Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, was a prominent statesman and arbiter of literary taste whose association with Samuel Johnson’s dictionary became a story of promised support, refusal, and belated appropriation. His public standing made his approval valuable; his actual contribution, as the account presents it, was meagre. Johnson’s eventual reply was not merely personal: it entered the dictionary under the very word that named the role Chesterfield had failed to fulfil.

Public Standing and Literary Authority

Chesterfield was an ambassador and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and a friend of Pope, Swift, Voltaire, and Gay. His influence extended beyond politics and literary society: he was credited with forcing England to adopt the Gregorian calendar. His published letters advising his son Philip on conduct became an indispensable guide to manners, further establishing him as an authority on how a person should behave.

That authority helps explain why Johnson sought Chesterfield’s patronage. In 1746, five London booksellers offered Johnson fifteen hundred guineas to undertake a new dictionary, half payable in advance. Johnson accepted, but proposed Chesterfield as the project’s patron, looking to the standing of a man widely regarded as an arbiter of literary worth to lend the work distinction.

The Dictionary and the Withheld Patronage

Chesterfield promised the dictionary his imprimatur but declined to become its patron, apart from giving Johnson a draft for ten pounds. The difference between endorsement and material support became central to the later dispute: Johnson had undertaken a six-year labour, while Chesterfield’s contribution, as described here, fell far short of the patronage Johnson had hoped to secure.

Johnson’s dictionary appeared in 1755 and became an enormous commercial success. It went through four editions during his lifetime and remained the standard work for the following century. Chesterfield, who had withheld substantial support during its making, subsequently praised the achievement and suggested that he had played a larger part in it. The account presents this claim as the source of well-publicized hard feelings between the two men.

Johnson’s Retort and Chesterfield’s Legacy

Johnson’s answer took lasting form in the dictionary’s definition of patron: “a wretch who supports with indolence, and is paid with flattery”. The entry turned a private disappointment into a public judgment embedded in the book itself. Chesterfield brushed the criticism aside as good-natured, but the definition preserved Johnson’s version of their exchange alongside the dictionary’s definitions of the language.

Chesterfield’s place in this episode rests on the contrast between his considerable social authority and his limited practical assistance. His approval had seemed valuable enough for Johnson to seek; his refusal left the editor to complete the work without the promised level of support. When the finished dictionary prospered, Chesterfield’s later praise and claim of involvement renewed the grievance, while Johnson’s concise definition made the dispute part of the work’s own history.