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up, and communicated to the Duke of Portland, a narrative of the proceedings of Mr. Fox and his cabal, in which many extraordinary facts were developed, full enough to justify the separation that had taken place, and the necessity of giving support to the government for the preservation of the constitution.

In 1794, Mr. BURKE had two severe trials, in the death of his brother, followed by that of his only son Richard, who was his colleague in the representation of Malton. The next year he retired from parliament; and soon after received the grant of a pension for himself and his wife, payable out of the civil list. But this mark of the royal favour, though bestowed when he was no longer in a situation to assist ministers by his vote, brought upon him a load of illiberal abuse; and two peers did themselves no honour by the manner of their noticing Mr. BURKE and his pension in the House of Lords.

These illiberal attacks, (for such they unquestionably were,) produced a spirited retort in a letter addressed to Lord Fitzwilliam. In this tract the venerable author gave abundant proof, that neither age nor misfortune had weakened his mental energies; and if those who so wantonly provoked him did not writhe under the scourge, their nerves must have been of a peculiar construction.

The next and last performance which Mr. BURKE gave to the public, was a series of" Letters on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France;" and of all his works this may fairly challenge the pre-eminence for a comprehensive view of foreign and domestic policy, strength of reasoning, and powerful appeals to the understanding.

The design of it was as exalted as the execution was masterly; being no less than to rouse the nation from a state of despondency under difficulties, to confidence in its resources, and a vigorous exertion of its powers, in a struggle, the glorious termination of which our political Nestor foresaw and foretold.

At length these incessant labours operated upon the constitution of Mr. BURKE in a manner that soon gave indications of a rapid decay. Still, amidst all his bodily weakness, his mind preserved its vigour, and on the seventh of July, 1797, ne conversed with animation on the great subject which had so long occupied his thoughts. The next day, while one of his

friends, assisted by a servant, was carrying him into another room, he faintly said, "God bless you," fell back, and expired without a groan. His remains were interred, on the 15th, in the church of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, in which parish he had long resided, on an estate which is said to have been given him by the marquis of Rockingham. But it is extraordinary, and little to the credit of the age, that as yet no monument has been raised to his memory. Mr. BURKE in his person was about five feet ten inches in height, erect, and well formed; his countenance was pleasing, but being very nearsighted, his action in public speaking lost much of its effect. Of his talents there cannot be two opinions; his knowledge was so various that he could converse upon all subjects, and that with such a grasp of mind and felicity of expression, as delighted the hearer, who, on parting from him naturally exclaimed, "What a wonderful man!"

As an orator he stood confessedly in the very first class, but he had the fault of prolixity, and too generally overloaded his argument with an exuberance of illustrative imagery. His metaphors were sometimes incongruous, and his language was occasionally so low as to excite surprise and disgust. In his manners he was urbane and generous, very communicative of his advice, and ready to patronize merit. Of this he gave a proof in his liberality to Barry the painter, whom he took under his protection in Dublin, and sent him at his own expense to Italy. While there, the most friendly correspondence passed between them, and through life Mr. BURKE behaved kindly to his ingenious countryman, although the behaviour of Barry was far from being such as he could approve.

The literary character of Mr. BURKE is above all praise. Though he wrote rapidly, not a line dropped from his pen but what bore the striking impress of his powerful mind, and in truth he can hardly be said to have written a single page without communicating to the most enlightened reader something new, either in thought or illustration. Wisdom and eloquence, which others attain with labour, were in him the habitual and ordinary march of his ideas; whence his style constantly exhibits such a superabundance of argument and imagery, that while our attention is pursuing the track of his reasonin~ we

are in danger of losing ourselves amidst the various beauties with which it is enforced and embellished. The same characteristics distinguished the oratory of Mr. BURKE, that are still perceived in his compositions; but though he rarely, if ever, failed to delight his hearers by his manner and his matter, he too frequently weakened the effect of his elocution by not stopping at the right period of his argument; the consequence of which was, that those who had been charmed and convinced by the former part of the speech, became, at the close of it, languid, tired, and indifferent.

In domestic life Mr. BURKE exhibited such a striking contrast to his associates, that it is a matter of some surprise how a person of his philosophical principles and temperate habits could endure a connexion with men, most of whose time was dissipated, to use no worse term, in midnight revelry over the bottle, or at the gamingtable. To reconcile private vice with public virtue is a task which no casuist has yet ventured to undertake in a free and impartial spirit; nor would any one engage in the proof that the union is consistent, were it not from a desire to justify particular characters, whose morals have been at variance with the professions which they set up in the face of the world. Dr. Price was well aware of this, and therefore, in one of his political sermons, he took occasion, sharply, to reprobate the pernicious maxim, that patriotism and profligacy could exist in the same person. He did this in reference to the leaders of the party to which he belonged, and he lamented most devoutly and sincerely, that while, by their oratorical powers, these great men were upholding and pagating the same doctrines with himself, as being essential to human happiness, they rendered them altogether nugatory

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by the most scandalous conduct in the ordinary transactions of life.

