INTRODUCTION. PART I. EDMUND BURKE. § 1. Biographical Outline. EDMUND BURKE was born in Dublin in 1730, his father being an attorney in good practice. In 1743 he entered at Trinity College, Dublin, where he took his degree in 1748, without special distinction, since he was guided in his studies by his own literary appetites and tastes rather than the correct University curriculum. Two years later he made his appearance in London, having the English Bar in view, but again he followed his own natural aptitude for letters instead of restricting his attention to legal studies. The first recorded outcome of these pursuits was the publication of his Vindication of Natural Society, a skit on Bolingbroke's political philosophy, so ingeniously ironical that in some quarters it was accepted as a sincere exposition of the author's genuine views. This work appeared anonymously, but was followed at no long interval by the famous Enquiry concerning the Sublime and Beautiful, an interesting but by no means convincing essay in aesthetics. In the next year-1757-Burke married, and in due time his son Richard was born. The Christmas of 1758 was a notable date in his life, as on that day he dined for the first time with Samuel Johnson, Garrick being their host. In I. C. b 1759 he started, in conjunction with the publisher Dodsley, the famous compilation known as the Annual Register, to which he continued to be a leading contributor for the rest of his life. The notice which Burke's writings attracted led William Gerard Hamilton, then Irish Secretary, to give him the post of private secretary in 1761. The next two years were spent in Dublin, and Hamilton obtained him a pension for his services; but when Burke found that this was looked upon by Hamilton as giving him an unlimited and exclusive right to the use of Burke's time and brains, there was a violent quarrel, Burke throwing up the pension. Returning to London he became one of the earliest members of the “Literary Club” founded in 1764 by Johnson and Reynolds ; remaining always one of the most prominent figures in the Johnsonian circle. It was partly owing to this that he was next year recommended to Rockingham as private secretary on the formation of the Rockingham ministry. From this time forward politics absorbed him. He was provided with a seat for Wendover in the Parliament which opened in Jan. 1766; and though he left Wendover for Bristol in 1774, and Bristol for Melton in 1780, he continued a member of the House till 1794, when he vacated his seat in favour of his son. In 1763, the Peace of Paris had terminated the great war which expelled the French power from America and from India, and incidentally established a British Mercantile Company as lords of the great provinces of the Lower Ganges and as the dominating force in the Deccan. In this new and growing Dominion Burke at all times took the keenest interest; and though the sources of his information were sometimes misleading, and brought him occasionally to wrong and unjust conclusions in matters of detail, he had such a grasp of the subject as no one else possessed who had not actually been in India. Whenever Indian affairs were to the fore in England, he played a leading part; and some of his greatest oratorical efforts are to be found among |