GHRRETT
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LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
PRESENTED BY
GARRETT HARDIN
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THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
From a.Fbotogra,ph"by Claud et
THE LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
LOED MACAULAY
BY HIS NEPHEW
G. OTTO
MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR HAWICK DISTRICT OF BURGHS
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS
FRANKLIN SQUARE
1876
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, by
HARFKB & BROTHERS,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
PEE FACE.
THIS work has been undertaken principally from a convic-
tion that it is the performance of a duty which, to the best of
my ability, it is incumbent on me to fulfill. Though even on
this ground I can not appeal to the forbearance of my readers,
I may venture to refer to a peculiar difficulty which I have
experienced in dealing with Lord Macaulay's private papers.
To give to the world compositions not intended for publi-
cation may be no injury to the fame of writers who, by habit,
were careless and hasty workmen ; but it is far otherwise in
the case of one who made it a .rule for himself to publish
nothing which was not carefully planned, strenuously la-
bored, and minutely finished. Now, it is impossible to ex-
amine Lord Macaulay's journals and correspondence without
being persuaded that the idea of their being printed, even in
part, never was present to his mind ; and I should not feel
myself justified in laying them before the public if it were
not that their unlabored and spontaneous character adds to
their biographical value all, and perhaps more than all, that
it detracts from their literary merit.
To the heirs and relations of Mr. Thomas Flower Ellis and
Mr. Adam Black ; to the Marquis of Lansdowne ; to Mr. Mac-
12 PREFACE.
vey Napier ; and to the executors of Dr. Whewell, my thanks
are due for the courtesy with which they have placed the dif-
ferent portions of my uncle's correspondence at my disposal.
Lady Caroline Lascelles has most kindly permitted me to use
as much of Lord Carlisle's journal as relates to the subject
of this work ; and Mr. Charles Cowan, my uncle's old oppo-
nent at Edinburgh, has sent me a considerable mass of print-
ed matter bearing upon the elections of 1847 and 1852. The
late Sir Edward Ryan, and Mr. Fitzjames Stephen, spared no
pains to inform me with regard to Lord Macaulay's work at
Calcutta. His early letters, with much that relates to the
whole course of his life, have been preserved, studied, and ar-
ranged by the affectionate industry of his sister, Miss Macau-
lay; and material of high interest has been intrusted to my
hands by Mr. and the Hon. Mrs. Edward Cropper. I have
been assisted throughout the book by the sympathy and the
recollections of Lady Holland, the niece to whose custody
Lord Macaulay's papers by inheritance descend.
G. O. T.
March, 1876.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
1800-1818.
Plan and Scope of the Work. — History of the Macaulay Family. — Aulay. —
Kenneth. — Johnson and Boswell. — John Macaulay and his Children. —
Zachary Macaulay. — His Career in the West Indies and in Africa. — His
Character. — Visit of the French Squadron to Sierra Leone. — Zachary
Macaulay's Marriage. — Birth of his Eldest Son. — Lord Macaulay's Early
Years. — His Childish Productions. — Mrs. Hannah More. — General Mac-
aulay.— Choice of a School. — Shelford. — Dean Miluer. — Macaulay's
Early Letters. — Aspenden Hall. — The Boy's Habits and Mental Endow-
ments.— His Home. — The Clapham Set. — The Boy's Eelations with his
Father. — The Political Ideas among which he was brought up, and their
Influence on the Work of his Life Page 17
CHAPTER II.
1818-1824.
Macaulay goes to the University. — His Love for Trinity College. — His
Contemporaries at Cambridge. — Charles Austin. — The Union Debating
Society. — University Studies, Successes, and Failures. — The Mathemat-
ical Tripos. — The Trinity Fellowship. — William the Third. — Letters. —
Prize Poems. — Peterloo. — Novel-reading. — The Queen's Trial. — Macau-
lay's Feeling toward his Mother. — A Reading-party. — Hoaxing an Edit-
or.— Macaulay takes Pupils 78
CHAPTER III.
1824-1830.
Macaulay is called to the Bar. — Does not Make it a Serious Profession. —
Speech before the Antislavery Society. — Knight's Quarterly Magazine. —
The Edinburgh Kevieiv and the "Essay on Milton." — Macaulay's Personal
14 CONTENTS.
Appearance and Mode of Existence. — His Defects and Virtues, Likings
and Antipathies. — Croker. — Sadler. — Zachary Macaulay's Circumstances.
— Description of the Family Habits of Life in Great Ormond Street. —
Macaulay's Sisters. — Lady Trevelyan. — " The Judicious Poet." — Macau-
lay's Humor in Conversation. — His Articles in the Review. — His Attacks
on the Utilitarians and on Southey. — Blackwooffa Magazine. — Macaulay
is made Commissioner of Bankruptcy. — Enters Parliament. — Letters
from Circuit and Edinburgh Page 109
CHAPTER IT.
1830-1832.
State of Public Affairs when Macaulay entered Parliament. — His Maiden
Speech. — The French Ee volution of July, 1830. — Macaulay's Letters
from Paris. — The Palais Royal.— Lafayette. — Lardner's Cabinet "Cy-
clopedia."— The New Parliament Meets. — Fall of the Duke of Welling-
ton.— Scene with Croker. — The Reform Bill. — Political Success. — House
of Commons Life. — Macaulay's Party Spirit. — London Society. — Mr.
Thomas Flower Ellis. — Visit to Cambridge. — Rothley Temple. — Mar-
garet Macaulay's Journal. —Lord Brougham.— Hopes of Office. — Mac-
anlay as a Politician.— Letters to Lady Trevelyan, Mr. Napier, and Mr.
Ellis... .. 148
CHAPTER Y.
1832-1834.
Macaulay is Invited to stand for Leeds. — The Reform Bill passes. — Mac-
aulay appointed Commissioner of the Board of Control. — His Life in Of-
fice.— Letters to his Sister. — Contested Election at Leeds. — Macaulay's
Bearing as a Candidate. — Canvassing. — Pledges. — Intrusion of Religion
into Politics. — Placemen in Parliament. — Liverpool. — Margaret Mac-
aulay's Marriage. — How it Affected her Brother. — He is Returned for
Leeds. — Becomes Secretary of the Board of Control. — Letters to Lady
Trevelyan. — Session of 1832. — Macaulay's Speech on the India Bill. — His
Regard for Lord Glenelg. — Letters to Lady Trevelyan. — The West In-
dian Question. — Macanlay resigns Office. — He gains his Point, and re-
sumes his Place. — Emancipation of the Slaves. — Death of Wilberforcr. —
Letters to Lady Trevelyan. — Macaulay is appointed Member of the Su-
preme Council of India. — Letters to Lady Trevelyan, Lord Lansdowne,
and Mr. Napier. — Altercation between Lord Althorp and Mr. Sheil. —
Macaulay's Appearance before the Committee of Investigation. — He sails
for India..., .. 227
CONTENTS. 15
CHAPTEK VI.
1834-1838.
The Outward Voyage. — Arrival at Madras. — Macaulay is summoned to
join Lord William Bentinck in the Neilgherries. — His Journey Up-coun-
try.— His Native Servant. — Arcot. — Bangalore. — Seringapatam. — As-
cent of the Neilgherries. — First Sight of the Governor-general. — Letters
to Mr. Ellis and the Miss Macaulays. — A Summer on the Neilgherries. —
Native Christians. — Clarissa. — A Tragi-comedy. — Macaulay leaves the
Neilgherries, travels to Calcutta, and there sets up House. — Letters to
Mr. Napier and Mrs. Cropper. — Mr. Trevelyan. — Marriage of Hannah
Macaulay. — Death of Mrs. Cropper. — Macaulay's Work in India. — His
Minutes for Council — Freedom of the Press. — Literary Gratitude. —
Second Minute on the Freedom of the Press. — The Black Act. — A Cal-
cutta Public Meeting. — Macaulay's Defense of the Policy of the Indian
Government. — His Minute on Education. — He becomes President of the
Committee of Public Instruction. — His Industry in discharging the Func-
tions of that Post. — Specimens of his. Official Writing. — Results of his
Labors. — He is appointed President of the Law Commission, and recom-
mends the Framing of a Criminal Code. — Appearance of the Code. —
Comments of Mr. Fitzjames Stephen. — Macaulay's Private Life in India.
— Oriental Delicacies. — Breakfast-parties. — Macaulay's Longing for En-
gland.— Calcutta and Dublin. — Departure from India. — Letters to Mr.
Ellis. Mr. Sharp, Mr. Napier, and Mr. Z. Macaulay Page 320
APPENDIX... .. 409
LIFE AND LETTEKS
LORD MACAULAY,
CHAPTER I.
1800-1818.
Plan aud Scope of the Work. — History of the Macaulay Family. — Aulay. —
Keuneth. — Johnson aud Boswell. — John Macaulay and his Children. —
Zachary Macaulay. — His Career in the West Indies and in Africa. — His
Character. — Visit of the French Squadron to Sierra Leone. — Zachary
Macaulay's Marriage. — Birth of his Eldest Sou. — Lord Macaulay's Early
Years. — His Childish Productions. — Mrs. Haunah More. — General Mac-
aulay.— Choice of a School. — Shelford. — Dean Milner. — Macaulay's
Early Letters. — Aspenden Hall. — The Boy's Habits and Mental Endow-
ments.— His Home. — The Clapham Set. — The Boy's Relations with his
Father. — The Political Ideas among which he was brought up, aud their
Influence on the Work of his Life.
HE who undertakes to publish the memoirs of a distin-
guished man may find a ready apology in the custom of the
age. If we measure the effective demand for biography by
the supply, the person commemorated need possess but a very
moderate reputation, and have played no exceptional part, in
order to carry the reader through many hundred pages of an-
ecdote, dissertation, and correspondence. To judge from the
advertisements of our circulating libraries, the public curios-
ity is keen with regard to some who did nothing worthy of
special note, and others who acted so continuously in the face
YOL. I.— 2.
18 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
of the world that, when their course was run, there was little
left for the world to learn about them. It may, therefore,
be taken for granted that a desire exists to hear something
authentic about the life of a man who has produced works
which are universally known, but which bear little or no in-
dication of the private history and the personal qualities of
the author.
This was in a marked degree the case with Lord Macaulay.
His two famous contemporaries in English literature have,
consciously or unconsciously, told their own story in their
books. Those who could see between the lines in "David
Copperfield " were aware that they had before them the most
delightful of autobiographies : and all who knew how to read
Thackeray could trace him in his novels through every stage
in his course, on from the day when as a little boy, consigned
to the care of English relatives and school-masters, he left his
mother on the steps of the landing-place at Calcutta. The
dates and names were wanting : but the man was there ; while
the most ardent admirers of Macaulay will admit that a mi-
nute study of his literary productions left them, as far as any
but an intellectual knowledge of the writer himself was con-
cerned, very much as it found them. A consummate master
of his craft, he turned out works which bore the unmistaka-
ble marks of the artificer's hand, but which did not reflect his
features. It would be almost as hard to compose a picture of
the author from his " History," his " Essays," and his " Lays,"
as to evolve an idea of Shakspeare from " Henry the Fifth"
and " Measure for Measure."
But, besides being a man of letters, Lord Macaulay was a
statesman, a jurist, and a brilliant ornament of society, at a
tune when to shine in society was a distinction which a man
of eminence and ability might justly value. In these several
capacities, it will be said, he was known well, and known wide-
ly. But in the first place, as these pages will show, there was
one side of his life (to him, at any rate, the most important)
of which even the persons with whom he mixed most freely
and confidentially in London drawing-rooms, in the Indian
council - chamber, and in the lobbies and on the benches
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 19
of the House of Commons, were only in part aware. And in
the next place, those who have seen his features and heard his
voice are few already, and become yearly fewer : while, by
a rare fate in literary annals, the number of those who read
his books is still rapidly increasing. For every one who sat
with him in private company or at the transaction of public
business, for every ten who have listened to his oratory in
Parliament or from the hustings, there must be tens of thou-
sands whose interest in history and literature he has awak-
ened and informed by his pen, and who would gladly know
what manner of man it was that has done them so great a
service.
To gratify that most legitimate wish is the duty of those
who have the means at their command. His life-like image
is indelibly impressed upon their minds (for how could it
be otherwise with any who had enjoyed so close relations
with such a man ?), although the skill which can reproduce
that image before the general eye may well be wanting. But
his own letters will supply the deficiencies of the biographer.
Never did any one leave behind him more copious materials
for enabling others to put together a narrative which might
be the history, not indeed of his times, but of the man himself.
For, in the first place, he so soon showed promise of being one
who would give those among whom his early years were pass-
ed reason to be proud, and still more certain assurance that he
would never afford them cause for shame, that what he wrote
was preserved with a care very seldom bestowed on childish
compositions ; and the value set upon his letters by those with
whom he corresponded naturally enough increased as years
went on. And, in the next place, he was by nature so incapa-
ble of affectation or concealment that he could not write oth-
erwise than as he felt, and, to one person at least, could never
refrain from writing all that he felt ; so that we may read in
his letters, as in a clear mirror, his opinions and inclinations,
his hopes and affections, at every succeeding period of his ex-
istence. Such letters could never have been submitted to an
editor unconnected with both correspondents by the strongest
ties : and even one who stands in that position must often be
20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
sorely puzzled as to what lie has the heart to publish and the
right to withhold.
I am conscious that in an undertaking of this nature a near
relative has peculiar temptations toward that partiality of the
biographer which Lord Macaulay himself so often and so cor-
dially denounced : and the danger is greater in the case of one
whose knowledge of him coincided with his later years ; for
it would not be easy to find a nature which gained more by
time than his, and lost less. But, believing, as I do (to use his
own words), that " if he were now living he would have suf-
ficient judgment and sufficient greatness of mind" to wish to
be shown as himself, I will suppress no trait in his disposition
or incident in his career which might provoke blame or ques-
tion. Such in all points as he was, the world, which has been
so indulgent to him, has a right to know him ; and those who
best love him do not fear the consequences of freely submit-
ting his character and his actions to the public verdict.
The most devout believers in the doctrine of the transmis-
sion of family qualities will be content with tracing back de-
scent through four generations : and all favorable hereditary
influences, both intellectual and moral, are assured by a gene-
alogy which derives from a Scotch manse. In the first decade
of the eighteenth century Aulay Macaulay, the great-grandfa-
ther of the historian, was minister of Tiree and Coll ; where
he was " grievously annoyed by a decreet obtained after in-
stance of the Laird of Ardchattan, taking away his stipend."
The Duchess of Argyll of the day appears to have done her
best to see him righted : " but his health being much impair-
ed, and there being no church or meeting-house, he was ex-
posed to the violence of the weather at all seasons ; and hav-
ing no manse or glebe, and no fund for communion elements,
and no mortification for schools or any pious purpose in either
of the islands, and the air being unwholesome, he was dissat-
isfied :" and so, to the great regret of the parishioners whom
he was leaving behind, he migrated to Harris, where he dis-
charged the clerical duties for nearly half a century.
Aulay was the father of fourteen children, of whom one,
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 21
Kenneth, the minister of Ardnamiirchan, still occupies a very
humble niche in the temple of literature. He wrote a " His-
tory of St. Kilda," which happened to fall into the hands of Dr.
Johnson, who spoke of it more than once with favor. His
reason for liking the book is characteristic enough. Mr. Mac-
aulay had recorded the belief prevalent in St. Kilda that, as
soon as the factor landed on the island, all the inhabitants had
an attack which, from the account, appears to have partaken
of the nature both of influenza and bronchitis. This touched
the superstitious vein in Johnson, who praised him for his
"magnanimity" in venturing to chronicle so questionable a
phenomenon : the more so because, said the doctor, " Mac-
aulay set out with a prejudice against prejudice, and wanted
to be a smart moolern thinker." To a reader of our day the
" History of St. Kilda " appears to be innocent of any trace of
such pretension ; unless it be that the author speaks slighting-
ly of second-sight, a subject for which Johnson always had a
strong hankering. In 1773, Johnson paid a visit to Mr. Mac-
aulay, who by that time had removed to Calder, and began
the interview by congratulating him on having produced " a
very pretty piece of topography " — a compliment which did
not seem to the taste of the author. The conversation turned
upon rather delicate subjects, and before many hours had pass-
ed the guest had said to the host one of the very rudest things
recorded by Boswell. Next morning he atoned for his inci-
vility by giving one of the boys of the house a pocket Sallust,
and promising to procure him a servitorship at Oxford. Sub-
sequently Johnson pronounced that Mr. Macaulay was not
competent to have written the book that went by his name :
a decision which, to those who happen to have read the work,
will give a very poor notion of my ancestor's abilities.
The eldest son of old Aulay, and the grandfather of Lord
Macaulay, was John, born in the year 1720. He was minister
successively of Barra, South Uist, and Inverary ; the last ap-
pointment being a proof of the interest which the family of
Argyll continued to take in the fortunes of the Macaulays.
He, likewise, during the famous tour in the Hebrides, came
across the path of Boswell, who mentions him in an exquis-
22 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
itely absurd paragraph, the first of those in which is described
the visit to Inverary Castle on October 25th. Mr. Macaulay
afterward passed the evening with the travelers at their inn,
and provoked Johnson into what Boswell calls warmth, and
any one else would call brutality, by the very proper remark
that he had no notion of people being in earnest in good pro-
fessions if their practice belied them. When we think what
well-known ground this was to Lord Macaulay, it is impossible
to suppress a wish that the great talker had been at hand to
avenge his grandfather and grand-uncle. Next morning " Mr.
Macaulay breakfasted with us, nothing hurt or dismayed by
his last night's correction. Being a man of good sense, he
had a just admiration of Dr. Johnson." He was rewarded by
seeing Johnson at his very best, and hearing him declaim
some of the finest lines that ever were written, in a manner
worthy of his subject.
There is a tradition that, in his younger days, the minister
of Inverary proved his Whiggism by giving information to
the authorities which almost led to the capture of the young
Pretender. It is perhaps a matter of congratulation that this
item was not added to the heavy account that the Stuarts have
against the Macaulay family. John Macaulay was in high
reputation as a preacher, and especially renowned for his flu-
ency. In 1774, he removed to Cardross, in Dumbartonshire,
where, on the bank of the noble estuary of the Clyde, he spent
the last fifteen years of a useful and honored life. He was
twice married. His first wife died at the birth of his first
child. Eight years afterward, in 1757, he espoused Margaret,
daughter of Colin Campbell, of Inverseger, who survived him
by a single year. By her he had the patriarchal number of
twelve children, whom he brought up on the old Scotch sys-
tem— common to the households of minister, man of business,
farmer, and peasant alike — on fine air, simple diet, and a solid
training in knowledge, human and divine. Two generations
after, Mr. Carlyle, during a visit to the late Lord Ashburton
at the Grange, caught sight of Macaulay's face in unwonted
repose, as he was turning over the pages of a book. " I no-
ticed," said he, " the homely Norse features that you find ev-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 23
ery where in the "Western Isles, and I thought to myself :
* Well ! any one can see that you are an honest, good sort of
fellow, made out of oatmeal.' "
Several of John Macaulay's children obtained position in
the world. Aulay, the eldest by his second wife, became a
clergyman of the Church of England. His reputation as a
scholar and antiquary stood high, and in the capacity of a
private tutor he became known even in royal circles. He pub-
lished pamphlets and treatises, the list of which it is not worth
while to record, and meditated several large works that per-
haps never got much beyond a title. Of all his undertakings
the one best deserving commemoration in these pages was a
tour that he made into Scotland in company with Mr. Thomas
Babington, the owner of Rotliley Temple, in Leicestershire, in
the course of which the travelers paid a visit to the manse at
Cardross. Mr. Babington fell in love with one of the daugh-
ters of the house, Miss Jean Macaulay, and married her in
1787. Nine years afterward, he had an opportunity of pre-
senting his brother-in-law Aulay Macaulay with the very pleas-
ant living of Rothley.
Alexander, another son of John Macaulay, succeeded his
father as minister of Cardross. Colin went into the Indian
army, and died a general. He followed the example of the
more ambitious among his brother officers, and exchanged
military for civil duties. In 1799 he acted as secretary to a
political and diplomatic commission which accompanied the
force that marched under General Harris against Seringapa-
tam. The leading commissioner was Colonel Wellesley, and
to the end of General Macaulay's life the great Duke corre-
sponded with him on terms of intimacy, and (so the family
flattered themselves) even of friendship. Soon after the com-
mencement of the century, Colin Macaulay became resident at
the important native state of Travancore. While on this em-
ployment, he happened to light upon a valuable collection of
books, and rapidly made himself master of the principal Eu-
ropean languages, which he spoke and wrote with a facility
surprising in one who had acquired them within a few leagues
of Cape Comorin.
24 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
There was another son of John Macaulay who in force and
elevation of character stood out among his brothers, and who
was destined to make for himself no ordinary career. The
path which Zachary Macaulay chose to tread did not lead to
wealth, or worldly success, or indeed to much worldly happi-
ness. Born in 1768, he was sent out at the age of sixteen by
a Scotch house of business as book-keeper to an estate in Ja-
maica, of which he soon rose to be sole manager. His posi-
tion brought him into the closest possible contact with negro
slavery. His mind was not prepossessed against the system
of society which he found in the West Indies. His personal
interests spoke strongly in its favor, while his father, whom
he justly respected, could see nothing to condemn in an insti-
tution recognized by Scripture. Indeed, the religious world
still allowed the maintenance of slavery to continue an open
question. John Newton, the real founder of that school in
the Church of England of which in after-years Zachary Mac-
aulay was a devoted member, contrived to reconcile the busi-
ness of a slave-trader with the duties of a Christian, and to
the end of his days gave scandal to his disciples (who by that
time were one and all sworn abolitionists), by refusing to see
that there could be no fellowship between light and such dark-
ness.
But Zachary Macaulay had eyes of his own to look about
him, a clear head for forming a judgment on what he saw, and
a conscience which would not permit him to live otherwise
than in obedience to its mandates. The young Scotchman's
innate respect for his fellows, and his appreciation of all that
instruction and religion can do for men, was shocked at the
sight of a population deliberately kept ignorant and heathen.
His kind heart was wounded by cruelties practiced at the will
and pleasure of a thousand petty despots. He had read his
Bible too literally to acquiesce easily in a state of matters un-
der which human beings were bred and raised like a stock of
cattle, while outraged morality was revenged on the govern-
ing race by the shameless licentiousness which is the inevitable
accompaniment of slavery. He was well aware that these
evils, so far from being superficial or remediable, were essen-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 25
tial to the very existence of a social fabric constituted like
that within which he lived. It was not for nothing that he
had been behind the scenes in that tragedy of crime and mis-
ery. His philanthropy was not learned by the royal road of
tracts, and platform speeches, and monthly magazines. What
he knew he had spelled out for himself, with no teacher ex-
cept the aspect of human suffering and degradation and sin.
He was not one of those to whom conviction comes in a
day ; and, when convinced, he did nothing suddenly. Little
more than a boy in age, singularly modest, and constitutional-
ly averse to any course that appeared pretentious or theatrical,
he began by a sincere attempt to make the best of his calling.
For some years he contented himself with doing what he
could (so he writes to a friend) " to alleviate the hardships of
a considerable number of my fellow-creatures, and to render
the bitter cup of servitude as palatable as possible." But by
the time he was f our-and-twenty, he became tired of trying
to find a compromise between right and wrong, and, refusing
really great offers from the people with whom he was connect-
ed, he threw up his position and returned to his native coun-
try. This step was taken against the wishes of his father, who
was not prepared for the construction which his son put upon
the paternal precept that a man should make his practice
square with his professions.
But Zachary Macaulay soon had more congenial work to do.
The young West Indian overseer was not alone in his scru-
ples. Already for some time past a conviction had been
abroad that individual citizens could not divest themselves of
their share in the responsibility in which the nation was in-
volved by the existence of slavery in our colonies. Already
there had been formed the nucleus of the most disinterested,
and perhaps the most successful, popular movement which
history records. The question of the slave-trade was well be-
fore Parliament and the country. Ten years had passed since
the freedom of all whose feet touched the soil of our island
had been vindicated before the courts at Westminster, and not
a few negroes had become their .own masters as a consequence
of that memorable decision. The patrons of the race were
26 LIFE AJSTD LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
somewhat embarrassed by having these expatriated freedmen
on their hands ; an opinion prevailed that the traffic in hu-
man lives could never be efficiently checked until Africa had
obtained the rudiments of civilization ; and after long discus-
sion a scheme was matured for the colonization of Sierra
Leone by liberated slaves. A company was organized, with
a charter from the crown, and a board which included the
names of Granville Sharpe and Wilberforce. A large capital
was speedily subscribed, and the chair was accepted by Mr.
Henry Thornton, a leading City banker and a member of Par-
liament, whose determined opposition to cruelty and oppres-
sion in every form was such as might be expected in one who
had inherited from his father the friendship of the poet Cow-
per. Mr. Thornton heard Macaulay's story from Thomas
Babington, with whom he lived on terms of close intimacy
and political alliance. The board, by the advice of its chair-
man, passed a resolution appointing the young man second
member in the Sierra Leone Council, and early in the year
1793 he sailed for Africa, where soon after his arrival he suc-
ceeded to the position and duties of governor.
The directors had done well to secure a tried man. The
colony was at once exposed to the implacable enmity of mer-
chants whose market the agents of the new company spoiled
in their capacity of traders, and slave-dealers with whom they
interfered in their character of philanthropists. The native
tribes in the vicinity, instigated by European hatred and jeal-
ousy, began to inflict upon the defenseless authorities of the
settlement a series of those monkey-like impertinences which,
absurdly as they may read in a narrative, are formidable and
ominous when they indicate that savages feel their power.
These barbarians, who had hitherto commanded as much rum
and gunpowder as they cared to have by selling their neigh-
bors at the nearest barracoon, showed no appreciation for the
comforts and advantages of civilization. Indeed, those ad-
vantages were displayed in any thing but an attractive shape
even within the pale of the company's territory. An aggre-
gation of negroes from Jamaica, London, and Nova Scotia,
who possessed no language except an acquired jargon, and
1800-'18.] LOKD MACAULAY. 27
shared no associations beyond the recollections of a common
servitude, were not very promising apostles for the spread
of Western culture and the Christian faith. Things went
smoothly enough as long as the business of the colony was
mainly confined to eating the provisions that had been
brought in the ships ; but as soon as the work became real
and the commons short, the whole community smoldered
down into chronic mutiny.
Zachary Macaulay was the very man for such a crisis. To a
rare fund of patience and self-command and perseverance he
united a calm courage that was equal to any trial. These
qualities were, no doubt, inherent in his disposition ; but no
one except those who have turned over his voluminous pri-
vate journals could understand what constant effort and what
incessant watchfulness went to maintain, throughout a long
life, a course of conduct and a temper of mind which gave
every appearance of being the spontaneous fruit of nature.
He was not one who dealt in personal experiences : and few
among even the friends who loved him like father or brother,
and who would have trusted him with all their fortune on his
bare word, knew how entirely his outward behavior was the
express image of his religious belief. The secret of his char-
acter and of his actions lay in perfect humility and an abso-
lute faith. Events did not discompose him, because they were
sent by One who best knew his own purposes. He was not
fretted by the folly of others, or irritated by their hostility,
because he regarded the humblest or the worst of mankind
as objects, equally with himself, of the divine love and care.
On all other points he examined himself so closely that the
meditations of a single evening would fill many pages of
diary ; but so completely, in his case, had the fear of God cast
out all other fear, that, amidst the gravest perils and the most
bewildering responsibilities, it never occurred to him to ques-
tion whether he was brave or not. He worked strenuously
and unceasingly, never amusing himself from year's end to
year's end, and shrinking from any public praise or recogni-
tion as from an unlawful gratification, because he was firmly
persuaded that, when all had been accomplished and endured,
28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
he was yet but an unprofitable servant, who had done that
which was his duty to do. Some, perhaps, will consider such
motives as old-fashioned, and such convictions as out of date ;
but self-abnegation, self-control, and self-knowledge that do
not give to self the benefit of any doubt, are virtues which
are not old-fashioned, and for which, as time goes on, the
world is likely to have as much need as ever.
Sir James Stephen writes thus of his friend Macaulay :
" That his understanding was proof against sophistry, and
his nerves against fear were, indeed, conclusions to which a
stranger arrived at the first interview with him. But what
might be suggesting that expression of countenance, at once
so earnest and so monotonous — by what manner of feelings
«/ O
those gestures, so uniformly firm and deliberate, were prompt-
ed— whence the constant traces of fatigue on those overhang-
ing brows, and on that athletic though ungraceful figure —
what might be the charm which excited among his chosen
circle a faith approaching to superstition, and a love rising to
enthusiasm, toward a man whose demeanor was so inanimate,
if not austere : it was a riddle of which neither Gall nor La-
vater could have found the key."
That Sir James himself could read the riddle is proved by
the concluding words of a passage marked by a force and ten-
derness of feeling unusual even in him : " His earthward af-
fections, active and all-enduring as they were, could yet thrive
without the support of human sympathy, because they were
sustained by so abiding a sense of the divine presence, and so
absolute a submission to the divine will, as raised him habit-
ually to that higher region where the reproach of man could
not reach, and the praise of man might not presume to follow
him."
Mr. Macaulay was admirably adapted for the arduous and
uninviting task of planting a negro colony. His very de-
ficiencies stood him in good stead ; for in presence of the ele-
ments with which he had to deal, it was well for him that nat-
ure had denied him any sense of the ridiculous. Unconscious
of what was absurd around him, and incapable of being flur-
ried, frightened, or fatigued, he stood as a centre of order and
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 29
authority amidst the seething chaos of inexperience and in-
subordination. The staff was miserably insufficient, and ev-
ery officer of the company had to do duty for three in a cli-
mate such that a man is fortunate if he can find health for
the work of one during a continuous twelvemonth. The
governor had to be in the counting-house, the law-court, the
school, and even the chapel. He was his own secretary, his
own pay-master, his own envoy. He posted ledgers, he de-
cided causes, he conducted correspondence with the directors
at home, and visited neighboring potentates on diplomatic
missions which made up in danger what they lacked in dig-
nity. In the absence of properly qualified clergymen, with
whom he would have been the last to put himself in compe-
tition, he preached sermons and performed marriages — a
function wThich must have given honest satisfaction to one
who had been so close a witness of the enforced and system-
atized immorality of a slave-nursery. Before long something
fairly resembling order was established, and the settlement be-
gan to enjoy a reasonable measure of prosperity. The town
was built, the fields were planted, and the schools filled. The
governor made a point of allotting the lightest work to the
negroes who could read and write : and such was the stimula-
ting effect of this system upon education that he confidently
looked forward " to the time when there would be few in the
colony unable to read the Bible." A printing-press was in
constant operation, and in the use of a copying-machine the
little community was three-quarters of a century ahead of the
London public offices.
But a severe ordeal was in store for the nascent civilization
of Sierra Leone. On a Sunday morning in September, 1794,
eight French sail appeared off the coast. The town was about
as defensible as Brighton, and it is not difficult to imagine the
feelings which the sans-culottes inspired among evangelical
colonists whose last advices from Europe dated from the very
height of the Reign of Terror. There was a party in favor
of escaping into the forest with as much property as could be
removed at so short a notice; but the governor insisted that
there would be no chance of saving the company's buildings
30 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. i.
unless the company's servants could make up their minds to
remain at their posts and face it out. The squadron moored
within musket-shot of the quay, and swept the streets for two
hours with grape and bullets ; a most gratuitous piece of cru-
elty that killed a negress and a child, and gave one unlucky
English gentleman a fright which ultimately brought him to
his grave. The invaders then proceeded to land, and Mr. Mac-
aulay had an opportunity of learning something about the
condition of the French marine during the heroic period of
the republic.
A personal enemy of his own, the captain of a Yankee
slaver, brought a party of sailors straight to the governor's
house. What followed had best be told in Mr. Macaulay's
own words : " Newell, who was attended by half a dozen sans-
culottes, almost foaming with rage, presented a pistol to me,
and with many oaths demanded instant satisfaction for the
slaves who had run away from him to my protection. I made
very little reply, but told him he must now take such satisfac-
tion as he judged equivalent to his claims, as I was no longer
master of my actions. He became so very outrageous that,
after bearing with him a little while, I thought it most prudent
to repair myself to the French officer, and request his safe-con-
duct on board the commodore's ship. As I passed along the
wharf the scene was curious enough. The Frenchmen, who
had come ashore in filth and rags, were now, many of them,
dressed out with women's shifts, gowns, and petticoats. Oth-
ers had quantities of cloth wrapped about their bodies, or per-
haps six or seven suits of clothes upon them at a time. The
scene which presented itself on my getting on board the flag-
ship was still more singular. The quarter-deck was crowded
by a set of ragamuffins whose appearance beggared every pre-
vious description, and among whom I sought in vain for some
one who looked like a gentleman. The stench and filth exceed-
ed any thing I had ever witnessed in any ship, and the noise
and confusion gave me some idea of their famous Mountain.
I was ushered into the commodore's cabin, who at least re-
ceived me civilly. His name was Citizen Allemand. He did
not appear to have the right of excluding any of his fellow-
ISOO-'IS.] LORD MACAULAY. 31
citizens even from this place. Whatever might be their rank,
they crowded into it, and conversed familiarly with him."
Such was the discipline of the fleet that had been beaten by
Lord Howe on the 1st of June, and such the raw material of
the armies which, under firm hands and on an element more
suited to the military genius of their nation, were destined to
triumph at Bivoli and Hohenlinden.
Mr. Macaulay, who spoke French with ease and precision,
in his anxiety to save the town used every argument which
might prevail on the commander, whose Christian name (if
one may use such a phrase with reference to a patriot of the
year two of the republic), happened, oddly enough, to be the
same as his own. He appealed first to the traditional gener-
osity of Frenchmen toward a fallen enemy, but soon discerned
that the quality in question had gone out with the old order
of things, if indeed it ever existed. He then represented that
a people who professed to be waging war with the express ob-
ject of striking off the fetters of mankind would be guilty of
flagrant inconsistency if they destroyed an asylum for libera-
ted slaves : but the commodore gave him to understand that
sentiments which sounded very well in the Hall of the Jaco-
bins were out of place on the West Coast of Africa. The gov-
ernor returned on shore to find the town already completely
gutted. It was evident at every turn that, although the re-
publican battalions might carry liberty and fraternity through
Europe on the points of their bayonets, the republican sailors
had found a very different use for the edge of their cutlasses.
" The sight of my own and of the accountant's offices almost
sickened me. Every desk and every drawer and every shelf,
together with the printing and copying presses, had been com-
pletely demolished in the search for money. The floors were
strewed with types, and papers, and leaves of books, and I had
the mortification to see a great part of my own labor and of
the labor of others for several years totally destroyed. At the
other end of the house I found telescopes, hygrometers, barom-
eters, thermometers, and electrical machines, lying about in
fragments. The view of the town library filled me with live-
ly concern. The volumes were tossed about and defaced with
32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
the utmost wantonness, and if they happened to bear any re-
semblance to Bibles they were torn in pieces and trampled
on. The collection of natural curiosities next caught my eye.
Plants, seefls, dried birds, insects, and drawings were scattered
about in great confusion, and some of the sailors were in the
act of killing a beautiful musk-cat, which they afterward eat.
Every house was full of Frenchmen, who were hacking and
destroying and tearing up every thing which they could not
convert to their own use. The destruction of live stock on
this and the following day was immense. In my yard alone
they killed fourteen dozen of fowls, and there were not less
than twelve hundred hogs shot in the town." It was unsafe
to walk in the streets of Freetown during the forty -eight
hours that followed its capture, because the French crews, with
too much of the company's port-wine in their heads to aim
straight, were firing at the pigs of the poor freedmen over
whom they had achieved such a questionable victory.
To readers of Erckmann-Chatrian it is unpleasant to be
taken thus behind the curtain on which those skillful artists
have painted the wars of the early Revolution. It is one
thing to be told how the crusaders of '93 and '94 were re-
ceived with blessings and banquets by the populations to
whom they brought freedom and enlightenment, and quite
another to read the journal in which a quiet, accurate-minded
Scotchman tells us how a pack of tipsy ruffians sat abusing
Pitt and George to him over a fricassee of his own fowls, and
among the wreck of his lamps and mirrors which they had
smashed as a protest against aristocratic luxury.
" There is not a boy among them who has not learned to
accompany the name of Pitt with an execration. When I
went to bed, there was no sleep to be had on account of the
sentinels thinking fit to amuse me the whole night through
with the revenge they meant to take on him when they got
him to Paris. Next morning I went on board the Experiment.
The commodore and all his officers messed together, and I was
admitted among them. They are truly the poorest - looking
people I ever saw. Even the commodore has only one suit
which can at all distinguish him, not to say from the officers,
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 33
but from the men. The filth and confusion of their meals were
terrible. A chorus of boys usher in the dinner with the Mar-
seilles hymn, and it finishes in the same way. The enthusiasm
of all ranks among them is astonishing, but not more so than
their blindness. They talk with ecstasy of their revolutionary
government, of their bloody executions, of their revolution-
ary tribunal, of the rapid movement of their revolutionary
army with the Corps of Justice and the flying guillotine be-
fore it : forgetting that not one of them is not liable to its
stroke on the accusation of the greatest vagabond on board.
They asked me with triumph if yesterday had not been Sun-
day. * Oh,' said they, * the National Convention have decreed
that there is no Sunday, and that the Bible is all a lie.' " Aft-
er such an experience it is not difficult to account for the keen
and almost personal interest with which, to the very day of
Waterloo, Mr. Macaulay watched through its varying phases
the rise and the downfall of the French power. He followed
the progress of the British arms with a minute and intelligent
attention which from a very early date communicated itself to
his son : and the hearty patriotism of Lord Macaulay is per-
haps in no small degree the consequence of what his father
suffered from the profane and rapacious sans-culottes of the
revolutionary squadron.
Toward the middle of October the republicans took their
departure. Even at this distance of time it is provoking to
learn that they got back to Brest without meeting an enemy
that had teeth to bite. The African climate, however, reduced
the squadron to such a plight, that it was well for our frigates
that they had not the chance of getting its fever - stricken
crews under their hatches. The French never revisited Free-
town. Indeed, they had left the place in such a condition that
it was not worth their while to return. The houses had been
carefully burned to the ground, and the live stock killed. Ex-
cept the clothes on their backs, and a little brandy and flour,
the Europeans had lost every thing they had in the world.
Till assistance came from the mother country, they lived upon
such provisions as could be recovered from the reluctant hands
of the negro settlers, who providentially had not been able to
YOL. L— 3
34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
resist the temptation of helping the republicans to plunder
the company's stores. Judicious liberality at home, and a
year's hard work on the spot, did much to repair the damage ;
and, when his colony was again upon its feet, Mr. Macaulay
sailed to England with the object of recruiting his health,
which had broken down under an attack of low fever.
On his arrival he was admitted at once and forever within
the innermost circle of friends and fellow-laborers who were
united round Wilberforce and Henry Thornton by indissolu-
ble bonds of mutual personal regard and common public ends.
As an indispensable part of his initiation into that very pleas-
ant confederacy, he was sent down to be introduced to Hannah
More, who was living at Cowslip Green, near Bristol, in the
enjoyment of general respect mixed with a good deal of what
even those who admire her as she deserved must in conscience
call flattery. He there met Selina Mills, a former pupil of the
school which the Miss Mores kept in the neighboring city, and
a life-long friend of all the sisters. The young lady is said
to have been extremely pretty and attractive, as may well be
believed by those who saw her in later years. She was the
daughter of a member of the Society of Friends, who at one
time was a book-seller in Bristol, and who built there a small
street, called " Mills Place," in which he himself resided. His
grandchildren remembered him as an old man of imposing
appearance, with long white hair, talking incessantly of Jacob
Boehmen. Mr. Mills had sons, one of whom edited a Bristol
journal exceedingly well, and is said to have made some figure
in light literature. This uncle of Lord Macaulay was a very
lively, clever man, full of good stories, of which only one has
survived. Young Mills, while resident in London, had looked
in at Kowland Hill's chapel, and had there lost a new hat.
When he reported the misfortune to his father, the old Quaker
replied, " John, if thee'd gone to the right place of worship,
thee'd have kept thy hat upon thy head." Lord Macaulay was
accustomed to say that he got his " joviality " from his moth-
er's family. If his power of humor was indeed of Quaker
origin, he was rather ungrateful in the use to which he some-
times put it.
1800-18.] LOKD MACAULAY. 35
Mr. Macaulay fell in love with Miss Mills, and obtained her
affection in return. He had to encounter the opposition of
her relations, who were set upon her making another and a
better match, and of Mrs. Patty More (so well known to all
who have studied the somewhat diffuse annals of the More
family), who, in the true spirit of romantic friendship, wished
her to promise never to marry at all, but to domesticate her-
self as a youngest sister in the household at Cowslip Green.
Miss Hannah, however, took a more unselfish view of the sit-
uation, and advocated Mr. Macaulay's cause with firmness and
good feeling. Indeed, he must have been, according to her
particular notions, the most irreproachable of lovers, until her
own Coelebs was given to the world. By her help he carried
his point in so far that the engagement was made and recog-
nized ; but the friends of the young lady would not allow her
to accompany him to Africa ; and, during his absence from
England, which began in the early months of 1796, by an ar-
rangement that under the circumstances was very judicious,
she spent much of her time with his sister, Mrs. Babington, in
Leicestershire.
His first business after arriving at Sierra Leone was to sit
in judgment on the ringleaders of a formidable outbreak which
had taken place in the colony, and he had an opportunity of
proving by example that negro disaffection, from the nature
of the race, is peculiarly susceptible to treatment by mild rem-
edies, if only the man in the post of responsibility has got a
heart and can contrive to keep his head. He had much more
trouble with a batch of missionaries whom he took with him
in the ship, and who were no sooner on board than they be-
gan to fall out, ostensibly on controversial topics, but more
probably from the same motives that so often set. the laity
quarreling during the incessant and involuntary companion-
ship of a sea-voyage. Mr. Macaulay, finding that the warmth
of these debates furnished sport to the captain and other irre-
ligious characters, was forced seriously to exert his authority
in order to separate and silence the disputants. His report of
these occurrences went in due time to the chairman of the
company, who excused himself for an arrangement which had
36 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF [CHAP. i.
turned out so ill by telling a story of a servant who, having to
carry a number of gamecocks from one place to another, tied
them up in the same bag, and found, on arriving at his jour-
ney's end, that they had spent .their time in tearing each other
to pieces. When his master called him to account for his stu-
pidity, he replied, " Sir, as they were all your cocks, I thought
they would be all on one side."
Things did not go much more smoothly on shore. Mr.
Macaulay's official correspondence gives a curious picture of
his difficulties in the character of Minister of Public Worship
in a black community. " The Baptists under David George
are decent and orderly, but there is observable in them a great
neglect of family worship, and sometimes an unfairness in
their dealings. To Lady Huntingdon's Methodists, as a body,
may with great justice be addressed the first verse of the third
chapter of the Kevelation. The lives of many of them are
very disorderly, and rank antinomianism prevails among
them." But his sense of religion and decency was most sore-
ly tried by Moses Wilkinson, a so-called Wesleyan Methodist,
whose congregation, not a very respectable one to begin with,
had recently been swollen by a revival* which had been ac-
companied by circumstances the reverse of edifying. The
governor must have looked back with regret to that period in
the history of the colony when he was underhanded in the
clerical department.
But his interest in the negro could bear ruder shocks than
an occasional outburst of eccentric fanaticism. He liked his
work because he liked those for whom he was working.
* Lord Macaulay had in his youth heard too much about negro preach-
ers and negro administrators to permit him to entertain any very enthu-
siastic anticipations with regard to the future of the African race. He
writes in his journal for July 8th, 1858 : " Motley called. I like him much.
We agree wonderfully well about slavery, and it is not often that I meet
any person with whom I agree on that subject. For I hate slavery from
the bottom of my soul ; and yet I am made sick by the cant and the silly
mock reasons of the Abolitionists. The nigger driver and the negrophile
are two odious things to me. I must make Lady Macbeth's reservation :
' Had he not resembled .' M
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 37
"Poor people," he writes, "one can not help loving them.
With all their trying humors, they have a warmth of affec-
tion which is really irresistible." For their sake he endured all
the risk and worry inseparable from a long engagement kept
by the lady among disapproving friends, and by the gentle-
man at Sierra Leone. He staid till the settlement had begun
to thrive and the company had almost begun to pay, and until
the home Government had given marked tokens of favor and
protection which some years later developed into a negotia-
tion under which the colony was transferred to the crown. It
was not till 1799 that he finally gave up his appointment,
and left a region which, alone among men, he quit with un-
feigned, and, except in one particular, with unmixed regret.
But for the absence of an Eve, he regarded the West Coast of
Africa as a veritable paradise, or, to use his own expression,
as a more agreeable Montpellier. With a temper which in
the intercourse of society was proof against being ruffled by
any possible treatment of any conceivable subject, to the end
of his life he showed faint signs of irritation if any one vent-
ured in his presence to hint that Sierra Leone was unhealthy.
On his return to England he was appointed secretary to the
company, and was married at Bristol on the 26th of August,
1T99. A most close union it was, and (though in latter years
he became fearfully absorbed in the leading object of his ex-
istence, and ceased in a measure to be the companion that he
had been), his love for his wife, and deep trust and confidence
in her, never failed. They took a small house in Lambeth
for the first twelve months. When Mrs. Macaulay was near
her confinement, Mrs. Babington, who belonged to the school
of matrons who hold that the advantage of country air out-
weighs that of London doctors, invited her sister-in-law to
Rothley Temple ; and there, in a room paneled from ceiling
to floor, like every corner of the ancient mansion, with oak al-
most black from age — looking eastward across the park, and
southward through an ivy-shaded window into a little garden
— Lord Macaulay was born. It was on the 25th of October,
1800, the day of St. Crispin, the anniversary of Agincourt
(as he liked to say), that he opened his eyes on a world which
38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
he was destined so thoroughly to learn and so intensely to en-
joy. His father was as pleased as a father could be ; but fate
seemed determined that Zachary Macaulay should not be in-
dulged in any great share of personal happiness. The next
morning a spinning-jenny set off in a cottage as he was rid-
ing past. His horse started and threw him : both arms were
broken ; and he spent in a sick-room the remainder of the
only holiday worth the name which (as far as can be traced in
the family records) he ever took during his married life. Ow-
ing to this accident, the young couple were detained at Roth-
ley into the winter, and the child was baptized, in the private
chapel which formed part of the house, on the 26th of Novem-
ber, 1800, by the names of Thomas Babington, the Eev. Au-
lay Macaulay and Mr. and Mrs. Babington acting as sponsors.
The two years which followed were passed in a house in
Birchin Lane, where the Sierra Leone Company had its office.
The only place where the child could be taken for exercise,
and what might be called air, was Drapers' Garden, which
(already under sentence to be covered with bricks and mortar
at an early date) lies behind Throgmorton Street and within
a hundred yards of the Stock Exchange. To this dismal yard,
containing as much gravel as grass, and frowned upon by
a board of rules and regulations almost as large as itself, his
mother used to convoy the nurse and the little boy through
the crowds that toward noon swarmed along Cornhill and
Threadneedle Street, and thither she would return after a due
interval to escort them back to Birchin Lane. So strong was
the power of association upon Macaulay's mind that in after-
years Drapers' Garden was among his favorite haunts. In-
deed, his habit of roaming for hours through and through the
heart of the City (a habit that never left him as long as he
could roam at all), was due in part to the recollection which
caused him to regard that region as native ground.
Baby as he was when he quit it, he retained some impres-
sion of his earliest home. He remembered standing up at
the nursery window by his father's side, looking at a cloud
of black smoke pouring out of a tall chimney. He asked if
that was hell : an inquiry that was received with a grave dis-
1800-'18.] LOKD MACAULAY. 39
pleasure which at the time he could not understand. The
kindly father must have been pained almost against his own
will at finding what feature of his stern creed it was that had
embodied itself in so very material a shape before his little
son's imagination. When, in after-days, Mrs. Macaulay was
questioned as to how soon she began to detect in the child a
promise of the future, she used to say that his sensibilities and
affections were remarkably developed at an age which to her
hearers appeared next to incredible. He would cry for joy
on seeing her after a few hours' absence, and (till her husband
put a stop to it) her power of exciting his feelings was often
made an exhibition to her friends. She did not regard this
precocity as a proof of cleverness, but, like a foolish young
mother, only thought that so tender a nature was marked for
early death.
The next move which the family made was into as healthy
an atmosphere, in every sense, as the most careful parent
could wish to select. Mr. Macaulay took a house in the High
Street of Clapham, in the part now called the Pavement, on
the same side as the Plow Inn, but some doors nearer to the
Common. It was a roomy, comfortable dwelling, with a very
small garden behind, and in front a very small one indeed,
which has entirely disappeared beneath a large shop thrown
out toward the roadway by the present occupier, who bears
the name of Heywood. Here the boy passed a quiet and
most happy childhood. From the time that he was three
years old he read incessantly, for the most part lying on the
rug before the fire, with his book on the ground, and a piece
of bread-and-butter in his hand. A very clever woman who
then lived in the house as parlor-maid told how he used to sit
in his nankeen frock, perched on the table by her as she was
cleaning the plate, and expounding to her out of a volume as
big as himself. He did not care for toys, but was very fond
of taking his walk, when he would hold forth to his com-
panion, whether nurse or mother, telling interminable stories
out of his own head, or repeating what he had been reading
in language far above his years. His memory retained with-
out effort the phraseology of the book which he had been last
40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
engaged on, and he talked, as the maid said, "quite printed
words," which produced an effect that appeared formal, and
often, no doubt, exceedingly droll. Mrs. Hannah More was
fond of relating how she called at Mr. Macaulay's, and was
met by a fair, pretty, slight child, with abundance of light
hair, about four years of age, who came to the front door to
receive her, and tell her that his parents were out, but that
if she would be good enough to come in he would bring her
a glass of old spirits: a proposition which greatly startled
the good lady, who had never aspired beyond cowslip-wine.
When questioned as to what he knew about old spirits he
could only say that Eobinson Crusoe often had some. About
this period his father took him on a visit to Lady "Waldegrave
at Strawberry Hill, and was much pleased to exhibit to his
old friend the fair, bright boy, dressed in a green coat with
red collar and cuffs, a frill at the throat, and white trousers.
After some tune had been spent among the wonders of the
Orford Collection, of which he ever after carried a catalogue
in his head, a servant who was waiting upon the company in
the great gallery spilled some hot coffee over his legs. The
hostess was all kindness and compassion, and when, after a
while, she asked how he was feeling, the little fellow looked
up in her face, and replied, " Thank you, madam, the agony is
abated."
But it must not be supposed that his quaint manners pro-
ceeded from affectation or conceit ; for all testimony declares
that a more simple and natural child never lived, or a more
lively and merry one. He had at his command the resources
of the Common ; to this day the most unchanged spot within
ten miles of St. Paul's, and which to all appearance will ere
long hold that pleasant pre-eminence within ten leagues. That
delightful wilderness of gore bushes, and poplar groves, and
gravel-pits, and ponds great and small, was to little Tom Mac-
aulay a region of inexhaustible romance and mystery. He
explored its recesses ; he composed, and almost believed, its
legends ; he invented for its different features a nomenclature
which has been faithfully preserved by two generations of
children, A slight ridge intersected by deep ditches toward
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 41
the west of the Common, the very existence of which no one
above eight years old would notice, was dignified with the
title of the Alps; while the elevated island, covered with
shrubs, that gives a name to the Mount pond, was regarded
with infinite awe, as being the nearest approach within the cir-
cuit of his observation to a conception of the majesty of Sinai.
Indeed, at this period his infant fancy was much exercised
with the threats and terrors of the Law. He had a little plot
of ground at the back of the house, marked out as his own by
a row of oyster-shells, which a maid one day threw away as
rubbish. He went straight to the drawing-room, where his
mother was entertaining some visitors, walked into the circle,
and said, very solemnly, " Cursed be Sally ; for it is written,
Cursed is he that removeth his neighbor's landmark."
While still the merest child, he was sent as a day-scholar to
Mr. Greaves, a shrewd Yorkshireman with a turn for science,
who had been originally brought to the neighborhood in order
to educate a number of African youths sent over to imbibe
"Western civilization at the fountain-head. The poor fellows
had found as much difficulty in keeping alive at Clapham as
Englishmen experience at Sierra Leone ; and, in the end, their
tutor set up a school for boys of his own color, and at one
time had charge of almost the entire rising generation of the
Common. Mrs. Macaulay explained to Tom that he must
learn to study without the solace of bread-and-butter, to which
he replied, " Yes, mama, industry shall be my bread and atten-
tion my butter." But, as a matter of fact, no one ever crept
more unwillingly to school. Each several afternoon he made
piteous entreaties to be excused returning after dinner, and
was met by the unvarying formula, " No, Tom, if it rains cats
and dogs, you shall go."
His reluctance to leave home had more than one side to it.
Not only did his heart stay behind, but the regular lessons of
the class took him away from occupations which in his eyes
were infinitely more delightful and important ; for these were
probably the years of his greatest literary activity. As an
author he never again had more facility, or any thing like so
wide a range. In September, 1808, his mother writes: "My
42 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
dear Tom continues to show marks of uncommon genius. He
gets on wonderfully in all branches of his education, and the
extent of his reading, and of the knowledge he has derived
from it, are truly astonishing in a boy not yet eight years old.
He is at the same time as playful as a kitten. To give you
some idea of the activity of his mind, I will mention a few
circumstances that may interest you and Colin. You will be-
lieve that to him we never appear to regard any thing he does
as any thing more than a school-boy's amusement. He took
it into his head to write a compendium of universal history
about a year ago, and he really contrived to give a tolerably
connected view of the leading events from the Creation to the
present time, filling about a quire of paper. He told me one
day that he had been writing a paper which Henry Daly was
to translate into Malabar, to persuade the people of Travan-
core to embrace the Christian religion. On reading it, I
found it to contain a very clear idea of the leading facts and
doctrines of that religion, with some strong arguments for its
adoption. He was so fired with reading Scott's 'Lay' and
* Marmion,' the former of which he got entirely, and the latter
almost entirely, by heart, merely from his delight in reading
them, that he determined on writing himself a poem in six
cantos which he called * The Battle of Cheviot.' After he had
finished about three of the cantos, of about one hundred and
twenty lines each, which he did in a couple of days, he be-
came tired of it. I make no doubt he would have finished his
design, but as he was proceeding with it the thought struck
him of writing an heroic poem to be called ' Olaus the Great ;
or, The Conquest of Mona,' in which, after the manner of Yir-
gil, he might introduce in prophetic song the future fortunes
of the family — among others, those of the hero who aided in
the fall of the tyrant of Mysore, after having long suffered
from his tyranny ; and of another of his race who had exert-
ed himself for the deliverance of the wretched Africans. He
has just begun it. He has composed I know not how many
hymns. I send you one as a specimen, in his own handwrit-
ing, which he wrote about six months ago on one Monday
morning while we were at breakfast."
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 43
The affection of the last generation of his relatives has pre-
served all these pieces, but the piety of this generation will
refrain from submitting them to public criticism. A margin-
al note in which Macaulay has expressed his cordial approval
of Uncle Toby's* remark about the great Lipsius, indicates his
own wishes in the matter too clearly to leave any choice for
those who come after him. But there still may be read in a
boyish scrawl the epitome of universal history, from " a new
king who knew not Joseph " — down through Rameses, and
Dido, and Tydeus, and Tarquin, and Crassus, and Gallienus,
and Edward the Martyr — to Louis, who " set off on a crusade
against the Albigenses," and Oliver Cromwell, who " was
an unjust and wicked man." The hymns remain, which Mrs.
Hannah More, surely a consummate judge of the article, pro-
nounced to be " quite extraordinary for such a baby." To a
somewhat later period probably belongs a vast pile of blank
verse, entitled " Fingal : a Poem in XII Books," two of which
are in a complete and connected shape, while the rest of the
story is lost amidst a labyrinth of many hundred scatter-
ed lines, so transcribed as to suggest a conjecture that the
boy's demand for foolscap had outrun the paternal generos-
ity.
Of all his performances that which attracted most attention
at the time was undertaken for the purpose of immortalizing
Olaus Magnus, King of Norway, from whom the clan to which
the bard belonged was supposed to derive its name. Two
cantos are extant, of which there are several exemplars, in ev-
ery stage of caligraphy from the largest round-hand down-
ward, a circumstance which is apparently due to the desire on
the part of each of the little Macaulays to possess a copy of
the great family epic. The opening stanzas, each of which
contains more lines than their author counted years, go swing-
ing along with plenty of animation and no dearth of historical
and geographical allusion.
Day set on Cambria's hills supreme,
And, Menai, on thy silver stream.
* " Tristram Shandy," chap, clxiii.
44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
The star of day had reached the West.
Now in the main it sunk to rest.
Shone great Eleindyn's castle tall :
Shone every battery, every hall :
Shone all fair Mona's verdant plain ;
But chiefly shone the foaming main.
And again :
" Long," said the Prince, " shall Olave's name
Live in the high records of fame.
Fair Mona now shall trembling stand
That ne'er before feared mortal hand.
Mona, that isle where Ceres' flower
In plenteous autumn's golden hour
Hides all the fields from man's survey
As locusts hid old Egypt's day."
The passage containing a prophetic mention of his father
and uncle, after the manner of the sixth book of the "^Eneid,"
for the sake of which, according to Mrs. Macaulay, the poem
was originally designed, can nowhere be discovered. It is
possible that in the interval between the conception and the
execution the boy happened to light upon a copy of " The Eol-
liad." If such was the case, he already had too fine a sense
of humor to have persevered in his original plan after reading
that masterpiece of drollery. It is worthy of note that the
voluminous writings of his childhood, dashed off at headlong
speed in the odds and ends of leisure from school-study and
nursery routine, are not only perfectly correct in spelling and
grammar, but display the same lucidity of meaning and scru-
pulous accuracy in punctuation and the other minor details
of the literary art, which characterize his mature works.
Nothing could be more judicious than the treatment that
Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay at this time adopted toward their boy.
They never handed his productions about, or encouraged him
to parade his powers of conversation or memory. They ab-
stained from any word or act which might foster in him a per-
ception of his own genius with as much care as a wise million-
aire expends on keeping his son ignorant of the fact that he
is destined to be richer than his comrades. " It was scarcely
1800-'18.] LOED MACAULAY. 45
ever," writes one who knew him well from the very first, "that
the consciousness was expressed by either of his parents of the
superiority of their son over other children. Indeed, with his
father I never remember any such expression. What I most
observed myself was his extraordinary command of language.
When he came to describe to his mother any childish play, I
took care to be present, when I could, that I might listen to
the way in which he expressed himself, often scarcely exceed-
ed in his later years. Except this trifle, I remember him only
as a good - tempered boy, always occupied, playing with his
sisters without assumption of any kind." One effect of this
early discipline showed itself in his freedom from vanity and
susceptibility, those qualities which, coupled together in our
modern psychological dialect under the head of "self -con-
sciousness," are supposed to be the besetting defects of the lit-
erary character. Another result was his habitual overestimate
of the average knowledge possessed by mankind. Judging
others by himself, he credited the world at large with an
amount of information which certainly few have the ability to
acquire or the capacity to retain. If his parents had not been
so diligent in concealing from him the difference between his
own intellectual stores and those of his neighbors, it is proba-
ble that less would have been heard of Lord Macaulay's school-
boy achievements.
The system pursued at home was continued at Barley Wood,
the place where the Misses More resided from 1802 onward.
Mrs. Macaulay gladly sent her boy to a house where he was
encouraged without being spoiled, and where he never failed
to be a welcome guest. The kind old ladies made a real com-
panion of him, and greatly relished his conversation ; while at
the same time, with their ideas on education, they would never
have allowed him, even if he had been so inclined, to forget
that he was a child. Mrs. Hannah More, who had the rare
gift of knowing how to live with both old and young, was the
most affectionate and the wisest of friends, and readily under-
took the superintendence of his studies, his pleasures, and his
health. She would keep him with her for weeks, listening to
him as he read prose by the ell, declaimed poetry by the hour,
46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
and discussed and compared his favorite heroes, ancient, mod-
ern, and fictitious, under all points of view and in every possi-
ble combination : coaxing him into the garden under pretense
of a lecture on botany ; sending him from his books to run
round the grounds, or play at cooking in the kitchen ; giv-
ing him Bible-lessons which invariably ended in a theological
argument, and following him with her advice and sympathy
through his multifarious literary enterprises. She writes to
his father, in 1809 : " I heartily hope that the sea-air has been
the means of setting you up, and Mrs. Macaulay also, and that
the dear little poet has caught his share of bracing. Tell
Tom I desire to know how ' Olaus ' goes on. The sea, I sup-
pose, furnished him with some new images."
The broader and more genial aspect under which life show-
ed itself to the boy at Barley Wood has left its trace in a se-
ries of childish squibs and parodies, which may still be read
with an interest that his Cambrian and Scandinavian rhapso-
dies fail to inspire. The most ambitious of these lighter ef-
forts is a pasquinade occasioned by some local scandal, enti-
tled " Childe Hugh and the Laborer : a Pathetic Ballad." The
"Childe" of the story was a neighboring baronet, and the
"Abbot" a neighboring rector, and the whole performance,
intended, as it was, to mimic the spirit of Percy's " Keliques,"
irresistibly suggests a reminiscence of " John Gilpin." It is
pleasant to know that to Mrs. Hannah More was due the com-
mencement of what eventually became the most readable of
libraries, as is shown in a series of letters extending over the
entire period of Macaulay's education. "When he was six
years old, she writes : " Though you are a little boy now, you
will one day, if it please God, be a man ; but long before you
are a man I hope you will be a scholar. I therefore wish you
to purchase such books as will be useful and agreeable to you
tJien, and that you employ this very small sum in laying a lit-
tle tiny corner - stone for your future library." And a year
or two afterward she thanks him for his " two letters, so neat
and free from blots. By this obvious improvement you have
entitled yourself to another book. You must go to Hatch-
ard's and choose. I think we have nearly exhausted the ep-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 47
ics. What say you to a little good prose ? Johnson's " Heb-
rides," or Walton's "Lives," unless you would like a neat
edition of " Cowper's Poems," or " Paradise Lost," for your
own eating? In any case, choose something which you do
not possess. I want you to become a complete Frenchman,
that I may give you Racine, the only dramatic poet I know in
any modern language that is perfectly pure and good. I think
you have hit off the Ode very well, and I am much obliged to
you for the Dedication." The poor little author was already
an adept in the traditional modes of requiting a patron.
He had another Maecenas in the person of General Macau-
lay, who came back from India in 1810. The boy greeted
him with a copy of verses, beginning
Now safe returned from Asia's parching strand,
Welcome, thrice welcome to thy native laud.
To tell the unvarnished truth, the general's return was not
altogether of a triumphant character. After very narrowly
escaping with his life from an outbreak at Travancore, incited
by a native minister who owed him a grudge, he had given
proof of courage and spirit during some military operations
which ended in his being brought back to the Residency with
flying colors. But, when the fighting was over, he counte-
nanced, and perhaps prompted, measures of retaliation which
were ill taken by his superiors at Calcutta. In his congratu-
latory effusion the nephew presumes to remind the uncle that
on European soil there still might be found employment for
so redoubtable a sword.
