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Autograph Letter Signed ("Chesterfield") to "Dear Dayrolles" [his godson, the diplomat Solomon Dayrolles, the British Resident at Brussels], wryly describing his philosophy of life after his retirement from front-line politics.2 pages 4to, Blackheath, 25 Septembeer 1754.

After a successful period as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and a less successful one as Secretary of State for the Northern [i.e. foreign] Department, Chesterfield retired into private life in 1748, largely because of his poor health. In fact he had twenty-five years of life left, which he was able to fill productively. The present fine letter, written when he was sixty, describes his pastimes and gives graceful expression to his stoicism, with the reflection that "my Philosophy increases with my infirmitys." Lord Chestefield was described by Voltaire as "the only Englishman who ever argued for the art of pleasing as the first duty in life.""Could my letters be less dull, they should be more frequent; but what can a deaf vegetable write to amuse a live Man with? Deaf and dull, are nearer related, than deaf and dumb . . . In truth all the infirmitys of an age still more advanced than mine crowd in upon me. I must bear them as well as I can; they are more or less the lot of humanity; and I have no claim to an exclusive privilege against them. In this situation you will easily suppose that I have no very pleasant hours, but on the other hand, thank God, I have not one melancholy one; And I rather think that my Philosophy increases with my infirmitys. Pleasures I think of no more, let those run after them who can overtake them, but I will not hobble and halt after them in vain. My comfort, and amusements must be internal, and by good luck I am not afraid of looking inwards. Some reading, some writing, some trifling in my garden, and some contemplation, concurr in making me never less alone, than when alone. But this letter runs too much into the moral essay of a Solitaire.Changeons de These [Let us change the subject]. I shall go to London in November; upon the account of Lady Chesterfield [his wife, the natural daughter of George I], and even of my servants, who not having the resources that I have, would be very miserable here in the winter. The difference will be little to me, it would be great to them, which in my mind makes it a social duty . . ."Crease at lower left corner, and remnants of paper mounting strip at inner edge of recto. Faint glue traces on verso. Nevertheless a pleasing letter in clear fresh condition throughout.

CHESTERFIELD,, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of 1694-1773. Leter-Writer, Wit, and Politician Stock Code: AU5126