1. 9. legislative competence, cf. p. 222, 1. 25.

1. 11. proof, fitted to test the faith. The words used are appropriate to describe the authoritative enunciation of a religious dogma by an ecclesiastical council. That paper is equal in value to gold is just as repugnant to reason as any of the dogmas of religion.

11. 12, 13. For anathema, see on p. 14, 1. 18, and for fathers, see on p. 124, 1. 18.

11. 13, 14. Credat Judæus Apella, Horace, Sat. 1. v. 100, uses these words in the sense of "none but the most superstitious would believe it." Conington translates it-"Tell the crazed Jews such miracles as these!" As Jew is synonymous with money-lender, what Burke means is that nobody who knows anything about money will believe the assertion made by the Assembly.

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1. 17. Mr. Law, the author of the Mississippi scheme. See on p. 217, 1. 16. The French leaders resent any comparison between themselves and Mr. Law. They assert that the shares of his company were not backed by such good security as their assignats are. The use of the words sand and rock to describe a weak and a solid foundation is suggested by one of Christ's discourses recorded in the New Testament:-"Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sands; and the rain descended, and the floods cane, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell and great was the fall of it "-Matt. vii. 24; and by the saying of Christ to St. Peter, "Thou art Peter (Greek petra, a rock) and upon this rock will I build my church." Similarly Bacon says, Although the human foundation hath somewhat of the sands, yet the divine foundation is upon the rock."—Adv. of Learning, 2. xxiii. 46.

1. 20. glorious, boastful, like the Latin gloriosus.

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1. 21. ground, notice the appropriateness of the word. The assignats were based upon the lands of the church.

1. 23. mother fraud, of which all subsequent frauds were merely copies.

1. 27. the farms, etc., the contracts. To farm the revenue means to leave the collection of it to an individual in consideration of a lump sum paid down by him.

1. 31. generous, see on p. 39, 1. 34. The idea of making the old and new worlds contribute to the prosperity of France was a noble idea, fitted to attract a lofty imagination.

P. 273, 1. 2. nuzzling, going with the nose down. Cf.

"The blessed benefit, not there confined,

Drops to a third who nuzzles close behind."

Pope, Epil. to the Satires, dial. ii.

1. 11. enlightened, ironical. The allusion, of course, is to the fact that the paper currency was made compulsory. The reader will notice the irony of the following paragraph.

1. 19. alchymy, see on p. 208, 1. 10.

1. 24. drawing and redrawing, issues and renewals of promissory notes. To renew a bill means to get the time for payment extended.

to the Bank of Discount.

1. 25. the evil day, the day on which payment must be made, or the inability to pay be declared. on the play, etc., the government pretended to borrow from and to make repayments But no actual payments in money were made on either side, as the state was largely indebted to the Bank of Discount, which would have been ruined by a declaration of National Bankruptcy. The notes of the bank, therefore, were worth no more than the assignats of the state.

1. 26. exploded, see on p. 28, 1. 24.

1. 31. their airy speculations, cf. p. 208, 1. 1.

P. 274, 1. 2. to value, to pride themselves. Cf. p. 275, 1. 17. 1. 12. panegyric, see on p. 151, 1. 29.

1. 19. Henry the Fourth, see on p. 53, 1. 11. Upon the death of Henry III., Henry IV., being a Protestant, was recognized as king only by a portion of the army. He was opposed by the League, and only obtained possession of his kingdom by professing the Catholic religion.

1. 24. Mr. Bailly, the reference is to the letters written by him on the subject of the fabled island of Atlantis. For the quotation which follows see Par. Lost, 10. 293,

"The aggregated soil

Death with his mace petrific, cold, and dry,

As with a trident smote."

1. 31. the period, etc., the month in which the Bastille fell is a month never to be forgotten.

