Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

David Williams (University of Sheffield)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.05: English Writing and Culture from the Glorious Revolution to the French Revolution, 1689-1789.
Vol. editors: Paul Baines (University of Liverpool), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Pat Rogers (University of South Florida), Nicholas Seager (University of Keele)

Domains

Political Science

Dates

First circulation or publication 1790

Places

Ireland, Republic of (Eire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Account/ study
Treatise

Resources

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The

Reflections on the Revolution in France, and on the proceedings in certain societies in London relative to that event

, written in great haste and with a palpable sense of urgency, were cast in the form of a letter addressed on the title page to “a gentleman in Paris”. Published on 1 November 1790, some two years before the start of the Terror, the

Reflections

form part of the post-1789 war of pamphlets that saw Burke take up arms against dissenting radicals like Joseph Priestley, Dr Richard Price and other friends of the French Revolution (“the hopping insects of the hour”), for whose views the Revolution Society provided a ready forum. Burke had already attacked Price in the 1771

Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol

, condemning the fiery Welsh preacher for having distorted the…

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1915 words

Citation: Williams, David. "Reflections on the Revolution in France". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9355, accessed 27 November 2024.]