V.—­Letters from the Dead

Several of my family fell victims to the Revolution.  I learned in July, 1783, that my mother, after having been thrown, at the age of seventy-two, into a dungeon, where she witnessed the death of some of her children, expired at length on a pallet, to which her misfortunes had consigned her.  The thoughts of my errors greatly embittered her last days, and on her death-bed she charged one of my sisters to reclaim me to the religion in which I had been educated.  My sister Julie communicated my mother’s last wish to me.  When this letter reached me in my exile, my sister herself was no more; she, too, had sunk beneath the effects of her imprisonment.  These two voices, coming as it were from the grave—­the dead interpreting the dead—­had a powerful effect on me.  I became a Christian.  I did not, indeed, yield to any great supernatural light; my conviction came from my heart; I wept, I believed.

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THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD

Letters to His Son

A capable statesman, an accomplished diplomatist, and the courtliest and best-bred man of his century, Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, born on September 22, 1694, and dead March 24, 1773, would have been almost forgotten at the present day but for the preservation of his letters to his natural son, Philip Stanhope.  It was the ambition of Lord Chesterfield’s life that this young man should be a paragon of learning and manners.  In a voluminous series of letters, more than 400 of which are preserved, his father minutely directed his classical and political studies, and, above all, instructed him with endless insistence as to his bearing in society, impressed upon him the importance of good breeding, the “graces,” and the general deportment required of a person of quality.  The letters are a classic of courtliness and worldly wisdom.  They were prepared for the press by Philip Stanhope’s widow, and were published in 1774, under the title of “Letters Written by the Earl of Chesterfield, together with Several other Pieces on Various Subjects.”  Since then many editions have appeared, bearing such titles as “The Fine Gentleman,” “The Elements of Polite Education,” etc.

I.—­On Manners and Address

London, December 29, 1747.  I have received two letters from you of the 17th and 22nd, by the last of which I find that some of mine to you must have miscarried; for I have never been above two posts without writing to you or to Mr. Harte, and even very long letters.  I have also received a letter from Mr. Harte, which gives me great satisfaction; it is full of your praises.

Your German will go on, of course; and I take it for granted that your stay at Leipsig will make you a perfect master of that language, both as to speaking and writing; for remember, that knowing any language imperfectly is very little better than not knowing it at all, people being as unwilling to speak in a language which they do not possess thoroughly as others are to hear them.