Carlow County -
Ireland Genealogical Projects (IGP
TM)
Rt. Hon.
Edmund Burke
(1730 - 1797)
Edmund
Burke, one of England’s greatest statesmen, was born in
Carlow, Ireland, on January 1st, 1730. He was educated
at Dublin, and took his bachelor’s degree in 1749. In
1753, having been unsuccessful in his application for
the logic professorship at Glasgow, he went to London
and entered at the Middle Temple. He early employed his
pen in literature and his eloquence in politics. His
first literary production of note was an essay on the
Vindication of Natural Society, in imitation of Bolingbroke’s style. In 1757 he published his essay on
the Sublime and Beautiful. In 1758 he and Dodswell
commenced the Annual Register, which acquired great
celebrity. He accompanied Gerard (or Single Speech)
Hamilton to Ireland in 1761, and, by the interposition
of that gentleman, obtained a pension of fifteen hundred
dollars on the Irish Establishment. On his return he was
introduced to the Marquis of Rockingham, who made him
his secretary, and procured his election to a seat in
the House of Commons. There he eloquently and
efficiently pleaded the cause of the Americans. On the
downfall of North’s administration he became pay-master
general, and obtained a seat in the Council. His great
speeches against Warren Hastings, when on trial before
the House of Commons, were such as the British
Legislature had never before heard. He retired from
Parliament in 1794, on a pension of six thousand
dollars. During his political career he wrote much, and
his compositions rank among the purest of the British
classics. He died on the 8th of July, 1797, in, the
seventieth year of his age. Goldsmith, in his
Retaliation, * wrote the following epitaph for Burke. It
was written in 1776, when Burke was in the midst of his
career.
"Here lies our
good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can
praise it or blame it too much; Who, born for the
universe, narrow’d his mind, And to party gave up
what was meant for mankind. Though fraught with all
learning, yet straining his throat To persuade Tommy
Townshend † to lend him a vote; Who, too deep for
his hearers, still went on refining, And thought of
convincing while they thought of dining. Though
equal to all things, for all things unfit: Too nice
for a statesman, too proud for a wit; For a patriot
too cool; for a drudge, disobedient; And too fond of
the right to pursue the expedient. In short, ’twas
his fate, unemploy’d or in place, sir, To eat mutton
cold and cut blocks with a razor."
* The history of
this poem is a "curiosity of literature." Goldsmith had
peculiarities which attracted attention, and it was
proposed, at a club of literary men, of which he was a
member, to write characters of him in the shape of
epitaphs. Dean Barnard, Cumberland, Garrick, and others
complied. Garrick wrote the following couplet:
"Here lies poor
Goldsmith, for shortness call’d Noll; Who wrote like
Apollo, and talk’d like poor poll."
Goldsmith felt
called upon for retaliation, and at the next meeting
produced the poem from which the following is an
extract. It contained epitaphs for several of the club,
and he paid off his friend Garrick with compound
interest These lines occur in Garrick’s epitaph:
"Of praise a
mere glutton, he swallow’d what came And the puff of
a dunce he mistook it for fame, Till his relish grew
callous, almost to disease; Who pepper’d the highest
was surest to please."
But he generously
added, "But let us be candid, and speak out our
mind – If dunces applauded, he paid them in kind."
Source:
PICTORIAL FIELD BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION 1850
The information contained in these
pages is provided solely for the purpose of sharing with
others researching their ancestors in Ireland.
Edmund
Burke, one of England’s greatest statesmen, was born in
Carlow, Ireland, on January 1st, 1730. He was educated
at Dublin, and took his bachelor’s degree in 1749. In
1753, having been unsuccessful in his application for
the logic professorship at Glasgow, he went to London
and entered at the Middle Temple. He early employed his
pen in literature and his eloquence in politics. His
first literary production of note was an essay on the
Vindication of Natural Society, in imitation of Bolingbroke’s style. In 1757 he published his essay on
the Sublime and Beautiful. In 1758 he and Dodswell
commenced the Annual Register, which acquired great
celebrity. He accompanied Gerard (or Single Speech)
Hamilton to Ireland in 1761, and, by the interposition
of that gentleman, obtained a pension of fifteen hundred
dollars on the Irish Establishment. On his return he was
introduced to the Marquis of Rockingham, who made him
his secretary, and procured his election to a seat in
the House of Commons. There he eloquently and
efficiently pleaded the cause of the Americans. On the
downfall of North’s administration he became pay-master
general, and obtained a seat in the Council. His great
speeches against Warren Hastings, when on trial before
the House of Commons, were such as the British
Legislature had never before heard. He retired from
Parliament in 1794, on a pension of six thousand
dollars. During his political career he wrote much, and
his compositions rank among the purest of the British
classics. He died on the 8th of July, 1797, in, the
seventieth year of his age. Goldsmith, in his
Retaliation, * wrote the following epitaph for Burke. It
was written in 1776, when Burke was in the midst of his
career.