Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th earl of, 1694–1773, English statesman and author. A noted wit and orator, his long public career, begun in 1715, included an ambassadorship to The Hague (1728–32), a seat in Parliament, and a successful tenure as lord lieutenant of Ireland (1745–46). His literary fame rests upon his letters to his illegitimate son, Philip Stanhope (first pub. 1774), designed for the education of a young man, and upon his letters to his godson (pub. 1890).
See edition of his letters by B. Dobree (6 vol., 1932) and additional letters edited by S. L. Gulick, Jr. (1938); study by S. Shellabarger (rev. ed. 1951, repr. 1971).
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