Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/42

 doubtless with some spiteful exaggeration; 'he had a person as disagreeable as it was possible for a human being to be without being deformed, and a broad rough-featured ugly face with black teeth and a head big enough for a Polyphemus.'

Portraits of Chesterfield are numerous. The most interesting from an artistic point of view is that by Gainsborough, which was painted in 1769, and was presented by Chesterfield to the second Earl Stanhope, whose descendant's property it remains at Chevening. It represents him wearing the star and ribbon of the Garter. The expression is cynical. It has often been engraved by Edward Bell, by Chambers, and by W. Greatbach, and others. A second painting, in the robes of a K.G., by William Hoare, R.A., now in the National Portrait Gallery, London, has also been frequently engraved by Andrew Miller in 1746, by R. Houston, J. K. Sherwin, J. Brooks, and others. A third by Allan Ramsay, also in the National Portrait Gallery, was engraved by J. K. Sherwin in 1777. A fourth painting, by T. Uwins, was engraved by H. R. Cooke. A fifth portrait, by Thomas Hudson, belongs to the Duke of Fife. Bartolozzi executed an engraving ad viirum. There is a caricature by Ryall in which Diogenes shows Chesterfield 'as an honest man.' A pencil sketch by T. Worlidge of Chesterfield seated at a table with his friend, Richard Lumley, third earl of Scarborough, is reproduced in Chesterfield's 'Letters to his Godson' (1890, ed. Carnarvon). A bust by Joseph Wilton [q.v.], bequeathed by Sir Thomas Robinson [q. v.], stands in the entrance-hall of the British Museum.

In his lifetime Chesterfield authorised the publication of only the few political tracts and the contributions to the periodical press, chiefly in 'Common Sense,' 1737-9, and the 'World,' 1753-6, which have been already mentioned. But unauthorised collections of his witticisms in prose and verse were made before his death in 'The New Foundling Hospital for Wit,' London, 1768-71, 6 pts. (3rd edit. 1771), and in 'The Humours of the Times,' 1771. Most of these reappeared in 'Lord Chesterfield's Witticisms' (with unauthentic 'memoirs of his lordship'), 12mo, London, 1773; and in 'Wit à-la-mode, or, Lord Chesterfield's Witticisms,' 12mo, London, 1778.

Chesterfield's 'Letters' to his natural son were prepared for publication by the son's widow within a year of Chesterfield's death. She sold them to Dodsley for 1,500l. The earl's surviving representatives vainly endeavoured to stop the publication by applying for an injunction. The title ran: 'Letters written by the Earl of Chesterfield to his Son, Philip Stanhope, together with several other pieces on various subjects, published by Mrs. Eugenia Stanhope,' 2 vols. 4to, London, 1774. The work attained immediate popularity. A fifth edition in four volumes (8vo) appeared within a year. An independent Dublin reprint of 1776 embodied some important additions. Dodsley issued a 'Supplement' in 1787, and the original version reached its eleventh edition in 1800. A French translation in five volumes (12mo) was issued at Paris in 1775, and a German translation by J. G. Gellius in six volumes (8vo) at Leipzig, 1774-6. An American reprint in two 16mo volumes appeared at Newbury-Port, Boston, in 1779.

Severe criticisms of Chesterfield's worldliness, of his relations with Johnson or of his opinions on the sexual relations, were issued by William Crawford and Thomas Hunter (both in 1776); by Antoine Leonard Thomas, in defence of Fénelon, in both French and English, London, 1777; and by Ann Berkeley in conjunction with Sir Adam Gordon, 2 vols. 1791. More sportive attacks figured in 'A Dialogue [in verse] between the Earl of C——d and Mr. Garrick in the Elysian Shades,' 4to, London, 1785 (in praise of Dr. Johnson and condemnatory of Chesterfield); and in 'Chesterfield Travestie, or the School for Modern Manners,' 16mo, London, 1808 (3rd edit. 12mo, London, 1811).

A collection of other portions of Chesterfield's correspondence, with authentic memoirs, some of his speeches, and contributions to the press, was prepared for publication by Maty, but his death intervened, and Maty's son-in-law, J. O. Justamond, finally issued in 2 vols. in 1777 Chesterfield's 'Miscellaneous Works, consisting of Letters to his Friends, never before printed, and various other articles. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life,' 2 vols. 4to, London, 1777; another edit. 3 vols. 8vo, Dublin, 1777. In the same year there also appeared 'Letters from Lord Chesterfield to Alderman G. Faulkner [of Dublin], Dr. Madden, Mr. Sexton, &c. Being a supplement to his Lordship's Letters,' 4to, London, 1777; and 'Characters of Eminent Personages of his own time [George I, Queen Caroline, Sir Robert Walpole. Mr. Pulteney, Lord Hardwicke, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Pitt], written by the late Earl of Chesterfield, and never before published,' 8vo, London, 1777; 2nd edit, same year. The Faulkner letters with he 'characters. . . contrasted with characters of the same great personages by other respectable writers' reappeared together in a