973. BURKE (Edmund), Toryism of.—
The Revolution of France does not astonish me
so much as the revolution of Mr. Burke. I wish
I could believe the latter proceeded from as
pure motives as the former. But what demonstration
could scarcely have established before,
less than the hints of Dr. Priestley and Mr.
Paine establish firmly now. How mortifying
that this evidence of the rottenness of his mind
must oblige us now to ascribe to wicked motives
those actions of his life which wore the
mark of virtue and patriotism.—
To Benjamin Vaughan.
Ford ed., v, 333.
(1791)
