What did surprise them was the eagerness with which the people seized upon the
book, and its effect upon them. The Tories, with the king, applauded long and
loud; the Whigs were disappointed, for Burke condemned the Revolution
unreservedly, and with a bitterness out of all proportion to the cause of his
anxiety and fear. As the Revolution progressed, he grew fiercer in his
denunciation. He broke with his lifelong associates, and declared that no one
who sympathized with the work of the Assembly could be his friend. His other
writings on the Revolution [Footnote: Letter to a Member of the National
Assembly and Letters on a Regicide Peace.] were in a still more violent strain,
and it is hard to think of them as coming from the author of the Speech on
Conciliation.

Three years before his death, at the conclusion of the trial of Warren Hastings,
Burke's last term in Parliament expired. He did not wish office again and
withdrew to his estate. Through the influence of friends, and because of his
eminent services, it was proposed to make him peer, with the title of Lord
Beacons field. But the death of his son prevented, and a pension of twenty-five
hundred pounds a year was given instead. It was a signal for his enemies, and
during his last days he was busy with his reply. The "Letter to a Noble Lord,"
though written little more than a year before his death, is considered one of
the most perfect of his papers. Saddened by the loss of his son, and broken in
spirits, there is yet left him enough old-time energy and fire to answer his
detractors. But his wonderful career was near its close. His last months were
spent in writing about the French Revolution, and the third letter on a Regicide
Peace--a fragment--was doubtless composed just before his death. On the 9th of
July, 1797, he passed away. His friends claimed for him a place in Westminster,
but his last wish was respected, and he was buried at Beaconsfield.