“Dear Sir,
“I am grieved to tell you that your late friend, Mr.
Burke, is no more. He expired last night, at half-past
twelve o’clock.
“The long, steady, and unshaken friendship which had
subsisted between you and him, renders this a painful
communication; but it is a duty I owe to such friendship.
“I am, Dear Sir, &c., “EDW. NAGLE.”
“_Beaconsfield, 9th July, 1797._”
Hard, indeed, was this blow to Dr. Burney. He lamented this high
character in all possible ways, as a friend, a patriot, a statesman, an
orator, and a man of the most exalted genius.
“He was certainly,” says his letter to Bookham upon this
event, “one of the greatest men of the present century;
and, I think I might say, the best orator and statesman
of modern times. He had his passions and prejudices, to
which I did not subscribe; but I always ardently admired
his great abilities, his warmth of friendship, his
constitutional urbanity.”