of Bolingbroke and in ridicule of his philosophy, by proving that the arguments employed by the late Tory intriguer against religion could equally be applied against every other institution of civilized men; and the well-known æsthetic essay, “A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful,"

A profound student of English literature, well read in the classics, and conscious of the power within him to give expression to his views, Burke turned his attention, as so many a young Templar has before him, to the calling of a man of letters. Whether he found the study of the law distasteful, or feared that without the necessary interest he had no career before him, or whatever was the cause, certain it is that he was not called to the bar. How Burke employed himself during the nine years before he became known is somewhat a matter of conjecture, for he rarely referred to this period of his early struggles, and there is little evidence before the biographer to compensate for this silence. It appears that the old solicitor was indignant with his son for having given up all thoughts of a legal career, and relieved his irritation by reducing the young man's allowance to such a point as to leave him greatly dependent on his own resources. Still, however critical, so far as money matters were concerned, was the situation of Burke at this time, we are told that he could afford to travel, and that in the year 1756 he married a Miss Nugent, the daughter of an Irish physician. His marriage, which proved an exceptionably happy one, now rendered work a matter of necessity, and the same year which had to record his union has to announce the first appearance of Burke as an author. Two works he now published, "A Vindication of Natural Society," an essay in imitation of the style

VOL. I.

between what is sublime and what is beautiful, and reads the age a lecture upon what is taste. "It was a vigorous enlargement of the principle," says Mr. Morley in his able study of Burke, criticising the "Inquiry," " which Addison had not long before timidly illustrated, that critics of art seek its principles in the wrong place so long as they limit their search to poems, pictures, engravings, statues, and buildings, instead of first arranging the sentiments and faculties in man to which art makes its appeal. Addison's treatment was slight and merely literary; Burke dealt boldly with his subject on the base of the most scientific psychology that was then within his reach. To approach it on the psychological side at all was to make a distinct and remarkable advance in the method of the inquiry which he had taken in hand."

The publication of these two works, in an age when to be an author was a distinction in itself, introduced Burke into society. He became a member of that famous club over which the great Samuel Johnson so despotically presided; several of the leading Whigs took notice of the young man; and among the other political celebrities of his day he became acquainted with William Gerard Hamilton, better known as "Singlespeech" Hamilton. Horace Walpole met him at dinner at Hamilton's house. "There were," he writes, "Mr. Garrick and a young Mr. Burke, who wrote a book in the style of Lord Bolingbroke that is much admired. He is a sensible man, but has not worn off his authorism yet, and thinks there is nothing so charming as writers and to be one." Burke at this time was certainly a writer, and moreover a very busy member of the

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literary profession. He put forth his "Hints for an Essay on the Drama," he wrote an "Abridgment of the History of England," which, however, concluded with the reign of John, and in conjunction with Dodsley, the well-known bookseller in Pall Mall, started the Annual Register, a work which is still continued, and the carlier volumes of which are among the best sources to derive information respecting the events of the latter half of the eighteenth century. The series begins with the year 1758.

So distinguished a man, especially at a time when literature was looked upon as a stepping-stone to politics and statesmen were eager to have in their service writers of any eminence, was not likely long to remain ignored. For two years, from 1761 to 1763, Burke occupied himself in Ireland as private secretary to Hamilton, who had crossed St. George's Channel as secretary to Lord Halifax, then the lord lieutenant. A quarrel, caused by Hamilton demanding Burke to devote himself entirely to his own service, severed the intimacy that had formerly existed between the two, and the private secretary once more found himself in London free, but without employment. It was true that Hamilton had obtained a pension for him from the Irish Treasury, but the recipient had expressly stated when accepting the grant that his whole time was not to be devoted to Hamilton, but that he was to have some leisure to pursue such literary labours as he might affect. To this arrangement the patron objected; he had befriended Burke, and Burke, in his master's opinion, was henceforth to be his slave. The young Irishman indignantly repudiated so base a bargain, and threw up the pension; it is said he never spoke to Hamilton again.

"It is very true," he writes to his friend Flood, "that there is an eternal rupture between me and Hamilton, which was on my side neither sought nor provoked; for though his conduct in public affairs has been for a long time directly contrary to

my opinions, very reproachful to himself, and extremely disgustful to me, and though in private he has not justly fulfilled one of his engagements to me, yet I was so uneasy and awkward at coming to a breach where I had once a close and intimate friendship, that I continued with a kind of desperate fidelity to adhere to his cause and person; and when I found him greatly disposed to quarrel with me, I used such submissive measures as I never before could prevail upon myself to use to any man.

The occasion of our difference was not any act whatsoever on my part; it was entirely on his, by a voluntary but most insolent and intolerable demand, amounting to no less than a claim of servitude during the whole course of my life, without leaving me at any time a power either of getting forward with honour, or of retiring with tranquillity. This was really and truly the substance of his demand upon me, to which I need not tell you I refused with some degree of indignation to submit. On this we ceased to see each other or to correspond a good while before you left London. He then commenced, through the intervention of others, a negotiation with me, in which he showed as much of meanness in his proposals as he had done of arrogance in his demands; but as all these proposals were vitiated by the taint of that servitude with which they were all mixed, his negotiation came to nothing." Afterwards Burke did not hesitate to brand his former patron and friend as an "infamous scoundrel."

He had, however, already made his mark, and was not long to remain unemployed. His foot was now placed on the first rung of the political ladder. Upon the dismissal of George Grenville in the summer of 1765, the Marquis of Rockingham, as we have already narrated, was called upon to form an administration. In a happy hour he appointed Burke as his private secretary, and thus began a friendship which lasted for seventeen years, and which never knew one hour of estrangement-it was perfect