When the French Revolution broke out, it was seen that public and private virtue cannot be separated, without endangering the fundamental principles upon which all social order must stand, and by the consummation of which the rights of individuals can alone be secured.

In that storm, BURKE appeared impregnable, like the rock whose basis is infixed in the foundation of eternal morality, while the political sophists of the day, having nothing stable in their minds for

the regulation of their conduct in perilous times, were driven about by every wind that blew, having no point of certain distinction, nor any principles upon which they could depend for their guidance and security, amidst the sea of revolutionary strife, from which, as they and others vainly flattered themselves, a new world of perfection was about to arise. Most of these visionaries have dropped into oblivion, and the few that remain are so little known, that their very names will in a short space be forgotten. BURKE, on the contrary, has left an imperishable memorial; every day increases its value, and future ages will have recourse to it for the maxims of political wisdom in the government and direction of life. Whatever may be thought of those infirmities which he possessed in common with the rest of mankind, or of the errors into which he occasionally fell, he had the singular merit of dissolving the links of party, at a critical period, when that party began to assume the dangerous part of a faction, under a leader whose ambition, admitting no restraint,

"Sprung upwards, like a pyramid of fire
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock
Of fighting elements, on all sides round
Environ'd, won his way."

Taking, therefore, a retrospective glance at that part of our national history, and duct of the men who distinguished themlooking steadfastly upon the opposite conselves when the horrors of the Revolution had nearly broken in upon the shores of Britain, one cannot help admiring the intrepid spirit that first and last opposed the torrent, and for so doing brought upon

himself the hatred of his Not compeers. in the least intimidated by their taunts and reproaches, he pursued his course, and by that firmness became a main instrument of rousing the nation to that resistance against anarchy, which ultimately gave peace to the world. Like the faithful seraph, so admirably painted by the poet, he stood

Among innumerable false, unmov'd, Unshaken, unseduc'd, unterrified;

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal; Nor number, nor example, with him wrought To swerve from Truth, or change his constant mind, [pass'd Though single. From amidst them, forth he Long way through hostile scorn, which he sus

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ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.

THE late Mr. Burke, from a principle of unaffected humility, which they, who were the most intimately acquainted with his character, best know to have been in his estimation one of the most important moral duties, never himself made any collection of the various publications with which, during a period of forty years, he adorned and enriched the literature of this country. When, however, the rapid and unexampled demand for his "Reflections on the Revolution of France," had unequivocally testified his celebrity as a writer, some of his friends so far prevailed upon him, that he permitted them to put forth a regular edition of his works. Accordingly, three volumes in quarto appeared under that title in 1792, printed for the late Mr. Dodsley. That edition, therefore, has been made the foundation of the present, for which a form has been chosen better adapted to public convenience. Such errours of the press as have been discovered in it are here rectified; in other respects it is faithfully followed, except that in one instance, an accident of little moment has occasioned a slight deviation from the strict chronological arrangement; and that, on the other hand, a speech of conspicuous excellence, on his declining the poll at Bristol, in 1780, is here, for the first time, inserted in its proper place.

As the activity of the Author's mind, and the lively interest which he took in the welfare of his country, ceased only with his life, many subsequent productions issued from his pen, which were received in a manner corresponding with his distinguished reputation. He wrote also various tracts, of a less popular description, which he designed for private circulation, in quarters where he supposed they might produce most benefit to the community; but which, with some other papers, have been printed since his death, from copies which he left behind him fairly transcribed, and most of them corrected as for the press. All these, now first collected together, form the contents of the last volume. They are VOL. I.-1

disposed in chronological order, with the exception of the Preface to Brissot's Address, which having appeared in the Author's lifetime, and from delicacy not being avowed by him, did not come within the plan of this edition, but has been placed at the end of the last volume, on its being found deficient in just bulk.

The several posthumous publications, as they from time to time made their appearance, were accompanied by appropriate prefaces. These, however, as they were principally intended for temporary purposes, have been omitted. Some few explanations only, which they contained, seem here to be necessary.