For many a battle shall be lost and won
Ere yet thy glorious labors shall be done.
The general did not take the hint, and spent the remainder
of his life peacefully enough between London, Bath, and the
Continental capitals. He was accustomed to say that his trav-
eling-carriage was his only freehold; and, wherever he fixed
his temporary residence, he had the talent of making himself
popular. At Geneva he was a universal favorite ; he always
was welcome at Coppet ; and he gave the strongest conceiva-
48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
ble proof of a cosmopolitan disposition by finding himself
equally at home at Rome and at Clapham. "When in England,
he lived much with his relations, to whom he was sincerely
attached. He was generous in a high degree, and the young
people owed to him books which they otherwise could never
have obtained, and treats and excursions which formed the
only recreations that broke the uniform current of their lives.
They regarded their uncle Colin as the man of the world of
the Macaulay family.
Zachary Macaulay's circumstances during these years were
good, and constantly improving. For some time he held the
post of secretary to the Sierra Leone Company, with a salary
of £500 per annum. He subsequently entered into partner-
ship with a nephew, and the firm did a large business as Af-
rican merchants under the names of Macaulay and Babington.
The position of the father was favorable to the highest inter-
ests of his children. A boy has the best chance of being well
brought up in a household where there is solid comfort com-
bined with thrift and simplicity ; and the family was increas-
ing too fast to leave any margin for luxurious expenditure.
Before the eldest son had completed his thirteenth year he
had three brothers and five sisters.
In the course of 1812 it began to be evident that Tom had
got beyond the educational capabilities of Clapham ; and his
father seriously contemplated the notion of removing to Lon-
don in order to place him as a day -scholar at Westminster.
Thorough as was the consideration which the parents gave to
the matter, their decision was of more importance than they
could at the time foresee. If their son had gone to a public
school, it is more than probable that he would have turned out
a different man and have done different work. So sensitive
and home-loving a boy might for a while have been too de-
pressed to enter fully into the ways of the place ; but, as he
gained confidence, he could not have withstood the irresistible
attractions which the life of a great school exercises over a
vivid, eager nature, and he would have sacrificed to passing
pleasures and emulations a part, at any rate, of those years
which, in order to be what he was, it was necessary that he
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 49
should spend wholly among his books. Westminster or Har-
row might have sharpened his faculties for dealing with affairs
and with men, but the world at large would have lost more
than he could by any possibility have gained. If Macaulay
had received the usual education of a young Englishman, he
might in all probability have kept his seat for Edinburgh, but
he could hardly have written the essay on Von Ranke, or the
description of England in the third chapter of the " History."
Mr. Macaulay ultimately fixed upon a private school, kept
by the Rev. Mr. Preston, at Little Shelford, a village in the
immediate vicinity of Cambridge. The motives which guided
this selection were mainly of a religious nature. Mr. Preston
held extreme Low -church opinions, and stood in the good
books of Mr. Simeon, whose word had long been law in the
Cambridge section of the evangelical circle. But, whatever
had been the inducement to make it, the choice proved singu-
larly fortunate. The tutor, it is true, was narrow in his views,
and lacked the taste and judgment to set those views before
his pupils in an attractive form. Theological topics dragged
into the conversation at unexpected moments, inquiries about
their spiritual state, and long sermons which had to be listened
to under the dire obligation of reproducing them in an epit-
ome, fostered in the minds of some of the boys a reaction
against the outward manifestations of religion — a reaction
which had already begun under the strict system pursued in
their respective homes. But, on the other hand, Mr. Preston
knew both how to teach his scholars, and when to leave them
to teach themselves. The eminent judge who divided grown
men into two sharply defined and most uncomplimentary cat-
egories was accustomed to say that private schools made poor
creatures, and public schools sad dogs ; but Mr. Preston suc-
ceeded in giving a practical contradiction to Sir William
Maule's proposition. His pupils, who were limited to an av-
erage of a dozen at a time, got far beyond their share of hon-
ors at the university and of distinction in after-life. George
Stainforth, a grandson of Sir Francis Baring, by his success
at Cambridge was the first to win the school an honorable
name, which was more than sustained by Henry Maiden, now
VOL. L— 4
50 LITE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
Greek Professor at University College, London, and by Mae-
aulay himself. Shelford was strongly under the influence of
the neighboring university : an influence which Mr. Preston,
himself an ex -fellow of Trinity, wisely encouraged. The
boys were penetrated with Cambridge ambitions and ways
of thought, and frequent visitors brought to the table, where
master and pupils dined in common, the freshest Cambridge
gossip of the graver sort.
Little Macaulay received much kindness from Dean Milner,
the president of Queen's College, then at the very summit of
a celebrity which is already of the past. Those who care to
search among the embers of that once brilliant reputation can
form a fair notion of what Samuel Johnson would have been
if he had lived a generation later, and had been absolved from
the necessity of earning his bread by the enjoyment of eccle-
siastical sinecures, and from any uneasiness as to his worldly
standing by the possession of academical dignities and func-
tions. The dean, who had boundless good-will for all his fel-
low-creatures at every period of life, provided that they were
not Jacobins or skeptics, recognized the promise of the boy,
and entertained him at his college residence on terms of friend-
liness and almost of equality. After one of these visits, he
writes to Mr. Macaulay : " Your lad is a fine fellow. He shall
stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men."
Shelford, February 22d, 1813.
MY DEAR PAPA, — As this is a whole holiday, I can not find
a better time for answering your letter. With respect to my
health, I am very well, and tolerably cheerful, as Blundell, the
best and most clever of all the scholars, is very kind, and talks
to me, and takes my part. He is quite a friend of Mr. Pres-
ton's. The other boys, especially Lyon, a Scotch boy, and
Wilberforce, are very good-natured, and we might have gone
on very well had not one , a Bristol fellow, come here.
He is unanimously allowed to be a queer fellow, and is gener-
ally characterized as a foolish boy, and by most of us as an ill-
natured one. In my learning I do Xenophon every day, and
twice a week the " Odyssey," in which I am classed with Wil-
1800-'18.] LOKD MACAULAY. 51
berforce, whom all the boys allow to be very clever, very
droll, and very impudent. "We do Latin verses twice a week,
and I have not yet been laughed at, as Wilberf orce is the only
one who hears them, being in my class. We are exercised
also once a week in English composition, and once in Latin
composition, and letters of persons renowned in history to
each other. We get by heart Greek grammar or Virgil every
evening. As for sermon-writing, I have hitherto got off with
credit, and I hope I shall keep up my reputation. We have
had the first meeting of our debating society the other day,
when a vote of censure was moved for upon Wilberf orce ; but
he, getting up, said, " Mr. President, I beg to second the mo-
tion." By this means he escaped. The kindness which Mr.
Preston shows me is very great. He always assists me in
what I can not do, and takes me to walk out with him every
now and then. My room is a delightful, snug little chamber,
which nobody can enter, as there is a trick about opening the
door. I sit like a king, with my writing-desk before me ; for
(would you believe it ?) there is a writing-desk in my chest of
drawers ; my books on one side, my box of papers on the oth-
er, with my arm-chair and my candle ; for every boy has a
candlestick, snuffers, and extinguisher of his own. Being
pressed for room, I will conclude what I have to say to-mor-
row, and ever remain your affectionate son,
THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
The youth who on this occasion gave proof of his parent-
age by his readiness and humor was Wilberforce's eldest son.
A fortnight later on, the subject chosen for discussion was
" whether Lord Wellington or Marlborough was the greatest
general. A very warm debate is expected."
Sbelford, April 20th, 1813.
MY DEAR MAMA, — Pursuant to my promise, I resume my
pen to write to you with the greatest pleasure. Since I wrote
to you yesterday, I have enjoyed myself more than I have
ever done since I came to Shelf ord. Mr. Hodson called about
twelve o'clock yesterday morning with a pony for me, and
52 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
took me with him to Cambridge. How surprised and delight-
ed was I to learn that I was to take a bed at Queen's College
in Dean Milner's apartments ! Wilberf orce arrived soon aft-
er, and I spent the day very agreeably, the dean amusing me
with the greatest kindness. I slept there, and came home on
horseback to-day just in time for dinner. The dean has in-
vited me to come again, and Mr. Preston has given his con-
sent. The books which I am at present .employed in reading
to myself are, in English, "Plutarch's Lives," and Milner's
" Ecclesiastical History ;" in French, Fenelon's " Dialogues of
the Dead." I shall send you back the volumes of Madame
de Genlis's petits romo/ns as soon as possible, and I should be
very much obliged for one or two more of them. Every
thing now seems to feel the influence of spring. The trees
are all out. The lilacs are in bloom. The days are long, and
I feel that I should be happy were it not that I want home.
Even yesterday, when I felt more real satisfaction than I have
done for almost three months, I could not help feeling a sort
of uneasiness, which indeed I have always felt more or less
since I have been here, and which is the only thing that hin-
ders me from being perfectly happy. This day two months
will put a period to my uneasiness.
Fly fast the hours, and dawn th' expected morn.
Every night when I lie down I reflect that another day is cut
off from the tiresome time of absence.
Your affectionate son, THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
Shelford, April 26th, 1813.
MY DEAR PAPA, — Since I have given you a detail of weekly
duties, I hope you will be pleased to be informed of my Sun-
day's occupations. It is quite a day of rest here, and I real-
ly look to it with pleasure through the whole of the week.
After breakfast we learn a chapter in the Greek Testament,
that is, with the aid of our Bibles, and without doing it with a
dictionary, like other lessons. We then go to church. We
dine almost as soon as we come back, and we are left to our-
selves till afternoon church. During this time I employ my-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 53
self in reading, and Mr. Preston lends me any books for which
I ask him, so that I am nearly as well off in this respect as at
home, except for one thing, which, though I believe it is use-
ful, is not very pleasant — I can only ask for one book at a
time, and can not touch another till I have read it through.
We then go to church, and after we come back I read as be-
fore till tea-time. After tea we write out the sermon. I can
not help thinking that Mr. Preston uses all imaginable means
to make us forget it, for he gives us a glass of wine each on
Sunday, and on Sunday only, the very day when we want
to have all our faculties awake ; and some do literally go to
sleep during the sermon, and look rather silly when they
wake. I, however, have not fallen into this disaster.
Your affectionate son, THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
The constant allusions to home politics and to the progress
of the Continental struggle, which occur throughout Zacha-
ry Macaulay's correspondence with his son, prove how freely,
and on what an equal footing, the parent and child already
conversed on questions of public interest. The following let-
ter is curious as a specimen of the eagerness with which the
boy habitually flung himself into the subjects which occupied
his father's thoughts. The renewal of the East India Com-
pany's charter was just then under the consideration of Par-
liament, and the whole energies of the Evangelical party were
exerted in order to signalize the occasion by securing our
Eastern dominions as a field for the spread of Christianity.
Petitions against the continued exclusion of missionaries were
in course of circulation throughout the island, the drafts of
which had been prepared by Mr. Macaulay.
Shelford, May 8th, 1813.
MY DEAR PAPA, — As on Monday it will be out of my power
to write, since the examination subjects are to be given out
then, I write to-day instead to answer your kind and long let-
ter. I am very much pleased that the nation seems to take
such interest in the introduction of Christianity into India.
My Scotch blood begins to boil at the mention of the seven-
54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
teen hundred and fifty names that went up from a single
country parish. Ask Mama and Selina if they do not now
admit my argument with regard to the superior advantages
of the Scotch over the English peasantry.
As to my examination preparations, I will, if you please,
give you a sketch of my plan. On Monday, the day on which
the examination subjects are given out, I shall begin. My
first performance will be my verses and my declamation. I
shall then translate the Greek and Latin. The first time of
going over I shall mark the passages which puzzle me, and
then return to them again. But I shall have also to rub up
my mathematics (by-the-bye, I begin the second book of Eu-
clid to-day), and to study whatever history may be appointed
for the examination. I shall not be able to avoid trembling,
whether I know my subjects or not. I am, however, intimi-
dated at nothing but Greek. Mathematics suit my taste, al-
though, before I came, I declaimed against them, and asserted
that, when I went to college, it should not be to Cambridge.
I am occupied with the hope of lecturing Mama and Selina
upon mathematics, as I used to do upon heraldry, and to
change Or, and Argent, and Azure, and Gules, for squares,
and points, and circles, and angles, and triangles, and rectan-
gles, and rhomboids, and, in a word, " all the pomp and cir-
cumstance " of Euclid. When I come home, I shall, if my
purse is sufficient, bring a couple of rabbits for Selina and
Jane. Your affectionate son,
THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
It will be seen that this passing fondness for mathematics
soon changed into bitter disgust.
Clapham, May 28th, 1813.
MY DEAR TOM, — I am very happy to hear that you have so
far advanced in your different prize exercises, and with such
little fatigue. I know you write with great ease to yourself,
and would rather write ten poems than prune one ; but re-
member that excellence is not attained at first. All your
pieces are much mended after a little reflection, and therefore
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 55
take some solitary walks, and think over each separate thing.
Spare no time or trouble to render each piece as perfect
as you can, and then leave the event without one anxious
thought. I have always admired a saying of one of the old
heathen philosophers. When a friend was condoling with
him that he so well deserved of the gods, and yet that they
did not shower their favors on him, as on some others less
worthy, he answered, "I will, however, continue to deserve
well of them." So do you, my dearest. Do your best, be-
cause it is the will of God you should improve every faculty
to the utmost now, and strengthen the powers of your mind
by exercise, and then in future you will be better enabled to
glorify God with all your powers and talents, be they of a
more humble or higher order, and you shall not fail to be re-
ceived into everlasting habitations, with the applauding voice
of your Saviour, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
You see how ambitious your mother is. She must have the
wisdom of her son acknowledged before angels, and an assem-
bled world. My wishes can soar no higher, and they can be
content with nothing less for any of my children. The first
time I saw your face, I repeated those beautiful lines of Watts's
cradle hymn,
Mayst thou live to know and fear Him,
Trust and love Him all thy days,
Then go dwell forever uear Him,
See His face, and sing His praise :
and this is the substance of all my prayers for you. In less
than a month you and I shall, I trust, be rambling over the
Common, which now looks quite beautiful.
I am ever, my dear Tom, your affectionate mother,
SELINA MACAULAY.
The commencement of the second half-year at school, per-
haps the darkest season of a boy's existence, was marked by
an unusually severe and prolonged attack of home - sickness.
It would be cruel to insert the first letter written after the re-
turn to Shelford from the summer holidays. That which fol-
lows it is melancholy enough.
56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
Shelford, August 14th, 1813.
MY DEAK MAMA, — I must confess that I have been a little
disappointed at not receiving a letter from home to-day. I
hope, however, -for one to-morrow. My spirits are far more
depressed by leaving home than they were last half-year. Ev-
ery thing brings home to my recollection. Every thing I read,
or see, or hear, brings it to my mind. You told me I should be
happy when I once came here, but not an hour passes in which
I do not shed tears at thinking of home. Every hope, how-
ever unlikely to be realized, affords me some small consolation.
The morning on which I went, you told me that possibly I
might come home before the holidays. If you can confirm
this hope, believe me when I assure you that there is nothing
which I would not give for one instant's sight of home. Tell
me in your next, expressly, if you can, whether or no there is
any likelihood of my coming home before the holidays. If I
could gain papa's leave, I should select my birthday on Octo-
ber 25th as the time which I should wish to spend at that home
which absence renders still dearer to me. I think I see you
sitting by papa just after his dinner, reading my letter, and
turning to him, with an inquisitive glance, at the end of the
paragraph. I think too that I see his expressive shake of the
head at it. Oh, may I be mistaken ! You can not conceive
what an alteration a favorable answer would produce in me.
If your approbation of my request depends upon my advan-
cing in study, I will work like a cart-horse. If you should re-
fuse it, you will deprive me of the most pleasing illusion which
I ever experienced in my life. Pray do not fail to write
speedily. Your dutiful and affectionate son,
T. B. MACAULAY.
His father answered him in a letter of strong religious com-
plexion, full of feeling and even of beauty, but too long for
reproduction in a biography that is not his own.
Mr. Macaulay's deep anxiety for his son's welfare some-
times induced him to lend too ready an ear to busybodies who
informed him of failings in the boy which would have been
treated more lightly, and perhaps more wisely, by a less de-
1
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 57
voted father. In the early months of 1814 he writes as fol-
lows, after hearing the tale of some guest of Mr. Preston whom
Tom had no doubt contradicted at table in presence of the as-
sembled household :
London, March 4th, 1814.
MY DEAB TOM, — In taking up my pen this morning a pas-
sage in Cowper almost involuntarily occurred to me. You
will find it at length in his " Conversation."
Ye powers who rule the tongue, if such there are,
And make colloquial happiness your care,
Preserve me from the thing I dread and hate,
A duel in the form of a debate.
Vociferated logic kills me quite.
A noisy man is always in the right.
You know how much such a quotation as this would fall in
with my notions — averse as I am to loud and noisy tones, and
self-confident, overwhelming, and yet perhaps very unsound
arguments. And you will remember how anxiously I dwelt
upon this point while you were at home. I have been in
hopes that this half-year would witness a great change in you
in this respect. My hopes, however, have been a little damped
by something which I heard last week through a friend, who
seemed to have received an impression that you had gained a
high distinction among the young gentlemen at Shelford by
the loudness and vehemence of your tones. Now, my dear
Tom, you can not doubt that this gives me pain ; and it does
so, not so much on account of the thing itself, as because I
consider it a pretty infallible test of the mind within. I do
long and pray most earnestly that the ornament of a meek
and quiet spirit may be substituted for vehemence and self-
confidence, and that you may be as much distinguished for the
former as ever you have been for the latter. It is a school in
which I am not ambitious that any child of mine should take
a high degree.
If the people of Shelford be as bad as you represent them
in your letters, what are they but an epitome of the world at
large ? Are they ungrateful to you for your kindnesses ? Are
58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. j.
they foolish, and wicked, and wayward in the use of their fac-
ulties ? What is all this but what we ourselves are guilty of
every day ? Consider how much in our case the guilt of such
conduct is aggravated by our superior knowledge. "We shall
not have ignorance to plead in its extenuation, as many of the
people of Shelf ord may have. Now, instead of railing at the
people of Shelf ord, I think the best thing which you and your
school-fellows could do would be to try to reform them. You
can buy and distribute useful and striking tracts, as well as
Testaments, among such as can read. The cheap Repository
and Eeligious Tract Society will furnish tracts suited to all
descriptions of persons ; and for those who can not read — why
should you not institute a Sunday - school, to be taught by
yourselves, and in which, appropriate rewards being given for
good behavior, not only at school but through the week,
great effects of a moral kind might soon be produced ? I have
exhausted my paper, and must answer the rest of your letter
in a few days. In the mean time,
I am ever your most affectionate father,
ZACHAEY MACAULAY.
A father's prayers are seldom fulfilled to the letter. Many
years were to elapse before the son ceased to talk loudly and
with confidence, and the literature that he was destined to
distribute through the world was of another order from that
which Mr. Macaulay here suggests. The answer, which is ad-
dressed to the mother, affords a proof that the boy could al-
ready hold his own. The allusions to the Christian Observer,
of which his father was editor, and to Dr. Herbert Marsh,
with whom the ablest pens of Clapham were at that moment
engaged in hot and imbittered controversy, are thrown in
with an artist's hand.
Shelford, April llth, 1814.
MY DEAR MAMA, — The news is glorious indeed. Peace!
peace with a Bourbon, with a descendant of Henri Quatre,
with a prince who is bound to us by all the ties of gratitude !
I have some hopes that it will be a lasting peace, that the
troubles of the last twenty years may make kings and nations
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 59
wiser. I can not conceive a greater punishment to Bonaparte
than that which the allies have inflicted on him. How can
his ambitious mind support it ? All his great projects and
schemes which once made every throne in Europe tremble are
buried in the solitude of an Italian isle. How miraculously
every thing has been conducted ! We almost seem to hear
the Almighty saying to the fallen tyrant, " For this cause have
I raised thee up, that I might show in thee My power."
As I am in very great haste with this letter, I shall have but
little time to write. I am sorry to hear that some nameless
friend of papa's denounced my voice as remarkably loud. I
have accordingly resolved to speak in a moderate key except
on the undermentioned special occasions. Imprimis, when I
am speaking at the same time with three others. Secondly,
when I am praising the Christian Observer. Thirdly, when I
am praising Mr. Preston or his sisters, I may be allowed to
speak in my loudest voice, that they may hear me.
I saw to-day that greatest of churchmen, that pillar of Or-
thodoxy, that true friend to the Liturgy, that mortal enemy
to the Bible Society, Herbert Marsh, D.D., Professor of Divin-
ity on Lady Margaret's foundation. I stood looking at him
for about ten minutes, and shall always continue to maintain
that he is a very ill-favored gentleman as far as outward ap-
pearance is concerned. I am going this week to spend a day
or two at Dean Milner's, where I hope, nothing unforeseen
preventing, to see you in about two months' time.
Ever your affectionate son, T. B. MACAULAY.
In the course of the year 1814 Mr. Preston removed his es-
tablishment to Aspenden Hall, near Buntingford, in Hertford-
shire— a large old-fashioned mansion, standing amidst exten-
sive shrubberies and a pleasant, undulating domain, sprinkled
with fine timber. The house has been rebuilt within the last
twenty years, and nothing remains of it except the dark oak
paneling of the hall in which the scholars made their recita-
tions on the annual speech-day. The very pretty church,
which stands hard by within the grounds, was undergoing
restoration in 1873 ; and by this time the only existing por-
60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
tion of the former internal fittings is the family pew, in which
the boys sat on drowsy summer afternoons, doing what they
could to keep their impressions of the second sermon distinct
from their reminiscences of the morning. Here Macaulay
spent four most industrious years, doing less and less in the
class-room as time went on, but enjoying the rare advantage
of studying Greek and Latin by the side of such a scholar as
Maiden. The two companions were equally matched in age
and classical attainments, and at the university maintained a
rivalry so generous as hardly to deserve the name. Each of
the pupils had his own chamber, which the others were for-
bidden to enter under the penalty of a shilling fine. This
prohibition was in general not very strictly observed, but the
tutor had taken the precaution of placing Macaulay in the
room next his own : a proximity which rendered the position
of an intruder so exceptionally dangerous that even Maiden
could not remember having once passed his friend's threshold
during the whole of their stay at Aspenden.
In this seclusion, removed from the delight of family inter-
course (the only attraction strong enough to draw him from
his books), the boy read widely, unceasingly, more than rap-
idly. The secret of his immense acquirements lay in two
invaluable gifts of nature : an unerring memory, and the ca-
pacity for taking in at a glance the contents of a printed
page. During the first part of his life he remembered what-
ever caught his fancy, without going through the process of
consciously getting it by heart. As a child, during one of the
numerous seasons when the social duties devolved upon Mr.
Macaulay, he accompanied his father on an afternoon call,
and found on a table the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," which
he had never before met with. He kept himself quiet with
his prize while the elders were talking, and on his return
home sat down upon his mother's bed, and repeated to her as
many cantos as she had the patience or the strength to listen
to. At one period of his life he was known to say that, if by
some miracle of vandalism all copies of " Paradise Lost " and
" The Pilgrim's Progress " were destroyed off the face of the
earth, he would undertake to reproduce them both from recol-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 61
lection whenever a revival of learning came. In 1813, while
waiting in a Cambridge coffee-room for a post-chaise which
was to take him to his school, he picked up a county news-
paper containing two such specimens of provincial poetical
talent as in those days might be read in the corner of any
weekly journal. One piece was headed " Reflections of an
Exile," while the other was a trumpery parody on the Welsh
ballad "Ar hyd y nos," referring to some local anecdote of an
hostler whose nose had been bitten off by a filly. He looked
them once through, and never gave them a thought for forty
years, at the end of which time he repeated them both with-
out missing, or, as far as he knew, changing, a single word.
As he grew older, this wonderful power became impaired
so far that getting by rote the compositions of others was no
longer an involuntary process.. He has noted in his Lucan
the several occasions on which he committed to memory his
favorite passages of an author whom he regarded as unrivaled
among rhetoricians, and the dates refer to the year 1836, when
he had just turned the middle point of life. During his last
years, at his dressing-table in the morning, he would learn by
heart one of the little idyls in which Martial expatiates on the
enjoyments of a Spanish country-house or a villa-farm in the
environs of Rome — those delicious morsels of verse which
(considering the sense that modern ideas attach to the name)
it is an injustice to class under the head of epigrams.
Macaulay's extraordinary faculty of assimilating printed
matter at first sight remained the same through life. To the
end he read books faster than other people skimmed them,
and skimmed them as fast as any one else could turn the
leaves. " He seemed to read through the skin," said one who
had often watched the operation. And this speed was not in
his case obtained at the expense of accuracy. Any thing
which had once appeared in type, from the highest effort of
genius down to the most detestable trash that ever consumed
ink and paper manufactured for better things, had in his eyes
an authority which led him to look upon misquotation as a
species of minor sacrilege.
"With these endowments, sharpened by an insatiable curiosi-
62 LIFE AtfD LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
ty, from his fourteenth year onward he was permitted to roam
almost at will over the whole expanse of literature. He com-
posed little beyond his school exercises, which themselves bear
signs of having been written in a perfunctory manner. At
this period he had evidently no heart in any thing but his
reading. Before leaving Shelford for Aspenden he had al-
ready invoked the epic muse for the last time.
Arms and the man I sing who strove in vain
To save green Erin from a foreign reign.
The man was Roderic, King of Connaught, whom he got tired
of singing before he had well completed two books of the
poem. Thenceforward he appears never to have struck his
lyre except in the first enthusiasm aroused by the intelligence
of some favorable turn of fortune on the Continent. The
flight of Napoleon from Russia was celebrated in a " Pindaric
Ode " duly distributed into strophes and antistrophes ; and,
when the allies entered Paris, the school put his services into
requisition to petition for a holiday in honor of the event.
He addressed his tutor in a short poem, which begins with a
few sonorous and effective couplets, grows more and more
like the parody on Fitzgerald in "Rejected Addresses," and
ends in a peroration of which the intention is unquestionably
mock-heroic :
Oh, by the glorious posture of affairs,
By the enormous price that Omnium bears,
By princely Bourbon's late recovered Crown,
And by Miss Fanny's safe return from town,
Oh, do not thou, and thou alone, refuse
To show thy pleasure at this glorious news !
Touched by the mention of his sister, Mr. Preston yielded ;
and young Macaulay never turned another verse except at the
bidding of his school-master, until, on the eve of his departure
for Cambridge, he wrote between three and four hundred lines
of a drama, entitled " Don Fernando," marked by force and
fertility of diction, but somewhat too artificial to be worthy of
publication under a name such as his. Much about the same
time he communicated to Maiden the commencement of a
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 63
burlesque poem on the story of Anthony Babington, who by
the part that he took in the plots against the life of Queen
Elizabeth, had given the family a connection with English
history which, however questionable, was in Macaulay's view
better than none.
Each, says the proverb, has his taste. 'Tis true.
Marsh loves a controversy ; Coates a play ;
Bennet a felon ; Lewis Way a Jew ;
The Jew the silver spoons of Lewis Way.
The Gypsy Poetry, to own the truth,
Has been my love through childhood and in youth.
It is perhaps as well that the project to all appearance stopped
with the first stanza, which in its turn was probably written
for the sake of a single line. The young man had a better
use for his time than to spend it in producing frigid imitations
of " Beppo."
He was not unpopular among his fellow-pupils, who regard-
ed him with pride and admiration, tempered by the compas-
sion which his utter inability to play at any sort of game
would have excited in every school, private or public alike.
He troubled himself very little about the opinion of those by
whom he was surrounded at Aspenden. It required the crowd
and the stir of a university to call forth the social qualities
which he possessed in so large a measure. The tone of his
correspondence during these years sufficiently indicates that
he lived almost exclusively among books. His letters, which
had hitherto been very natural and pretty, began to smack of
the library, and please less than those written in early boy-
hood. His pen was overcharged with the metaphors and
phrases of other men, and it was not till maturing powers had
enabled him to master and arrange the vast masses of litera-
ture which filled his memory that his native force could dis-
play itself freely through the medium of a style which was
all his own. In 1815 he began a formal literary correspond-
ence, after the taste of the previous century, with Mr. Hud-
son, a gentleman in the Examiner's Office of the East India
House.
64: LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. I.
Aspenden Hall, August 22d, 1815.
DEAR SIK, — The Spectator observes, I believe in his first
paper, that we can never read an author with much zest un-
less we are acquainted with his situation. I feel the same in
my epistolary correspondence ; and supposing that in this re-
spect we may be alike, I will just tell you my condition. Im-
agine a house in the middle of pretty large grounds, surround-
ed by palings. These I never pass. You may therefore sup-
pose that I resemble the Hermit of Pamell :
As yet by books and swains the world he knew,
Nor knew if books and swains report it true.
If you substitute newspapers and visitors for books and swains
you may form an idea of what I know of the present state of
things. Write to me as one who is ignorant of every event
except political occurrences. These I learn regularly ; but if
Lord Byron were to publish melodies or romances, or Scott
metrical tales without number, I should never see them, or
perhaps hear of them, till Christmas. Retirement of this
kind, though it precludes me from studying the works of the
hour, is very favorable for the employment of " holding high
converse with the mighty dead."
I know not whether "peeping at the world through the
loop-holes of retreat" be the best way of forming us for en-
gaging in its busy and active scenes. I am sure it is not a
way to my taste. Poets may talk of the beauties of nature,
the enjoyments of a country life, and rural innocence; but
there is another kind of life which, though unsung by bards,
is yet to me infinitely superior to the dull uniformity of coun-
try life. London is the place for me. Its smoky atmosphere
and its muddy river charm me more than the pure air of Hert-
fordshire, and the crystal currents of the river Rib. Nothing
is equal to the splendid varieties of London life, " the fine flow
of London talk," and the dazzling brilliancy of London spec-
tacles. Such are my sentiments ; and if ever I publish poetry,
it shall not be pastoral. Nature is the last goddess to whom
my devoirs shall be paid. Yours most faithfully,
THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 65
This votary of city life was still two months short of com-
pleting his fifteenth year !
Aspenden Hall, August 23d, 1815.
MY DEAK MAMA, — You perceive already in so large a sheet
and so small a hand the promise of a long, a very long letter;
longer, as I intend it, than all the letters which you send in
a half-year together. I have again begun my life of sterile
monotony, unvarying labor, the dull return of dull exercises
in dull uniformity of tediousness. But do not think that I
complain.
My mind to me a kingdom is.
Such perfect joy therein I find .
As doth exceed all other bliss
That God or nature hath assigned.
Assure yourself that I am philosopher enough to be happy, I
meant to say not particularly unhappy, in solitude ; but man
is an animal made for society. I was gifted with reason, not
to speculate in Aspenden Park, but to interchange ideas with
some person who can understand me. This is what I miss at
Aspenden. There are several here who possess both taste and
reading, who can criticise Lord Byron and Southey with much
tact and " savoir du metier." But here it is not the fashion
to think. Hear what I have read since I came here. Hear
and wonder ! I have in the first place read Boccaccio's " De-
cameron," a tale of an hundred cantos. He is a wonderful
writer. Whether he tells in humorous or familiar strains the
follies of the silly Calandrino, or the witty pranks of Buffal-
macco and Bruno, or sings in loftier numbers
Dames, knights, and arms, and love, the feats that spring
From courteous minds and generous faith,
or lashes with a noble severity and fearless independence the
vices of the monks and the priestcraft of the established re-
ligion, he is always elegant, amusing, and, what pleases and
surprises most in a writer of so unpolished an age, strikingly
delicate and chastised. I prefer him infinitely to Chaucer.
If you wish for a good specimen of Boccaccio, as soon as
you have finished my letter (which will come, I suppose, by
VOL. I.— 5
66 LIFE AND LETTERS OP [CHAP. I.
dinner-time), send Jane up to the library for Dryden's
" Poems," and you will find among them several translations
from Boccaccio, particularly one entitled " Theodore and Ho-
noria."
But truly admirable as the bard of Florence is, I must not
permit myself to give him more than his due share of my
letter. I have likewise read " Gil Bias," with unbounded ad-
miration of the abilities of Le Sage. Maiden and I have
read " Thalaba }? together, and are proceeding to the " Curse
of Kehama." Do not think, however, that I am neglecting
more important studies than either Southey or Boccaccio. I
have read the greater part of the "History of James I.,"
and Mrs. Montague's essay on Shakspeare, and a great deal
of Gibbon. I never devoured so many books in a fortnight.
John Smith, Bob Hankinson, and I, went over the " Hebrew
Melodies " together. I certainly think far better of them than
we used to do at Clapham. Papa may laugh, and indeed he
did laugh me out of my taste at Clapham ; but I think that
there is a great deal of beauty in the first melody, " She walks
in beauty," though indeed who it is that walks in beauty is
not very exactly defined. My next letter shall contain a pro-
duction of my muse entitled "An Inscription for the Column
of Waterloo," which is to be shown to Mr. Preston to-morrow.
What he may think of it I do not know. But I am like my
favorite Cicero about my own productions. It is all one to
me what others think of them. I never like them a bit less
for being disliked by the rest of mankind. Mr. Preston has
desired me to bring him up this evening two or three subjects
for a declamation. Those which I have selected are as fol-
lows : 1st, a speech in the character of Lord Coningsby im-
peaching the Earl_ of Oxford ; 2d, an essay on the utility of
standing armies ; 3d, an essay on the policy of Great Britain
with regard to Continental possessions. I conclude with send-
ing my love to papa, Selina, Jane, John ("but he is not
there," as Fingal pathetically says, when in enumerating his
sons who should accompany him to the chase he inadvertent-
ly mentions the dead Ryno), Henry, Fanny, Hannah, Marga-
ret, and Charles. Yalete. T. B. MACAULAY.
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 67
This exhaustive enumeration of his brothers and sisters in-
vites attention to that home where he reigned supreme. Lady
Trevelyan thus describes their life at Clapham : " I think that
my father's strictness was a good counterpoise to the per-
fect worship of your uncle by the rest of the family. To us
he was an object of passionate love and devotion. To us he
could do no wrong. His unruffled sweetness of temper, his
unfailing flow of spirits, his amusing talk, all made his pres-
ence so delightful that his wishes and his tastes were our law.
He hated strangers, and his notion of perfect happiness was to
see us all working round him while he read aloud a novel, and
then to walk all together on the Common, or, if it rained, to
have a frightfully noisy game of hide-and-seek. I have often
wondered how our mother could ever have endured our noise
in her little house. My earliest recollections speak of the in-
tense happiness of the holidays, beginning with finding him in
papa's room in the morning ; the awe at the idea of his hav-
ing reached home in the dark after we were in bed, and the
Saturnalia which at once set in ; no lessons ; nothing but fun
and merriment for the whole six weeks. In the year 1816 we
were at Brighton for the summer holidays, and he read to us
' Sir Charles Grandison.' It was always a habit in our fami-
ly to read aloud every evening. Among the books selected,
I can recall Clarendon, Burnet, Shakspeare (a great treat when
my mother took the volume), Miss Edgeworth, Mackenzie's
< Lounger' and 'Mirror,' and, as a standing dish, the Quar-
terly and the Edinburgh Review. Poets, too, especially Scott
and Crabbe, were constantly chosen. Poetry and novels, ex-
cept during Tom's holidays, were forbidden in the daytime,
and stigmatized as ' drinking drams in the morning.' "
Morning or evening, Mr. Macaulay disapproved of novel-
reading ; but, too indulgent to insist on having his own way
in any but essential matters, he lived to see himself the head
of a family in which novels were more read and better remem-
bered than in any household of the United Kingdom. The
first warning of the troubles that were in store for him was an
anonymous letter addressed to him as editor of the Christian
Observer, defending works of fiction, and eulogizing Fielding
68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
and Smollett. This lie incautiously inserted in his periodical,
and brought down upon himself the most violent objurgations
from scandalized contributors, one of whom informed the pub-
lic that he had committed the obnoxious number to the flames,
and should thenceforward cease to take in the magazine. The
editor replied with becoming spirit, although by that time he
was aware that the communication, the insertion of which in
an unguarded moment had betrayed him into a controversy
for which he had so little heart, had proceeded from the pen
of his son. Such was young Macaulay's first appearance in
print, if we except the index to the thirteenth volume of the
Christian Observer, which he drew up during his Christmas
holidays of 1814. The place where he performed his earliest
literary work can be identified with tolerable certainty. He
enjoyed the eldest son's privilege of a separate bed-chamber ;
and there, at the front window on the top story, farthest from
the Common and nearest to London, we can fancy him sitting,
apart from the crowded play-room, keeping himself warm as
best he might, and traveling steadily through the blameless
pages, the contents of which it was his task to classify for the
convenience of posterity.
Lord Macaulay used to remark that Thackeray introduced
too much of the Dissenting element into his picture of Clap-
ham in the opening chapters of " The Newcomes." The
leading people of the place, with the exception of Mr. William
Smith, the Unitarian member of Parliament, were one and all
stanch Churchmen ; though they readily worked in concert
with those religious communities which held in the main the
same views and pursued the same objects as themselves. Old
John Thornton, the earliest of the Evangelical magnates, when
he went on his annual tour to the South Coast or the Scotch
mountains, would take with him some Independent or "Wes-
leyan minister who was in need of a holiday : and his follow-
ers in the next generation had the most powerful motives for
maintaining the alliance which he had inaugurated. They
could not neglect such doughty auxiliaries in the memorable
war which they waged against cruelty, ignorance, and irre-
ligion, and in their less momentous skirmishes with the vota-
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 69
ries of the stage, the race-course, and the card-table. Without
the aid of non-conformist sympathy, and money, and oratory,
and organization, their operations would have been doomed
to certain failure. The cordial relations entertained with the
members of other denominations by those among whom his
youth was passed did much to indoctrinate Macaulay with a
lively and genuine interest in sectarian theology. He possess-
ed a minute acquaintance, very rare among men of letters,
with the origin and growth of the various forms of faith and
practice which have divided the allegiance of his countrymen ;
not the least important of his qualifications for writing the
history of an epoch when the national mind gave itself to re-
ligious controversy even more largely than had been its wont.
The method of education in vogue among the Clapham
families was simple without being severe. In the spacious
gardens, and the commodious houses of an architecture already
dating a century back, which surrounded the Common, there
was plenty of freedom and good-fellowship, and reasonable en-
joyment for young and old alike. Here, again, Thackeray has
not done justice to a society that united the mental culture
and the intellectual activity which are developed by the neigh-
borhood of a great capital with the wholesome quiet and the
homely ways of country life. Hobson and Brian Newcome
are not fair specimens of the effect of Clapham influences
upon the second generation. There can have been little that
was narrow, and nothing vulgar, in a training which produced
Samuel Wilberforce, and Sir James Stephen, and Charles and
Robert Grant, and Lord Maeaulay. The plan on which chil-
dren were brought up in the chosen home of the Low-church
party, during its golden age, will bear comparison with sys-
tems about which, in their day, the world was supposed never
to tire of hearing, although their ultimate results have been
small indeed.
It is easy to trace whence the great bishop and the great
writer derived their immense industry. Working came as
naturally as walking to sons who could not remember a time
when their fathers idled. " Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Babing-
ton have never appeared down-stairs lately, except to take a
70 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. I.
hasty dinner, and for half an hour after we have supped. The
slave-trade now occupies them nine hours daily. Mr. Babing-
ton told me last night that he had fourteen hundred folio pages
to read, to detect the contradictions, and to collect the answers
which corroborate Mr. Wilberforce's assertions hi his speeches.
These, with more than two thousand pages to be abridged, must
be done within a fortnight, and they talk of sitting up one
night in every week to accomplish it. The two friends begin
to look very ill, but they are in excellent spirits, and at this
moment I hear them laughing at some absurd questions in
the examination." Passages such as this are scattered broad-
cast through the correspondence of Wilberf oree and his friends.
Fortitude and diligence and self-control, and all that makes
men good and great, can not be purchased from professional
educators. Charity is not the only quality which begins at
home. It is throwing away money to spend a thousand a
year on the teaching of three boys, if they are to return from
school only to find the older members of their family intent
on amusing themselves at any cost of time and trouble, or sac-
rificing self-respect in ignoble efforts to struggle into a social
grade above their own. The child will never place his aims
high and pursue them steadily unless the parent has taught
him what energy and elevation of purpose mean not less by
example than by precept.
In that company of indefatigable workers none equaled the
labors of Zachary Macaulay. Even now, when he has been in
his grave for more than the third of a century, it seems almost
an act of disloyalty to record the public services of a man who
thought that he had done less than nothing if his exertions
met with praise, or even with recognition. The nature and
value of those services may be estimated from the terms in
which a very competent judge, who knew how to weigh his
words, spoke of the part which Mr. Macaulay played in one
only of his numerous enterprises — the suppression of slavery
and the slave-trade. " That God had called him into being to
wage war with this gigantic evil became his immutable con-
viction. During forty successive years he was ever burdened
with this thought. It was the subject of his visions by day
1800-18.] LORD MACAULAY. 71
and of his dreams by night. To give them reality he labored
as men labor for the honors of a profession or for the subsist-
ence of their children. In that service he sacrificed all that a
man may lawfully sacrifice — health, fortune, repose, favor, and
celebrity. He died a poor man, though wealth was within his
reach. He devoted himself to the severest toil, amidst allure-
ments to luxuriate in the delights of domestic and social in-
tercourse, such as few indeed have encountered. He silently
permitted some to usurp his hardly earned honors, that no
selfish controversy might desecrate their common cause. He
made no effort to obtain the praises of the world, though he
had talents to command, and a temper peculiarly disposed to
enjoy them. He drew upon himself the poisoned shafts of
calumny, and, while feeling their sting as generous spirits
only can feel it, never turned a single step aside from his path
to propitiate or to crush the slanderers."
Zachary Macaulay was no common fanatic. It is difficult
to understand when it was that he had time to pick up his
knowledge of general literature, or how he made room for it
in a mind so crammed with facts and statistics relating to
questions of the day, that when Wilberforce was at a loss for
a piece of information he used to say, "Let us look it out
in Macaulay." His private papers, which are one long reg-
ister of unbroken toil, do nothing to clear up the problem.
Highly cultivated, however, he certainly was, an$ his society
was in request with many who cared little for the objects
which to him were every thing. That he should have been
esteemed and regarded by Lord Brougham, Francis Homer,
and Sir James Mackintosh, seems natural enough ; but there
is something surprising in finding him in friendly and fre-
quent intercourse with some of his most distinguished French
contemporaries. Chateaubriand, Sismondi, the Due de Broglie,
Madame de Stael, and Dumont, the interpreter* of Bentham,
corresponded with him freely in their own language, which
he wrote to admiration. The gratification that his foreign
acquaintance felt at the sight of his letters would have been
unalloyed but for the pamphlets and blue-books by which
they were too often accompanied. It is not difficult to imag-
72 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. i.
ine the feelings of a Parisian on receiving two quarto vol-
umes, with the postage only in part prepaid, containing the
proceedings of a Committee on Apprenticeship in the West
Indies, and including the twelve or fifteen thousand questions
and answers on which the Eeport was founded. It would be
hard to meet with a more perfect sample of the national po-
liteness than the passage in which M. Dumont acknowledges
one of the less formidable of these unwelcome gifts. "Mox
CHEK AMI, — Je ne laisserai pas partir Mr. Inglis sans le charger
de quelques lignes pour vous, afin de vous remercier du Chris-
tian Observer que vous avez eu la bonte de m'envoyer. Yous
savez que j'ai a great taste for it ; mais il f aut vous avouer
une triste verite", c'est que je manque absolument de loisir pour
le lire. Ne m'en envoyez plus, car je me sens peine d'avoir
sous les yeux de si bonnes choses dont je n'ai pas le temps de
me nourrir."
" In the year 1817," Lady Trevelyan writes, " my parents
made a tour in Scotland with your uncle. Brougham gave
them a letter to Jeffrey, who hospitably entertained them, but
your uncle said that Jeffrey was not at all at his ease, and was
apparently so terrified at my father's religious reputation that
he seemed afraid to utter a joke. Your uncle complained
grievously that they traveled from manse to manse, and al-
ways came in for very long prayers and expositions. I think,
with all the love and reverence with which your uncle regard-
ed his father's memory, there mingled a shade of bitterness
that he had not met quite the encouragement and appreciation
from him which he received from others. But such a son as
he was ! Never a disrespectful word or look, always anxious
to please and amuse, and at last he was the entire stay and
support of his father's declining years.
" Your uncle was of opinion that the course pursued by his
father toward him during his youth was not judicious. But
here I am inclined to disagree with him. There was no want
of proof of the estimation in which his father held him, corre-
sponding with him from a very early age as with a man, con-
versing with him freely, and writing of him most fondly. But,
in the desire to keep down any conceit, there was certainly in
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 73
my father a great outward show of repression and depreci-
ation. Then the faults of your uncle were peculiarly those
that my father had no patience with. Himself precise in his
arrangements, writing a beautiful hand, particular about neat-
ness, very accurate and calm, detesting strong expressions, and
remarkably self-controlled — while his eager, impetuous boy,
careless of his dress, always forgetting to wash his hands and
brush his hair, writing an execrable hand, and folding his let-
ters with a great blotch for a seal, was a constant care and
irritation. Many letters to your uncle have I read on these
subjects. Sometimes a specimen of the proper way of fold-
ing a letter is sent to him (those were the. sad days before en-
velopes were known), and he is desired to repeat the experi-
ment till he succeeds. General Macaulay's fastidious nature
led him to take my father's line regarding your uncle, and
my youthful soul was often vexed by the constant reprimands
for venial transgressions. But the great sin was the idle read-
ing, which was a thorn in my father's side that never was ex-
tracted. In truth, he really acknowledged to the full your
uncle's abilities, and felt that if he could only add his own
morale, his unwearied industry, his power of concentrating his
energies on the work in hand, his patient, painstaking calm-
ness, to the genius and fervor which his son possessed, then a
being might be formed who could regenerate the world. Oft-
en in later years I have heard my father, after expressing an
earnest desire for some object, exclaim, ' If I had only Tom's
power of speech !' But he should have remembered that all
gifts are not given to one, and that perhaps such a union as he
coveted is even impossible. Parents must be content to see
their children walk hi their own path, too happy if through
any road they attain the same end, the living for the glory of
God and the good of man."
From a marvelously early date in Macaulay's life, public af-
fairs divided his thoughts with literature, and, as he grew to
manhood, began more and more to divide his aspirations. His
father's house was much used as a centre of consultation by
members of Parliament who lived in the suburbs on the Sur-
rey side of London, and the boy could hardly have heard more
74 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. i.
incessant, and assuredly not more edifying political talk if he
had been brought up in Downing Street. The future advo-
cate and interpreter of Whig principles was not reared in the
Whig faith. Attached friends of Pitt, who in personal con-
duct and habits of life certainly came nearer to their standard
than his great rival, and warmly in favor of a war which to
their imagination never entirely lost its early character of an
internecine contest with atheism, the Evangelicals in the House
of Commons for the most part acted with the Tories. But
it may be doubted whether in the long run their party would
not have been better without them. By the zeal,* the munif-
icence, the laborious activity with which they pursued their
religious and semi-religious enterprises, they did more to teach
the world how to get rid of existing institutions than by their
votes and speeches at Westminster they contributed to pre-
serve them. With their May meetings, and African institu-
* Macaulay, writing to one of his sisters in 1844, says : " I think Stephen's
article on the Clapham sect the best thiug he ever did. I do not think with
you that the Claphamites were men too obscure for such delineation. The
truth is that from that little knot of men emanated all the Bible societies
and almost all the missionary societies in the world. The whole organiza-
tion of the Evangelical party was their work. The share which they had
in providing means for the education of the people was great. They were
really the destroyers of the slave-trade and of slavery. Many of those whom
Stephen describes were public men of the greatest weight. Lord Teign-
mouth governed India at Calcutta. Grant governed India in Leadenhall
Street. Stephen's father was Perceval's right-hand man in the House of
Commons. It is needless to speak of Wilberforce. As to Simeon, if you
knew what his authority and influence were, and how they extended from
Cambridge to the most remote corners of England, you would allow that
his real sway in the Church was far greater than that of any primate.
Thornton, to my surprise, thinks the passage about my father unfriendly.
I defended Stephen. The truth is that he asked my permission to draw a
portrait of my father for the Edinburgh Review. I told him that I had only
to beg that he would not give it the air of a puff: a thing which, for my-
self and for my friends, I dread far more than any attack. My influence
over the Berime is so well known that a mere eulogy of my father appear-
ing in that work would only call forth derision. I therefore am really
glad that Stephen has introduced into his sketch some little characteristic
traits which, in themselves, were not beauties."
1800-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 75
tions, and antislavery reporters, and their subscriptions "of tens
of thousands of pounds, and their petitions bristling with hun-
dreds of thousands of signatures, and all the machinery for in-
forming opinion and bringing it to bear on ministers and leg-
islators which they did so much to perfect and even to invent,
they can be regarded as nothing short of the pioneers and
fuglemen of that system of popular agitation which forms a
leading feature in our internal history during the past half-
century. At an epoch when the Cabinet which they support-
ed was so averse to manifestations of political sentiment that
a Reformer who spoke his mind in England was seldom long
out of prison, and in Scotland ran a very serious risk of trans-
portation, Toryism sat oddly enough on men who spent their
days in the committee-room and their evenings on the plat
form, and each of whom belonged to more associations com
bined for the purpose of influencing Parliament than he could
count on the fingers of both his hands.
There was something incongruous in their position, and as
time went on they began to perceive the incongruity. They
gradually learned that measures dear to philanthropy might
be expected to result from the advent to power of their op-
ponents, while their own chief too often failed them at a pinch
out of what appeared to them an excessive and humiliating
deference to interests powerfully represented on the benches
behind him. Their eyes were first opened by Pitt's change
of attitude with regard to the object that was next all their
hearts. There is something almost pathetic in the contrast
between two entries in Wilberforce's diary, of which the first
has become classical, but the second is not so generally known.
In 1787, ref erring to the movement against the slave-trade, he
says : " Pitt recommended me to undertake its conduct, as a
subject suited to my character and talents. At length, I well
remember, after a conversation in the open air at the root of
an old tree at Holwood, just above the vale of Keston, I re-
solved to give notice on a fit occasion in the House of Com-
mons of my intention to bring the subject forward." Twelve
years later, Mr. Henry Thornton had brought in a bill for con-
fining the-trade within certain limits upon the coast of Africa.
76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.I.
" Upon the second reading of this bill," writes Wilberf orce,
" Pitt coolly put off the debate when I had manifested a de-
sign of answering P 's speech, and so left misrepresenta-
tions without a word. William Smith's anger, Henry Thorn-
ton's coolness, made a deep impression on me, but conquered,
I hope, in a Christian way."
Besides instructing their successors in the art of carrying
on a popular movement, Wilberf orce and his followers had a
lesson to teach, the value of which not so many, perhaps, will
be disposed to question. In public life, as in private, they
habitually had the fear of God before their eyes. A mere
handful as to number, and in average talent very much on a
level with the mass of their colleagues; counting in their
ranks no orator, or minister, or borough-monger ; they com-
manded the ear of the House, and exerted on its proceedings
an influence, the secret of which those who have studied the
Parliamentary history of the period find it only too easy to
understand. To refrain from gambling and ball-giving, to go
much to church and never to the theatre, was not more at va-
riance with the social customs of the day than it was the ex-
ception in the political world to meet with men who looked
to the facts of the case, and not to the wishes of the minister,
and who, before going into the lobby, required to be obliged
with a reason instead of with a job. Confidence and respect,
and (what in the House of Commons is their unvarying ac-
companiment), power, were gradually, and to a great extent
involuntarily, accorded to this group of members. They were
not addicted to crotchets, nor to the obtrusive and unseason-
able assertion of conscientious scruples. The occasions on
which they made proof of independence and impartiality were
such as justified and dignified their temporary renunciation of
party ties. They interfered with decisive effect in the de-
bates on the great scandals of Lord Melville and the Duke of
York, and in more than one financial or commercial contro-
versy that deeply concerned the national interests, of which
the question of the retaining the Orders in Council was a con-
spicuous instance. A boy who, like young Macaulay, was ad-
mitted to the intimacy of politicians such as these, and was ac-
180Q-'18.] LORD MACAULAY. 77
customed to hear matters of state discussed exclusively from a
public point of view without any after-thought of ambition,
or jealousy, or self-seeking, could hardly fail to grow up a pa-
triotic and disinterested man. " What is far better and more
important than all is this, that I believe Macaulay to be incor-
ruptible. You might lay ribbons, stars, garters, wealth, titles
before him in vain. He has an honest, genuine love of his
country, and the world would not bribe him to neglect her in-
terests." Thus said Sydney Smith, who of all his real friends
was the least inclined to overpraise him.
The memory of Thornton and Babington, and the other
worthies of their day and set, is growing dim, and their names
already mean little in our ears. Part of their work was so
thoroughly done that the world, as its wont is, has long ago
taken the credit of that work to itself. Others of their under-
takings, in weaker hands than theirs, seem out of date among
the ideas and beliefs which now are prevalent. At Clapham,
as elsewhere, the old • order is changing, and not always in a
direction which to them would be acceptable or even tolera-
ble. What was once the home of Zachary Macaulay stands
almost within the swing of the bells of a stately and elegant
Roman Catholic chapel; and the pleasant mansion of Lord
Teignmouth, the cradle of the Bible Society, is now turned
into a convent of monks. But, in one shape or another, hon-
est performance always lives, and the gains that accrued from
the labors of these men are still on the right side of the na-
tional ledger. Among the most permanent of those gains is
their undoubted share in the improvement of our political in-
tegrity by direct, and still more by indirect,- example. It
would be ungrateful to forget in how large a measure it is
due to them that one whose judgments upon the. statesmen of
many ages and countries have been delivered to an audience
vast beyond all precedent should have framed his decisions in
accordance with the dictates of honor and humanity, of ardent
public spirit and lofty public virtue.
78 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
CHAPTEK H.
1818-1824.
Macaulay goes to the University. — His Love for Trinity College. — His
Contemporaries at Cambridge. — Charles Austin. — The Union Debating
Society. — University Studies, Successes, and Failures. — The Mathemat-
ical Tripos. — The Trinity Fellowship. — William the Third. — Letters. —
Prize Poems. — Peterloo. — Novel-reading. — The Queen's Trial. — Macau-
lay's Feeling toward his Mother. — A Reading-party. — Hoaxing an Edit-
or.— Macaulay takes Pupils.
IN October, 1818, Macaulay went into residence at Trinity
College, Cambridge. Mr. Henry Sykes Thornton, the eldest
son of the member for Southwark, was his companion through-
out his university career. The young men lived in the same
lodgings, and began by reading with the same tutor : a plan
which promised well, because, in addition to what was his own
by right, each had the benefit of the period of instruction paid
for by the other. But two hours were much the same as
one to Macaulay, in whose eyes algebra and geometry were
so much additional material for lively and interminable argu-
ment. Thornton reluctantly broke through the arrangement,
and eventually stood highest among the Trinity wranglers of
his year : an elevation which he could hardly have attained if
he had pursued his studies in company with one who regard-
ed every successive mathematical proposition as an open ques-
tion. A Parliamentary election took place while the two
friends were still quartered in Jesus Lane. A tumult in the
neighboring street announced that the citizens were expressing
their sentiments by the only channel which was open to them
before the days of Reform : and Macaulay, to whom any ex-
citement of a political nature was absolutely irresistible, drag-
ged Thornton to the scene of action, and found the mob break-
ing the windows of the Hoop Hotel, the head-quarters of the
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 79
successful candidates. His ardor was cooled by receiving a
dead cat full in the face. The man who was responsible for
the animal came up and apologized very civilly, assuring him
that there was no town-and-gown feeling in the matter, and
that the cat had been meant for Mr. Adeane. " I wish," re-
plied Macaulay, " that you had meant it for me, and hit Mr.
Adeane."
After no long while he removed within the walls of Trini-
ty, and resided first in the centre rooms of Bishop's Hostel,
and subsequently in the Old Court between the Gate and
the Chapel. The door which once bore his name is on the
ground-floor, to the left hand as you face the staircase. In
more recent years under-graduates who are accustomed to be
out after lawful hours have claimed a right of way through
the window which looks toward the town ; to the great an-
noyance of any occupant who is too good-natured to refuse
the accommodation to others, and too steady to need it him-
self. This power of surreptitious entry had not been dis-
covered in Macaulay' s days ; and indeed he would have cared
very little for the privilege o£ spending his time outside walls
which contained within them as many books as even he could
read, and more friends than even he could talk to. Wanting
nothing beyond what his college had to give, he reveled in the
possession of leisure and liberty, in the almost complete com-
mand of his own time, in the power of passing at choice from
the most perfect solitude to the most agreeable company. He
keenly appreciated a society which cherishes all that is gen-
uine, and is only too outspoken in its abhorrence of pretension
and display : a society in which a man lives with those whom
he likes and with those only ;. choosing his comrades for their
own sake, and so indifferent to the external distinctions of
wealth and position that no one who has entered fully into
the spirit of college life can ever unlearn its priceless lesson
of manliness and simplicity.
Of all his places of sojourn during his joyous and shining
pilgrimage through the world, Trinity, and Trinity alone, had
any share with his home in Macaulay's affection and loyalty.
To the last he regarded it as an ancient Greek or a mediaeval
80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
Italian felt toward his native city. As long as he had place
and standing there, he never left it willingly or returned to it
without delight. The only step in his course about the wis-
dom of which he sometimes expressed misgiving was his pref-
erence of a London to a Cambridge life. The only digni-
ty that in his later days he was known to covet was an hon-
orary fellowship which would have allowed him again to look
through his window upon the college grass-plots, and to sleep
within sound of the splashing of the fountain ; again to break-
fast on commons, and dine beneath the portraits of Newton
and Bacon on the dais of the hall ; again to ramble by moon-
light round Neville's cloister discoursing the picturesque but
somewhat exoteric philosophy which it pleased him to call
by the name of metaphysics. From the door of his rooms,
along the wall of the chapel, there runs a flagged pathway
which affords an acceptable relief from the rugged pebbles
that surround it. Here, as a bachelor of arts, he would walk,
book in hand, morning after morning, throughout the long va-
cation, reading with the same eagerness and the same rapidity
whether the volume was the most abstruse of treatises, the lofti-
est of poems, or the flimsiest of novels. That was the spot where
in his failing years he specially loved to renew the feelings of
the past, and some there are who can never revisit it without
the fancy that there, if anywhere, his dear shade must linger.
He was fortunate in his contemporaries. Among -his in-
timate friends were the two Coleridges — Derwent, the son,
and Henry Nelson, who was destined to be the son-in-law of
the poet ; and how exceptional that destiny was, the readers
of Sara Coleridge's letters are now aware. Hyde Villiers,
whom an untimely death alone prevented from taking an
equal place in a trio of distinguished brothers, was of his year,
though not of his college.* In the year below were the young
men who now bear the titles of Lord Grey, Lord Belper, and
Lord Romilly ;f and after the same interval came Moultrie,
* Lord Clarendon and his brothers were all Johnians.
t This paragraph was written in the summer of 1874. Three of Macau-
lay's old college friends, Lord Romilly, Moultrie, and Charles Austin, died
in the hard winter that followed, within a few days of each other.
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 81
who in his " Dream of Life," with a fidelity which he himself
pronounced to have been obtained at some sacrifice of grace,
has told us how the heroes of his time looked and lived, and
Charles Villiers, who still delights our generation by show-
ing us how they talked. Then there was Praed, fresh from
editing the Etonicm, as a product of collective boyish effort
unique in its literary excellence and variety ; and Sidney
Walker, Praed's gifted school - fellow, whose promise was
blighted by premature decay of powers ; and Charles Austin,
whose fame would now be more in proportion to his extraor-
dinary abilities had not his unparalleled success as an advocate
tempted him before his day to retire from the toils of a career
of whose rewards he already had enough.
With his vigor and fervor, his depth of knowledge and
breadth of humor, his close reasoning illustrated by an expan-
sive imagination, set off, as these gifts were, by the advantage,
at that period of life so irresistible, of some experience of the
world at home and abroad, Austin was indeed a king among
his fellows.
Grave, sedate,
And (if the looks may indicate the age),
Our senior some few years : no keener wit,
No intellect more subtle, none more bold,
Was found in all our host.
So writes Moultrie, and the testimony of his verse is borne
out by John Stuart Mill's prose. " The impression he gave
was that of boundless strength, together with talents which,
combined with such apparent force of will and character,
seemed capable of dominating the world." He certainly was
the only man who ever succeeded in dominating Macaulay.
Brimming over with ideas that were soon to be known by the
name of Utilitarian, a panegyrist of American institutions, and
an unsparing assailant of ecclesiastical endowments and he-
reditary privileges, he effectually cured the young under-grad-
uate of his Tory opinions, which were never more than skin-
deep, and brought him nearer to Radicalism than he ever
was before or since. The report of this conversion, of which
the most was made by ill-natured tale-bearers who met with
YOL. I.— 6
82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
more encouragement than they deserved, created some con-
sternation in the family circle : while the reading set at Cam-
bridge was duly scandalized at the influence which one whose
classical attainments were rather discursive than exact had
gained over a Craven scholar. To this hour men may be
found in remote parsonages who mildly resent the fascination
which Austin of Jesus exercised over Macaulay of Trinity.
The day and the night together were too short for one who
was entering on the journey of life amidst such a band of
travelers. So long as a door was open or a light burning in
any of the courts, Macaulay was always in the mood for con-
versation and companionship. Unfailing in his attendance at
lecture and chapel, blameless with regard to college laws and
college discipline, it was well for his virtue that no curfew,
was in force within the precincts of Trinity. He never tired
of recalling the days when he supped at midnight on milk-
punch and roast turkey, drank tea in floods at an hour when
older men are intent upon any thing rather than on the means
of keeping themselves awake, and made little of sitting over
the fire till the bell rang for morning chapel in order to see a
friend off by the early coach. In the license of the summer
vacation, after some prolonged and festive gathering, the
whole party would pour out into the moonlight and ramble
for mile after mile through the country till the noise of their
wide-flowing talk mingled with the twittering of the birds in
the hedges which bordered the Coton pathway or the Mading-
ley road. On such occasions it must have been well worth
the loss of sleep to hear Macaulay plying Austin with sarcasms
upon the doctrine of the Greatest Happiness, which then had
still some gloss of novelty ; putting into an ever-fresh shape
the time-honored jokes against the Johnians for the benefit
of the Yillierses ; and urging an interminable debate on
Wordsworth's merits as a poet, in which the Coleridges, as in
duty bound, were ever ready to engage. In this particular
field he acquired a skill of fence which rendered him the most
redoubtable of antagonists. Many years afterward, at the
time when the " Prelude " was fresh from the press, he was
maintaining against the opinion of a large and mixed society
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 83
that the poem was unreadable. At last, overborne by the
united indignation of so many of Wordsworth's admirers, he
agreed that the question should be referred to the test of per-
sonal experience; and on inquiry it was discovered that the
only individual present who had got through the " Prelude "
was Macaulay himself.
It is not only that the witnesses of these scenes unanimously
declare that they have never since heard such conversation in
the most renowned of social circles. The partiality of a gen-
erous young man for trusted and admired companions may
well color his judgment over the space of even half a century.
