BURKE EDMUND: (1729-1797)

BURKE EDMUND: (1729-1797)

‘I shun, as much as possible, all intercourse with the world,
from which I am wholly retired, not only in fact but in disposition.
I am no longer capable of duty or susceptible of pleasure’

 

BURKE EDMUND: (1729-1797) Anglo-Irish statesman, economist and philosopher. A.L.S., Edm. Burke, two pages, 4to, Beaconsfield, 16^th June 1795, to the Archbishop of Bordeaux (Jerome-Marie Champion De Cice). Burke congratulates his correspondent on their safe arrival in England and continues 'The time of my receiving the honour you are pleased to intend for me will depend upon your own convenience. The manner of your reception must of course be extremely disproportioned to the respect I bear you & such as is more suitable to my circumstances…..My state of mind disqualifies me from the attentions, I should, in my better days, have been proud of shewing to strangers such as you are. The sole link by which I was held to society is broken; & I shun, as much as possible, all intercourse with the world, from which I am wholly retired, not only in fact but in disposition. I am no longer capable of duty or susceptible of pleasure', further adding that he expects the Archbishop will be accompanied by one of his nephews as a guide and asking if 'you will be so good as to let me know the day on which you will find it convenient to confer on me the honour you intend', explaining that 'I will take care that my carriage shall meet you at the Angel Inn half way between this & London'. With integral address leaf in Burke's hand and bearing a good black wax seal (small area of paper loss caused by the original breaking). Some light age wear, VG

Jerome-Marie Champion De Cice (1735-1810) French clergyman who was Archbishop of Bordeaux from 1781-1801 and emigrated to England during the French Revolution.