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CONTAINING

EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS BOOKS,

RECOMMENDED BY

LORD CHESTERFIELD

TO

MR. STANHOPE.*

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

THE POLITE PHILOSOPHER;

Or, An Essay on the Art which makes a Man happy in himself, and agreeable to others:

DR. BLAIR'S ADVICE TO YOUTH,

DR. FORDYCE ON HONOUR AS A PRINCIPLE;

LORD BURGHLEY'S TEN PRECEPTS TO
HIS SON;

DR. FRANKLIN'S WAY TO WEALTH;

AND

POPE'S UNIVERSAL PRAYER.

* See Page 118.

ADVICE

OF

A MOTHER TO HER SON:

BY THE

MARCHIONESS DE LAMBERT.

A Tract particularly recommended to his Son by Lord Chesterfield.

WHATEVER care is used in the education of children, it is still too little to answer the end; to inake it succeed, there must be excellent governors; but where shall we find them, when princes find it dif ficult to get and keep them for themselves? Where can we meet with men so much superior to others, as to deserve to be intrusted with their conduct? Yet the first years of a man's life are precious, since they lay, the foundation of the merit of the

rest.

:

There are but two seasons of life in which truth distinguishes itself for our advantage in youth, for our instruction; and in our advanced years, to comfort us. In the age that passions reign, truth generally quits us for the time.

Two celebrated men,* out of their friendship to me, have had the care of your education; but as

*P. Boubours and P. Cheminais.

they were obliged to follow the method of studies settled in colleges, they applied themselves more in your early youth to improve your mind with learning, than to make you know the world, or instruct you in the decorum of life.

I am going, my son, to give you some precepts for the conduct of yours; read them without thinking it a trouble. They are not dry lectures, that carry the air of a mother's authority: they are rather the advice of a friend, and have this merit, that they come from my heart.

At your entering the world, you must certainly propose to yourself some end or other you have too much sense to care to live without any design at all; nor can you aspire to any thing more becom ing and worthy of you than glory. It is a noble view for you to entertain; but it is fit for you to know what is meant by the term, and what notion you frame of it.

It is of various kinds, and each profession has a glory that is peculiar to it. In yours, my son, it means the glory that attends valour. This is the glory of heroes; it makes a brighter figure than any other; it always carries with it the true marks of honour and the recompenses deserves: Fame seems to have no tongue but to sound their praise; and when you arrive at a certain degree of reputa. tion, every thing you do is considerable. All the world has agreed to give the pre-eminence to military virtues; it is no more than their due. They cast dear enough; but there are several ways of discharging their obligation.

Some engage in the profession of arms, merely to avoid the shame of degenerating from their ancestors; others follow it not only out of duty, but

inclination. The first scarce ever raise themselves above their rank in the world; it is a debt they pay, and they go no farther. The others, flushed with hopes, and carried on by ambition, march a giant's pace in the road of glory. Some purpose only to make their fortune; others have their advancement and immortality itself in view. Such as stint themselves to the making a fortune, never have a very extensive merit. A man that does not aim at raising to himself a great name, will never perform any great actions. And such as go carelessly on in the road of their professions suffer all the fatigues, without acquiring either the honour or recompense that naturally attend it.

If people understood their own interest rightly, they would not lay a stress upon raising a fortune, but would, in all professions, have their glory and reputation in view. When you attain to a certain degree of merit, (and it is generally known,) the great glory and reputation you have acquired never fail to make your fortune. A man cannot have too much ardour to distinguish himself, nor can his desires of advancement be encouraged by hopes that are too flattering.

There must be great views to give a great vigour to the soul; it is not easy otherwise to make it exert itself. Let your love of glory be ever so eager and active, you may still fall short of your aim; yet, though you should advance but half way, it is always glorious to have dared.

There is nothing so improper for a young man, as that modesty which makes him fancy he is not capable of great things. This modesty is a faintness of soul, which binders it from exerting itself, and running with a swift career towards glory. Agesi

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