But the estimate of university contemporaries was abundant-
ly confirmed by the outer world. While on a visit to Lord
Lansdowne at Bowood, Austin and Macaulay happened to get
upon college topics one morning at breakfast. When the
meal was finished they drew their chairs to either end of the
chimney-piece, and talked at each other across the hearth-rug
as if they were in a first-floor room in the Old Court of Trin-
ity. The whole company, ladies, artists, politicians, and diners-
out, formed a silent circle round the two Cantabs, and, with a
short break for lunch, never stirred till the bell warned them
that it was time to dress for dinner.
It has all irrevocably perished. With life before them, and
each intent on his own future, none among that troop of
friends had the mind to play Boswell to the others. One
repartee survives, thrown off in the heat of discussion, but
exquisitely perfect in all its parts. Acknowledged without
dissent to be the best-applied quotation that ever was made
within five miles of the Fitzwilliam Museum, it is unfortunate-
ly too strictly classical for reproduction in these pages.
We are more easily consoled for the loss of the eloquence
which then flowed so full and free in the debates of the Cam-
bridge Union. In 1820 that society was emerging from a
period of tribulation and repression. The authorities of the
university, who, as old constituents of Mr. Pitt and warm sup-
porters of Lord Liverpool, had been never very much inclined
to countenance the practice of political discussion among the
under-graduates, set their faces against it more than ever at
84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
an epoch when the temper of the time increased the tenden-
cy of young men to run into extremes of partisanship. At
length a compromise was extorted from the reluctant hands
of the vice-chancellor, and the club was allowed to take into
consideration public affairs of a date anterior to the century.
It required less ingenuity than the leaders of the Union had
at their command to hit upon a method of dealing with the
present under the guise of the past. Motions were framed
that reflected upon the existing Government under cover of a
censure on the cabinets of the previous generation. Resolu-
tions which called upon the meeting to declare that the boon
of Catholic Emancipation should have been granted in the
year 1795, or that our commercial policy previous to 1800
should have been founded on the basis of free trade, were
clearly susceptible of great latitude of treatment. And, again,
in its character of a reading-club, the society, when assembled
for the conduct of private business, was at liberty to review
the political creed of the journals of the day in order to de-
cide which of them it should take in and which it should dis-
continue. The Examiner newspaper was the flag of many a
hard-fought battle ; the Morning Chronicle was voted in and
out of the rooms half a dozen times within a single twelve-
month ; while a series of impassioned speeches on the burning
question of interference in behalf of Greek independence were
occasioned by a proposition of Maiden's, "that 17 'EXXjjvi'io}
<TaX7ny£ do lie upon the table."
At the close of the debates, which were held in a large room
at the back of The Red Lion in Petty Cury, the most promi-
nent members met for supper in the hotel, or at Moultrie's
lodgings, which were situated close at hand. They acted as a
self-appointed standing committee, which watched over the
general interests of the Union, and selected candidates, whom
they put in nomination for its offices. The society did not
boast a Hansard : an omission which, as time went on, some
among its orators had no reason to regret. Faint recollections
still survive of a discussion upon the august topic of the char-
acter of George the Third. " To whom do we owe it," asked
Macaulay, " that, while Europe was convulsed with anarchy
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 85
and desolated with war, England alone remained tranquil,
prosperous, and secure ? To whom but the Good Old King ?
Why was it that, when neighboring capitals were perishing
in the flames, our own was illuminated only for triumphs?*
You may find the cause in the same three words : the Good
Old King." Praed, on the other hand, would allow his late
monarch neither public merits nor private virtues. "A good
man ! If he had been a plain country gentleman with no
wider opportunities for mischief, he would at least have bull-
ied his footman and cheated his steward."
Macaulay's intense enjoyment of all that was stirring and
vivid around him undoubtedly hindered him in the race for
university honors ; though his success was sufficient to inspirit
him at the time, and to give him abiding pleasure in the retro-
spect. He twice gained the chancellor's medal for English
verse, with poems admirably planned, and containing passages
of real beauty, but which may not be republished in the teeth
of the panegyric which, within ten years after they were writ-
ten, he pronounced upon Sir Roger Newdigate. Sir Roger
had laid down the rule that no exercise sent in for the prize
which he established at Oxford was to exceed fifty lines.
This law, says Macaulay, seems to have more foundation in
reason than is generally the case with a literary canon, " for
the world, we believe, is pretty well agreed in thinking that
the shorter a prize poem is, the better."
Trinity men find it difficult to understand how it was that
he missed getting one of the three silver goblets given for the
best English declamations of the year. If there is one thing
which all Macaulay's friends and all his enemies admit it is
that he could declaim English. His own version of the affair
was that the senior dean, a relative of the victorious candidate,
sent for him, and said, " Mr. Macaulay, as you have not got
* This debate evidently made some noise in the university world. There
is an allusion to it in a squib of Praed's, very finished and elegant, and be-
yond all doubt contemporary. The passage relating to Macaulay begins
with the lines —
Then the favorite comes, with his trumpets and drums,
And his arms and his metaphors crossed.
86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
the first cup, I do not suppose that you will care for either of
the others." He was consoled, however, by the prize for
Latin declamation, and in 1821 he established his classical re-
pute by winning a Craven university scholarship in company
with his friend Maiden, and Mr. George Long, who was subse-
quently Professor of Latin at University College, London.
Macaulay detested the labor of manufacturing Greek and
Latin verse in cold blood as an exercise, and his hexameters
were never up to the best Etonian mark, nor his iambics to
the highest standard of Shrewsbury. He defined a scholar as
one who reads Plato with his feet on the fender. "When al-
ready well on in his third year, he writes : " I never practiced
composition a single hour since I have been at Cambridge."
" Soak your mind with Cicero," was his constant advice to
students at that time of life when writing Latin prose is the
most lucrative of accomplishments. The advantage of this
precept was proved in the fellowship examination of the year
1824, when he obtained the honor which in his eyes was the
most desirable that Cambridge had to give. The delight of
the young man at finding himself one of the sixty masters of
an ancient and splendid establishment ; the pride with which
he signed his first order for the college plate, and dined for
the first time at the high table in his own right ; the reflection
that these privileges were the fruit, not of favor or inheritance,
but of personal industry and ability, were matters on which
he loved to dwell long after the world had loaded him with
its most envied prizes. Macaulay's feeling on this point is
illustrated by the curious reverence which he cherished for
those junior members of the college who, some ninety years
ago, by a spirited remonstrance addressed to the governing
body, brought about a reform in the Trinity fellowship exam-
ination that secured to it the character for fair play and effi-
ciency which it has ever since enjoyed. In his copy of the
"Cambridge Calendar" for the year 1859 (the last of his
life), throughout the list of the old mathematical triposes the
words " one of the eight " appear in his handwriting opposite
the name of each of these gentlemen. And one, at any rate,
among his nephews can never remember the time when it was
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 87
not diligently impressed upon him that, if he minded his syn-
tax, he might eventually hope to reach a position which would
give him three hundred pounds a year, a stable for his horse,
six dozen of audit ale every Christmas, a loaf and two pats of
butter every morning, and a good dinner for nothing, with as
many almonds and raisins as he could eat at dessert.
Macaulay was not chosen a fellow until his third trial,
nominally for the amazing reason that his translations from
Greek and Latin, while faithfully representing -the originals,
were rendered into English that was ungracefully bald and
inornate. The real cause was, beyond all doubt, his utter neg-
lect of the special study of the place : a liberty which Cam-
bridge seldom allows to be taken with impunity even by her
most favored sons. He used to profess deep and lasting re-
gret for his early repugnance to scientific subjects; but the
fervor of his penitence in after -years was far surpassed by
the heartiness with which he inveighed against mathematics
as long as it was his business to learn them. Every one who
knows the Senate-house may anticipate the result. When
the tripos of 1822 made its appearance, his name did not grace
the list. In short, to use the expressive vocabulary of the uni-
versity, Macaulay was gulfed : a mishap which disabled him
from contending for the chancellor's medals, then the crown-
ing trophies of a classical career. " I well remember," says
Lady Trevelyan, " that first trial of my lif e. We were spend-
ing the winter at Brighton, when a letter came giving an ac-
count of the event. I recollect my mother taking me into her
room to tell me ; for even then it was known how my whole
heart was wrapped up in him, and it was thought necessary to
break the news. When your uncle arrived at Brighton I can
recall my mother telling him that he had better go at once
to his father, and get it over, and I can see him as he left the
room on that errand."
During the same year he engaged in a less arduous compe-
tition. A certain Mr. Greaves, of Fulbourn, had long since
provided a reward of ten pounds for "the junior bachelor of
Trinity College who wrote the best essay on the ' Conduct and
Character of William the Third.' " As the prize is annual, it
88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
is appalling to reflect upon the searching analysis to which the
motives of that monarch must by this time have been sub-
jected. The event, however, may be counted as an encourage-
ment to the founders of endowments, for amidst the succes-
sion of juvenile critics whose attention was by his munificence
turned in the direction of his favorite hero, Mr. Greaves had
at last fallen in with the right man. It is more than probable
that to this old Cambridgeshire Whig was due the first idea
of that " History " in whose pages William of Orange stands
as the central figure. The essay is still in existence, in a close
neat hand which twenty years of reviewing never rendered
illegible. Originally written as a fair copy, but so disfigured,
by repeated corrections and additions, as to be unfit for the
eyes of the college authorities, it bears evident marks of hav-
ing been held to the flames, and rescued on second, and in this
case, it will be allowed, on better, thoughts. The exercise,
which is headed by the very appropriate motto,
Primus qni legibns urbem
Fundabit, Curibns parvis et paupere terrA
Missus in imperium magnum,
is just such as will very likely be produced in the course of next
Easter term by some young man of judgment and spirit who
knows his Macaulay by heart, and will paraphrase him with-
out scruple. The characters of James, of Shaftesbury, of
William himself ; the Popish plot ; the struggle over the Ex-
clusion Bill ; the reaction from Puritanic rigor into the license
of the Restoration, are drawn on the same lines and painted
in the same colors as those with which the world is now famil-
iar. The style only wants condensation, and a little of the
humor which he had not yet learned to transfer from his con-
versation to his writings, jn order to be worthy of his mature
powers. He thus describes William's life-long enemy and
rival, whose name he already spells after his own fashion :
;' Lewis was not a great general. He was not a great legisla-
tor. But he was, in one sense of the words, a great king. He
was a perfect master of all the mysteries of the science of roy-
alty— of all the arts which at once extend power and concili-
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 89
ate popularity — which most advantageously display the mer-
its, or most dexterously conceal the deficiencies, of a sovereign.
He was surrounded by great men, by victorious commanders,
by sagacious statesmen. Yet, while he availed himself to the
utmost of their services, he never incurred any danger from
their rivalry. His was a talisman which extorted the obedi-
ence of the proudest and mightiest spirits. The haughty and
turbulent warriors whose contests had agitated France during
his minority yielded to the irresistible spell, and, like the gi-
gantic slaves of the ring and lamp of Aladdin, labored to dec-
orate and aggrandize a master whom they could have crush-
ed. "With incomparable address he appropriated to himself
the glory of campaigns which had been planned and counsels
which had been suggested by others. The arms of Turenne
were the terror of Europe. The policy of Colbert was the
strength of France. But in their foreign successes and their
internal prosperity the people saw only the greatness and wis-
dom of Lewis." In the second chapter of the " History" much
of this is compressed into the sentence, " He had shown, in an
eminent degree, two talents invaluable to a prince — the talent
of choosing his servants well, and the talent of appropriating
to himself the chief part of the credit of their acts."
In a passage that occurs toward the close of the essay may
be traced something more than an outline of the peroration in
which, a quarter of a century later on, he summed up the
character and results of the Revolution of 1688. " To have
been a sovereign, yet the champion of liberty ; a revolutionary
leader, yet the supporter of social order, is the peculiar glory
of William. He knew where to pause. He outraged no
national prejudice. He abolished no ancient form. He al-
tered no venerable name. He saw that the existing institu-
tions possessed the greatest capabilities of excellence, and that
stronger sanctions and clearer definitions were alone required
to make the practice of the British constitution as admirable
as the theory. Thus he imparted to innovation the dignity
and stability of antiquity. He transferred to a happier order
of things the associations which had attached the people to
their former Government. As the Roman warrior, before he
90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.II.
assaulted Yeii, invoked its guardian gods to leave its walls,
and to accept the worship and patronize the cause of the be-
siegers, this great prince, in attacking a system of oppression,
summoned to his aid the venerable principles and deeply
seated feelings to which that system was indebted for protec-
tion."
A letter written during the later years of his life expresses
Macaulay's general views on the subject of university honors.
" If a man brings away from Cambridge self-knowledge, ac-
curacy of mind, and habits of strong intellectual exertion, he
has gained more than if he had made a display of showy super-
ficial Etonian scholarship, got three or four Brown's medals,
and gone forth into the world a school-boy, and doomed to be
a school-boy to the last. After all, what a man does at Cam-
bridge is, in itself, nothing. If he makes a poor figure in life,
his having been senior wrangler or university scholar is never
mentioned but with derision. If he makes a distinguished
figure, his early honors merge in those of a later date. I
hope that I do not overrate my own place in the estimation
of society. Such as it is, I would not give a half -penny to add
to the consideration which I enjoy all the consideration that I
should derive from having been senior wrangler. But I oft-
en regret, and even acutely, my want of a senior wrangler's
knowledge of physics and mathematics ; and I regret still
more some habits of mind which a senior wrangler is pretty
certain to possess." Like all men who know what the world
is, he regarded the triumphs of a college career as of less
value than its disappointments. Those are most to be envied
who soonest learn to expect nothing for which they have not
worked hard, and who never acquire the habit (a habit which
an unbroken course of university successes too surely breeds),
of pitying themselves overmuch if ever, in after -life, they
happen to work in vain.
Cambridge, Wednesday. (Postmark, 1818.)
MY DEAK MOTHER, — King, I am absolutely certain, would
take no more pupils on any account. And, even if he would,
he has numerous applicants with prior claims. He has al-
1818-'24.] LOED MACAULAY. 91
ready six, who occupy him six hours in the day, and is like-
wise lecturer to the college. It would, however, be very easy
to obtain an excellent tutor. Lef evre and Malkin are men of
first -rate mathematical abilities, and both of our college. I
can scarcely bear to write on mathematics or mathematicians.
Oh for words to express my abomination of that science, if a
name sacred to the useful and embellishing arts may be ap-
plied to the perception and recollection of certain properties
in numbers and figures ! Oh that I had to learn astrology, or
demonology, or school divinity ; oh that I were to pore over
Thomas Aquinas, and to adjust the relation of Entity with the
two Predicaments, so that I were exempted from this miser-
able study ! " Discipline " of the mind ! Say rather starva-
tion, confinement, torture, annihilation ! But it must be. I
feel myself becoming a personification of algebra, a living
trigonometrical canon, a walking table of logarithms. All
my perceptions of elegance and beauty gone, or at least going.
By the end of the term my brain will be "as dry as the re-
mainder biscuit after a voyage." Oh to change Cam for Isis !
But such is my destiny ; and since it is so, be the pursuit con-
temptible, below contempt, or disgusting beyond abhorrence, I
shall aim at no second place. But three years ! I can not
endure the thought. I can not bear to contemplate what I
must have to undergo. Farewell, then, Homer and Sophocles
and Cicero.
Farewell, happy fields,
Where joy forever reigns ! Hail, horrors, hail,
Infernal world !
How does it proceed ? Milton's descriptions have been driven
out of my head by such elegant expressions as the following :
X* i-4 <*'
Cos. x =. 1
Tan. a + 6 =
1-2 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4-5-6
Tan. a + Tan. 6
1 — Tan. a + Tan. &
My classics must be Woodhouse, and my amusements sum-
ming an infinite series. Farewell ; and tell Selina and Jane
to be thankful that it is not a necessary part of female edu-
92 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. 11.
cation to get a headache daily without acquiring one practical
truth or beautiful image in return. Again, and with affection-
ate love to my father, farewell wishes your most miserable
and mathematical son, T. B. MACAULAY.
Cambridge, November 9th, 1818.
MY DEAR FATHER, — Tour letter, which I read with the
greatest pleasure, is perfectly safe from all persons who could
make a bad use of it. The Emperor Alexander's plans, as de-
tailed in the conversation between him and Clarkson,* are al-
most superhuman; and tower as much above the common
hopes and aspirations of philanthropists as the statue which
his Macedonian namesake proposed to hew out of Mount
Athos excelled the most colossal works of meaner projectors.
As Burke said of Henry the Fourth's wish that every peasant
in France might have the chicken in his pot comfortably on
a Sunday, we may say of these mighty plans, " The mere wish,
the unfulfilled desire, exceeded all that we hear of the splen-
did professions and exploits of princes." Yet my satisfaction
in the success of that noble cause in which the emperor seems
to be exerting himself with so much zeal is scarcely so great
as my regret for the man who would have traced every step
of its progress with anxiety, and hailed its success with the
most ardent delight. Poor Sir Samuel Eomilly ! Quando
ullum invenient parem ? How long may a penal code, at once
too sanguinary and too lenient, half written in blood like
Draco's, and half undefined and loose as the common law of
a tribe of savages, be the curse and disgrace of the country ?
How many years may elapse before a man who knows, like
him, all that law can teach, and possesses at the same time,
like him, a liberality and a discernment of general rights
which the technicalities of professional learning rather tend to
blunt, shall again rise to ornament and reform our jurispru-
dence ? For such a man, if he had fallen in the maturity of
years and honors, and been borne from the bed of sickness to
a grave by the side of his prototype Hale amidst the tears of
* Thomas Clarkson, the famous assailant of slavery.
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 93
nobles and senators, even then, I think, the public sorrow
would have been extreme. But that the last moments of an
existence of high thoughts and great virtues should have been
passed as his were passed ! In my feelings the scene at Clare-
mont* this time last year was mere dust in the balance in
comparison. Ever your affectionate son, T. B. M.
Cambridge, Friday, February 5th, 1819.
MY DEAK FATHER, — I have not, of course, had time to exam-
ine with attention all your criticisms on " Pompeii."f I cer-
tainly am much obliged to you for withdrawing so much time
from more important business to correct my effusions. Most
of the remarks which I have examined are perfectly just : but
as to the more momentous charge, the want of a moral, I think
it might be a sufficient defense that, if a subject is given
which admits of none, the man who writes without a moral is
scarcely censurable. But is it the real fact that no literary
employment is estimable or laudable which does not lead to
the spread of moral truth or the excitement of virtuous feel-
ing? Books of amusement tend to polish the mind, to im-
prove the style, to give variety to conversation, and to lend a
grace to more important accomplishments. He who can effect
this has surely done something. Is no useful end served by
that writer whose works have soothed weeks of languor and
sickness, have relieved the mind exhausted from the pressure
of employment by an amusement which delights without
enervating, which relaxes the tension of the powers without
rendering them unfit for future exercise? I should not be
surprised to see these observations refuted ; and I shall not be
sorry if they are so. I feel personally little interest in the
question. If my life be a life of literature, it shall certainly
be one of literature directed to moral ends.
At all events, let us be consistent. I was amused in turning
over an old volume of the Christian Observer to find a gentle-
* The death of Princess Charlotte.
t The subject of the English poem for the chancellor's prize of 1819 was
the " Destructiou of Pompeii."
94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
man signing himself Excubitor (one of our antagonists in the
question of novel-reading), after a very pious argument on the
hostility of novels to a religious frame of mind, proceeding to
observe that he was shocked to hear a young lady who had
displayed extraordinary knowledge of modern ephemeral liter-
ature own herself ignorant of Dryden's fables! Consistency
with a vengeance ! The reading of modern poetry and novels
excites a worldly disposition and prevents ladies from reading
Dryden's fables ! There is a general disposition among the
more literary part of the religious world to ciy down the ele-
gant literature of our own times, while they are not in the
slightest degree shocked at atrocious profaneness or gross in-
delicacy when a hundred years have stamped them with the title
of classical. I say, " If you read Dryden you can have no rea-
sonable objection to reading Scott." The strict antagonist of
ephemeral reading exclaims, " Not so. Scott's poems are very
pernicious. They call away the mind from spiritual religion
and from Tancred and Sigismunda." But I am exceeding all
ordinary limits. If these hasty remarks fatigue you, impute
it to my desire of justifying myself from a charge which I
should be sorry to incur with justice. Love to all at home.
Affectionately yours, T. B. M.
"With or without a moral, the poem carried the day. The
subject for the next year was " Waterloo." The opening lines
of Macaulay's exercise were pretty and simple enough to ruin
his chance in an academical competition.
It was the Sabbath morn. How calm and fair
Is the blest dawning of the day of prayer J
Who hath not felt how fancy's mystic power
With holier beauty decks that solemn hour ;
A softer lustre in its sunshine sees ;
And hears a softer music in its breeze ?
Who hath not dreamed that even the sky-lark's throat
Hails that sweet morning with a gentler note T
Fair morn, how gayly shone thy dawning smile
On the green valleys of my native isle !
How gladly many a spire's resounding height
With peals of transport hailed thy new-born light !
181&-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 95
Ah ! little thought the peasant then, who blest
The peaceful hour of consecrated rest,
And heard the rustic Temple's arch prolong
The simple cadence of the hallowed song,
That the same sun illumed a gory field,
Where wilder song and sterner music pealed ;
Where many a yell unholy rent the air,
And many a hand was raised — but not in prayer.
The prize fell to a man of another college, and Trinity com-
forted itself by inventing a story to the effect that the success-
ful candidate had run away from the battle.
In the summer of 1819 there took place a military affair,
less attractive than Waterloo as a theme for poets, but which,
as far as this country is concerned, has proved even more
momentous in its ultimate consequences. On the 16th of
August, a Reform demonstration was arranged at Manchester
resembling those which were common in the Northern dis-
tricts during the year 1866, except that in 1819 women form-
ed an important element in the procession. A troop of yeo-
manry, and afterward two squadrons of hussars, were sent in
among the crowd, which was assembled in St. Peter's Fields,
the site on which the Free-Trade Hall now stands. The men
used their swords freely, and the horses their hoofs. The
people, who meant any thing but fighting, trampled each other
down in the attempt to escape. Five or six lives were lost,
and fifty or sixty persons were badly hurt ; but the painful
impression wrought upon the national conscience was well
worth the price. British blood has never since been shed by
British hands in any civic contest that rose above the level of
a lawless riot. The immediate result, however, was to concen-
trate and imbitter party feeling. The grand jury threw out
the bills against the yeomen, and found true bills against the
popular orators who had called the meeting together. The
common councilmen of the city of London, who had pre-
sented an address to the prince regent reflecting upon the
conduct of the Government, were roundly rebuked for their
pains. Earl Fitzwilliam was dismissed from the office of lord
lieutenant for taking part in a Yorkshire county gathering
96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. H.
which had passed resolutions in the same sense as the address
from the City. On the other hand, a Peterloo medal was
struck, which is still treasured in such Manchester families
as have not learned to be ashamed of the old Manchester pol-
itics.
In this heated state of the political atmosphere the expiring
Toryism of the antislavery leaders flamed up once again. " I
declare," said Wilberforce, "my greatest cause of difference
with the democrats is their laying, and causing people to lay,
so great a stress on the concerns of this world as to occupy
their whole minds and hearts, and to leave a few scanty and
lukewarm thoughts for the heavenly treasure." Zachary Mac-
aulay, who never canted, and who knew that on the 16th of
August the Manchester magistrates were thinking just as
much or as little about religion as the Manchester populace,
none the less took the same side as Wilberforce. Having
formed for himself, by observations made on the spot, a de-
cided opinion that the authorities ought to be supported, he
was much disturbed by reports which came to him from Cam-
bridge.
September, 1819.
MY DEAR FATHER, — My mother's letter, which has just ar-
rived, has given me much concern. The letter which has, I
am sorry to learn, given you and her uneasiness, was written
rapidly and thoughtlessly enough, but can scarcely, I think, as
far as I remember its tenor, justify some of the extraordina-
ry inferences which it has occasioned. I can only assure you
most solemnly that I am not initiated into any democratical
societies here, and that I know no people who make politics a
common or frequent topic of conversation, except one man
who is a determined Tory. It is true that this Manchester
business has roused some indignation here, as at other places,
and drawn philippics against the powers that be from lips
which I never heard opened before but to speak on university
contests or university scandal. For myself, I have long made
it a rule never to talk on politics except in the most general
manner ; and I believe that my most intimate associates have
no idea of my opinions on the questions of party. I can
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 97
scarcely be censured, I think, for imparting them to you —
which, however, I should scarcely have thought of doing (so
much is my mind occupied with other concerns), had not your
letter invited me to state my sentiments on the Manchester
business.
I hope that this explanation will remove some of your un-
easiness. As to my opinions, I have no particular desire to
vindicate them. They are merely speculative, and therefore
can not partake of the nature of moral culpability. They are
early formed, and I am not solicitous that you should think
them superior to those of most people at eighteen. I will,
however, say this in their defense. Whatever the affection-
ate alarm of my dear mother may lead her to apprehend, I am
not one of the "sons of anarchy and confusion" with whom
she classes me. My opinions, good or bad, were learned, not
from Hunt and Waithman, but from Cicero, from Tacitus, and
from Milton. They are the opinions which have produced
men who have ornamented the world and redeemed human
nature from the degradation of ages of superstition and slav-
ery. I may be wrong as to the facts of what occurred at Man-
chester ; but, if they be what I have seen them stated, I can
never repent speaking of them with indignation. When I
cease to feel the injuries of others warmly, to detest wanton
cruelty, and to feel my soul rise against oppression, I shall
think myself unworthy to be your son.
I could say a great deal more. Above all, I might, I think,
ask, with some reason, why a few democratical sentences in a
letter, a private letter, of a collegian of eighteen should be
thought so alarming an indication of character, when Brough-
am and other people, who, at an age which ought to have so-
bered them, talk with much more violence, are not thought
particularly ill of ? But I have so little room left that I ab-
stain, and will only add thus much. Were my opinions as de-
cisive as they are fluctuating, and were the elevation of a
Cromwell or the renown of a Hampden the certain reward of
my standing forth in the democratic cause, I would rather
have my lips sealed on the subject than give my mother or
you one hour of uneasiness. There are not so many people in
VOL. I.— 7
98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. u.
the world who love me that I can afford to pain them for any
object of ambition which it contains. If this assurance be not
sufficient, clothe it in what language you please, and believe
me to express myself in those words which you think the
strongest and most solemn. Affectionate love to my mother
and sisters. Farewell. T. B. M.
Cambridge, January 5th, 1820.
MY DEAR FATHER, — Nothing that gives you disquietude can
give me amusement. Otherwise I should have been excess-
ively diverted by the dialogue which you have reported with
so much vivacity; the accusation; the predictions; and the
elegant agnomen of " the novel-reader " for which I am in-
debted to this incognito. I went in some amazement to Mai-
den, Romilly, and Barlow. Their acquaintance comprehends,
I will venture to say, almost every man worth knowing in the
university in every field of study. They had never heard the
appellation applied to me by any man. Their intimacy with
me would of course prevent any person from speaking to them
on the subject in an insulting manner; for it is not usual
here, whatever your unknown informant may do, for a gentle-
man who does not wish to be kicked down-stairs to reply to a
man who mentions another as his particular friend, " Do you
mean the blackguard or the novel-reader?" But I am -fully
convinced that, had the charge prevailed to any extent, it must
have reached the ears of one of those whom I interrogated.
At all events, I have the consolation of not being thought a
novel-reader by three or four who are entitled to judge upon
the subject ; and whether their opinion be of equal value with
that of this John-a-Nokes against whom I have to plead, I
leave you to decide.
But stronger evidence, it seems, is behind. This gentleman
was in company with me. Alas that I should never have
found out how accurate an observer was measuring my senti-
ments, numbering the novels which I criticised, and specula-
ting on the probability of my being plucked. " I was famil-
iar with all the novels whose names he had ever heard." If
so frightful an accusation did not stun me at once, I might
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 99
perhaps hint at the possibility that this was to be attributed
almost as much to the narrowness of his reading on this sub-
ject as to the extent of mine. There are men here who are
mere mathematical blocks, who plod on their eight hours a
day to the honors of the Senate-house ; who leave the groves
which witnessed the musings of Milton, of Bacon, and of
Gray, without one liberal idea or elegant image, and carry
with them into the world minds contracted by unmingled at-
tention to one part of science, and memories stored only with
technicalities. How often have I seen such men go forth into
society for people to stare at them, and ask each other how it
comes that beings so stupid in conversation, so uninformed on
every subject of history, of letters, and of taste, could gain
such distinction at Cambridge ! It is in such circles, which, I
am happy to say, I hardly know but by. report, that knowledge
of modern literature is called novel-reading: a commodious
name, invented by ignorance and applied by envy, in the same
manner as men without learning call a scholar a pedant, and
men without principle call a Christian a Methodist. To me
the attacks of such men are valuable as compliments. The
man whose friend tells him that he is known to be extensively
acquainted with elegant literature may suspect that he is nat-
tering him ; but he may feel real and secure satisfaction when
some Johnian sneers at him for a novel-reader.
As to the question whether or not I am wasting time, I shall
leave that for time to answer. I can not afford to sacrifice a
day every week in defense and explanation as to my habits
of reading. I value, most deeply value, that solicitude which
arises from your affection for me; but let it not debar me
from justice and candor. Believe me ever, my dear father,
Your most affectionate son, T. B. M.
The father and son were in sympathy upon what, at this
distance of time, appears as the least inviting article of the
"Whig creed. They were both partisans of the queen. Zach-
ary Macaulay was inclined in her favor by sentiments alike of
friendship and of the most pardonable resentment. Brough-
am, her illustrious advocate, had for ten years been the main
100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
hope and stay of the movement against slavery and the slave-
trade ; while the John J3utt, whose special mission it was to
write her down, honored the Abolitionist party with its de-
clared animosity. However full its columns might be of li-
bels upon the honor of the wives and daughters of "Whig
statesmen, it could always find room for calumnies against
Mr. Macaulay which in ingenuity of fabrication and in cruelty
of intention were conspicuous even among the contents of the'
most discreditable publication that ever issued from the Lon-
don press. When Queen Caroline landed from the Continent
in June, 1820, the young Trinity under-graduate greeted her
majesty with a complimentary ode, which certainly little re-
sembled those effusions that in the old courtly days a univer-
sity was accustomed to lay at the feet of its sovereign. The
piece has no literary value, and is curious only as reflecting the
passion of the hour. The first and last stanzas run as follows :
Let mirth on every visage shine,
And glow in every soul.
Bring forth, bring forth, the oldest wine,
And crown the largest bowl.
Bear to her home, while banners fly
From each resounding steeple,
And rockets sparkle in the sky,
The Daughter of the People.
E'en here, for one triumphant day,
Let want and woe be dumb,
And bonfires blaze, and school-boys play.
Thank Heaven our queen is come !
*****
Though tyrant hatred still denies
Each right that fits thy station,
To thee a people's love supplies
A nobler coronation :
A coronation all unknown
To Europe's royal vermin:
For England's heart shall be thy throne,
And purity thine ermine ;
Thy Proclamation our applause,
Applause denied to some ;
Thy crown our love ; thy shield our laws.
Thank Heaven our queen is come !
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 101
Early in November, warned by growing excitement outside
the House of Lords, and by dwindling majorities within, Lord
Liverpool announced that the king's ministers had come to
the determination not to proceed further with the Bill of
Pains and Penalties. The joy which this declaration spread
through the country has been described as " beyond the scope
of record."
Cambridge, November 13th, 1820.
MY DEAB FATHER, — All here is ecstasy. "Thank God,
the country is saved," were my first words when I caught a
glimpse of the papers of Friday night. " Thank God, the
country is saved," is written on every face, and echoed by
every voice. Even the symptoms of popular violence, three
days ago so terrific, are now displayed with good humor, and
received with cheerfulness. Instead of curses on the Lords,
on every post and every wall is written, "All is as it should
be ;" " Justice done at last," and similar mottoes expressive
of the sudden turn of public feeling. How the case may
stand in London, I do not know ; but here the public danger,
like all dangers which depend merely on human opinions and
feelings, has disappeared from our sight almost in the twink-
ling of an eye. I hope that the result of these changes may
be the secure re-establishment of our commerce, which I sup-
pose political apprehensions must have contributed to depress.
I hope, at least, that there is no danger to our own fortunes of
the kind at which you seem to hint. Be assured, however, my
dear father, that, be our circumstances what they may, I feel
firmly prepared to encounter the worst with fortitude, and to
do my utmost to retrieve it by exertion. The best inheritance
you have already secured to me, an unblemished name and a
good education. And for the rest, whatever calamities befall
us, I would not, to speak without affectation, exchange adver-
sity consoled, as with us it must ever be, by mutual affection
and domestic happiness, for any thing which can be possessed
by those who are destitute of the kindness of parents and sis-
ters like mine. But I think, on referring to your letter, that
I insist too much upon the signification of a few words. I
hope so, and trust that every thing will go well. But it is
102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
chapel time, and I must conclude. Ever most affectionately
yours, T. B. MA CAUL AY.
Trin. Coll., March 25th, 1821.
MY DEAR MOTHER, — I entreat you to entertain no apprehen-
sions about my health. My fever, cough, and sore-throat have
all disappeared for the last four days. Many thanks for your
intelligence about poor dear John's recovery, which has much
exhilarated me. Yet I do not know whether illness to him is
not rather a prerogative than an evil. I am sure that it is
well worth while being sick to be nursed by a mother. There
is nothing which I remember with such pleasure as the time
when you nursed me at Aspenden. The other night, when I
lay on my sofa very ill and hypochondriac, I was thinking
over that tune. How sick, and sleepless, and weak I was, ly-
ing in bed, when I was told that you were come ! How well
I remember with what an ecstasy of joy I saw that face ap-
proaching me, in the middle of people that did not care if I
died that night, except for the trouble of burying me ! The
sound of your voice, the touch of your hand, are present to
me now, and will be, I trust in God, to my last hour. The
very thought of these things invigorated me the other day;
and I almost blessed the sickness and low spirits which
brought before me associated images of a tenderness and an
affection, which, however imperfectly repaid, are deeply re-
membered. Such scenes and such recollections are the bright
half of human nature and human destiny. All objects of
ambition, all rewards of talent, sink into nothing compared
with that affection which is independent of good or adverse
circumstances, excepting that it is never so ardent, so deli-
cate, or so tender as in the hour of languor or distress. But I
must stop. I had no intention of pouring out on paper what
I am much more used to think than to express. Farewell, my
dear mother. Ever yours, affectionately,
T. B. MACAULAY.
Macaulay liked Cambridge too well to spend the long vaca-
tion elsewhere except under strong compulsion : but in 1821,
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 103
with the terrors of the mathematical tripos already close at
hand, he was persuaded into joining a reading-party in Wales,
with a Mr. Bird as tutor. Eardley Childers, the father of the
statesman of that name, has preserved a pleasant little memo-
rial of the expedition.
To Charles Smith Bird, Eardley Childers, Thos. B. Macaulay,
William Clayton Walters, Geo. B. Paley, Robert Jarratt,
Thos. Jarratt, Edwin Kempson, Ebenezer Ware, Wm. Corn-
wall, John Greenwood, J. Lloyd, and Jno. Wm. GleadaU,
Esquires :
GENTLEMEN, — We, the undersigned, for ourselves and the in-
habitants in general of the town of Llanrwst, in the county of
Denbigh, consider it our duty to express to you the high sense
we entertain of your general good conduct and demeanor dur-
ing your residence here, and we assure you that we view with
much regret the period of your separation and departure from
among us. We are very sensible of the obligation we are
under for your uniformly benevolent and charitable exertions
upon several public occasions, and we feel peculiar pleasure in
thus tendering to you individually our gratitude and thanks.
Wishing you all possible prosperity and happiness in your
future avocations, we subscribe ourselves with unfeigned re-
spect, gentlemen, your most obedient servants,
REV. JOHN TILTEY, etc., etc.
(25 signatures.)
In one respect Macaulay hardly deserved his share of this
eulogium. A scheme was on foot in the town to found an
auxiliary branch of the Bible Society. A public meeting was
called, and Mr. Bird urged his eloquent pupil to aid the proj-
ect with a specimen of Union rhetoric. Macaulay, however,
had had enough of the Bible Society at Clapham, and sturdily
refused to come forward as its champion at Llanrwst.
Llanrwst, July — , 1821.
MY DEAR MOTHEE, — You see I know not how to date my
letter. My calendar in this sequestered spot is as irregular as
104 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
Robinson Crusoe's after he had missed one day in his calcula-
tion. I have no intelligence to send you, unless a battle be-
tween a drunken attorney and an impudent publican which
took place here yesterday may deserve the appellation. You
may, perhaps, be more interested to hear that I sprained my
foot, and am just recovering from the effects of the accident
by means of opodeldoc which I bought at the tinker's ; for all
trades and professions here lie in a most delightful confusion.
The druggist sells hats ; the shoe-maker is the sole book-sell-
er, if that dignity may be allowed him on the strength of the
three Welsh Bibles and the Guide to Caernarvon which adorn
his window ; ink is sold by the apothecary ; the grocer sells
ropes (a commodity which, I fear, I shall require before my
residence here is over) and tooth-brushes. A clothes-brush
is a luxury yet unknown to Llanrwst. As to books, for want
of any other English literature, I intend to learn " Paradise
Lost " by heart at odd moments. But I must conclude. Write
to me often, my dear mother, and all of you at home, or you
may have to answer for my drowning myself, like Gray's bard,
in " Old Conway's foaming flood," which is most conveniently
near for so poetical an exit.
Ever most affectionately yours, T. B. M.
Llanrwst, August 31st, 1821.
MY DEAR FATHER, — I have just received your letter, and
can not but feel concerned at the tone of it. I do not think
it quite fair to attack me for filling my letters with remarks
on the king's Irish expedition. It has been the great event
of this part of the world. I was at Bangor when he sailed.
His bows, and the Marquis of Anglesea's fete, were the uni-
versal subjects of conversation; and some remarks on the
business were as natural from me as accounts of the corona-
tion from you in London. In truth, I have little else to say.
I see nothing that connects me with the world except the
newspapers. I get up, breakfast, read, play at quoits, and go
to bed. This is the history of my life. It will do for every
day of the last fortnight.
As to the king, I spoke of the business, not at all as a polit-
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 105
ical, but as a moral, question, as a point of correct feeling and
of private decency. If Lord were to issue tickets for a
gala ball immediately after receiving intelligence of the sud-
den death of his divorced wife, I should say the same. I pre-
tend to no great insight into party politics ; but the question
whether it is proper for any man to mingle in festivities while
his wife's body lies unburied is one, I confess, which I thought
myself competent to decide. But I am not anxious about the
fate of my remarks, which I have quite forgotten, and which,
I dare say, were very foolish. To me it is of little importance
whether the king's conduct were right or wrong ; but it is of
great importance that those whom I love should not think me
a precipitate, silly, shallow sciolist in politics, and suppose that
every frivolous word that falls from my pen is a dogma which
I mean to advance as indisputable ; and all this only because I
write to them without reserve ; only because I love them well
enough to trust them with every idea which suggests itself to
me. In fact, I believe that I am not more precipitate or pre-
sumptuous than other people, but only more open. You can
not be more fully convinced than I am how contracted my
means are of forming a judgment. If I chose to weigh every
word that I uttered or wrote to you, and, whenever I alluded
to politics, were to labor and qualify my expressions as if I
were drawing up a state paper, my letters might be a great
deal wiser, but would not be such letters as I should wish to
receive from those whom I loved. Perfect love, we are told,
casteth out fear. If I say, as I know I do, a thousand wild
and inaccurate things, and employ exaggerated expressions
about persons or events in writing to you or to my mother, it
is not, I believe, that I want power to systematize my ideas or
to measure my expressions, but because I have no objection to
letting you see my mind in deshabille. I have a court dress
for days of ceremony and people of ceremony, nevertheless.
But I would not willingly be frightened into wearing it with
you ; and I hope you do not wish me to do so.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To hoax a newspaper has, time out of mind, been the special
106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IL
ambition of under-graduate wit. In the course of 1821 Mac-
aulay sent to the Morning Post a burlesque copy of verses,
entitled " Tears of Sensibility." The editor fell an easy vic-
tim, but unfortunately did not fall alone.
No pearl of ocean is so sweet
As that in my Zuleika's eye.
No earthly jewel can compete
With tears of sensibility.
Like light phosphoric on the billow,
Or hermit ray of evening sky,
Like ripplings round a weeping willow
Are tears of sensibility.
Like drops of iris-colored fountains
By which Endymion loved to lie,
Like dew-gem& on untrodden mountains
Are tears of sensibility.
While Zephyr broods o'er moonlight rill
The flowerets droop as if to die,
And from their chaliced cups distill
The tears of sensibility.
The heart obdurate never felt
One link of Nature's magic tie,
If ne'er it knew the bliss to melt
In tears of sensibility.
The generous and the gentle heart
Is like that balmy Indian tree
Which scatters from the wounded part
The tears of sensibility.
Then, oh ! ye fair, if Pity's ray
E'er taught your snowy breasts to sigh,
Shed o'er my contemplative lay
The tears of sensibility.
November 2d, 1821.
MY DEAK MOTHER, — I possess some of the irritability of a
poet, and it has been a good deal awakened by your criticisms.
I could not have imagined that it would have been necessary
1818-'24.] LORD MACAULAY. 107
for me to have said that the execrable trash entitled " Tears
of Sensibility" was merely a burlesque on the style of the
magazine verses of the day. I could not suppose that you
could have suspected me of seriously composing such a far-
rago of false metaphor and unmeaning epithet. It was meant
solely for a caricature on the style of the poetasters of news-
papers and journals ; and (though I say it who should not
say it) has excited more attention and received more praise
at Cambridge than it deserved. If you have it, read it over
again, and do me the justice to believe that such a compound
of jargon, nonsense, false images, and exaggerated sentiment
is not the product of my serious labors. I sent it to the
Morning Post, because that paper is the ordinary receptacle
of trash of the description which I intended to ridicule, and
its admission therefore pointed the jest. I see, however, that
for the future I must mark more distinctly when I intend to
be ironical. Your affectionate son, T. B. M.
Cambridge, July 26th, 1822.
MY DEAR FATHEK, — I have been engaged to take two pupils
for nine months of the next year. They are brothers whose
father, a Mr. Stoddart, resides at Cambridge. I am to give
them an hour a day each, and am to receive a hundred guin-
eas. It gives me great pleasure to be able even in this degree
to relieve you from the burden of my expenses here. I begin
my tutorial labors to-morrow. My pupils are young, one be-
ing fifteen and the other thirteen years old ; but I hear excel-
lent accounts of their proficiency, and I intend to do my ut-
most for them. Farewell. T. B. M.
A few days later on he writes : " I do not dislike teaching ;
whether it is that I am more patient than I had imagined, or
that I have not yet had time to grow tired of my new voca-
tion. I find, also, what at first sight may appear paradoxical,
that I read much more in consequence, and that the regular-
ity of habits necessarily produced by a periodical employment
which can not be procrastinated fully compensates for the loss
of the time which is consumed in tuition."
108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
Trinity College, Cambridge, October 1st, 1824.
MY DEAR FATHER, — I was elected Fellow this morning,
shall be sworn in to-morrow, and hope to leave Cambridge on
Tuesday for Rothley Temple. The examiners speak highly
of the manner in which I acquitted myself, and I have reason
to believe that I stood first of the candidates.
I need not say how much I am delighted by my success, and
how much I enjoy the thought of the pleasure which it will
afford to you, my mother, and our other friends. Till I be-
come a master of arts next July, the pecuniary emolument
which I shall derive will not be great. For seven years from
that time it will make me almost an independent man.
Maiden is elected. You will take little interest in the rest
of our Cambridge successes and disappointments.
Yours most affectionately, T. B. M.
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 109
CHAPTER in.
1824-1830.
Macanlay is Called to the Bar. — Does not Make it a Serious Profession. —
Speech before the Antislavery Society. — Knight's Quarterly Magazine.—
The Edinburgh Eeview and the " Essay on Milton." — Macaulay's Personal
Appearance and Mode of Existence. — His Defects and Virtues, Likings
and Antipathies. — Croker. — Sadler. — Zachary Macaulay's Circumstances.
— Description of the Family Habits of Life in Great Ormond Street. —
Macaulay's Sisters. — Lady Trevelyan. — " The Judicious Poet." — Macau-
lay's Humor in Conversation. — His Articles in the Review. — His Attacks
on the Utilitarians and on Southey. — Blackwootfa Magazine. — Macaulay
is made Commissioner of Bankruptcy. — Enters Parliament. — Letters
from Circuit and Edinburgh.
MACAULAY was called to the bar in 1826, and joined the
Northern Circuit at Leeds. On the evening that he first ap-
peared at mess, when the company were retiring for the night,
he was observed to be carefully picking out the longest candle.
An old king's counsel, who noticed that he had a volume un-
der his arm, remonstrated with him on the danger of reading
in bed, upon which he rejoined with immense rapidity of ut-
terance : " I always read in bed at home ; and if I am not afraid
of committing parricide and matricide and fratricide, I can
hardly be expected to pay any special regard to the lives of
the bagmen of Leeds." And, so saying, he left his hearers
staring at one another, and marched off to his room, little
knowing that before many years were out he would have oc-
casion to speak much more respectfully of the Leeds bagmen.
Under its social aspect, Macaulay heartily enjoyed his legal
career. He made an admirable literary use of the Saturnalia
which the Northern Circuit calls by the name of "Grand
Night," when personalities of the most pronounced description
are welcomed by all except the object of them, and forgiven
110 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. m.
even by him. His hand may be recognized in a macaronic
poem, written in Greek and English, describing the feast at
which Alexander murdered Clitus. The death of the victim
is treated with an exuberance of fantastic drollery; and a
song, put into the mouth of Nearchus, the admiral of the
Macedonian fleet, and beginning with the lines,
When as first I did come back from plowing the salt water,
They paid me off at Salamis, three minae and a quarter,
is highly Aristophanic in every sense of the word.
He did not seriously look to the bar as a profession. ~No
persuasion would induce him to return to his chambers in the
evening, according to the practice then in vogue. After the
first year or two of the period during which he called him-
self a barrister he gave up even the pretense of reading law,
and spent many more hours under the gallery of the House
of Commons than in all the courts together. The person who
knew him best said of him : " Throughout life he never real-
ly applied himself to any pursuit that was against the grain."
Nothing is more characteristic of the man than the contrast
between his unconquerable aversion to the science of juris-
prudence at the time when he was ostensibly preparing him-
self to be an advocate, and the zest with which, on his voyage
to India, he mastered that science, in principle and detail, as
soon as his imagination was fired by the prospect of the re-
sponsibilities of a lawgiver.
He got no business worth mention, either in London or on
circuit. Zachary Macaulay, who was not a man of the world,
did what he could to make interest with the attorneys, and,
as a last resource, proposed to his son to take a brief in a suit
which he himself had instituted against the journal that had
so grossly libeled him. " I am rather glad," writes Macaulay
from York in March, 1827, " that I was not in London, if your
advisers thought it right that I should have appeared as your
counsel. Whether it be contrary to professional etiquette I do
not know ; but I am sure that it would be shocking to public
feeling, and particularly imprudent against adversaries whose
main strength lies in detecting and exposing indecorum or ec-
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. HI
centricity. It would have been difficult to avoid a quarrel
with Sugden, with Wetherell, and with old Lord Eldon him-
self. Then the John Bull would have been upon us with
every advantage. The personal part of the consideration it
would have been my duty, and my pleasure and pride also, to
overlook, but your interests must have suffered."
Meanwhile he was busy enough in fields better adapted
than the law to his talents and his temperament. He took a
part in the meeting of the Antislavery Society held at Free-
masons' Tavern, on the 25th of June, 1824, with the Duke of
Gloucester in the chair. The Edinburgh Review described
his speech as " a display of eloquence so signal for rare and
matured excellence, that the most practiced orator may well
admire how it should have come from one who then for the
first time addressed a public assembly."
Those who know what the annual meeting of a well-organ-
ized and disciplined association is may imagine the whirlwind
of cheers which greeted the declaration that the hour was at
hand when " the peasant of the Antilles will no longer crawl
in listless and trembling dejection round a plantation from
whose fruits he must derive no advantage, and a hut whose
door yields him no protection ; but, when his cheerful and
voluntary labor is performed, he will return with the firm
step and erect brow of a British citizen from the field which
is his freehold to the cottage which is his castle."
Surer promise of aptitude for political debate was afforded
by the skill with which the young speaker turned to account
the recent trial for sedition, and death in prison, of Smith, the
Demerara missionary : an event which was fatal to slavery in
the West Indies in the same degree as the execution of John
Brown was its death-blow in the United States. " When this
country has been endangered, either by arbitrary power or
popular delusion, truth has still possessed one irresistible or-
gan, and justice one inviolable tribunal. That organ has been
an English press, and that tribunal an English jury. But in
those wretched islands we see a press more hostile to truth
than any censor, and juries more insensible to justice than any
Star Chamber. In those islands alone is exemplified the full
112 LIFE AND LETTERS OP [CHAP. in.
meaning of the most tremendous of the cnrses denounced
against the apostate Hebrews, ' I will curse your blessings.'
We can prove this assertion out of the mouth of our adversa-
ries. We remember, and God Almighty forbid that we ever
should forget, how, at the trial of Mr. Smith, hatred regulated
every proceeding, was- substituted for every law, and allowed
its victim no sanctuary in the house of mourning, no refuge
in the very grave. Against the members of that court-mar-
tial the country has pronounced its verdict. But what is the
line of defense taken by its advocates ? It has been solemnly
and repeatedly declared in the House of Commons that a jury
composed of planters would have acted with far more injus-
tice than did this court : this court, which has never found a
single lawyer to stake his professional character on the legal-
ity of its proceedings. The argument is this. Things have
doubtless been done which should not have been done. The
court-martial sat without a jurisdiction ; it convicted without
evidence; it condemned to a punishment not warranted by
law. But we must make allowances. We must judge by
comparison. 'Mr. Smith ought to have been very thankful
that it was no worse. Only think what would have been his
fate if he had been tried by a jury of planters !' Sir, I have
always lived under the protection of the British laws, and
therefore I am unable to imagine what could be worse : but,
though I have small knowledge, I have a large faith : I by no
means presume to set any limits to the possible injustice of
a West Indian judicature. And since the colonists maintain
that a jury composed of their own body not only possibly
might, but necessarily must, have acted with more iniquity
than this court-martial, I certainly shall not dispute the asser-
tion, though I am utterly unable to conceive the mode."
That was probably the happiest half-hour of Zachary Mac-
aulay's life. " My friend," said Wilberf orce, when his turn
came to speak, " would doubtless willingly bear with all the
base falsehoods, all the vile calumnies, all the detestable arti-
fices which have been aimed against him, to render him the
martyr and victim of our cause, for the gratification he has
this day enjoyed in hearing one so dear to him plead such a
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 113
cause in such a manner." Keen as his pleasure was, he took
it in his own sad way. From the first moment to the last,
he never moved a muscle of his countenance, but sat with
his eyes fixed on a piece, of paper, on which he seemed to be
writing with a pencil. While talking with his son that even-
ing, he referred to what had passed only to remark that it was
ungraceful in so young a man to speak with folded arms in
the presence of royalty.
In 1823 the leading members of the cleverest set of boys
who ever were together at a public school found themselves
collected once more at Cambridge. Of the former staff of the
Etonian, Praed, Moultrie, Derwent Coleridge, and, among oth-
ers, Mr. Edmond Beales, so well known to our generation as
an ardent politician, were now in residence at King's or Trin-
ity. Mr. Charles Knight, too enterprising a publisher to let
such a quantity of youthful talent run to waste, started a pe-
riodical, which was largely supported by under-graduates and
bachelors of arts, among whom the veterans of the Eton press
formed a brilliant, and, as he vainly hoped, a reliable nucleus
of contributors.
Knight's Quarterly Magazine is full of Macaulay, and of
Macaulay in the attractive shape which a great author wears
while he is still writing to please no one but himself. He un-
fortunately did not at all please his father. In the first num-
ber, besides a great deal of his that is still worth reading, there
were printed, under his adopted signature of Tristram Merton,
two little poems, the nature of which may be guessed from
Praed's editorial comments. " Tristram Merton, I have a
strong curiosity to know who Rosamond is. But you will
not tell me ; and, after all, as far as your verses are concerned,
the surname is nowise germane to the matter. As poor Sher-
idan said, it is too formal to be registered in love's calendar."
And again : " Tristram, I hope Rosamond and your Fair Girl
of France will not pull caps ; but I can not forbear the temp-
tation of introducing your Roxana and Statira to an admiring
public." The verses were such as any man would willingly
look back to having written at two-and-twenty ; but their ap-
pearance occasioned real misery to Zachary Macaulay, who in-
' YoL.L— 8
LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. ra.
deed disapproved of the whole publication from beginning to
end, with the exception of an article on West Indian slavery
which his son had inserted with the most filial intention, but
which, it must be allowed, was not quite in keeping with the
general character of the magazine.
July 9th, 1823.
MY DEAB FATHER, — I have seen the two last letters which
you have sent to my mother. They have given me deep pain ;
but pain without remorse. I am conscious of no misconduct,
and whatever uneasiness I may feel arises solely from sympa-
thy for your distress.
You seem to imagine that the book is edited, or principal-
ly written, by friends of mine. I thought that you had been
aware that the work is conducted in London, and that my
friends and myself are merely contributors, and form a very
small proportion of the contributors. The manners of almost
all of my acquaintances are so utterly alien from coarseness,
and their morals from libertinism, that I feel assured that no
objection of that nature can exist to their writings. As to my
own contributions, I can only say that the Roman story was
read to my mother before it was published, and would have
been read to you if you had happened to be at home. Not
one syllable of censure was uttered.
The essay on the " Royal Society of Literature " was read
to you. I made the alterations which I conceived that you
desired, and submitted them afterward to my mother. As to
the poetry which you parallel with Little's, if any thing vul-
gar or licentious has been written by myself, I am willing to
bear the consequences. If any thing of that cast has been
written by my friends, I allow that a certain degree of blame
attaches to me for having chosen them at least indiscreetly.
If, however, a book -seller of whom we knew nothing has
coupled improper productions with ours in a work over which
we had no control, I can not plead guilty to any thing more
than misfortune : a misfortune in which some of the most rig-
V ^
idly moral and religious men of my acquaintance have partici-
pated in the present instance.
I am pleading at random for a book which I never saw. I
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 115
am defending the works of people most of whose names I
never heard. I am therefore writing under great disadvan-
tages. I write also in great haste. I am unable even to read
over what I have written. Affectionately yours,
T. B. M.
Moved by the father's evident unhappiness, the son prom-
ised never to write again for the obnoxious periodical. The
second number was so dull and decorous that Zachary Macau-
lay, who felt that, if the magazine went on through successive
quarters reforming its tone in the same proportion, it would
soon be on a level of virtue with the Christian Observer, with-
drew his objection ; and the young man wrote regularly till
the short life of the undertaking ended in something very like
a quarrel between the publisher and his contributors. It is
not the province of biography to dilate upon works which are
already before the world, and the results of Macaulay's liter-
ary labor during the years 1823 and 182-i have been, perhaps,
only too freely reproduced in the volumes which contain his
miscellaneous writings. It is, however, worthy of notice that
among his earlier efforts in literature his own decided favorite
was " the conversation between Mr. Abraham Cowley and Mr.
John Milton touching the great civil war." But an author,
who is exempt from vanity, is inclined to rate his own works
rather according as they are free from faults than as they
abound in beauties : and Macaulay's readers will very gener-
ally give the preference to two fragmentary sketches of Ro-
man and Athenian society which sparkle with life, and humor,
and a masculine, vigorous fancy that had not yet learned to
obey the rein. Their crude but genuine merit suggests a re-
gret that he did not in after-days enrich the Edinburgh Re-
view with a couple of articles on classical subjects, as a sample
of that ripened scholarship which produced the " Prophecy of
Capys," and the episode relating to the Phalaris controversy
in the essay on " Sir "William Temple."
Eothley Temple, October 7th, 1824.
MY DEAK FATHEK, — As to Knight's magazine, I really do
116 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CIIAP. in.
not think that, considering the circumstances under which it
is conducted, it can be much censured. Every magazine must
contain a certain quantity of mere ballast, of no value but as
it occupies space. The general tone and spirit of the work
will stand a comparison, in a moral point of view, with any
periodical publication not professedly religious. I will vent-
ure to say that nothing has appeared in it, at least since the
first number, from the pen of any of my friends, which can
offend the most fastidious. Knight is absolutely in our hands,
and most desirous to gratify us all, and me in particular.
"When I see you in London I will mention to you a piece of
secret history which will show you how important our connec-
tion with this work may possibly become.
Yours affectionately, T. B. M.
The " piece of secret history " above referred to was beyond
a doubt the commencement of Macaulay's connection with the
Edinburgh jReview. That famous periodical, which for three-
and-twenty-years had shared in and promoted the rising fort-
unes of the Liberal cause, had now attained its height — a
height unequaled before or since — of political, social, and lit-
erary power. To have the entry of its columns was to com-
mand the most direct channel for the spread of opinions, and
the shortest road to influence and celebrity. But already the
anxious eye of the master seemed to discern symptoms of de-
cline. Jeffrey, in Lord Cockburn's phrase, was "growing fe-
verish about new writers." In January, 1825, he says, in a
letter to a friend in London : " Can you not lay your hands on
some clever young man who would write for us ? The origi-
nal supporters of the work are getting old, and either too busy
or too stupid, and here the young men are mostly Tories."
Overtures had already been made to Macaulay, and that same
year his article on Milton appeared in the August number.
The effect on the author's reputation was instantaneous.
Like Lord Byron, he awoke one morning and found himself
famous. The beauties of the work were such as all men could
recognize, and its very faults pleased. The redundance of
youthful enthusiasm, which he himself unsparingly condemns
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 117
in the preface to his collected essays, seemed graceful enough
in the eyes of others, if it were only as a relief from the per-
verted ability of that elaborate libel on our great epic poet
which goes by the name of Dr. Johnson's " Life of Milton."
Murray declared that it would be worth the copyright of
" Childe Harold " to have Macaulay on the staff of the Quar-
terly. The family breakfast-table in Bloomsbury was covered
with, cards of invitation to dinner from every quarter of Lon-
don, and his father groaned in spirit over the conviction that
thenceforward the law would be less to him than ever. A
warm admirer of Robert Hall, Macaulay heard with pride how
the great preacher, then well-nigh worn out writh that long
disease, his life, was discovered lying on the floor, employed
in learning, by aid of grammar and dictionary, enough Ital-
ian to enable him to verify the parallel between Milton and
Dante. But the compliment that of all others came most
nearly home — the only commendation of his literary talent
which even in the innermost domestic circle he was ever
known to repeat — was the sentence with which Jeffrey ac-
knowledged the receipt of his manuscript, " The more I think,
the less I can conceive where you picked up that style."
Macaulay 's outward man was never better described than
in two sentences of Praed's Introduction to Knight's Qua/rter-
ly Magazine. " There came up a short manly figure, marvel-
ously upright, with a bad neckcloth, and one hand in his waist-
coat-pocket. Of regular beauty he had little to boast ; but in
faces where there is an expression of great power, or of great
good-humor, or both, you do not regret its absence." This
picture, in which every touch is correct, tells all that there is to
be told. He had a massive head, and features of a powerful
and rugged cast ; but so constantly lighted up by every joyful
and ennobling emotion that it mattered little if, when absolute-
ly quiescent, his face was rather homely than handsome. While
conversing at table, no one thought him otherwise than good-
looking ; but when he rose, he was seen to be short and stout
in figure. " At Holland House, the other day," writes his sis-
ter Margaret, in September, 1831, " Tom met Lady Lyndhurst
for the first time. She said to him, ' Mr. Macaulay, you are so
118 LIFE AND LETTEKS OF [CHAP. in.
different to what I expected. I thought you were dark and
thin, but you are fair, and, really, Mr. Macaulay, you are fat.' "
He at all times sat and stood straight, full, and square ; and
in this respect Woolner, in the line statue at Cambridge, has
missed what was undoubtedly the most marked fact in his
personal appearance. He dressed badly, but not cheaply. His
clothes, though ill put on, were good, and his wardrobe was
always enormously overstocked. Later in life he indulged
himself in an apparently inexhaustible succession of handsome
embroidered waistcoats, which he used to regard with much
complacency. He was unhandy to a degree quite unexampled
in the experience of all who knew him. When in the open
air, he wore perfectly new dark kid gloves, into the fingers of
which he never succeeded in inserting his own more than half-
way. After he had sailed for India, there were found in his
chambers between fifty and sixty strops, hacked into strips
and splinters, and razors without beginning or end. About
the same period he hurt his hand, and was reduced to send
for a barber. After the operation, he asked what was to pay.
" Oh, sir," said the man, " whatever you usually give the person
who shaves you." " In that case," said Macaulay, " I should
give you a great gash on each cheek."
During an epoch when, at our principal seats of education,
athletic pursuits are regarded as a leading object of existence,
rather than as a means of health and recreation, it requires
some boldness to confess that Macaulay was utterly destitute
of bodily accomplishments, and that he viewed his deficiencies
with supreme indifference. He could neither swim, nor row,
nor drive', nor skate, nor shoot. He seldom crossed a saddle,
and never willingly. When in attendance at Windsor, as a
cabinet minister, he was informed that a horse was at his dis-
posal. " If her majesty wishes to see me ride," he said, " she
must order out an elephant." The only exercise in which he
can be said to have excelled was that of threading crowded
streets with his eyes fixed upon a book. He might be seen
in such thoroughfares as Oxford Street and Cheapside walk-
ing as fast as other people walked, and reading a great deal
faster than any body else could read. As a pedestrian he
1824-'30. 1 LORD MACAULAY. 119
was, indeed, above the average. Till he had passed fifty, he
thought nothing of going on foot from the Albany to Clap-
ham, and from Clapham on to Greenwich, and, while still in
the prime of life, he was forever on his feet indoors as well as
out. " In those days," says his cousin, Mrs. Conybeare, " he
walked rapidly up and down a room as he talked. I remem-
ber on one occasion, when he was making a call, he stopped
short in his walk in the midst of a declamation on some sub-
ject, and said, ' You have a brick floor here.' The hostess con-
fessed that it was true, though she hoped that it had been dis-
guised by double matting and a thick carpet. He said that
his habit of always walking enabled him to tell accurately the
material he was treading on.' "
His faults were such as give annoyance to those who dis-
like a man rather than anxiety to those who love him. Ve-
hemence, overconfidence, the inability to recognize that there
are two sides to a question or two people in a dialogue, are
defects which during youth are perhaps inseparable from gifts
like those with which he was endowed. Moultrie, speaking
of his under-graduate days, tells us that
To him
There was no pain like silence — po constraint
So dull as unanimity. He breathed
An atmosphere of argument, nor shrunk
From making, where he could not find, excuse
For controversial fight.
At Cambridge he would say of himself that whenever any
body enunciated a proposition all possible answers to it rushed
into his mind at once, and it was said of him by others that
he had no politics except the opposite of those held by the
persons with whom he was talking. To that charge, at any
rate, he did not long continue liable. He left college a stanch
and vehement Whig, eager to maintain against all comers and
at any moment that none but Whig opinions had a leg to
stand upon. His cousin, George Babington, a rising surgeon,
with whom at one time he lived in the closest intimacy, was
always ready to take up the Tory cudgels. The two friends
" would walk up and down the room, crossing each other for
120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. m.
hours, shouting one another down with a continuous simulta-
neous storm of words, until George at length yielded to argu-
ments and lungs combined. Never, so far as I remember,
was there any loss of temper. It was a fair, good-humored
battle, in not very mannerly lists." .
