ad not a competitor. These
qualities were matured by the advantage which he assiduously sought and
obtained, of a familiar acquaintance with almost all the eminent wits
and writers of his time, many of whom had been the ornaments of a
preceding age of literature, while others were destined to become those
of a later period.'

The accession of George II., to whose court Lord Chesterfield had been
attached for many years, brought him no political preferment. The court
had, however, its attractions even for one who owed his polish to the
belles of Paris, and who was almost always, in taste and manners, more
foreign than English. Henrietta, Lady Pomfret, the daughter and heiress
of John, Lord Jeffreys, the son of Judge Jeffreys, was at that time the
leader of fashion.

Six daughters, one of them, Lady Sophia, surpassingly lovely recalled
the perfections of that ancestress, Arabella Fermor whose charms Pope
has so exquisitely touched in the 'Rape of the Lock.' Lady Sophia became
eventually the wife of Lord Carteret, the minister, whose talents and
the charms of whose eloquence constituted him a sort of rival to
Chesterfield. With all his abilities, Lord Chesterfield may be said to
have failed both as a courtier and as a political character, as far as
permanent influence in any ministry was concerned, until in 1744, when
what was called the 'Broad-bottomed administration' was formed, when he
was admitted into the cabinet. In the following year, however, he went,
for the last time, to Holland, as ambassador, and succeeded beyond the
expectations of his party in the purposes of his embassy. He took leave
of the States-General just before the battle of Fontenoy, and hastened
to Ireland, where he had been nominated Lord-Lieutenant previous to his
journey to Holland. He remained in that country only a year; but long
enough to prove how liberal were his views--how kindly the dispositions
of his heart.

Only a few years before Lord Chesterfield's arrival in Dublin, the Duke
of Shrewsbury had given as a reason for accepting the vice-regency of
that country, (of which King James I. had said, there was 'more ado'
than with any of his dominions,) 'that it was a place where a man had
business enough to keep him from falling asleep, and not enough to keep
him awake.'

Chesterfield, however, was not of that opinion. He did more in one year
than the duke would have accomplished in five. He began by instituting a
principle of impartial