The "Observations on the Conduct of the Minority in the Session of 1793," had been written and sent by Mr. Burke as a paper entirely and strictly confidential; but it crept surreptitiously into the world, through the fraud and treachery of the man whom he had employed to transcribe it, and, as usually happens in such cases, came forth in a very mangled state, under a false title, and without the introductory letter. The friends of the Author, without waiting to consult him, instantly obtained an injunction from the Court of Chancery to stop the sale. What he himself felt, on receiving intelligence of the injury done him by one, from whom his kindness deserved a very different turn, will be best conveyed in his own words. The following is an extract of a letter to a friend, which he dictated on this subject from a sick bed:

"Bath, 15th Feb. 1797. "MY DEAR LAURENCE,-On the appearance of the advertisement, all newspapers, and all letters have been kept back from me till this time. Mrs. Burke opened your's, and finding that all the measures in the power of Dr. King, yourself, and Mr. Woodford, had been taken to suppress the publication, she ventured to deliver me the letters to-day, which were read to me in my bed, about two o'clock

"This affair does vex me; but I am not in a state of health at present to be deeply vexed at any thing. Whenever this matter comes into discussion, I authorize you to contradict the infamous reports, which (I am informed) have been given out; that this paper had been circulated through the Ministry, and was intended gradually to slide into the press. Το the best of my recollection, I never had a clean copy of it but one, which is now in my possession; I never communicated that, but to the Duke of Portland, from whom I had it back again. But the Duke will set this matter to rights, if in reality there were two copies, and he has one. 1 never shewed it, as they know, to any one of the Ministry. If the Duke has really a copy, I believe his and mine are the only ones that exist, except what was taken by fraud from loose and incorrect papers by "" to whom I gave the letter to copy. As soon as I began to suspect him capable of any such scandalous breach of trust, you know with what anxiety I got the loose papers out of his hands, not having reason to think that he kept any other. Neither do I believe in fact (unless he meditated this villainy long ago) that he did or does now possess any clean copy. I never communicated that paper to any one out of the very small circle of those private friends, from whom I concealed nothing.

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"But I beg you and my friends to be cautious how you let it be understood, that I disclaim any thing but the mere act and intention of publication. I do not retract any one of the sentiments contained in that Memorial, which was and is my justification, addressed to the friends, for whose use alone I intended it. Had I designed it for the public, I should have been more exact and full. It was written in a tone of indignation, in consequence of the resolutions of the Whig Club, which were directly pointed against my self and others, and occasioned our secession from that club; which is the last act of my life that I shall under any circumstances repent. Many temperaments and explanations there would have been, if I had ever had a notion that it should meet the public eye."

In the mean time a large impression, amounting, it is believed, to three thousand copies, had been dispersed over the country. To recall these was impossible; to have expected that any acknowledged production of Mr. Burke, full of matter likely to interest the future historian, could remain for ever in obscurity, would have been folly; and to have passed it over in silent neglect, on the one hand, or, on the other, to have then made any considerable changes in

it, might have seemed an abandonment of the principles which it contained. The Author, therefore, discovering that, with the exception of the introductory letter, he had not in fact kept any clean copy, as he had supposed, corrected one of the pamphlets with his own hand. From this, which was found preserved with his other papers, his friends afterwards thought it their duty to give an authentic edition.

The "Thoughts and Details on Scarcity' were originally presented in the form of a Memorial to Mr. Pitt. The Author proposed afterwards to recast the same matter in a new shape. He even advertised the intended work under the title of "Letters on Rural Economics, addressed to Mr. Arthur Young;" but he seems to have finished only two or three detached fragments of the first letter. These being too imperfect to be printed alone, his friends inserted them in the Memorial, where they seemed best to cohere. The Memorial had been fairly copied, but did not appear to have been examined or corrected, as some trifling errours of the transcriber were perceptible in it. The manuscript of the fragments was a rough draft from the Author's own hand, much blotted and very confused.

The "Third Letter on the Proposals for Peace" was in its progress through the press when Mr. Burke died. About one half of it was actually revised in print by himself, though not in the exact order of the pages as they now stand. He enlarged his first draft, and separated one great member of his subject, for the purpose of introducing some other matter be

tween.

The different parcels of manuscript, designed to intervene, were discovered. One of them he seemed to have gone over himself, and to have improved and augmented. The other, (fortunately the smaller,) was much more imperfect, just as it was taken from his mouth by dictation. No important change, none at all affecting the meaning of any passage, has been made in either, though in the more imperfect parcel, some latitude of discretion in subordinate points was necessarily used.

There is, however, a considerable member, for the greater part of which, Mr. Burke's reputation is not responsible: this is the inquiry into the condition of the higher classes. The summary of the whole topic indeed, nearly as it stands, was found, together with a marginal reference to the bankrupt-list, in his own hand-writing; and the actual conclusion of the letter was dictated by him, but never received his subsequent correction. He had also preserved, as materials for this branch of the subject, some scattered hints, documents, and

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