Excerpt from Edmund Burke's Connection With Bristol, From 1774 Till 1780: With a Prefatory Memoir of Burke

The writer's knowledge of the details of the various Parliamentary contests at Bristol, has been gained by a life-long desultory application to the subject; his earliest recollections including information as to old election episodes and customs; he has from time to time - in bygone years - made frequent visits to aged Citizens long since passed away, with a view to obtain information derived from personal recollections, and in some cases from traditions, recollections and traditions are frequently worth listening to, but should be accepted with caution) and the information thus obtained has been found useful on many occasions.

The writer has in his possession a number of books, pamphlets, original broadsides, old newspapers, newspaper cuttings, ms. Notes, &c., - the whole forming a considerable collection relating to Bristol Elections - from which, and from other authentic sources of information, the facts relating to Burke's election at Bristol, and his subsequent parliamentary connection with the City, have been derived.

The broadsides and other election literature connected with the 17 74 Election have a distinct interest, because it is not only a fact that in some cases the original broadside, from which the copy has been transcribed, is the only one known to exist, but in the composition of some of the replies to the attacks made upon Burke during the progress of the poll, there are sentences and phrases which might, with little fear of contradiction, be marked as being contributions from his own pen, or dictated by him. It would also be easy to mark some of the clever compositions of Hannah More, and in at least two or three cases, there are visible signs of the vigorous style of Richard Champion.

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