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 This is the first full-scale biography of Chesterfield in nearly a century, drawing on previously unpublished material to reassess his political career, literary output, and enduring fascination.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.