切斯特菲尔德.doc

Lord Chesterfield’s Letter to His Son Born on 22 September 1694, Philip Dormer Stanhope, namely, Lord Chesterfield, is the son of Philip Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Chesterfield and Lady Elizabeth Savile. He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, till the age of nineteen, in 1715 he became M.P. for St. Germans. In 1715 he became Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales and continued in this position when the Prince became King George II. In 1722 he became M.P. for Lostwithiel until, in 1723, he lost his seat on accepting office. In 1733 he married Melusina de Schulenberg, Countess of Walsingham, the illegitimate daughter of King George I. He was about thirty-nine and she forty and no children were born from this union. Other than the status of a rich and distinguished politician, Lord Chesterfield also is a well-known wrier himself. He writes tracts and contributes to various papers. In addition, he was famed for his kindness toward starters in literature. However, what makes him really well-known is for his dispute with Samuel Johnson over the dedication to the English Dictionary. In his famous letter, Samuel Johnson bitterly rejected Chesterfield’s recommendation of his dictionary and asserted his independence from patronage. Apart from his connection with Johnson’s dictionary, Lord Chesterfield is remembered today mainly for his letters to his natural son Philip Stanhope. In the letter to his son, who is “coming into the world”, Chesterfield discusses friendship and company. Firstly, he describes two types of friendship in the world: the friendship of “fools” and the “confederacy” of “knaves”. He wants to raise his son’s awareness of this disparate friendship, thus learn to cope with it. Instead of declaring enemy to the knaves and fools, he suggests his son to choose“secure neutrality, than alliance, or war with either of them”. He expects his son to be outwardly polite and cordial but inwardly reserved and disbelieving. Secondly, he gives some advice on the c