Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1746-47 (Chesterfield)

Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1746-47, by Earl of Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, 1747

I am not kidding about either the title of the book by the Earl of Chesterfield or the fact that I read his letters. There were quite interesting, illuminating even, although I wish I'd had the Internet handy more often when reading it to look up some archaic words or translate some French, German or Latin phrases.

I saw the e-book while perusing the freebies on Amazon.com. This one caught my attention, and I'm glad it did -- so glad, in fact, that I don't mind posting that website, which I usually shy away from doing.

Two reasons to read it: first, a little historical lesson couldn't hurt (and it didn't); second, what better way to write the part of a gentleman than to have one explain to his son how to become one (this worked for me). A couple of the chapters were boring, but others were instructive or downright amusing (and not always intentionally).

It's a short, free book, and I recommend it.

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