MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 463 



gratefully appreciated ; and no Englishman will rise from the perusal of his 

 simply elegant preface, without admiration of the talent of the author, and 

 the feelings of the man. 



THE WORKS OP THE RIGHT HON. EDMUND BURKE, WITH A 

 BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL INTRODUCTION. 2 VOLS. HOLDS- 

 WORTH AND BALL. 



THE appearance of this edition of the Works of Burke, is a striking sign 

 of the times as well in the fine spirit of enterprise which conceived it, as 

 in the splendour and completeness with which it has been produced. These 

 volumes are worthy of being the casket of the brilliant productions of the 

 great and varied mind of Burke the register of the industry and enthu- 

 siasm, the poetry and philosophy, the knowledge and genius of that extra- 

 ordinary man. It is an edition in all respects worthy of his name, as the 

 portrait that adorns it is worthy the illustrious original. It is from Sir 

 Joshua's painting a noble work of art, as the head itself was noble. The 

 engraving (by Edwards) has done justice to both for finer, richer, or more 

 perfect it could not be. This is succeeded by an introduction, biographi- 

 cal and critical, which impresses itself on our judgment, as by far the most 

 masterly, moral, political, and intellectual portraiture of Burke, that has 

 yet been given to the world. It is a production that leaves little unsaid 

 that can be said with justice and certainty, of the genius and character of 

 the subject of it. It is, manifestly, written by one who has drunk of the 

 stream, " the well of pure English undefiled," that runs through the writ- 

 ings of Burke, with a lucidness, a loveliness, and a vigour, which has 

 scarcely been equalled, and is not to be transcended. The author of this 

 admirable essay has been kindled by his subject, and has studied the 

 glowing pages of Burke, until his own have become tinctured with their 

 eloquence. It is of "outward form elaborate," and of inward not e< less 

 exact " nothing seeming to be said for effect, but all bearing the stamp 

 and impress of the writer's settled conviction of its truth. The subject is 

 divided into three parts; a brief but satisfactory sketch of Mr. Burke's life, 

 an analysis of his character, and observations on his principal writings. In 

 each of these divisions, the writer evinces a minute and profound acquain- 

 tance with his subject, and a determination to judge for himself of the re- 

 sult of his researches, unswayed by party prejudice, ignorant common- 

 place, or vulgar report. He has widely abjured the maxim, aut Deus aut 

 Diabolus; he paints his subject as he sees him, and neither magnifies nor 

 diminishes, to suit the taste of a clique, whether it be of adulators or depre- 

 dators. It is true he defends Mr. Burke upon points which have been 

 thought to admit of no good defence he proves him to have been strong, 

 where he has been ignorantly or perversely judged to have been weak ; but 

 then this is done fairly, candidly, and successfully, and with no sacrifice of 

 truth for the sake of deifying his hero. This is what we particularly like 

 throughout this able and discriminative essay ; and its rarity makes it the 

 more valuable. Yet, while some very striking, and we believe, some 

 very novel points are brought out, illustrative of Burke's stern integrity, 

 and unaffected simplicity of character, his biographer has dealt as unspair- 

 ingly as his judgment is clear, and his sense of truth strong, with the de- 

 fects that are freely mingled with the excellences of that singular man. 

 Of the critical enquiries into the writings of Burke, and the review of the 

 many and opposite qualities of mind which they display, we have only 

 space to say that they are powerful and penetrating to a degree that ena- 

 bles us to fathom, with no insufficient exactness the fountains of that 

 mighty flood of intellect, that, flowing into the Propontic, "ne'er knew re- 

 tiring ebb." 



