terms his esteem and veneration for his old coadjutor, declared that he could not agree in his opinion respecting the French Revolution, at which he rejoiced as the triumph of liberty over despotism. In this reply, all was mild and conciliating : but Mr. Sheridan expressed his disapprobation of Burke's reasoning and opinion in a manner much less complimentary. He thought them, he said, quite inconsistent with the general principles and conduct of so constant and powerful a friend of liberty, and one who valued the British government and revolution. "The National Assembly," he said, "had exerted a firmness and perseverance hitherto unexampled, and which had secured the liberty of France and vindicated the cause of mankind. What action of theirs authorised the appellation of a bloody, ferocious, and tyrannical democracy?"-In answer, Mr. Burke said that his observations had been uncandidly construed, and that from that moment Mr. Sheridan and he were for ever separated in politics! "Mr. Sheridan has sacrificed my friendship in exchange for the applause of clubs and associations; I assure him he will find the acquisition too insignificant to be worth the price at which it is purchased."

Mr. Burke was now the declared enemy of the French Revolution. He had applied himself with much industry to col lect information respecting the events which took place as Paris; and he received letters, among others, from Thomas Paine, Mr. Christie, and Baron Cloots. It was in answer to one of these letters, which endeavoured to trick out the Revolution in its most gaudy colouring, that he wrote his celebrated " Reflexions." The sentiments declared by Messrs. Fox and Sheridan in the House of Commons, and in Dr. Price's sermon at the Old Jewry, induced him to enlarge the first sketch of that work, until it assumed the form in which it appeared before the public in October 1790. Dr. Bisset enters very largely into the merits and object of this pamphlet.

The first public mark of approbation, with which this extraordinary composition was honoured, was an address from the University of Oxford. It was proposed, by many members of that learned body, that the University should confer the degree of LL.D. on the author: but the proposal was rejected by seven to six, from an apprehension, it is said, that the degree would not have met with the unanimous votes of the members of convocation. The address, which came from the resident graduates, was conceived in terms very flattering to Mr. Burke and his performance. It was conveyed by Mr. Windham, of Norfolk, through whom Mr. Burke returned his answer. The ministry and their friends conceived an opinion not less favour able than that of the University of Oxford, with respect to Мг.

Mr. Burke's publication; but several men of the highest talents, the majority of Mr. Burke's former associates, the very ablest of those in the House of Commons, and some of the ablest in the House of Peers, and all those who entertained high speculative notions of liberty, while they admired the exe cution, condemned the tendency of the " Reflexions." The first answer to this work came from the ready pen of Dr. Priestley; who on this occasion vindicated Dr. Price's opinion concerning the source and tenure of monarchical power in England, and gave a prediction very different from that of Burke as to the effects to be expected from the principles which produced the French Revolution; from which he foreboded "the enlargement of liberty, the melioration of society, and the increase of virtue and of happiness." This reply was followed by the much more celebrated one of T. Paine, entitled "The Rights of Man;" - the plain perspicuity of whose language, (to use the words of Dr. Bisset,) the force of whose expressions, and the directness of whose efforts, wore so much the appearance of clear and strong reasoning, that numbers, borne down by his bold assertions, supposed themselves convinced by his arguments.'

The next publication of Mr. Burke was his "Second Letter to a Member of the National Assembly;"-in which, after having re-touched the several topics of the "Reflexions," he now carries his view to the effects of the revolution on private and social happiness, and labours to prove that the plans of education and civil regulations, which the Assembly had formed, sprang from the same source of untried theory, and tended to the same disorder and misery. Knowing that Rousseau was the model held up to the imitation of their youth, he analyses the character of Jean Jaques, along with those of Voltaire and Helvetius.

In 1791, in discussing the bill for forming a constitution for Canada, Burke again introduced the subject of the French Revolution, of which he talked in the same strain as formerly. Mr. Fox replied, and, after having declared his attachment to the constitution of this country, he repeated his praises of the French Revolution, expressed his dissent from Mr. Burke's opinions on that subject, and contended that they were inconsistent with his former principles. Mr. Burke complained that he had been treated by Mr. Fox with " harshness and malignity," denied the charge of inconsistency, defended his opinions relative to the French Revolution, and said that, though Mr. Fox and he had often differed, there had been no breach of friendship: but, he added, " there is something in this cursed French Constitution which envenoms, every thing.'

Mr.

Mr. Fox whispered, "there is no breach of friendship between us." Burke answered "there is! I know the price of my conduct; our friendship is at an end!" Thus prompt was Mr. Burke to terminate a friendship which had been cemented by so many ties, and had lasted for so many years! It is said that the animosity arising from political differences had been aggravated by some critical observations that Mr. Fox had made on the "Reflexions," which he called rather "the effusion of poetic genius, than a philosophical investigation." This difference between Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke was noticed by the Whig Club; who, by a publication in the Morning Chronicle, of May 12, 1791, declared Mr. Fox to have maintained the pure doctrines by which the Whigs of England were bound together. That publication gave rise to Mr. Burke's " Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs;" in which he defends his reasonings on the French Revolution, and endeavours to prove them to be consistent with the principles that he always professed, and with those which distinguished the old Whigs.

In this summer, (1791,) appeared Mackintosh's Vindicie Gallica; in which that able writer made a most powerful assault on the principles and reasoning of the Reflexions. Dr. Bisset, acknowleging the merit of the work, endeavours by general observations to weaken its force.