Even as a very young man nine people out of ten liked
nothing better than to listen to him : which was fortunate ;
because in his early days he had scanty respect of persons,
either as regarded the choice of his topics or the quantity of
his words. But with his excellent temper, and entire absence
of conceit, he soon began to learn consideration for others in
small things as well as in great. By the time he was fairly
launched in London, he was agreeable in company as well as
forcible and amusing. Wilberforce speaks of his " unruffled
good humor." Sir Robert Inglis, a good observer, with ample
opportunity of forming a judgment, pronounced that he con-
versed, and did not dictate, and that he was loud, but never
overbearing. As far back as the year 1826, Crabb Eobinson
gave a very favorable account of his demeanor in society,
which deserves credence as the testimony of one who liked
his share of talk, and was not willing to be put in the back-
ground for any body. " I went to James Stephen, and drove
with him to his house at Hendon. A dinner-party. I had
a most interesting companion in young Macaulay, one of the
most promising of the rising generation I have seen for a long
time. He has a good face — not the delicate features of a man
of genius and sensibility, but the strong lines and well-knit
limbs of a man sturdy in body and mind. Very eloquent and
cheerful. Overflowing with words, and not poor in thought.
Liberal in opinion, but no radical. He seems a correct as well
as a full man. He showed a minute knowledge of subjects
not introduced by himself."
So loyal and sincere was Macaulay's nature that he was un-
willing to live upon terms of even * apparent intimacy with
people whom he did not like, or could not esteem ; and, as
far as civility allowed, he avoided their advances, and especially
their hospitality. He did not choose, he said, to eat salt with a
man for whom he could not say a good word in all companies.
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 121
He was true throughout life to those who had once acquired
his regard and respect. Moultrie says of him :
His heart was pure and simple as a child's
Unbreathed on by the world : in friendship warm,
Confiding, generous, constant ; and, though now
He ranks among the great ones of the earth,
And hath achieved such glory as will last
To future generations, he, I think,
Would sup on oysters with as right good-will
In this poor home of mine as e'er he did
On Petty Cury's classical first-floor
Some twenty years ago.
He loved to place his purse, his influence, and his talents at
the disposal of a friend ; and any one whom he called by that
name he judged with indulgence, and trusted with a faith that
would endure almost any strain. If his confidence proved
to have been egregiously misplaced, which he was always the
last to see, he did not resort to remonstrance or recrimination.
His course under such circumstances he described in a couplet
from an old French comedy :*
Le bruit est pour le fat, la plainte pour le sot ;
L'honnSte homme troinpe" s'eloigne et ne dit mot.
He was never known to take part in any family quarrel, or
personal broil of any description whatsoever. His conduct in
this respect was the result of self-discipline, and did not pro-
ceed from any want of sensibility. " He is very sensitive,"
said his sister Margaret, " and remembers long, as well as feels
deeply, any thing in the form of slight." Indeed, at college
his friends used to tell him that his leading qualities were
"generosity and vindictiveness." Courage he certainly did
not lack. During the years when his spirit was high, and his
pen cut deep, and when the habits of society were different
* La Coquette Corrige'e. Come"die par Mr. Delanone, 1756. In his Jour-
nal of February 15th, 1851, after quoting the couplet, Macaulay adds :
"Odd that two lines of a damned play, and, it should seem, a justly
damned play, should have lived near a century, and have become pro-
verbial."
122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
from what they are at present, more than one adversary dis-
played symptoms of a desire to meet him elsewhere than on
paper. On these occasions, while showing consideration for
his opponent, he evinced a quiet but very decided sense of
what was due to himself which commanded the respect of all
who were implicated, and brought difficulties that might have
been grave to an honorable and satisfactory issue.
He reserved his pugnacity for quarrels undertaken on pub-
lic grounds and fought out, with the world looking on as um-
pire. In the lists of criticism and of debate it can not be de-
nied that, as a young man, he sometimes deserved the praise
which Dr. Johnson pronounced upon a good hater. He had
no mercy for bad writers, and notably for bad poets, unless
they were in want of money ; in which case he became, within
his means, the most open-handed of patrons. He was too apt
to undervalue both the heart and the head of those who de-
sired tp maintain the old system of civil and religious exclu-
sion, and who grudged political power to their f ellow-country-
men, or at any rate to those of their fellow-countrymen whom
he was himself prepared to enfranchise. Independent, frank,
and proud almost to a fault, he detested the whole race of
jobbers and time-servers, parasites and scandal-mongers, led-
captains, led-authors, and led-orators. Some of his antipathies
have stamped themselves indelibly upon literary history. He
attributed to the Right Honorable John Wilson Croker, Sec-
retary to the Admiralty during the twenty years preceding
1830, qualities which excited his disapprobation beyond con-
trol, and possibly beyond measure. In a singularly powerful
letter, written as late as 1843, he recites in detail certain un-
savory portions of that gentleman's private life which were
not only part of the stock-gossip of every bow-window in St.
James's Street, but which had been brought into the light of
day in the course either of Parliamentary or judicial investi-
gations. After illustrating these transactions with evidence
which proved that he did not take up an antipathy on hearsay,
Macaulay comments on them in such terms as clearly indicate
that his animosity to Croker arose from incompatibility of
moral sentiments, and not of political opinions. He then pro-
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 123
ceeds to remark on " the scandals of Croker's literary life ;"
" his ferocious insults to women, to Lady Morgan, Mrs. Aus-
tin, and others ;" his twitting Harriet Martineau with deaf'
ness ; his twitting Madame D'Arblay with concealing her age.
" I might add," he says, " a hundred other charges. These, ob-
serve, are things done by a privy councilor, by a man who has
a pension from the country of two thousand pounds a year,
by a man who affects to be a champion of order and religion."
Macaulay's judgment has been confirmed by the public voice,
which, rightly or wrongly, identifies Croker with the character
of Rigby in Mr. Disraeli's " Coningsby."
Macaulay was the more formidable as an opponent, because
he could be angry without losing his command of the situa-
tion. His first onset was terrific ; but in the fiercest excite-
ment of the melee he knew when to call a halt. A certain
member of Parliament named Michael Thomas Sadler had
fallen foul of Malthus, and very foul, indeed, of Macaulay,
who in two short and telling articles* took revenge enough
for both. He writes on this subject to Mr. Macvey Napier,
who, toward the close of 1829, had succeeded Jeffrey in the
editorship of the Edinburgh Review : " The position which
we have now taken up is absolutely impregnable ; and if we
were to quit it, though we might win a more splendid victo-
ry we should expose ourselves to some risk. My rule in con-
troversy has always been that to which the Lacedaemonians
adhered in war : never to break the ranks for the purpose of
pursuing a beaten enemy." He had, indeed, seldom occasion
to strike twice. Where he set his mark, there was no need of
a second impression. The unduly severe fate of those who
crossed his path during the years when his blood was hot
teaches a serious lesson on the responsibilities of genius.
Croker, and Sadler, and poor Robert Montgomery, and the
* Macaulay writes to Mr. Napier in February, 1831 : " People here think
that I have answered Sadler completely. Empson tells me that Malthus
is well pleased, which is a good sign. As to Blackwood's trash, I could not
get through it. It bore the same relation to Sadler's pamphlet that a bad
hash bears to a bad joint."
124: LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
other less eminent objects of his wrath, appear likely to en-
joy just so much notoriety, and of such a nature, as he has
thought fit to deal out to them in his pages ; and it is possi-
ble that even Lord Ellenborough may be better known to our
grandchildren by Macaulay's oration on the gates of Somnauth
than by the noise of his own deeds, or the echo of his own
eloquence.
When Macaulay went to college, he was justified in regard-
ing himself as one who would not have to work for his bread.
His father, who believed himself to be already worth a hun-
dred thousand pounds, had statedly declared to the young
man his intention of making him, in a modest way, an eldest
son ; and had informed him that, by doing his duty at the
university, he would earn the privilege of shaping his career
at choice. In 1818 the family removed to London, and set
up an establishment on a scale suited to their improved cir-
cumstances in Cadogan Place, which, in every thing except
proximity to Bond Street, was then hardly less rural than
Clapham. But the prosperity of the house of Macaulay Bab-
ington was short-lived. The senior member of the firm gave
his whole heart, and five-sixths of his time, to objects uncon-
nected with his business; and he had selected a partner who
did not possess the qualities necessary to compensate for his
own deficiencies. In 1819, the first indications of possible
disaster begin to show themselves in the letters to and from
Cambridge; while waiting for a fellowship, Macaulay was
glad to make a hundred guineas by taking pupils ; and, as time
went on, it became evident that he was to be an eldest son
only in the sense that throughout the coming years of diffi-
culty and distress his brothers and sisters would depend main-
ly upon him for comfort, guidance, and support. He acknowl-
edged the claim cheerfully, lovingly, and indeed almost uncon-
sciously. It was not in his disposition to murmur over what
was inevitable, or to plume himself upon doing what was
right. He quietly took up the burden which his father was
unable to bear ; and, before many years had elapsed, the fort-
unes of all for whose welfare he considered himself responsi-
ble were abundantly assured. In the course of the efforts
1824-'30.] LOKD MACAULAY. 125
which he expended on the accomplishment of this result, he
unlearned the very notion of framing his method of life with
a view to his own pleasure ; and such was his high and simple
nature that it may well be doubted whether it ever crossed
his mind that to live wholly for others was a sacrifice at 'all.
He resided with his father in Cadogan Place, and accom-
panied^ him when, under the pressure of pecuniary circum-
stances, he removed to a less fashionable quarter of the town.
In 1823 the family settled in 50 Great Ormond Street, which
runs east and west for some three hundred yards through the
region bounded by the British Museum, the Foundling Hos-
pital, and Gray's Inn Road. It was a large, rambling house,
at the corner of Powis Place, and was said to have been the
residence of Lord Chancellor Thurlow at the time when the
Great Seal was stolen from his custody. It now forms the
east wing of a homeopathic hospital. Here the Macaulays re-
mained till 1831. " Those were to me," says Lady Trevelyan,
"years of intense happiness. There might be money trou-
bles, but they did not touch us. Our lives were passed after
a fashion which would seem, indeed, strange to the present gen-
eration. My father, ever more and more engrossed in one ob-
ject, gradually gave up all society, and my mother never could
endure it. We had friends, of course, with whom we staid
out for months together, and we dined with the Wilberforces,
the Buxtons, Sir Robert Inglis, and others ; but what is now
meant by ' society ' was utterly unknown to us.
"In the morning there was some pretense of work and
study. In the afternoon your uncle always took my sister
Margaret and myself a long walk. We traversed every part of
the City, Islington, Clerkenwell, and the parks, returning just
in time for a six-o'clock dinner. What anecdotes he used to
pour out about every street, and square, and court, and alley !
There are many places I never pass without the tender grace
of a day that is dead coming back to me. Then, after dinner,
he always walked up and down the drawing-room between us
chatting till tea-time. Our noisy mirth, his wretched puns, so
many a minute, so many an hour ! Then we sung, none of
us having any voices, and he, if possible, least of all ; but still
126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. ra.
the old nursery songs were set to music and chanted. My fa-
ther, sitting at his own table, used to look up occasionally, and
push back his spectacles, and, I dare say, wonder, in his heart,
how we could so waste our time. After tea the book then in
reading was produced. Your uncle very seldom read aloud
himself of an evening, but walked about listening, and com-
menting, and drinking water.
" The Sundays were in some respects trying days to him.
My father's habit was to read a long sermon to us all in the
afternoon, and again after evening service another long ser-
mon was read at prayer-time to the servants. Our doors were
open to sons of relations or friends ; and cousins who were
medical students, or clerks in merchants' houses, came in reg-
ularly to partake of our Sunday dinner and sermons. Sun-
day walking, for walking's sake, was never allowed, and even
going to a distant church was discouraged. When in Cado-
gan Place, we always crossed the Five Fields, where Belgrave
Square now stands, to hear Dr. Thorpe at the Lock Chapel,
and bring him home to dine with us. From Great Ormond
Street, we attended St. John's Chapel in Bedford Row, then
served by Daniel Wilson, afterward Bishop of Calcutta. He
was succeeded in 1826 by the Rev. Baptist Noel. Your uncle
generally went to church with us in the morning, and latter-
ly formed the habit of walking out of town, alone or with a
friend, in the after-part of the day. I never heard that my
father took any notice of this, and, indeed, in the interior of
his own family, he never attempted in the smallest degree to
check his son in his mode of life or in the expression of his
opinions.
" I believe that breakfast was the pleasantest part of the
day to my father. His spirits were then at their best, and he
was most disposed to general conversation. He delighted in
discussing the newspaper with his son, and lingered over the
table long after the meal was finished. On this account he
felt it extremely when, in the year 1829, your uncle went to
live in chambers, and often said to my mother that the change
had taken the brightness out of his day. Though your un-
cle generally dined with us, yet my father was tired by the
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 127
evening, so that the breakfast hour was a grievous loss to him,
as indeed it was to us all. Truly he was, to old and young
alike, the sunshine of our home ; and I believe that no one
who did not know him there ever knew him in his most brill-
iant, witty, and fertile vein."
That home was never more cheerful than during the
eight years which followed the close of Macaulay's college
life. There had been much quiet happiness at Clapham,
and much in Cadogan Place ; but it was round the house in
Great Ormond Street that the dearest associations gathered.
More than forty years afterward, when Lady Trevelyan
was dying, she had herself driven to the spot, as the last
drive she ever took, and sat silent in her carriage for many
minutes with her eyes fixed upon those well-known walls.
While warmly attached to all his nearest relations, Macau-
lay lived in the closest and most frequent companionship with
his sisters Hannah and Margaret, younger than himself by ten
and twelve years respectively. His affection for these two,
deep and enduring as it was, had in it no element of blindness
or infatuation. Even in the privacy of a dairy, or the confi-
dence of the most familiar correspondence, Macaulay, when
writing about those whom he loved, was never tempted to
indulge in fond exaggeration of their merits. Margaret,
as will be seen in the course of this narrative, died young,
leaving a memory of outward graces, and sweet and noble
mental qualities, which is treasured by all among whom her
short existence was passed. As regards the other sister, there
are many alive who knew her for what she was; and for
those who did not know her, if this book proves how much
of her brother's heart she had, and how well it was worth
having, her children will feel that they have repaid their debt
even to her.
Education in the Macaulay family was not on system. Of
what are ordinarily called accomplishments, the daughters had
but few, and Hannah fewest of any ; but ever since she could
remember any thing, she had enjoyed the run of a good stand-
ard library, and had been allowed to read at her own time and
according to her own fancy. There were two' traits in her
128 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. m.
nature which are seldom united in the same person : a vivid,
practical interest in the realities which surrounded her, joined
with the power of passing at will into a world of literature
and romance, in which she found herself entirely at home.
The feeling with which Macaulay and his sister regarded
books differed from that of other people in kind rather than
in degree. When they were discoursing together about a
work of history or biography, a by - stander would have sup-
posed that they had lived in the times of which the author
treated, and had a personal acquaintance with every human
being who was mentioned in his pages. Pepys, Addison,
Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson, Madame de Genlis, the Due de
St. Simon, and the several societies in which those worthies
moved, excited in their minds precisely the same sort of con-
cern, and gave matter for discussions of exactly the same type
as most people bestow upon the proceedings of their own con-
temporaries. The past was to them as the present, and the
fictitious as the actual. The older novels, which had been the
food of their early years, had become part of themselves to
such an extent that in speaking to each other they frequently
employed sentences from dialogues in those novels to express
the idea, or even the business, of the moment. On matters of
the street or of the household they would use the very lan-
guage of Mrs. Elton and Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Woodhouse, Mr.
Collins, and John Thorpe, and the other inimitable actors on
Jane Austen's unpretending stage, while they would debate
the love affairs and the social relations of their own circle in
a series of quotations from " Sir Charles Grandison" or " Eve-
lina."
The effect was at times nothing less than bewildering.
When Lady Trevelyan married, her husband, whose reading
had lain anywhere rather than among the circulating libraries,
used at first to wonder who the extraordinary people could be
with whom his wife and his brother-in-law appeared to have
lived. This style of thought and conversation had for young
minds a singular and a not unhealthy fascination. Lady
Trevelyan's children were brought up among books (to use
the homely 'simile of an American author), as a stable-boy
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 129
among horses. The shelves of the library, instead of frown-
ing on us as we played and talked, seemed alive with kindly
and familiar faces. But death came, and came again, and
then all was changed, and changed as in an instant. There
were many favorite volumes out of which the spirit seemed to
vanish at once and forever. We endeavored unsuccessfully
to revive by our own efforts the amusement which we had
been taught to find in the faded flatteries and absurdities that
passed between Miss Seward and her admirers, or to retrace
for ourselves the complications of female jealousy which play-
ed round Cowper's tea-table at Olney. We awoke to the dis-
covery that the charm was not in us, nor altogether in the
books themselves. The talisman which endowed with life
and meaning all that it touched had passed away from among
us, leaving recollections which are our most cherished, as they
must ever be our proudest, possession.
Macaulay thought it probable that he could rewrite " Sir
Charles Grandison" from memory, and certainly he might
have done so with his sister's help. But his intimate ac-
quaintance with a work was no proof of its merit. " There
was a certain prolific author," says Lady Trevelyan, " named
Mrs. Meeke, whose romances he all but knew by heart;
though he quite agreed in my criticism that they were one
just like another, turning on the fortunes of some young man
in a very low rank of life who eventually proves to be the son
of a duke. Then there was a set of books by a Mrs. Kitty
Cuthbertson, most silly, though readable, productions, the nat-
ure of which may be guessed from their titles : * Santo Sebas-
tiano ; or, The Young Protector ; ' The Forest of Montalba-
no ;' ' The Romance of the Pyrenees ;' and 'Adelaide ; or, The
Countercharm.' I remember how, when ' Santo Sebastiano '
was sold by auction in India, he and Miss Eden bid against
each other till he secured it at a fabulous price ; and I possess
it still."
As an indication of the thoroughness with which this liter-
ary treasure had been studied, there appears on the last page
an elaborate computation of the number of fainting-fits that
occur in the course of the five volumes.
VOL. I.— 9
130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP, m.
Jalia de Clifford 11
Lady Delamore 4
Lady Theodosia 4
Lord Glenbrook 2
Lord Delamore 2
Lady Enderfield 1
Lord Ashgrove 1
Lord St. Orville 1
Henry Mildmay 1
A single passage, selected for no other reason than because
it is the shortest, will serve as a specimen of these catastro-
phes: "One of the sweetest smiles that ever animated the
face of mortal now diffused itself over the countenance of
Lord St. Orville, as he fell at the feet of Julia in a death-like
swoon."
The fun that went on in Great Ormond Street was of a
jovial, and sometimes uproarious, description. Even when
the family was by itself, the school - room and the drawing-
room were full of young people; and friends and cousins
flocked in numbers to a resort where so much merriment was
perpetually on foot. There were seasons during the school
holidays when the house overflowed with noise and frolic from
morning to night ; and Macaulay, who at any period of his life
could literally spend whole days in playing with children, was
master of the innocent revels. Games of hide-and-seek, that
lasted for hours, with shouting, and the blowing of horns up
and down the stairs and through every room, were varied by
ballads, which, like the scalds of old, he composed during the
act of recitation, while the others struck in with the chorus.
He had no notion whatever of music, but an inf allible ear for
rhythm. His knack of improvisation he at all times exercised
freely. The verses which he thus produced, and which he
invariably attributed to an anonymous author whom he styled
" the Judicious Poet," were exclusively for home consump-
tion. Some of these effusions illustrate a sentiment in his
disposition which was among the most decided, and the most
frequently and loudly expressed. Macaulay was only too eas-
ily bored, and those whom he considered fools he by no means
suffered gladly. He once amused his sisters by pouring out
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 131
whole Iliads of extempore doggerel upon the head of an un-
fortunate country squire of their acquaintance who had a hab-
it of detaining people by the button, and who was especially
addicted to the society of the higher order of clergy.
His Grace Archbishop Manners Sutton
Could not keep on a single button.
As for Eight Reverend John of Chester,
His waistcoats open at the breast are.
Our friend* has filled a mighty trunk
With trophies torn from Doctor Monk,
And he has really 'tattered foully
The vestments of Archbishop Howley.
No button could I late discern on
The garments of Archbishop Vernon,
And never had his fingers mercy
Upon the garb of Bishop Percy.
The buttons fly from Bishop Ryder
Like corks that spring from bottled cider,
and so on throughout the entire bench, until, after a good
half-hour of hearty and spontaneous nonsense, the girls would
go laughing back to their Italian and their drawing-boards.
He did not play upon words as a habit, nor did he interlard
his talk with far-fetched or overstrained witticisms. His
humor, like his rhetoric, was full of force and substance, and
arose naturally from the complexion of the conversation or
the circumstance of the moment. But when alone with his
sisters, and, in after-years, with his nieces, he was fond of set-
ting himself deliberately to manufacture conceits resembling
those on the heroes of the Trojan war which have been
thought worthy of publication in the collected works of Swift.
When walking in London he would undertake to give some
droll turn to the name of every shop-keeper in the street, and,
when traveling, to the name of every station along the line.
At home he would run through the countries of Europe, the
States of the Union, the chief cities of our Indian Empire, the
* The name of this gentleman has been concealed, as not being suffi-
ciently known by all to give point, but well enough remembered by some
to give pain.
132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.HL
provinces of France, the prime ministers of England, or the
chief writers and artists of any given century ; striking off
puns, admirable, endurable, and execrable, but all irresistibly
laughable, which followed each other in showers like sparks
from flint. Capping verses was a game of which he never
tired. " In the spring of 1829," says his cousin, Mrs. Cony-
beare, "we were staying in Ormond Street. My chief rec-
ollection of your uncle during that visit is on the evenings
when we capped verses. All the family were quick at it, but
his astounding memory made him supereminent. When the
time came for him to be off to bed at his chambers, he would
rush out of the room after uttering some long-sought line, and
would be pursued to the top of the stairs by one of the others
who had contrived to recall a verse which served the purpose,
in order that he might not leave the house victorious; but
he, with the hall-door open in his hand, would shriek back a
crowning effort, and go off triumphant."
Nothing of all this can be traced in his letters before the
year 1830. Up to that period he corresponded regularly with
no one but his father, between whom and himself there ex-
isted a strong regard, but scanty sympathy or similarity of
pursuits. It was not until he poured out his mind almost
daily to those who approached him more nearly in age and in
tastes, that the lighter side of his nature began to display itself
on paper. Most of what he addressed to his parents between
the time when he left Cambridge and the time when he en-
tered the House of Commons may be characterized as belong-
ing to the type of duty-letters, treating of politics, legal gos-
sip, personal adventures, and domestic incidents, with some ret-
icence, and little warmth or ease of expression. The period-
ical insertion on the son's part of anecdotes and observations
bearing upon the question of slavery reminds the reader of
those presents of tall recruits with which at judiciously chosen
intervals Frederic the Great used to conciliate his terrible fa-
ther. As between the Macaulays, these little filial attentions
acquire a certain gracefulness from the fact that, in the cir-
cumstances of the family, they could be prompted by no oth->
er motive than a dutiful and disinterested affection. k »-»
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 133
It must not be supposed — no one who examines the dates
of his successive essays will for a moment suppose — that his
attention was distracted or his energy dissipated by trifles.
Besides the finished study of Machiavelli, and the masterly
sketch of our great civil troubles known as the article on " Hal-
lam's Constitutional History," he produced much that his ma-
ture judgment would willingly have allowed to die, but which
had plenty of life in it when it first appeared between the blue
and yellow covers. His most formidable enterprise during
the five earliest years of his connection with the great Review
was that passage of arms against the champions of the Utili-
tarian philosophy in which he touched the mighty shields of
James Mill and Jeremy Bentham, and rode slashing to right
and left through the ranks of their less distinguished follow-
ers. Indeed, while he sincerely admired the chiefs of the
school, he had a young man's prejudice against their disciples,
many of whom he regarded as " persons who, having read lit-
tle or nothing, are delighted to be rescued from the sense of
their own inferiority by some teacher who assures them that
the studies which they have neglected are of no value, puts
five or six phrases into their mouths, lends them an odd num-
ber of the Westminster Review, and in a month transforms
them into philosophers." It must be allowed that there was
some color for his opinion. The Benthamite training may
have stimulated the finer intellects (and they were not few)
which came within its influence ; but it is impossible to con-
ceive any thing more dreary than must have been the condi-
tion of a shallow mind, with a native predisposition to sciol-
ism, after its owner had joined a society " composed of young
men agreeing in fundamental principles, acknowledging Util-
ity as their standard in ethics and politics," " meeting once a
fortnight to read essays and discuss questions conformably to
the premises thus agreed on," and " expecting the regeneration
of mankind, not from any direct action on the sentiments of
unselfish benevolence and love of justice, but from the effect
of educated intellect enlightening the selfish feelings." John
Stuart Mill, with that candor which is the rarest of his great
qualities, gave a generous and authoritative testimony to the
134 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. ra.
merit of these attacks upon his father and his father's creed
which Macaulay himself lived to wish that he had left un-
written.
He was already famous enough to have incurred the inevi-
table penalty of success in the shape of the pronounced hostil-
ity of Blackwood '« Magazine. The feelings which the lead-
ing contributors to that periodical habitually entertained to-
ward a young and promising writer were in his case sharpened
by political partisanship ; and the just and measured severity
which he infused into his criticism on Southey's " Colloquies
of Society " brought down upon him the bludgeon to whose
strokes poetic tradition has attributed the death of Keats.
Macaulay was made of harder stuff, and gave little heed to
a string of unsavory invectives compounded out of such epi-
thets as " ugly," " splay-footed," and " shapeless ;" such phrases
as "stuff and nonsense," "malignant trash," "impertinent
puppy," and "audacity of impudence;" and other samples
from the polemical vocabulary of the personage who, by the
irony of fate, filled the chair of moral philosophy at Edin-
burgh. The substance of Professor "Wilson's attacks consisted
in little more than the reiteration of that charge of intellectu-
al juvenility which never fails to be employed as the last re-
source against a man whose abilities are undoubted and whose
character is above detraction : a charge which came with an
ill grace from one who, at the age of forty-five, considered the
production of twenty columns a month of Bacchanalian gos-
sip a worthy and becoming occupation for his own powers.
" North. He's a clever lad, James.
" Shepherd. Evidently ; and a clever lad he'll remain, de-
pend ye upon that, a' the days of his life. A clever lad thir-
ty years auld and some odds is to ma mind the maist melan-
choly sight in nature. Only think of a clever lad o' three-
score and ten, on his death -bed, wha can look back on nae
greater achievement than haeing aince, or aiblins ten times,
abused Mr. Southey in the Embrtf Review"
The prophecies of jealousy seldom come true. Southey's
book died before its author : with the exception of the pas-
sages extracted by Macaulay, which have been reproduced in
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 135
his essay a hundred times and more for once that they were
printed in the volumes from which he selected them for his
animadversion.
The chambers in which he ought to have been spending his
days, and did actually spend his nights, between the years 1829
and 1834, were within five minutes' walk of the house in
Great Ormond Street. The building of which those cham-
bers f oraied a part, 8 South Square, Gray's Inn, has since been
pulled down to make room for an extension of the library ; a
purpose which, in Macaulay's eyes, would amply compensate
for the loss of such associations as might otherwise have at-
tached themselves to the locality. His Trinity fellowship*
brought him in nearly three hundred pounds annually, and
the Edinburgh Review almost as much again. In January,
1828, during the interregnum that separated the resignation
of Lord Goderich and the acceptance of the premiership by
the Duke of "Wellington, Lord Lyndhurst made him a com-
missioner of bankruptcy : a rare piece of luck at a time when,
as Lord Cockburn tells us, " a youth of a Tory family, who
was discovered to have a leaning toward the doctrines of the
opposition, was considered as a lost son." " The commission
is welcome," Macaulay writes to his father, " and I am partic-
ularly glad that it has been given at a time when there is no
ministry, and when the acceptance of it implies no political
obligation. To Lord Lyndhurst I, of course, feel personal
gratitude, and I shall always take care how I speak of him."
The emoluments of the office made up his income, for the
three or four years during which he held it, to about a thou-
sand pounds per annum. His means were more than suf-
ficient for his wants, but too small and far too precarious for
the furtherance of the political aspirations which now were
uppermost in his mind. " Public affairs," writes Lady Tre-
velyan, " were become intensely interesting to him. Can-
ning's accession to power, then his death, the repeal of the
Test Act, the emancipation of the Catholics, all in their turn
filled his heart and soul. He himself longed to be taking his
part in Parliament, but with a very hopeless longing.
" In February, 1830, 1 was staying at Mr. "Wilberforce's, at
136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. m.
Highwood Hill, when I got a letter from your uncle, inclosing
one from Lord Lansdowne, who told him that he had been
much struck by the articles on Mill, and that he wished to be
the means of first introducing their author to public life by
proposing to him to stand for the vacant seat at Calne. Lord
Lansdowne expressly added that it was your uncle's high mor-
al and private character which had determined him to make
the offer, and that he wished in no respect to influence his
votes, but to leave him quite at liberty to act according to his
conscience. I remember flying into Mr. Wilberf orce's study,
and, absolutely speechless, putting the letter into his hands.
'He read it with much emotion, and returned it to me, saying,
* Your father has had great trials, obloquy, bad health, many
anxieties. One must feel as if Tom were given him for a
recompense.' He was silent for a moment, and then his mo-
bile face lighted up, and he clapped his hand to his ear, and
cried, 'Ah ! I hear that shout again. Hear ! hear ! What a
life it was !' "
And so, on the eve of the most momentous conflict that ever
was fought out by speech and vote within the walls of a sen-
ate - house, the young recruit went gayly to his post in the
ranks of that party whose coming fortunes he was prepared
loyally to follow, and the history of whose past he was des-
tined eloquently, and perhaps imperishably, to record.
York, April 2d, 1826.
MY DEAR FATHER, — I am sorry that I have been unable to
avail myself of the letters of introduction which you forward-
ed to me. Since I received them I have been confined to the
house with a cold ; and, now that I am pretty well recovered,
I must take my departure for Pontefract. But if it had been
otherwise, I could not have presented these recommendations.
Letters of this sort may be of great service to a barrister, but
the barrister himself must not be the bearer of them. On
this subject the rule is most strict, at least on our circuit. The
hugging of the Bar, like the simony of the Church, must be
altogether carried on by the intervention of third persons.
We are sensible of our dependence on the attorneys, and pro-
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 137
portioned to that sense of dependence is our affectation of su-
periority. Even to take a meal with an attorney is a high
misdemeanor. One of the most eminent men among us
brought himself into a serious scrape by doing so. But to
carry a letter of introduction, to wait in the outer room while
it is being read, to be then ushered into the presence, to re-
ceive courtesies which can only be considered as the conde-
scensions of a patron, to return courtesies which are little else
than the blessings of a beggar, would be an infinitely more
terrible violation of our professional code. Every barrister to
whom I have applied for advice has most earnestly exhorted
me on no account whatever to present the letters myself. I
should perhaps add that my advisers have been persons who
can not by any possibility feel jealous of me.
In default of any thing better, I will eke out my paper with
some lines which I made in bed last night — an inscription for
a picture of Voltaire.
If thou would'st view one more than man and less,
Made up of mean and great, of foul and fair,
Stop here ; and weep and laugh, and curse and bless,
And spurn and worship ; for thou seest Voltaire.
That flashing eye blasted the conqueror's spear,
The monarch's sceptre, and the Jesuit's beads ;
And every wrinkle in that haggard sneer '
Hath been the grave of Dynasties and Creeds.
In very wantonness of childish mirth
He puffed Bastilles, and thrones, and shrines away,
Insulted Heaven, and liberated earth.
Was it for good or evil ? Who shall say ?
Ever affectionately yours, T. B. M.
York, July 21st, 1826.
MY DEAR FATHER, — The other day as I was changing my
neckcloth which my wig had disfigured, my good landlady
knocked at the door of my bedroom, and told me that Mr.
Smith wished to see me, and was in my room below. Of all
names by which men are called, there is none which con-
138 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
veys a less determinate idea to the mind than that of Smith.
Was he on the circuit ? For I do not know half the names
of my companions. Was he a special messenger from Lon-
don? Was he a York attorney coming to be preyed upon,
or a beggar coming to prey upon me; a barber to solicit
the dressing of my wig, or a collector for the Jews' Society ?
Down I went, and, to my utter amazement, beheld the Smith
of Smiths, Sydney Smith, alias Peter Plymley. I had forgot-
ten his very existence till I discerned the queer contrast be-
tween his black coat and his snow-white head, and the equally
curious contrast between the clerical amplitude of his person
and the most unclerical wit, whim, and petulance of his eye.
I shook hands with him very heartily ; and on the Catholic
question we immediately fell, regretted Evans,* triumphed
over Lord George Beresf ord, and abused the bishops. He then
very kindly urged me to spend the time between the close
of the Assizes and the commencement of the Sessions at his
house ; and was so hospitably pressing that I at last agreed to
go thither on Saturday afternoon. He is to drive me over
again into York on Monday morning. I am very well pleased
at having this opportunity of becoming better acquainted with
a man who, in spite of innumerable affectations and oddities,
is certainly one of the wittiest and most original writers of
our times. Ever yours affectionately, T. B. M.
Bradford, July 2Gth, 1826.
MY DEAR FATHER, — On Saturday I went to Sydney Smith's.
His parish lies three or four miles out of any frequented road.
He is, however, most pleasantly situated. "Fifteen years
ago," said he to me, as I alighted at the gate of his shrubbery,
" I was taken up in Piccadilly and set down here. There
was no house, and no garden ; nothing but a bare field." One
service this eccentric divine has certainly rendered to the
Church — he has built the very neatest, most commodious, and
most appropriate rectory that I ever saw. All its decorations
* These allusions refer to the general election which had recently taken
place.
1824-'30.] LOKD MACAULAY. 139
are in a peculiarly clerical style, grave, simple, and Gothic.
The bed-chambers are excellent, and excellently fitted up ; the
sitting-rooms handsome ; and the grounds sufficiently pretty.
Tindal and Parke (not the judge, of course), two of the best
lawyers, best scholars, and best men in England, were there.
We passed an extremely pleasant evening, had a very good
dinner, and many amusing anecdotes.
After breakfast the next morning, I walked to church with
Sydney Smith. The edifice is not at all in keeping with the
rectory. It is a miserable little hovel, with a wooden bel-
fry. It was, however, well filled, and with decent people, who
seemed to take very much to their pastor. I understand that
he is a very respectable apothecary ; and most liberal of his
skill, his medicine, his soup, and his wine among the sick.
He preached a very queer sermon — the former half too famil-
iar, and the latter half too florid, but not without some inge-
nuity of thought and expression.
Sydney Smith brought me to York on Monday morning,
in time for the stage-coach which runs to Skipton. We part-
ed with many assurances of good- will. I have really taken a
great liking to him. He is full of wit, humor, and shrewd-
ness. He is not one of those show -talkers who reserve all
their good things for special occasions. It seems to be his
greatest luxury to keep his wife and daughters laughing for
two or three hours every day. His notions of law, govern-
ment, and trade are surprisingly clear and just. His misfor-
tune is to have chosen a profession at once above him and be-
low him. Zeal would have made him a prodigy ; formality
and bigotry would have made him a bishop; but he could
neither rise to the duties of his order, nor stoop to its degra-
dations.
He praised my articles in the Edinburgh Review with a
warmth which I am willing to believe sincere, because he
qualified his compliments with several very sensible cautions.
My great danger, he said, was that of taking a tone of too
much asperity and contempt in controversy. I believe that
he is right, and I shall try to mend.'
Ever affectionately yours, T. B. M.
140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
Lancaster, September 1st, 1827.
MY DEAR FATHER, — Thank Hannah from me for her pleas-
ant letter. I would answer it if I had any thing equally
amusing to say in return ; but here we have no news, except
what comes from London, and is as stale as inland fish before
it reaches us. We have circuit anecdotes, to be sure ; and
perhaps you will be pleased to hear that Brougham has been
rising through the whole of this struggle. At York, Pollock
decidedly took the lead. At Durham, Brougham overtook
him, passed him at Newcastle, and got immensely ahead of
him at Carlisle and Appleby, which, to be sure, are the places
where his own connections lie. We have not been here quite
long enough to determine how he will succeed with the Lan-
castrians. This has always hitherto been his least favorable
place. He appears to improve in industry and prudence. He
learns his story more thoroughly, and tells it more clearly
than formerly. If he continues to manage causes as well as
he has done of late, he must rise to the summit of the profes-
sion. I can not say quite so much for his temper, which this
close and constant rivalry does not improve. He squabbles
with Pollock more than, in generosity or policy, he ought to
do. I have heard several of our younger men wondering that
he does not show more magnanimity. He yawns while Pol-
lock is speaking — a sign of weariness which, in their present
relation to each other, he would do well to suppress. He has
said some very good, but very bitter, things. There was a
case of a lead -mine. Pollock was for the proprietors, and
complained bitterly of the encroachments which Brougham's
clients had made upon this property, which he represented as
of immense value. Brougham said that the estimate which
his learned friend formed of the property was vastly exagger-
ated, but that it was no wonder that a person who found it so
easy to get gold for his lead should appreciate that heavy
metal so highly. The other day Pollock laid down a point
of law rather dogmatically. " Mr. Pollock," said Brougham,
"perhaps, before you rule the point, you will suffer his lord-
ship to submit a few observations on it to your considera-
tion."
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 141
I received the Edinburgh paper which you sent me. Silly
and spiteful as it is, there is a little truth in it. In such cases
I always remember those excellent lines of Boileau :
Moi, qu'une humeur trop libre, un esprit peu sounds,
De bonne heure a pourvu d'utiles ennemis,
Je dois plus a leur baine (il faut que je 1'avoue)
Qu'au faible et vain talent dont la France me loue.
8it6t que sur un vice ils pensent me confondre,
C'est en me guerissant que je sais leur re'pondre.
This place disagrees so much with me that I shall leave it
as soon as the dispersion of the circuit commences — that is,
after the delivery of the last batch of briefs ; always suppos-
ing, which may be supposed without much risk of mistake,
that there are none for me.
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. M.
It was about this period that the Cambridge Senate came
to a resolution to petition against the Catholic Claims. The
minority demanded a poll, and conveyed a hint to their friends
in London. Macaulay, with one or two more to help him,
beat up the Inns of Court for recruits, chartered a stage-coach,
packed it inside and out with young Whig masters of arts,
and drove up King's Parade just in time to turn the scale in
favor of Emancipation. The whole party dined in triumph
at Trinity, and got back to town the same evening ; and the
Tory journalists were emphatic in their indignation at the
deliberate opinion of the university having been overridden
by a coachf ul of " godless and briefless barristers."
Court-house, Pomfret, April 15th, 1828.
MY DEAR MOTHER, — I address this epistle to you as the
least undeserving of a very undeserving family. You, I think,
have sent me one letter since I left London. I have nothing
here to do but to write letters ; and, what is not very often
the case, I have members of Parliament in abundance to frank
them, and abundance of matter to fill them with. My Edin-
burgh expedition has given me so much to say that, unless I
write off some of it before I come home, I shall talk you all
142 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
to death, and be voted a bore in every house which I visit. I
will commence with Jeffrey himself. I had almost forgotten
his person ; and, indeed, I should not wonder if even now I
were to forget it again. He has twenty faces, almost as un-
like each other as my father's to Mr. Wilberforce's, and infi-
nitely more unlike to each other than those of near relatives
often are ; infinitely more unlike, for example, than those of
the two Grants. When absolutely quiescent, reading a paper,
or hearing a conversation in which he takes no interest, his
countenance shows no indication whatever of intellectual su-
periority of any kind. But as soon as he is interested, and
opens his eyes upon you, the change is like magic. There is
a flash in his glance, a violent" contortion in his frown, an ex-
quisite humor in his sneer, and a sweetness and brilliancy in
his smile, beyond any thing that ever I witnessed. A person
who had seen him in only one state would not know him if he
saw him in another. For he has not, like Brougham, marked
features which in all moods of mind remain unaltered. The
mere outline of his face is insignificant. The expression is
every thing; and such power and variety of expression I
never saw in any human countenance, not even in that of the
most celebrated actors. I can conceive that Garrick may have
been like him. I have seen several pictures of Garrick, none
resembling another, and I have heard Hannah More speak of
the extraordinary variety of countenance by which he was
distinguished, and of the unequaled radiance and penetration
of his eye. The voice and delivery of Jeffrey resemble his
face. He possesses considerable power of mimicry, and rarely
tells a story without imitating several different accents. His
familiar tone, his declamatory tone, and his pathetic tone are
quite different things. Sometimes Scotch predominates in his
pronunciation ; sometimes it is imperceptible. Sometimes his
utterance is snappish and quick to the last degree ; sometimes
it is remarkable for rotundity and mellowness. I can easily
conceive that two people who had seen him on different days
might dispute about him as the travelers in the fable disputed
about the chameleon.
In one thing, as far as I observed, he is always the same ;
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 143
and that is the warmth of his domestic affections. Neither
Mr. Wilberf orce nor my uncle Babington comes up to him in
this respect. The flow of his kindness is quite inexhaustible.
Not five minutes pass without some fond expression or caress-
ing gesture to his wife or his daughter. He has fitted up a
study for himself; but he never goes into it. Law papers,
reviews, whatever he has to write, he writes in the drawing-
room or in his wife's boudoir. When he goes to other parts
of the country on a retainer he takes them in the carriage
with him. I do not wonder that he should be a good hus-
band ; for his wife is a very amiable woman. But I was sur-
prised to see a man so keen and sarcastic, so much of a scoffer,
pouring himself out with such simplicity and tenderness in all
sorts of affectionate nonsense. Through our whole journey to
Perth he kept up a sort of mock quarrel with his daughter;
attacked her about novel-reading, laughed her into a pet, kiss-
ed her out of it, and laughed her into it again. She and her
mother absolutely idolize him, and I do not wonder at it.
His conversation is very much like his countenance and his
voice, of immense variety ; sometimes plain and unpretending
even to flatness ; sometimes whimsically brilliant and rhetor-
ical almost beyond the license of private discourse. He has
many interesting anecdotes, and tells them very well. He is
a shrewd observer ; and so fastidious that I am not surprised
at the awe in which many people seem to stand when in his
company. Though not altogether free from affectation him-
self, he has a peculiar loathing for it in other people, and a
great talent for discovering and exposing it. He has a partic-
ular contempt, in which I most heartily concur with him, for
the fadaises of blue-stocking literature, for the mutual flat-
teries of coteries, the handing about of vers de societe, the al-
bums, the conversaziones, and all the other nauseous trickeries
of the Sewards, Hayleys, and Sothebys- I am not quite sure
that he has escaped the opposite extreme, and that he is not a
little too desirous to appear rather a man of the world, an act-
ive lawyer, or an easy, careless gentleman, than a distinguish-
ed writer. I must own that when Jeffrey and I were by our-
selves, he talked much and very well on literary topics. His
144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. m.
kindness and hospitality to me were, indeed, beyond descrip-
tion ; and his wife was as pleasant and friendly as possible. I
liked every thing but the hours. We were never up till ten,
and never retired till two hours at least after midnight. Jef-
frey, indeed, never goes to bed till sleep comes on him over-
poweringly, and never rises till forced up by business or hun-
ger. He is extremely well in health ; so that I could not help
suspecting him of being very hypochondriac ; for all his late
letters to me have been tilled with lamentations about his va-
rious maladies. His wife told me, when I congratulated her
on his recovery, that I must not absolutely rely on all his ac-
counts of his own diseases. I really think that he is, on the
whole, the youngest-looking man of fifty that I know, at least
when he is animated.
His house is magnificent. It is in Moray Place, the newest
pile of buildings in the town, looking out to the Forth on one
side, and to a green garden on the other. It is really equal
to the houses in Grosvenor Square. Fine, however, as is the
new quarter of Edinburgh, I decidedly prefer the Old Town.
There is nothing like it in the island. You have been there ;
but you have not seen the town: and no lady ever sees a
town. It is only by walking on foot through all corners at
all hours that cities can be really studied to good purpose.
There is a new pillar to the memory of Lord Melville ; very
elegant, and very much better than the man deserved. His
statue is at the top, with a wreath on the head very like a
night-cap drawn over the eyes. It is impossible to look at it
without being reminded of the fate which the original most
richly merited. But my letter will overflow even the ample
limits of a frank, if I do not conclude. I hope that you will
be properly penitent for neglecting such a correspondent when
you receive so long a dispatch written amidst the bellowing of
justices, lawyers, criers, witnesses, prisoners, and prisoners' wives
and mothers. Ever yours affectionately, T. B. M.
Lancaster, March 14th, 1829.
MY DEAR FATHER, — A single line to say that I am at Lan-
caster. Where you all are I have not the very slightest
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 145
notion. Pray let me hear. That dispersion of the Gentiles
which our friends the prophets foretell seems to have com-
menced with our family.
Every thing here is going on in the common routine. The
only things of peculiar interest are those which we get from
the London papers. All minds seem to be perfectly made up
as to the certainty of Catholic Emancipation having come at
last. The feeling of approbation among the barristers is all
but unanimous. The quiet towns-people here, as far as I can
see, are very well contented. As soon as I arrived I was
asked by my landlady how things had gone. I told her the
division, which I had learned from Brougham at Garstang.
She seemed surprised at the majority. I asked her if she was
against the measure. "No; she only wished that all Chris-
tians would live in peace and charity together." A very sen-
sible speech, and better than one at least of the members for
the county ever made in his life.
I implore you above every thing, my dear father, to keep up
your health and spirits. Come what may, the conveniences of
life, independence, our personal respectability, and the exercise
of the intellect and the affections, we are almost certain of re-
taining ; and every thing else is a mere superfluity, to be en-
joyed, but not to be missed. But I ought to be ashamed of
reading you a lecture on qualities which you are so much
more competent to teach than myself.
Ever yours very affectionately, T. B. M.
To Macvey Napier, Esq.
50 Great Ormond Street, London, January 25th, 1830.
MY DEAR SIK, — I send, off by the mail of to-day an article
on Southey — too long, I fear, to meet your wishes, but as
short as I could make it.
There were, by-the-bye, in my last article a few omissions
made, of no great consequence in themselves ; the longest, I
think, a paragraph of twelve or fourteen lines. I should
scarcely have thought this worth mentioning, as it certainly
by no means exceeds the limits of that editorial prerogative
which I most willingly recognize, but that the omissions seem-
YOL. I.— 10
146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. in.
ed to me, and to one or two persons who had seen the article
in its original state, to be made on a principle which, howev-
er sound in itself, does not, I think, apply to compositions of
this description. The passages omitted were the most pointed
and ornamented sentences in the review. Now, for high and
grave works, a history, for example, or a system of political
or moral philosophy, Dr. Johnson's rule — that every sentence
which the writer thinks fine ought to be cut out — is excellent.
But periodical works like ours, which, unless they strike at the
first reading are not likely to strike at all, whose whole life
is a month or two, may, I think, be allowed to be sometimes
even viciously florid. Probably, in estimating the real value
of any tinsel which I may put upon my articles, you and I
should not materially differ. But it is not by his own taste,
but by the taste of the fish, that the angler is determined in
his choice of bait.
Perhaps, after all, I am ascribing to system what is mere ac-
cident. Be assured, at all events, that what I have said is said
in perfect good-humor, and indicates no mutinous disposition.
The Jews are about to petition Parliament for relief from
the absurd restrictions which lie on them — the last relic of the
old system of intolerance. I have been applied to by some of
them, in the name of the managers of the scheme, to write for
them in the Edinburgh Review. I would gladly further a
cause so good, and you, I think, could have no objection.
Ever yours truly, T. B. MACAULAY.
Bowoocl, February 10th, 1830.
MY DEAK FATHER, — I am here in a very nice room, with
perfect liberty, and a splendid library at my command. It
seems to be thought desirable that I should stay in the neigh-
borhood, and pay my compliments to my future constituents
every other day.
The house is splendid and elegant, yet more remarkable for
comfort than for either elegance or splendor. I never saw
any great place so thoroughly desirable for a residence. Lord
Kerry tells me that his uncle left every thing in ruin — trees
cut down, and rooms unfurnished — and sold the library, which
was extremely fine. Every book and picture in Bowood has
1824-'30.] LORD MACAULAY. 14-7
been bought by the present lord, and certainly the collection
does him great honor.
I am glad that I staid here. A burgess of some influence,
who, at the last election, attempted to get up an opposition to
the Lansdowne interest, has just arrived. I called on him this
morning, and, though he was a little ungracious at first, suc-
ceeded in obtaining his promise. Without him, indeed, my
return would have been secure ; but both from motives of in-
terest and from a sense of gratitude I think it best to leave
nothing undone which may tend to keep Lord Lansdowne's in-
fluence here unimpaired against future elections.
Lord Kerry seems to me to be going on well. He has been
in very good condition, he says, this week ; and hopes to be
at the election, and at the subsequent dinner. I do not know
when I have taken so much to so young a man. In general
my intimacies have been with my seniors ; but Lord Kerry is
really quite a favorite of mine — kind, lively, intelligent, mod-
est, with the gentle manners which indicate a long intimacy
with the best society, and yet without the least affectation.
"We have oceans of beer and mountains of potatoes for dinner.
Indeed, Lady Lansdowne drank beer most heartily on the only
day which she passed with us ; and when I told her, laughing,
that she set me at ease on a point which had given me much
trouble, she said that she would never suffer any dandy novel-
ist to rob her of her beer or her cheese.
The question between law and politics is a momentous one.
As far as I am myself concerned, I should not hesitate ; but
the interest of my family is also to be considered. "We shall
see, however, before long, what my chance of success as a pub-
lic man may prove to be. At present it would clearly be
wrong in me to show any disposition to quit my profession.
I hope that you will be on your guard as to what you may
say to Brougham about this business. He is so angry at it
that he can not keep his anger to himself. I know that he
has blamed Lord Lansdowne in the robing-room of the Court
of King's Bench. The seat ought, he says, to have been given
to another man. If he means Denman, I can forgive, and
even respect him, for the feeling which he entertains.
Believe me ever yours most affectionately, T. B. M.
148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
CHAPTER IT.
1830-1832.
State of Public Affairs when Macaulay entered Parliament. — His Maiden
Speech. — The French Revolution of July, 1830. — Macaulay's Letters
from Paris. — The Palais Royal. — Lafayette. — Lardner's Cabinet "Cy-
clopedia."— The New Parliament Meets. — Fall of the Duke of Welling-
ton.— Scene with Croker. — The Reform Bill. — Political Success. — House
of Commons Life. — Macaulay's Party Spirit. — London Society. — Mr.
Thomas Flower Ellis. — Visit to Cambridge. — Rothley Temple. — Mar-
garet Macaulay's Journal. — Lord Brougham. — Hopes of Office. — Mac-
aulay as a Politician. — Letters to Lady Trevelyan, Mr. Napier, and Mr.
Ellis.
THEOUGHOUT the last two centuries of our history there
never was a period when a man conscious of power, impatient
of public wrongs, and still young enough to love a fight for
its own sake, could have entered Parliament with a fairer
prospect of leading a life worth living, and doing work that
would requite the pains, than at the commencement of the
year 1830.
In these volumes, which only touch politics in order to
show to what extent Macaulay was a politician, and for how
long, controversies can not appropriately be started or revived.
This is not the place to enter into a discussion on the vexed
question as to whether Mr. Pitt and his successors, in pursu-
ing their system of repression, were justified by the neces-
sities of the long French war. . It is enough to assert, what
few or none will deny, that, for the space of more than a gen-
eration from 1790 onward, our country had, with a short in-
terval, been governed on declared reactionary principles. We
in whose days Whigs and Tories have often exchanged office,
and still more often interchanged policies, find it difficult to
imagine what must have been the condition of the kingdom
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 149
when one and the same party almost continuously held not
only place, but power, over a period when to an unexampled
degree " public life was exasperated by hatred, and the char-
ities of private life soured by political aversion." Fear, re-
ligion, ambition, and self-interest — every thing that could
tempt and every thing that could deter — were enlisted on the
side of the dominant opinions. To profess Liberal views was
to be hopelessly excluded from all posts of emolument, from
all functions of dignity, from the opportunities of business,
from the amenities of society. Quiet tradesmen, who vent-
ured to maintain that there was something in Jacobinism be-
sides the guillotine, soon found their town or village too hot
to hold them, and were glad to place the Atlantic between
themselves and their neighbors. Clergymen suspected of
thinking that in the " Vindiciae Gallicae " Mackintosh had got
the better of Burke, were ousted from their college fellow-
ships as atheists, or left to starve without a curacy as radicals.
Political animosity and political favoritism made themselves
felt in departments of life which had hitherto been free from
their encroachments. Whig merchants had a difficulty in
getting money for their paper, and Whig barristers in obtain-
ing acceptance for their arguments. Whig statesmen, while
enjoying that security for life and liberty which even in the
worst days of our recent history has been the reward of em-
inence, were powerless in the Commons and isolated in the
Lords. No motive but disinterested conviction kept a hand-
ful of veterans steadfast round a banner which was never
raised except to be swept contemptuously down by the disci-
plined and overwhelming strength of the ministerial phalanx.
Argument and oratory were alike unavailing under a con-
stitution which was, indeed, a despotism of privilege. The
county representation of England was an anomaly, and the
borough representation little better than a scandal. The con-
stituencies of Scotland, with so much else that of right be-
longed to the public, had got into Dundas's pocket. In the
year 1820 all the towns north of Tweed together contained
fewer voters than are now on the rolls of the single burgh of
Hawick, and all the counties together contained fewer voters
150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
than are now on the register of Roxburghshire. So small a
band of electors was easily manipulated by a party leader who
had the patronage of India at his command. The three pres-
idencies were flooded with the sons and nephews of men who
were lucky enough to have a seat in a town-council or a su-
periority in a rural district ; and fortunate it was for our em-
pire that the responsibilities of that noblest of all careers soon
educated young civil servants into something higher than
mere adherents of a political party.
While the will of the nation was paralyzed within the sen-
ate, effectual care was taken that its voice should not be heard
without. The press was gagged in England, and throttled
in Scotland. Every speech, or sermon, or pamphlet, the sub-
stance of which a crown lawyer could torture into a sem-
blance of sedition, sent its author to the jail, the hulks, or the
pillory. In any place of resort where an informer could pene-
trate, men spoke their minds at imminent hazard of ruinous
fines and protracted imprisonment. It was vain to appeal to
Parliament for redress against the tyranny of packed juries
and panic-driven magistrates. Sheridan endeavored to retain
for his countrymen the protection of Habeas Corpus, but he
could only muster forty -one supporters. Exactly as many
members followed Fox into the Ipbby when he opposed a bill
which, interpreted in the spirit that then actuated our tribu-
nals, made attendance at an open meeting summoned for the
consideration of Parliamentary Eef orm a service as dangerous
as night - poaching and far more dangerous than smuggling.
Only ten more than that number ventured to protest against
the introduction of a measure, still more inquisitorial in its
provisions and ruthless in its penalties, which rendered every
citizen who gave his attention to the removal of public griev-
ances liable at any moment to find himself in the position of
a criminal — that very measure in behalf of which Bishop
Horsley had stated in the House of Peers that he did not
know what the mass of the people of any country had to do
with the laws except to obey them.
Amidst a population which had once known freedom, and
was still fit to be intrusted with it, such a state of matters
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 151
could not last forever. Justly proud of the immense success
that they had bought by their resolution, their energy, and
their perseverance, the ministers regarded the fall of Napo-
leon as a party triumph which could only serve to confirm
their power. But the last cannon-shot that was fired on the
18th of June, 1815, was in truth the death-knell of the Golden
Age of Toryism. When the passion and ardor of the war
gave place to the discontent engendered by a protracted pe-
riod of commercial distress, the opponents of progress began
to perceive that they had to reckon, not with a small and dis-
heartened faction, but with a clear majority of the nation led
by the most enlightened and the most eminent of its sons.
Agitators and incendiaries retired into the background, as will
always be the case when the country is in earnest ; and states-
men who had much to lose, but were not afraid to risk it,
stepped quietly and firmly to the front. The men, and the
sons of the men, who had so long endured exclusion from
office imbittered by unpopularity, at length reaped their re-
ward. Earl Grey, who forty years before had been hooted
through the streets of North Shields with cries of " No Po-
pery," lived to bear the most respected name in England;
and Brougham, whose opinions differed little from those for
expressing which Dr. Priestley, in 1791, had his house burned
about his ears by the Birmingham mob, was now the popular
idol beyond all comparison or competition.
In the face of such unanimity of purpose, guided by so
much worth and talent, the ministers lost their nerve, and, like
all rulers who do not possess the confidence of the governed,
began first to make mistakes and then to quarrel among them-
selves. Throughout the years of Macaulay's early manhood
the ice was breaking fast. He was still quite young when the
concession of Catholic emancipation* gave a moral shock to
* Macaulay was fond of repeating an answer made to him by Lord Clar-
endon in the year 1829. The young men were talking over the situa-
tion, and Macaulay expressed curiosity as to the terms in which the Duke
of Wellington would recommend the Catholic Relief Bill to the Peers.
" Oh," said the other, " it will be easy enough. He'll say, ' My lords, at-
tention ! Right about face ! March!' "
152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
the Tory party from which it never recovered until the old
order of things had finally passed away. It was his fortune
to enter into other men's labors after the burden and heat of
the day had already been borne, and to be summoned into the
field just as the season was at hand for gathering in a ripe and
long-expected harvest of beneficent legislation.
On the 5th of April, 1830, he addressed the House of Com-
mons on the second reading of Mr. Robert Grant's bill for
the removal of Jewish disabilities. Sir James Mackintosh rose
with him, but Macaulay got the advantage of the preference
that has always been conceded to one who speaks for the first
time after gaining his seat during the continuance of a Parlia-
ment— a privilege which, by a stretch of generosity, is now ex-
tended to new members who have been returned at a general
election. Sir James subsequently took part in the debate;
not, as he carefully assured his audience, " to supply any de-
fects in the speech of his honorable friend, for there were
none that he could find, but principally to absolve his own
conscience." Indeed, Macaulay, addressing himself to his task
with an absence of pretension such as never fails to conciliate
the good- will of the House toward a maiden speech, put clear-
ly and concisely enough the arguments in favor of the bill —
arguments which, obvious and almost commonplace as they
appear under this straightforward treatment, had yet to be re-
peated during a space of six-and-thirty years before they com-
mended themselves to the judgment of our Upper Chamber.
" The power of which you deprive the Jew consists in maces,
and gold chains, and skins of parchment with pieces of wax
dangling from their edges. The power which you leave the
Jew is the power of principal over clerk, of master over serv-
ant, of landlord over tenant. As things now stand, a Jew
may be the richest man in England. He may possess the
means of raising this party and depressing that ; of making
East Indian directors ; of making members of Parliament.
The influence of a Jew may be of the first consequence in a
war which shakes Europe to the centre. His power may come
into play in assisting or thwarting the greatest plans of the
greatest princes; and yet, with all this confessed, ackuowl-
183Q-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 153
edged, undenied, you would have him deprived of power!
Does not wealth confer power ? How are we to permit all the
consequences of that wealth but one ? I can not conceive the
nature of an argument that is to bear out such a position. If
we were to be called on to revert to the day when the ware-
houses of Jews were torn down and pillaged, the theory would
be comprehensible. But we have to do with a persecution so
delicate that there is no abstract rule for its guidance. You
tell us that the Jews have no legal right to power, and I am
bound to admit it ; but in the same way, three hundred years
ago they had no legal right to be in England, and six hundred
years ago they had no legal right to the teeth in their heads.
But, if it is the moral right we are to look at, I hold that on
every principle of moral obligation the Jew has a right to po-
litical power."
He was on his legs once again, and once only, during his
first session ; doing more for future success in Parliament by
his silence than he could have effected by half a dozen brill-
iant perorations. A crisis was rapidly approaching when a
man gifted with eloquence, who by previous self-restraint had
convinced the House that he did not speak for speaking's
sake, might rise almost in a day to the very summit of influ-
ence and ^reputation. The country was under the personal
rule of the Duke of Wellington, who had gradually squeezed
out of his Cabinet every vestige of Liberalism and even of in-
dependence, and who at last stood so completely alone that he
was generally supposed to be in more intimate communica-
tion with Prince Polignac than with any of his own colleagues.
The duke had his own way in the Lords ; and on the benches
of the Commons the Opposition members were unable to car-
ry, or even visibly to improve their prospect of carrying, the
measures on which their hearts were set. The Reformers
were not doing better in the division lobby than in 1821, and
their question showed no signs of having advanced since the
day when it had been thrown over by Pitt on the eve of the
French Revolution.
But the outward aspect of the situation was very far from
answering to the reality. "While the leaders of the popular
154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
party had been spending themselves in efforts that seemed
each more abortive than the last — dividing only to be enor-
mously outvoted, and vindicating with calmness and modera-
tion the first principles of constitutional government only to
be stigmatized as the apostles of anarchy — a mighty change
was surely but imperceptibly effecting itself in the collective
mind of their fellow-countrymen.
For, while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
Events were at hand which unmistakably showed how dif-
ferent was the England of 1830 from the England of 1790.
The king died; Parliament was dissolved on the 24th of
July ; and in the first excitement and bustle of the elections,
while the candidates were still on the road and the writs in
the mail -bag, came the news that Paris was in arms. The
troops fought as well as Frenchmen ever can be got to fight
against the tricolor ; but by the evening of the 29th it was all
over with the Bourbons. The minister whose friendship had
reflected such unpopularity on our own premier succumbed to
the detestation of the victorious people, and his sacrifice did
not save the dynasty. What was passing among our neigh-
bors for once created sympathy, and not repulsion, on this side
the Channel. One French revolution had condemned En-
glish Liberalism to forty years of subjection, and another was
to be the signal which launched it on as long a career of su-
premacy. Most men said, and all felt, that Wellington must
follow Polignac ; and the public temper was such as made it
well for the stability of our throne that it was filled by a mon-
arch who had attracted to himself the hopes and affection of
the nation, and who shared its preferences and antipathies
with regard to the leading statesmen of the day.
One result of political disturbance in any quarter of the
globe is to fill the scene of action with young members of
Parliament, who follow revolutions about Europe as assidu-
ously as Jew brokers attend upon the movements of an invad-
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 155
ing army. Macaulay, whose re-election for Calne had been a
thing of course, posted off to Paris at the end of August, jour-
neying by Dieppe and Rouen, and eagerly enjoying a first
taste of continental travel. His letters during the tour were
such as, previously to the age of railroads, brothers who had
not been abroad before used to write for the edification of sis-
ters who expected never to go abroad at all. He describes in
minute detail manners and institutions that to us are no long-
er novelties, and monuments which an educated Englishman
of our time knows as well as Westminster Abbey, and a great
deal better than the Tower. Every thing that he saw, heard,
eat, drank, paid, and suffered, was noted down in his exuber-
ant diction to be read aloud and commented on over the
breakfast-table in Great Ormond Street.
