Letters Written by the Late Right Honourable Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, to His Son;: With Some Account of His Life. In Three Volumes..J. Walker; J. Johnson; J. Richardson; ... [and 18 others], 1810 |
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance acquired Adieu adorn attention awkward believe best companies bien body bonne called character consequently conversation court DEAR BOY DEAR FRIEND degree Demosthenes deserve desire dress elegancy endeavour engaging fashion favour fortune France French frequent German give good-breeding graces Harte hath hear heart homme honour hope House of Savoy Italian Italian language John Lambert justly king knowledge Lady language learning least letter London Lord Lord Albemarle Lord Bolingbroke Lord Stormont Madame manners matter means merit mind mohairs monde Monsieur Naples necessary never object observation Paris particular passion pleasing pleasures politeness pray prince qu'il racter reason received recommend respect rience Rome sense shine Sir James Gray soon speak Stanhope suppose sure taste tell thing tion Titian trifling true truth Turin Venice Verona wish women word write young fellow
Popular passages
Page 6 - Dress yourself fine where others are fine, and plain where others are plain ; but take care always, that your clothes are well made, and fit you, for otherwise they will give you a very awkward air. When you are once well dressed for the day, think no more of it afterwards ; and, without any stiffness for fear of discomposing that dress, let all your motions be as easy and natural as if you had no clothes on at all.
Page 163 - First, used to say, take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
Page 98 - Good manners are, to particular societies, what good morals are to society in general ; their cement, and their security. And, as laws are enacted to enforce good morals, or at least to prevent the ill effects of...
Page 162 - Rome engrosses every moment of your time ; and if it engrosses it in the manner I could wish, I willingly give up my share of it. I would rather prodesse quam conspici.
Page 272 - There is a man whose moral character, deep learning, and superior parts, I acknowledge, admire, and respect ; but whom it is so impossible for me to love, that I am almost in a fever whenever I am in his company. His figure (without being deformed) seems made to disgrace or ridicule the common structure of the human body. His legs and arms are never in the position which, according...
Page 58 - ... asks a just and reasonable price. Abject flattery and indiscriminate assentation degrade, as much as indiscriminate contradiction and noisy debate disgust. But a modest assertion of one's own opinion, and a complaisant acquiescence in other people's, preserve dignity. Vulgar, low expressions, awkward motions and address, vilify; as they imply, either a very low turn of mind, or low education and low company.
Page 209 - The third is that those things which honour forbids are more rigorously forbidden, when the laws do not concur in the prohibition; and those it commands are more strongly insisted upon, when they happen not...
Page 272 - ... structure of the human body : his legs and arms are never in the position which, according to the situation of his body, they ought to be in, but constantly employed in committing acts of hostility upon the Graces.
Page 197 - ... are so generally the fashion. Next to their being fine, they should be well made, and worn easily ; for a man is only the less genteel for a fine coat, if in wearing it he shows a regard for it, and is not as easy in it as if it were a plain one.
Page 100 - ... others, who in their turns will offer them to you ; so that upon the whole you will in your turn enjoy your share of the common right. It would be endless for me to enumerate all the particular instances in which a wellbred man shows his...