In 1756, six years after his
arrival in London, and almost immediately following the rupture with his father,
he married a Miss Nugent. At about the same time he published his first two
books, [Footnote: A Vindication of Natural Society and Philosophical Inquiry
into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful] and began in earnest
the life of an author.
He attracted the attention of literary men. Dr. Johnson had just completed his
famous dictionary, and was the centre of a group of writers who accepted him at
his own valuation. Burke did not want for company, and wrote
copiously.[Footnote: Hints for an Essay on the Drama. Abridgement of the History
of England] He became associated with Dodsley, a bookseller, who began
publishing the Annual Register in 1759, and was paid a hundred pounds a year for
writing upon current events. He spent two years (1761-63) in Ireland in the
employment of William Hamilton, but at the end of that time returned, chagrined
and disgusted with his would-be patron, who utterly failed to recognize Burke's
worth, and persisted in the most unreasonable demands upon his time and energy.
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