A comprehensive biography of Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield, a major political, literary, and cultural force in eighteenth century Britain.

Statesman, wit, writer, and arbiter of taste, the fourth Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773) was one of the most influential--and divisive--figures of Georgian Britain. As Lord Macaulay later observed, Chesterfield was "what no person in our time has been or can be, a great political leader and at the same time the acknowledged chief of the fashionable world." This is the first full-scale biography of Chesterfield in nearly a century, drawing on previously unpublished material to reassess his political career, literary output, and enduring fascination. Richard Wendorf offers a nuanced reading of Chesterfield's celebrated letters to his son and examines his embodiment of the virtues and perils of politeness, revealing a figure whose views on sex, marriage, women, and hypocrisy continue to provoke lively debate.