The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. I. | Page 4

an earnest desire to give it the fullest and speediest
effect. In truth, the answer, which is full of spirit and vivacity, was
written the latter end of the same year, but was laid aside when the
question assumed a more serious aspect, from the commencement of an
actual negotiation, which gave rise to the series of printed letters.
Afterwards, he began to rewrite it, with a view of accommodating it to

his new purpose. The greater part, however, still remained in its
original state; and several heroes of the Revolution, who are there
celebrated, having in the interval passed off the public stage, a greater
liberty of insertion and alteration than his friends on consideration have
thought allowable would be necessary to adapt it to that place in the
series for which it was ultimately designed by the author. This piece,
therefore, addressed, as the title originally stood, to his noble friend,
Earl Fitzwilliam, will be given the first in the supplemental volumes
which will be hereafter added to complete this edition of the author's
works.
The tracts, most of them in manuscript, which have been already
selected as fit for this purpose, will probably furnish four or five
volumes more, to be printed uniformly with this edition. The principal
piece is an Essay on the History of England, from the earliest period to
the conclusion of the reign of King John. It is written with much depth
of antiquarian research, directed by the mind of an intelligent statesman.
This alone, as far as can be conjectured, will form more than one
volume. Another entire volume also, at least, will be filled with his
letters to public men on public affairs, especially those of France. This
supplement will be sent to the press without delay.
Mr. Burke's more familiar correspondence will be reserved as
authorities to accompany a narrative of his life, which will conclude the
whole. The period during which he flourished was one of the most
memorable of our annals. It comprehended the acquisition of one
empire in the East, the loss of another in the West, and the total
subversion of the ancient system of Europe by the French Revolution,
with all which events the history of his life is necessarily and intimately
connected,--as indeed it also is, much more than is generally known,
with the state of literature and the elegant arts. Such a subject of
biography cannot be dismissed with a slight and rapid touch; nor can it
be treated in a manner worthy of it, from the information, however
authentic and extensive, which the industry of any one man may have
accumulated. Many important communications have been received; but
some materials, which relate to the pursuits of his early years, and
which are known to be in existence, have been hitherto kept back,
notwithstanding repeated inquiries and applications. It is, therefore,
once more earnestly requested, that all persons who call themselves the

friends or admirers of the late Edmund Burke will have the goodness to
transmit, without delay, any notices of that or of any other kind which
may happen to be in their possession or within their reach, to Messrs.
Rivingtons,--a respect and kindness to his memory which will be
thankfully acknowledged by those friends to whom, in dying, he
committed the sacred trust of his reputation.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Prefixed to the first octavo edition: London, F. and C. Rivington,
1801: comprising Vols. I.-VIII. of the edition in sixteen volumes issued
by these publishers at intervals between the years 1801 and 1827.
[2] Comprising the last four papers of the fourth volume, and the whole
of the fifth volume, of the present edition.
[3] The former comprising the matter included between the paragraph
commencing, "I hear it has been said," &c., and that ending with the
words, "there were little or no materials"; and the latter extending
through the paragraph concluding with the words, "disgraced and
plagued mankind."
[4] At the paragraph commencing with the words, "In turning our view
from the lower to the higher classes," &c.
[5] In the first half of the paragraph commencing, "If, then, the real
state of this nation," &c.

ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE SECOND OCTAVO EDITION.[6]
A new edition of the works of Mr. Burke having been called for by the
public, the opportunity has been taken to make some slight changes, it
is hoped for the better.
A different distribution of the contents, while it has made the volumes,
with the exception of the first and sixth, more nearly equal in their
respective bulk, has, at the same time, been fortunately found to
produce a more methodical arrangement of the whole. The first and
second volumes, as before, severally contain those literary and
philosophical works by which Mr. Burke was known previous to the
commencement of