AS an essayist, Chesterfield belongs to the same class with Amiel. Whether or not he expected his “Letters to His Son” to be published, they illustrate the best style of essay writing—that which cultivates the short sentences of Saxon English and condenses thought to the utmost. Bacon is the greatest English master of condensation, but Chesterfield seems to have studied the art under the French writers of pensées and maxims—especially under Rochefoucauld whom he greatly admired. It is said that his manners were “exquisite,” and in oratory the polish of his eloquence is as remarkable as that of his manners. From time to time his “intolerable selfishness” appears in some repulsive sentence, but as a rule he cultivates decency even when he is expressing his worst depravity. He was born in London in 1694, and at the University of Cambridge, where he was educated, he was an industrious student of Greek and Roman literature. His taste for oratory and politics was developed very early. He entered the House of Commons in 1715, while still under age, and on the death of his father in 1726 took his seat in the House of Lords. His speech in the House of Lords against Walpole’s excise bill was one of the most notable ever made on the subject of morals in taxation, and whatever may be said of Chesterfield’s licentiousness as a man of fashion, this speech still remains well above the ethical level of our own civilization. In his old age he grew blind and deaf, so that when he died March 24th, 1773, he had nothing left to live for except the tradition of his good breeding. His last words were “Give Dayrolles a chair.”