Page:Letters, sentences and maxims.djvu/39

 worthy Doctor, "and it should be put into the hands of every young gentleman."

The training to which he subjected his son was in many ways admirable. Rise regularly, however late o' nights; work all the morning; take exercise in the afternoon; and see good company in the evening. The impressing of this advice upon his son has left us in the possession of one of the most charming examples of Lord Chesterfield's most playful style.—(Letter CLXI.)

Lord Chesterfield was all for modern to the disadvantage of a classical education. Learn all the modern history and modern languages you can, and if at the same time you can throw in a little Latin and Greek, so much the better for you. Roman history study as much as you will, for of all ancient histories it is the most instructive, and furnishes most examples of virtue, wisdom, and courage. History is to be studied morally, he says, but not only so.

When we turn to his judgment of the ancients we are considerably startled. He seems to have preferred Voltaire's Henriade to any epic. "Judge whether," he writes, "I can read all Homer through tout de suite. I admire his beauties; but, to tell you the truth, when he slumbers I sleep. Virgil, I confess, is all sense, and therefore I like him better than