Freedom fighter
An ideal political role model
The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to American Independence. By David Bromwich. Harvard University Press; 500 pages; $39.95. Buy from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk
EDMUND BURKE, who died in 1797, is best known for his late writings on the French revolution. The 18th-century member of Parliament, who was a Whig, was one of the first to decry the revolt as the dangerous work of a swinish multitude. In a polemic that has echoes in the present day, he concludes: “The age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.”
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Freedom fighter"
From the July 5th 2014 edition
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