The House of Brunswick is one of the oldest families of Germany.  A branch of this family occupies the British throne.  Siddons, Sarah (b. 1755, d. 1831), was a famous English actress.  Gibbon, Edward (b. 1737, d. 1794), was a celebrated English historian.  Cicero; see note on page 156.  Tacitus (b. about 55, d. after 117 A. D.) was a Roman orator and historian, who conducted the prosecution of Marius, proconsul of Africa.  Reynolds, Sir Joshua (b. 1723, d. 1792), an English portrait painter of note.  Parr, Samuel (b. 1747, d. 1825), was an English author.  Burke, Edmund; see biographical sketch accompanying the following lesson.

CVIII.  DESTRUCTION OF THE CARNATIC.

Edmund Burke, 1730-1797, one of the most able and brilliant of England’s essayists, orators, and statesmen, was born in Dublin, and was the son of an able lawyer.  He graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1748.  As a student, he was distinguished for ability and industry.  From 1750 to 1766 he was in London writing for periodicals, publishing books, or serving as private secretary.  His work on “The Sublime and Beautiful” appeared in 1756.  From 1766 to 1794 he was a member of Parliament, representing at different times different constituencies.  On the first day of his appearance in the House of Commons he made a successful speech.  “In the three principal questions which excited his interest, and called forth the most splendid displays of his eloquence—­the contest with the American Colonies, the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and the French Revolution—­we see displayed a philanthropy the most pure, illustrated by a genius the most resplendent.”  Mr. Burke’s foresight, uprightness, integrity, learning, magnanimity, and eloquence made him one of the most conspicuous men of his time; and his writings stand among the noblest contributions to English literature. ###

When at length Hyder Ali found that he had to do with men who either would sign no convention, or whom no treaty and no signature could bind, and who were the determined enemies of human intercourse itself, he decreed to make the country possessed by these incorrigible and predestinated criminals a memorable example to mankind.  He resolved, in the gloomy recesses of a mind capacious of such things, to leave the whole Carnatic an everlasting monument of vengeance, and to put perpetual desolation as a barrier between him and those against whom the faith which holds the moral elements of the world together was no protection.

He became at length so confident of his force, so collected in his might, that he made no secret whatsoever of his dreadful resolution.  Having terminated his disputes with every enemy and every rival, who buried their mutual animosities in their common detestation against the creditors of the Nabob of Arcot, he drew from every quarter whatever a savage ferocity could add to his new rudiments in the arts of destruction; and compounding all the materials of fury, havoc, and desolation into one black cloud, he hung for a while on the declivities of the mountains.