Burke will always be read with delight and edification, because in the midst of discussions on the local and the accidental, he scatters apothegms that take us into the regions of lasting wisdom. In the midst of the torrent of his most strenuous and passionate deliverances, he suddenly rises aloof from his immediate subject, and in all tranquillity reminds us of some permanent relation of things, some enduring truth of human life or society. We do not hear the organ tones of Milton, for faith and freedom had other notes in the seventeenth century. There is none of the complacent and wise-browed sagacity of Bacon, for Burke's were days of eager personal strife and party fire and civil division. We are not exhilarated by the cheerfulness, the polish, the fine manners of Bolingbroke, for Burke had an anxious conscience and was earnest and intent that the good should triumph. And yet Burke is among the greatest of those who have wrought marvels in the prose of our English tongue. — MORLEY. Speaking of the men of this day, William Makepeace Thackeray, whose knees do not easily bend before a hero, pays a tribute not to Burke's greatness, but to that which lies far beyond, — his goodness. "I think it was on going home from the club one night that Edmund Burke, his soul full of great thoughts, be sure, for they never left him, his heart full of gentleness, was accosted by a poor, wandering woman to whom he spoke words of kindness; and, moved by her tears, perhaps having caused them by his own words, he took her home to the house of his wife and children, and never left her until he had found the means of restoring her to honesty and labor. O you fine gentlemen, you Marches and Selwyns and Chesterfields, how small you look by the side of this great man!" HISTORICAL TABLE. (FOR REFERENCE.) 1755-1763. . "Old French and Indian War," being a part of the Seven Years' War in Europe; "Peace of Paris." 1756-1763. . Seven Years' War in Europe; war between the British 1755 1756 1757 1757-1761.. 1759 .. 1760-1820 1765 1765 1766 1767 1767 and French in India. Terrible earthquake in Lisbon, 30,000 people killed. Battle of Plassey. Coalition Ministry; Duke of Newcastle and the elder Quebec; death of Wolfe. Stamp Act. Declaration of Rights and Liberties; twenty-eight dele- Repeal of the Stamp Act. Ministry of Chatham. Duties imposed on glass, paper, painters' colors, and tea. 1767-1770. . Ministry of Grafton; Townshend, Chancellor of the Ex 1768. 1769-1772. chequer; General Conway, Lord Shelburne, Secretaries of State; Pitt (Earl Chatham) Lord Privy Seal; Lord Hillsborough, first Colonial Secretary. Arrival of British troops in Boston, October. Letters of Junius. Parliament adopted a resolution looking to trial in Eng- All duties except those on tea rescinded. 1770-1782.. Ministry of Lord North. 88 1774. 1774-1785 Boston Tea Party. Boston Port Bill. Continental Congress, September 5. Warren Hastings Governor-General of India. 1775-1783.. War of Independence. 1778-1783 War between Great Britain and France. 1779-1783.. War between Great Britain and Spain. 1780-1783 . . War between Great Britain and Holland. No Popery Riots. Ministry of the Marquis of Rockingham, March to Ministry of Lord Shelburne. FRANCE. 1774-1792 . . Louis XVI. 1789-1791. . States-General and Constituent Assembly. 1791-1792.. Legislative Assembly. 1792-1795 . . National Convention. 1795-1799. . Directory. 1799-1804.. Consulate. 1804-1815.. The Empire. 16, 4. December, 1765, representing Wendover; Burke's maiden speech was in ardent support of the petition of the colonists for the repeal of the Stamp Act. 17, 10. The student will find a good outline of the condition of Massachusetts in Hosmer's "Samuel Adams," Chaps. II., III., IV. 17, 11. Mr. Rose Fuller. 19, 8. This is the end of the introduction; the student should analyze it for Burke's purpose. Is it too lengthy; too personal and apologetic? Has it paved the way for the proposition which the entire speech is to demonstrate ? What deductions can be drawn as to the method of introducing an argument? 19, 9. The main proposition of Burke's argument is here stated. The greatest good to be derived from the study of the speech is to be secured by a careful analysis of the main points in the logical scheme, the relation of each minor proposition to the major proposition, etc. Thought and form are too frequently neglected for the study of vocabulary, figures of speech, and qualities of style. 20, 3. Lord North's resolution, passed by the House, February, 1775, allowed the colonists, through their legislative assemblies, and under the approval of the king and Parliament, to tax themselves for the support of the common defense, civil government, and administration of justice; and exempted them from all other taxes except such as were necessary for the regulation of commerce. 91 |