But in vayne shee did conjure him. To depart her presence soe; Having a thousand tongues to allure him, And but one to bid him goe. Dulcina own. EDMUND BURKE. 1729-1797. The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their A Vindication of Natural Society.1 Preface, vol. i, p. 7. "War," says Machiavel, "ought to be the only study of a prince;" and by a prince he means every sort of state, however constituted. "He ought," says this great political doctor, "to consider peace only as a breathingtime, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes ability to execute military plans." A meditation on the conduct of political societies made old Hobbes imagine that war was the state of nature. A Vindication of Natural Society. Vol. i. p. 15. I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others.2 On the Sublime and Beautiful. Sect. xiv. vol. i. p. 118. Custom reconciles us to everything. Sect. xviii. vol. i. p. 231. There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. Observations on a Late Publication on the Present State of the The wisdom of our ancestors.3 Ibid. p. 516. Also in the Discussion on the Traitorous 1 Boston edition. 1865-1867. 2 In the adversity of our best friends we always find something which is not wholly displeasing to us. - ) - ROCHEFOUCAULD: Reflections, xv. 3 Lord Brougham says of Bacon, "He it was who first employed the wellknown phrase of the wisdom of our ancestors.'" SYDNEY SMITH: Plymley's Letters, letter v. LORD ELDON: On Sir Samuel Romilly's Bill, 1815. CICERO: De Legibus, ii. 2, 3. Illustrious predecessor.1 Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents. Vol. i. p. 456 In such a strait the wisest may well be perplexed and the boldest staggered. P. 516. When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle. P. 526. Of this stamp is the cant of, Not men, but measures." P. 531. The concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 108. There is America, which at this day serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners, yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. P. 115. Fiction lags after truth, invention is unfruitful, and imagination cold and barren. P. 116. A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood. The religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principles of resistance: it is the dissidence of dissent, and the protestantism of the Protestant religion. P. 123. I do not know the method of drawing up an indictment against a whole people. The march of the human mind is slow." P. 136 P. 149. 2 See Goldsmith, page 401. - SOUTHEY: Progress and Prospects of Soci All government, - indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. Speech on the Conciliation of America. Vol. ii. p. 169. The worthy gentleman who has been snatched from us. at the moment of the election, and in the middle of the contest, whilst his desires were as warm and his hopes as eager as ours, has feelingly told us what shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue. Speech at Bristol on Declining the Poll. Vol. ii. p. 420. They made and recorded a sort of institute and digest of anarchy, called the Rights of Man. On the Army Estimates. Vol iii. p. 221. People will not look forward to posterity who never look backward to their ancestors. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 274. You had that action and counteraction which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe.1 P. 277. It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in, — glittering like the morning star full of life and splendour and joy. ... Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honour and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from 1 Quid velit et possit rerum concordia discors (What the discordant harmony of circumstances would and could effect). - HORACE: Epistle i. 12, 19. Mr. Breen, in his "Modern English Literature," says: "This remarkable thought Alison the historian has turned to good account; it occurs so often in his disquisitions that he seems to have made it the staple of all wis dom and the basis of every truth." their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 331. Ibid. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise is gone. That chastity of honour which felt a stain like a wound. P. 332. Vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness. Ibid. Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle. P. 334. Learning will be cast into the mire and trodden down under the hoofs of a swinish multitude.1 P. 335. Because half-a-dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make the noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that of course they are many in number; or that, after all, they are other than the little shrivelled, meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome insects of the hour. P. 344. In their nomination to office they will not appoint to the exercise of authority as to a pitiful job, but as to a holy function. P. 356. 1 This expression was tortured to mean that he actually thought the people no better than swine; and the phrase "the swinish multitude" was bruited about in every form of speech and writing, in order to excite popular indignation. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Vol. iii. p. 453. To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be a king. However, a political executive magistracy, though merely such, is a great trust.1 You can never plan the future by the past.2 P. 497. Letter to a Member of the National Assembly. Vol. iv. p. The cold neutrality of an impartial judge. 55. Preface to Brissot's Address. Vol. v. p. 67. And having looked to Government for bread, on the very first scarcity they will turn and bite the hand that fed them. Thoughts and Details on Scarcity. Vol. v. p. 156. All men that are ruined, are ruined on the side of their natural propensities. Letter i. On a Regicide Peace. Vol. v. p. 286. All those instances to be found in history, whether real or fabulous, of a doubtful public spirit, at which morality is perplexed, reason is staggered, and from which affrighted Nature recoils, are their chosen and almost sole examples for the instruction of their youth. P. 311. Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other. P. 331. Early and provident fear is the mother of safety. Speech in opening the Impeachment of Warren Hastings Third The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion. Speech ci County Meeting of Bucks, 1784. 1 See Appendix, page 859. 2 I know no way of judging of the future but by the past. HENRY: Speech in the Virginia Convention, March, 1775. 8 We set ourselves to bite the hand that feeds us. — Cause of the Present Discontents, vol. i. p. 439. |