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PAGE 22, 6, 7. The lead seems still to be held by the lawyers. The law is still considered to be the most natural avenue to a political career.

12.

Plantations-colonies, the plantings of a new society or race. The term is regularly so used in acts and charters, and has no reference whatever to cultivation of the soil.

18-21. In the hope of paralyzing all concerted action on the part of the colonists, an order was issued forbidding the calling of town-meetings after Aug. 1, 1774. But a way was soon found, and within the limit of the law, to hold such meetings without calling them. The last called meeting before that date was simply adjourned to whatever time was thought desirable, and its legal existence was thus prolonged indefinitely.

25, 26. This was Thurlow, a famous lawyer, and afterwards Lord Chancellor. At this time he was Attorney-General, and a conspicuous figure among the Ministers on the Treasury Bench. Directly in front of him was the narrow space of open floor; hence, the designation of his position as "on the floor." To guard its freedom of speech, the House of Commons in earlier times used its utmost powers to prevent any attempt at reporting its debates. It thus became, and still is, a grave breach of decorum for a member to use pencil and paper in the House at all, unless it were to make a brief note of a point to which he would reply. Burke thus understands Thurlow's note-book and pencil, and avails himself of the unusual action to identify, without naming him, the person he means.

32. "Studies pass over into character," or "What we pursue takes shape again in our life;" a famous aphorism from Ovid, Heroid. Ep. xv. 83, quoted also by Bacon in his essay of Studies.

Page 23, 15–17. A splendid figure developed out of Horace's fine phrase in the opening of one of his Odes (Bk. iv. 4), comparing Drusus in his victorious career to Jove's eagle, "the thunder's winged minister," ministrum fulminis alitem.

Page 24, 26, 27. with all its imperfections on its head, Adapted from the words of the ghost in Hamlet, Act I., Scene v. 79.

PAGE 30, 8. "To the despoiled are still left arms."

NAL, Sat. viii. 124.

26. Cf. Acts xix. 19.

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33. more chargeable, involving heavier charge, more expensive.

PAGE 31, 35, 36.

Quoted from that treasury of bathos, The Art of Sinking in Poetry, ch. xi. The remote source of the lines in "one of Dryden's plays," though affirmed by various editors, seems to lack verification.

PAGE 32, 26, 27. Sir Edward Coke, a famous lawyer under Elizabeth and James; Attorney-General in 1603, when Raleigh was tried for treason. "While the prisoner defended himself with the calmest dignity and self-possession, Coke burst into the bitterest invective, brutally addressing the great courtier, as if he were a servant, in the phrase long remembered for its insolence and injustice, Thou hast an English face, but a Spanish heart!'" - Encyc. Brit.

PAGE 33, 14, 15. ex vi termini — by the very nature of the expression.

PAGE 34, 29. addressed — petitioned the Crown in an Address. Cf. Note on Forms of Procedure, p. 322.

PAGE 36, 7. startle, intransitive, meaning start. Cf. Dictionary.

27-29. From Paradise Lost, II., 592-594. PAGE 38, 12, 13. American financiers hope to raise a revenue by taxing America. 24. Mr. Rice.

- financiers who would

34. shall tell you is bound to,' is sure to;' with fuller recognition than is now common of the original meaning of this auxiliary.

PAGE 39, 3. Acts of Navigation, passed first in 1651, re-enacted later, and repealed only within our own century. They were designed to secure to England a practical monopoly of the carrying trade by sea. According to them, no vessel of another realm might bring either to England or to her colonies anything except the actual products of that realm. Cf. Encyclopedia, s. v. Navigation Laws.

22, 23. the pamphlet, by Dean Tucker, somewhat famous in the discussions of this time, and noticed by Johnson, as well as by Burke in his previous speech on American Taxation.

PAGE 41, 30. For a clear understanding of the various matters referred to in this paragraph, the student should consult some succinct sketch of the history of Ireland, such, for example, as may be found in Chambers's Encyclopedia; or, better still, with the help of the Index, the subject may be followed up in Green's Short History of the English People, a work which ought always to be within reach of the student of English Literature.

PAGE 42, 17. Sir John Davis, or rather, Davies, "Speaker of the First Irish House of Commons in 1612." - PAYNE.

33-35. The two great crises which have occurred in the course of English constitutional history are the revolt of the Parliament against Charles I., and the revolution which brought in William and Mary and established the principle of ministerial responsibility to Parliament. The first is habitually called by Englishmen the Great Rebellion, and the other the Revolution. Their application of these terms must not be confounded with other applications more familiar to us.

