rse. itte 4 P Wr hoo este ,cle dan be Τ LIFE OF EDMUND BURKE. EDMUND BURKE, the famous orator and statesman, and, if Mr. ItMatthew Arnold's judgment be accepted, the greatest master of EngThdish prose style that ever lived, was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1729. hoti Unlike his. friends, Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith, he did not pass his youth in penury and want, for his parents were, if not wealthy, at least corwell-to-do people. In 1743 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he eticremained for five years. His university career, if not brilliant, was far from an idle one. Though he did not apply himself very closely to the studies of the place, he read largely and acquired a fund of general laknowledge. In 1750 he came to London to study law, but soon finding aim his legal studies irksome, he began to cast longing eyes upon the more ort pleasant field of general literature. He did not formally appear before dire the public as an author till 1756, when he published two works, "A Vindication of Natural Society," and "A Philosophical Inquiry into er f the Origin of our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful." In 1758 he was eper engaged by Dodsley to edit the "Annual Register." He is said to have plan written the whole of the volumes for 1758 and 1759; he contributed into pri largely to it for many years afterwards. These occupations introduced Burke into literary society where his stores of knowledge and powers of conversation eminently qualified him to excel. He soon became acquainted with Dr. Johnson, an intimacy to which we owe some of lepar the best conversations recorded by Boswell. "That fellow calls forth all my powers." exclaimed the burly Doctor, who was never tired of praising the extraordinary readiness and affluence of Burke's converbje sation. In 1759, the future orator became private Secretary to "SingleIl th speech" Hamilton, with whom he went to Ireland in 1761. In 1766 Burke entered Parliament. From this time he took an active part, ons both by tongue and pen, in all the leading political struggles of the day. in t He supported a conciliatory policy towards the American colonies, ipate advocated the abolition of certain restrictions which hampered the lain trade of Ireland, brought forward in 1780 a great scheme of political reform,and was the leading spirit in the impeachment of Warren Hastings. In 1794 Burke retired from Parliament, his son having been returned member in his stead. Shortly afterwards his son died, leaving the great orator, as he wrote to a friend, "desolate at home, stripped of my boast, my hope, my consolation, my counselor, and my guide." Burke received a pension from the government in 1794, which was assailed by the Duke of Belord, as in contradiction to the whole scheme ام r. to Lice ed, ar nge. f the Arit hers 3 of economic reform. To this attack Burke replied in his famous "Letter to a Noble Lord," which is a fine example of spirited invective. He died July 8, 1797, in his sixty-eighth year. Few men have been the subjects of higher panegyric than Burke, and, on the whole, few have better deserved praise. In private life he was a man of unbounded benevolence, great affability of manners, and spotless morality. Intellectually he was most richly endowed; with much imagination, rare powers of observation, and an indefatigable industry. There was no subject which he could not master, and, none which, having mastered, he could not expound with unparalleled rich. ness of language. But with these virtues and powers were joined defects which largely neutralized their influence. His oratory astounded by its brilliancy rather than persuaded by its tone and argument. The orator who at first evoked the enthusiasm of the House by the brilliancy and power of his eloquence, did actually at last empty it by persistence in the monotonous splendors of his speeches. In public life he sometimes allowed the passion of the moment to get the better of him, and said things which would have been better left unsaid. No one ever doubted his thorough honesty and integrity of purpose; he was, indeed, as the genial Goldsmith said, "too fond of the right to pursue the expedient." Every production of his is, as Matthew Arnold says, "saturated with ideas." Hence, his speeches which, owing to his amplifications and deviations from the subject in hand, were often found tedious by his hearers, attract and reward the attention of the reader, while those of such men as Fox and Sheridan, are of interest only to the historian, and have little merit considered merely as literature. In person Burke was five feet ten inches high, erect, well formed, never very robust; when young, expert in the sports of his country and time, and, until his last illness, active in habits suited to his years. He was near-sighted and, on account of this defect of vision, he almost constantly from the year 1780 wore spectacles. His conversation, which was often serious and instructive, abounded at times with wit, pleasantry, and good humor. He was somewhat negligent in the matter of dress, wearing, in his later years, a tight brown coat which seemed to impede freedom of motion, and a bob wig with curls which in addition to his spectacles made him a marked man the moment he rose to speak in the House of Commons. "Sir," said Dr. Johnson, "if Burke were to go into a stable to give directions about his horse the hostler would say, 'We have had an extraordinary man here.'" EDMUND BURKE. 