the impeachment of that statesman, which, beginning in 1787, lasted until
1794, and of which B. was the leading promoter. Meanwhile, the events in
France were in progress which led to the Revolution, and culminated in
the death of the King and Queen. By these B. was profoundly moved, and
his _Reflections on the French Revolution_ (1790) electrified England,
and even Europe. Its success was enormous. The same events and the
differences which arose regarding them in the Whig party led to its break
up, to the rupture of B's friendship with Fox, and to his _Appeal from
the New to the Old Whigs_. In 1794 a terrible blow fell upon him in the
loss of his son Richard, to whom he was tenderly attached, and in whom he
saw signs of promise, which were not patent to others, and which in fact
appear to have been non-existent. In the same year the Hastings trial
came to an end. B. felt that his work was done and indeed that he was
worn out; and he took leave of Parliament. The King, whose favour he had
gained by his attitude on the French Revolution, wished to make him Lord
Beaconsfield, but the death of his son had deprived such an honour of all
its attractions, and the only reward he would accept was a pension of
£2500. Even this modest reward for services so transcendent was attacked
by the Duke of Bedford, to whom B. made a crushing reply in the _Letter
to a Noble Lord_ (1796). His last _pub._ was the _Letter on a Regicide
Peace_ (1796), called forth by negotiations for peace with France. When
it appeared the author was dead.

B. was one of the greatest political thinkers whom England has produced,
and all his writings, like his speeches, are characterised by the welding
together of knowledge, thought, and feeling. Unlike most orators he is
more successful as a writer than as a speaker. He rose too far above the
heads of his audience, which the continued splendour of his declamation,
his inordinate copiousness, and his excessive vehemence, often passing
into fury, at length wearied, and even disgusted: but in his writings are