Produced by Paul Murray, Michael Punch and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr BURKE'S WRITINGS AND SPEECHES VOLUME THE FIRST [Illustration: EDMUND BURKE.] THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE EDMUND BURKE IN TWELVE VOLUMES VOLUME THE FIRST [Illustration: Burke Coat of Arms.] London JOHN C. NIMMO 14, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND, W.C. MDCCCLXXXVII CONTENTS OF VOL. I. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER, PREFIXED TO THE FIRST OCTAVO EDITION v ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND OCTAVO EDITION xvii A VINDICATION OF NATURAL SOCIETY: OR, A VIEW OF THE MISERIES AND EVILS ARISING TO MANKIND FROM EVERY SPECIES OF ARTIFICIAL SOCIETY 1 A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL; WITH AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE CONCERNING TASTE 67 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF A LATE SHORT ADMINISTRATION 263 OBSERVATIONS ON A LATE PUBLICATION, INTITULED, "THE PRESENT STATE OF THE NATION" 269 THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS 433 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.[1] The late Mr. Burke, from a principle of unaffected humility, which they who were the most intimately acquainted with his character best know to have been in his estimation one of the most important moral duties, never himself made any collection of the various publications with which, during a period of forty years, he adorned and enriched the literature of this country. When, however, the rapid and unexampled demand for his "Reflections on the Revolution in France" had unequivocally testified his celebrity as a writer, some of his friends so far prevailed upon him, that he permitted them to put forth a regular edition of his works. Accordingly, three volumes in quarto appeared under that title in 1792, printed for the late Mr. Dodsley. That edition, therefore, has been made the foundation of the present, for which a form has been chosen better adapted to public convenience. Such errors of the press as have been discovered in it are here rectified: in other respects it is faithfully followed, except that in one instance an accident of little moment has occasioned a slight deviation from the strict chronological arrangement, and that, on the other hand, a speech of conspicuous excellence, on his declining the poll at Bristol, in 1780, is here, for the first time, inserted in its proper place.