CURRENT LITERATURE.
Lord Chesterfield's Wor/d/ad Wisdom. Selections from his Letters and Characters. Arranged and edited by George Birkbeek Hill, D.C.L. (Clarendon Press.)—Dr. Hill has given an accurate title to his little volume. Lord Chesterfield had no wisdom which was not worldly, and his wise sayings have, we think, been greatly over- rated. His chief aim in life was to be " genteel " and "well-bred." In his youth, he drank and smoked in order "to look like a man," and. he boasted that he gained his " final polish" among the titled courtesans of Paris. To attain what he called thu graces, no meanness was too groat and no falsehood too glaring ; not to be, but to appear to be, was, in Chesterfield's judgment, the chief end of man, and having reached this end himself, he enforced it upon his eon, Like all men of a low moral typo, he had a contempt for women, and this wise Mentor told his pupil that a man of sense will only trifle in their company. "No flattery is either too high or too low for them. They will greedily swallow the highest and gratefully accept of the lowest They have but two passions, vanity and love,"—an estimate very similar to Pope's. He did not consider it incompatible with high breeding to endeavour to corrupt a virtuous woman ; but in his eyes it was a am against good manners to laugh, and one which he never committed. That Chesterfield had some great qualities, is evident from his wise government as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; but he showed by word and action that he preferred veneer to solidity. "The solid and ornamental united are undoubtedly best," he said.; "but were I reduced to make an option, I should without hesita- tion choose the latter." Dr. Hill has done his best to raise the fame of Chesterfield by these "Selections," which contain many pithy and well expreesed sayings. There is nothing here, however, that will satisfy the heart and intellect in thoughtful moments, and much that suggests the posture-master rather than the philosopher. The book Is not to be commended to young readers.
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