Mrs. Burke agree in the appreciation of her character. 'She was soft, gentle, reasonable, and obliging,' says Fanny Barney, and in the comparatively straitened circumstances in which they had [at first] to eke out life, she managed his affairs with prudence and discretion. Every care, he said, vanished when he crossed his own threshold." 60 For a time this connexion tended to widen the breach with his father, who was naturally dissatisfied that his son should take upon him such responsibilities without settled means of support. Edmund's son Richard was born in February 1758. Next year the first number of the Annual Register (a work still published) came out under his editorship. It was designed to contain a yearly summary of public affairs, drawn up with clearness and impartiality. Competent judges say that Burke's spirit pervaded the whole. Its compilation proved a useful training, and brought him £100 per annum throughout the eight years of his editorship. On Christmas Day, 1758, he met Dr. Johnson for the first time, at dinner at the house of David Garrick. The conversation turned upon Bengal, and, to the surprise of all, Johnson submitted to the corrections of the young Irishman upon some matters of fact connected with India. In 1759 he was unsuccessful in an application for the post of consul at Madrid. Later on in the same year he was, by Lord Charlemont, who had already discerned his great talents, introduced to William G. Hamilton, who had a seat at the Board of Trade. Hamilton engaged him as an assistant; and two years afterwards, when appointed Chief-Secretary for Ireland, Burke became his private secretary. About the same period, Burke's father appears to have become reconciled to him and to his marriage: he died soon afterwards, worth about £6,000. Edmund's share of this amount was but small, as £1,000 had been already spent on his education. Afterwards in Parliament, when replying on an occasion to Onslow, whose father and grandfather had been Speakers, Burke proudly declared: "I am not descended from members of Parliament, nor am I descended from any distinguished characters whatsoever; my father left me nothing in the world but good principles, good instruction, good example." On 21st July 1761, Horace Walpole met Burke at Mr. Hamilton's house. In his Notes are found the following remarks: "There were Garrick and a young Burke, who wrote a book in the style of Lord Bolingbroke, that was much admired. He is a sensible man; but has not worn off his authorism yet, and thinks there is nothing so charming as writers, and to be one. He will know better one of these days." 60 In 1763 Hamilton secured a pension of £300 on the Irish establishment to Burke, who stipulated that its acceptance should not imply a sacrifice of all his leisure. Before long his undivided services were claimed, and Burke in a respectful but manly spirit repudiated the liability, and threw up the pension, having enjoyed it but a year. The severance of this connexion occurred in April 1765. Burke afterwards declared: "For six of the best years of my life he took me from every pursuit of literary reputation or of improvement of my fortune." During occasional sojourns in Ireland, he renewed old college and Ballitore friendships, and became intimate with Flood and other leaders of the liberal party in Dublin. We must not omit to note that in 1764 the famous literary club had been founded by Reynolds, Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith, Dr. Nugent (Burke's fatherin-law), and Bennet Langton, who with one or two others, were the original members. In 1765, regardless of warnings that Burke was a Jesuit in disguise, Lord Rockingham, who had just become PrimeMinister, appointed him his private secretary; and in January 1766, his return was secured for Wendover, a borough once represented by John Hampden. The proceedings and the routine of Parliament had already engaged his earnest attention; he had been a constant visitor in the gallery; his training and studies eminently fitted him for the foremost part he almost immediately took in the debates; whilst his tall and commanding figure, in the full prime of manhood, and his noble countenance secured attention and inspired respect. He quickly caught the ear of the House, and a competent judge writes I hat he " astonished everybody by the power of his eloquence and his comprehensive knowledge in all our exterior and internal politics and commercial interests. He wants nothing but that sort of dignity annexed to rank and property in England, to make him the most considerable man in the Lower House." 60 The question that had brought the Rockingham administration into power was the American Stamp Act, and the prudent and conciliatory measures by which the rising storm in the colonies was for the time allayed are understood to have been not only suggested and planned by Burke, but carried mainly by his persevering and persuasive advocacy. This ministry remained only a year in office, and on its dissolution, in July 1766, Burke steadfastly continued in opposition—the publication of 44
