His house was known to all the vagrant train; Sat by the fire, and talked the night away, Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done, And quite forgot their vices in their woe; His pity gave ere charity began. Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all; At church, with meek and unaffected grace, And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran; Even children followed with endearing wile, And plucked his gown to share the good man's smile. Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed : But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm, 85 90 The Schoolmaster (From The Deserted Village) Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, 5 10 The village all declared how much he knew : 15 "Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; 5 10 5 10 15 Edmund Burke (From The Retaliation) Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog Good people all, of every sort, Give ear unto my song; And if you find it wondrous short, It cannot hold you long. In Islington there was a man Of whom the world might say, Whene'er he went to pray. A kind and gentle heart he had, When he put on his clothes. And in that town a dog was found, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, 20 20 This dog and man at first were friends; The dog, to gain his private ends, Went mad, and bit the man. Around from all the neighboring streets And swore the dog had lost his wits, The wound it seem'd both sore and sad And while they swore the dog was mad, But soon a wonder came to light, The man recover'd of the bite; EDMUND BURKE The Proper Attitude toward America (From Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol) I think I know America. If I do not, my ignorance is incurable, for I have spared no pains to understand it and I do most solemnly assure those of my constituents who put any sort of confidence in my industry and integrity, that every thing that has been done there has arisen from a total 5 misconception of the object; that our means of originally holding America, that our means of reconciling with it after quarrel, of recovering it after separation, of keeping it after victory, did depend, and must depend in their several stages and periods, upon a total renunciation of that unconditional 10 submission, which has taken such possession of the minds of violent men. The whole of those maxims, upon which we have made and continued this war, must be abandoned. Nothing indeed (for I would not deceive you) can place us 15 in our former situation. That hope must be laid aside. But there is a difference between bad and the worst of all. Terms relative to the cause of the war ought to be offered by the authority of parliament. An arrangement at home promising some security for them ought to be made. By 20 doing this, without the least impairing of our strength, we add to the credit of our moderation, which, in itself, is always strength more or less. I know many have been taught to think, that moderation, in a case like this, is a sort of treason; and that all arguments 25 for it are sufficiently answered by railing at rebels and rebellion, and by charging all the present or future miseries, which we may suffer, on the resistance of our brethren. But I would wish them, in this grave matter, and if peace is not wholly removed from their hearts, to consider seriously, 30 first, that to criminate and recriminate never yet was the road to reconciliation, in any difference amongst men. In the next place, it would be right to reflect, that the American English (whom they may abuse, if they think it honourable to revile the absent) can, as things now stand, neither be 35 provoked at our railing, nor bettered by our instruction. All communication is cut off between us, but this we know with certainty, that, though we cannot reclaim them, we may reform ourselves. If measures of peace are necessary, they must begin somewhere; and a conciliatory temper 40 must precede and prepare every plan of reconciliation. Nor do I conceive that we suffer anything by thus regulating our own minds. We are not disarmed by being disencumbered of our passions. Declaiming on rebellion never added a bayonet, or a charge of powder, to your military force; but 45 I am afraid that it has been the means of taking up many muskets against you. |