patron of every national improvement; in the senate, uncorrupt; in his commerce with the world, disinterested. By genius entitled in the means of doing good; he was unwearied in doing it. INSCRIPTION TO THE MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM, IN THE MAUSOLEUM, NEAR WENTWORTH HOUSE, YORKSHIRE. CHARLES, MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM. A statesman in whom constancy, fidelity, sincerity, and directness, were the sole instruments of his policy. His virtues were his arts. A clear, sound, unadulterated sense, not perplexed with intricate design, or disturbed by ungoverned passion, gave consistency, dignity, and effect to all his measures. In opposition he respected the principles of government; in administration he provided for the liberties of the people. He employed his moments of power in realizing everything which he had promised in a popular situation. This was the distinguishing mark of his conduct. After twenty-four years of service to the public, in a critical and trying time, he left no debt of just expectation unsatisfied. By his prudence and patience he brought together a party which it was the great object of his labours to render permanent, not as an instrument of ambition, but as a living depository of principle. The virtues of his public and private life were not in him of different characters. It was the same feeling, benevolent, liberal mind that, in the internal relations of life, conciliates the unfeigned love of those who see men as they are, which made him an inflexible patriot. He was devoted to the cause of liberty, not because he was haughty and intractable, but because he was beneficent and humane. Let his successors, who from this house behold this monument, reflect that their conduct will make it their glory or their reproach. Let them be persuaded that similarity of manners, not proximity of blood, gives them an interest in this statue. REMEMBER-RESEMBLE-Persevere. A PART OF THE WILL OF EDMUND BURKE. If my dear son and friend had survived me, any will would have been unnecessary; but since it has pleased God to call him to himself before his father, my duty calls upon me to make such a disposition of my worldly effects as seems to my best judgment most equitable and reasonable; therefore, I, Edmund Burke, late of the parish of St. James, Westminster, though suffering under sore and inexpressible affliction, being of sound and disposing mind, do make my last will and testament in manner following: First, according to the ancient, good, and laudable custom, of which my heart and understanding recognise the propriety, I bequeath my soul to God, hoping for his mercy through the only merits of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. My body I desire, if I should die in any place very convenient for its transport thither (but not otherwise), to be buried in the church, at Beaconsfield, near to the bodies of my dearest brother and my dearest son, in all humility praying that, as we have lived in perfect unity together, we may together have a part in the resurrection of the just. I wish my funeral to be (without any puctiliousness in that respect) the same as that of my brother, and to exceed it as little as possible in point of charge, whether on account of my family or of any others who would go to a greater expense; and I desire, in the same manner and with the same qualifications, that no monument beyond a middlesized tablet, with a small and simple inscription on the church-wall, or on the flag-stone, be erected. I say this, because I know the partial kindness to me of some of my friends. But I have had, in my life-time, but too much of noise and compliment. INDEX. AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN WAR, Chapter II., 63. AMERICA, BRITISH, 63: vision of the greatness of the British American Colonies, 63- exordium of the speech for conciliation with America, 81- ANARCHY, 387. BEAUTIFUL, the, 394: proportion not the cause of beauty in the vegetable creation, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND CHARACTERS, Chapter VI., 234: Bede, The Venerable, 234. Charles II., 246. Chatham, Lord, 265. Cromwell, 245. Fox, 274. |