PAGE 43, 3, 4. Burke here goes much further than the facts with regard to Ireland warrant. Ireland has never been "a principal part of England's strength and name.”

21. Cf. Green's Short History. The parallel between Ireland and Wales is close and cogent so far as concerns the era of repression and savage coercion in each. On the other hand, the difference in the remedial measures applied to the two, and the difference in the results, have furnished a powerful argument in the discussion of the Irish question since Burke's time. Many parts of this speech gather fresh significance when read in the light of recent English history.

33. as secondary as deputy. The word is a noun here. PAGE 45, 25-30. From Horace, Odes, Book I. xii. 27, comparing the advent of Augustus upon the distracted world to the rising of Castor and Pollux (the constellation of Gemini), upon the stormy sea. "As soon as the bright star has flashed on the view of the sailors, the raging sea retires from the rocks, winds

so they [the

sink and clouds disperse, and on the open main deities] have willed it. the threatening swell is laid.”

PAGE 46, 6. shewen, the older spelling of show with the old English plural ending, identical with that of modern German.

PAGE 48, 19. "Nature has planted [a barrier] in the way." JUVENAL, Sat. x. 152. The Latin poets and the English Bible fortunately were both familiar to Burke's audience, and one of the notable features of his oratory is the telling effect with which he marks his climaxes of thought by some pregnant text from these sources or from the English poets.

PAGE 49, 4, 5. From Comus, 1. 634, 635, inexactly quoted.

28. temple of British concord, with obvious allusion to the Temple of Concord in Rome, in which the Senate met during the troublous times of Catiline's conspiracy. The richness and frequency of allusion in Burke far transcend the possibility of annotation, but they should not be overlooked by any one who would feel the force and charm of his writing. See, for example, the whole of the first paragraph on p. 51.

PAGE 50, 34, 35. "Not mine is this language, but what Ofellus taught me; rustic, but of wisdom not learned in schools.". HORACE, Sat. II. ii. 2, 3.

PAGE 55, 27, 28. misguided people, sc. of England. engaged in, enlisted in favor of.

PAGE 62, 33, 34. the immediate jewel of his soul, Othello, III. iii. 156. A great house, etc.- even slaves feel a pride in the glory of a princely establishment to which they belong, and are willing to sacrifice something for the distinction it confers upon them. A reminiscence from Juvenal, Sat. v. 66.

PAGE 64, 10, 11. Burke lived to see this state of things reversed, and to approve the abolition of a separate Irish legislature. PAYNE.

PAGE 65, 5, 6. "Experiments should be tried on objects of no value."

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PAGE 68, 4. a Treasury Extent, a summary process of compelling the payment of debts due the Crown by seizure of persons, lands, and goods.

13. empire of Germany, the so-called Holy Roman Empire,

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already little more than a name in Burke's time, and formally brought to an end in 1806. Cf. Bryce's Holy Roman Empire. PAGE 69, 31. "The treasure-chest is staked on the game' the utmost resources of the Colonies will thus be pledged to secure England's success. See p. 70, 1. 21 ff. PAGE 70, 34, 35.

PAGE 74, 3, 4.

Paradise Lost, iv., 96, 97, inexactly quoted. warning in the old sense of summons or call. the exhortation which,

Sursum corda, "Lift up your hearts!".

in all the old liturgies, as well as in the Prayer Book, prefaces the sacrament of the Communion.

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15, 16. 66 Happy and auspicious may it prove!" the old Roman invocation prefacing all high and solemn acts.

Burke's propositions, it will be noticed, are strictly resolutions, as he calls them. If passed, they would have been mere expressions of the views and opinions of the assembly, and not legislation proper in the form of an Act of Parliament. After the recital of circumstances (Resolutions 1-6), instead of an "enacting clause" to make that which follows law, we have in each section the words, "That it may be proper to.". In this way it was possible to bring these matters to discussion and to a vote; whereas legislation would at best have incurred many delays, and in this case, with the Ministry to oppose it at every step, it could hardly have been brought to the consideration of the House at all. (See Note on Forms of Procedure, p. 323.) Still, could these resolutions have passed, the Ministers would, in effect, have been instructed to introduce and forward the legislation indicated, or else to vacate their places.

This speech shared the fate which attended most of Burke's efforts. Its force and eloquence commanded universal admiration, but were powerless to bring about what he desired. The resolutions were lost by an overwhelming majority. What actually took place is stated in Hansard's Parliamentary History as follows: 1

1 The statement appended to the first edition of this speech, and copied by almost every editor since, that "upon this [first] Resolution the previous question was put and carried," is manifestly in error and absurd.

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