THE lives of Lord Bolingbroke and Edmund Burke
illustrate each other. They may be said to embrace the
whole political history of the eighteenth century; and
from the very different characters of the two men, the
very different principles they announced, and the very
different causes they advocated, form a curious con-
trast, and a most instructive study. The biography
of the one statesman may rightly be considered a
companion to the biography of the other.

A Life of Bolingbroke, presenting in one continuous
view all the vicissitudes of his ambitious and chequered
life, has long been a favourite design of the author.
Without wishing to depreciate what has been written
by others, he can ask no greater favour than that his
volume may be fairly compared with anything which
has as yet appeared professing to contain a delineation
of Lord Bolingbroke's career. The narrative, as will

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