"At Rouen I was struck by the union of venerable antiq-
uity with extreme liveliness and gayety. We have nothing
of the sort in England. Till the time of James the First, I
imagine, our houses were almost all of wood, and have, in
consequence, disappeared. In York there are some very old
streets ; but they are abandoned to the lowest people, and the
gay shops are in the newly built quarter of the town. In
London, what with the fire of 1666, and what with the nat-
ural progress of demolition and rebuilding, I doubt whether
there are fifty houses that date from the Reformation. But
in Rouen you have street after street of lofty, stern-looking
masses of stone, with Gothic carvings. The buildings are so
high, and the ways so narrow, that the sun can scarcely reach
the pavements. Yet in these streets, monastic in their aspect,
you have all the glitter of Regent Street or the Burlington
Arcade. Rugged and dark above, below they are a blaze of
ribbons, gowns, watches, trinkets, artificial flowers ; grapes,
melons, and peaches such as Covent Garden does not furnish,
filling the windows of the fruiterers ; showy women swim-
ming smoothly over the uneasy stones, and stared at by na-
tional guards swaggering by in full uniform. It is the Soho
Bazaar transplanted into the gloomy cloisters of Oxford."
He writes to a friend just before he started on his tour :
" There is much that I am impatient to see, but two things
156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
specially — the Palais Royal, and the man who called me the
Aristarchus of Edinburgh." Who this person might be, and
whether Macaulay succeeded in meeting him, are questions
which his letters leave unsolved; but he must have been a
constant visitor at the Palais Royal if the hours that he spent
in it bore any relation to the number of pages which it occu-
pies in his correspondence. The place was indeed well worth
a careful study ; for in 1830 it was not the orderly and decent
bazaar of the Second Empire, but was still that compound of
Parnassus and Bohemia which is painted in vivid colors in the
"Grand Homme de Provence" of Balzac — still the paradise
of such ineffable rascals as Diderot has drawn, with terrible
fidelity, in his " Neveu de Rameau."
" If I were to select the spot in all the earth in which the
good and evil of civilization are most strikingly exhibited, in
which the arts of life are carried to the highest perfection, and
in which all pleasures, high and low, intellectual and sensual,
are collected in the smallest space, I should certainly choose
the Palais Royal. It is the Covent Garden Piazza, the Pater-
noster Row, the Vauxhall, the Albion Tavern, the Burlington
Arcade, the Crockford's, the Finish, the Athenaeum of Paris,
all in one. Even now, when the first dazzling effect has pass-
ed off, I never traverse it without feeling bewildered by its
magnificent variety. As a great capital is a country in minia-
ture, so the Palais Royal is a capital in miniature — an abstract
and epitome of a vast community, exhibiting at a glance the
politeness which adorns its higher ranks, the coarseness of its
populace, and the vices and the misery which lie underneath
its brilliant exterior. Every thing is there, and every body.
Statesmen, wits, philosophers, beauties, dandies, blacklegs, ad-
venturers, artists, idlers, the king and his court, beggars with
matches crying for charity, wretched creatures dying of dis-
ease and want in garrets. There is no condition of life which
is not to be found in this gorgeous and fantastic fairy-land."
He had excellent opportunities for seeing behind the scenes
during the closing acts of . the great drama that was being
played out through those summer months. The Due de
Broglie, then prime minister, treated him with marked atten-
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 157
tion both as an Englishman of distinction and as his father's
son. He was much in the Chamber of Deputies, and witness-
ed that strange and pathetic historical revival when, after an
interval of forty such years as mankind had never known be-
fore, the aged La Fayette again stood forth in the character of
a disinterested dictator between the hostile classes of his fel-
low-countrymen.
" De La Fayette is so overwhelmed with work that I scarce-
ly knew how to deliver even Brougham's letter, which was a
letter of business, and should have thought it absurd to send
him Mackintosh's, which was a mere letter of introduction. I
fell in with an English acquaintance who told me that he had
an appointment with La Fayette, and who undertook to deliv-
er them both. I accepted his offer, for if I had left them
with the porter, ten to one they would never have been open-
ed. I hear that hundreds of letters are lying in the lodge of
the hotel. Every Wednesday morning, from nine to eleven,
La Fayette gives audience to any body who wishes to speak
with him ; but about ten thousand people attend on these oc-
casions, and fill not only the house, but all the court-yard and
half the street. La Fayette is commander-in-chief of the Na-
tional Guard of France. The number of these troops in Paris
alone is upward of forty thousand. The Government finds a
musket and bayonet ; but the uniform, which costs about ten
napoleons, the soldiers provide themselves. All the shop-
keepers are enrolled, and I can not sufficiently admire their
patriotism. My landlord, Meurice, a man who, I suppose, has
realized a million francs or more, is up one night in four with
his firelock, doing the duty of a common watchman.
" There is, however, something to be said as an explanation
of the zeal with which the bourgeoisie give their time and
money to the public. The army received so painful a humili-
ation in the battles of July that it is by no means inclined to
serve the new system faithfully. The rabble behaved nobly
during the conflict, and have since shown rare humanity and
moderation. Yet those who remember the former Revolution
feel an extreme dread of the ascendency of mere multitude ;
and there have been signs, trifling in themselves, but such
158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
as may naturally alarm people of property. Workmen have
struck. Machinery has been attacked. Inflammatory hand-
bills have appeared upon the walls. At present all is quiet ;
but the thing may happen, particularly if Polignac and Pey-
ronnet should not be put to death. The Peers wish to save
them. The lower orders, who have had five or six thousand
of their friends and kinsmen butchered by the frantic wicked-
ness of these men, will hardly submit. ' Eh ! eh !' said a fierce
old soldier of Napoleon to me the other day. ' L'on dit qu'ils
seront de'porte's ; mais ne m'en parle pas. Non ! non ! Cou-
pez leur le cou. Sacre" ! Qa ne passera pas comnie ca.'
"This long political digression will explain to you why
Monsieur de La Fayette is so busy. He has more to do than
all the ministers together. However, my letters were pre-
sented, and he said to my friend that he had a soiree every
Tuesday, and should be most happy to see me there. I drove
to his house yesterday night. Of the interest which the com-
mon Parisians take in politics you may judge by this : I told
my driver to wait for me, and asked his number. 'Ah ! mon-
sieur, c'est un beau numero. C'est un brave numero. C'est
221.' You may remember that the number of Deputies who
voted the intrepid address to Charles the Tenth which irrita-
ted him into his absurd coup d'etat was 221. I walked into
the hotel through a crowd of uniforms, and found the re-
ception-rooms as full as they could hold. I was not able to
make my way to La Fayette, but I was glad to see him. He
looks like the brave, honest, simple, good-natured man that
he is."
Besides what is quoted above, there is very little of general
interest in these journal letters ; and their publication would
serve no purpose except that of informing the present leader
of the monarchists what his father had for breakfast and
dinner during a week of 1830, and of enabling him to trace
changes in the disposition of the furniture of the De Broglie
Hotel. " I believe," writes Macaulay, " that I have given the
inventory of every article in the duke's salon. You will think
that I have some intention of turning upholsterer."
* His thoughts and observations on weightier matters he kept
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 159
for an article on " The State of Parties in France," which he
intended to provide for the October number of the Edinburgh
Review. While he was still at Paris, this arrangement was
rescinded by Mr. Napier, in compliance with the wish, or the
whim, of Brougham ; and Macaulay's surprise and annoyance
vented themselves in a burst of indignant rhetoric* strong
enough to have upset a government. His wrath, or that part
of it, at least, which was directed against the editor, did not
survive an interchange of letters ; and he at once set to work
upon turning his material into the shape of a volume for the
series of Lardner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia," under the title of
" The History of France, from the Restoration of the Bourbons
to the Accession of Louis Philippe." Ten years ago, proofs of
the first eighty -eight pages were found in Messrs. Spottis-
woode's printing-office, with a note on the margin to the effect
that most of the type was broken up before the sheets had
been pulled. The task, as far as it went, was faithfully per-
formed ; but the author soon arrived at the conclusion that he
might find a more profitable investment for his labor. "With
his head full of Reform, Macaulay was loath to spend in epito-
mizing history the time and energy that would be better em-
ployed in helping to make it.
When the new Parliament met on the 26th of October,
it was already evident that the Government was doomed.
Where the elections were open, Reform had carried the day.
Brougham was returned for Yorkshire, a constituency of tried
independence, which before 1832 seldom failed to secure the
triumph of a cause into whose scale it had thrown its enor-
mous weight. The counties had declared for the Whigs by a
majority of eight to five, and the great cities by a majority of
eight to one. Of the close boroughs in Tory hands many
were held by men who had not forgotten Catholic Emancipa-
tion, and who did not mean to pardon their leaders until they
had ceased to be ministers.
In the debate on the Address, the Duke of Wellington ut-
tered his famous declaration that the Legislature possessed,
* Sec, on page 183 the letter to Mr. Napier, of September IGtb, 1831.
160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
and deserved to possess, the full and entire confidence of the
country ; that its existing constitution was not only practical-
ly efficient, but theoretically admirable ; and that if he himself
had to frame a system of representation, he should do his best
to imitate so excellent a model, though he admitted that the
nature of man was incapable at a single effort of attaining to
such mature perfection. His bewildered colleagues could only
assert in excuse that their chief was deaf, and wish that every
body else had been deaf too. The second ministerial feat was
of a piece with the first. Their majesties had accepted an in-
vitation to dine at Guildhall on the 9th of November. The
lord mayor elect informed the Home Office that there was
danger of riot, and the premier (who could not be got to see
that London was not Paris because his own political creed
happened to be much the same as Polignac's) advised the
king to postpone his visit to the City, and actually talked of
putting Lombard Street and Cheapside in military occupation.
Such a step taken at such a time by such a man had its inev-
itable result. Consols, which the duke's speech on the Ad-
dress had brought from 84 to 80, fell to 77 in an hour and a
half : jewelers and silversmiths sent their goods to the banks :
merchants armed their clerks and barricaded their warehouses :
and when the panic subsided, fear only gave place to the
shame and annoyance which a loyal people, whose loyalty was
at that moment more active than ever, experienced from the
reflection that all Europe was discussing the reasons why our
king could not venture to dine in public with the chief mag-
istrate of his own capital. A strong minister, who sends the
funds down seven per cent, in as many days, is an anomaly
that no nation will consent to tolerate ; the members of the
Cabinet looked forward with consternation to a scheme of He-
form which, with the approbation of his party, Brougham had
undertaken to introduce on the 15th of November; and when,
within twenty -four hours of the dreaded debate, they were de-
feated on a motion for a committee on the civil list, their re-
lief at having obtained an excuse for retiring at least equaled
that which the country felt at getting rid of them.
Earl Grey came in, saying (and meaning what he said) that
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 161
the principles on which he stood were " amelioration of abuses,
promotion of economy, and the ^ndeavor to preserve peace
consistently with the honor of the country." Brougham, who
was very sore at having been forced to postpone his notice on
Reform on account of the ministerial crisis, had gratuitously
informed the House of Commons on two successive days that
he had no intention of taking office. A week later on, he
accepted the chancellorship with an inconsistency which his
friends readily forgave, for they knew that, when he resolved
to join the Cabinet, he was thinking more of his party than
of himself ; a consideration that naturally enough only sharp-
ened the relish with which his adversaries pounced upon this
first of his innumerable scrapes. When the new writ for
Yorkshire was moved, Croker commented sharply on the po-
sition in which the chancellor was placed, and remarked that
he had often heard Brougham declare that " the characters of
public men formed part of the wealth of England " — a remi-
niscence which was delivered with as much gravity and unc-
tion as if it had been Mackintosh discoursing on Romilly.
Unfortunately for himself, Croker ruined his case by refer-
ring to a private conversation, an error which the House of
Commons always takes at least an evening to forgive; and
Macaulay had his audience with him as he vindicated the ab-
sent orator with a generous warmth which at length carried
him so far that he was interrupted by a call to order from the
chair : " The noble lord had but a few days for deliberation,
and that at a time when great agitation prevailed, and when
the country required a strong and efficient ministry to conduct
the government of the state. At such a period a few days
are as momentous as months would be at another period. It
is not by the clock that we should measure the importance of
the changes that might take place during such an interval. I
owe no allegiance to the noble lord who has been transferred
to another place ; but, as a member of this House, I can not
banish from my memory the extraordinary eloquence of that
noble person within these walls — an eloquence which has left
nothing equal to it behind : and when I behold the departure
of the great man from among us, and when I see the place
YOL. L— 11
162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
in which he sat, and from which he has so often astonished us
by the mighty powers of his mind, occupied this evening by
the honorable member who has commenced this debate, I can
not express the feelings and emotions to which such circum-
stances give rise."
Parliament adjourned over Christmas, and on the 1st of
March, 1831, Lord John Russell introduced the Reform Bill
amidst breathless silence, which was at length broken by peals
of contemptuous laughter from the Opposition benches aS he
read the list of the hundred and ten boroughs which were
condemned to partial or entire disfranchisement. Sir Robert
Inglis led the attack upon a measure that he characterized as
revolution in the guise of a statute. K^ext morning, as Sir
Robert was walking into town over Westminster Bridge, he
told his companion that up to the previous night he had been
very anxious, but that his fears were now at an end, inasmuch
as the shock caused by the extravagance of the ministerial
proposals would infallibly bring the country to its senses. On
the evening of that day Macaulay made the first of his Re-
form speeches. When he sat down, the Speaker sent for him,
and told him that, in all his prolonged experience, he had nev-
er seen the House in such a state of excitement. Even at this
distance of time, it is impossible to read aloud the last thirty
sentences without an emotion which suggests to the mind
what must have been their effect when declaimed by one who
felt every word that he spoke, in the midst of an assembly
agitated by hopes and apprehensions such as living men have
never known or have long forgotten. Sir Thomas Denman,
who rose later on in the discussion, said, with universal accept-
ance, that the orator's words remained tingling in the ears of
all who heard them, and would last in their memories as long
as they had memories to employ. That sense of proprietor-
ship in an effort of genius which the House of Commons is
ever ready to entertain effaced for a while all distinctions of
party. Portions of the speech, said Sir Robert Peel, " were as
beautiful as any thing I have ever heard or read. It remind-
ed one .of the old times." The names of Fox, Burke, and
Canning were during that evening in every body's mouth;
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 163
and Macaulay overheard with delight a knot of old members
illustrating their criticisms by recollections of Lord Plunket.
He had reason to be pleased ; for he had been thought worthy
of the compliment which the judgment of Parliament reserves
for a supreme occasion. In 1866, on the second reading of
the Franchise Bill, when the crowning oration of that mem-
orable debate had come to its close amidst a tempest of ap-
plause, one or two veterans of the lobby, forgetting Macau-
lay on Reform — forgetting, it may be, Mr. Gladstone himself
on the Conservative Budget of 1852 — pronounced, amidst the
willing assent of a younger generation, that there had been
nothing like it since Plunket.
The unequivocal success of the first speech into which he
had thrown his full power decided for some time to come the
tenor of Macaulay's career. During the next three years he
devoted himself to Parliament, rivaling Stanley in debate, and
Hume in the regularity of his attendance. He entered with
zest into the animated and many-sided life of the House of
Commons, of which so few traces can ordinarily be detected
in what goes by the name of political literature. The biogra-
phers of a distinguished statesman too often seem to have for-
gotten that the subject of their labors passed the best part of
his waking hours during the half of every year in a society of
a special and deeply marked character, the leading traits of
which are, at least, as well worth recording as the fashionable
or diplomatic gossip that fills so many volumes of memoirs
and correspondence. Macaulay's letters sufficiently indicate
how thoroughly he enjoyed the ease, the freedom, the hearty
good-fellowship, that reign within the precincts of our nation-
al senate ; and how entirely he recognized that spirit of noble
equality, so prevalent among its members, which takes little
or no account of wealth, or title, or, indeed, of reputation won
in other fields, but which ranks a man according as the value
of his words, and the weight of his influence, bear the test of
a standard which is essentially its own.
In February, 1831, he writes to "Whewell : " I am impatient
for Praed's debut. The House of Commons is a place in
which I would not promise success to any man. I have great
164 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
doubts even about Jeffrey. It is the most peculiar audience
in the world. I should say that a man's being a good writer,
a good orator at the bar, a good mob-orator, or a good orator
in debating clubs, was rather a reason for expecting him to
fail than for expecting him to succeed in the House of Com-
mons. A place where Walpole succeeded and Addison failed ;
where Dundas succeeded and Burke failed ; where Peel now
succeeds and where Mackintosh fails ; where Erskine and Scar-
lett were dinner-bells ; where Lawrence and Jekyll, the two
wittiest men, or nearly so, of their time, were thought bores,
is surely a very strange place. And yet I feel the whole
character of the place growing upon me. I begin to like what
others about me like, and to disapprove what they disapprove.
Canning used to say that the House, as a body, had better
taste than the man of best taste in it, and I am very much in-
clined to think that Canning was right."
The readers of Macaulay's letters will, from time to time,
find reason to wish that the young Whig of 1830 had more
frequently practiced that studied respect for political oppo-
nents which now does so much to correct the intolerance of
party among men who can be adversaries without ceasing to
regard each other as colleagues. But that honorable sentiment
was the growth of later days ; and, at an epoch when the sys-
tem of the past and the system of the future were night after
night in deadly wrestle on the floor of St. Stephen's, the com-
batants were apt to keep their kindliness, and even their court-
esies, for those with whom they stood shoulder to shoulder
in the fray. Politicians, Conservative and Liberal alike, who
were themselves young during the sessions of 1866 and 1867,
and who can recall the sensations evoked by a contest of which
the issues were far less grave and the passions less strong than
of yore, will make allowances for one who, with the imagina-
tion of a poet and the temperament of an orator, at thirty
years old was sent straight into the thickest of the tumult
which then raged round the standard of Reform, and will ex-
cuse him for having borne himself in that battle of giants as a
determined and a fiery partisan.
If to live intensely be to live happily, Macaulay had an en-
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 165
viable lot during those stirring years ; and if the old song-
writers had reason on their side when they celebrated the
charms of a light purse, he certainly possessed that element of
felicity. Among the earliest economical reforms undertaken
by the new Government was a searching revision of our bank-
ruptcy jurisdiction, in the course of which his commissioner-
ship was swept away without leaving him a penny of compen-
sation. " I voted for the Bankruptcy Court Bill," he said, in
answer to an inquisitive constituent. " There were points in
that bill of which I did not approve, and I only refrained from
stating those points because an office of my own was at stake."
"When this source fell dry he was for a while a poor man ; for
a member of Parliament who has others to think of besides
himself is any thing but rich on sixty or seventy pounds a
quarter as the produce of his pen, and a college income which
has only a few more months to run. At a time when his
Parliamentary fame stood at -its highest he was reduced to
sell the gold medals w^hich he had gained at Cambridge ; but
he was never for a moment in debt ; nor did he publish a
line prompted by any lower motive than the inspiration of
his political faith or the instinct of his literary genius. He
had none but pleasant recollections connected with the period
when his fortunes were at their lowest. From the secure
prosperity of after-life he delighted in recalling the time when,
after cheering on the fierce debate for twelve or fifteen hours
together, he would walk home by daylight to his chambers,
and make his supper on a cheese which was a present from
one of his Wiltshire constituents, and a glass of the audit ale
which reminded him that he was still a fellow of Trinity.
"With political distinction came social success more rapid
and more substantial, perhaps, than has ever been achieved by
one who took so little trouble to win or to retain it. The cir-
cumstances of the time were all in his favor. Never did our
higher circles present so much that would attract a new-comer,
and never was there more readiness to admit within them all
who brought the honorable credentials of talent and celebrity.
In 1831 the exclusiveness of birth was passing away, and the
exclusiveness of fashion had not set in. The Whig party, dur-
166 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
ing its long period of depression, had been drawn together by
the bonds of common hopes, and endeavors, and disappoint-
ments ; and personal reputation, whether literary, political, or
forensic, held its own as against the advantages of rank and
money to an extent that was never .known before and never
since. Macaulay had been well received in the character of
an Edinburgh Reviewer, and his first great speech in the
House of Commons at once opened to him all the doors in
London that were best worth entering. Brought up, as he had
been, in a household which was perhaps the strictest and the
homeliest among a set of families whose creed it was to live
outside the world, it put his strength of mind to the test when
he found himself courted and observed by the most distin-
guished and the most formidable personages of the day. Lady
Holland listened to him with unwonted deference, and scolded
him with a circumspection that was in itself a compliment.
Rogers spoke of him with friendliness and to him with posi-
tive affection, and gave him the last proof of his esteem and
admiration by asking him to name the morning for a break-
fast-party. He was treated with almost fatherly kindness by
the able and worthy man wrho is still remembered by the name
of Conversation Sharp. Indeed, his deference for the feelings
of all whom he liked and respected, which an experienced ob-
server could detect beneath the eagerness of his manner and
the volubility of his talk, made him a favorite among those
of a generation above his own. He bore his honors quietly,
and enjoyed them with the natural and hearty pleasure of a
man who has a taste for society, but whose ambitions lie else-
where. For the space of three seasons he dined out almost
nightly, and spent many of his Sundays in those suburban
residences which, as regards the company and the way of liv-
ing, are little else than sections of London removed into a
purer air.
Before very long his habits and tastes began to incline in
the direction of domesticity, and even of seclusion : and, in-
deed, at every period of his life he would gladly desert the
haunts of those whom Pope and his contemporaries used to
term " the great," to seek the cheerful and cultured simplicity
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 167
of his home, or the conversation of that one friend who had a
share in the familiar confidence which Macaulay otherwise re-
served for his nearest relatives. This was Mr. Thomas Flow-
er Ellis, whose reports of the proceedings in King's Bench,
extending over a whole generation, have established and per-
petuated his name as that of an acute and industrious lawyer.
He was older than Macaulay by four years. Though both
fellows of the same college, they missed each other at the uni-
versity, and it was not until 1827, on the northern circuit, that
their acquaintance began. " Macaulay has joined," writes Mr.
Ellis : " an amusing person ; somewhat boyish in his manner,
but very original." The young barristers had in common an
insatiable love of the classics ; and similarity of character, not
very perceptible on the surface, soon brought about an inti-
macy which ripened into an attachment as important to the
happiness of both concerned as ever united two men through
every stage of life and vicissitude of fortune. Mr. Ellis had
married early, but in 1839 he lost his wife ; and Macaulay's
helpful and heart-felt participation in his great sorrow riveted
the links of a chain that was already indissoluble. The let-
ters contained in these volumes will tell, better than the words
of any third person, what were the points of sympathy be-
tween the two companions, and in what manner they lived to-
gether till the end came. Mr. Ellis survived his friend little
more than a year ; not complaining or lamenting, but going
about his work like a man from whose day the light had de-
parted.
Brief and rare were the vacations of the most hard-worked
Parliament that had sat since the times of Pym and Hamp-
den. In the late autumn of 1831, the defeat of the Reform
Bill in the House of Lords delivered over the country to agi-
tation, resentment, and alarm, and gave a short holiday to
public men who were not ministers, magistrates, or officers in
the yeomanry. Hannah and Margaret Macaulay accompanied
their brother on a visit to Cambridge, where they met with
the welcome which young masters of arts delight in provid-
ing for the sisters of a comrade of whom they are fond and
proud.
168 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
" On the evening that we arrived," says Lady Trevelyan,
" we met at dinner Whewell, Sedgwick, Airy, and Thirlwall ;
and how pleasant they were, and how much they made of us,
two happy girls, who were never tired of seeing and hearing
and admiring!* We breakfasted, lunched, and dined with
one or the other of the set during our stay, and walked about
the colleges all day with the whole train. Whewell was then
tutor : rougher, but less pompous and much more agreeable
than in after-years, though I do not think that he ever cor-
dially liked your uncle. We then went on to Oxford, which,
from knowing no one there, seemed terribly dull to us by
comparison with Cambridge, and we rejoiced our brother's
heart by sighing after Trinity."
During the first half of his life, Macaulay spent months of
every year at the seat of his uncle, Mr. Babington, who kept
open house for his nephews and nieces throughout the sum-
mer and autumn. Rothley Temple, which lies in a valley be-
yond the first ridge that separates the flat, unattractive coun-
try immediately round Leicester from the wild and beautiful
scenery of Charnwood Forest, is well worth visiting as a sin-
gularly unaltered specimen of an old English home. The
stately trees ; the grounds, half park and half meadow ; the
cattle grazing up to the very windows ; the hall, with its stone
pavement rather below than above the level of the soil, hung
with armor rude and rusty enough to dispel the suspicion of
its having passed through a collector's hands; the low ceil-
ings ; the dark oak wainscot, carved after primitive designs,
that covered every inch of wall in bedroom and corridor ;
the general air which the whole interior presented of having
been put to rights at the date of the Armada and left alone
ever since — all this antiquity contrasted quaintly, but prettily
enough, with the youth and gayety that lighted up every cor-
ner of the ever-crowded though comfortable mansion. In wet
* A reminiscence from that week of refined and genial hospitality sur-
vives in the " Essay on Madame D'Arblay." The reception which Miss Bur-
ney would have enjoyed at Oxford, if she had visited it otherwise than as
an attendant on royalty, is sketched off with all the writer's wonted spirit,
and more than his wonted grace.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 169
weather there was always a merry group sitting on the stair-
case or marching up and down the gallery; and wherever
the noise and fun were most abundant, wherever there were to
be heard the loudest laughter and the most vehement expostu-
lation, Macaulay was the centre of a circle which was exclaim-
ing at the levity of his remarks about the Blessed Martyr ;
disputing with him on the comparative merits of Pascal, Ra-
cine, Corneille, Moliere, and Boileau ; or checking him as he
attempted to justify his godparents by running off a list of
all the famous Thomases in history. The place is full of his
memories. His favorite walk was a mile of field -road and
lane which leads from the house to a lodge on the highway ;
and his favorite point of view in that walk was a slight accliv-
ity whence the traveler from Leicester catches his first sight
of Rothley Temple, with its background of hill and green-
wood. He is remembered as sitting at the window in the
hall, reading Dante to himself, or translating it aloud as long
as any listener cared to remain within ear-shot. He occupied,
by choice, a very small chamber on the ground-floor, through
the window of which he could escape unobserved while aft-
ernoon callers were on their way between the front door and
the drawing-room. On such occasions he would take refuge
in a boat moored under the shade of some fine oaks which
still exist, though the ornamental water on whose bank they
stood has since been converted into dry land.
A journal kept at intervals by Margaret Macaulay, some ex-
tracts from which have here been arranged in the form of a
continuous narrative, affords a pleasant and faithful picture of
her brother's home-life during the years 1831 and 1832. With
an artless candor from which his reputation will not suffer,
she relates the alternations of hope and disappointment through
which the young people passed when it began to be a question
whether or not he would be asked to join the Administration.
" I think I was about twelve when I first became very fond of my broth-
er, and from that time my affection for him has gone on increasing during
a period of seven years. I shall never forget my delight and enchantment
when I first found that he seemed to like talking to me. His manner was
very flattering to such a child, for he always took as much pains to amuse
170 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
me, and to inform me on any thing I wished to know, as he could have
done to the greatest person in the land. I have heard him express great
disgust toward those people who, lively and agreeable abroad, are a dead-
weight in the family circle. I thiuk the remarkable clearness of his style
proceeds in some measure from the habit of conversing with very young
people, to whom he has a great deal to explain and impart.
" He reads his works to us in the manuscript, and when we find fault,
as I very often do, with his being too severe upon people, he takes it with
the greatest kindness, and often alters what we do not like. I hardly
ever, indeed, met with a sweeter temper than his. He is rather hasty, and
when he has not time for an instant's thought he will sometimes return a
quick answer, for which he will be sorry the moment he has said it. But
in a conversation of any length, though it may be on subjects that touch
him very nearly, and though the person with whom he converses may be
very provoking and extremely out of temper, I never saw him lose his.
He never uses this superiority, as some do, for the purpose of irritating an-
other still more by coolness, but speaks in a kind, good-natured manner,
as if he wished to bring the other back to temper without appearing to
notice that he had lost it.
"He at one time took a -very punning turn, and we laid a wager in
books, my ' Mysteries of Udolpho ' against his ' German Theatre,' that he
could not make two hundred puns in an evening. He did it, however, in
two hours, and, although they were of course most of them miserably bad,
yet it was a proof of great quickness.
"Saturday, February 26th, 1831. — At dinner we talked of the Grants.
Tom said he had found Mr. Robert Grant walking about in the lobbies of
the House of Commons, and saying that he wanted somebody to defend
his place in the Government, which he heard was going to be attacked.
' What did you say to him ?' we asked. 'Oh, I said nothing ; but, if they'll
give me the place, I'll defend it. When I am judge advocate, I promise
you that I will not go about asking any one to defend me.'
"After dinner we played at capping verses, and after that at a game in
which one of the party thinks of something for the others to guess at.
Tom gave the slug that killed Perceval, the lemon that Wilkes squeezed
for Dr. Johnson, the pork-chop which Thurtell eat after he had murdered
Weare, and Sir Charles Macarthy's jaw, which was sent by the Ashantees
as a present to George the Fourth.
" Some one mentioned an acquaintance who had gone to the West In-
dies, hoping to make money, but had only ruined the complexions of his
daughters. Tom said :
Mr. Walker was sent to Berbice
By the greatest of statesmen and earls.
He went to bring back yellow boys,
But he only brought back yellow girls.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 171
" I never saw any thing like the fun and humor that kindle in his eye
when a repartee or verso is working in his brain.
"March 3d, 1831. — Yesterday morning Hannah and I walked part of the
way to his chambers with Tom, and, as we separated, I remember wishing
him good luck and success that night. He wont through it most triumph-
antly, and called down upon himself admiration enough to satisfy even his
sister. I like so much the manner in which he receives compliments. He
does not pretend to be indifferent, but smiles in his kind and animated
way, with ' I am sure it is very kind of you to say so,' or something of that
nature. His voice, from cold and overexcitement, got quite into a scream
toward the last part. A person told him that he had not heard such speak-
ing since Fox. ' You have not heard such screaming since Fox,' he said.
"March 24<ft, 1831. — By Tom's account, there never was such a scene of
agitation as the House of Commons presented at the passing of the second
reading of the Reform Bill the day before yesterday, or rather yesterday,
for they did not divide till three or four in the morning. When dear Tom
came the next day he was still very much excited, which J found to my
cost, for when I went out to walk with him, he walked so very fast that I
could scarcely keep up with him at all. With sparkling eyes he described
the whole scene of the preceding evening in the most graphic manner.
'"I suppose the ministers are all in high spirits/ said mamma. ' In
spirits, ma'am ? I'm sure I don't know. In bed, I'll answer for it.' Mam-
ma asked him for franks, that she might send his speech to a lady* who,
though of high Tory principles, is very fond of Tom, and has left him in
her will her valuable library. ' Oh no,' he said, ' don't send it. If you do,
she'll' cut me off with a prayer-book.'
" Tom is very much improved in his appearance during the last two or
three years. His figure is not so bad for a man of thirty as for a man of
twenty-two. He dresses better, and his manners, from seeing a great deal
of society, are very much improved. When silent and occupied in thought,
walking up and down the room, as he always does, his hands clenched, and
muscles working with the intense exertion of his mind, strangers would
think his countenance stern; but I remember a writing-master of ours,
when Tom had come into the room and left it again, saying, ' Ladies, your
brother looks like a lump of good humor !'
"March 30<A, 1831. — Tom has just left me, after a very interesting con-
versation. He spoke of his extreme idleness. He said : ' I never knew
such an idle man as I am. When I go in to Empson or Ellis his tables
are always covered with books and papers. I can not stick at any thing
for above a day or two. I mustered industry enough to teach myself Ital-
ian. I wish to speak Spanish. I know I could master the difficulties in
a week, and read any book in the language at the end of a month, but I
* This lady was Mrs. Hannah More.
172 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
have not the courage to attempt it. If there had not been really some-
thing in me, idleness would have ruined me.'
"I said that I was surprised at the great accuracy of his information,
considering how desultory his reading had been. 'My accuracy as to
facts,' he said, ' I owe to a cause which many men would not confess. It
is due to my love of castle-building. The past is, in my mind, soon con-
structed into a romance.' He then went on to describe the way in which
from his childhood his imagination had been filled by the study of history.
' With a person of my turn,' he said, ' the minute touches are of as great
interest, and perhaps greater, than the most important events. Spending
so much time as I do in solitude, my mind would have rusted by gazing
vacantly at the shop-windows. As it is, I am no sooner in the streets than
I am in Greece, in Rome, in the midst of the French Revolution. Precision
in dates, the day or hour in which a man was born or died, becomes ab-
solutely necessary. A slight fact, a sentence, a word, are of importance in
my romance. "Pepys's Diary" formed almost inexhaustible food for my
fancy. I seem to know every inch of Whitehall. I go in at Hans Hol-
bein's gate, and come out through the matted gallery. The conversations
which I compose between great people of the time are long, and sufficient-
ly animated : in the style, if not with the merits, of Sir Walter Scott's.
The old parts of London, which you are sometimes surprised at my know-
ing so well, those old gates and houses down by the river, have all played
their part in my stories.' He spoke, too, of the manner in which he used
to wander about Paris, weaving tales of the Revolution, and he thought
that he owed his command of language greatly to this habit.
" I am very sorry that the want both of ability and memory should pre-
vent my preserving with greater truth a conversation which interested
me very much.
" May 21st, 1831. — Tom was from London at the time my mother's death
occurred, and thiugs fell out in such a manner that the first information
he received of it was from the newspapers. He came home directly. He
was in an agony of distress, and gave way at first to violent bursts of feel-
ing. During the whole of the week he was with us all day, and was the
greatest comfort to ns imaginable. He talked a great deal of our sorrow,
and led the conversation by degrees to other subjects, bearing the whole
burden of it himself, and interesting us without jarring with the predomi-
nant feeling of the time. I never saw him appear to greater advantage —
never loved him more dearly.
"September, 1831. — Of late we have walked a good deal. I remember
pacing up and down Brunswick Square and Lansdowne Place for two
hours one day, deep in the mazes of the most subtle metaphysics ; up and
down Cork Street, engaged over Dryden's poetry and the great men of that
time ; making jokes all the way along Bond Street, and talking politics
everywhere.
1830-'32.] LOED MACAULAY. 173
" Walking in the streets with Tom and Hannah, and talking about the
hard work the heads of his party had got now, I said : ' How idle they
must think you, when they meet you here in the busy part of the day !'
' Yes, here I am/ said he, ' walking with two* unidea'd girls. However,
if one of the ministry says to me, " Why walk you here all the day idle ?"
I shall say, " Because no man has hired me." '
" We talked of eloquence, which he has often compared to fresco-paint-
ing : the result of long study and meditation, but at the moment of execu-
tion thrown off with the greatest rapidity : what has apparently been the
work of a few hours being destined to last for ages.
" Mr.Tierney said he was sure Sir Philip Francis had written ' Jnnius,'
for he was the proudest man he ever knew, and no one ever heard of any
thing he had done to be proud of.
"November 14th, 1831, Half-past Ten. — On Friday last Lord Grey sent for
Tom. His note was received too late to be acted on that day. On Satur-
day came another, asking him to East Sheen on that day, or Sunday. Yes-
terday, accordingly, he went, and staid the night, promising to be here as
early as possible to-day. So much depends upon the result of this visit !
That he will be offered a place I have not the least doubt. He will refuse
a lordship of the treasury, a lordship of the admiralty, or the mastership of
the ordnance. He will accept the secretaryship of the Board of Control,
but will not thank them for it ; and would not accept that, but that he
thinks it will be a place of importance during the approaching discussions
on the East Indian monopoly.
" If be gets a sufficient salary, Hannah and I shall most likely live with
him. Can I possibly look forward to any thing happier? I can not imag-
ine a course of life that would suit him better than thus to enjoy the pleas-
ures of domestic life without its restraints ; with sufficient business, but
not, I hope, too much.
"At one o'clock he came. I went out to meet him. ' I have nothing to
tell you. Nothing. Lord Grey sent for me to speak about a matter of im-
portance, which must be strictly private.'
" November %7th. — I am just returned from a long walk, during which
the conversation turned entirely on one subject. After a little previous
talk about a certain great personage,t I asked Tom when the present cool-
ness between them began. He said : ' Nothing could exceed my respect
and admiration for him in early days. I saw at that time private letters in
* Boswell relates in his tenth chapter how Johnson scolded Langton for
leaving " his social friends, to go and sit with a set of wretched unidea'd
girls."
t The personage was Lord Brougham, who at this time was too formi-
dable for the poor girl to venture to write his name at length even in a
private journal.
174: LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
which he spoke highly of my articles, and of me as the most rising man of
the time. After a while, however, I began to remark that he became ex-
tremely cold to me, hardly ever spoke to me on circuit, and treated me
•with marked slight. If I were talking to a man, if he wished to speak to
him on politics or any thing else that was not in any sense a private mat-
ter, he always drew him away from me instead of addressing us both.
When my article on Hallam came out, he complained to Jeffrey that I took
up too much of the Beview ; and when my first article on Mill appeared, he
foamed with rage, and was very angry with Jeffrey for having priuted it.'
" ' But,' said I, ' the Mills are friends of his, and he naturally did not
like them to be attacked.'
" ' On the contrary,' said Tom, ' he had attacked them fiercely himself;
but he thought I had made a hit, and was angry accordingly. When a
friend of mine defended my articles to him, he said : " I know nothing of
the articles. I have not read Macaulay's articles." What can be imagined
more absurd than his keeping up an angry correspondence with Jeffrey
about articles he has never read ? Well, the next thing was that Jeffrey,
who was about to give up the editorship, asked me if I would take it. I
said that I would gladly do so, if they would remove the head-quarters
of the Review to London. Jeffrey wrote to him about it. He disapproved
of it so strongly that the plan was given up. The truth was that he felt
that his power over the Review diminished as mine increased, and he saw-
that he would have little, indeed, if I were editor.
"'I then came into Parliament. I do not complain that he should have
preferred Denman's claims to mine, and that he should have blamed Lord
Lansdowne for not considering him. I went to take my seat. As I turn-
ed from the table at which I had been taking the oaths, he stood as near
to me as you do now, and he cut me dead. We never spoke in the House,
excepting once, that I can remember, when a few words passed between us
in the lobby. I have sat close to him when many men of whom I knew
nothing have introduced themselves to me to shake hands, and congrat-
ulate me after making a speech, and he has never said a single word. I
know that it is jealousy, because I am not the first man whom he has used
in this way. During the debate on the Catholic claims he was so enraged
because Lord Plunket had made a very splendid display, and because the
Catholics had chosen Sir Francis Burdett instead of him to bring the bill
forward, that he threw every difficulty in its way. Sir Francis once said
to him, " Really, Mr. , you are so jealous that it is impossible to act
with yon." I never will serve in an administration of which he is the
head. On that I have most firmly made up my mind. I do not believe
that it is in his nature to be a month in office without caballing against his
colleagues.*
* " There never was a direct personal rival, or one who was in a position
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 175
" ' He is, next to the king, the most popular man in England. There is
no other man whose entrance iuto any town in the kingdom would be so
certain to be with huzzaing and taking off of horses. At the same time,
he is in a very ticklish situatiou, for he has no real friends. Jeffrey, Syd-
ney Smith, Mackintosh, all speak of him as I now speak to you. I was
talking to Sydney Smith of him the other day, and said that, great as I
felt his faults to be, I must allow him a real desire to raise the lower or-
ders, and do good by education, and those methods upon which his heart
has been always set. Sydney would not allow this, or any other, merit.
Now, if those who are called his friends feel toward him, as they all do,
angry and sore at his overbearing, arrogant, and neglectful conduct, when
those reactions in public feeling, which must come, arrive, he will have
nothing to return upon, no place of refuge, no band of such tried friends as
Fox and Canning had to support him. You will see that he will soon place
himself in a false position before the public. His popularity will go down,
and he will find himself alone. Mr. Pitt, it is true, did not study to strength-
en himself by friendships ; but this was not from jealousy. I do not love
the man, but I believe he was quite superior to that. It was from a soli-
tary pride he had. I heard at Holland House the other day that Sir Philip
Francis said that, though he hated Pitt, he must confess there was some-
thing fine in seeing how he maintained his post by himself. " The lion
walks alone," he said. " The jackals herd together." ' "
This conversation, to those who have heard Macaulay talk,
bears unmistakable signs of having been committed to paper
while the words, or, at any rate, the outlines, of some of the
most important sentences were fresh in his sister's mind. Nat-
ure had predestined the two men to mutual antipathy. Mac-
aulay, who knew his own range and kept within it, and who
gave the world nothing except his best and most finished work,
was fretted by the slovenly omniscience of Brougham, who
affected to be a walking encyclopedia, " a kind of semi-Solo-
mon, half knowing every thing from the cedar to the hyssop."
The student, who, in his later years, never left his library for
the House of Commons without regret, had little in common
with one who, like Napoleon, held that a great reputation was
a great noise; who could not change horses without making
which, however reluctantly, implied rivalry, to whom he has been just ;
and on the fact of this ungenerous jealousy I do not understand that there
is any difference of opinion." — Lord Cockburn'a Journal.
176 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
a speech, see the Tories come in without offering to take a
judgeship, or allow the French to make a revolution without
proposing to naturalize himself as a citizen of the new repub-
lic. The statesman who never deserted an ally or distrusted
a friend could have no fellowship with a free-lance, ignorant
of the very meaning of loyalty ; who, if the surfeited pen of
the reporter had not declined its task, would have enriched
our collections of British oratory by at least one philippic
against every colleague with whom he had ever acted. The
many who read this conversation by the light of the public
history of Lord Melbourne's administration, and, still more, the
few who have access to the secret history of Lord Grey's cabi-
net, will acknowledge that seldom was a prediction so entirely
fulfilled, or a character so accurately read. And that it was
not a prophecy composed after the event, is proved by the cir-
cumstance that it stands recorded in the handwriting of one
who died before it was accomplished.
"January 3d, 1832. — Yesterday Tom dined at Holland House, and heard
Lord Holland tell this story : Some paper \vas to be published by Mr. Fox,
in -which mention was made of Mr. Pitt having been employed at a club iu
a manner that would have created scandal. Mr. Wilberforce went to Mr.
Fox, and asked him to omit the passage. ' Oh, to be sure,' said Mr. Fox ;
' if there are any good people who would be scandalized, I will certainly
put it out.' Mr. Wilberforce then preparing to take his leave, he said:
'Now, Mr. Wilberforce, if, instead of being about Mr. Pitt, this had been
an account of my being seen gaming at White's on a Sunday, would yon
have taken so much pains to prevent it being known?' 'I asked this,'
said Mr. Fox, ' because I wanted to see what he would say ; for I knew he
would not tell a lie about it. He threw himself back, as his way was, and
only answered, " Oh, Mr. Fox, yon are always so pleasant !" '
"January 8th, 1832. — Yesterday Tom dined with us, and staid late. He
talked almost uninterruptedly for six hours. In the evening he made a
great many impromptu charades in verse. I remember he mentioned a
piece of impertinence of Sir Philip Francis. Sir Philip was writing a his-
tory of his own time, with characters of its eminent men, and one day ask-
ed Mr. Tierney if he should like to hear his own character. Of course, he
said, ' Yes,' and it was read to him. It was very flattering, and he express-
ed his gratification for so favorable a description of himself. ' Subject to
revision, you must remember, Mr. Tierney,' said Sir Philip, as he laid the
manuscript by ; ' subject to revision according to what may happen in the
future.'
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY.
" I am glad Tom has reviewed old John Bunyan. Many are reading it
who never read it before. Yesterday, as he was sitting in the Athenasuin,
a gentleman called out, ' Waiter, is there a copy of " The Pilgrim's Prog-
ress " in the library V As might be expected, there was not.
"February 12th, 1832. — This evening Tom came in, Hannah and I being
alone. He. was in high boyish spirits. He had seen Lord Lansdowne in
the morning, who had requested to speak with him. His lordship said
that he wished to have a talk about his taking" office, not with any partic-
ular thing in view, as there was no vacancy at present and none expected,
but that he should be glad to know his wishes in order that he might be
more able to serve him in them.
" Tom, in answer, took rather a high tone. He said he was a poor man,
but that he had as much as he wanted, and, as far as he was personally
concerned, had no desire for office. At the same time he thought that,
after the Reform Bill had passed, it would be absolutely necessary that the
Government should be strengthened ; that he was of opinion that he could
do it good service ; that he approved of its general principles, and should
not be unwilling to join it. Lord Lansdowne said that they all — and he
particularly mentioned Lord Grey — felt of what importance to them his
help was, and that he now perfectly understood his views.
"February 13th, 1832. — It has been much reported, and has even appear-
ed in the newspapers, that the ministers were doing what they could to
get Mr. Robert Grant out of the way to make room for Tom. Last Sunday
week it was stated in the John Bull that Madras had been offered to the
judge advocate for this purpose, but that he had refused it. Two or three
nights since, Tom, in endeavoring to get to a high bench in the House,
stumbled over Mr. Robert Grant's legs, as he was stretched out half
asleep. Being roused, he apologized in the usual manner, and then
added, oddly enough, ' I am very sorry, indeed, to stand in the way of your
mounting.'
"March 15th, 1832. — Yesterday Hannah and I spent a very agreeable
afternoon with Tom.
" He began to talk of his idleness. ' He really came and dawdled with
us all day long : he had not written a line of his review of Burleigh's Life,
and he shrunk from beginning on such a great work.' I asked him to put
it by for the present, and write a light article on novels. This he seemed
to think he should like, and said he could get up an article on Richardson
in a very short time ; but he knew of no book that he could hang it on.
Hannah advised that he should place at the head of his article a fictitious
title in Italian of a critique on ' Clarissa Harlowe,' published at Venice. He
seemed taken with this idea, but said that if he did such a thing he must
never let his dearest friend know.
"I was amused with a parody of Tom's on the nursery song 'Twenty
Pounds shall marry me,' as applied to the creation of peers.
YOL. I.— 12
178 LIFE AND LETTERS OP [CHAP. iv.
What though now opposed I be?
Twenty peers shall carry me.
If twenty won't, thirty will,
For I'm his majesty's bouncing Bill.
Sir Robert Peel has been extremely complimentary to him. One sentence
he repeated to us : 'My only feeling toward that gentleman is a not ungen-
erous envy, as I listened to that wonderful flow of natural and beautiful
language, and to that utterance which, rapid as it is, seems scarcely able
to convey its rich freight of thought and fancy !' People say that these
words were evidently carefully prepared.
" I have just been looking round our little drawing-room, as if trying to
impress every inch of it on iny memory, and thinking how in future years
it will rise before my mind as the scene of many hours of light-hearted
mirth : how I shall again see him, lolling indolently on the old blue sofa,
or strolling round the narrow confines of our room. With such a scene
will come the remembrance of his beaming countenance, happy, affection-
ate smile, and joyous laugh ; while, with every one at ease around him, he
poured out the stores of his full mind in his own peculiarly beautiful and
expressive language, more delightful here than anywhere else, because
more perfectly unconstrained. The name which passes through this little
room in the quiet, gentle tones of sisterly affection is a name which will
be repeated through distant generations, and go down to posterity linked
with eventful times and great deeds."
The last words here quoted will be very generally regarded
as the tribute of a sister's fondness. Many, who readily ad-
mit that Macaulay's name will go down to posterity linked
with eventful times and great deeds, make that admission
with reference to times not his own, and deeds in which he
had no part except to commemorate them with his pen. To
him, as to others, a great reputation of a special order brought
with it the consequence that the credit which he deserved for
what he had done well was overshadowed by the renown of
what he did best. The world, which has forgotten that New-
ton excelled as an administrator and Voltaire as a man of
business, remembers somewhat faintly that Macaulay was an
eminent orator, and, for a time at least, a strenuous politician.
The universal voice of his contemporaries during the first
three years of his parliamentary career testifies to the leading
part which he played in the House of Commons so long as
with all his heart he cared, and with all his might he tried, to
1830-'32.] LOED MACAULAY. 1Y9
play it. Jeffrey (for it is well to adduce none but first-rate
evidence) says, in his account of an evening's discussion on
the second reading of the Reform Bill : " Not a very striking
debate. There was but one exception, and it was a brilliant
one. I mean Macaulay, who surpassed his former appearance
in closeness, fire, and vigor, and very much improved the ef-
fect of it by a more steady and graceful delivery. It was
prodigiously cheered, as it deserved, and, I think, puts him
clearly at the head of the great speakers, if not the debaters,
of the House." And again, on the lYth of December : " Mac-
aulay made, I think, the best speech he has yet delivered ; the
most condensed, at least, and with the greatest weight of mat-
ter. It contained, indeed, the only argument to which any of
the speakers who followed him applied themselves." Lord
Cockburn, who sat under the gallery for twenty-seven hours
during the last three nights of the bill, pronounced Macaulay's
speech to have been " by far the best ;" though, like a good
Scotchman, he asserts that he heard nothing at Westminster
which could compare with Dr. Chalmers in the General As-
sembly. Sir James Mackintosh writes from the library of
the House of Commons, " Macaulay and Stanley have made
two of the finest speeches ever spoken in Parliament ;" and a
little further on he classes together the two young orators as
" the chiefs of the next, or rather of this, generation."
To gain and keep the position that Mackintosh assigned
him, Macaulay possessed the power, and in early days did not
lack the will. He was prominent on the parliamentary stage,
and active behind the scenes ; the soul of every honorable
project which might promote the triumph of his principles
and the ascendency of his party. One among many passages
in his correspondence may be quoted without a very serious
breach of ancient and time-worn confidences. On the 17th of
September, 1831, he writes to his sister Hannah : " I have been
very busy since I wrote last, moving heaven and earth to ren-
der it certain that, if our ministers are so foolish as to resign
in the event of a defeat in the Lords, the Commons may be
firm and united; and I think that I have arranged a plan
which will secure a bold and instant declaration on our part
180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
if necessary. Lord Ebrington is the man whom I have in my
eye as our leader. I have had much conversation with him,
and with several of our leading county members. They are
all stanch ; and I will answer for this — that, if the ministers
should throw us over, we will be ready to defend ourselves."
The combination of public spirit, political instinct, and legit-
imate self-assertion which was conspicuous in Macaulay's char-
acter, pointed him out to some whose judgment had been train-
ed by long experience of affairs as a more than possible leader
in no remote future ; and it is not for his biographer to deny
that they had grounds for their conclusion. The prudence, the
energy, the selfreliance, which he displayed in another field
might have been successfully directed to the conduct of an
executive policy and the management of a popular assembly.
Macaulay never showed himself deficient in the qualities which
enable a man to trust his own sense ; to feel responsibility, but
not to fear it ; to venture where others shrink ; to decide while
others waver ; with all else that belongs to the vocation of a
ruler in a free country. But it was not his fate : it was not
his work : and the rank which he might have claimed among
the statesmen of Britain was not ill exchanged for the place
which he occupies in the literature of the world.
To Macvey Napier, Esq.
York, March 22d, 1830.
MY DEAK SIK, — I was in some doubt as to what I should be
able to do for Number 101, and I deferred writing till I could
make up my mind. If my friend Ellis's article on " Greek
History," of which I have formed high expectations, could
have been ready, I should have taken a holiday. But as there
is no chance of that for the next number, I ought, I think,
to consider myself as his bail, and to surrender myself to your
disposal in his stead.
I have been thinking of a subject, light and trifling enough,
but perhaps not the worse for our purpose on that account.
"We seldom want a sufficient quantity of heavy matter. There
is a wretched poetaster of the name of Robert Montgomery
who has written some volumes of detestable verses on relig-
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 181
ious subjects, which by mere puffing in magazines and news-
papers have had an immense sale, and some of which are now
in their tenth or twelfth edition. I have for some time past
thought that the trick of puffing, as it is now practiced both
by authors and publishers, is likely to degrade the literary
character and to deprave the public taste in a frightful degree.
I really think that we ought to try what effect satire will have
upon this nuisance, and I doubt whether we can ever find a
better opportunity. Yours, very faithfully,
T. B. MACAULAY.
To Macvey Napier, Esq.
London, August 19th, 1830.
MY DEAR SIR, — The new number appeared this morning in
the shop windows. The article on Niebuhr contains much
that is very sensible ; but it is not such an article as so noble
a subject required. I am not, like Ellis, Niebuhr-mad ; and I
agree with many of the remarks which the reviewer has made
both on this work and on the school of German critics and
historians. But surely the reviewer ought to have given an
account of the system of exposition which ISTiebuhr has adopt-
ed, and of the theory which he advances respecting the insti-
tutions of Rome. The appearance of the book is really an
era in the intellectual history of Europe, and I think that the
Edinburgh Review ought at least to have given a luminous
abstract of it. ' The very circumstance that Niebuhr's own ar-
rangement and style are obscure, and that his translators have
need of translators to make them intelligible to the multitude,
rendered it more desirable that a clear and neat statement of
the points in controversy should be laid before the public.
But it is useless to talk of what can not be mended. The best
editors can not always have good writers, and the best writers
can not always write their best.
I have no notion on what ground Brougham imagines that
I am going to review his speech. He never said a word to
me on the subject. Nor did I ever say either to him or to
any one else a single syllable to that effect. At all events, I
shall not make Brougham's speech my text. "We have had
182 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
quite enough of puffing and flattering each other in the Re-
view. It is a vile taste for men united in one literary under-
taking to exchange their favors.
I have a plan of which I wish to know your opinion. In
ten days or thereabouts I set off for France, where I hope to
pass six weeks. I shall be in the best society, that of the Due
de Broglie, Guizot, and so on. I think of writing an article
on the politics of France since the Restoration, with characters
of the principal public men, and a parallel between the pres-
ent state of France and that of England. I think that this
might be made an article of extraordinary interest. I do not
say that I could make it so. It must, you will perceive, be a
long paper, however concise I may try to be ; but as the sub-
ject is important, and I am not generally diffuse, you must not
stint me. If you like this scheme, let me know as soon as
possible. Ever yours truly, T. B. MACAULAY.
It can not be denied that there was some ground for the
imputation of systematic puffing which Macaulay urges with
a freedom that a modern editor would hardly permit to the
most valued contributor. Brougham had made a speech on
slavery in the House of Commons ; but time was wanting to
get the Corrected Report published soon enough for him to
obtain his tribute of praise in the body of the Review. The
unhappy Mr. Napier was actually reduced to append a notice
to the July number regretting that "this powerful speech,
which, as we are well informed, produced an impression on
those who heard it not likely to be forgotten, or to remain
barren of effects, should have reached us at a moment when
it was no longer possible for us to notice its contents at any
length On the eve of a general election to the first Par-
liament of a new reign, we could have wished to be able to con-
tribute our aid toward the facts and arguments here so strik-
ingly and commandingly stated and enforced, among those
who are about to exercise the elective franchise "VVe trust
that means will be taken to give the widest possible circula-
tion to the Corrected Report. Unfortunately, we can, at pres-
ent, do nothing more than lay before our readers its glowing
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 183
peroration — so worthy of this great orator, this unwearied
friend of liberty and humanity."
To Macvey No/pier, Esq.
Paris, September 16th, 1830.
MY DEAK SIK, — I have just received your letter, and I can
not deny that I am much vexed at what has happened. It is
not very agreeable to find that I have thrown away the labor,
the not unsuccessful labor, as I thought, of a month, particu-
larly as I have not many months of perfect leisure. This
would not have happened if Brougham had notified his inten-
tions to you earlier, as he ought, in courtesy to you, and to ev-
ery body connected with the Review, to have done. He must
have known that this French question was one on which many
people would be desirous to write.
I ought to tell you that I had scarcely reached Paris when I
received a letter containing a very urgent application from a
very respectable quarter. I was desired to write a sketch, in
one volume, of the late Revolution here. Now, I really hesi-
tated whether I should not make my excuses to you, and ac-
cept this proposal ; not on account of the pecuniary terms, for
about these I have never much troubled myself, but because I
should have had ampler space for this noble subject than the
Review would have afforded. I thought, however, that this
would not be a fair or friendly course toward you. I accord-
ingly told the applicants that I had promised you an article,
and that I could not well write twice in one month on the
same subject without repeating myself. I therefore declined,
and recommended a person whom I thought quite capable of
producing an attractive book on these events. To that person
my correspondent has probably applied. At all events, I can
not revive the negotiation. I can not hawk my rejected arti-
cles up and down Paternoster Row.
I am, therefore, a good deal vexed at this affair ; but I am
not at all surprised at it. I see all the difficulties of your sit-
uation. Indeed, I have long foreseen them. I always knew
that in every association, literary or political, Brougham would
wish to domineer. I knew, also, that no editor of the Edin-
184 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. TV.
~burgJi Review could, without risking the ruin of the publica-
tion, resolutely oppose the demands of a man so able and pow-
erful. It was because I was certain that he would exact sub-
missions which I am not disposed to make that I wished last
year to give up writing for the Review. I had long been
meditating a retreat. I thought Jeffrey's abdication a favora-
ble time for effecting it ; not, as I hope you are well assured,
from any unkind feeling toward you, but because I knew
that, under any editor, mishaps such as that which has now
occurred would be constantly taking place. I remember that
I predicted to Jeffrey what has now come to pass almost to
the letter.
My expectations have been exactly realized. The present
constitution of the Edinburgh Review is this : that at what-
ever time Brougham may be pleased to notify his intention of
writing on any subject, all previous engagements are to be
considered as annulled by that notification. His language
translated into plain English is this : " I must write about this
French Revolution, and I will write about it. If you have
told Macaulay to do it, you may tell him to let it alone. If
he has written an article, he may throw it behind the grate.
He would not himself have the assurance to compare his own
claims with mine. I am a man who acts a prominent part in
the world : he is nobody. If he must be reviewing, there is
my speech about the West Indies. Set him to write a puff on
that. What have people like him to do, except to eulogize
people like me?" No man likes to be reminded of his infe-
riority in such a way, and there are some particular circum-
stances in this case which render the admonition more unpleas-
ant than it would otherwise be. I know that Brougham dis-
likes me ; and I have not the slightest doubt that he feels great
pleasure in taking this subject out of my hands, and at hav-
ing made me understand, as I do most clearly understand, how
far my services are rated below his. I do not blame you in
the least. I do not see how you could have acted otherwise.
But, on the other hand, I do not see why I should make any
efforts or sacrifices for a Review which lies under an intolera-
ble dictation. Whatever my writings may be worth, it is not
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 185
for want of strong solicitations and tempting offers from other
quarters that I have continued to send them to the Edinburgh
Review. I adhered to the connection solely because I took
pride and pleasure in it. It has now become a source of hu-
miliation and mortification.
I again repeat, my dear sir, that I do not blame you in the
least. This, however, only makes matters worse. If you had
used me ill, I might complain, and might hope to be better
treated another time. Unhappily, you are in a situation in
which it is proper for you to do what it would be improper in
me to endure. What has happened now may happen next
quarter, and must happen before long, unless I altogether re-
frain from writing for the Review. I hope you will forgive
me if I say that I feel what has passed too strongly to be in-
clined to expose myself to a recurrence of the same vexa-
tions. Yours most truly, T. B. MACATTLAY.
A few soft words induced Macaulay to reconsider his threat
of withdrawing from the Review ; but even before Mr. Na-
pier's answer reached him the feeling of personal annoyance
had already been effaced by a greater sorrow : a letter arrived
announcing that his sister Jane had died suddenly and most
unexpectedly. She was found in the morning lying as though
still asleep, having passed away so peacefully as not to disturb
a sister who had spent the night in the next room, with a door
open between them. Mrs. Macaulay never recovered from
this shock. Her health gave way, and she lived into the
coming year only so long as to enable her to rejoice in the
first of her son's Parliamentary successes.
Paris, September 26th.
MY DEAR FATHER, — This news has broken my heart. I am
fit neither to go nor to stay. I can do nothing but sit in
my room, and think of poor dear Jane's kindness and affec-
tion. When I am calmer, I will let you know my intentions.
There will be neither use nor pleasure in remaining here. My
present purpose, as far as I can form one, is to set off in two
or three days for England, and in the mean tune to see no-
186 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
body, if I can help it, but Dumont, who has been very kind to
me. Love to all — to all who are left me to love. We must
love each other better. T. B. M.
London, March 30th, 1831.
DEAK ELLIS, — I have little news for you, except what you
will learn from the papers as well as from me. It is clear that
the Reform Bill must pass, either in this or in another Parlia-
ment. The majority of one does not appear to me, as it does
to you, by any means inauspicious. We should perhaps have
had a better plea for a dissolution if the majority had been the
other way. But surely a dissolution under such circumstances
would have been a most alarming thing. If there should be a
dissolution now, there will not be that ferocity in the public
mind which there would have been if the House of Commons
had refused to entertain the bill at all. I confess that, till we
had a majority, I was half inclined to tremble at the storm
which we had raised. At present I think that we are abso-
lutely certain of victory, and of victory without commotion.
Such a scene as the division of last Tuesday I never saw,
and never expect to see again. If I should live fifty years,
the impression of it will be as fresh and sharp in my mind as
if it had just taken place. It was like seeing Caesar stabbed
in the Senate-house, or seeing Oliver taking the mace from the
table ; a sight to be seen only once, and never to be forgotten.
The crowd overflowed the House in every part. When the
strangers were cleared out, and the doors locked, we had six
hundred and eight members present — more by fifty-five than
ever were in a division before. The ayes and noes were like
two volleys of cannon from opposite sides of a field of battle.
When the opposition went out into the lobby,* an operation
which took up twenty minutes or more, we spread ourselves
over the benches on both sides of the House ; for there were
many of us who had not been able to find a seat during the
* " The practice in the Commons, until 1836, •was to send one party forth
into the lobby, the other remaining in the House." — SIR T. ERSKIXE MAY'S
Parliamentary Practice.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 187
evening. When the doors were shut we began to speculate
on our numbers. Every body was desponding. " We have
lost it. We are only two hundred and eighty at most. I do
not think we are two hundred and fifty. They are three hun-
dred. Alderman Thompson has counted them. He says they
are two hundred and ninty-nine." This was the talk on our
benches. I wonder that men who have been long in Parlia-
ment do not acquire a better coup cPceil for numbers. The
House, when only the ayes were in it, looked to me a very fair
House — much fuller than it generally is even on debates of
considerable interest. I had no hope, however, of three hun-
dred. As the tellers passed along our lowest row on the left-
hand side the interest was insupportable — two hundred and
ninety-one — two hundred and ninety-two — we were all stand-
ing up and stretching forward, telling with the tellers. At
three hundred there was a short cry of joy — at three hundred
and two another — suppressed, however, in a moment ; for we
did not yet know what the hostile force might be. We knew,
however, that we could not be severely beaten. The doors
were thrown open, and in they came. Each of them, as he
entered, brought some different report of their numbers. It
must have been impossible, as you may conceive, in the lobby,
crowded as they were, to form any exact estimate. First we
heard that they were three hundred and three ; then that num-
ber rose to three hundred and ten ; then went down to three
hundred and seven. Alexander Barry told me that he had
counted, and that they were three hundred and four. We
were all breathless with anxiety, when Charles Wood, who
stood near the door, jumped up on a bench and cried out,
" They are only three hundred and one." We set up a shout
that you might have heard to Charing Cross, waving our hats,
stamping against the floor, and clapping our hands. The tell-
ers scarcely got through the crowd ; for the House was throng-
ed up to the table, and all the floor was fluctuating with heads
like the pit of a theatre. But you might have heard a pin
drop as Duncannon read the numbers. Then again the shouts
broke out, and many of us shed tears. I could scarcely refrain.
