Produced by David Widger
1750
By the EARL OF CHESTERFIELD
on the Fine Art of becoming a
and a
LONDON, January 8, O. S. 1750
DEAR BOY: I have seldom or never written to you upon the subject ofreligion and morality; your own reason, I am persuaded, has given youtrue notions of both; they speak best for themselves; but if they wantedassistance, you have Mr. Harte at hand, both for precept and example; toyour own reason, therefore, and to Mr. Harte, shall I refer you for thereality of both, and confine myself in this letter to the decency, theutility, and the necessity of scrupulously preserving the appearances ofboth. When I say the appearances of religion, I do not mean that youshould talk or act like a missionary or an enthusiast, nor that youshould take up a controversial cudgel against whoever attacks the sectyou are of; this would be both useless and unbecoming your age; but Imean that you should by no means seem to approve, encourage, or applaud,those libertine notions, which strike at religions equally, and which arethe poor threadbare topics of halfwits and minute philosophers. Eventhose who are silly enough to laugh at their jokes, are still wise enoughto distrust and detest their characters; for putting moral virtues at thehighest, and religion at the lowest, religion must still be allowed to bea collateral security, at least, to virtue, and every prudent man willsooner trust to two securities than to one. Whenever, therefore, youhappen to be in company with those pretended 'Esprits forts', or withthoughtless libertines, who laugh at all religion to show their wit, ordisclaim it, to complete their riot, let no word or look of yoursintimate the least approbation; on the contrary, let a silent gravityexpress your dislike: but enter not into the subject and decline suchunprofitable and indecent controversies. Depend upon this truth, thatevery man is the worse looked upon, and the less trusted for beingthought to have no religion; in spite of all the pompous and speciousepithets he may assume, of 'Esprit fort', freethinker, or moralphilosopher; and a wise atheist (if such a thing there is) would, for hisown interest and character in this world, pretend to some religion.
Your moral character must be not only pure, but, like Caesar's wife,unsuspected. The least speck or blemish upon it is fatal. Nothingdegrades and vilifies more, for it excites and unites detestation andcontempt. There are, however, wretches in the world profligate enough toexplode all notions of moral good and evil; to maintain that they aremerely local, and depend entirely upon the customs and fashions ofdifferent countries; nay, there are still, if possible, moreunaccountable wretches; I mean those who affect to preach and propagatesuch absurd and infamous notions without believing them themselves. Theseare the devil's hypocrites. Avoid, as much as possible, the company ofsuch people; who reflect a degree of discredit and infamy upon all whoconverse with them. But as you may, sometimes, by accident, fall intosuch company, take great care that no complaisance, no good-humor, nowarmth of festal mirth, ever make you seem even to acquiesce, much lessto approve or applaud, such infamous doctrines. On the other hand, do notdebate nor enter into serious argument upon a subject so much below it:but content yourself with telling these APOSTLES that you know they arenot, serious; that you have a m