The letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, with the characters;

Front matter

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

II. A Bath, ce 29 Octohre, 1 739

MoN CHEE Enfant,

Si I'on pent etre trop modeste, vous I'etes, et vous raeritez plus que vous ne demandez. Une canne k pomme d'ambre, et une paii'e de boucles, sont des recompenses tres modiques pour ce que vous faites, et j'y ajouterai bien quelque autre chose. La modestie est une tres bonne qualite, qui accompagne ordinairement le vrai m6rite. Eien ne gagne et ne previent plus les

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esprits que la modestie ; comme, au confcraire, rien ne cheque et ne rebute plus que la presomption et TefFronterie. Oa n'aime pas un homme qui veufc toujours se faire valoir, qui parle avantageusement de lui-meme^ et qui est toujours le heros de son propre roman. Au contraire, un homme qui cache, pour ainsi dire, son propre merite, qui releve celui des autres, et qui parle peu et modestement de lui-meme, gagne les esprits, et se fait estimer et aimer.

Mais il y a, aussi, bien de la diflference entre la modestie et la mauvaise honte; autant la modestie est louable, autant la mauvaise honte est ridicule. II ne faut non plus etre un nigaud, qu'un effronte; et il faut savoir se presenter, parlor aux genSj et leur repondre sans etre decontenance ou embarrasse. Les Anglois sont pour I'ordinaire nigauds, et n'ont pas ces manieres aisees et libres, mais en mSme terns polies, qu'ont les Fran9ois. Remarquez done les Frangois, et imitez les, dans leur maniere de se presenter, et d'aborder les gens. Un bourgeois ou un campagnard a honte qnand il se presente dans une compagnie ; il est embarrasse, ne sait que faire de ses mains, se demonte quand on lui parle, et ne r^pond qu'avec embarras, et presqu'en b^ga'iant ; au lieu qu'un honn^te homme, qui sait vivre, se presente avec assurance et de bonne grace, parle meme aux geus qu'il ne connoit pas, sans s'embarrasser et d'une maniere tout-&,-fait naturelle et aisee. Voila ce qui s'appelle avoir du monde et savoir vivre, qui est un article tres important dans le commerce du monde. II arrive souvent qu'un homme qui a beaucoup d'esprit et qui ne sait pas vivre, est moins bien regu qu'un homme qui a moins d'esprit, mais qui a du monde.

Get objet merite bien votre attention; pensez y done, et joignez la modestie el une assurance polie et aisee. Adieu !

Je regois dans le moment votre lettre du 27, qui est tres bieu ecrite.

III. Bath, November 1, 1739

Deae Bot,

Let us return to Oratory, or the art of speaking well; which should never be entirely out of your thoughts, since it is so useful in every part of life, and so absolutely necessary in most. A

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man can make no figure without it in Parliament, in the Church, or in the Law; and, even in common conversation, a man that has acquired an easy and habitual eloquence, who speaks properly and accurately, will have a great advantage over those who speak incorrectly and inelegantly.

The business of Oratory, as I have told you before, is to persuade people ; and you easily feel, that to please people is a great step towards persuading them. You must then, consequently, be sensible how advantageous it is for a man who speaks in public, whether it be in Parliament, in the Pulpit, or at the Bar (that is, in the Courts of Law), to please his hearers so much as to gain their attention, which, he can never do without the help of Oratory. It is not enough to speak the language he speaks in, in its utmost purity, and according to the rules of grammar ; but he must speak it elegantly ; that is, he must choose the best and most expressive words, and put them in the best order. He should likewise adorn what he says by proper metaphors, similes, and other figures of rhetoric; and he should enliven it, if he can, by quick and sprightly turns of wit. For example, suppose you had a mind to persuade Mr. Maittaire* to give you a holiday, would you bluntly say to him. Give me a holiday? That would certainly not be the way to persuade him to it. But you should endeavour first to please him and gain his attention, by telling him that your experience of his goodness and indulgence encouraged you to ask a favour of him ; that, if he should not think proper to grant it, at least you hoped he would not take it ill that you asked it. Then you should tell him what it was that you wanted ; that it was a holiday ; for which you should give your reasons ; as, that you had such or such a thing to do, or such a place to go to. Then you might urge some argu-

* Michael Maittaire, selected by Lord Chesterfield as Latin tutor to his son, was an excellent scholar and the author of several editions of Greek and Latin classics ; he was the son of French Protestants, who had left their native country on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and was educated at Westminster School, and Christ Church, Oxford. Lord Mahon quotes from M. Weiss in the Bihliograpliie UniverselU, " Maittaire dans plusieurs ciroonstances a lou^ les qualites de Louis XIV. et rendu justice a ses intentions aveo franchise et loyauti^." He was born in 1668, and died in 1747.

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ments why he should not refuse you ; as, that you have seldom asked that favour, and that you seldom will; and that the mind may sometimes require a little rest from labour as well as the body. This you may illustrate by a simile, and say, that as the bow is the stronger for being sometimes unstrung and unbent, so the mind will be capable of more attention for being now and then easy and relaxed.

This is a little oration, fit for such a little orator as you ; but, however, it will make you understand what is meant by oratory and eloquence, which is to persuade. I hope you will have that talent hereafter in greater matters.