Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1750

of Chesterfield Philip Dormer Stanhope Earl

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. DEAR BOY: I have seldom or never written to you upon the subject of religion and morality; your own reason, I am persuaded, has given you true notions of both; they speak best for themselves; but if they wanted assistance, you have Mr. Harte at hand, both for precept and example; to your own reason, therefore, and to Mr. Harte, shall I refer you for the reality of both, and confine myself in this letter to the decency, the utility, and the necessity of scrupulously preserving the appearances of both. When I say the appearances of religion, I do not mean that you should talk or act like a missionary or an enthusiast, nor that you should take up a controversial cudgel against whoever attacks the sect you are of; this would be both useless and unbecoming your age; but I mean that you should by no means seem to approve, encourage, or applaud, those libertine notions, which strike at religions equally, and which are the poor threadbare topics of halfwits and minute philosophers. Even those who are silly enough to laugh at their jokes, are still wise enough to distrust and detest their characters; for putting moral virtues at the highest, and religion at the lowest, religion must still be allowed to be a collateral security, at least, to virtue, and every prudent man will sooner trust to two securities than to one

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• Publié par: Pub One Info
• Date de parution: 06 novembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9782819947783
• Langue: English

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LETTER C
LONDON, January 8, O. S. 1750
DEAR BOY: I have seldom or never written to you uponthe subject of religion and morality; your own reason, I ampersuaded, has given you true notions of both; they speak best forthemselves; but if they wanted assistance, you have Mr. Harte athand, both for precept and example; to your own reason, therefore,and to Mr. Harte, shall I refer you for the reality of both, andconfine myself in this letter to the decency, the utility, and thenecessity of scrupulously preserving the appearances of both. WhenI say the appearances of religion, I do not mean that you shouldtalk or act like a missionary or an enthusiast, nor that you shouldtake up a controversial cudgel against whoever attacks the sect youare of; this would be both useless and unbecoming your age; but Imean that you should by no means seem to approve, encourage, orapplaud, those libertine notions, which strike at religionsequally, and which are the poor threadbare topics of halfwits andminute philosophers. Even those who are silly enough to laugh attheir jokes, are still wise enough to distrust and detest theircharacters; for putting moral virtues at the highest, and religionat the lowest, religion must still be allowed to be a collateralsecurity, at least, to virtue, and every prudent man will soonertrust to two securities than to one. Whenever, therefore, youhappen to be in company with those pretended 'Esprits forts', orwith thoughtless libertines, who laugh at all religion to showtheir wit, or disclaim it, to complete their riot, let no word orlook of yours intimate the least approbation; on the contrary, leta silent gravity express your dislike: but enter not into thesubject and decline such unprofitable and indecent controversies.Depend upon this truth, that every man is the worse looked upon,and the less trusted for being thought to have no religion; inspite of all the pompous and specious epithets he may assume, of'Esprit fort', freethinker, or moral philosopher; and a wiseatheist (if such a thing there is) would, for his own interest andcharacter in this world, pretend to some religion.
Your moral character must be not only pure, but,like Caesar's wife, unsuspected. The least speck or blemish upon itis fatal. Nothing degrades and vilifies more, for it excites andunites detestation and contempt. There are, however, wretches inthe world profligate enough to explode all notions of moral goodand evil; to maintain that they are merely local, and dependentirely upon the customs and fashions of different countries; nay,there are still, if possible, more unaccountable wretches; I meanthose who affect to preach and propagate such absurd and infamousnotions without believing them themselves. These are the devil'shypocrites. Avoid, as much as possible, the company of such people;who reflect a degree of discredit and infamy upon all who conversewith them. But as you may, sometimes, by accident, fall into suchcompany, take great care that no complaisance, no good-humor, nowarmth of festal mirth, ever make you seem even to acquiesce, muchless to approve or applaud, such infamous doctrines. On the otherhand, do not debate nor enter into serious argument upon a subjectso much below it: but content yourself with telling these APOSTLESthat you know they are not, serious; that you have a much betteropinion of them than they would have you have; and that, you arevery sure, they would not practice the doctrine they preach. Butput your private mark upon them, and shun them foreverafterward.
