1793.
NOTE.
For an account of the manuscript of this 'Apology,' and details on other points, see Preface in the present volume.

G.
APOLOGY FOR THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1793.
MY LORD, Reputation may not improperly be termed the moral life of man.

Alluding to our natural existence, Addison, in a sublime allegory well known to your Lordship, has represented us as crossing an immense bridge, from whose surface from a variety of causes we disappear one after another, and are seen no more.

Every one who enters upon public life has such a bridge to pass.

Some slip through at the very commencement of their career from thoughtlessness, others pursue their course a little longer, till, misled by the phantoms of avarice and ambition, they fall victims to their delusion.