On the annunciation by the French Ambassador of the acceptance of the new constitution by the King, Burke wrote his "Hints for a Memorial," to be delivered to M. de Montmorin; which went to prove, first, that no revolution is to be expected in France from internal causes solely : secondly, that the longer the present system exists, the greater will be its strength; and thirdly, that, as long as it exists, it would be the interest of the revolutionists to distract and revolutionize other countries.

The process of affairs in France had now greatly increased the violence of those who in this country demanded parliamentary reform. Burke opposed every idea on that subject which was delivered in parliament, with great vehemence and perseverance; and soon after the retreat of the king of Prussia and the successes of the Republicans, he wrote the "Second Memorial," contained in his posthumous work; in which he exhorts this country to take the lead in forming a general combination for the repression of French power and French principles.

At the commencement of the war, he had sent his son (with the approbation of government) to Coblentz, in order to collect information relative to the disposition of the allied powers; and from him he learned how little was to be expected from them without the interposition of Great Britain. During this

period, in which Burke, though now at his grand climacteric, REV. SEPT. 1798. continued

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continued to make the most brilliant display of his parliamentary eloquence, he appeared peculiarly desirous of impressing Mr. Fox with his own notions on the French Revolution: but, disappointed in these attempts, he felt the most extreme displeasure: to which he gave vent in his letter to the Duke of Portland " on the Conduct of Domestic Parties." This letter, it is said, was not designed for publication: but a rough draft having been copied by the amanuensis whom he employed, it was printed in the beginning of the year 1797, under the title of "Fifty-four Articles of Impeachment against the Right Hon. Charles James Fox." On hearing of the publication, Burke disclaimed nothing but the intention of giving it to the world; and he said that it was written in consequence of the Whig Club's declaration respecting the difference between him and Mr. Fox, which had induced Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, and some others, to withdraw their names from the Club. The asperity with which Burke censures the conduct and principles of Mr. Fox, in this pamphlet, cannot possibly be justified. Even Dr. Bisset does not attempt it.

Towards the close of the year 1793, he wrote the third Memorial, entitled "Remarks on the Policy of the Allies with respect to France." In this work, he complains that the object of the allies is private aggrandizement, instead of the support of legitimate government; and he advises, as the only means of restoring order, religion, and property in France, that the chief direction of every thing relative to her internal affairs should be committed to the EMIGRANTS, whom he calls "Moral France!" Agreeably to the resolution which Mr. Burke had long formed, of retiring from parliament when the trial of Mr. Hastings should be finished, he in this summer resigned his seat:-a sentence having been passed on Mr. Hastings.

On the 2d of August 1794, Mr. Burke lost his son, a gentleman who is said to have given proofs of considerable abilities, and for whom his father entertained the most enthusiastic affection. On the nomination of Lord Fitzwilliam to the Viceroyalty of Ireland, young Mr. B. was appointed his secretary: but his premature death intervened. He had been engaged by the Irish Catholics to manage their affairs respecting the claim of the elective franchise: a privilege which, as appears by his Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe, Mr. Burke anxiously wished they should obtain. Another Letter from Mr. Burke, defending his conduct and his celebrated "Reflexions," in answer to some observations which had fallen from the Duke of Norfolk in parliament, is the only publication, besides those that we have mentioned, which he gave to the world until royal bounty rewarded his services by a pension settled on him and Mrs. Burke. His acceptance

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acceptance of this mark of favour was said by his enemies to account fully for all his preceding conduct relative to the French Revolution: but Dr. Bisset observes that it is improbable that Burke at any time sacrificed his principles to his interest. The public, no doubt, have long since settled their opinion on this point; if they have not, our author brings no new argument to assist their determination. The Duke of Bedford and Lord Lauderdale, in the beginning of 1796, made some observations on Burke's pension: which called forth a Letter to Lord Fitzwilliam, in which Mr. Burke boldly and confidently asserts his own services, while he takes a retrospect of those by which the Duke's ancestors acquired their property. Dr. Bisset candidly acknowleges that this invective on his Grace is the mere ebullition of an angry mind, as the Duke had a right to inquire into the disposal of the public money.

From this period, Mr. Burke's time was spent in the bosom of his family: his hospitality to the emigrants, the establishment, by his influence, of a school for their children; and his promotion of friendly clubs among the poor in his neighbourhood; are the most striking features that distinguish the period of his retirement. His next work was entitled "Thoughts on a Regicide Peace," published when the first overtures were made by government for an accommodation. Of this pamphlet, Dr. Bisset professes to entertain the most favourable opinion. -Mr.Burke's bad state of health now made it necessary for him to visit Bath, whence, however, he returned in the ensuing spring. then proceeded in the plan of which the "Thoughts on a Regicide Peace" were a part: but he did not live to finish it.

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• His health, from the beginning of June, rapidly declined; but his body only, not his mind, was affected. His understanding operated with undiminished force and uncontracted range: his dispositions retained their sweetness and amiableness. He continued regularly and strenuously to perform the duties of religion and benevolence. Although his body was in a state of constant and perceptible decay, yet was it without pain. The week in which he died he conversed with literary and political friends, on various subjects, and especially on the awful posture of affairs. He repeatedly requested their forgiveness, if ever he had offended them, and conjured them to make the same request in his name to those of his friends that were absent. Friday, July the 7th, he spent the morning in a recapitulation of the most important acts of his life, the circumstances in which he acted, and the motives by which he was prompted; shewed that his comprehensive mind retained the whole series of public affairs, and discussed his own conduct in the arduous situations he had had to encounter. He expressed his forgiveness of all who had, either on that subject or for any other cause, endeavoured to injure him. The evening he spent in less agitating conversation,