The Union Flag and the French Tricolour nod courteously across Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, London. Burke loved the French as a people of courtesy and gentle learning, but he feared that the fanatical Revolutionaries would spread a moral and intellectual coarseness throughout Europe. His fears were justified; but as so often happens the stubborn public refused to do as their politicians wanted, and France herself has remained a symbol of refinement and good manners.
Introduction
Edmund Burke (1729-1797) regarded the fates of England and France as closely intertwined, and consequently the catastrophic events of the French Revolution in 1789 made him afraid for England. If France falls into tyranny and moral decline, he warned, it will be that much harder for England to resist going the same way.
NOTHING is more certain, than that our manners, our civilisation, and all the good things which are connected with manners and with civilisation, have, in this European world of ours, depended for ages upon two principles; and were indeed the result of both combined; I mean the spirit of a gentleman, and the spirit of religion. [...]
It is not clear, whether in England we learned those grand and decorous principles, and manners, of which considerable traces yet remain, from you, or whether you took them from us. But to you, I think, we trace them best.* You seem to me to be gentis incunabula nostrae [the cradle of our race].* France has always more or less influenced manners in England: and when your fountain is choked up and polluted, the stream will not run long, or not run clear with us, or perhaps with any nation. This gives all Europe, in my opinion, but too close and connected a concern in what is done in France.*
Abridged from ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’ (1790) by Edmund Burke (1729-1797).
In 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, became King of England. For the next hundred years French language, music and culture dominated among the elite in Church and State. From the time of Henry III onwards (r. 1216-1272) that aristocratic Frenchness was gradually reconciled with everyday Englishness. See Macaulay on The Good Reign of Bad King John.
The phrase comes from Virgil’s Aeneid, iii. 105. It was originally applied to Crete as the supposed cradle of the Trojan people. A little more even-handedly, Leslie Howard included France among several formative influences on the British character in a broadcast at Christmas 1940, alongside Scandinavia and ancient Greece and Rome. See Britain’s Destiny.
Burke’s fears were well-founded. Three years later the Reign of Terror (September 5th, 1793 to July 28th, 1794) gripped Paris, and the Revolutionaries began exporting revolution and war across Europe. See posts tagged French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802) (7). The ‘spirit of the revolution’ unsettled states right across the Continent for years afterwards, causing William Pitt the Younger to blame France for Europe’s addiction to political extremism. See The Temperate Zone.
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.
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 Both. Manner. Whether.
2 Influence. Think. Too.
3 Depend. Which. Yet.
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.
Weather.
Whether.
2.
But.
Butt.
3.
Seam.
Seem.
4.
Principle.
Principal.
5.
Hour.
Our.
6.
Yew.
You.
7.
Knot.
Not.
8.
Your.
You’re.
Yore.
9.
Two.
Too.
Opposites Find in Think and Speak
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1.
Better.
2.
Close.
3.
Give.
4.
Grand.
5.
Learn.
6.
Less.
7.
More.
8.
Nothing.
9.
Take.
Variations: 1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms). 2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence. 3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding -less.
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
Add
Your Words ()
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