1729-1797. BURKE was one of the first thinkers as well as one of the greatest orators of his time. He is without parallel in any age, excepting perhaps Lord Bacon and Cicero; and his works contain an ampler store of political and moral wisdom than can be found in any other writer. -Sir James Mackintosh. I HAVE studied the ancients long and attentively, and I have found nothing in any of their orators superior, nay scarcely equal to what we see in Burke.-Dr. John Gillies. A GENTLEMAN whose abilities, happily for the glory of the age in which we live, are not entrusted to the perishable eloquence of the day, but will live to be admiration of that hour when all of us shall be mute, and most of us are forgotten.-Richard Brinsley Sheridan. I DELIBERATELY and steadily affirm that of all men who are, or who ever have been, eminent for energy or splendor of eloquence, or for skill and grace in composition, there is not one who, in genius or erudition, in philanthropy or piety, or in any of the qualities of a wise and good man, surpasses Burke.-The Learned Dr. Parr. THERE is no single speech of Burke which can convey a satisfactory idea of his powers of mind. To do him justice, it would be necessary to quote all his works: the only specimen of Burke is, all he wrote.— Hazlitt. BURKE will always be read with delight and edification, because in the midst of discussions on the local and the accidental, he scatters apophthegms that take us into the regions of lasting wisdom. Burke is among the greatest of those who have wrought marvels in the prose of our English tongue.-John Morley. "AS AN eloquent and philosophic political character, Burke stands alone. His intellect was at once exact, minute, and comprehensive, and his imagination rich and vigorous. As to his style, he is remarkable for the copiousness and freedom of his diction, the splendor and great variety of his imagery, his astonishing command of general truths, and the ease with which he seems to wield those fine weapons of language, which most writers are able to manage only by the most anxious care." *༣ BURKE AS A MASTER OF ENGLISH STYLE. THE writings of Burke are the daily bread of statesmen, orators, ard political writers. modern orator, without observing how much he owes to the method, We cannot study the speeches of any successful the phraseology, the images, and even the quotations of Burke. Shakespeare above all things refines the taste; Milton quickens and exalts the imagination. The peculiar effect of Burke is to enlarge, strengthen, liberalize, and ennoble the understanding. His method was admirable. No man ever gave more care to the arrangement of his thoughts. Whatever may be the intricacy of its details, there is reigning throughout the whole a massive unity of design like that of a great cathedral. Every word had its peculiar force and application. No writer, not even His language, though copious, was not verbose. Macaulay, excels him in producing an effect by interspersion of short, pointed, and forcible sentences, so necessary to an energetic and suggestive style. Burke gave a lasting stimulus to English prose literature, by the introduction of a fresher and more natural diction. His writings have ever since been the model of all who wish to say anything forcibly, naturally, freely, and in a comparatively small space. The young student of Burke will find it necessary to exert an unusual degree of patience, and to acquire the habit of continually suspending his own judgment. He will find himself in contact with much that seems dry and uninviting. It may therefore be well to caution him at the outset, that Burke, like all writers of the first class, will not repay a superficial perusal. He gains upon us, not altogether by the adherent interest of what he presents to us, but very much by the will and force with which he presents it, and these qualities do not immediately strike the mental eye in all their fullness. 6 AMERICAN TAXATION. THESE two speeches ("Taxation" and "Conciliation ") both deserve to be studied with the utmost diligence by every American scholar.Chauncey A. Goodrich. Of all Burke's writings none are so fit to secure unqualified and unanimous admiration as the speeches on this momentous struggle. (American Revolution). They compose the most perfect manual in our literature for one who approaches the study of public affairs, whether for knowledge or for practice.-John Morley. INTRODUCTORY NOTE. THE measures of the different British ministers regarding American taxation, from the passage of the Stamp Act, in 1765, to the repeal of all the taxes except that on tea in 1770, are well known to every student of American history. Lord North's policy in respect to America was arbitrary and fluctuating. After the destruction of tea in Boston harbor violent measures prevailed. In March, 1774, laws were passed depriving Massachusetts of her charter, and closing the port of Boston against all commerce. Some, however, who had supported Lord North in these measures, thought they should be accompanied by an act indicative of a desire to conciliate. Accordingly, Mr. Rose Fuller, of Rye, who usually voted with the Ministry, moved on the 19th of April, 1774, "that the House resolve itself into a committee of the whole House, to take into consideration the duty of three-pence per pound on tea, payable in all his Majesty's dominions in America," with a view to repealing the same. Mr. Burke seconded the proposal, and sustained it in the following speech. The applause so lavishly bestowed upon this speech was richly deserved. The matter is most admirably arranged. The language is racy and pungent. It is marked by deep research, cogent reasoning, cutting sarcasm, graphic description, and fervid declamation. Burke consented to the publication of this speech at the earnest solicitation of his friends. It seems to have been from a gen 7 |