inftructions may be drawn, fuitable to every capacity, rank, a, or station. Young men afpiring to honors cannot be too alfiduous in tracing the means by which they were obtained: by oblerving with what difficulty they were preferved, they will be apprifed of their real value, eftimate the risks of the purchase, and discover frequent disappointment in the poffeffion. It is not my province to determine, whether the memoirs of lord Chesterfield will anfwer these feveral purposes. I profefs, however, they were written with that view. The tranfactions of the wo lat VOL. V. Y reigns reigns are fo recent, that general hiftory cannot yet relate them with faithfulness and accuracy. But materials fhould now be collected, characters should be drawn, while they are ftill fresh in the memory of the living, and anecdotes fhould be fnatched from the destructive hands of time and oblivion. I do not prefume to have penetrated into the fanctuary, nor can I venture to promise that I fhall always be able to come at the truth; fome fecrets may, and perhaps muft, remain for ever undifclofed. Thofe, who are poffeffed of better informations, may be incited by this attempt to communicate their knowledge to the public." For the fake of order, the editor has divided these memoirs of his author, into fix parts or fections: "The first, containing the early periods of lord Chesterfield's life, and extends to his twentieth year, or to the death of queen Anne. The fecond comprehends the detail of his conduct at court, in parlia ment, and in fociety, during the reign of George the Firft, ending in 1727. The third gives an account of his first embafly to Holland, and his return to England, to the time of his difmiffion in 1733. The period of his oppofition, during the twelve following years, is the fubject of the fourth fection. The fifth includes his lordship's fecond empbaffy to Holland; his adminiftration in Ireland, and his share in public affairs as fecretary of state, till the beginning of 1748 when he refigned; and the fixth and laft reprefents his lordship in his retreat, enjoying the fruits of his experience and labors, bearing up against the infirmities of old age, and continuing to the laft the favorite of the mu'es, the friend to his country, and the well-wisher to mankind." Although Lord Chesterfield was more diftinguifhed for his perfonal qualifications than his rank, it may not be amifs to cite the two firft fhort paragraphs of the first section, relative to his family in general. "Philip Dormer Stanhope, earl of Chesterfield, was born in London, on the 22d of September 1694*. "The antiquity of the Stanhopes is fufficiently known, and needs no illuftration. Several of our first nobility trace their origin from them, and their connections and intermarriages with the principal families of the kingdom have been very numerous and extenfive . Their zeal for their country and fidelity to the crown, ever fince the reign of Edward III. though often tried, could never be shaken; and By a miftake in Collins's Peerage of England, vol. II. p. 270. the time of his birth is placed one year later. Lord Chesterfield often mentioned this to his friends; but he did not think it worth while to have it corrected. This particular I first learned from Dr. Mounfey, phyfician to Chelfea hofpital, a friend to the earl; and as it appears from one of his letters to him (vide collection publifhed by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope, vol. II. p. 603, 4to), exactly of the fame age. + Their family has been effablifhed in the north of England for many centuries, even before the time of Edward I.; but from the reign of that king's grandfon, their principal eftates have been in Nottinghamshire and in Derbyshire. See Collins's Peerage, p. 257. The earls of Stanhope, Harrington, &c. The duke of Newcaftle, the earl of Huntingdon, lord Southwell, &c. their their eminent fervices in the most critical times were juftly rewarded by places of trust, and marks of diftinction. The honor of peerage was conferred upon this family by king James I. and the title of earl by his fon. The late lord ftood the eighteenth in the rank of the EngJith earls." The education of our author being in fome measure neglected by his father, the charge of it, we are told, was taken by his grandmother Lady Halifax, who proved every way equal to the task. "[1705] It does not appear," continues Dr. Maty," that her young ward was fent to any of the public fchools. His fentiments, manners, and tafte, were all formed upon the model he found at home. The beft matters were chofen to render his accomplishments fuitable to his birth. They hit upon the art of adapting their inftructions to his difpofition, and by this method improved his mind, while they gained his affection. "From his earliest youth he fhewed an ardent defire of excelling in whatever he undertook *, and an uncommon refolution in never deviating from the track he at first chalked out to himself, whatever difficulties he might find in his way. Two inftances of this, however trifling, I shall beg leave to relate from the informations, which were tranfmitted to me by the Bishop of Waterford. "He was very young, when lord Galway, who, though not a very fortunate general, was a man of uncommon penetration and merit, and who often vifited the marchionefs of Halifax, obferving in him a strong inclination for a political life, but at the fame time an unconquerable tafe for pleasure, with fome tincture of lazinefs, gave him the following advice. "If you intend to be a man of business, you must be an early rifer. In the diftinguished pofts your parts, rank, and fortune, will intitle you to fill, you will be liable to have vifitors at every hour of the day and unless you will rife conftantly at an early hour, you will never have any leifure to yourfelf." This admonition, delivered in the most obliging manner, made a confiderable impreffion upon the mind of our young man, who ever after obferved that excellent rule, even when he went to bed late, and was already advanced in years. "With fuch advantages and expectations, it is not furprifing that he fhould have had an uncommon fhare of fpirits. His natural livelinefs was, in the beginning of his life, accompanied with fome degree of warmth. He was rather impatient of contradiction, and is reported to have been fomewhat paffionate. This difpofition, fo improper for a ftatesman, was happily corrected by an incident; and the leffon he received, was the most efficacious, as he gave it to himfelf. Something, which he faid or did in a fit of anger when he was young, made him fo uneafy afterwards that he refolved from that time to watch over himself, and endeavour to curb the impetuofity of his temper. This "When I was at your age (about eleven years old) I should have been "afhamed if any boy of that age had learned his book better, or played at any play better than I did; and I fhould not have refted a moment till £ had got before him." Letters to his fon, vol. I. p. 173. 