And the jaw of Peel fell ; and the face of Twiss was as the
188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
face of a damned soul ; and Herries looked like Judas taking
his neck-tie off for the last operation. We shook hands, and
clapped each other on the back, and went out laughing, cry-
ing, and huzzaing into the lobby. And no sooner were the
outer doors opened than another shout answered that within
the House. All the passages and the stairs into the waiting-
rooms were thronged by people who had waited till four in
the morning to know the issue. We passed through a narrow
lane between two thick masses of them ; and all the way
down they were shouting and waving their hats, till we got
into the open air. I called a cabriolet, and the first thing
the driver asked was, " Is the bill carried ?" " Yes, by one."
" Thank God for it, sir !" And away I rode to Gray's Inn —
and so ended a scene which will probably never be equaled
till the reformed Parliament wants reforming ; and that I
hope will not be till the days of our grandchildren — till that
truly orthodox and apostolical person, Dr. Francis Ellis, is an
archbishop of eighty.
As for me, I am for the present a sort of lion. My speech
has set me in the front rank, if I can keep there ; and it has
not been my luck hitherto to lose ground when I have once
got it. Sheil and I are on very civil terms. He talks largely
concerning Demosthenes and Burke. He made, I must say,
an excellent speech ; too florid and queer, but decidedly suc-
cessful.
Why did not Price speak? If he was afraid, it was not
without reason ; for a more terrible audience there is not in
the world. I wish that Praed had known to whom he was
speaking. But, with all his talent, he has no tact, and he has
fared accordingly. Tierney used to say that he never rose in
the House without feeling his knees tremble under him ; and
I am sure that no man who has not some of that feeling -will
o
ever succeed there. Ever yours, T. B. MA CAUL AY.
London, May 27th, 1831.
MY DEAR HAXNAH, — Let me see if I can write a letter d la
Richardson : a little less prolix it must be, or it will exceed
my ounce. By -the -bye, I wonder that Uncle Selby never
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 189
grudged the postage of Miss Byron's letters. According to
the nearest calculation that I can make, her correspondence
must have enriched the post-office of Ashby Canons by some-
thing more than the whole annual interest of her fifteen thou-
sand pounds.
I reached Lansdowne House by a quarter to eleven, and
passed through the large suite of rooms to the great Sculpt-
ure Gallery. There were seated and standing perhaps three
hundred people listening to the performers, or talking to each
other. The room is the handsomest and largest, I am told,
in any private house in London. I inclose our musical bill of
fare. Fanny, I suppose, will be able to expound it better than
I. The singers were more showily dressed than the auditors,
and seemed quite at home. As to the company, there was
just every body in London (except that little million and a
half that you wot of) — the Chancellor, and the First Lord of
the Admiralty, and Sydney Smith, and Lord Mansfield, and all
the Barings and the Fitzclarences, and a hideous Russian spy,
whose face I see everywhere, with a star on his coat. Dur-
ing the interval between the delights of "I tuoi frequenti,"
and the ecstasies of " Se tu m' ami," I contrived to squeeze up
to Lord Lansdowne. I was shaking hands with Sir James
Macdonald, when I heard a command behind us, " Sir James,
introduce me to Mr. Macaulay ;" and we turned, and there sat
a large bold-looking woman, with the remains of a fine person,
and the air of Queen Elizabeth. " Macaulay," said Sir James,
" let me present you to Lady Holland." Then was her lady-
ship gracious beyond description, and asked me to dine and
take a bed at Holland House next Tuesday. I accepted the
dinner, but declined the bed, and I have since repented that I
so declined it. But I probably shall have an opportunity of
retracting on Tuesday.
To-night I go to another musical party at Marshall's, the late
M.P. for Yorkshire. Every body is talking of Paganini and
his violin. The man seems to be a miracle. The newspapers
say that long streamy flakes of music fall from his string, in-
terspersed with luminous points of sound which ascend the
air and appear like stars. This eloquence is quite beyond
me. Ever yours, T. B. M.
190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
London, May 28th, 1831.
MY DEAK HANNAH, — More gayeties and music-parties ; not
so fertile of adventures as that memorable masquerade whence
Harriet Byron was carried away; but still I hope that the
narrative of what passed there will gratify " the venerable cir-
cle." Yesterday I dressed, called a cab, and was whisked away
to Hill Street. I found old Marshall's house a very fine one.
He ought, indeed, to have a fine one ; for he has, I believe,
at least thirty thousand a year. The carpet was taken up, and
chairs were set out in rows, as if we had been at a religious
meeting. Then we had flute-playing by the first flute-player
in England, and pianoforte-strumming by the first pianoforte-
strurnmer in England, and singing by all the first singers in
England, and Signer Rubini's incomparable tenor, and Signor
Curioni's incomparable counter-tenor, and Pasta's incompara-
ble expression. You who know how airs much inferior to
this take my soul and lap it in Elysium, will form some faint
conception of my transport. Sharp beckoned me to sit by
him in the back row. These old fellows afe so selfish. "Al-
ways," said he, " establish yourself in the middle of the row
against the wall ; for, if you sit in the front or next the edges,
you will be forced to give up your seat to the ladies who are
standing." I had the gallantry to surrender mine to a damsel
who had stood for a quarter of an hour ; and I lounged into
the anterooms, where I found Samuel Rogers. Rogers and I
sat together on a bench in one of the passages, and had a good
deal of very pleasant conversation. He was — as indeed he
has always been to me — extremely kind, and told me that if it
were in his power he would contrive to be at Holland House
with me, to give me an insight into its ways. He is the great
oracle of that circle.
He has seen the king's letter to Lord Grey respecting the
Garter, or at least has authentic information about it. It is a
happy stroke of policy, and will, they say, decide many waver-
ing votes in the House of Lords. The king, it seems, requests
Lord Grey to take the order, as a mark of royal confidence
in him " at so critical a time " — significant words, I think.
Ever yours, T. B. MACATJLAY.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 191
To Ha/nnah More Macaulay.
London, May SOtli, 1831.
Well, my dear, I have been to Holland House. I took a
glass coach, and arrived, through a fine avenue of elms, at the
great entrance toward seven o'clock. The house is delightful
— the very perfection of the old Elizabethan style — a consid-
erable number of very large and very comfortable rooms, rich
with antique carving and gilding, but carpeted and furnished
with all the skill of the best modern upholsterers. The li-
brary is a very long room — as long, I should think, as the gal-
lery at Rothley Temple — with little cabinets for study branch-
ing out of it, warmly and snugly fitted up, and looking out on
very beautiful grounds. The collection of books is not, like
Lord Spencer's, curious ; but it contains almost every thing
that one ever wished to read. I found nobody there when I
arrived but Lord Russell, the son of the Marquess of Tavistock.
We are old House of Commons friends; so we had some
very pleasant talk, and in a little while in came Allen, who is
warden of Dulwich College, and who lives almost entirely at
Holland House. He is certainly a man of vast information
and great conversational powers. Some other gentlemen drop-
ped in, and we chatted till Lady Holland made her appear-
ance. Lord Holland dined by himself on account of his gout.
We sat down to dinner in a fine long room, the wainscot of
which is rich with gilded coronets, roses, and portcullises.
There were Lord Albernarle, Lord Alvanley, Lord Russell,
Lord Mahon — a violent Tory, but a very agreeable companion
and a very good scholar. There was Cradock, a fine fellow,
who was the Duke of Wellington's aid-de-camp in 1815, and
some other people whose names I did not catch. What, how-
ever, is more to the purpose, there was a most excellent din-
ner. I have always heard that Holland House is famous for
its good cheer, and certainly the reputation is not unmerited.
After dinner Lord Holland was wheeled in and placed very
near me. He was extremely amusing and good-natured. '
In the drawing-room I had a long talk with Lady Holland
about the antiquities of the house, and about the purity of the
192 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
English language wherein she thinks herself a critic. I hap-
pened, in speaking about the Reform Bill, to say that I wished
that it had been possible to form a few commercial constitu-
encies, if the word constituency were admissible. " I am glad
you put that in," said her ladyship. " I was just going to
give it you. It is an odious word. Then there is talented,
and influential, and gentlemanly. I never could break Sheri-
dan of gentlemanly, though he allowed it to be wrong." We
talked about the word talents and its history. I said that it
had first appeared in theological writing, that it was a meta-
phor taken from the parable in the New Testament, and that
it had gradually passed from the vocabulary of divinity into
common use. I challenged her to find it in any classical
writer on general subjects before the Restoration, or even be-
fore the year 1700. I believe that I might safely have gone
down later. She seemed surprised by this theory, never hav-
ing, so far as I could judge, heard of the parable of the talents.
I did not tell her, though I might have done so, that a person
who professes to be a critic in the delicacies of the English
language ought to have the Bible at his fingers' ends.
She is certainly a woman of considerable talents and great
literary acquirements. To me she was excessively gracious;
yet there is a haughtiness in her courtesy which, even after all
that I had heard of her, surprised me. The centurion did not
keep his soldiers in better order than she keeps her guests.
It is to one " Go," and he goeth ; and to another " Do this,"
and it is done. " Ring the bell, Mr. Macaulay." " Lay down
that screen, Lord Russell ; you will spoil it." " Mr. Allen,
take a candle and show Mr. Cradock the picture of Bona-
parte." Lord Holland is, on the other hand, all kindness,
simplicity, and vivacity. He talked very well both on poli-
tics and on literature. He asked me in a very friendly man-
ner about my father's health, and begged to be remembered
to him.
When my coach came, Lady Holland made me promise
that I would on the first fine morning walk out to breakfast
with them and see the grounds; and, after drinking a glass
of very good iced lemonade, I took my leave, much amused
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 193
and pleased. The house certainly deserves its reputation for
pleasantness, and her ladyship used me, I believe, as well as it
is her way to use any body. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macmday.
Court of Commissioners, Basinghall Street, May 31st, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — How delighted I am that you like my
letters, and how obliged by yours ! But I have little more
than my thanks to give for your last. I have nothing to tell
about great people to-day. I heard no fine music yesterday,
saw nobody above the rank of a baronet, and was shut up in
my own room reading and writing all the morning. This
day seems likely to pass in much the same way, except that I
have some bankruptcy business to do, and a couple of sov-
ereigns to receive. So here I am, with three of the ugliest
attorneys that ever deserved to be transported sitting oppo-
site to me: a disconsolate-looking bankrupt, his hands in his
empty pockets, standing behind ; a lady scolding for her
money, and refusing to be comforted because it is not ; and a
surly butcher-like-looking creditor, growling like a house-dog,
and saying, as plainly as looks can say, " If I sign your cer-
tificate, blow me, that's all." Among these fair and interest-
ing forms, on a piece of official paper, with a pen and with
ink found at the expense of the public, am I writing to
Nancy.
These dirty courts, filled with Jew money-lenders, sheriffs'
officers, attorneys' runners, and a crowd of people who live by
giving sham bail and taking false oaths, are not by any means
such good subjects for a lady's correspondent as the sculpture
gallery at Lansdowne House, or the conservatory at Holland
House, or the notes of Pasta, or the talk of Rogers. But we
can not be always fine. When my Richardsonian epistles are
published there must be dull as well as amusing letters among
them ; and this letter is, I think, as good as those sermons of
Sir Charles to Geronymo which Miss Byron hypocritically
asked for, or as the greater part of that stupid last volume.
We shall soon have more attractive matter. I shall walk
out to breakfast at Holland House; and I am to dine with
YOL. I.— 13
194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. IT.
Sir George Philips, and with his son, the member for Steyn-
ing, who have the best of company ; and I am going to the
fancy ball of the Jew. He met me in the street, and
implored me to come. " You need not dress more than for
an evening party. You had better come. You will be de-
lighted. It will be so very pretty." I thought of Dr. John-
son* and the herdsman with his "See, such pretty goats."
However, I told my honest Hebrew that I would come. I
may perhaps, like the Benjamites, steal away some Israelite
damsel in the middle of her dancing.
But the noise all round me is becoming louder, and a baker
in a white coat is bellowing for the book to prove a debt of
nine pounds fourteen shillings and f ourpence. So I must fin-
ish my letter, and fall to business. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, Jnne 1st, 1831.
MY DEAE SISTEE, — My last letter was a dull one. I mean
this to be very amusing. My last was about Basinghall Street,
attorneys, and bankrupts. But for this — take it dramatically
in the German style.
Fine morning. Scene, the great entrance of Holland, House.
Enter MACAULAY, and Two FOOTMEN ire livery.
First Footman. Sir, may I venture to demand your name t
Macaulay. Macaulay, and thereto I add M.P.
And that addition, even in these proud halls,
May \vell insure the bearer some respect.
Second Footman. And art thou come to breakfast with our lord f
Macaulay. I am ; for so his hospitable will,
And hers — the peerless dame ye serve — hath bade.
First Footman. Ascend the stair, and thou above shalt find,
On snow-white linen spread, the luscious meal.
(Exit MACADLAY upstairs.)
In plain English prose, I went this morning to breakfast at Hol-
land House. The day was fine, and I arrived at twenty min-
* See Boswell's " Tour to the Hebrides," September 1st, 1773.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 195
utes after ten. After I had lounged a short time in the din-
ing-room, I heard a gruff, good-natured voice asking, " Where
is Mr. Macaulay? Where have you put him?" and in his
arm-chair Lord Holland was wheeled in. He took me round
the apartments, he riding, and I walking. He gave me the
history of the most remarkable portraits in the library, where
there is, by-the-bye, one of the few bad pieces of Lawrence
that I have seen — a head of Charles James Fox, an ignomini-
ous failure. Lord Holland said that it was the worst ever
painted of so eminent a man by so eminent an artist. There
is a very fine head of Machiavelli, and another of Earl Grey, a
very different sort of man. I observed a portrait of Lady Hol-
land, painted some thirty years ago. I could have cried to see
the change. She must have been a most beautiful woman.
She still looks, however, as if she had been handsome, and
shows in one respect great taste and sense : she does not rouge
at all, and her costume is not youthful, so that she looks as
well in the morning as in the evening. We came back to the
dining-room. Our breakfast party consisted of my lord and
lady, myself, Lord Russell, and Luttrell. You must have
heard of Luttrell. I met him once at Rogers's ; and I have
seen him, I think, in other places. He is a famous wit — the
most popular, I think, of all the professed wits — a man who
has lived in the highest circles, a scholar, and no contemptible
poet. He wrote a little volume of verse entitled "Advice to
Julia " — not first-rate, but neat, lively, piquant, and showing
the most consummate knowledge of fashionable life.
We breakfasted on very good coffee, and very good tea, and
very good eggs, butter kept in the midst of ice, and hot rolls.
Lady Holland told us her dreams ; how she had dreamed that
a mad dog bit her foot, and how she set off to Brodie, and lost
her way in St. Martin's Lane, and could not find him. She
hoped, she said, the dream would not come true. I said that
I had had a dream which admitted of no such hope, for I had
dreamed that I heard Pollock speak in the House of Com-
mons, that the speech was very long, and that he was coughed
down. This dream of mine diverted them much.
After breakfast Lady Holland offered to conduct me to her
196 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
own drawing-room, or, rather, commanded my attendance.
A very beautiful room it is, opening on a terrace, and wain-
scoted with miniature paintings interesting from their merit,
and interesting from their history. Among them I remarked
a great many — thirty I should think — which even I, who am
no great connoisseur, saw at once could come from no hand
but Stothard's. They were all on subjects from Lord Byron's
poems. " Yes," said she ; " poor Lord Byron sent them to
me a short time before the separation. I sent them back, and
told him that, if he gave them away, he ought to give them
to Lady Byron. But he said that he would not, and that if I
did not take them the bailiffs would, and that they would be
lost in the wreck." Her ladyship then honored me so far as
to conduct me through her dressing-room into the great fam-
ily bed-chamber to show me a very fine picture, by Reynolds,
of Fox, when a boy, bird'snesting. She then consigned me to
Luttrell, asking him to show me the grounds.
Through the grounds we went, and very pretty I thought
them. In the Dutch garden is a fine bronze bust of Napo-
leon, which Lord Holland put up in 1817, while Napoleon
was a prisoner at St. Helena. The inscription was selected
by his lordship, and is remarkably happy. It is from Homer's
" Odyssey." I will translate it, as well as I can extempore,
into a measure, which gives a better idea of Homer's manner
than Pope's sing-song couplet.
For not, be sure, within the grave
Is hid that prince, the wise, the brave ;
But in an islet's narrow bound,
With the great ocean roaring round,
The captive of a foeman base,
He pines to view his native place.
There is a seat near the spot which is called Rogers's seat.
The poet loves, it seems, to sit there. A very elegant inscrip-
tion by Lord Holland is placed over it :
Here Rogers sat ; and here forever dwell
With ine those pleasures which he sung so well.
Yery neat and condensed, I think. Another inscription by
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 197
Luttrell hangs there. Luttrell adjured me with mock pathos
to spare his blushes ; but I am author enough to know what
the blushes of authors mean. So I read the lines, and very
pretty and polished they were, but too many to be remember-
ed from one reading.
Having gone round the grounds, I took my leave, very
much pleased with the place. Lord Holland is extremely
kind. But that is of course ; for he is kindness itself. Her
ladyship too, which is by no means of course, is all gracious-
ness and civility. But, for all this, I would much rather be
quietly walking with you : and the great use of going to these
fine places is to learn how happy it is possible to be without
them. Indeed, I care so little for them that I certainly should
not have gone to-day, but that I thought that I should be able
to find materials for a letter which you might like.
Farewell. T. B. MACAIJLAY.
To Hannah M, Macaulay.
London, June 3d, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTEK, — I can not tell you how delighted I am to
find that my letters amuse you. But sometimes I must be
dull like my neighbors. I paid no visits yesterday, and have
no news to relate to-day. I am sitting again in Basinghall
Street ; and Basil Montagu* is haranguing about Lord Veru-
lam and the way of inoculating one's mind with truth ; and
all this apropos of a lying bankrupt's balance-sheet.
Send me some gossip, my love. Tell me how you go on
with German. What novel have you commenced? or, rath-
er, how many dozen have you finished ? Recommend me one.
What say you to " Destiny ?" Is " The Young Duke " worth
reading ? And what do you think of " Laurie Todd ?"
I am writing about Lord Byron so pathetically that I make
Margaret cry, but so slowly that I am afraid I shall make N a-
* "Those who are acquainted with the courts in which Mr. Montagu
practices with so much ability and success will know how often he enliv-
ens the discussion of a point of law by citing some weighty aphorism, or
some brilliant illustration, from the 'De Augmentis' or the 'Novum Orga-
num.'" — MACAULAY'S Review of Basil Montagu's Edition of Bacon.
198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
pier wait. Kogers, like a civil gentleman, told me last week
to write no more reviews, and to publish separate works, add-
ing, what for him is a very rare thing, a compliment, " You
may do any thing, Mr. Macaulay." See how vain and insin-
cere human nature is ! I have been put into so good a temper
with Kogers, that I have paid him, what is as rare with me as
with him, a very handsome compliment in my review. It is
not undeserved, but I confess that I can not understand the
popularity of his poetry. It is pleasant and flowing enough,
less monotonous than most of the imitations of Pope and
Goldsmith, and calls up many agreeable images and recollec-
tions. But that such men as Lord Granville, Lord Holland,
Hobhouse, Lord Byron, and others of high rank in intellect,
should place Rogers, as they do, above Southey, Moore, and
even Scott himself, is what I can not conceive. But this
comes of being in the highest society of London. What Lady
Jane Granville called the Patronage of Fashion can do as
much for a middling poet as for a plain girl like Miss Ara-
bella Falconer.*
But I must stop. This rambling talk has been scrawled in
the middle of haranguing, squabbling, swearing, and crying.
Since I began it, I have taxed four bills, taken forty deposi-
tions, and rated several perjured witnesses.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, June 7th, 1831.
Yesterday I dined at Marshall's, and was almost consoled
for not meeting Ramohun Roy by a very pleasant party. The
great sight was the two wits, Rogers and Sydney Smith. Sin-
gly I have often seen them ; but to see them both together was
a novelty, and a novelty not the less curious because their mu-
tual hostility is well known, and the hard hits which they have
given to each other are in every body's mouth. They were
very civil, however. But I was struck by the truth of what
* Lady Jane and Miss Arabella appear in Miss Edgeworth's " Patron-
age."
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 199
Matthew Bramble, a person of whom you probably never
heard, says in Smollett's " Humphry Clinker " — that one wit
in a company, like a knuckle of ham in soup, gives a flavor,
but two are too many. Rogers and Sydney Smith would not
come into conflict. If one had possession of the company, the
other was silent ; and, as you may conceive, the one who had
possession of the company was always Sydney Smith, and the
one who was silent was always Rogers. Sometimes, however,
the company divided, and each of them had a small congrega-
tion. I had a good deal of talk with both of them ; for, in
whatever they may disagree, they agree in always treating me
with very marked kindness.
I had a good deal of pleasant conversation with Rogers.
He was telling me of the curiosity and interest which at-
tached to the persons of Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron.
When Sir Walter Scott dined at a gentleman's in London
some time ago, all the servant-maids in the house asked leave
to stand in the passage and see him pass. He was, as you
may conceive, greatly flattered. About Lord Byron, whom
he knew well, he told me some curious anecdotes. When
Lord Byron passed through Florence, Rogers was there. They
had a good deal of conversation, and Rogers accompanied him
to his carriage. The inn had fifty windows in front. All
the windows were crowded with women, mostly English wom-
en, to catch a glance at their favorite poet. Among them
were some at whose houses he had often been in England,
and with whom he had lived on friendly terms. He would
not notice them, or return their salutations. Rogers was the
only person that he spoke to.
The worst thing that I know about Lord Byron is the very
unfavorable impression which he made on men who certain-
ly were not inclined to judge him harshly, and who, as far as
I know, were never personally ill-used by him. Sharp and
Rogers both speak of him as an unpleasant, affected, splenetic
person. I have heard hundreds and thousands of people who
never saw him rant about him ; but I never heard a single ex-
pression of fondness for him fall from the lips of any of those
who knew him well. Yet, even now, after the lapse of five-
200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
and-twenty years, there are those who can not talk for a quar-
ter of an hour about Charles Fox without tears.
Sydney Smith leaves London on the 20th, the day before
Parliament meets for business. I advised him to stay, and
see something of his friends who would be crowding to Lon-
don. " My flock !" said this good shepherd. " My dear sir,
remember my flock !
" The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed."
I could say nothing to such an argument, but I could not help
thinking that, if Mr. Daniel Wilson had said such a thing, it
would infallibly have appeared in his funeral sermon, and in
his " Life " by Baptist Noel. But in poor Sydney's mouth it
sounded like a joke. He begged me to come and see him at
Combe Florey. " There I am, sir, the priest of the Flowery
Valley, in a delightful parsonage, about which I care a good
deal, and a delightful country, about which I do not care a
straw." I told him that my meeting him was some com-
pensation for missing Kamohun Eoy. Sydney broke forth:
" Compensation ! Do you mean to insult me ? A beneficed
clergyman, an orthodox clergyman, a nobleman's chaplain, to
be no more than compensation for a Brahmin ; and a heretic
Brahmin too, a fellow who has lost his own religion and can't
find another; a vile heterodox dog, who, as I am credibly
informed, eats beefsteaks in private ! A man who has lost
his caste ; who ought to have melted lead poured down his
nostrils, if the good old Yedas were in force as they ought
to be."
These are some Boswelliana of Sydney, not very clerical,
you will say, but indescribably amusing to the hearers, what-
ever the readers may think of them. Nothing can present a
more striking contrast to his rapid, loud, laughing utterance,
and his rector -like amplitude and rubicundity, than the low,
slow, emphatic tone, and the corpse-like face of Rogers. There
is as great a difference in what they say as in the voice and
look with which they say it. The conversation of Rogers is
remarkably polished and artificial. What he says seems to
have been long meditated, and might be published with little
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 201
correction. Sydney talks from the impulse of the moment,
and his fun is quite inexhaustible. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, June 8th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTEE, — Yesterday night I went to the Jew's. I
had indeed no excuse for forgetting the invitation ; for, about
a week after I had received the green varnished billet and an-
swered it, came another in the self -same words and addressed
to Mr. Macaulay, Jun. I thought that my answer had mis-
carried ; so down I sat, and composed a second epistle to the
Hebrews. I afterward found that the second invitation was
meant for Charles.
I set off a little after ten, having attired myself simply as
for a dinner-party. The house is a very fine one. The door
was guarded by peace-officers and besieged by starers. My
host met me in a superb court-dress, with his sword at his side.
There was a most sumptuous-looking Persian, covered with
gold lace. Then there was an Italian bravo with a long beard.
Two old gentlemen, who ought to have been wiser, were fools
enough to come in splendid Turkish costumes at which every
body laughed. The fancy dresses were worn almost exclu-
sively by the young people. The ladies for the most part con-
tented themselves with a few flowers and ribbons oddly dis-
posed. There was, however, a beautiful Mary Queen of Scots,
who looked as well as dressed the character perfectly ; an angel
of a Jewess in a Highland plaid ; and an old woman, or rather
a woman — for through her disguise it was impossible to as-
certain her age — in the absurdest costume of the last century.
These good people soon began their quadrilles and galopades,
and were enlivened by all the noise that twelve fiddlers could
make for their lives.
You must not suppose that the company was made up of
these mummers. There was Dr. Lardner, and Long, the Greek
professor in the London University, and Sheil, and Strutt, and
Romilly, and Owen, the philanthropist. Owen laid hold on
Sheil, and gave him a lecture on -Co-operation which lasted for
half an hour. At last Sheil made his escape. Then Owen
202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
seized Mrs. Slieil, a good Catholic, and a very agreeable woman,
and began to prove to her that there could be no such thing as
moral responsibility. I had fled at the first sound of his dis-
course, and was talking with Strutt and Romilly, when, behold !
I saw Owen leave Mrs. Sheil and come toward us. So I cried
out, " Sauve qui peut !" and we rah off. But before we had
got five feet from where we were standing, who should meet
us face to face but old Basil Montagu ? " Nay, then," said I,
"the game is up. The Prussians are on our rear. If we
are to be bored to death, there is no help for it." Basil
seized Romilly ; Owen took possession of Strutt ; and I was
blessing myself on my escape, when the only human being
worthy to make a third with such a pair, J , caught me
by the arm, and begged to have a quarter of an hour's con-
versation with me. While I was suffering under J , a
smart, impudent -looking young dog, dressed like a sailor in
a blue jacket and check shirt, marched up, and asked a Jew-
ish-looking damsel near me to dance with him. I thought
that I had seen the fellow before; and, after a little look-
ing, I perceived that it was Charles ; and most knowingly,
I assure you, did he perform a quadrille with Miss Hilpah
Manasses.
If I were to tell you all that I saw, I should exceed my
ounce. There was Martin, the painter, and Procter, alias Bar-
ry Cornwall, the poet or poetaster. I did not see one peer,
or one star, except a foreign order or two, which I generally
consider as an intimation to look to my pockets. A German
knight* is a dangerous neighbor in a crowd. After seeing
a galopade very prettily danced by the Israelitish women, I
went down-stairs, reclaimed my hat, and walked into the din-
ing-room. There, with some difficulty, I squeezed myself be-
tween a Turk and a Bernese peasant, and obtained an ice, a
macaroon, and glass of wine. Charles was there, very active
in his attendance on his fair Hilpah. I bid him good-night.
" What !" said young hopeful, " are you going yet ?" It was
near one o'clock ; but this joyous tar seemed to think it im-
* Macaulay ended by being a German knight himself.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 203
possible that any body could dream of leaving such delightful
enjoyments till day-break. I left him staying Hilpah with
flagons, and walked quietly home. But it was some time be-
fore I could get to sleep. The sound of fiddles was in mine
ears, and gaudy dresses, and black hair, and Jewish noses,
were fluctuating up and down before mine eyes.
There is a fancy ball for you. If Charles writes a history
of it, tell me which of us does it best. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hcmnah M. Macaulay.
London, June lOtb, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I am at Basinghall Street, and I snatch
this quarter of an hour, the only quarter of an hour which I
am likely to secure during the day, to write to you. I will
not omit writing two days running, because, if my letters
give you half the pleasure which your letters give me, you
will, I am sure, miss them. I have not, however, much to tell.
I have been very busy with my article on Moore's " Life of
Byron." I never wrote any thing with less heart. I do not
like the book ; I do not like the hero : I have said the most I
could for him, and yet I shall be abused for speaking as cold-
ly of him as I have done.
I dined the day before yesterday at Sir George Philips's
with Sotheby, Morier, the author of " Hadji Baba," and Sir
James Mackintosh. Morier began to quote Latin before the
ladies had left the room, and quoted it by no means to the
purpose. After their departure he fell to repeating Virgil,
choosing passages which every body else knows and does not
repeat. lie, though he tried to repeat them, did not know
them, and could not get on without my prompting. Sotheby
was full of his translation of Homer's " Iliad," some specimens
of which he has already published. It is a complete failure ;
more literal than that of Pope, but still tainted with the deep
radical vice of Pope's version — a thoroughly modern and ar-
tificial manner. It bears the same kind of relation to the
" Iliad " that Robertson's narrative bears to the story of Jo-
seph in the Book of Genesis.
There is a pretty allegory in Homer — I think in the last
204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
book, but I forget precisely where — about two vessels, the one
tilled with blessings and the other with sorrow, which stand,
says the poet, on the right and left hand of Jupiter's throne,
and from which he dispenses good and evil at his pleasure
among men. What word to use for these vessels has long
posed the translators of Homer. Pope, who loves to be fine,
calls them urns. Cowper, who loves to be coarse, calls them
casks — a translation more improper than Pope's ; for a cask
is, in our general understanding, a wooden vessel, and the
Greek word means an earthen vessel. There is a curious let-
ter of Cowper's to one of his female correspondents about
this unfortunate word. She begged that Jupiter might be
allowed a more elegant piece of furniture for his throne than
a cask. But Cowper was peremptory. I mentioned this in-
cidentally when we were talking about translations. This set
Sotheby off. " I," said he, " have translated it vase. I hope
that meets your ideas. Don't you think vase will do ? Does
it satisfy you ?" I told him, sincerely enough, that it satisfied
me ; for I must be most unreasonable to be dissatisfied at any
thing that he chooses to put in a book which I never shall
read. Mackintosh was very agreeable ; and, as usually hap-
pens when I meet him, I learned something from him.
The great topic now in London is not, as you perhaps fan-
cy, Reform, but Cholera. There is a great panic ; as great a
panic as I remember, particularly in the City. Rice shakes
his head, and says that this is the most serious thing that has
happened in his time ; and assuredly, if the disease were to
rage in London as it has lately raged in Riga, it would be dif-
ficult to imagine any thing more horrible. I, however, feel
no uneasiness. In the first place, I have a strong leaning to-
ward the doctrines of the anti-contagionists. In the next
place, I repose a great confidence in the excellent food and
the cleanliness of the English.
I have this instant received your letter of yesterday with
the inclosed proof-sheets. Your criticism is to a certain ex-
tent just; but you have not considered the whole sentence
together. Depressed is in itself better than iceighed down;
but " the oppressive privileges which had depressed industry "
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 205
would be a horrible cacophony. I hope that word convinces
you. I have often observed that a fine Greek compound is
an excellent substitute for a reason.
I met Rogers at the Athenaeum. He begged me to break-
fast with him, and name my day, and promised that he would
procure me as agreeable a party as he could find in London.
Very kind of the old man, is it not ? and, if you knew how
Rogers is thought of, you would think it as great a compli-
ment as could be paid to a duke. Have you seen what the
author of " The Young Duke " says about me ; how rabid I
am, and how certain I am to rat ? Ever yours, T. B. M.
Macaulay's account of the allusion to himself in " The Young
Duke " is perfectly accurate ; and yet, when read as a whole,
the passage* in question does not appear to have been ill-nat-
uredly meant. It is much what any young literary man out-
side the House of Commons might write of another who had
only been inside that House for a few weeks ; and it was prob-
ably forgotten by the author within twenty-four hours after
the ink was dry. It is to be hoped that the commentators of
the future will not treat it as an authoritative record of Mr.
Disraeli's estimate of Lord Macaulay's political character.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, June 25th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — There was, as you will see, no debate
on Lord John Russell's motion. The Reform Bill is to be
brought in, read once, and printed, without discussion. The
contest will be on the second reading, and will be protracted,
I should think, through the whole of the week after next —
next week it will be, when you read this letter.
* " I hear that Mr. Babington Macaulay is to be returned. If he speaks
half as well as he writes, the Htinse will be in fashion again. I fear that
he is one of those who, like the individual whom he has most studied, will
give up to a party what was meant for mankind. At any rate, he must
get rid of his rabidity. He writes now on all subjects as if he certainly in-
tended to be a renegade, and was determined to make the contrast com-
plete."— The Young Duke, book v., chap. vi.
206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
I breakfasted with Rogers yesterday. There was nobody
there but Moore. We were all on the most friendly and fa-
miliar terms possible ; and Moore, who is, Rogers tells me, ex-
cessively pleased with my review of his book, showed me very
marked attention. I was forced to go away early on account
of bankrupt business ; but Rogers said that we must have the
talk out ; so we are to meet at his house again to breakfast.
What a delightful house it is! It looks out on the Green
Park just at the most pleasant point. The furniture has been
selected with a delicacy of taste quite unique. Its value does
not depend on fashion, but must be the same while the fine
arts are held in any esteem. In the drawing-room, for exam-
ple, the chimney-pieces are carved by Flaxman into the most
beautiful Grecian forms. The book-case is painted by Stoth-
ard, in his very best manner, with groups from Chaucer,
Shakspeare, and Boccaccio. The pictures are not numerous ;
but every one is excellent. In the dining-room there are also
some beautiful paintings. But the three most remarkable
objects in that room are, I think, a cast of Pope taken after
death by Roubiliac ; a noble model in terra-cotta by Michael
Angelo, from which he afterward made one of his finest stat-
ues, that of Lorenzo de' Medici ; and, lastly, a mahogany table
on which stands an antique vase.
When Chantrey dined with Rogers some time ago, he took
particular notice of the vase, and the table on which it stands,
and asked Rogers who made the table. "A common carpen-
ter," said Rogers. "Do you remember the making of it?"
said Chantrey. " Certainly," said Rogers, in some surprise :
"I was in the room while it was finished with the chisel,
and gave the workman directions about placing it." " Yes,"
said Chantrey, " I was the carpenter. I remember the room
well and all the circumstances." A curious story, I think,
honorable both to the talent which raised Chantrey, and to
the magnanimity which kept him from being ashamed of what
he had been. Ever yours affectionately, T. B. M.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 207
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, June 29th, 1831.
MY DEAK SISTER, — We are not yet in the full tide of Parlia-
mentary business. Next week the debates will be warm and
long. I should not wonder if we had a discussion of five
nights. I shall probably take a part in it.
I have breakfasted again with Rogers. The party was a
remarkable one — Lord John Russell, Tom Moore, Tom Camp-
bell, and Luttrell. We were all very lively. An odd inci-
dent took place after breakfast, while we were standing at the
window and looking into the Green Park. Somebody was
talking about diners-out. "Ay," said Campbell —
"'Ye diners-out from whom we guard our spoons.'"
Tom Moore asked where the line was. " Don't you know ?"
said Campbell. " Not I," said Moore. " Surely," said Camp-
bell, "it is your own." "I never saw it in my life," said
Moore. " It is in one of your best things in the Times" said
Campbell. Moore denied it. Hereupon I put in my claim,
and told them that it was mine. Do you remember it ? It is
in some lines called the " Political Georgics," which I sent to
the Times about three years ago. They made me repeat the
lines, and were vociferous in praise of them. Tom Moore
then said, oddly enough, " There is another poem in the Times
that I should like to know the author of, 'A Parson's Account
of his Journey to the Cambridge Election.' " I laid claim to
that also. " That is curious," said Moore. " I begged Barnes
to tell me who wrote it. He said that he had received it from
Cambridge, and touched it up himself, and pretended that all
the best strokes were his. I believed that he was lying, be-
cause I never knew him to make a good joke in his life.
And now the murder is out." They asked me whether I
had put any thing else in the Times. Nothing, I said, ex-
cept the " Sortes Virgilianae," which Lord John remembered
well. I never mentioned the " Cambridge Journey " or the
"Georgics" to any but my own family; and I was there-
fore, as you may conceive, not a little flattered to hear in one
208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
day Moore praising one of them, and Campbell praising the
other.
I find that my article on Byron is very popular, one among
a thousand proofs of the bad taste of the public. I am to
review Croker's edition of Bozzy. It is wretchedly ill done.
The notes are poorly written and shamefully inaccurate.
There is, however, much curious information in it. The
whole of "The Tour to the Hebrides" is incorporated with
"The Life." So are most of Mrs. Thrale's anecdotes, and
much of Sir John Hawkins's lumbering book. The whole
makes five large volumes. There is a most laughable sketch
of Bozzy, taken by Sir T. Lawrence, when young. I never
saw a character so thoroughly hit off. I intend the book for
you when I have finished my criticism on it. You are, next
to myself, the best- read Boswellite that I know. The lady
whom Johnson abused for flattering him* was certainly, ac-
cording to Croker, Hannah More. Another ill-natured sen-
tence about a Bath ladyf whom Johnson called " empty-head-
ed " is also applied to your godmother. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 6th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTEK, — I have been so busy during the last two
or three days that I have found no time to write to you. I
have now good news for you. I spoke yesterday night with a
success beyond my utmost expectations. I am half ashamed to
tell you the compliments which I have received ; but you well
know that it is not from vanity, but to give you pleasure, that
I tell you what is said about me. Lord Althorp told me twice
that it was the best speech he had ever heard ; Graham, and
Stanley, and Lord John Russell spoke of it in the same way ;
and O'Connell followed me out of the House to pay me the
most enthusiastic compliments. I delivered my speech much
* See Boswell's "Life of Johnson," April 15th, 1778.
t " He would not allow me to praise a lady then at Bath, observing, ' She
does not gain upon me, sir ; I think her empty -headed.' "
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 209
more slowly than any that I have before made, and it is, in
consequence, better reported than its predecessors, though not
well. I send you several papers. You will see some civil
things in the leading articles of some of them. My greatest
pleasure in the midst of all this praise is to think of the pleas-
ure which my success will give to my father and my sisters.
It is happy for me that ambition has in my mind been soft-
ened into a kind of domestic feeling, and that affection has at
least as much to do as vanity with my wish to distinguish my-
self. This I owe to my dear mother, and to the interest which
she always took in my childish successes. From my earliest
years the gratification of those whom I love has been asso-
ciated with the gratification of my own thirst for fame, until
the two have become inseparably joined in my mind.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 8th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Do you want to hear all the compliments
that are paid to me ? I shall never end, if I stuff my letters
with them; for I meet nobody who does not give me joy.
Baring tells me that I ought never to speak again. Howick
sent a note to me yesterday to say that his father wished very
much to be introduced to me, and asked me to dine with them
yesterday, as by great good luck there was nothing to do in
the House of Commons. At seven I went to Downing Street,
where Earl Grey's official residence stands. It is a noble
house. There are two splendid drawing-rooms which overlook
St. James's Park. Into these I was shown. The servant told
me that Lord Grey was still at the House of Lords, and that
her ladyship had just gone to dress. Howick had not men-
tioned the hour in his note. I sat down, and turned over two
large port-folios of political caricatures. Earl Grey's own face
was in every print. I was very much diverted. I had seen
some of them before ; but many were new to me, and their
merit is extraordinary. They were the caricatures of that re-
markably able artist who calls himself H. B. In about half
an hour Lady Georgiana Grey, and the countess, made their
YOL. I.— 14
210 LIFE AXD LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
appearance. We had some pleasant talk, and they made many
apologies. The earl, they said, was unexpectedly delayed by
a question which had arisen in the Lords. Lady Holland ar-
rived soon after, and gave me a most gracious reception, shook
my hand very warmly, and told me in her imperial, decisive
manner that she had talked with all the principal men on our
side about my speech, that they all agreed that it was the best
that had been made since the death of Fox, and that it was
more like Fox's speaking than any body's else. Then she told
me that I was too much worked, that I must go out of town,
and absolutely insisted on my going to Holland House to dine
and take a bed on the next day on which there is no Parlia-
mentary business. At eight we went to dinner. Lord Ho-
wick took his father's place, and we feasted very luxuriously.
At nine Lord Grey came from the House, with Lord Durham,
Lord Holland, and the Duke of Richmond. They dined on
the remains of our dinner with great expedition, as they had
to go to a cabinet council at ten. Of course I had scarcely any
talk with Lord Grey. He was, however, extremely polite to me,
and so were his colleagues. I liked the ways of the family.
I picked up some news from these cabinet ministers. There
is to be a coronation on quite a new plan : no banquet in
Westminster Hall, no feudal services, no champion, no proces-
sion from the Abbey to the Hall and back again. But there
is to be a service in the Abbey. All the peers are to come in
state and in their robes, and the king is to take the oaths, and
be crowned and anointed, in their presence. The spectacle
will be finer than usual to the multitude out-of-doors. The
few hundreds who could obtain admittance to the Hall will be
the only losers. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macavlay.
London, July llth, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Since I wrote to you 1 have been out to
dine and sleep at Holland House. We had a very agreeable
and splendid party ; among others, the Duke and Duchess of
Richmond, and the Marchioness of Clanricarde, who, you
know, is the daughter of Canning. She is very beautiful, and
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 211
very like her father, with eyes full of fire, and great expression
in all her features. She and I had a great deal of talk. She
showed much cleverness and information, but, I thought, a
little more of political animosity than is quite becoming in a
pretty woman. However, she has been placed in peculiar cir-
cumstances. The daughter of a statesman who was a martyr
to the rage of faction may be pardoned for speaking sharply
of the enemies of her parent: and she did speak sharply.
With knitted brows, and flashing eyes, and a look of feminine
vengeance about her beautiful mouth, she gave me such a
character of Peel as he would certainly have had no pleasure
in hearing.
In the evening Lord John Russell came ; and, soon after,
old Talleyrand. I had seen Talleyrand in very large parties,
but had never been near enough to hear a word that he said.
I now had the pleasure of listening for an hour and a half to
his conversation. He is certainly the greatest curiosity that
I ever fell in with. His head is sunk down between two
high shoulders. One of his feet is hideously distorted. His
face is as pale as that of a corpse, and wrinkled to a fright-
ful degree. His eyes have an odd glassy stare quite peculiar
to them. His hair, thickly powdered and pomatumed, hangs
down his shoulders on each side as straight as a pound of tal-
low-candles. His conversation, however, soon makes you for-
get his ugliness and infirmities. There is a poignancy with-
out effort in all that he says, which reminded me a little of
the character which the wits of Johnson's circle give of Beau-
clerk. For example, we talked about Metternich and Car-
dinal Mazarin. " J'y trouve beaucoup & redire. Le cardinal
trompait ; mais il ne mentait pas. Or M. de Metternich ment
toujours, et ne trompe jamais." He mentioned M. de Saint-
Aulaire — now one of the most distinguished public men of
France. I said : " M. de Saint-Aulaire est beau-p&re de M. le
due de Cazes, n'est-ce pas ?" " Non, monsieur," said Talley-
rand ; " Ton disait, il y a douze ans, que M. de Saint-Aulaire
etait beau-pere* de M. de Cazes ; 1'on dit maintenant que M.
* This saying remained in Macaulay's mind. He quotes it on the mar-
212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
de Gazes est gendre de M. de Saint-Aulaire." It was not easy
to describe the change in the relative positions of two men
more tersely and more sharply ; and these remarks were made
in the lowest tone, and without the slightest change of mus-
cle, just as if he had been remarking that the day was fine.
He added : " M. de Saint-Aulaire a beaucoup d'esprit. Mais
il est devot, et, ce qui pis est, devot honteux. II va se cacher
dans quelque hameau pour faire ses Paques." This was a cu-
rious remark from a bishop. He told several stories about
the political men of France : not of any great value in them-
selves : but his way of telling them was beyond all praise ;
concise, pointed, and delicately satirical. When he had de-
parted, I could not help breaking, out into admiration of his
talent for relating anecdotes. Lady Holland said that he had
been considered for nearly forty years as the best teller of a
story in Europe, and that there was certainly nobody like him
in that respect.
When the prince was gone we went to bed. In the morn-
ing Lord John Russell drove me back to London in his cab-
riolet, much amused with what I had seen and heard. But I
must stop. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
Basinghall Street, July 15th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — The rage of faction at the present mo-
ment exceeds any thing that has been known in our day. In-
deed, I doubt whether, at the time of Mr. Pitt's first becoming
premier, at the time of Sir Robert Walpole's fall, or even dur-
ing the desperate struggles between the Whigs and Tories at
the close of Anne's reign, the fury of party was so fearfully
violent. Lord Mahon said to me yesterday that friendships
of long standing were everywhere giving way, and that the
schism between the reformers and the anti - reformers was
spreading from the House of Commons into every private
gin of his Aulns Gellius as an illustration of the passage in the nineteenth
book in which Julius Caesar is described, absurdly enough, as " perpetuns
ille dictator, Cneii Pompeii socer."
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 213
circle. Lord Mahon himself is an exception. He and I are on
excellent terms. But Praed and I become colder every day.
The scene of Tuesday night beggars description. I left the
House at about three, in consequence of some expressions of
Lord Althorp's which indicated that the ministry was inclined
to yield on the question of going into committee on the bill.
I afterward much regretted that I had gone away ; not that
my presence was necessary, but because I should have liked
to have sat through so tremendous a storm. Toward eight in
the morning the Speaker was almost fainting. The minis-
terial members, however, were as true as steel. They fur-
nished the ministry with the resolution which it wanted. " If
the noble lord yields," said one of our men, " all is lost." Old
Sir Thomas Baring sent for his razor, and Benett, the member
for Wiltshire, for his night-cap ; and they were both resolved
to spend the whole day in the House rather than give way.
If the opposition had not yielded, in two hours half London
would have been in Old Palace Yard.
Since Tuesday the Tories have been rather cowed. But
their demeanor, though less outrageous than at the beginning
of the week, indicates what would in any other time be called
extreme violence. I have not been once in bed till three in
the morning since last Sunday. To-morrow we have a holi-
day. I dine at Lansdowne House. Next week I dine with
Littleton, the member for Staffordshire, and his handsome
wife. He told me that I should meet two men whom I am
curious to see — Lord Plunket and the Marquess Wellesley :
let alone the Chancellor, who is not a novelty to me.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hcmnah M. Macaulay.
London, July 25th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTEK, — On Saturday evening I went to Holland
House. There I found the Dutch Embassador, M. de Weis-
sembourg, Mr. and Mrs. Yernon Smith, and Admiral Adam,
a son of the old Adam who fought the duel with Fox. We
dined like emperors, and jabbered in several languages. Her
ladyship, for an esprit fort, is the greatest coward that I ever
214 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
saw. The last time that I was there she was frightened out
of her wits by the thunder. She closed all the shutters, drew
all the curtains, and ordered candles in broad day to keep out
the lightning, or rather the appearance of the lightning. On
Saturday she was in a terrible taking about the cholera ; talk-
ed of nothing else ; refused to eat any ice, because somebody
said that ice was bad for the cholera ; was sure that the chol-
era was at Glasgow; and asked me why a cordon of troops
was not instantly placed around that town to prevent all in-
tercourse between the infected and the healthy spots. Lord
Holland made light of her fears. He is a thoroughly good-
natured, open, sensible man ; very lively ; very intellectual ;
well read in politics, and in the lighter literature both of an-
cient and modern times. He sets me more at ease than al-
most any person that I know by a certain good-humored way
of contradicting that he has. He always begins by drawing
down his shaggy eyebrows, making a face extremely like his
uncle, wagging his head, and saying: "Now do you know,
Mr. Macaulay, I do not quite see that. How do you make it
out ?" He tells a story delightfully, and bears the pain of his
gout, and the confinement and privations to which it subjects
him, with admirable fortitude and cheerfulness. Her lady-
ship is all courtesy and kindness to me; but her demeanor
to some others, particularly to poor Allen, is such as it quite
pains me to witness. He is really treated like a negro slave.
" Mr. Allen, go into my drawing-room and bring my reticule."
" Mr. Allen, go and see what can be the matter that they do
not bring up dinner." " Mr. Allen, there is not enough turtle-
soup for you. You must take gravy-soup or none." Yet I
can, scarcely pity the man. He has an independent income,
and if he can stoop to be ordered about like a footman; I can
not so much blame her for the contempt with which she treats
him. Perhaps I may write again to-morrow. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah Jtf. Macaulay.
Library of the House of Commons, July 26th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Here I am seated, waiting for the debate
on the borough of St. Germains with a very quiet party — Lord
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 215
Milton, Lord Tavistock, and George Lamb. But, instead of
telling you in dramatic form* my conversations with cabinet
ministers, I shall, I think, go back two or three days, and com-
plete the narrative which I left imperfect in my epistle of
yesterday.
At half -after seven on Sunday I was set down at Littleton's
palace, for such it is, in Grosvenor Place. It really is a no-
ble house ; four superb drawing-rooms on the first floor hung
round with some excellent pictures — a Hobbema (the finest
by that artist in the world, it is said), and Lawrence's charm-
ing portrait of Mrs. Littleton. The beautiful original, by-the-
bye, did not make her appearance. We were a party of gen-
tlemen. But such gentlemen ! Listen, and be proud of your
connection with one who is admitted to eat and drink in the
same room with beings so exalted. There were two chan-
cellors, Lord Brougham and Lord Plunket. There was Earl
Gower ; Lord St. Vincent ; Lord Seaf ord ; Lord Duncannon ;
Lord Ebrington; Sir James Graham; Sir John Newport;
the two secretaries of the treasury, Rice and Ellice ; George
Lamb; Denison; and half a dozen more lords and distin-
guished commoners, not to mention Littleton himself. Till
* This refers to a passage in a former letter, likewise written from the
Library of the House.
"'Macaulay!' Who calls Macaulay? Sir James Graham. What can
he have to say to me ? Take it dramatically :
"SirJ.G. Macaulay!
"Macaulay. What!
" Sir J. G. Whom are you writing to, that you laugh so much over your
letter ?
" Macaulay. To my constituents at Calue, to be sure. They expect news
of the Reform Bill every day.
" Sir J. G. Well, writing to constituents is less of a plague to you than
to most people, to judge by your face.
" Macaulay. How do you know that I am not writing a billetdoux to a
lady?
" Sir J. G. You look more like it, by Jove !
" Cutler Fergusson, M.P. for Kirkcudbright. Let ladies and constituents
alone, and come into the House. We are going on to the case of the bor-
ough of Great Bedwiu immediately."
216 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
last year he lived in Portman Square. When he changed his
residence his servants gave him warning. They could not,
they said, consent to go into such an unheard-of part of the
world as Grosvenor Place. I can only say that I have never
been in a finer house than Littleton's, Lansdowne House ex-
cepted, and perhaps Lord Milton's, which is also in Grosvenor
Place. He gave me a dinner of dinners. I talked with Den-
ison, and with nobody else. I have found out that the real
use of conversational powers is to put them forth in tete-a-tete.
A man is flattered by your talking your best to him alone.
Ten to one he is piqued by your overpowering him before a
company. Denison was agreeable enough. I heard only one
word from Lord Plunket, who was remarkably silent. He
spoke of Doctor Thorpe, and said that, having heard the doc-
tor in Dublin, he should like to hear him again in London.
" Nothing easier," quoth Littleton ; " his chapel is only two
doors off ; and he will be just mounting the pulpit." " No,"
said Lord Plunket ; " I can't lose my dinner." An excellent
saying, though one which a less able man than Lord Plunket
might have uttered.
At midnight I walked away with George Lamb, and went
— where, for a ducat ? " To bed," says Miss Hannah. Nay,
my sister, not so ; but to Brooks's. There I found Sir James
Macdonald ; Lord Duncannon, who had left Littleton's just
before us ; and many other Whigs and ornaments of human
nature. As Macdonald and I were rising to depart we saw
Rogers, and I went to shake hands with him. You can not
think how kind the old man was to me. He shook my hand
over and over, and told me that Lord Plunket longed to see
me in a quiet way, and that he would arrange a breakfast-
party in a day or two for that purpose.
Away I went from Brooks's — but whither ? " To bed now,
I am sure," says little Anne. No, but on a walk with Sir
James Macdonald to the end of Sloane Street, talking about
the Ministry, the Kef orm Bill, and the East India question.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 21 T
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
House of Commons Smoking-room, Saturday.
MY DEAR SISTER, — The newspapers will have explained the
reason of our sitting to-day. At three this morning I left the
House. At two this afternoon I have returned to it, with the
thermometer at boiling-heat, and four hundred and fifty peo-
ple stowed together like negroes in the pious John Newton's
slave-ship. I have accordingly left Sir Francis Burdett on his
legs, and repaired to the smoking-room ; a large, wainscoted,
uncarpeted place, with tables covered with green baize and
writing materials. On a full night it is generally thronged
toward twelve o'clock with smokers. It is then a perfect
cloud of fume. There have I seen (tell it not to the West In-
dians) Buxton blowing fire out of his mouth. My father will
not believe it. At present, however, all the doors and win-
dows are open, and the room is pure enough from tobacco to
suit my father himself.
Get Blackwood's new number. There is a description of
me in it. What do you think he says that I am ? "A little,
t/ «/
splay-footed, ugly, dumpling of a fellow, with a mouth from
ear to ear." Conceive how such a charge must affect a man
so enamored of his own beauty as I am.
I said a few words the other night. They were merely in
reply, and quite unpremeditated, and were not ill received. I
feel that much practice will be necessary to make me a good
debater, on points of detail, but my friends tell me that I have
raised my reputation by showing that I was quite equal to the
work of extemporaneous reply. My manner, they say, is cold
and wants care. I feel this myself. Nothing but strong ex-
citement and a great occasion overcomes a certain reserve and
mawoaise honte which I have in public speaking ; not a mau-
vaise honte which in the least confuses me or makes me hesi-
tate for a word, but which keeps me from putting any fervor
into my tone or my action. This is perhaps in some respects
an advantage ; for, when I do warm, I am the most vehement
speaker in the House, and nothing strikes an audience so much
as the animation of an orator who is generally cold.
218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
I ought to tell you that Peel was very civil, and cheered me
loudly ; and that impudent, leering Croker congratulated the
House on the proof which I had given of my readiness. He
was afraid, he said, that I had been silent so long on account
of the many allusions which had been made to Calne. Now
that I had risen again he hoped that they should hear me oft-
en. See whether I do not dust that varlet's jacket for him
in the next number of the Blue and Yellow.* I detest him
more than cold boiled veal.
After the debate I walked about the streets with Bulwer
till nearly three o'clock. I spoke to him about his novels with
perfect sincerity, praising warmly, and criticising freely. He
took the praise as a greedy boy takes apple-pie, and the criti-
cism as a good, dutiful boy takes senna-tea. He has one emi-
nent merit, that of being a most enthusiastic admirer of mine ;
so that I may be the hero of a novel yet, under the name of
Delamere or Mortimer. Only think what an honor !
Bulwer is to be editor of the New Monthly Magazine. He
begged me very earnestly to give him something for it. I
would make no promises ; for I am already over head and ears
in literary engagements. But I may possibly now and then
send him some trifle or other. At all events, I shall expect
him to puff me well. I do not see why I should not have my
puffers as well as my neighbors.
I am glad that you have read Madame de StaeTs "Alle-
magne." The book is a foolish one in some respects ; but it
abounds with information, and shows great mental power.
She was certainly the first woman of her age; Miss Edge-
worth, I think, the second ; and Miss Austen the third.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
* " By-the-bye," Macaulay writes elsewhere, " you never saw such a
scene as Croker's oration on Friday night. He abused Lord John Russell,
he abused Lord Althorp, he abused the lord advocate, and we took no no-
tice— never once groaned or cried 'No!' But he began to praise Lord
Fitzwilliam — 'a venerable nobleman, an excellent and amiable nobleman,'
aud so forth ; and we all broke out together with ' Question !' ' No, no !'
'This is too bad !' ' Don't, don't!' He then called Canning his right hon-
orable friend. ' Your friend ! d — n your impudent face !' said the member
who sat next me."
1830-'32.] LOKD MACAULAY. 219
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, August 29th, 1831.
MY DEAE SISTER, — Here I am again settled, sitting up in
the House of Commons till three o'clock five days in the
week, and getting an indigestion at great dinners the remain-
ing two. I dined on Saturday with Lord Althorp, and yes-
terday with Sir James Graham. Both of them gave me ex-
actly the same dinner; and though I am not generally copi-
ous on the repasts which my hosts provide for me, I must
tell you, for the honor of official hospitality, how our minis-
ters regale their supporters. Turtle, turbot, venison, and
grouse formed part of both entertainments.
Lord Althorp was extremely pleasant at the head of his own
table. We were a small party — Lord Ebrington, Hawkins,
Captain Spencer, Stanley, and two or three more. We all of
us congratulated Lord Althorp on his good health and spirits.
He told us that he never took exercise now ; that from his
getting up, till four o'clock, he was engaged in the business of
his office ; that at four h,e dined, went down to the House at
five, and never stirred till the House rose, which is always aft-
er midnight ; that he then went home, took a basin of arrow-
root with a glass of sherry in it, and went to bed, where he al-
ways dropped asleep in three minutes. " During the week,"
said he, " which followed my taking office I did not close my
eyes for anxiety. Since that time I have never been awake
a quarter of an hour after taking off my clothes." Stanley
laughed at Lord Althorp's arrowroot, and recommended his
own supper — cold meat and warm negus ; a supper which I
will certainly begin to take when I feel a desire to pass the
night with a sensation as if I were swallowing a nutmeg-grater
every third minute.
We talked about timidity in speaking. Lord Althorp said
that he had only just got over his apprehensions. " I was as
much afraid," he said, " last year as when first I came into
Parliament. But now I am forced to speak so often that I
am quite hardened. Last Thursday I was up forty times." I
was not much surprised at this in Lord Althorp, as he is cer-
220 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
tainly one of the most modest men in existence. But I was
surprised to hear Stanley say that he never rose without great
uneasiness. " My throat and lips," he said, " when I am go-
ing to speak, are as dry as those of a man who is going to be
hanged." Nothing can be more composed and cool than Stan-
ley's manner. His fault is on that side. A little hesitation
at the beginning of a speech is graceful, and many eminent
speakers have practiced it merely in order to give the appear-
ance of unpremeditated reply to prepared speeches. Stanley
speaks like a man who never knew what fear, or even mod-
esty, was. Tierney, it is remarkable, who was the most ready
,and fluent debater almost ever known, made a confession sim-
ilar to Stanley's. He never spoke, he said, without feeling
his knees knock together when he rose.
My opinion of Lord Althorp is extremely high. In fact,
his character is the only stay of the ministry. I doubt wheth-
er any person has ever lived in England who, with no elo-
quence, no brilliant talents, no profound information, with
nothing, in short, but plain good sense and an excellent heart,
possessed so much influence both in and out of Parliament.
His temper is an absolute miracle. He has been worse used
than any minister ever was in debate, and he has never said
one thing inconsistent, I do not say with gentleman-like court-
esy, but with real benevolence. Lord North, perhaps, was his
equal in suavity and good nature ; but Lord North was not a
man of strict principles. His administration was not only an
administration hostile to liberty, but it was supported by vile
and corrupt means — by direct bribery, I fear, in many cases.
Lord Althorp has the temper of Lord North with the princi-
ples of Romilly. If he had the oratorical powers of either of
those men, he might do any thing. But his understanding,
though just, is slow, and his elocution painfully defective. It
is, however, only justice to him to say that he has done more
service to the Eef orm Bill even as a debater than all the other
ministers together, Stanley excepted.
We are going — by we I mean the members of Parliament
who are for reform — as soon as the bill is through the Com-
mons, to give a grand dinner to Lord Althorp and Lord John
1830-'32.] LOED MACAULAY. 221
Russell, as a mark of our respect. Some people wished to
have the other cabinet ministers included; but Grant and
Palmerston are not in sufficiently high esteem among the
"Whigs to be honored with such a compliment.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, September 9th, 1831.
MY DEAK SISTER, — I scarcely know where to begin, or where
to end, my story of the magnificence of yesterday. 'No pag-
eant can be conceived more splendid. The newspapers will
happily save me the trouble of relating minute particulars. I
will therefore give you an account of my own proceedings,
and mention what struck me most. I rose at six. The can-
non awaked me ; and, as soon as I got up, I heard the bells
pealing on every side from all the steeples in London. I put
on my court-dress, and looked a perfect Lovelace in it. At
seven the glass coach which I had ordered for myself and some
of my friends came to the door. I called in Hill Street for
William Marshall, M. P. for Beverley, and in Cork Street
for Strutt, the member for Derby, and Hawkins, the member
for Tavistock. Our party being complete, we drove through
crowds of people and ranks of horse-guards in cuirasses and
helmets to Westminster Hall, which we reached as the clock
struck eight.
The House of Commons was crowded, and the whole assem-
bly was in uniform. After prayers we went out in order by
lot, the Speaker going last. My county, Wiltshire, was among
the first drawn ; so I got an excellent place in the Abbey, next
to Lord Mahon, who is a very great favorite of mine, and a
very amusing companion, though a bitter Tory.
Our gallery was immediately over the great altar. The
whole vast avenue of lofty pillars was directly in front of as.
At eleven the guns fired, the organ struck up, and the proces-
sion entered. I never saw so magnificent a scene. All down
that immense vista of gloomy arches there was one blaze of scar-
let and gold. First came heralds in coats stiff with embroider-
ed lions, unicorns, and harps ; then nobles bearing the regalia,
222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. iv.
with pages in rich dresses carrying their coronets on cushions ;
then the dean and prebendaries of Westminster in copes of
cloth of gold ; then a crowd of beautiful girls and women, or
at least of girls and women who at a distance looked alto-
gether beautiful, attending on the queen. Her train of pur-
ple velvet and ermine was borne by six of these fair creatures.
All the great officers of state in full robes, the Duke of Wel-
lington with his marshal's staff, the Duke of Devonshire with
his white rod, Lord Grey with the sword of state, and the
chancellor with his seals, came in procession. Then all the
royal dukes with their trains borne behind them, and last the
king leaning on two bishops. I do not, I dare say, give you
the precise order. In fact, it was impossible to discern any
order. The whole abbey was one blaze of gorgeous dresses,
mingled with lovely faces.
The queen behaved admirably, with wonderful grace and
dignity. The king very awkwardly. The Duke of Devon-
shire looked as if he came to be crowned instead of his master.
I never saw so princely a manner and air. The chancellor
looked like Mephistopheles behind Margaret in the church.
The ceremony was much too long, and some parts of it were
carelessly performed. The archbishop mumbled. The Bishop
of London preached, well enough indeed, but not so effective-
ly as the occasion required ; and, above all, the bearing of the
king made the foolish parts of the ritual appear monstrously
ridiculous, and deprived many of the better parts of their
proper effect. Persons who were at a distance, perhaps, did
not feel this ; but I was near enough to see every turn of his
finger and every glance of his eye. The moment of the
crowning was extremely fine. When the archbishop placed
the crown on the head of the king, the trumpets sounded, and
the whole audience cried out, " God save the King." All the
peers and peeresses put on their coronets, and the blaze of
splendor through the Abbey seemed to be doubled. The king
was then conducted to the raised throne, where the peers suc-
cessively did him homage, each of them kissing his cheek and
touching the crown. Some of them were cheered, which I
thought indecorous in such a place and on such an occasion.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 223
The Tories cheered the Duke of Wellington ; and our people,
in revenge, cheered Lord Grey and Brougham.
