Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund BurkeBurke, Edmund
Philosophy
Selections from the Speeches and Writings of Edmund Burke
Burke, Edmund
Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797; Essays; Political science; Speeches, addresses, etc.
love without gallantry; a love without anything of that fine flower of
youthfulness and gentility, which places it, if not among the virtues,
among the ornaments of life. Instead of this passion, naturally allied
to grace and manners, they infuse into their youth an unfashioned,
indelicate, sour, gloomy, ferocious medly of pedantry and lewdness; of
metaphysical speculations blended with the coarsest sensuality. Such
is the general morality of the passions to be found in their famous
philosopher, in his famous work of philosophic gallantry the "Nouvelle
Eloise." When the fence from the gallantry of preceptors is broken down,
and your families are no longer protected by decent pride, and salutary
domestic prejudice, there is but one step to a frightful corruption. The
rulers in the National Assembly are in good hopes that the females of
the first families in France may become an easy prey to dancing-masters,
fiddlers, pattern-drawers, friseurs, and valets de chambre, and other
active citizens of that description, who having the entry into your
houses, and being half domesticated by their situation, may be blended
with you by regular and irregular relations. By a law they have made
these people their equals. By adopting the sentiments of Rousseau they
have made them your rivals. In this manner these great legislators
complete their plan of levelling, and establish their rights of men on a
sure foundation.
I am certain that the writings of Rousseau lead directly to this kind
of shameful evil. I have often wondered how he comes to be so much more
admired and followed on the continent than he is here. Perhaps a
secret charm in the language may have its share in this extraordinary
difference. We certainly perceive, and to a degree we feel, in this
writer, a style glowing, animated, enthusiastic; at the same time that
we find it lax, diffuse, and not in the best taste of composition; all
the members of the piece being pretty equally laboured and expanded,
without any due selection or subordination of parts. He is generally too
much on the stretch, and his manner has little variety. We cannot
rest upon any of his works, though they contain observations which
occasionally discover a considerable insight into human nature. But his
doctrines, on the whole, are so inapplicable to real life and manners,
that we never dream of drawing from them any rule for laws or conduct,
or for fortifying or illustrating anything by a reference to his
opinions. They have with us the fate of older paradoxes.
"Cum ventum ad VERUM est, SENSUS MORESQUE repugnant,
Atque ipsa utilitas, justi prope mater et aequi."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account