66 he was happy enough to fucceed in, and for the remainder of his life he was never known to be difcompofed by any emotion of his mind. [1710] The ftudy of the French language had been an early part of young Stanhope's education; and when he was about fixteen, Mr. Jouneau, a French clergyman, was employed to improve him in the fpeaking of it, as well as to give him fome tincture of claffical knowledge, and the first rudiments of history and philofophy. His letters to that worthy man, at the fame time that they thew the great progress which he had already made in the French tongue, disclose the natural turn both of his mind and heart. He exprefles, in a most lively manner, his regard for his mafter; and he loft no opportunity of giving him ever after fubitan ial proofs of his gratitude and attachment. [1712] At the age of eighteen, Mr. Stanhope was fent to Cam bridge in order to improve his talents, and form thofe early connections, which commonly difcover a young man's natural propenfities, and almoft conftantly determine his future conduct. "Like other majestic monuments of antiquity, the English univerfities, defended by their own grandeur, and fupported by the veneration in which they are held, refift the hand of time, and baffle any attempt to impair or to improve. Perhaps, they may be thought not fo well calculated to fit young men for a public as for a ftudious life. The colleges, of which they are compofed, having been founded in thofe rude ages, when the clergy were in poffeffion both of the little ftock of learning ftill fubfifting, and of the great power and influence which that fuperiority, fuch as it was, gave them, have ever fince retained, and even now that this preeminence has ceafed, continue to poflefs advantages peculiar to that order. Ecclefiaftics are almoft exclufively members and governors of thefe noble feminaries of useful knowledge. There are, however, fome exceptions; and the fociety of Trinity-Hall, which was chofen for our young nobleman's refidence, has long been diftinguished on that account. "I find," he fays, in a letter dated August 22, 1712," the college, where I am, "infinitely the best in the univerfity; for it is the smallest, and it is "filled with lawyers, who have lived in the world, and know how to "behave. Whatever may be fald to the contrary, there is certainly "very little debauchery in this univerfity, especially amongst people "of fashion, for a man must have the inclinations of a porter to "endure it here." 66 It He was, from his infancy, accuftomed to fpeak French, having had a female-fervant, born in Normandy, to attend him; but her language was not very pure. When lord Chesterfield was last at Paris in 1741, M. Fontenelle having remarked that he had fomething of a Norman accent, asked him, whether he had not fift learned French from a perfon of that province His lordship anfwered, that the obfervation was very juft. + There is fomething very pleafing in obferving the first dawnings of fuch a man's genius, and theic are ftrongly apparent in the letters which I think myfelt happy to be able to communicate to the public in their origi nal drefs. I owe them to an intimate friend of mine who was related to Mr. Jouneau. It cannot be difowned, that at a more advanced period of life, he fhewed no great partiality to his Alma Mater, having neither fent his fon, "It is an object, at least, of curiofity to be informed of the first fteps of a young man, called by his birth, and entitled by his talents, to the highest stations; and I have great fatisfaction in being able to gratify this curiofity by informations drawn from his own letters." It is now," fays he, "fir, I have a great deal of bufinefs upon my hands; for I fpend above ap hour every day in ftudying the civil law, and as much in philofophy; and next week the blind man † "begins his lectures upon the mathematics; fo that I am now fully "employed. Would you believe too that I read Lucian and Xeno"phon in Greek? which is made eafy to me; for I do not take the pains to learn all the grammatical rules; but the gentleman, who is "with me, and who is himfeif a living grammar, teaches me them "all as I go along. I referve time for playing at tennis, for I with 66 to have the corpus fanum as well as the mens fana; I think the one " is not good for much without the other. As for anatomy, I fhall "not have an opportunity of learning it; for though a poor man has "been hanged, the furgeon, who ufed to perform thofe operations, would not this year give any lectures, because it was a man, and "then he fays the fcholars will not come." I have been induced to transcribe these laft lines, on purpose to fhew our young nobleman's early turn to pleafantry. It appears from a fubfequent letter, that he found means to go through a courfe of anatomy, which, from the fa tisfaction it gave him, retarded for fome time his return to London. It might have been better for him. if he had not also dabbled in phyfic; he would not so often have been his own patient, or intrufted his health to the care of empirics. "[1713] The multiplicity of thefe different ftudies, and the re clufe life which he led at Cambridge, feem, from his own account ||, to nor his fucceffor, to either univerfity. This may be accounted for from With Dr. Johnfon of Trinity Hall, and profeffor of civil law at Cambridge. He was a man of parts and abilities, and a zealous whig. + Profeffor Saunderfon, who, though deprived of his eyes, taught his pupils to make the beft ufe of theirs. 1 His private tutor was Mr Crow, member of the college, and bred up at Eton fchool. He was a very good Latin and Greek fcholar, and, having taken the degree of doctor of divinity, was made chaplain to Dr. Gibson bifhop of London, and afterwards to George II. The refpectable prelate, to whom I am obliged for this and feveral other interefting particulars, informs me, that when lord Chesterfield was at the univerfity, he used to ftudy in his apartment, without ftirring out of it till 6 o'clock in the evening. "When I first came into the world-at nineteen, I left the univerfity "of Cambridge, where I was an abfolute pedant. When I talked my beft, "I talked Horace; when I aimed at being facetious, I quoted Martial; and when I had a mind to be a fine gentleman, I talked Ovid. I was convinced that none but the antients had common fenfe; that the claffics contained every thing that was either neceffary or useful, or ornamental " to |