You will think this a very dull letter for so great a subject ;
but I have only had time to scrawl these lines in order to
catch the post. I have not a minute to read them over. I
lost yesterday, and have been forced to work to-day. Half
my article on Boswell went to Edinburgh the day before yes-
terday. I have, though I say it who should not say it, beaten
Croker black and blue. Impudent as he is, I think he must
be ashamed of the pickle in which I leave him.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaula/y.
London, September 13th, 1831.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I am in high spirits at the thought of
soon seeing you all in London, and being again one of a fam-
ily, and of a family which I love so much. It is well that one
has something to love in private life ; for the aspect of public
affairs is very menacing — fearful, I think, beyond what people
in general imagine. Three weeks, however, will probably set-
tle the whole, and bring to an issue the question, Reform or
Revolution. One or the other I am certain that we must and
shall have. I assure you that the violence of the people, the
bigotry of the lords, and the stupidity and weakness of the
ministers, alarm me so much that even my rest is disturbed
by vexation and uneasy forebodings; not for myself, for I
may gain and can not lose ; but for this noble country, which
seems likely to be ruined without the miserable consolation of
being ruined by great men. All seems fair as yet, and will
seem fair for a fortnight longer. But I know the danger
from information more accurate and certain than, I believe,
any body not in power possesses ; and I perceive, what our
men in power do not perceive, how terrible the danger is.
I called on Lord Lansdowne on Sunday. He told me dis-
tinctly that he expected the bill to be lost in the Lords, and
that, if it were lost, the ministers must go out. I told him,
with as much strength of expression as was suited to the nat-
ure of our connection and to his age and rank, that if the min-
LIFE AND LETTEKS OF [CHAP.IV.
isters receded before the Lords, and hesitated to make peers,
they and the Whig party were lost ; that nothing remained
but an insolent oligarchy on the one side, and an infuriated
people on the other ; and that Lord Grey and his colleagues
would become as odious and more contemptible than Peel and
the Duke of Wellington. Why did they not think of all this
earlier ? Why put their hand to the plow and look back ?
Why begin to build without counting the cost of finishing?
Why raise the public appetite, and then balk it ? I told him
that the House of Commons would address the king against a
Tory ministry. I feel assured that it would do so. I feel as-
sured that, if those who are bidden will not come, the high-
ways and hedges will be ransacked to get together a reform-
ing cabinet. To one thing my mind is made up. If nobody
else will move an address to the crown against a Toiy minis-
try, I will. Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, October 17th, 1831.
MY DEAH ELLIS, — I should have written to you before, but
that I mislaid your letter and forgot your direction. When
shall you be in London ? Of course you do not mean to sac-
rifice your professional business to the work of numbering
the gates and telling the towers of boroughs* in Wales. You
will come back, I suppose, with your head full of ten-pound
householders instead of $/OU>EC, and of Caermarthen and Den-
bigh instead of Carians and Pelasgians. Is it true, by-the-bye,
that the commissioners are whipped on the boundaries of the
boroughs by the beadles, in order that they may not forget
the precise line which they have drawn ? I deny it wherever
I go, and assure people that some of my friends who are in
the commission would not submit to such degradation.
You must have been hard -worked indeed, and soundly
whipped too, if you have suffered as much for the Eeform
Bill as we who debated it. I believe that there are fifty mem-
bers of the House of Commons who have done irreparable in-
* Mr. Ellis was one of the commissioners appointed to arrange the
boundaries of parliamentary boroughs in connection with the Eeform Bill.
1830-'32.] LORD MACAULAY. 225
jury to their health by attendance on the discussions of this
session. I have got through pretty well, but I look forward,
I confess, with great dismay to the thought of recommencing ;
particularly as Wetherell's cursed lungs seem to be in as good
condition as ever.
I have every reason to be gratified by the manner in which
my speeches have been received. To say the truth, the sta-
tion which I now hold in the House is such that I should not
be inclined to quit it for any place which was not of consid-
erable importance. What you saw about my having a place
was a blunder of a stupid reporter's. Croker was taunting
the Government with leaving me to fight their battle and to
rally their followers ; and said that the honorable and learned
member for Calne, though only a practicing barrister in title,
seemed to be in reality the most efficient member of the Gov-
ernment. By -the -bye, my article on Croker has not only
smashed his book, but has hit the Westminster Review inci-
dentally. The Utilitarians took on themselves to praise the
accuracy of the most inaccurate writer that ever lived, and
gave as an instance of it a note in which, as I have shown, he
makes a mistake of twenty years and more. John Mill is in
a rage, and says that they are in a worse scrape than Croker ;
John Murray says that it is a d — d nuisance; and Croker
looks across the House of Commons at me with a leer of ha-
tred which I repay with a gracious smile of pity.
I am ashamed to have said so much about myself. But
you asked for news about me. No request is so certain to be
granted, or so certain to be a curse to him who makes it, as
that which you have made to me. Ever yours,
T. B. MACAULAY.
London, January 9th, 1832.
DEAR NAPIER, — I have been so much engaged by bankrupt
business, as we are winding up the affairs of many estates,
that I shall not be able to send off my article about Hamp-
den till Thursday, the 12th. It will be, I fear, more than
forty pages long. As Pascal said of his eighteenth letter, I
would have made it shorter if I could have kept it longer.
YOL. I.— 15
226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.IV.
You must indulge me, however, for I seldom offend in that
way.
It is in part a narrative. This is a sort of composition
which I have never yet attempted. You will tell me, I am
sure with sincerity, how you think .that I succeed in it. I have
said as little about Lord Nugent's book as I decently could.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, January 19th, 1832.
DEAR NAPIEK, — I will try the " Life of Lord Burleigh," if
you will tell Longman to send me the book. However bad
the work may be, it will serve as a heading for an article on
the times of Elizabeth. On the whole, I thought it best not
to answer Croker. Almost all the little pamphlet which he
published (or rather printed, for I believe it is not for sale), is
made up of extracts from Blackwood: and I thought that a
contest with your grog-drinking, cock-fighting, cudgel-play-
ing professor of moral philosophy would be too degrading. I
could have demolished every paragraph of the defense. Cro-
ker defended his Ovrtrol QiXoi* by quoting a passage of Eurip-
ides which, as every scholar knows, is corrupt ; which is non-
sense and false metre if read as he reads it ; and which Mark-
land and Matthise have set right by a most obvious correction.
But, as nobody seems to have read his vindication, we can gain
nothing by refuting it. Ever yours, T. B. MACAULAY.
* "Mr. Croker has favored us with some Greek of his own. 'At the al-
tar,' says Dr. Johnson, ' I recommended my 9 $.' ' These letters,' says the
editor (which Dr. Strahan seems not to have understood), 'probably mean
6vT)Toi <j>i\ot, departed friend*.' Johnson was not a first-rate Greek scholar ;
but he knew more Greek than most boys when they leave school ; and no
school-boy could venture to use the word OVTJTOI in the sense which Mr.
Croker ascribes to it without imminent danger of a flogging." — Macaulay's
Review of Croker't Boswell.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 227
CHAPTEE V.
1832-1834.
Macaulay is Invited to stand for Leeds. — The Reform Bill passes. — Mac-
aulay appointed Commissioner of the Board of Control. — His Life in Of-
fice.— Letters to his Sister. — Contested Election at Leeds. — Macaulay's
Bearing as a Candidate. — Canvassing. — Pledges. — Intrusion of Religion
into Politics. — Placemen in Parliament. — Liverpool. — Margaret Mac-
aulay's Marriage. — How it Affected her Brother. — He is Returned for
Leeds. — Becomes Secretary of the Board of Control. — Letters to Lady
Trevelyan. — Session of 1832. — Macaulay's Speech on the India Bill. — His
Regard for Lord Glenelg. — Letters to Lady Trevelyan. — The West In-
dian Question. — Macaulay resigns Office. — He gains his Point, and re-
sumes his Place. — Emancipation of the Slaves. — Death of Wilberforce. —
Letters to Lady Trevelyan. — Macaulay is appointed Member of the Su-
preme Council of India. — Letters to Lady Trevelyan, Lord Lansdowne,
and Mr. Napier. — Altercation between Lord Althorp and Mr. Sheil. —
Macanlay's Appearance before the Committee of Investigation. — He sails
for India.
DTJKING the earlier half of the year 1832 the vessel of
Reform was still laboring heavily; but long before she was
through the breakers, men had begun to discount the treas-
ures which she was bringing into port. The time was fast
approaching when the country would be called upon to choose
its first Reformed Parliament. As if the spectacle of what
was doing at Westminster did not satisfy their appetite for
political excitement, the constituencies of the future could not
refrain from anticipating the fancied pleasures of an electoral
struggle. Impatient to exercise their privileges, and to show
that they had as good an eye for a man as those patrons of
nomination seats whose discernment was being vaunted night-
ly in a dozen speeches from the opposition benches of the
House of Commons, the great cities were vying with each
other to seek representatives worthy of the occasion and of
themselves. The Whigs of Leeds, already provided with one
228 Li™ AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
candidate in a member of the great local firm of the Mar-
shalls, resolved to seek for another among the distinguished
politicians of their party. As early as October, 1831, Macau-
lay had received a requisition from that town, and had pledged
himself to stand as soon as it had been elevated into a parlia-
mentary borough. The Tories, on their side, brought forward
Mr. Michael Sadler, the very man on whose behalf the Duke
of Newcastle had done "what he liked with his own" in
Newark, and, at the last general election, had done it in vain.
Sadler, smarting from the lash of the Edinburgh jKeview, in-
fused into the contest an amount of personal bitterness that,
for his own sake, might better have been spared ; and, during
more than a twelvemonth to come, Macaulay lived the life of
a candidate whose own hands are full of public work at a time
when his opponent has nothing to do except to make himself
disagreeable. But, having once undertaken to fight the bat-
tle of the Leeds Liberals, he fought it stoutly and cheerily,
and would have been the last to claim it as a merit, that, with
numerous opportunities of a safe and easy election at his dis-
posal, he remained faithful to the supporters who had been so
forward to honor him with their choice.
The old system died hard ; but in May, 1832, came its final
agony. The Reform Bill had passed the Commons, and had
been read a second time in the Upper House ; but the facili-
ties which committee affords for maiming and delaying a
measure of great magnitude and intricacy proved too much
for the self-control of the Lords. The king could not bring
himself to adopt that wonderful expedient by which the una-
nimity of the three branches of our legislature may, in the
last resort, be secured. Deceived by an utterly fallacious
analogy, his majesty began to be persuaded that the path of
concession would lead him whither it had led Louis the Six-
teenth, and he resolved to halt on that path at the point
where his ministers advised him to force the hands of their
lordships by creating peers. The supposed warnings of the
French Revolution, which had been dinned into the ears of
the country by every Tory orator from Peel to Sibthorpe, at
last had produced their effect on the royal imagination. Earl
1833-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 229
Grey resigned, and the -Duke of Wellington, with a loyalty
which certainly did riot stand in need of such an unlucky
proof, came forward to meet the storm. But its violence was
too much even for his courage and constancy. He could not
get colleagues to assist him in the Cabinet, or supporters to
vote with him in Parliament, or soldiers to fight for him in
the streets ; and it was evident that in a few days his position
would be such as could only be kept by fighting.
The revolution had, in truth, commenced. At a meeting of
the political unions on the slope of Newhall Hill at Birming-
ham, a hundred thousand voices had sung the words :
God is our guide. No swords we draw.
We kindle not war's battle fires.
By union, justice, reason, law,
We claim the birthright of our sires.
But those very men were now binding themselves by a dec-
laration that, unless the bill passed, they would pay no taxes,
nor purchase property distrained by the tax-gatherer. In thus
renouncing the first obligation of a citizen, they did in effect
draw the sword, and they would have been cravens if they
had left it in the scabbard. Lord Milton did something to
enhance the claim of his historic house upon the national
gratitude by giving practical effect to this audacious resolve ;
and, after the lapse of two centuries, another Great Rebellion,
more effectual than its predecessor, but so brief and bloodless
that history does not recognize it as a rebellion at all, was in-
augurated by the essentially English proceeding of a quiet
country gentleman telling the collector to call again. The
crisis lasted just a week. The duke had no mind for a suc-
cession of Peterloos, on a vaster scale, and with a different
issue. He advised the king to recall his ministers; and his
majesty, in his turn, honored the refractory lords with a most
significant circular letter, respectful in form, but unmistakable
in tenor. A hundred peers of the opposition took the hint,
and contrived to be absent whenever Reform was before the
House. The bill was read for a third time by a majority of
five to one on the 4th of June ; a strange, and not very com-
230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
plimentary, method of celebrating old George the Third's
birthday. On the 5th it received the last touches in the Com-
mons ; and on the 7th it became an act, in very much the
same shape, after such and so many vicissitudes, as it wore
when Lord John Russell first presented it to Parliament.
Macaulay, whose eloquence had signalized every stage of the
conflict, and whose* printed speeches are, of all its authentic
records, the most familiar to readers of our own day, was not
left without his reward. He was appointed one of the com-
missioners of the Board of Control, which, for three quarters
of a century, from 1784 onward, represented the crown in its
relations to the East Indian directors. His duties, like those
of every individual member of a commission, were light or
heavy as he chose to make them ; but his own feeling with re-
gard to those duties must not be deduced from the playful al-
lusions contained in letters dashed off during the momentary
leisure of an overbusy day for the amusement of two girls
who barely numbered forty years between them. His speeches
and essays teem with expressions of a far deeper than offi-
cial interest in India and her people ; and his minutes remain
on record to prove that he did not affect the sentiment for a
literary or oratorical purpose. The attitude of his own mind
with regard to our Eastern empire is depicted in the passage
on Burke, in the essay on Warren Hastings, which commences
with the words " His knowledge of India," and concludes with
the sentence " Oppression in Bengal was to him the same
thing as oppression in the streets of London." That passage,
unsurpassed as it is in force of language and splendid fidelity
of detail by any thing that Macaulay ever wrote or uttered,
was inspired, as all who knew him could testify, by sincere and
entire sympathy with that great statesman of whose humanity
and breadth of view it is the merited, and not inadequate,
panegyric.
In Margaret Macaulay's journal there occurs more than one
mention of her brother's occasional fits of contrition on the
subject of his own idleness ; but these regrets and confessions
must be taken for what they are worth, and for no more. He
worked much harder than he gave himself credit for. His
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 231
nature was such that whatever he did was done with all his
heart and all his power, and he was constitutionally incapable
of doing it otherwise. He always underestimated the tension
and concentration of mind which he brought to bear upon his
labors, as compared with that which men in general bestow on
whatever business they may have in hand; and toward the
close of life this honorable self-deception no doubt led him to
draw far too largely upon his failing strength, under the im-
pression that there was nothing unduly severe in the efforts to
which he continued to brace himself with ever-increasing dif-
ficulty.
During the eighteen months that he passed at the Board of
Control he had no time for relaxation, and very little for the
industry which he loved the best. Giving his days to India,
and his nights to the inexorable demands of the Treasury
whip, he could devote a few hours to the Edinburgh Review
only by rising at five when the rules of the House of Com-
mons had allowed him to get to bed betimes on the previous
evening. Yet, under these conditions, he contrived to provide
Mr. Napier with the highly finished articles on Horace Wai-
pole and Lord Chatham, and to gratify a political opponent
who was destined to be a life-long friend by his kindly criti-
cism and spirited summary of Lord Mahon's " History of the
"War of the Succession in Spain." And, in the "Friendship's
Offering" of 1833, one of those mawkish annual publications
of the album species which were then in fashion, appeared his
poem of " The Armada ;" whose swinging couplets read as if
somewhat out of place in the company of such productions as
" The Mysterious Stranger ; or, The Bravo of Banff ;" "Away
to the Greenwood, a Song ;" and, " Lines on a Window that
had been Frozen," beginning with,
Pellncid pane, this morn on thee
My fancy shaped both tower and tree.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
Bath, June 10th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — Every thing has gone wrong with me.
The people at Calne fixed Wednesday for my re-election on
232 LIFE AXD LETTERS OP [CHAP. v.
taking office ; the very day on which I was to have been at
a public dinner at Leeds. I shall therefore remain here till
Wednesday morning, and read Indian politics in quiet. I am
already deep in Zemindars, Ryots, Polygars, Courts of Phouj-
dary, and Courts of Nizamut Adawlut. I can tell you which
of the native powers are subsidiary and which independent,
and read you lectures of an hour on our diplomatic transac-
tions at the courts of Lucknow, Nagpore, Hydrabad, and
Poonah. At Poonah, indeed, I need not tell you that there is
no court ; for the Paishwa, as you are doubtless aware, was de-
posed by Lord Hastings in the Pindarree war. Am I not in
fair training to be as great a bore as if I had myself been in
India — that is to say, as great a bore as the greatest ?
I am leading my watering-place life here ; reading, writing,
and walking all day ; speaking to nobody but the waiter and
the chamber-maid ; solitary in a great crowd, and content with
solitude. I shall be in London again on Thursday, and shall
also be an M.P. From that day you may send your letters as
freely as ever ; and pray do not be sparing of them. Do you
read any novels at Liverpool? I should fear that the good
Quakers would twitch them out of your hands, and appoint
their portion in the fire. Yet probably you have some safe
place, some box, some drawer with a key, wherein a marble-
covered book may lie for Nancy's Sunday reading. And, if
you do not read novels, what do you read ! How does Schil-
ler go on ? I have sadly neglected Calderon ; but whenever
I have a month to spare, I shall carry my conquests far and
deep into Spanish literature. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, July 2d, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — I am, I think, a better correspondent
than you two put together. I will venture to say that I have
written more letters by a good many than I have received,
and this with India and the Edinburgh Review on my hands ;
the " Life of Mirabeau " to be criticised ; the Rajah of Tra-
vancore to be kept in order ; and the bad money, which the
Emperor of the Burmese has had the impudence to send us
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 233
by way of tribute, to be exchanged for better. You have
nothing to do but to be good, and write. Make no excuses, for
your excuses are contradictory. If you see sights, describe
them; for then you have subjects. If you stay at home,
write ; for then you have time. Remember that I never saw
the cemetery or the railroad. Be particular, above all, in
your accounts of the Quakers. I enjoin this especially on
Nancy ; for from Meg I have no hope of extracting a word
of truth.
I dined yesterday at Holland House : all lords except my-
self. Lord Radnor, Lord Poltimore, Lord King, Lord Rus-
sell, and his uncle Lord John. Lady Holland was very gra-
cious, praised my article on Burleigh to the skies, and told
me, among other things, that she had talked on the preceding
day for two hours with Charles Grant upon religion, and had
found him very liberal and tolerant. It was, I suppose, the
cholera which sent her ladyship to the only saint in the minis-
try for ghostly counsel. Poor Macdonald's case was most un-
doubtedly cholera. It is said that Lord Amesbury also died
of cholera, though no very strange explanation seems neces-
sary to account for the death of a man of eighty-four. Yes-
terday it was rumored that the three Miss Molyneuxes, of
whom, by -the -way, there are only two, were all dead in the
same way ; that the Bishop of Worcester and Lord Barham
were no more ; and many other foolish stories. I do not be-
lieve there is the slightest ground for uneasiness, though Lady
Holland apparently considers the case so serious that she has
taken her conscience out of Allen's keeping and put it into
the hands of Charles Grant.
Here I end my letter ; a great deal too long already for so
busy a man to write, and for such careless correspondents to
receive. T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, July 6th, 1832.
Be you Foxes, be you Pitta,
You must write to silly chits.
Be you Tories, be you Whigs,
You must write to sad young gigs.
234 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
On whatever board you are —
Treasury, Admiralty, War,
Customs, Stamps, Excise, Control —
Write you must, upon my soul.
So sings the Judicious Poet : and here I sit in my parlor,
looking out on the Thames, and divided, like Garrick in Sir
Joshua's picture, between Tragedy and Comedy — a letter to
you, and a bundle of papers about Hydrabad, and the firm
of Palmer & Co., late bankers to the Nizan.
Poor Sir Walter Scott is going back to Scotland by sea to-
morrow. All hope is over ; and he has a restless wish to die
at home. He is many thousand pounds worse than nothing.
Last week he was thought to be so near his end that some peo-
ple went, I understand, to sound Lord Althorp about a public
funeral. Lord Althorp said, very like himself, that if public
money was to be laid out, it would be better to give it to the
family than to spend it in one day's show. The family, how-
ever, are said to be not ill off.
I am delighted to hear of your proposed tour, but not so
well pleased to be told that you expect to be bad correspond-
ents during your stay at Welsh inns. Take pens and ink
with you, if you think that you shall find none at The Bard's
Head, or The Glendower Arms. But it will be too bad if you
send me no letters during a tour which will furnish so many
subjects. Why not keep a journal, and minute down in it all
that you see and hear? and remember that I charge you, as
the venerable circle charged Miss Byron, to tell me of every
person who " regards you with an eye of partiality."
What can I say more? as the Indians end their letters.
Did not Lady Holland tell me of some good novels ? I re-
member " Henry Masterton," three volumes, an amusing story
and a happy termination. Smuggle it in, next time that you
go to Liverpool, from some circulating library ; and deposit it
in a lock-up place out of the reach of them that are clothed
in drab ; and read it together at the curling hour.
My article on Mirabeau will be out in the forthcoming
number. I am not a good judge of my own compositions, I
fear; but I think that it will be popular. A Yankee has
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 235
written to me to say that an edition of my works is about to
be published in America with my life prefixed, and that he
shall be obliged to me to tell him when I was born, whom I
married, and so forth. I guess I must answer him slick right
away. For, as the Judicious Poet observes,
Though a New England man lolls back in his chair,
With a pipe in his mouth, and his legs in the air,
Yet surely an Old England man such as I
To a kinsman by blood should be civil and spry.
How I run on in quotation ! But when I begin to cite the
verses of our great writers I never can stop. Stop I must,
however. Yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, July 18th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTEKS, — I have heard from Napier. He speaks
rapturously of my article on Dumont,* but sends me no mon-
ey. Allah blacken his face ! as the Persians say. He has not
yet paid me for Burleigh.
We are worked to death in the House of Commons, and we
are henceforth to sit on Saturdays. This, indeed, is the only
way to get through our business. On Saturday next we shall,
I hope, rise before seven, as I am engaged to dine on that
day with pretty, witty Mrs. . I fell in with her at Lady
Grey's great crush, and found her very agreeable. Her hus-
band is nothing in society. Rogers has some very good sto-
ries about their domestic happiness — stories confirming a the-
ory of mine which, as I remember, made -you very angry.
When they first married, Mrs. treated her husband with
great respect. But, when his novel came out and failed com-
pletely, she changed her conduct, and has, ever since that un-
fortunate publication, hen-pecked the poor author unmerciful-
ly. And the case, says Rogers, is the harder, because it is sus-
pected that she wrote part of the book herself. It is like the
* Dumont's " Life of Mirabeau." See the " Miscellaneous Writings of
Lord Macaulay."
236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
scene in Milton where Eve, after tempting Adam, abuses him
for yielding to temptation. But do you not remember how I
told you that much of the love of women depended on the
eminence of men ? And do you not remember how, on be-
half of your sex, you resented the imputation ?
As to the present state of affairs abroad and at home, I can
not sum it up better than in these beautiful lines of the poet :
Peel'is preaching, and Croker is lying.
The cholera's raging, the people are dying.
When the House is the coolest, as I am alive,
The thermometer stands at a hundred and five.
We debate in a heat that seems likely to burn us,
Much like the three children who sung in the furnace.
The disorders at Paris have not ceased to plague us:
Don Pedro, I hope, is ere this on the Tagus :
In Ireland no tithe can be raised by a parson :
Mr. Smithers is just hanged for murder and arson :
Dr. Thorpe has retired from the Lock, and 'tis said
That poor little Wilks will succeed in his stead.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, July 21st, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — I am glad to find that there is no chance
of Nancy's turning Quaker. She would, indeed, make a queer
kind of female Friend.
What the Yankees will say about me I neither know nor
care. I told them the dates of my birth, and of my coming
into Parliament. I told them also that I was educated at Cam-
bridge. As to my early bon-mots, my crying for holidays, my
walks to school through showers of cats and dogs, I have left
all those for the " Life of the late Eight Honorable Thomas
Babington Macaulay, with large extracts from his correspond-
ence, in two volumes, by the Yery Rev. J. Macaulay, Dean of
Durham, and Rector of Bishopsgate, with a superb portrait
from the picture by Pickersgill in the possession of the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne."
As you like my verses, I will some day or other write you
a whole rhyming letter. I wonder whether any man ever
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 237
wrote doggerel so easily. I run it off just as fast as my pen
can move, and that is faster by about three words in a minute
than any other pen that I know. This comes of a school-boy
habit of writing verses all day long. Shall I tell you the
news in rhyme ? I think I will send you a regular sing-song
gazette.
We gained a victory last night as great as e'er was known.
We beat the opposition upon the Russian loan.
They hoped for a majority, and also for our places.
We won the day by seventy-nine. You should have seen their faces.
Old Croker, when the shout went down our rank, looked blue with
rage.
You'd have said he had the cholera in the spasmodic stage.
Dawson was red with ire as if his face were smeared with berries ;
But of all human visages the worst was that of Herries.
Though not his friend, my tender heart I own could not but feel
A little for the misery of poor Sir Robert Peel !
Bat hang the dirty Tories! and let them starve and pine!
Huzza for the majority of glorious seventy-nine !
Ever yours, T. B. M,
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
House of Commons Smoking-room, July 23d, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — I am writing here, at eleven at night,
in this filthiest of all filthy atmospheres, and in the vilest of
all vile company ; with the smell of tobacco in my nostrils,
and the ugly, hypocritical face of Lieutenant before my
eyes. There he sits writing opposite to me. To whom, for
a ducat? To some eecretary of an Hibernian Bible Socie-
ty ; or to some old woman who gives cheap tracts, instead of
blankets, to the starving peasantry of Connemara ; or to some
good Protestant lord who bullies his Popish tenants. Reject
not my letter, though it is redolent of cigars and genuine pig-
tail ; for this is the room—
The room — but I think I'll describe it in rhyme,
That smells of tobacco and chloride of lime.
The smell of tobacco was always the same :
But the chloride was brought since the cholera came.
But I must return to prose, and tell you all that has fallen
238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
out since I wrote last. I have been dining with the Listers,
at Knightsbridge. They are in a very nice house next, or al-
most next, to that which the Wilberf orces had. We had quite
a family party. There were George Villiers, and Hyde Vill-
iers, and Edward Villiers. Charles, was not there. George
and Hyde rank very high in my opinion. I liked their be-
havior to their sister much. She seems to be the pet of the
whole family ; and it is natural that she should be so. Their
manners are softened by her presence; and any roughness
and sharpness which they have in intercourse with men van-
ish at once. They seem to love the very ground that she
treads on ; and she is undoubtedly a charming woman — pret-
ty, clever, lively, and polite.
I was asked yesterday evening to go to Sir John Burke's to
meet another heroine who was very curious to see me. "Whom
do you think ? Lady Morgan. I thought, however, that, if I
went, I might not improbably figure in her next novel ; and,
as I am not ambitious of such an honor, I kept away. If I
could fall in with her at a great party, where I could see un-
seen and hear unheard, I should very much like to make ob-
servations on her ; but I certainly will not, if I can help it,
meet her face to face, lion to lioness.
That confounded, chattering has just got into an argu-
ment about the Church with an Irish papist who has seated
himself at my elbow ; and they keep such a din that I can
not tell what I am writing. There they go. The lord lieu-
tenant— the Bishop of Derry — Magee — O'Connell — your Bi-
ble meetings — your Agitation meetings — the propagation of
the Gospel — Maynooth College — the Seed of the Woman shall
bruise the Serpent's head. My dear lieutenant, you will not
only bruise but break my head with your clatter. Mercy !
mercy ! However, here I am at the end of my letter, and I
shall leave the two demoniacs to tear each other to pieces.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
Library of the H. of C., July 30th, 1832, 11 o'clock at night.
MY DEAK SisTEKSj — Here I am. Daniel Whittle Harvey is
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 239
speaking : the House is thin ; the subject is dull ; and I have
stolen away to write to you. Lushington is scribbling at my
side. No sound is heard but the scratching of our pens, and
the ticking of the clock. We are in a far better atmosphere
than in the smoking-room, whence I wrote to you last week ;
and the company is more decent, inasmuch as that naval of-
ficer, whom Nancy blames me for describing in just terms, is
not present.
By-the-bye, you know doubtless the lines which are in the
mouth of every member of Parliament, depicting the compar-
ative merits of the two rooms. They are, I think, very happy.
If thou goest into the smoking-room
Three plagues will thee befall —
The chloride of lime, the tobacco-smoke,
And the captain, who's worst of all —
The canting sea-captain,
The prating sea-captain,
The captain, who's worst of all.
If thou goest into the library
Three good things will thee befall —
Very good books, and very good air,
And M*c**l*y, who's best of all —
The virtuous M*c**l*y,
The prudent M*c**l*y,
M*c**l*y, who's best of all.
Oh, how I am worked ! I never see Fanny from Sunday to
Sunday. All my civilities wait for that blessed day ; and I
have so many scores of visits to pay that I can scarcely find
time for any of that Sunday reading in which, like Nancy, I
am in the habit of indulging. Yesterday, as soon as I was
fixed in my best and had breakfasted, I paid a round of calls
to all my friends who had the cholera. Then I walked to all
the clubs of which I am a member to see the newspapers.
The first of these two works you will admit to be a work of
mercy ; the second, in a political man, one of necessity. Then,
like a good brother, I walked under a burning sun to Ken-
sington to ask Fanny how she did, and staid there two hours.
Then I went to Knightsbridge to call on Mrs. Lister, and
LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
chatted with her till it was time to go and dine at the Athe-
naeum. Then I dined, and after dinner, like a good young
man, I sat and read Bishop Heber's journal till bed -time.
There is a Sunday for you ! I think that I excel in the diary
line. I will keep a journal, like the bishop, that my memory
may
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.
Next Sunday I am to go to Lord Lansdowne's at Richmond,
so that I hope to have something to tell you. But on second
thoughts I will tell you nothing, nor ever will write to you
again, nor ever speak to you again. I have no pleasure in
writing to undutiful sisters. "Why do you not send me long-
er letters ? But I am at the end of my paper, so that I have
no more room to scold. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, August 14th, 1832.
MY DEAE SISTERS, — Our work is over at last ; not, however,
till it has half killed us all.* On Saturday we met for the
last time, I hope, on business. When the House rose, I set
off for Holland House. We had a small party, but a very
distinguished one. Lord Grey, the Chancellor, Lord Palmer-
ston, Luttrell, and myself were the only guests. Allen was of
course at the end of the table, carving the dinner and sparring
with my lady. The dinner was not so good as usual ; for the
French cook was ill ; and her ladyship kept up a continued
lamentation during the whole repast. I should never have
* On the 8th of August, 1832, Macaulay writes to Lord Mahon : " We
are now strictly on duty. No furloughs even for a dinner engagement, or
a sight of Taglioni's legs, can be obtained. It is very hard to keep forty
members in the House. Sibthorpe and Leader are on the watch to count
us out ; and from six till two we never venture farther than the smoking-
room without apprehension. In spite of all our exertions, the end of the
session seems farther and farther off every day. If you would do me the
favor of inviting Sibthorpe to Chevening Park you might be the means
of saving my life, and that of thirty or forty more of us, who are forced to
swallow the last dregs of the oratory of this Parliament ; and nauseous
dregs they are."
1832-'34.] LOED MACAULAY. 241
found out that eveiy thing was not as it should be but for
her criticisms. The soup was too salt ; the cutlets were not
exactly comme ilfaut; and the pudding was hardly enough
boiled. I was amused to hear from the splendid mistress of
such a house the same sort of apologies which made
when her cook forgot the joint and sent up too small a dinner
to table. I told Luttrell that it was a comfort to me to find
that no rank was exempted from these afflictions.
They talked about 's marriage. Lady Holland vehe-
mently defended the match ; and, when Allen said that
had caught a Tartar, she quite went off into one of her tan-
trums : " She a Tartar ! Such a charming girl a Tartar ! He
is a very happy man, and your language is insufferable ; in-
sufferable, Mr. Allen." Lord Grey had all the trouble in the
world to appease her. His influence, however, is very great.
He prevailed on her to receive Allen again into favor, and to
let Lord Holland have a slice of melon, for which he had been
petitioning most piteously, but which she had steadily refused
on account of his gout. Lord Holland thanked Lord Grey
for his intercession. "Ah, Lord Grey, I wish you were always
here. It is a fine thing to be prime minister." This tattle
is worth nothing, except to show how much the people whose
names will fill the history of our times resemble in all essen-
tial matters the quiet folks who live in Mecklenburg Square
and Brunswick Square.
I slept in the room which was poor Mackintosh's. The next
day, Sunday, - - came to dinner. He scarcely ever speaks
in the society of Holland House. Rogers, who is the bitter-
est and most cynical observer of little traits of character that
ever I knew, once said to me of him : " Observe that man.
He never talks to men ; he never talks to girls ; but, when he
can get into a circle of old tabbies, he is just in his element.
He will sit clacking with an old woman for hours together.
That always settles my opinion of a young fellow."
I am delighted to find that you like my review on Mira-
beau, though I am angry with Margaret for grumbling at
my Scriptural allusions, and still more angry with Nancy for
denying my insight into character. It is one of my strong
YOL. I.— 16
242 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP, v-
points. If she knew how far I see into hers, she would be
ready to hang herself. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, August 16th, 1832.
MY DEAH SISTERS, — "We begin to see a hope of liberation.
To-morrow, or on Saturday at furthest, we hope to finish our
business. I did not reach home till four this morning, after
a most fatiguing and yet rather amusing night. "What passed
will not find its way into the papers, as the gallery was locked
during most of the time. So I will tell you the story.
There is a bill before the House prohibiting those proces-
sions of Orangemen which have excited a good deal of irri-
tation in Ireland. This bill was committed yesterday night.
Shaw, the Recorder of Dublin, an honest man enough, but a
bitter Protestant fanatic, complained that it should be brought
forward so late in the session. Several of his friends, he said,
had left London believing that the measure had been aban-
doned. It appeared, however, that Stanley and Lord Althorp
had given fair notice of their intention ; so that if the absent
members had been mistaken, the fault was their own ; and the
House was for going on. Shaw said warmly that he would
resort to all the means of delay in his power, and moved that
the chairman should leave the chair. The motion was nega-
tived by forty votes to two. Then the first clause was read.
Shaw divided the House again on that clause. He was beaten
by the same majority. He moved again that the chairman
should leave 'the chair. He was beaten again. He divided
on the second clause. He was beaten again. He then said
that he was sensible that he was doing very wrong ; that his
conduct was unhandsome and vexatious; that he heartily
begged our pardons ; but that he had said that he would de-
lay the bill as far as the forms of the House would permit ;
and that he must keep his word. Now came a discussion by
which Nancy, if she had been in the ventilator,* might have
* A circular ventilator, in the roof of the House of Commons, was the
only Ladies' Gallery that existed in the year 1832.
1833-'34.] „ LORD MACAULAY. 243
been greatly edified, touching the nature of vows ; whether
a man's promise given to himself — a promise from which no-
body could reap any advantage, and which every body wished
him to violate — constituted an obligation. Jephtha's daugh-
ter was a case in point, and was cited by scmebody sitting
near me. Peregrine Courtenay on one side of the House, and
Lord Palmerston on the other, attempted to enlighten the
poor Orangeman on the question of casuistry. They might
as well have preached to any madman out of St. Luke's. " I
feel," said the silly creature, " that I am doing wrong, and
acting very unjustifiably. If gentlemen will forgive me, I
will never do so again. But I must keep my word." "We
roared with laughter every time he repeated his apologies.
The orders of the House do not enable any person absolutely
to stop the progress of a bill in committee, but they enable
him to delay it grievously. We divided seventeen times, and
between every division this vexatious Irishman made us a
speech of apologies and self-condemnation. Of the two who
had supported him at the beginning of his freak one soon
sneaked away. The other, Sibthorpe, staid to the last, not
expressing remorse like Shaw, but glorying in the unaccom-
modating temper he showed and in the delay which he pro-
duced. At last the bill went through. Then Shaw rose;
congratulated himself that his vow was accomplished ; said
that the only atonement he could make for conduct so un-
justifiable was to vow that he would never make such a
vow again; promised to let the bill go through its future
stages without any more divisions ; and contented himself
with suggesting one or two alterations in the details. "I
hint at these amendments," he said. "If the Secretary for
Ireland approves of them, I hope he will not refrain from in-
troducing them because they are brought forward by me. I
am sensible that I have forfeited all claim to the favor of the
House. I will not divide on any future stage of the bill."
We were all heartily pleased with these events ; for the truth
was that the seventeen divisions occupied less time than a real
hard debate would have done, and were infinitely more amus-
ing. The oddest part of the business is that Shaw's frank,
LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
good-natured way of proceeding, absurd as it was, has made
him popular. He was never so great a favorite with the
House as after harassing it for two or three hours with the
most frivolous opposition. This is a curious trait of the
House of Commons. Perhaps you. will find this long story,
which I have not time to read over again, very stupid and un-
intelligible. But I have thought it my duty to set before
you the evil consequences of making vows rashly and adher-
ing to .them superstitiously ; for in truth, my Christian breth-
ren, or rather my Christian sisters, let us consider, etc., etc., etc.
But I reserve the sermon on promises, which I had intended
to preach, for another occasion. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah and Margaret Macaulay.
London, August 17th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — I brought down my story of Holland
House to dinner-time on Saturday evening. To resume my
narrative, I slept there on Sunday night. On Monday morn-
ing, after breakfast, I walked to town with Luttrell, whom I
found a delightful companion. Before we went, we sat and
chatted with Lord Holland in the library for a quarter of an
hour. He was very entertaining. He gave us an account of
a visit which he paid long ago to the court of Denmark, and
of King Christian, the madman, who was at last deprived of
all real share in the government on account of his infirmity.
" Such a Tom of Bedlam I never saw," said Lord Holland.
" One day the Neapolitan Embassador came to the levee, and
made a profound bow to his majesty. His majesty bowed
still lower. The Neapolitan bowed down his head almost to
the ground ; when, behold ! the king clapped his hands on his
excellency's shoulders, and jumped over him like a boy play-
ing at leap-frog. Another day the English Embassador was
sitting opposite the king at dinner. His majesty asked him
to take wine. The glasses were filled. The embassador bow-
ed, and put the wine to his lips. The king grinned hideous-
ly, and threw his wine into the face of one of the footmen.
The other guests kept the most profound gravity ; but the
Englishman, who had but lately come to Copenhagen, though
l«32-'34.] LOED MACAULAY 245
a practiced diplomatist, could not help giving some signs of
astonishment. The king immediately addressed him in French :
1 Eh, mais, Monsieur PEnvoye d'Angleterre, qu'avez - vous
done ? Pourquoi riez-vous ? Est-ce qu'il y ait quelque chose
qui vous ait diverti ? Faites-moi le plaisir de me 1'indiquer.
J'aime beaucoup les ridicules.' "
Parliament is up at last. We official men are now left
alone at the West End of London, and are making up for our
long confinement in the mornings by feasting together at night.
On Wednesday I dined with Labouchere at his official resi-
dence in Somerset House. It is well that he is a bachelor;
for he tells me that the ladies, his neighbors, make bitter com-
plaints of the unfashionable situation in which they are cruelly
obliged to reside gratis. Yesterday I dined with Will Brough-
am, and an official party, in Mount Street. We are going to
establish a Club to be confined to members of the House of
Commons in place under the present Government, who are to
dine together weekly at Grillon's Hotel, and to settle the af-
fairs of the state better, I hope, than our masters at their cab-
inet dinners. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Homnah M. Macaulay.
London, September 20th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTEK, — I am at home again from Leeds, where
every thing is going on as well as possible. I, and most of
my friends, feel sanguine as to the result. About half my
day was spent in speaking, and hearing other people speak ;
in squeezing and being squeezed ; in shaking hands with peo-
ple whom I never saw before, and whose faces and names I
forget within a minute after being introduced to them. The
rest was passed in conversation with my leading friends, who
are very honest, substantial manufacturers. They feed me on
roast-beef and Yorkshire pudding ; at night they put me into
capital bedrooms ; and the only plague which they give me
is that they are always begging me to mention some food or
wine for which I have a fancy, or some article of comfort and
convenience which I may wish them to procure.
. I traveled to town with a family of children who eat with-
246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
out intermission from Market Harborough, where they got
into the coach, to the Peacock at Islington, where they got out
of it. They breakfasted as if they had fasted all the preced-
ing day. They dined as if they had never breakfasted. They
eat on the road one large basket of sandwiches, another of
fruit, and a boiled fowl : besides which there was not an or-
ange - girl, or an old man with cakes, or a boy with filberts,
who came to the coach-side when we stopped to change horses,
of whom they did not buy something.
I am living here by myself, with no society, or scarcely any,
except my books. I read a play of Calderon before I break-
fast ; then look over the newspaper ; frank letters ; scrawl a
line or two to a foolish girl in Leicestershire ; and walk to my
office. There I stay till near five, examining claims of money-
lenders on the native sovereigns of India, and reading Parlia-
mentary papers. I am beginning to understand something
about the Bank, and hope, when next I go to Eothley Temple,
to be a match for the whole firm of Mansfield and Babington
on questions relating to their own business. When I leave
the board, I walk for two hours ; then I dine ; and I end the
day quietly over a basin of tea and a novel.
On Saturday I go to Holland House, and stay there till
Monday. Her ladyship wants me to take up my quarters al-
most entirely there; but I love my own chambers and inde-
pendence, and am neither qualified nor inclined to succeed Al-
len in his post. On Friday week, that is to-morrow week, I
shall go for three days to Sir George Philips's, at Weston, in
Warwickshire. He has written again in terms half complain-
ing ; and, though I can ill spare time for the visit, yet, as he
was very kind to me when his kindness was of some conse-
quence to me, I can not, and will not, refuse. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, September 25th, 1832.
MY DEAB SISTEE, — I went on Saturday to Holland House,
and staid there Sunday. It was legitimate Sabbath employ-
ment— visiting the sick — which, as you well know, always
stands first among the works of mercy enumerated in good
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 247
Looks. My lord was ill, and my lady thought herself so. He
was, during the greater part of the day, in bed. For a few
hours he lay on his sofa, wrapped in flannels. I sat by him
about twenty minutes, and was then ordered^ away. He was
very weak and languid ; and, though the torture of the gout
was over, was still in pain ; but he retained all his courage,
and all his sweetness of temper. I told his sister that I did
not think that he was suffering much. "I hope not," said
she; "but it is impossible to judge by what he says; for
through the sharpest pain of the attack he never complained."
I admire him more, I think, than any man whom I know.
He is only fifty-seven or fifty-eight. He is precisely the man
to whom health would be particularly valuable, for he has
the keenest zest for those pleasures which health would en-
able him to enjoy. He is, however, an invalid and a cripple.
He passes some weeks of every year in extreme torment.
When he is in his best health he can only limp a hundred
yards in a day. Yet he never says a cross word. The sight
of him spreads good humor over the face of every one who
comes near him. His sister, an excellent old maid as ever
lived, and the favorite of all the young people of her ac-
quaintance, says that it is quite a pleasure to nurse him. She
was reading " The Inheritance " to him as he lay in bed, and
he enjoyed it amazingly. She is a famous reader ; more
quiet and less theatrical than most famous readers, and there-
fore the fitter for the bedside of a sick man. Her ladyship
had fretted herself into being ill, could eat nothing but the
breast of a partridge, and was frightened out of her wits by
hearing a dog howl. She was sure that this noise portended
her death, or my lord's. Toward the evening, however, she
brightened up, and was in very good spirits. My visit was
not very lively. They dined at four, and the company was,
as you may suppose at this season, but scanty. Charles Gre-
ville, commonly called, Heaven knows why, Punch Greville,
came on the Saturday. Byng, named from his hair Poodle
Byng, came on the Sunday. Allen, like the poor, we had with
us always. I was grateful, however, for many pleasant even-
ings passed there when London was full and Lord Holland
248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
out of bed. I therefore did my best to keep the house alive.
I had the library and the delightful gardens to myself during
most of the day, and I got through my visit very well.
News you have in the papers. Poor Scott is gone ; and I
can not be sorry for it. A powerful mind in ruins is the
most heart-breaking thing which it is possible to conceive.
Ferdinand of Spain is gone too ; and, I fear, old Mr. Stephen
is going fast. I am safe at Leeds. Poor Hyde Villiers is
very ill. I am seriously alarmed about him. Kindest love to
all Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Ha/nnah M. Macaulay.
Western Honse, September 29th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I came hither yesterday, and found a
handsome house, pretty grounds, and a very kind host and
hostess. The house is really very well planned. I do not
know that I have ever seen so happy an imitation of the do-
mestic architecture of Elizabeth's reign. The oriels, towers,
terraces, and battlements are in the most perfect keeping ; and
the building is as convenient within as it is picturesque with-
out. A few weather-stains, or a few American creepers, and
a little ivy, would make it perfect : and all that will come, I
suppose, with time. The terrace is my favorite spot. I al-
ways liked "the trim gardens" of which Milton speaks, and
thought that Brown and his imitators went too far in bring-
ing forests and sheep-walks up to the very windows of draw-
ing-rooms.
I came through Oxford. It was as beautiful a day as the
second day of our visit, and the High Street was in all its
glory. But it made me quite sad to find myself there with-
out you and Margaret. All my old Oxford associations are
gone. Oxford, instead of being, as it used to be, the magnifi-
cent old city of the seventeenth century — still preserving its
antique character among the improvements of modern times,
and exhibiting in the midst of upstart Birminghams and Man-
chesters the same aspect which it wore when Charles held his
court at Christchurch, and Rupert led his cavalry over Magda-
lene Bridge — is now to me only the place where I was so hap-
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 249
py with my little sisters. But I was restored to mirth, and
even to indecorous mirth, by what happened after we had left
the fine old place behind us. There was a young fellow of
about five-and-twenty, mustached and smartly dressed, in the
coach with me. He was not absolutely uneducated, for he was
reading a novel, " The Hungarian Brothers," the whole way.
We rode, as I told you, through the High Street. The coach
stopped to dine ; and this youth passed half an hour in the
midst of that city of palaces. He looked about him with his
mouth open as he re-entered the coach, and all the while that
we were driving away past the Ratcliffe Library, the Great
Court of All-Souls, Exeter, Lincoln, Trinity, Balliol, and St.
John's. When we were about a mile on the road he spoke
the first words that I had heard him utter. " That was a pret-
ty town enough. Pray, sir, what is it called ?" I could not
answer him for laughing ; but he seemed quite unconscious
of his own absurdity. Ever yours, T. B. M.
During all the period covered by this correspondence the
town of Leeds was alive with the agitation of a turbulent but
not very dubious contest. Macaulay's relations with the elect-
ors whose votes he was courting are too characteristic to be
omitted altogether from the story of his life, though the style
of his speeches and manifestoes is more likely to excite the
admiring envy of modern members of Parliament than to be
taken as a model for their communications to their own con-
stituents. This young politician, who depended on office for
his bread, and on a seat in the House of Commons for office,
adopted from the first an attitude of high and almost peremp-
tory independence which would have sat well on a prime min-
ister in his grand climacteric. The following letter (some
passages of which have been here omitted and others slightly
condensed) is strongly marked in every line with the personal
qualities of the writer :
London, August 3d, 1832.
MY DEAR SIR, — I am truly happy to find that the opinion
of my friends at Leeds on the subject of canvassing agrees
with that which I have long entertained. The practice of beg-
250 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
ging for votes is, as it seems to me, absurd, pernicious, and al-
together at variance with the true principles of representative
government. The suffrage of an elector ought not to be ask-
ed, or to be given, as a personal favor. It is as much for the
interest of constituents to choose well as it can be for the in-
terest of a candidate to be chosen. To request an honest man
to vote according to his conscience is superfluous. To request
him to vote against his conscience is an insult. The practice
of canvassing is quite reasonable under a system in which men
are sent to Parliament to serve themselves. It is the height
of absurdity under a system under which men are sent to Par-
liament to serve the public. While we had only a mock rep-
resentation, it was natural enough that this practice should be
carried to a great extent. I trust it will soon perish with the
abuses from which it sprung. I trust that the great and in-
telligent body of people who have obtained the elective fran-
chise will see that seats in the House of Commons ought not
to be given, like rooms in an almshouse, to urgency of solici-
tation ; and that a man who surrenders his vote to caresses
and supplications forgets his duty as much as if he sold it for
a bank-note. I hope to see the day when an Englishman will
think it as great an affront to be courted and fawned upon
in his capacity of elector as in his capacity of juryman. He
would be shocked at the thought of finding an unjust verdict
because the plaintiff or the defendant had been very civil and
pressing ; and, if he would reflect, he would, I think, be equal-
ly shocked at the thought of voting for a candidate for whose
public character he felt no esteem, merely because that can-
didate had called upon him, and begged very hard, and had
shaken his hand very warmly. My conduct is before the
electors of Leeds. My opinions shall on all occasions be stated
to them with perfect frankness. If they approve that con-
duct, if they concur in those opinions, they ought, not for my
sake, but for their own, to choose me as their member. To be
so chosen I should indeed consider as a high and enviable
honor ; but I should think it no honor to be returned to Par-
liament by persons who, thinking me destitute of the requi-
site qualifications, had yet been wrought upon by cajolery
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 251
and importunity to poll for me in despite of their better judg-
ment.
I wish to add a few words touching a question which has
lately been much canvassed ; I mean the question of pledges.
In this letter, and in every letter which I have written to my
friends at Leeds, I have plainly declared my opinions. But I
think it, at this conjuncture, my duty to declare that I will give
no pledges. I will not bind myself to make or to support any
particular motion. I will state as shortly as I can some of the
reasons which have induced me to form this determination.
The great beauty of the representative system is, that it unites
the advantages of popular control with the advantages arising
from a division of labor. Just as a physician understands
medicine better than an ordinary man, just as a shoe-maker
makes shoes better than an ordinary man, so a person whose
life is passed in transacting affairs of state becomes a better
statesman than an ordinary man. In politics, as well as every
other department of life, the public ought to have the means
of checking those who serve it. If a man finds that he de-
rives no benefit from the prescription of his physician, he calls
in another. If his shoes do not fit him, he changes his shoe-
maker. But when he has called in a physician of whom he
hears a good report, and whose general practice he believes to
be judicious, it would be absurd in him to tie down that phy-
sician to order particular pills and particular draughts. "While
he continues to be the customer of a shoe-maker, it would be
absurd in him to sit by and mete every motion of that shoe-
maker's hand. And in the same manner, it would, I think, be
absurd in him to require positive pledges, and to exact daily
and hourly obedience, from his representative. My opinion
is, that electors ought at first to choose cautiously ; then to
confide liberally ; and, when the term for which they have se-
lected their member has expired, to review his conduct equita-
bly, and to pronounce on the whole taken together.
If the people of Leeds think proper to repose in me that
confidence which is necessary to the proper discharge of the
duties of a representative, I hope that I shall not abuse it. If
it be their pleasure to fetter their members by positive prom-
252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
ises, it is in their power to do so. I can only say that on
such terms I can not conscientiously serve them.
I hope, and feel assured, that the sincerity with which I
make this explicit declaration will, if it deprive me of the
votes of my friends at Leeds, secure to me what I value far
more highly, their esteem. Believe me ever, my dear sir,
Your most faithful servant, T. B. MACAULAY.
This frank announcement, taken by many as a slight, and
by some as a downright challenge, produced remonstrances
which, after the interval of a week, were answered by Macau-
lay in a second letter ; worth reprinting, if it were only for
the sake of his fine parody upon the popular cry which for
two years past had been the watch-word of Reformers.
I was perfectly aware that the avowal of my feelings on the
subject of pledges was not likely to advance my interest at
Leeds. I was perfectly aware that many of my most respect-
able friends were likely to differ from me ; and therefore I
thought it the more necessary to make, uninvited, an explicit
declaration of my feelings. If ever there was a time when
public men were in an especial measure bound to speak ike
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to the peo-
ple, this is that time. Nothing is easier than for a candidate
to avoid unpopular topics as long as possible, and when they
are forced on him, to take refuge in evasive and unmeaning
phrases. Nothing is easier than for him to give extravagant
promises while an election is depending, and to forget them
as soon as the return is made. I will take no such course. I
do not wish to obtain a single vote on false pretenses. Un-
der the old system I have never been the flatterer of the great.
Under the new system I will not be the flatterer of the peo-
ple. The truth, or what appears to me to be such, may some-
times be distasteful to those wThose good opinion I most value.
I shall nevertheless always abide by it, and trust to their good
sense, to their second thoughts, to the force of reason, and the
progress of time. If, after all, their decision should be unfa-
vorable to me, I shall submit to that decision with fortitude
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 253
and good humor. It is not necessary to my happiness that I
should sit in Parliament ; but it is necessary to my happiness
that I should possess, in Parliament or out of Parliament, the
consciousness of having done what is right.
Macaulay had his own ideas as to the limits within which
constituents are justified in exerting their privilege of ques-
tioning a candidate ; and, on the first occasion when those lim-
its were exceeded, he made a notable example of the trans-
gressor. During one of his public meetings, a voice was
heard to exclaim from the crowd in the body of the hall,
"An elector wishes to know the religious creed of Mr. Mar-
shall and Mr. Macaulay." The last-named gentleman was on
his legs in a moment. " Let that man stand up !" he cried.
" Let him stand on a form, where I can see him !" The of-
fender, who proved to be a Methodist preacher, was hoisted on
to a bench by his indignant neighbors ; nerving himself even
in that terrible moment by a lingering hope that he might yet
be able to hold his own. But the unhappy man had not a
chance against Macaulay, who harangued him as if he were
the living embodiment of religious intolerance and illegiti-
mate curiosity. " I have heard with the greatest shame and
sorrow the question which has been proposed to me; and
with peculiar pain do I learn that this question was proposed
by a minister of religion. I do most deeply regret that any
person should think it necessary to make a meeting like this
an arena for theological discussion. I will not be a party to
turning this assembly to such a purpose. My answer is short,
and in one word. Gentlemen, I am a Christian." At this
declaration the delighted audience began to cheer ; but Mac-
aulay would have none of their applause. " This is no sub-
ject," he said, "for acclamation. I will say no more. No
man shall speak of me as the person who, when this disgrace-
ful inquisition was entered upon in an assembly of English-
men, brought forward the most sacred subjects to be canvassed
here, and be turned into a matter for hissing or for cheering.
If on any future occasion it should happen that Mr. Carlile
should favor any large meeting with his infidel attacks upon
254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
the Gospel, he shall not have it to say that I set the example.
Gentlemen, I have done ; I tell you, I will say no more ; and
if the person who has thought fit to ask this question has the
feelings worthy of a teacher of religion, he will not, I think,
rejoice that he has called me forth."
This ill-fated question had been prompted by a report, dil-
igently spread through the town, that the "Whig candidates
were Unitarians ; a report which, even if correct, would prob-
ably have done little to damage their electioneering prospects.
There are few general remarks which so uniformly hold good
as the observation that men are not willing to attend the re-
ligious worship of people who believe less than themselves, or
to vote at elections for people who believe more than them-
selves. While the congregations at a high Anglican service are
in part composed of Low-churchmen and Broad-churchmen,
while Presbyterians and Wesleyans have no objection to a
sound discourse from a divine of the Establishment, it is sel-
dom the case that any but Unitarians are seen inside a Uni-
tarian chapel. On the other hand, at the general election of
1874, when not a solitary Roman Catholic was returned
throughout the length and breadth of the island of Great
Britain, the Unitarians retained their long-acknowledged pre-
eminence as the most overrepresented sect in the kingdom.
While Macaulay was stern in his refusal to gratify his elect-
ors with the customary blandishments, he gave them plenty
of excellent political instruction ; which he conveyed to them
in rhetoric, not premeditated with the care that alone makes
speeches readable after a lapse of years, but for this very rea-
son all the more effective when the passion of the moment
was pouring itself from his lips in a stream of faultless, but
unstudied, sentences. A course of mobs, which turned Cob-
den into an orator, made of Macaulay a Parliamentary de-
bater ; and the ear and eye of the House of Commons soon
detected, in his replies from the Treasury bench, welcome
signs of the invaluable training that can be got nowhere ex-
cept on the hustings and the platform. There is no better
sample of Macaulay's extempore speaking than the first words
which he addressed to his committee at Leeds after the Re-
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 255
form Bill had received the royal assent. " I find it difficult
to express my gratification at seeing such an assembly con-
vened at such a time. All the history of our own country, all
the history of other countries, furnishes nothing parallel to it.
Look at the great events in our own former history, and in
every one of them which, for importance, we can venture to
compare with the Keform Bill, we shall find something to dis-
grace and tarnish the achievement. It was by the assistance
of French arms and of Roman bulls that King John was har-
assed into giving the Great Charter. In the times of Charles
I., how much injustice, how much crime, how much bloodshed
and misery, did it cost to assert the liberties of England ! But
in this event, great and important as it is in substance, I con-
fess I think it still more important from the manner in which
it has been achieved. Other countries have obtained deliver-
ances equally signal and complete, but in no country has that
deliverance been obtained with such perfect peace ; so entire-
ly within the bounds of the Constitution ; with all the forms
of law observed ; the government of the country proceeding
in its regular course ; every man going forth unto his labor
until the evening. France boasts of her three days of July,
when her people rose, when barricades fenced the streets, and
the entire population of the capital in arms successfully vin-
dicated their liberties. They boast, and justly, of those three
days of July ; but I will boast of our ten days of May. We,
too, fought a battle, but it was with moral arms. We, too,
placed an impassable barrier between ourselves and military
tyranny ; but we fenced ourselves only with moral barricades.
Not one crime committed, not one acre confiscated, not one
life lost, not one instance of outrage or attack on the authori-
ties or the laws. Our victory has not left a single family in
mourning. Not a tear, not a drop of blood, has sullied the
pacific and blameless triumph of a great people."
The Tories of Leeds, as a last resource, fell to denouncing
Macaulay as a placeman : a stroke of superlative audacity in
a party which, during eight-and-forty years, had been out of
office for only fourteen months. It may well be imagined
that he found plenty to say in his own defense. " The only
256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
charge which malice can prefer against me is that I am a
placeman. Gentlemen, is it your wish that those persons who
are thought worthy of the public confidence should never pos-
sess the confidence of the king ? Is it your wish that no men
should be ministers but those whom no populous places will
take as their representatives? By whom, I ask, has the He-
form Bill been carried? By ministers. Who have raised
Leeds into the situation to return members to Parliament?
It is by the strenuous efforts of a patriotic ministry that that
great result has been produced. I should think that the Re-
form Bill had done little for the people, if under it the serv-
ice of the people was not consistent with the service of the
crown."
Just before the general election Hyde Yilliers died, and the
secretaryship to the Board of Control became vacant. Mac-
aulay succeeded his old college friend in an office that gave
him weighty responsibility, defined duties, and, as it chanced,
exceptional opportunities for distinction. About the same
time, an event occurred which touched him more nearly than
could any possible turn of fortune in the world of politics.
His sisters, Hannah and Margaret, had for some months been
almost domesticated among a pleasant nest of villas which lie
in the southern suburb of Liverpool, on Dingle Bank : a spot
whose natural beauty nothing can spoil, until in the fullness
of time its inevitable destiny shall convert it into docks. The
young ladies were the guests of Mr. John Cropper, who be-
longed to the Society of Friends, a circumstance which read-
ers who have got thus far into the Macaulay correspondence
will doubtless have discovered for themselves. Before the
visit was over, Margaret became engaged to the brother of
her host, Mr. Edward Cropper, a man in every respect worthy
of the personal esteem and the commercial prosperity which
have fallen to his lot.
There are many who will be surprised at finding in Macau-
lay's letters, both now and hereafter, indications of certain
traits in his disposition with which the world, knowing him
only through his political actions and his published works,
may perhaps be slow to credit him ; but which, taking his life
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 257
as a whole, were predominant in their power to affect his hap-
piness and give matter for his thoughts. Those who are least
partial to him will allow that his was essentially a virile intel-
lect. He wrote, he thought, he spoke, he acted, like a man.
The public regarded him as an impersonation of vigor, vivaci-
ty, and self-reliance ; but his own family, together with one,
and probably only one of his friends, knew that his affections
were only too tender and his sensibilities only too acute. Oth-
ers may well be loath to parade what he concealed ; but a por-
trait of Macaulay from which those features were omitted
would be imperfect to the extent of misrepresentation ; and it
must be acknowledged that, where he loved, he loved more
entirely, and more exclusively, than was well for himself. It
was improvident in him to concentrate such intensity of feel-
ing upon relations who, however deeply they were attached
to him, could not always be in a position to requite him with
the whole of their time and the whole of their heart. He suf-
fered much for that improvidence ; but he was too just and
too kind to permit that others should suffer with him ; and it
is not for one who obtained by inheritance a share of his ines-
timable affection to regret a weakness to which he considers
himself by duty bound to refer.
How keenly Macaulay felt the separation from his sister it
is impossible to do more than indicate. He never again re-
covered that tone of thorough boyishness which had been pro-
duced by a long, unbroken habit of gay and affectionate inti-
macy with those younger than himself ; indulged in without
a suspicion on the part of any concerned that it was in its
very nature transitory and precarious. For the first time he
was led to doubt whether his scheme of life was indeed a wise
one ; or, rather, he began to be aware that he had never laid
out any scheme of life at all. But with that unselfishness
which was the key to his character and to much of his career,
(resembling in its quality what we sometimes admire in a
woman, rather than what we ever detect in a man), he took
successful pains to conceal his distress from those over whose
happiness it otherwise could not have failed to cast a shadow.
" The attachment between brothers and sisters," he writes
YOL. I.— 17
258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP, v.
in November, 1832, "blameless, amiable, and delightful as it
is, is so liable to be superseded by other attachments that no
wise man ought to suffer it to become indispensable to him.
That women shall leave the home of their birth, and contract
ties dearer than those of consanguinity, is a law as ancient as
the first records of the history of our race, and as unchangea-
ble as the constitution of the human body and mind. To re-
pine against the nature of things, and against the great fund-
amental law of all society, because, in consequence of my own
want of foresight, it happens to bear heavily on me, would be
the basest and most absurd selfishness.
" I have still one more stake to lose. There remains one
event for which, when it arrives, I shall, I hope, be prepared.
From that moment, with a heart formed, if ever any man's
heart was formed, for domestic happiness, I shall have noth-
ing left in this world but ambition. There is no wound, how-
ever, which time and necessity will not render endurable:
and, after all, what am I more than my fathers — than the
millions and tens of millions who have been weak enough to
pay double price for some favorite number in the lottery of
life, and who have suffered double disappointment when their
ticket came up a blank ?"
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
Leeds, December 12th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTER, — The election here is going on as well as
possible. To-day the poll stands thus :
Marshall, 1804 Macanlay, 1792 Sadler, 1353.
