fascination of no mean order.

"She had a greater

She loved

vivacity in conversation," says Lady Mary, "than ever I knew in a German of either sex. reading, and had a taste for all polite learning. Her humour was easy and sociable. Her constitution inclined her to gallantry. She was well-bred and amusing in company. She knew both how to please and be pleased, and had experience enough to know it was hard to do either without money. Her unlimited expenses had left her with very little remaining, and she made what haste she could to make advantage of the opinion the English had of her power with the King, by receiving the presents that were made her from all quarters; and which she knew very well must cease, when it was known that the King's idleness carried him to her lodgings, without either regard for her advice, or affection for her person, which time and very bad paint had left without any of the charms which had once attracted him." Notwithstanding the loss of youth and beauty, Madame Kilmansegge, on finding herself established in this country, appears to have devoted herself to a life of pleasure, with the same zeal which she had pursued it when in Hanover. A Mr. Methuen,—a Lord of the Treasury, and one of the most distinguished lady-killers of the time,-is said to have been particularly honoured by her regard. This person, it is affirmed, had been incited to pay his addresses to her by Lord Halifax, who hoped, by this means, to obtain the private ear of the King.

The arrival of the Duchess of Kendal in Eng

land was an effectual check to the short-lived influence of the Countess of Platen. The King, however, was not ungrateful for the service which she had rendered him, and on the death of her husband in 1721, created her Countess of Leinster, in Ireland, and on the 10th of April, 1722, Baroness of Brentford, and Countess of Darlington, in England.

As she increased in years, Lady Darlington entirely lost the comeliness of her youth ;-so much so, that Horace Walpole draws an almost disgusting portrait of the superannuated courtezan. "Lady Darlington," he says, "whom I saw at my mother's in my infancy, and whom I remember by being terrified by her enormous figure, was as corpulent and ample as the Duchess of Kendal was long and emaciated. Two fierce black eyes, large and rolling beneath two lofty arched eyebrows; two acres of cheeks spread with crimson; an ocean of neck that overflowed, and was not distinguished from the lower part of her body; and no part restrained by stays;-no wonder that a child dreaded such an ogress." Owing to her enormous bulk, Lady Darlington is said to have been commonly designated the "Elephant and Castle."

From the period of her elevation to the peerage, to her death in 1730, we discover no particulars respecting Lady Darlington. By George the First, she had one child, Charlotte, who became the wife of Viscount Howe, of Ireland, and the mother of the celebrated Admiral, Earl Howe.

334

PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE,

EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.

His birth. His early thirst for distinction.-Lord Galway's advice to him. His opinion of the University of Cambridge. -His habits of life there.-His own account of his pedantry. -Makes the tour of Europe.—Elected Member for St. Germains, and appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Prince.-Appointed Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard in 1723. Succeeds to the Earldom.-Sent Ambassador to Holland. His splendid style of living.-Extracts from the Suffolk Correspondence. Created a Knight of the Garter.— Takes an active part in the debates of the House of Lords.— Opposes the Excise Bill, and is dismissed from all his offices, -Marries the Duchess of Kendal's reputed niece.-Appointed Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. His successful administration there. -Appointed principal Secretary of State.— Resigns his Secretaryship,-Horace Walpole's high opinion of his eloquence. His wit and conversational powers.Pope's compliment to the Earl's wit.-The Earl's epigram on Sir Thomas Robinson.-His literary associates.-His patronage of literary men.-Specimen of his versification. His attachment to his natural son.-Addresses his celebrated letters to him. Character of the letters. Sarcastic epigram on them.-Character of the Earl's natural son. His death in 1768.-Publication of the letters in 1774.-The Earl in his old age. Characteristic anecdote of his last moments.-His death in 1773.

-

THIS nobleman, so celebrated for his conversational wit, and for the profligate homilies which he preached to his own son, was the first-born of Phi

lip, third Earl of Chesterfield, by Lady Elizabeth Saville, daughter and coheiress of George, Marquis of Halifax. He was born in London on the 22nd of September, 1694, and having passed through a course of instruction under private tutors, was entered, at the age of eighteen, a student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

A thirst for distinction, and an eager desire to elevate himself above the mere man of rank, appear to have influenced the conduct of Lord Chesterfield at a very early age. Many years afterwards he writes to his son, then in his twelfth year,- “When I was at your age, I should have been ashamed if any boy of the same age had learned his book better, or played at any play better than I did; and I should not have rested a moment till I had got before him." The following piece of advice, which Lord Galway gave him in his youth, is said to have made a particular impression on his mind. "If you intend to be a man of business, you must be an early riser: in the distinguished posts your parts, rank, and fortune will entitle you to fill, you will be liable to have visitors at every hour of the day, and unless you will rise constantly at an early hour, you will never have any leisure to yourself." This sensible admonition produced the desired effect, and even when, as sometimes happened, he had exhausted the greater part of the previous night in the pursuit of pleasure, he persisted, the next morning, in rising at his usual early hour. Several years afterwards, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, an ac

quaintance inquiring of him how he could possibly contrive to get through so much business,-" Because," he said, "I never put off till to-morrow what I can possibly do to-day."

In

Of the manner in which Lord Chesterfield passed his time at the University we have only some statements contained in his correspondence, and these are not a little contradictory. a letter, written a few months after his matriculation, he writes, "I find the college, where I am, infinitely the best in the University; for it is the smallest, and it is filled with lawyers who have lived in the world, and know how to behave. Whatever may be said to the contrary, there is certainly very little debauchery in this University, especially amongst people of fashion, for a man must have the inclinations of a porter to endure it here."

Notwithstanding, however, this laudable abhorrence of vulgar debauchery, it appears that the subsequent arbiter of taste and fashion grew to be himself tainted by its plebeian fascinations. Many years afterwards, he writes to his beloved son,-" As I make no difficulty of confessing my past errors, where I think the confession may be of use to you, I will own that when I first went to the University I drank and smoked, notwithstanding the aversion I had to wine and tobacco, only because I thought it genteel, and that it made me look like a man. When I went abroad, I first went to the Hague, where gaming was much in fashion, and where I observed that many