Edmund Burke: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful [1 ed.] 0268048738, 9780268048730

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A PHILOSOPHICAL ENQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL

EDMUND

BURKE

A PhilosophicalEnquiry into the Origin

of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful

EDITED

WITH

AN INTRODUCTION

AND NOTES BY

JAMES

T. BOULTON

UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS NOTRE DAME

First paperback edition 1968 by University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, IN 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved eprinted in 1 0 1 1 1 2000 200 200

0 1

Published in the United tates of merica opyri ht

1

by

oulton

irst published 1 by outled e e an Paul td ri inal Hardback edition published by Humanities Press nc University of Notre Dame Press Hardback edition published in 2017

This ebook has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this book do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

ibrary of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-27583 ISBN 13: 978-0-268-00085-1 (paperback) ISBN 13: 978-0-268-04873-0 (hardback) ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

CONTENTS EDITOR'S

PREFACE

IX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Xl

EDITOR'S

I

Composition and Publication

On Taste The Sublime and Beautiful Influence of the Enquiry

II III IV NOTE

xv

INTRODUCTION

ON THE TEXT

BURKE'S

xv XXVll XXXIX

lxxxi CXXIX

ENQUIRT

Preface to the First Edition

I

Preface to the Second Edition

3

Contents Text

7 I I

APPENDIX: A LIST OF EDITIONS OF THE ENQUIRT PUBLISHED DURING BURKE'S LIFETIME

I 79

INDEX

183

V

TO MARGARET ANDREW AND HELEN

EDITOR'S PREFACE

B

eminence as a political thinker has been long URKE'S acknowledged: his claims as an aesthetician have rarely been seriously, never thoroughly considered. On the other hand, while his theory is no longer acceptable, no reputable historian of the aesthetics, the literary criticism, or the taste of the a eighteenth century fails to give a mention-frequently detailed analysis-to Burke's PhilosophicalEnquiry into ... the Sublimeand Beautiful. And yet no critical edition of this work has been published in the two hundred years since its first appearance. Without exaggerating the wisdom of the Enquiry, one must rank it among the most important documents of its century. Besides painters, architects, and a host of minor writers, such major figures as Johnson, Blake (despite his overt scorn for Burke's ideas), Wordsworth, Hardy, Diderot, Lessing, and Kant felt its influence. It is hoped, therefore, that this bicentenary edition will enable a just historical estimate to be made of a work in which, as Johnson remarked of him later, Burke's "stream of mind is perpetual". The principal tasks facing an editor were to establish a definitive text, to show and account for Burke's extensive textual changes in the second edition, and to supply the necessary annotation. In addition, I have related the whole work to the historical development of ideas and shown some directions in which, in England and Europe, it appears to have been influential. To whatever degree of adequacy and completeness has been achieved many have contributed; what faults remain are my sole responsibility. To Professor V. de S. Pinto and my colleagues in the Department of English in the University of Nottingham my thanks are due for their unfailing assistance; in particular I am indebted to Mr. G. R. Hibbard who read ix

X

EDITOR'S

PREFACE

the manuscript, made valuable suggestions, and saved me from many errors. Mr. W. R. Chalmers and Dr. D. BrettEvans kindly solved various problems connected with classical and German literature respectiyely; Mr. D. Jefferson, of the University of Leeds, generously put at my disposal his own work on the Enquiry; Professor T. W. Copeland, of the University of Chicago, answered many enquiries about the Burke manuscripts, as did Professor W. B. Todd, of Harvard University, about the printed texts; and to Professor I. Ehrenpreis, of Indiana University, who advised and assisted unstintingly, I am indebted in a score of ways. I am also grateful to Mr. H. Erskine-Hill for help in correcting the proofs. Finally, without the willing co-operation of the Librarians and staffs of the Bodleian Library and the Nottingham University Library, the task would have been impossible.

Universityof Nottingham

J. T. B.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I acknowledge permission from Mr. C. E. C. Hussey, Messrs. Putnam & Co. Ltd. (London), and Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons (New York), to quote from The Picturesque (1927); and from the Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, to quote from The Early Life, Correspondenceand Writings of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke (Cambridge, 1923), by A. P. I. Samuels.

"I am satisfied I have done but little by these observations considered in themselves; and I never should have taken the pains to digest them, much less should I have ever ventured to publish them, if I was not convinced that nothing tends more to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate. These waters must be troubled before they can exert their virtues. A man who works beyond the surface of things, though he may be wrong himself, yet he clears the way for others, and may chance to make even his errors subservient to the cause I only desire one favour; that no part of of truth .... this discourse may be judged of by itself and independently of the rest; for I am sensible I have not disposed my materials to abide the test of a captious controversy, but of a sober and even forgiving examination; that they are not armed at all points for battle; but dressed to visit those who are willing to give a peaceful entrance to truth." Burke, Enquiry,p. 54.

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

"IT

I. COMPOSITION

AND

PUBLICATION

is four years now since this enquiry was finished": so runs the Preface (not reprinted in later editions) to Edmund Burke's Sublimeand Beautiful when it first appeared on 21 April 1757. Burke's assertion is untrue-he refers, for instance, in the work itself to Spence's Account of the Life, Character,and PoemsofMr. Blacklock,not published until 13 November 17541 -but, more important, it hides from view the length of time that the Enquiry had taken to evolve. A more helpful comment is recorded in Edmond Malone's journal for 28 July 1789. Malone had pressed Burke "to revise and enlarge his admirable book on the SublimeandBeautiful, which the experience, reading, and observation of thirty years could not but enable him to improve considerably." 2 While resisting this pressure Burke informed Malone that "the subject ... had been long rolling in his thoughts before he wrote his book, he having been used from the time he was in college to speculate on the topics which form the subjects of it. He was six or seven years employed on it." This more accurate indication of the period of composition directs our principal attention to the years 1747-1753 or 1754, but clearly suggests that to begin no earlier than 1 74 7 would be to falsify the picture. Burke had entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 14 April 1744, a lad of fifteen. With an adolescent mixture of flippancy and high seriousness he already revealed a curiosity in subjects soon to have a more vital interest for him. In a letter to the son of 1 See D. Weeter, "The Missing Years in Edmund Burke's Biography", P.M.L.A. (1938), Lill, 1120-1. I am generally indebted in this section to Weeter and to A. P. I. Samuels, The Early Life . .. of Burke (Cambridge, 1923). 2 Sir James Prior, Life