‘Missed a bit...’ A female weaver bird inspects her mate’s progress with the nest, near the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya. Statecraft, in Burke’s opinion, was a delicate business and each country had to develop its Constitutional identity in a way that suited that particular People; sudden, wholesale changes and borrowed ideology were fraught with risk. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Burke had to endure considerable scorn for ringing the alarm bells so quickly, but the execution of King Louis XVI in 1793 and the Reign of Terror that followed brought opinion in Westminster and around the country over to his side.
Introduction
As France descended into chaos and bloodshed in the unhappy revolution of 1789, Edmund Burke urged his fellow MPs to examine their responsibilities. An English statesman is entrusted by the People with helping them to make their country better, and they want neither the statesman who is too timid to change anything, nor the statesman who is so arrogant as to smash everything up.
Spartam nactus es; hanc exorna.* This is, in my opinion, a rule of profound sense, and ought never to depart from the mind of an honest reformer. I cannot conceive how any man can have brought himself to that pitch of presumption, to consider his country as nothing but carte blanche upon which he may scribble whatever he pleases. A man full of warm, speculative benevolence may wish his society otherwise constituted than he finds it; but a good patriot, and a true politician, always considers how he shall make the most of the existing materials of his country. A disposition to preserve, and an ability to improve, taken together, would be my standard of a statesman. Everything else is vulgar in the conception, perilous in the execution.
From ‘Reflections On The Revolution In France’ (1790), by Edmund Burke (1729-1797), edited by H. P. Adams.
* Literally, ‘Sparta is your lot; adorn that.’ That is, do your best in the situation Providence has given you, and do not wish you had been given somewhere else.
Questions for Critics
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Précis
In the shadow of the French Revolution of 1789, Edmund Burke told fellow MPs in Westminster that his measure of a statesman was whether he could preserve what was good and amend what was bad in the situation given to him by Providence. It was both arrogant and dangerous, he said, to attempt a shortcut through sudden and drastic changes. (60 / 60 words)
In the shadow of the French Revolution of 1789, Edmund Burke told fellow MPs in Westminster that his measure of a statesman was whether he could preserve what was good and amend what was bad in the situation given to him by Providence. It was both arrogant and dangerous, he said, to attempt a shortcut through sudden and drastic changes.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: must, not, or, otherwise, ought, since, unless, who.
Archive
Word Games
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Patriot. Pitch. Speculative.
2 Execution. Himself. Than.
3 Improve. Material. Politician.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
But.
Butt.
2.
Pleas.
Please.
3.
Aught.
Ought.
4.
Him.
Hymn.
5.
Wood.
Would.
Adjectives Find in Think and Speak
For each word below, compose sentences to show that it may be used as an adjective. Adjectives provide extra information about a noun, e.g. a black cat, a round table, the early bird etc..
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Good. 2 Better. 3 Best. 4 True. 5 Vulgar. 6 Honest. 7 Perilous. 8 Warm. 9 Full.
Variations: 1.show whether your adjective can also be used as e.g. a noun, verb or adverb. 2.show whether your adjective can be used in comparisons (e.g. good/better/best). 3.show whether your adjective can be used in attributive position (e.g. a dangerous corner) and also in predicate position (this corner is dangerous).
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
crss (11+1)
across. caress. carouses. courses. crass. creases. crises. crisis. cross. cruises. curses.
cress.
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