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ADVICE TO HIS SON,

ON

MEN AND MANNERS.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

SELECTIONS

FROM

COLTON'S "LACON"

OR,

MANY THINGS IN FEW WORDS.

LONDON: WILLIAM TEGG.

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LIFE OF LORD CHESTERFIELD.

The

PHILIP DORMer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, was born in London, in 1694, and was educated at Cambridge. Before he was of age, he sat in Parlia ment as member for Lostwithiel, and spoke with so much violence as to provoke from his antagonists a hint, that his minority might possibly be taken advantage of to move for his exclusion. In 1726, he succeeded to the Earldom of Chesterfield. accession of George II. opened to Stanhope the road to political honours. He was sworn a Privy Counsellor; was appointed in 1728 Ambassador Extraordinary to Holland; received the Garter in 1730; and was nominated Steward of the Household. The latter office he resigned in 1733; and for many years he continued in strenuous opposition to the measures of Sir Robert Walpole. Among the antiministerial Peers he stood conspicuous for activity and eloquence. At the same time his pen was frequently employed with powerful effect, in the "Craftsman" and other papers. It was not till January, 1745, that the Government once more availed itself of his talents. In that month he was sent to Holland, as Ambassador Extraordinary; and on his

He

return, in May, he went over to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The viceregal power he held rather less than twelve months, but the equity and beneficence of his sway are still remembered with gratitude. In October, 1746, he was nominated Secretary of State; and this office he held till the beginning of 1748, when the state of his health induced him to resign it. In the Senate he continued to speak till increasing deafness incapacitated him for oratorical exertions. But his pen did not remain idle. contributed largely to "The World; " among his contributions were the two papers which drew forth the celebrated letter addressed to him by Dr. Johnson. He died March 24th, 1773. Chesterfield was a man of highly polished manners, extensive acquirements, and versatile talents. He held no mean place among diplomatists, statesmen, wits, writers, and orators; in the latter capacity he has been called the British Cicero. His works consist of his "Letters to his Son," and "Miscellaneous Pieces."

LORD CHESTERFIELD'S

ADVICE TO HIS SON.

ABSENCE OF MIND.

AN absent man is generally either a very weak, or a very affected, man; he is, however, a very disagreeable man in company. He is defective in all the common offices of civility. He does not enter into the general conversation, but breaks into it from time to time, with some start of his own, as if he waked from a dream. He seems wrapped up in thought, and possibly does not think at all; he does not know his most intimate acquaintance by sight, or answers them as if he were at cross purposes. He leaves his hat in one room, his cane in another; and would probably leave his shoes in a third, if his buckles, though awry, did not save them. This is a sure indication, either of a mind so weak that it cannot bear above one object at a time, or so affected that it would be supposed to be wholly engrossed by some very great and important object. Sir Isaac Newton, Mr. Locke, and, perhaps, five or six more since the creation, may have had a right

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