There is nothing so delicate as your moralcharacter, and nothing which it is your interest so much topreserve pure. Should you be suspected of injustice, malignity,perfidy, lying, etc. , all the parts and knowledge in the worldwill never procure you esteem, friendship, or respect. A strangeconcurrence of circumstances has sometimes raised very bad men tohigh stations, but they have been raised like criminals to apillory, where their persons and their crimes, by being moreconspicuous, are only the more known, the more detested, and themore pelted and insulted. If, in any case whatsoever, affectationand ostentation are pardonable, it is in the case of morality;though even there, I would not advise you to a pharisaical pomp ofvirtue. But I will recommend to you a most scrupulous tendernessfor your moral character, and the utmost care not to say or do theleast thing that may ever so slightly taint it. Show yourself, uponall occasions, the advocate, the friend, but not the bully ofvirtue. Colonel Chartres, whom you have certainly heard of (whowas, I believe, the most notorious blasted rascal in the world, andwho had, by all sorts of crimes, amassed immense wealth), was sosensible of the disadvantage of a bad character, that I heard himonce say, in his impudent, profligate manner, that though he wouldnot give one farthing for virtue, he would give ten thousand poundsfor a character; because he should get a hundred thousand pounds byit; whereas, he was so blasted, that he had no longer anopportunity of cheating people. Is it possible, then, that anhonest man can neglect what a wise rogue would purchase sodear?
There is one of the vices above mentioned, intowhich people of good education, and, in the main, of goodprinciples, sometimes fall, from mistaken notions of skill,dexterity, and self-defense, I mean lying; though it is inseparablyattended with more infamy and loss than any other. The prudence andnecessity of often concealing the truth, insensibly seduces peopleto violate it. It is the only art of mean capacities, and the onlyrefuge of mean spirits. Whereas, concealing the truth, upon properoccasions, is as prudent and as innocent, as telling a lie, uponany occasion, is infamous and foolish. I will state you a case inyour own department. Suppose you are employed at a foreign court,and that the minister of that court is absurd or impertinent enoughto ask you what your instructions are? will you tell him a lie,which as soon as found out (and found out it certainly will be)must destroy your credit, blast your character, and render youuseless there? No. Will you tell him the truth then, and betrayyour trust? As certainly, No. But you will answer with firmness,That you are surprised at such a question, that you are persuadedhe does not expect an answer to it; but that, at all events, hecertainly will not have one. Such an answer will give himconfidence in you; he will conceive an opinion of your veracity, ofwhich opinion you may afterward make very honest and fairadvantages. But if, in negotiations, you are looked upon as a liarand a trickster, no confidence will be placed in you, nothing willbe communicated to you, and you will be in the situation of a manwho has been burned in the cheek; and who, from that mark, cannotafterward get an honest livelihood if he would, but must continue athief.
Lord Bacon, very justly, makes a distinction betweensimulation and dissimulation; and allows the latter rather than theformer; but still observes, that they are the weaker sort ofpoliticians who have recourse to either. A man who has strength ofmind and strength of parts, wants neither of them. Certainly (sayshe) the ablest men that ever were, have all had an openness andfrankness of dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity; butthen, they were like horses well managed; for they could tell,passing well, when to stop or turn; and at such times, when theythought the case indeed required some dissimulation, if then theyused it, it came to pass that the former opinion spread abroad oftheir good faith and clearness of dealing, made them almostinvisible.
There are people who indulge themselves in a sort oflying, which they reckon innocent, and which in one sense is so;for it hurts nobody but themselves. This sort of lying is thespurious offspring of vanity, begotten upon folly: these peopledeal in the marvelous; they have seen some things that neverexisted; they have seen other things which they never really saw,though they did exist, only because they were thought worth seeing.Has anything remarkable been said or done in any place, or in anycompany? they immediately present and declare themselves eye or earwitnesses of it. They have done feats themselves, unattempted, orat least unperformed by others. They are always the heroes of theirown fables; and think that they gain consideration, or at leastpresent attention, by it. Whereas, in truth, all that they get isridicule and contempt, not without a good degree of distrust; forone must naturally conclude, that he who will tell any lie fromidle vanity, will not scruple telling a greater for interest. Had Ireally seen anything so very extraordinary as to be almostincredible I would keep it to myself, rather than by telling itgive anybody room to doubt, for one minute, of my veracity. It ismost certain, that the reputation of chastity is not so necessaryfor a women, as that of veracity is for a man; and with reason; forit is possible for a woman to be virtuous, though not strictlychaste, but it is not possible for a man to be virtuous withoutstrict veracity. The slips of the poor women are sometimes merebodily frailties; but a lie in a man is a vice of the mind and ofthe heart. For God's sake be scrupulously jealous of the purity ofyour moral character; keep it immaculate, unblemished, unsullied;and it will be unsuspected. Defamation and calumny never attack,where there is no weak place; they magnify, but they do notcreate.
There is a very great difference between the purityof character, which I so earnestly recommend to you, and thestoical gravity and austerity of character, which I do by no meansrecommend to you. At your age, I would no more wish you to be aCato than a Clodius. Be, and be reckoned, a man of pleasure as wellas a man of business. Enjoy this happy and giddy time of your life;shine in the pleasures, and in the company of people of your ownage. This is all to be done, and indeed only can b