Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (22 September 169424 March 1773) was a British politician, diplomat and writer.

Early life

thumb|upright|1745 bust of Chesterfield by [[Roubiliac]]

He was born in London to Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield, and Lady Elizabeth Savile, and known by the courtesy title of Lord Stanhope until the death of his father in 1726. Following the death of his mother in 1708, Stanhope was raised mainly by his grandmother, the Marchioness of Halifax. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he left just over a year into his studies, after focusing on languages and oration. He subsequently embarked on the Grand Tour, to complete his education as a nobleman, by exposure to the cultural legacies of Classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to become acquainted with his aristocratic counterparts and the polite society of Continental Europe.

In the course of his tour, the death of Queen Anne and accession of King George I in 1714 opened a political career for Stanhope, and he quickly returned to England. A supporter of the Whig party, he entered government service as a courtier to the King, through the mentorship of his relative, James Stanhope (later 1st Earl Stanhope), the King's favourite minister, who procured his appointment as Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales.

A number of pamphlets, with which Chesterfield had the help of Edmund Waller, followed. His energetic campaign against the King and his government won the gratitude of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, who left him £20,000 as a mark of her appreciation. In 1744, the King was compelled to abandon Lord Carteret, the successor to Walpole, and the coalition for a "Broad Bottom" party, led by Chesterfield and Pitt, came into office in coalition with the Pelhams.

In the troubled state of European politics, the Earl's calm conduct and diplomatic experience were more useful abroad than at home, and he was sent to The Hague for a second time as ambassador. The object of his mission this time was to persuade the Dutch to join in the War of the Austrian Succession and to arrange the details of their assistance. Success was quickly achieved, and on his return a few weeks afterwards, he received the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland, which he had long coveted. He worked with, and pacified, both the Protestant Orange Order and Roman Catholic Jacobite factions; as a result, Irish Jacobites did not assist the Jacobite rising of 1745. Anecdotally, upon being roused for a false alarm of an Irish rebellion and being told that "the papists in Ireland are all up!", he replied: "I am not surprised at it, why, it is ten o'clock, I should have been up too, had I not overslept myself".

In 1746, however, he had to exchange the Lord-Lieutenancy for the post of Secretary of State. Chesterfield had hoped to retain a hold over the King through the influence of Lady Yarmouth, by then George II's mistress, but John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich and Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, combined forces against him, and in 1748, he resigned the ministerial seal and returned to his books and playing cards with the admirable composure that was one of his most striking characteristics.

In the 1760s, Chesterfield offered a cogent critique of the Stamp Act 1765 passed through Parliament by George Grenville's ministry. In a letter to his friend, the Duke of Newcastle, Chesterfield noted the absurdity of the Stamp Act because it could not be properly enforced, but if made effective, the Act would anyway generate a revenue no greater than £8,000 per year, but the annual cost of reduced trade from the American colonies would be about £1,000,000.

Letters to His Son

thumb|upright|Portrait of Chesterfield by [[William Hoare]]

Eugenia Stanhope, the impoverished widow of Chesterfield's illegitimate son, Philip Stanhope, was the first to publish the book Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774), which comprises a thirty-year correspondence in more than 400 letters. Begun in 1737 and continued until the death of his son in 1768, Chesterfield wrote mostly instructive communications about geography, history, and classical literature, with later letters focusing on politics and diplomacy. The letters were written in French, English and Latin to refine his son's grasp of the languages.

As a handbook for social conduct in the 18th century, Letters to His Son offers advice on etiquette and good manners:

<blockquote>... However frivolous a company may be, still, while you are among them, do not show them, by your inattention, that you think them so; but rather take their tone, and conform in some degree to their weakness, instead of manifesting your contempt for them. There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt; and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult. If, therefore, you would rather please than offend, rather be well than ill spoken of, rather be loved than hated; remember to have that constant attention about you which flatters every man's little vanity; and the want of which, by mortifying his pride, never fails to excite his resentment, or at least his ill will....</blockquote>

Samuel Johnson said of the letters that "they teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing-master" as a means for getting on in the world, implying that Chesterfield promoted good manners as a method of advancement rather than because of their inherent moral value.

Despite having been an accomplished essayist and epigrammatist in his time, Lord Chesterfield's literary reputation today derives almost entirely from Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman (1774) and Letters to His Godson (1890), books of private correspondence and paternal and avuncular advice that he never intended for publication.

Legacy

In literature

Decades after his death, Lord Chesterfield appears as a character in William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Virginians (1857). He is also mentioned in Charles Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge (1841), wherein the foppish Sir John Chester says that Lord Chesterfield is the finest English writer:

:Shakespeare was undoubtedly very fine in his way; Milton good, though prosy; Lord Bacon deep, and decidedly knowing; but the writer who should be his country's pride, is my Lord Chesterfield.

Places

In the UK, Chesterfield gave his name to Chesterfield Street, Mayfair, London, which runs from Curzon Street, site of the former Chesterfield House; in the US, his name has been given to Chesterfield County, Virginia, Chesterfield County, South Carolina and Chesterfield, New Hampshire. There is also a Chesterfield Road in the West Oakland neighbourhood of Pittsburgh filled with rowhouses, formerly known for its punk subculture.

Furniture

The first leather Chesterfield sofa, with its distinctive deep-buttoned, quilted leather upholstery and lower seat base, is believed to have been commissioned by Lord Chesterfield. Consequently, in the UK, the word chesterfield now describes such a sofa, with arms and back of the same height. In Canada, chesterfield used to be the predominant term for any type of couch, but has been decreasing in popularity among the younger generations.

Other

Vincent La Chapelle, a French master cook, wrote The Modern Cook while in the employ of Lord Chesterfield, and lived abroad with him in The Hague. After leaving Chesterfield's service, La Chapelle went on to cook for – among others – William IV, Prince of Orange, John V of Portugal, and Madame de Pompadour (mistress of Louis XV).

Chesterfield coats, popularized by the 6th Earl, are woollen overcoats with velvet on the collar for both men and women.

D. G. Yuengling & Son of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, produces a beer named Lord Chesterfield Ale after the 4th Earl of Chesterfield.

References

Further reading

  • Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
  • Letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, edited by Lord Mahon:Volume 2, 3. 4 (in duplicate); London; Richard Bentley 1847
  • Scans of Stanhope's Letters to his son, 1774–1775 edition, Vol. 1, Vol. 2
  • Guide to the Chesterfield Manuscripts at the Lilly Library, Indiana University
  • Chesterfield sofa, the true story of the Count of Chester.
  • Letters to his Son from Project Gutenberg via Penn State University
  • Guide to the Diplomatic Papers of Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, 1720–1748, The Bancroft Library