P. 275, 1. 6. Paris rules the subject departments as Rome ruled the subject provinces of her empire. The inhabitants of an imperial city of which the government is democratic will always make the provinces maintain them. When, as in Rome, the republic is supplanted by a despotism, the despot can only maintain himself in power by conciliating the inhabitants of the city. The provinces, therefore, are still as before made to main

tain the inhabitants of the ruling city, and, in addition, they are subject to the exactions of the despot.

1. 25. To keep a balance, etc., cf. p. 256, 1. 34 seqq.

1. 28. The means, etc., a man must be in a position to make money before he can pay money.

1. 34. rooted out, etc., as they are when men are taught that all men are equal. With what follows cf. p. 40, 1. 27 seqq. Whoever weakens the belief of the poor that the inequalities of this life will be redressed in another world, makes them discontented and idle here, and tempts them to redress the inequality here by robbing those who are better off than themselves.

P. 276, 1. 14. tontines, a tontine is an annuity on a group of lives. As the annuitants die off, the annuity is paid to the survivors. The name is derived from that of the inventor of the scheme, Laurence Tonti, a Neapolitan. An annuity is a yearly income received in consideration of a lump sum which has been advanced by the recipient. It represents the consideration paid by the state for a loan. Burke means that before considering whether it shall obtain the use of money by loans, or by issuing paper, or by getting advances from individuals or groups of individuals, or by letting its property, the government must take care that the existence of money at all is possible.

1. 15. wares of the shop, tricks of the trade: devices of professional financiers. The reader should notice how Burke insists throughout that foresight and comprehensiveness of view are essential to statesmanship.

Pp. 276-end. The name of liberty will not make up for all the evil that has been done in France. Mere liberty is but another name for license. It is good to talk and think of liberty; it is good to have the power of conciliating the people. But liberty must be combined with control, and popular leaders must remember that they are in danger of becoming the tools of the people whom they aspire to guide. Those who supplant an old system by a new one naturally destroy something bad and substitute something that is good. But the good which the French have done is as nothing in comparison with the evil. Let the English people take warning! Let them remember that it is their own fault if they do not live happily under their own constitution! Let them shun changes which are unnecessary, radical, or rash! When the period of revolution is over, and some permanent form of government is established, a French reader may perhaps profit by Burke's philosophy of conservatism. He is at least zealous for the cause of freedom, and what he has written is the result of honest and unbiassed reflection.

1. 32. It is the greatest, etc., with this passage cf. pp. 7-9.

P. 277, 1. 3. They warm the heart, etc., they stir our feelings, they make us think less of ourselves and more of the claims of others in times of conflict they keep us in mind of the value of that for which we are fighting.

1. 5. Old as I am, cf. p. 72, 1. 1.

1. 6. The Roman poet Lucan in his Pharsalia deplores the destruction of Roman freedom which was completed by the victories of Cæsar over Pompey. Corneille, a French dramatist, was born

in 1606, and died in 1684.

1. 10. they diffuse, etc., occasional efforts to please are a welcome relaxation of the habitual austerity of the strictly virtuous

man.

1. 12. the graces, in the old mythology, represented beauty, refinement, and gentleness. Burke means that every politician should cultivate the art of pleasing.

1. 19. to temper together, to weld into one.

P. 278, 1. 20. the states, cf. p. 38, 1. 24.

1. 33. to their own conduct, for an illustration of this see note on p. 229, 1. 28.

P. 279, 1. 10. a moral, etc., fear of doing wrong, as distinguished from cowardice. complexional, means constitutional.

1. 15. He that had made them, etc., God rewarded them with success because they acted with the caution that befits fallible creatures.

1. 22. the aëronauts, the adventurous politicians.

1. 29. one of our poets, Addison. The quotation is from his Cato.

P. 280, 1. 5. the endeavours, alluding to the proceedings against Warren Hastings.

1. 14. would preserve, see on p. 7, 1. 29.

1. 17. is desirous of carrying, etc., wishes to preach a philosophy of order to a people which is in danger of being ruined by anarchical theory and policy.