A Life of Edmund Burke

THE favour extended to this biography for many years, as shewn by the sale of several large editions, has occasioned the demand for a new issue. In conformity with the spirit of the times, a more popular form is assumed, so as to bring the volume within the reach of that large and increasing class of readers who desire to have standard works in a portable compass, and of others whose thirst for information on topics of general interest may exceed their means of acquiring it. With this view, the work has undergone careful revision. No abbreviation has been made in the narrative, which, on the contrary, is rendered more full by additions and references to the correspondence of its subject. Those letters only have been omitted that possess little immediate connexion with the occurrences of Burke's life, and which will find a more appropriate place in the body of his works.

It is satisfactory to state, in testimony of the care with which the work was originally written, that in the many volumes of contemporary men and history since published, or in the four volumes of correspondence issued under the care of Earl Fitzwilliam and Sir Richard Bourke, no incident that I have mentioned is contradicted, and no new one has been added.

The sources indeed whence I drew my information, rendered the omission of any event of moment improbable. To those formerly noticed, may be added the following: The recollections of Mr. Burke's niece, Mrs. Haviland, for several years an inmate of her uncle's house, as communicated by her son; those of Mr. Shackleton, Burke's schoolfellow, and of his daughter Mrs. Leadbeater, with both of whom frequent correspondence was maintained; several others of his private friends and correspondents to whom occasional reference occurs; while from another contemporary source, materials previously unknown were put into my hands illustrative of his studies and pursuits while in Trinity College, of which it will be seen occasional use is made.

Altogether, these furnish evidence of early formation of character, and indicate how truly the predilections of the youth were destined to shine forth in the man. Few readers but will find interest in tracing out such a career. Personally I cannot but feel gratified at having lent my humble aid to the more just representation of his motives and character at a time when there was a disposition to throw censure upon both, by the surviving members of an angry, because discomfited, order of politicians, who had never forgiven their overthrow on the questions connected with Revolutionary France. Nor are the anticipations in the original preface to this publication less fully verified, namely, that the misconstructions to which he had been subjected would soon cease; that esteem no less than fame awaited him; and that while receding from the fleeting passions and contentions of the day, he would ascend to that position among the first order of mankind, where according to the estimate of the distinguished men of the last and of the present age, as will be seen in the sixteenth chapter of this work, he has no superior and scarcely an equal.

NORFOLK CRESCENT,
September, 1854.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.

IN presenting a second and much enlarged edition of this work to the public, the writer cannot omit to express his acknowledgments for the favourable reception experienced by the first; not only from the periodical censors of literature who assume to guide public taste, but from private testimonies of approbation afforded by persons of the very first consideration and talents in the country.* Opinions which would seem to be confirmed by the sale of a large im pression of the work in no very considerable space of time.

This encouragement induced corresponding diligence on his part, to endeavour, by every available means, to add to its interest and correctness; and the inquiry and research resorted to with this view though laborious, have not been in vain. The additional matter collected, almost the whole of which is original, adds nearly a second volume to the work, and has necessarily caused a new arrangement in many parts for its introduction in the order of time, while other passages are wholly re-written. The work may thence be considered in many parts new. This plan he conceived to be more systematic and desirable than merely to give a supplemental volume of disjointed letters, anecdotes, and fragments thrown together without such coherence as their nature and importance deserved.

For the information thus received the writer is indebted to a variety of sources upon which he can place implicit reliance. Some of these are noticed in the progress of the volumes. Several persons to whom he is obliged, think it obtrusive or unnecessary to give their names to the world upon circumstances of lighter moment in themselves, or which carry with them in substance a sufficient guarantee of authenticity. He should be ungrateful however not to avow

The late Earl of Liverpool, when Prime Minister; Mr. Canning, when Secretary of State; Sir Robert Peel, Sir James Mackintosh, and many others of high political position.

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