The probability is that Sadler will give up the contest. If
he persists, he will be completely beaten. The voters are un-
der 4000 in number ; those who have already polled are 3100 ;
and about 500 will not poll at all. Even if we were not
to bring up another man, the probability is that we should
win. On Sunday morning early I hope to be in London ;
and I shall see you in the course of the day.
I had written thus far when your letter was delivered to
me. I am sitting in the midst of two hundred friends, all
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 259
mad with exultation and party spirit, all glorying over the
Tories, and thinking me the happiest man in the world. And
it is all that I can do to hide my tears, and to command my
voice, when it is necessary for me to reply to their congratu-
lations. Dearest, dearest sister, you alone are now left to me.
Whom have I on earth but thee? But for you, in the
midst of all these successes, I should wish that I were lying
by poor Hyde Villiers. But I can not go on. I am wanted
to write an address to the electors ; and I shall lay it on Sad-
ler pretty heavily. By what strange fascination is it that am-
bition and resentment exercise such power over minds which
ought to be superior to them ? I despise myself for feeling
so bitterly toward this fellow as I do. But the separation
from dear Margaret has jarred my whole temper. I am cried
up here to the skies as the most affable and kind-hearted of
men, while I feel a fierceness and restlessness within me quite
new and almost inexplicable. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, December 24th, 1832.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I am much obliged to you for your let-
ter, and am gratified by all its contents, except what you say
about your own cough. As soon as you come back, you shall
see Dr. Chambers, if you are not quite well. Do not oppose
me in this, for I have set my heart on it.
I dined on Saturday at Lord Essex's in Belgrave Square.
But never was there such a take-in. I had been given to un-
derstand that his lordship's cuisine was superintended by the
first French artists, and that I should find there all the luxu-
ries of the "Almanach des Gourmands." What a mistake !
His lordship is luxurious indeed, but in quite a different way.
He is a true Englishman. Not a dish on his table but what
Sir Roger de Coverley, or Sir Hugh Tyrold,* might have set
before his guests. A huge haunch of venison on the side-
board ; a magnificent piece of beef at the bottom of the table ;
and before my lord himself smoked, not a dindon aux tmffes,
* The uncle of Miss Barney's Camilla.
960 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
but a fat roasted goose stuffed with sage and onions. I was
disappointed, but very agreeably ; for my tastes are, I fear,
incurably vulgar, as you may perceive by my fondness for
Mrs. Meeke's novels.
Our party consisted of Sharp ; Lubbock ; Watson, M.P. for
Canterbury ; and Kich, the author of " What will the Lords
do ?" who wishes to be M.P. for Knaresborough. Rogers was
to have been of the party ; but his brother chose that very
day to die upon, so that poor Sam had to absent himself. The
chancellor was also invited, but he had scampered off to pass
his Christmas with his old mother in Westmoreland. We had
some good talk, particularly about Junius's Letters. I learn-
ed some new facts which I will tell you when we meet. I am
more and more inclined to believe that Francis was one of the
people principally concerned. Ever yours, T. B. M.
On the 29th of January, 1833, commenced the first session
of the Reformed Parliament. The main incidents of that ses-
sion, so fruitful in great measures of public utility, belong to
general history ; if indeed Clio herself is not fated to succumb
beneath the stupendous undertaking of turning Hansard into
a narrative imbued with human interest. O'Connell — criti-
cising the king's speech at vast length, and passing in turns
through every mood from the most exquisite pathos to down-
right and undisguised ferocity — at once plunged the House
into a discussion on Ireland, which alternately blazed and
smoldered through four live-long nights. Sheil and Grattan
spoke finely ; Peel and Stanley admirably ; Bulwer made the
first of his successes, and Cobbett the second of his failures ;
but the longest and the loudest cheers were those which greet-
ed each of the glowing periods in which Macaulay, as the
champion of the Whig party,* met the great agitator face to
* " We are called base, and brutal, and bloody. Such are the epithets
which the honorable and learned member for Dublin thinks it becoming to
pour forth against the party to which he owes every political privilege
that he enjoys. The time will come when history will do justice to the
Whigs of England, and will faithfully relate how much they did and suf-
fered for Ireland. I see on the benches near me men who might, by utter-
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 261
face with high, but not intemperate, defiance. In spite of this
nattering reception, he seldom addressed the House. A sub-
ordinate member of a government, with plenty to do in his
own department, finds little temptation, and less encourage-
ment, to play the debater. The difference of opinion between
the two Houses concerning the Irish Church Temporalities
Bill, which constituted the crisis of the year, was the one
circumstance that excited in Macaulay's mind any very live-
ly emotions ; but those emotions, being denied their full and
free expression in the oratory of a partisan, found vent in
the doleful prognostications of a despairing patriot which fill
his letters throughout the months of June and July. His ab-
stinence from the passing topics of parliamentary controversy
obtained for him a friendly as well as an attentive hearing
from both sides of the House whenever he spoke on his own
subjects ; and did much to smooth the progress of those im-
mense and salutary reforms with which the Cabinet had re-
solved to accompany the renewal of the India Company's
charter.
So rapid had been the march of events under that strange
imperial system established in the East by the enterprise and
ing one word against Catholic Emancipation — nay, by merely abstaining
from uttering a word in favor of Catholic Emancipation — have been re-
turned to this House without difficulty or expense, and who, rather than
wrong their Irish fellow-subjects, were content to relinquish all the ob-
jects of their honorable ambition, and to retire into private life with con-
science and fame untarnished. As to one eminent person, who seems to
be regarded with especial malevolence by those who ought never to men-
tion his name without respect and gratitude, I will only say this, that the
loudest clamor which the honorable and learned gentleman can excite
against Lord Grey will be trifling when compared with the clamor which
Lord Grey withstood in order to place the honorable and learned gentle-
man where he now sits. Though a young member of the Whig party, I
will venture to speak in the name of the whole body. I tell the honorable
and learned gentleman, that the same spirit which sustained us in a just
contest for him will sustain us in an equally just contest against him.
Calumny, abuse, royal displeasure, popular fury, exclusion from office, ex-
clusion from Parliament, we were ready to endure them all, rather than
that he should be less than a British subject. We never will suffer him
to be more.
262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
valor of three generations of our countrymen, that each of the
periodical revisions of that system was, in effect, a revolution.
The legislation of 1813 destroyed the monopoly of the India
trade. In 1833, the tune had arrived when it was impossible
any longer to maintain the monopoly of the China trade, and
the extinction of this remaining commercial privilege could not
fail to bring upon the company commercial ruin. Skill and
energy, and caution, however happily combined, would not en-
able rulers who were governing a population larger than that
governed by Augustus, and making every decade conquests
more extensive than the conquests of Trajan, to compete with
private merchants in an open market. England, mindful of the
inestimable debt which she owed to the great company, did
not intend to requite her benefactors by imposing on them a
hopeless task. Justice and expediency could be reconciled by
ono course, and one only — that of buying up the assets and li-
abilities of the company on terms the favorable character of
which should represent the sincerity of the national gratitude.
Interest was to be paid from the Indian exchequer at the rate
of ten guineas a year on every hundred pounds of stock ; the
company was relieved of its commercial attributes, and be-
came a corporation charged with the function of ruling Hin-
doostan ; and its directors, as has been well observed, remain-
ed princes, but merchant-princes no longer.
The machinery required for carrying into effect this gigan-
tic metamorphosis was embodied in a bill every one of whose
provisions breathed the broad, the fearless, and the tolerant
spirit with which Reform had inspired our counsels. The
earlier sections placed the whole property of the company in
trust for the crown, and enacted that " from and after the 22d
day of April, 1834, the exclusive right of trading with the do-
minions of the Emperor of China and of trading in tea shall
cease ;" and then came clauses which threw open the whole
continent of India as a place of residence for all subjects of
his majesty; which pronounced the doom of slavery; and
which ordained that no native of the British territories in the
East should, "by reason only of his religion, place of birth,
descent, or color, be disabled from holding any place, office, or
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 263
employment." The measure was introduced by Mr. Charles
Grant, the President of the Board of Control, and was read a
second time on Wednesday, the 10th of July. On that occa-
sion Macaulay defended the bill in a thin House ; a circum-
stance which may surprise those who are not aware that on a
Wednesday, and with an Indian question on the paper,. Cicero
replying to Hortensius would hardly draw a quorum. Small
as it was, the audience contained Lord John Russell, Peel,
O'Connell, and other masters in the parliamentary craft.
Their unanimous judgment was summed up by Charles
Grant, in words which every one who knows the House of
Commons will recognize as being very different from the
conventional verbiage of mutual senatorial flattery : " I must
embrace the opportunity of expressing, not what I felt (for
language could not express it), but of making an attempt to
convey to the House my sympathy with it in its admiration
of the speech of my honorable and learned friend : a speech
which, I will venture to assert, has never been exceeded with-
in these walls for the development of .statesmanlike policy
and practical good sense. It exhibited all that is noble in
oratory ; all that is sublime, I had almost said, in poetry ; all
that is truly great, exalted, and virtuous in human nature.
If the House at large felt a deep interest in this magnificent
display, it may judge of what were my emotions when I per-
ceived in the hands of my honorable friend the great prin-
ciples which he expounded glowing with fresh colors and ar-
rayed in all the beauty of truth."
There is no praise more gratefully treasured than that
which is bestowed by a generous chief upon a subordinate
with whom he is on the best of terms. Macaulay to the end
entertained for Lord Glenelg that sentiment of loyalty* which
a man of honor and feeling will always cherish with regard
to tli3 statesman under whom he began his career as a servant
of the crown. The secretary repaid the president for his un-
* The affinity between this sentiment, and that of the quaestor toward
his first proconsul, so well described in the orations against Verres, is one
among the innumerable points of resemblance between the public life of
ancient Rome and modern England.
264 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
varying kindness and confidence by helping him to get the
bill through committee with that absence of friction which is
the pride and delight of official men. The vexed questions of
Establishment and Endowment (raised by the clauses appoint-
ing bishops to Madras and Bombay, and balancing them with
as many salaried Presbyterian chaplains) increased the length
of the debates and the number of the divisions ; but the Gov-
ernment carried every point by large majorities, and, with
slight modifications in detail and none in principle, the meas-
ure became law with the almost universal approbation both of
Parliament and the country.
To Hcvnnah M. Macaulay.
House of Commons, Monday Night, half-past 12.
MY DEAR SISTEK, — The papers will scarcely contain any
account of what passed yesterday in the House of Commons
in the middle of the day. Grant and I fought a battle with
Briscoe and O'Connell in defense of the Indian people, and
won it by 38 to 6.* It was a rascally claim of a dishonest
agent of the company against the employers whom he had
cheated, and sold to their own tributaries. The nephew of
the original claimant has been pressing his case on the Board
most vehemently. He is an attorney living in Russell Square,
and very likely hears the word at St. John's Chapel. He
hears it, however, to very little purpose ; for he lies as much
as if he went to hear a " cauld clatter of morality " at the par-
ish church.
I remember that when you were at Leamington two years
ago I used to fill my letters with accounts of the people with
* In his great Indian speech Macaulay referred to this affair, in a pas-
sage, the first sentence of which has, by frequent quotation, been elevated
into an apothegm : "A broken head in Cold Bath Fields produces a greater
sensation than three pitched battles in India. A few weeks ago we had
to decide on a claim brought by an individual against the revenues of In-
dia. If it had been an English question, the walls would scarcely have
held the members who would have flocked to the division. It was an
Indian question ; and we could scarcely, by dint of supplication, make a
House."
1832-'34.] LOKD MACAULAY. 265
whom I dined. High life was new to me then ; and now it
has grown so familiar that I should not, I fear, be able, as I
formerly was, to select the striking circumstances. I have
dined with sundry great folks since you left London, and I
have attended a very splendid rout at Lord Grey's. I stole
thither, at about eleven, from the House of Commons, with
Stewart Mackenzie. I do not mean to describe the beauty of
the ladies, nor the brilliancy of stars and uniforms. I mean
only to tell you one circumstance which struck, and even af-
fected me. I was talking to Lady Charlotte Lindsay, the
daughter of Lord North, a great favorite of mine, about the
apartments and the furniture, when she said, with a good deal
of emotion : " This is an interesting visit to me. I have nev-
er been in this house for fifty years. It was here that I was
born; I left it a child when my father fell from power in
1782, and I have never crossed the threshold since." Then
she told me how the rooms seemed dwindled to her ; how the
staircase, which appeared to her in recollection to be the most
spacious and magnificent that she had ever seen, had disap-
pointed her. She longed, she said, to go over the garrets and
rummage her old nursery. She told me how, in the No-Pop-
ery riots of 1780, she was taken out of bed at two o'clock in
the morning. The mob threatened Lord North's house. There
were soldiers at the windows, and an immense and furious
crowd in Downing Street. She saw, she said, from her nurs-
ery the fires in different parts of London ; but she did not un-
derstand the danger, and only exulted in being up at midnight.
Then she was conveyed through the Park to the Horse Guards
as the safest place ; and was laid, wrapped up in blankets, on
the table in the guard-room in the midst of the officers. "And
it was such fun," she said, " that I have ever after had rather
a liking for insurrections."
I write in the midst of a crowd. A debate on slavery is
going on in the Commons ; a debate on Portugal in the Lords.
The door is slamming behind me every moment, and people
are constantly going out and in. Here comes Vemon Smith.
" Well, Yernon, what are they doing ?" " Gladstone has just
made a very good speech, and Ho wick is answering him."
266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP, v.
"Ay, but in the House of Lords ?" " They will beat us by
twenty, they say." " Well, I do not think it matters much."
" No ; nobody out of the House of Lords cares either for Don
Pedro or for Don Miguel."
There is a conversation between two official men in the Li-
brary of the House of Commons on the night of the 3d of
June, 1833, reported word for word. To the historian three
centuries hence this letter will be invaluable. To you, un-
grateful as you are, it will seem worthless. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
Smoking-room of the House of Commons, June 6th, 1833.
MY DARLING, — Why am I such a fool as to write to a gyp-
sy at Liverpool, who fancies that none is so good as she if she
sends one letter for my three ? A lazy chit whose fingers tire
with penning a page in reply to a quire ! There, miss, you
read all the first sentence of my epistle, and never knew that
you were reading verse. I have some gossip for you about
the Edinburgh Review. Napier is in London, and has called
on me several times. He has been with the publishers, who
tell him that the sale is falling off ; and in many private par-
ties, where he hears sad complaints. The universal cry is that
the long dull articles are the ruin of the Review. As to my-
self, he assures me that my articles are the only things which
keep the work up at all. Longman and his partners corre-
spond with about five hundred book-sellers in different parts
of the kingdom. All these book-sellers, I find, tell them that
the Review sells, or does not sell, according as there are, or
are not, articles by Mr. Macaulay. So, you see, I, like Mr.
Darcy,* shall not care how proud I am. At all events, I can
not but be pleased to learn that, if I should be forced to de-
pend on my pen for subsistence, I can command what price I
choose.
The House is sitting ; Peel is just down ; Lord Palmerston
is speaking ; the heat is tremendous ; the crowd stifling ; and
" The central male figure in " Pride and Prejudice."
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 267
so here I am in the smoking-room, with three Repealers mak-
ing chimneys of their mouths under my very nose.
To think that this letter will bear to my Anna
The exquisite scent of O'Connor's Havana !
You know that the Lords have been foolish enough to pass
a vote* implying censure on the ministers. The ministers
do not seem inclined to take it of them. The king has
snubbed their lordships properly ; and in about an hour, as I
guess (for it is near eleven), we shall have come to a reso-
lution in direct opposition to that agreed to by the Upper
House. Nobody seems to care one straw for what the Peers
say about any public matter. A resolution of the Court of
Common Council, or of a meeting at Freemasons' Hall, has
often made a greater sensation than this declaration of a
branch of the Legislature against the Executive Government.
The institution of the peerage is evidently dying a natural
death.
I dined yesterday — where, and on what, and at what price,
I am ashamed to tell you. Such scandalous extravagance and
gluttony I will not commit to writing. I blush when I think
of it. You, however, are not wholly guiltless in this matter.
My nameless offense was partly occasioned by Napier ; and I
have a very strong reason for wishing to keep Napier in good
humor. He has promised to be at Edinburgh when I take a
certain damsel thither ; to look out for very nice lodgings for
us in Queen Street ; to show us every thing and every body ;
and to see us as far as Dunkeld on our way northward, if we
do go northward. In general I abhor visiting ; but at Edin-
burgh we must see the people as well as the walls and win-
dows ; and Napier will be a capital guide. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
* On June 3d, 1833, a vote of censure on the Portuguese policy of the
ministry was moved by the Duke of Wellington, and carried in the Lords
by 79 votes to 69. On June 6th a counter-resolution was carried in the
Commons by 361 votes to 98.
258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
i
To Ha/nnah M. Macaulay.
London, June 14th, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTEE, — I do not know what you may have been
told. I may have grumbled, for aught I know, at not having
more letters from you ; but as to being angry, you ought to
know by this time what sort of anger mine is when you are
its object.
You have seen the papers, I dare say, and you will perceive
that I did not speak yesterday night.* The House was thin.
The debate was languid. Grant's speech had done our work
sufficiently for one night ; and both he and Lord Althorp ad-
vised me to reserve myself for the second reading.
What have I to tell you ? I will look at my engagement-
book, to see where I am to dine. Friday, June 14th, Lord
Grey ; Saturday, June 15th, Mr. Boddington ; Sunday, June
16th, Mr. S. Rice ; Saturday, June 22d, Sir R. Inglis ; Thurs-
day, June 27th, the Earl of Ripon ; Saturday, June 29th, Lord
Morpeth.
Read, and envy, and pine, and die. And yet I would give
a large slice of my quarter's salary, which is now nearly due,
to be at the Dingle. I am sick of lords with no brains in
their heads, and ladies with paint on their cheeks, and politics,
and politicians, and that reeking furnace of a House. As the
poet says,
Oh ! rather \vonld I see this day
My little Nancy well and merry,
Than the blue ribbon of Earl Grey,
Or the blue stockings of Miss Berry.
Margaret tells us that you are better, and better, and better.
I want to hear that you are well. At all events, our Scotch
tour will set you up. I hope, for the sake of the tour, that we
shall keep our places ; but I firmly believe that, before many
days have passed, a desperate attempt will be made in the
House of Lords to turn us out. If we stand the shock, we
shall be firmer than ever. I am not without anxiety as to the
* The night of the first reading of the India Bill.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 269
result : yet I believe that Lord Grey understands the position
in which he is placed ; and as for the king, he will not forget
his last blunder,* I will answer for it, even if he should live
to the age of his father.
But why plague ourselves about politics when we have so
much pleasanter things to talk of ? " The Parson's Daughter :"
don't you like "The Parson's Daughter?" What a wretch
Harbottle was ! And Lady Frances, what a sad worldly wom-
an ! But Mrs. Harbottle, dear suffering angel ! And Emma
Lovel, all excellence ! Dr. MacGopus you doubtless like ;
but you probably do not admire the Duchess and Lady Cath-
erine. There is a regular coze over a novel for you ! But, if
you will have my opinion, I think it Theodore Hook's worst
performance ; far inferior to " The Surgeon's Daughter ;" a
set of fools making themselves miserable by their own non-
sensical fancies and suspicions. Let me hear your opinion;
for I will be sworn that,
In spite of all the serious world,
Of all the thumbs that ever twirled,
Of every broadbrim-shaded brow,
Of every tongue that e'er said " thou,"
You still read books in marble covers
About smart girls and dapper lovers.
But what folly I have been scrawling ! I must go to work.
I can not all day
Be neglecting Madras,
And slighting Bombay
For the sake of a lass.
Kindest love to Edward, and to the woman who owns him.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, June 17th, 1833.
DEAE HANNAH, — All is still anxiety here. Whether the
House of Lords will throw out the Irish Church Bill, whether
* This " last blunder " was the refusal of the king to stand by his min-
isters in May, 1832. Macaulay proved a bad prophet ; for after an inter-
val of only three years, William the Fourth repeated his blunder in an ag-
gravated form.
2 TO LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
the king will consent to create new peers, whether the Tories
will venture to form a ministry, are matters about which we
are all in complete doubt. If the ministry should really be
changed, Parliament will, I feel quite sure, be dissolved.
Whether I shall have a seat in the next Parliament I neither
know nor care. I shall regret nothing for myself but our
Scotch tour. For the public I shall, if this Parliament be dis-
solved, entertain scarcely any hopes. I see nothing before us
but a frantic conflict between extreme opinions ; a short peri-
od of oppression ; then a convulsive reaction ; and then a tre-
mendous crash of the Funds, the Church, the Peerage, and the
Throne. It is enough to make the most strenuous royalist
lean a little to republicanism to think that the whole question
between safety and general destruction may probably, at this
most fearful conjuncture, depend on a single man whom the
accident of his birth has placed in a situation to which cer-
tainly his own virtues or abilities would never have raised
him.
The question must come to a decision, I think, within the
fortnight. In the mean time the funds are going down, the
newspapers are storming, and the faces of men on both sides
are growing day by day more gloomy and anxious. Even
during the most violent part of the contest for the Reform
Bill, I do not remember to have seen so much agitation in the
political circles. I have some odd anecdotes for you, which I
will tell you when we meet. If the Parliament should be
dissolved, the West Indian and East Indian bills are of course
dropped. What is to become of the slaves ? What is to be-
come of the tea-trade ? Will the negroes, after receiving the
resolutions of the House of Commons promising them lib-
erty, submit to the cart-whip ? Will our merchants consent
to have the trade with China, which has just been offered to
them, snatched away ? The Bank charter, too, is suspended.
But that is comparatively a trifle. After all, what is it to
me who is in or out, or whether those fools of Lords are re-
solved to perish, and drag the king to perish with them, in the
ruin which they have themselves made ? I begin to wonder
what the fascination is which attracts men, who could sit over
1832-'34.] LOKD MACAULAY. 271
their tea and their books in their own cool, quiet room, to
breathe bad air, hear bad speeches, lounge up and down the
long gallery, and doze uneasily on the green benches till three
in the morning. Thank God, these luxuries are not necessary
to me. My pen is sufficient for my support, and my sister's
company is sufficient for my happiness. Only let me see her
well and cheerful ; and let offices in Government, and seats in
Parliament, go to those who care for them. If I were to
leave public life to-morrow, I declare that, except for the vex-
ation which it might give you and one or two others, the
event would not be in the slightest degree painful to me. As
you boast of having a greater insight into character than I al-
low to you, let me know how you explain this philosophical
disposition of mine, and how you reconcile it with my ambi-
tious inclinations. That is a problem for a young lady who
professes knowledge of human nature.
Did I tell you that I dined at the Duchess of Kent's, and
sat next that loveliest of women, Mrs. Littleton ? Her hus-
band, our new Secretary for Ireland, told me this evening that
Lord "Wellesley, who sat near us at the duchess's, asked Mrs.
Littleton afterward who it was that was talking to her. " Mr.
Macaulay." " Oh !" said the marquess, " I am very sorry I
did not know it. I have a most particular desire to be ac-
quainted with that man." Accordingly, Littleton has engaged
me to dine with him, in order to introduce me to the mar-
quess. I am particularly curious, and always was, to know
him. He has made a great and splendid figure in history,
and his weaknesses, though they make his character less wor-
thy of respect, make it more interesting as a study. Such a
blooming old swain I never saw ; hair combed with exquisite
nicety, a waistcoat of driven snow, and a star and garter put
on with rare skill.
To-day we took up oar resolutions about India to the
House of Lords. The two Houses had a conference on the
subject in an old Gothic room called the Painted Chamber.
The painting consists in a mildewed daub of a woman in the
niche of one of the windows. The Lords sat in little cocked
hats along a table ; and we stood uncovered on the other side,
272 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
and delivered in our resolutions. I thought that before long
it may be our turn to sit, and theirs to stand.
Ever yours, T. B. M-
London, June 21st, 1833.
PEAR HANNAH, — I can not tell you how delighted I was
to learn from Fanny this morning that Margaret pronounces
you to be as well as she could wish you to be. Only continue
so, and all the changes of public life will be as indifferent to
me as to Horatio. If I am only spared the misery of seeing
you suffer, I shall be found
A man that fortune's buffets and rewards
Has ta'en \vith equal thanks.
Whether we are to have buffets or rewards is known only to
Heaven and to the Peers. I think that their lordships are
rather cowed. Indeed, if they venture on the course on which
they lately seemed bent, I would not give sixpence for a cor-
onet or a penny for a mitre.
I shall not read " The Repealers ;" and I think it very im-
pudent in you to make such a request. Have I nothing to
do but to be your novel-taster ? It is rather your duty to be
mine. What else have you to do ? I have read only one nov-
el within the last week, and a most precious one it was : " The
Invisible Gentleman." Have you ever read it ? But I need
not ask. No doubt it has formed part of your Sunday stud-
ies. A wretched, trumpery imitation of Godwin's worst man-
ner. What a number of stories I shall have to tell you when we
meet ! — which will be, as nearly as I can guess, about the 10th
or 12th of August. I shall be as rich as a Jew by that tune.
Next Wednesday will be quarter-day ;
And then, if I'm alive,
Of sterling pounds I shall receive
Three hundred seventy-five.
Already I possess in cash
Two hundred twenty-four,
Besides what I have lent to John,
Which makes up twenty more.
LORD MACAULAY. 273
Also the man who editeth
The "Yellow and the Blue"
Doth owe me ninety pounds at least,
All for my last review.
So, if my debtors pay their debts,
You'll find, dear sister mine,
That all my wealth together makes
Seven hundred pounds and nine.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
The rhymes in which Macaulay unfolds his little budget
derive a certain dignity and meaning from the events of the
ensuing weeks. The unparalleled labors of the antislavery
leaders were at length approaching a successful issue, and
Lord Grey's Cabinet had declared itself responsible for the
emancipation of the West Indian negroes. But it was already
beginning to be known that the ministerial scheme, in its
original shape, was not such as would satisfy even the more
moderate Abolitionists. Its most objectionable feature was
shadowed forth in the third of the resolutions with which
Mr. Stanley, who had the question in charge, prefaced the in-
troduction of his bill : " That all persons, now slaves, be en-
titled to be registered as apprenticed laborers, and to acquire
thereby all the rights and privileges of freemen, subject to the
restriction of laboring, for a time to be fixed by Parliament,
for their present owners." It was understood that twelve
years would be proposed as the period of apprenticeship ; al-
though no trace of this intention could be detected in the
wording of the resolution. Macaulay, who thought twelve
years far too long, felt himself justified in supporting the
Government during the preliminary stages ; but he took oc-
casion to make some remarks indicating that circumstances
might occur which would oblige him to resign office and adopt
a line of his own.
As time went on, it became evident that his firmness would
be put to the test ; and a severe test it was. A rising states-
man, whose prospects would be irremediably injured by ab-
ruptly quitting a government that seemed likely to be in
YOL. I.— 18
274: LIFE A]ST) LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
power for the next quarter of a century ; a zealous Whig, who
shrunk from the very appearance of disaffection to his party ;
a man of sense, with no ambition to be called Quixotic ; a
member for a large constituency, possessed of only seven hun-
dred pounds in the world when his purse was at its fullest ;
above all, an affectionate son and brother, now, more than
ever, the mam hope and reliance of those whom he held most
dear — it may well be believed that he was not in a hurry to
act the martyr. His father's affairs were worse than bad.
The African firm, without having been reduced to declare it-
self bankrupt, had ceased to exist as a house of business ; or
existed only so far that for some years to come every penny
that Macaulay earned, beyond what the necessities of life de-
manded, was scrupulously devoted to paying, and at length to
paying off, his father's creditors : a dutiful enterprise in which
he was assisted by his brother Henry,* a young man of high
spirit and excellent abilities, who had recently been appointed
one of the commissioners of arbitration in the prize courts at
Sierra Leone.
The pressure of pecuniary trouble was now beginning to
make itself felt even by the younger members of the family.
About this time, or perhaps a little earlier, Hannah Macaulay
writes thus to one of her cousins : " You say nothing about
coming to us. You must come in good health and spirits.
Our trials ought not greatly to depress us ; for, after all, all
we want is money, the easiest want to bear; and, when we
have so many mercies — friends who love us and whom we
love ; no bereavements ; and, above all (if it be not our own
fault), a hope full of immortality — let us not be so ungrateful
as to repine because we are without what in itself can not
make our happiness."
Macaulay's colleagues, who, without knowing his whole sto-
ry, knew enough to be aware that he could ill afford to give
up office, were earnest in their remonstrances ; but he answer-
ed shortly, and almost roughly : " I can not go counter to my
* Henry Macaulay married, in 1841, a daughter of his brother's old polit-
ical ally, Lord Denman. He died at Boa Vista in 1846.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 275
father. He has devoted his whole life to the question, and
I can not grieve hiui by giving way when he wishes me to
stand firm." During the crisis of the West India Bill, Zach-
ary Macaulay and his son were in constant correspondence.
There is something touching in the picture which these letters
present of the older man (whose years were coming to a close
in poverty, which was the consequence of his having always
lived too much for others), discussing quietly and gravely
how, and when, the younger was to take a step that in the
opinion of them both would be fatal to his career: and this
with so little consciousness that there was any thing heroic in
the course which they were pursuing, that it appears never to
have occurred to either of them that any other line of con-
duct could possibly be adopted.
London, July 22d, 1833.
MY DEAR FATHEK, — We are still veiy anxious here. The
Lords, though they have passed the Irish Church Bill through
its first stage, will very probably mutilate it in committee. It
will then be for the ministers to decide whether they can with
honor keep their places. I believe that they will resign if any
material alteration should be made ; and then every thing is
confusion.
These circumstances render it very difficult for me to shape
my course right with respect to the West India Bill, the sec-
ond reading of which stands for this evening. I am fully
resolved to oppose several of the clauses. But to declare my
intention publicly, at a moment when the Government is in
danger, would have the appearance of ratting. I must be
guided by circumstances ; but my present intention is to say
nothing on the second reading. By the time that we get
into committee the political crisis will, I hope, be over ; the
fate of the Church Bill will be decided one way or the other ;
and I shall be able to take my own course on the slavery ques-
tion without exposing myself to the charge of deserting my
friends in a moment of peril. Ever yours, affectionately,
T. B. MACAULAY.
Having made up his mind as to what he should do, Mac-
276 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
aulay set about it with a8 good a grace as is compatible with
the most trying position in which a man, and especially a
young man, can find himself. . Carefully avoiding the atti-
tude of one who bargains or threatens, he had given timely
notice in the proper quarter of his intentions and his views.
At length the conjuncture arrived when decisive action could
no longer be postponed. On the 24th of July Mr. Thomas
Fowell Buxton moved an amendment in committee, limiting
the apprenticeship to the shortest period necessary for estab-
lishing the system of free labor. Macaulay, whose resignation
was already in Lord Althorp's hands, made a speech which
produced all the more effect as being inornate, and, at times,
almost awkward. Even if deeper feelings had not restrained
the range of his fancy and the flow of his rhetoric, his judg-
ment would have told him that it was not the moment for an
oratorical display. He began by entreating the House to ex-
tend to him that indulgence which it had accorded on occa-
sions when he had addressed it "with more confidence and
with less harassed feelings." He then, at some length, ex-
posed the effects of the Government proposal. " In free coun-
tries the master has a choice of laborers, and the laborer has a
choice of masters ; but in slavery it is always necessary to give
despotic power to the master. This bill leaves it to the mag-
istrate to keep peace between master and slave. Every time
that the slave takes twenty minutes to do that which the mas-
ter thinks he should do in fifteen, recourse must be had to the
magistrate. Society would day and night be in a constant
state of litigation, and all differences and difficulties must be
solved by a judicial interference."
He did not share in Mr. Buxton's apprehension of gross
cruelty as a result of the apprenticeship. " The magistrate
would be accountable to the Colonial Office, and the Colonial
Office to the House of Commons, in which every lash which
was inflicted under magisterial authority would be told and
counted. My apprehension is that the result of continuing
for twelve years this dead slavery — this state of society desti-
tute of any vital principle — will be that the whole negro pop-
ulation will sink into weak and drawling inefficacy, and will
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 277
be much less fit for liberty at the end of the period than at
the commencement. My hope is that the system will die a
natural death ; that the experience of a few months will so
establish its utter inefficiency as to induce the planters to
abandon it, and to substitute for it a state of freedom. I have
voted," he said, " for the second reading, and I shall vote for
the third reading ; but, while the bill is in committee, I shall
join with other honorable gentlemen in doing all that is pos-
sible to amend it."
Such a declaration, coming from the mouth of a member
of the Government, gave life to the debate, and secured to
Mr. Buxton an excellent division, which under the circum-
stances was equivalent to a victory. The next day Mr. Stan-
ley rose; adverted shortly to the position in which the min-
isters stood ; and announced that the term of apprenticeship
would be reduced from twelve years to seven. Mr. Buxton,
who, with equal energy and wisdom, had throughout the pro-
ceedings acted as leader of the antislavery party in the House
of Commons, advised his friends to make the best of the con-
cession ; and his counsel was followed by all those abolition-
ists who were thinking more of their cause than of themselves.
It is worthy of remark that Macaulay's prophecy came true,
though not at so early a date as he ventured to anticipate.
Four years of the provisional system brought all parties to
acquiesce in the premature termination of a state of things
which denied to the negro the blessings of freedom, and to
the planter the profits of slavery.
" The papers," Macaulay writes to his father, " will have
told you all that has happened, as far as it is known to the
public. The secret history you will have heard from Buxton.
As to myself, Lord Althorp told me yesterday night that the
Cabinet had determined not to accept my resignation. I have
therefore the singular good luck of having saved both my hon-
or and my place, and of having given no just ground of offense
either to the Abolitionists or to my party friends. I have more
reason than ever to say that honesty is the best policy."
This letter is dated the 27th of July. On that day week-
Wilberf orce was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey.
2T3 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
" We laid him," writes Macaulay, " side by side with Canning,
at the feet of Pitt, and within two steps of Fox and Grattan."
He died with the Promised Land full in view. Before the
end of August Parliament abolished slavery, and the last
touch was put to the work that had consumed so many pure
and noble lives. In a letter of congratulation to Zachary
Macaulay, Mr. Buxton says : " Surely you have reason to re-
joice. My sober and deliberate opinion is that you have done
more toward this consummation than any other man. For
myself, I take pleasure in acknowledging that you have been
my tutor all the way through, and that I could have done
nothing without you." Such was the spirit of these men,
who, while the struggle lasted, were prodigal of health and
ease ; but who, in the day of triumph, disclaimed, each for
himself, even that part of the merit which their religion al-
lowed them to ascribe to human effort and self-sacrifice.
London, July llth, 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — I have been so completely overwhelmed
with business for some days that I have not been able to find
time for writing a line. Yesterday night we read the India
Bill a second time. It was a Wednesday, and the reporters
gave hardly any account of what passed. They always re-
sent being forced to attend on that day, which is their holi-
day. I made the best speech, by general agreement, and in
my own opinion, that I ever made in my life. I was an hour
and three-quarters up; and such compliments as I had from
Lord Althorp, Lord Palmerston, Lord John Russell, Wynne,
O'Connell, Grant, the Speaker, and twenty other people, you
never heard. As there is no report of the speech, I have been
persuaded, rather against my will, to correct it for publication.
I will tell you one compliment that was paid me, and which
delighted me more than any other. An old member said to
me, " Sir, having heard that speech may console the young
people for never having heard Mr. Burke."*
* A Tory member said that Macaulay resembled both the Burkes : that
he was like the first from his eloquence, and like the second from his stop-
plug other people's mouths.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 279
The Slavery Bill is miserably bad. I am fully resolved not
to be dragged through the mire, but to oppose, by speaking and
voting, the clauses which I think objectionable. I have told
Lord Althorp this, and have again tendered my resignation.
He hinted that he thought that the Government would leave
me at liberty to take my own line, but that he must consult
his colleagues. I told him that I asked for no favor; that I
knew what inconvenience would result if official men were
allowed to dissent from ministerial measures, and yet to keep
their places ; and that I should not think myself in the small-
est degree ill-used if the Cabinet accepted my resignation.
This is the present posture of affairs. In the mean time the
two Houses are at daggers drawn. Whether the Government
will last to the end of the session I neither know nor care. I
am sick of boards, and of the House of Commons ; and pine
for a few quiet days, a cool country breeze, and a little chat-
ting with my dear sister. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 19th, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I snatch a few minutes to write a single
line to you. We went into committee on the India Bill at
twelve this morning, sat till three, and are just set at liberty
for two hours. At five we recommence, and shall be at work
till midnight. In the interval between three and five I have
to dispatch the current business of the office, which, at present,
is fortunately not heavy ; to eat my dinner, which I shall do
at Grant's ; and to write a short scrawl to my little sister.
My work, though laborious, has been highly satisfactory.
No bill, I believe, of such importance — certainly no important
bill in my time — has been received with such general appro-
bation. The very cause of the negligence of the reporters,
and of the thinness of the House, is that we have framed our
measure so carefully as to give little occasion for debate. Lit-
tleton, Denison, and. many other members, assure me that they
never remember to have seen a bill better drawn or better
conducted.
On Monday night, I hope, my work will be over. Our
280 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
Bill will have been discussed, I trust, for the last time in the
House of Commons; and, in all probability, I shall within
forty-eight hours after that time be out of office. I am fully
determined not to give way about the West India Bill ; and I
can. hardly expect — I am sure I do not wish — that the minis-
ters should suffer me to keep my place and oppose their meas-
ure. Whatever may befall me or my party, I am much more
desirous to come to an end of this interminable session than
to stay either in office or in Parliament. The Tories are quite
welcome to take every thing, if they will only leave me my
pen and my books, a warm fireside, and you chattering beside
it. This sort of philosophy, an odd kind of cross between
Stoicism and Epicureanism, I have learned, where most peo-
ple unlearn all their philosophy — in crowded senates and fine
drawing-rooms.
But time flies, and Grant's dinner will be waiting. He
keeps open house for us during this fight. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 24th, 1833.
MY DEAE SISTER, — You will have seen by the papers that
the West India debate on Monday night went off very quietly
in little more than a hour. To-night we expect the great
struggle, and I fear that, much against my inclination, I must
bear a part in it. My resignation is in Lord Althorp's hands.
He assures me that he will do his utmost to obtain for me lib-
erty to act as I like on this question; but Lord Grey and
Stanley &TQ to be consulted, and I think it very improbable
that they will consent to allow me so extraordinary a privi-
lege. I know that, if I were minister, I would not allow such
latitude to any man in office; and so I told Lord Althorp.
He answered in the kindest and most flattering manner ; told
me that in office I had surpassed their expectations, and that,
much as they wished to bring me in last year, they wished
much more to keep me in now. I told him, in reply, that the
matter was one for the ministers to settle purely with a view
to their own interest ; that I asked for no indulgence ; that I
could make no terms ; and that what I would not do to serve
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 281
them, I certainly would not do to keep my place. Thus the
matter stands. It will probably be finally settled within a few
hours.
This detestable session goes on lengthening and lengthen-
ing, like a human hair in one's mouth. (Do you know that
delicious sensation ?) Last month we expected to have been
up before the middle of August. Now we should be glad to
be quite certain of being in the country by the 1st of Sep-
tember. One comfort I shall have in being turned out : I will
not stay a day in London after the West India Bill is through
committee; which I hope it will be before the end of next
week.
The new Edinburgh Review is not much amiss ; but I quite
agree with the publishers, the editor, and the reading public
generally, that the number would have been much the better
for an article of thirty or forty pages from the pen of a gen-
tleman who shall be nameless. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 25th, 1833.
MY DEAE SISTER, — The plot is thickening. Yesterday Bux-
ton moved an instruction to the Committee on the Slavery
Bill, which the Government opposed, and which I supported.
It was extremely painful to me to speak against all my polit-
ical friends — so painful that at times I could hardly go on. I
treated them as mildly as I could, and they all tell me that I
performed my difficult task not ungracefully. "We divided at
two this morning, and were 151 to 158. The ministers found
that if they persisted they would infallibly be beaten. Ac-
cordingly they came down to the House at twelve this day,
and agreed to reduce the apprenticeship to seven years for the
agricultural laborers, and to five years for the skilled laborers.
What other people may do I can not tell ; but I am inclined
to be satisfied with this concession ; particularly as I believe
that if we press the thing further they will resign, and we
shall have no bill at all, but instead of it a Tory ministry and
a dissolution. Some people flatter me with the assurance that
our large minority, and the consequent change in the bill, have
282 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
been owing to me. If this be so, I have done one useful act,
at least, in my life.
I shall now certainly remain in office ; and if, as I expect,
the Irish Church Bill passes the Lords, I may consider myself
as safe till the next session ; when Heaven knows what may
happen. It is still quite uncertain when we may rise. I pine
for rest, air, and a taste of family life, .more than I can ex-
press. I see nothing but politicians, and talk about nothing
but politics.
I have not read " Village Belles." Tell me, as soon as you
can get it, whether it is worth reading. As John Thorpe*
says : " Novels ! Oh, Lord ! I never read novels. I have
something else to do." Farewell. T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macavlay.
London, July 27th, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTEE, — Here I am, safe and well, at the end of
one of the most stormy weeks that the oldest man remem-
bers in Parliamentary affairs. I have resigned my office, and
my resignation has been refused. I have spoken and voted
against the ministry under which I hold my place. The min-
istry has been so hard run in the Commons as to be forced to
modify its plan ; and has received a defeat in the Lords ;f a
slight one, 'to be sure, and on a slight matter, yet such that I,
and many others, fully believed twenty-four hours ago that
they would have resigned. In fact, some of the Cabinet —
Grant among the rest, to my certain knowledge — were for re-
signing. At last Saturday has arrived. The ministry is as
strong as ever. I am as good friends with the ministers as
ever. The East India Bill is carried through our House.
The West India Bill is so far modified that, I believe, it will
be carried. The Irish Church Bill has got through the com-
mittee in the Lords; and we are all beginning to look for-
ward to a prorogation in about three weeks.
* The young Oxford man in Northanger Abbey.
t On the 25th of July the Archbishop of Canterbury carried an amend-
ment on the Irish Church Bill, against the Government, by 84 votes to 82.
1832-'34.] LOKD MACAULAY. 283
To-day I went to Haydon's to be painted into his great
picture of " The Reform Banquet." Ellis was with me, and de-
clares that Haydon has touched me off to a nicety. I am sick
of pictures of my own face. I have seen within the last few
days one drawing of it, one engraving, and three paintings.
They all make me a very handsome fellow. Haydon pro-
nounces my profile a gem of art, perfectly antique ; and, what
is worth the praise of ten Haydons, I was told yesterday that
Mrs. Littleton, the handsomest woman in London, had paid
me exactly the same compliment. She pronounced Mr. Mac-
aulay's profile to be a study for an artist. I have bought a
new looking-glass and razor-case on the strength of these com-
pliments, and am meditating on the expediency of having my
hair cut in the Burlington Arcade, rather than in Lamb's, Con-
duit Street. As Richard says,
Since I am crept in favor with myself,
I will maintain it with some little cost.
I begin, like Sir Walter Elliot,* to rate all my acquaintance
according to their beauty. But what nonsense I write, and in
times that make merry men look grave ! Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, July 29th, 1833.
MY DEAK SISTER, — I dined last night at Holland House.
There was a very pleasant party. My lady was courteous,
and my lord extravagantly entertaining : telling some capital
stories about old Bishop Horsley, which were set off with some
of the drollest mimicry that I ever saw. Among many oth-
ers, there were Sir James Graham ; and Dr. Holland, who is
a good scholar as well as a good physician ; and "Wilkie, who
is a modest, pleasing companion, as well as an excellent artist.
For ladies, we had her Grace of ; and her daughter, Lady
, a fine, buxom, sonsy lass, with more color than, I am sor-
ry to say, is often seen among fine ladies. So our dinner and
our soiree were very agreeable.
* The Baronet in " Persuasion."
284 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
We narrowly escaped a scene at one time. Lord is in
the navy, and is now on duty in the fleet at the Tagus. We
got into a conversation about Portuguese politics. His name
was mentioned, and Graham, who is first lord of the admi-
ralty, complimented the duchess on her son's merit, to which,
he said, every dispatch bore witness. The duchess forthwith
began to entreat that he might be recalled. He was very ill,
she said. If he staid longer on that station she was sure that
he would die ; and then she began to cry. I can not bear to
see women cry, and the matter became serious, for her pret-
ty daughter began to bear her company. That hard-hearted
Lord seemed to be diverted by the scene. He, by all ac-
counts, has been doing little else than making women cry dur-
ing the last five-and-twenty years. However, we all were as
still as death while the wiping of eyes and the blowing of
noses proceeded. At last Lord Holland contrived to restore
our spirits ; but before the duchess went away she managed to
have a tete-a-tete with Graham, and, I have no doubt, begged
and blubbered to some purpose. I could not help thinking
how many honest, stout-hearted fellows are left to die on the
most unhealthy stations, for want of being related to some
duchess who has been handsome, or to some duchess's daugh-
ter who still is so.
The duchess said one thing that amused us. We were talk-
ing about Lady Morgan. " When she first came to London,"
said Lord Holland, " I remember that she carried a little Irish
harp about with her wherever she went." Others denied this.
I mentioned what she says in her "Book of the Boudoir."
There she relates how she went one evening to Lady 's
with her little Irish harp, and how strange every body thought
it. "I see nothing very strange," said her grace, "in her
taking her harp to Lady 's. If she brought it safe away
with her, that would have been strange indeed." On this, as
a friend of yours says, we la-a-a-a-a-a-a-ft.
I am glad to find that you approve of my conduct about
the niggers. I expect, and indeed wish, to be abused by the
Agency Society. My father is quite satisfied, and so are the
best part of my Leeds friends.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 285
I amuse myself, as I walk back from the House at two in
the morning, with translating Virgil. I am at work on one
of the most beautiful episodes, and am succeeding pretty well.
You shall have what I have done when I come to Liverpool;
which will be, I hope, in three weeks or thereanent.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hcmndh M. Macaulay.
London, July 31st, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Political affairs look cheeringly. The
Lords passed the Irish Church Bill yesterday, and mean, we
understand, to give us little or no trouble about the India
Bill. There is still a hitch in the Commons about the West
India Bill, particularly about the twenty millions for compen-
sation to the planters ; but we expect to carry our point by
a great majority. By the end of next week we shall be very
near the termination of our labors. Heavy labors they have
been.
So Wilberforce is gone ! We talk of burying him in West-
minster Abbey ; and many eminent men, both Whigs and To-
ries, are desirous to join in paying him this honor. There i&.
however, a story about a promise given to old Stephen that
they should both lie in the same grave. Wilberforce kept his
faculties, and (except when he was actually in fits) his spirits,
to the very last. He was cheerful and full of anecdote only
last Saturday. He owned that he enjoyed life much, and that
he had a great desire to live longer. Strange in a man who had,
I should have said, so little to attach him to this world, and so
firm a belief in another : in a man with an impaired fortune,
a weak spine, and a worn-out stomach ! What is this fascina-
tion which makes us cling to existence, in spite of present suf-
ferings and of religious hopes ? Yesterday evening I called
at the house in Cadogan Place, where the body is lying. I
was truly fond of him : that is " je 1'aimais comme 1'on aime."
And how is that ? How very little one human being general-
ly cares for another ! How very little the world misses any
body ! How soon the chasm left by the best and wisest men
closes ! I thought, as I walked back from Cadogan Place, that
286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
our own selfishness when others are taken away ought to teach
us how little others will suffer at losing us. I thought that, if
I were to die to-morrow, not one of the fine people whom I
dine with every week will take a cotelette aux petits pois the
less on Saturday at the table to which I was invited to meet
them, or will smile less gayly at the ladies over the Cham-
pagne. And I am quite even with them. What are those
pretty lines of Shelley ?
Oh, world, farewell !
Listen to the passing bell.
It tells that thon and I must part
With a light and heavy heart.
There are not ten people in the world whose deaths would
spoil my dinner; but there are one or two whose deaths
would break my heart. The more I see of the world, and the
more numerous my acquaintance becomes, the narrower and
more exclusive my affection grows, and the more I cling to
my sisters, and to one or two old tried friends of my quiet
days. But why should I go on preaching to you out of Ec-
clesiastes ? And here comes, fortunately, to break the train of
my melancholy reflections, the proof of my East India speech
from Hansard : so I must put my letter aside and correct the
press. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, August 2d, 1833.
MY DEAE SISTER, — I agree with your judgment on Chester-
field's " Letters." They are for the most part trash ; though
they contain some clever passages, and the style is not bad.
Their celebrity must be attributed to causes quite distinct from
their literary merit, and particularly to the position which the
author held in society. We see in our own time that the books
written by public men of note are generally rated at more
than their value : Lord Granville's little compositions, for ex-
ample ; Canning's verses ; Fox's history ; Brougham's trea-
tises. The writings of people of high fashion, also, have a
value set on them far higher than that which intrinsically be-
longs to them. The verses of the late Duchess of Devonshire,
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 287
or an occasional prologue by Lord Alvanley, attract a most
undue share of attention. If the present Duke of Devon-
shire, who is the very " glass of fashion and mold of form,"
were to publish a book with two good pages, it would be ex-
tolled as a masterpiece in half the drawing-rooms of London.
Now, Chesterfield was, what no person in our time has been or
can be, a great political leader and at the same time the ac-
knowledged chief of the fashionable world ; at the head of the
House of Lords and at the head of ton / Mr. Canning and the
Duke of Devonshire in one. In our time the division of la-
bor is carried so far that such a man could not exist. Politics
require the whole of energy, bodily and mental, during half
the year ; and leave very little time for the bow - window at
White's in the day, or for the crush-room of the opera at
night. A century ago the case was different* Chesterfield
was at once the most distinguished orator in the Upper House,
and the undisputed sovereign of wit and fashion. He held
this eminence for about forty years. At last it became the
regular custom of the higher circles to laugh whenever he
opened his mouth, without waiting for his bonmot. He used
to sit at White's with a circle of young men of rank round
him, applauding every syllable that he uttered. If you wish
for a proof of the kind of position which Chesterfield held
among his contemporaries, look at the prospectus of John-
son's " Dictionary." Look even at Johnson's angry letter. It
contains the strongest admission of the boundless influence
which Chesterfield exercised over society. When the letters
of such a man were published, of course they were received
more favorably by far than they deserved.
So much for criticism. As to politics, every thing seems
tending to repose ; and I should think that by this day fort-
night we shall probably be prorogued. The Jew Bill was
thrown out yesterday night by the Lords. No matter. Our
turn will come one of these days.
If you want to see me puffed and abused by somebody who
evidently knows nothing about me, look at the New Monthly
for this month. Bulwer, I see, has given up editing it. I
suppose he is making money in some other way ; for his dress
288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
must cost as much as that of any five other members of Par-
liament.
To-morrow Wilberforee is to be buried. His sons acceded
with great eagerness to the application made to them by a
considerable number of the members of both Houses that the
funeral should be public. We meet to-morrow at twelve at
the House of Commons, and we shall attend the coffin into
the Abbey. The Duke of Wellington, Lord Eldon, and Sir
R. Peel have put down their names, as well as the ministers
and the Abolitionists.
My father urges me to pay some tribute to Wilberforce in
the House of Commons. If any debate should take place on
the third reading of the West India Bill in which I might
take part, I should certainly embrace the opportunity of do-
ing honor to liis memory. But I do not expect that such
an occasion will arise. The House seems inclined to pass
the bill without more contest ; and my father must be aware
that any thing like theatrical display — any thing like a set
funeral oration not springing naturally out of the discussion
of a question — is extremely distasteful to the House of Com-
mons.
I have been clearing off a great mass of business which had
accumulated at our office while we were conducting our bill
through Parliament. To-day I had the satisfaction of seeing
the green boxes, which a week ago were piled up with papers
three or four feet high, perfectly empty. Admire my super-
human industry. This I will say for myself, that, when I do
sit down to work, I work harder and faster than any person
that I ever knew. Ever yours, T. B. M.
The next letter, in terms too clear to require comment, in-
troduces the mention of what proved to be the most important
circumstance in Macaulay's life.
To Hanncih M. Macaulay.
London, August 17th, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTER, — I am about to write to you on a sub-
ject which to you and Margaret will be one of the most
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 289
agitating interest ; and which, on that account chiefly, is so
to me.
By the new India Bill it is provided that one of the mem-
bers of the Supreme Council, which is to govern our Eastern
empire, is to be chosen from among persons who are not serv-
ants of the company. It is probable, indeed nearly certain,
that the situation will be offered to me.
The advantages are very great. It is a post of the highest
dignity and consideration. The salary is ten thousand pounds
a year. I am assured by persons who know Calcutta intimate-
ly, and who have themselves mixed in the highest circles and
held the highest offices at that presidency, that I may live in
splendor there for five thousand a year, and may save the rest
of the salary with the accruing interest. I may therefore
hope to return to England at only thirty-nine, in the full vig-
or of life, with a fortune of thirty thousand pounds. A larger
fortune I never desired.
I am not fond of money, or anxious about it. But, though
every day makes me less and less eager for wealth, every day
shows me more and more strongly how necessary a compe-
tence is to a man who desires to be either great or useful. At
present the plain fact is that I can continue to be a public
man only while I can continue in office. If I left my place
in tUe Government, I must leave my seat in Parliament too.
For I must live: I can live only by my pen: and it is abso-
lutely impossible for any man to write enough to procure him
a decent subsistence, and at the same time to take an active
part in politics. I have not during this session been able to
send a single line to the Edinburgh Review; and if I had been
out of office, I should have been able to do very little. Ed-
ward Bulwer has just given up the New Monthly Magazine
on the ground that he can not conduct it and attend to his
Parliamentary duties. Cobbett has been compelled to neg-
lect his Register so much that its sale has fallen almost to
nothing. Now, in order to live like a gentleman, it would be
necessary for me to write, not as I have done hitherto, but
regularly, and even daily. I have never made more than two
hundred a year by my pen. I could not support myself in
YOL. I.— 19
290 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
comfort on less than five hundred ; and I shall in all probabil-
ity have many others to support. The prospects of our fam-
ily are, if possible, darker than ever.
In the mean time my political outlook is very gloomy. A
schism in the ministry is approaching. It requires only that
common knowledge of public affairs which any reader of the
newspapers may possess to see this ; and I have more, much
more, than common knowledge on the subject. They can
not hold together. I tell you in perfect seriousness that my
chance of keeping my present situation for six months is so
small, that I would willingly sell it for fifty pounds down.
If I remain in office, I shall, I fear, lose my political character.
If I go out, and engage in opposition, I shall break most of
the private ties which I have formed during the last three
years. In England I see nothing before me, for some time to
come, but poverty, unpopularity, and the breaking-up of old
connections.
If there were no way out of these difficulties, I would en-
counter them with courage. A man can always act honora-
bly and uprightly ; and, if I were in the Fleet Prison or the
rules of the King's Bench, I believe that I could find in my
own mind resources which would preserve me from being
positively unhappy. But if I could escape from these im-
pending disasters, I should wish to do so. By accepting the
post which is likely to be offered to me, I withdraw myself
for a short time from the contests of faction here. When I
return, I shall find things settled, parties formed into new
combinations, and new questions under discussion. I shall
then be able, without the scandal of a violent separation, and
without exposing myself to the charge of inconsistency, to
take my own line. In the mean time I shall save my family
from distress; and shall return with a competence honestly
earned, as rich as if I were Duke of [Northumberland or Mar-
quess of Westminster, and able to act on all public questions
without even a temptation to deviate from the strict line of
duty. While in India, I shall have to discharge duties not
painfully laborious, and of the highest and most honorable
kind. I shall have whatever that country affords of comfort
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 291
or splendor ; nor will my absence be so long that my friends,
or the public here, will be likely to lose sight of me.
The only persons who know what I have written to you
are Lord Grey, the Grants, Stewart Mackenzie, and George
Babington. Charles Grant and Stewart Mackenzie, who
know better than most men the state of the political world,
think that I should act unwisely in refusing this post; and
this though they assure me, and, I really believe, sincerely,
that they shall feel the loss of my society very acutely. But
what shall I feel ? And with what emotions, loving as I do
my country and my family, can I look forward to such a sep-
aration, enjoined, as I think it is, by prudence and by duty?
AVhether the period of my exile shall be one of comfort, and,
after the first shock, even of happiness, depends on you. If,
as I expect, this offer shall be made to me, will you go with
me? I know what a sacrifice I ask of you. I know how
many dear and precious ties you must, for a time, sunder. I
know that the splendor of the Indian Court, and the gayeties
of that brilliant society of which you would be one of the
leading personages, have no temptation for you. I can bribe
you only by telling you that, if you will go with me, I will
love you better than I love you now, if I can.
I have asked George Babington about your health and
mine. He says that he has very little apprehension for me,
and none at all for you. Indeed, he seemed to think that the
climate would be quite as likely to do you good as harm.
All this is most strictly secret. You may, of course, show
the letter to Margaret, and Margaret may tell Edward ; for I
never cabal against the lawful authority of husbands. But
further the thing must not go. It would hurt my father, and
very justly, to hear of it from any body before he hears of it
from myself ; and if the least hint of it were to get abroad, I
should be placed in a very awkward position with regard to
the people at Leeds. It is possible, though not probable, that
difficulties may arise at the India House ; and I do not mean
to say any thing to any person who is not already in the se-
cret till the directors have made their choice, and till the
king's pleasure has been taken.
292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
And now think calmly over what I have written. I would
not have written on the subject even to you till the matter
was quite settled, if I had not thought that you ought to have
full time to make up your mind. If you feel an insurmount-
able aversion to India, I will do all in my power to make
your residence in England comfortable during my absence,
and to enable you to confer instead of receiving benefits.
But if my dear sister would consent to give me, at this great
crisis of my life, that proof, that painful and arduous proof, of
her affection which I beg of her, I think that she will not re-
pent of it. She shall not, if the unbounded confidence and
attachment of one to whom she is dearer than life can com-
pensate her for a few years' absence from much that she loves.
Dear Margaret ! She will feel this. Consult her, my love,
and let us both have the advantage of such advice as her ex-
cellent understanding, and her warm affection for us, may fur-
nish. On Monday next, at the latest, I expect to be with you.
Our Scotch tour, under these circumstances, must be short.
By Christmas it will be fit that the new councilor should
leave England. His functions in India commence next April.
We shall leave our dear Margaret, I hope, a happy mother.
Farewell, my dear sister. You can not tell how impatiently
I shall wait for your answer. T. B. M.
This letter, written under the influence of deep and varied
emotions, was read with feelings of painful agitation and sur-
prise. India was not then the familiar name that it has be-
come to a generation which regards a visit to Cashmere as a
trip to be undertaken between two London seasons ^ and which
discusses over its breakfast-table at home the decisions arrived
at on the previous afternoon in the council-room of Simla or
Calcutta. In those rural parsonages and middle-class house-
holds where service in our Eastern territories now presents it-
self in the light of a probable and desirable destiny for a prom-
ising son, those same territories were forty years ago regarded
as an obscure and distant region of disease and death. A girl
who had seen no country more foreign than Wales, and cross-
ed no water broader and more tempestuous than the Mersey,
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 293
looked forward to a voyage which (as she subsequently learn-
ed by melancholy experience) might extend over six weary
months, with an anxiety .that can hardly be imagined by us
who spend only half as many weeks on the journey between
Dover and Bombay. A separation from beloved relations un-
der such conditions was a separation indeed ; and if Macaulay
and his sister could have foreseen how much of what they left
at their departure they would fail to find on their return, it is
a question whether any earthly consideration could have in-
duced them to quit their native shore. But Hannah's sense
of duty was too strong for these doubts and tremors; and,
happily (for, on the whole, her resolution was a fortunate one),
she resolved to accompany her brother in an expatriation
which he never would have faced without her. With a mind
set at ease by a knowledge of her intention, he came down to
Liverpool as soon as the session was at an end ; and carried
her off on a jaunt to Edinburgh in a post-chaise, furnished with
Horace "Walpole's letters for their common reading, and Smol-
lett's collected works for his own. Before October he was
back at the Board of Control ; and his letters recommenced,
as frequent and rather more serious and business-like than of
old.
London, October 5th, 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — Life goes on so quietly here, or rather
stands so still, that I have nothing, or next to nothing, to say.
At the Athenaeum I now and then fall in with some person
passing through town on his way to the Continent or to
Brighton. The other day I met Sharp, and had a long talk
with him about every thing and every body — metaphysics,
poetry, politics, scenery, and painting. One thing I have ob-
served in Sharp, which is quite peculiar to him among town-
wits and diners-out. He never talks scandal. If he can say
nothing good of a man, he holds his tongue. I do not, of
course, mean that in confidential communication about politics
he does not speak freely of public men ; but about the foibles
of private individuals I do not believe that, much as I have
talked with him, I ever heard him utter one word. I passed
three or four hours very agreeably in his company at the club.
294 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
I have also seen Kenny for an hour or two. I do not know
that I ever mentioned Kenny to you. "When London is over-
flowing, I meet such numbers of people that I can not remem-
ber half their names. This is the time at which every ac-
quaintance, however slight, attracts some degree of attention.
In the desert island, even poor Poll was something of a com-
panion to Robinson Crusoe. Kenny is a writer of a class
which, in our time, is at the very bottom of the literary scale.
He is a dramatist. Most of the farces and three -act plays
which have succeeded during the last eight or ten years are, I
am told, from his pen. Heaven knows that, if they are the
farces and plays which I have seen, they do him but little
honor. However, this man is one of our great comic writers.
He has the merit, such as it is, of hitting the very bad taste of
our modern audiences better than any other person who has
stooped to that degrading work. We had a good deal of liter-
ary chat, and I thought him a clever, shrewd fellow.
My father is poorly : not that any thing very serious is the
matter with him ; but he has a cold, and is in low spirits.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, October 14th, 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — I have just finished my article on Horace
Walpole. This is one of the happy moments of my life : a
stupid task performed ; a weight taken off my mind. I should
be quite joyous if I had only you to read it to. But to Na-
pier it must go forthwith ; and as soon as I have finished this
letter, I shall put it into the general post with my own fair
hands. I was up at four this morning to put the last touch
to it. I often differ with the majority about other people's
writings, and still of tener about my own, and therefore I may
very likely be mistaken ; but I think that this article will be
a hit. We shall see. Nothing ever cost me more pains than
the first half ; I never wrote any thing so flowingly as the lat-
ter half ; and I like the latter half the best. I have laid it on
Walpole so unsparingly that I shall not be surprised if Miss
Berry should cut me. You know she was Walpole's favorite
in her youth. Neither am I sure that Lord and Lady Holland
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 295
will be well pleased. But they ought to be obliged to me ;
for I refrained, for their sake, from laying a hand, which has
been thought to be not a light one, on that old rogue, the first
Lord Holland.*
Charles Grant is still at Paris ; ill, he says. I never knew
a man who wanted setting to rights so often. He goes as
badly as your watch.
My father is at me again to provide for P . What on
earth have I to do with P ? The relationship is one
which none but Scotchmen would recognize. The lad is such
a fool that he would utterly disgrace my recommendation.
And, as if to make the thing more provoking, his sisters say
that he must be provided for in England, for that they can not
think of parting with him. This, to be sure, -matters little;
for there is at present just as little chance of getting any thing
in India as in England.
But what strange folly this is which meets me in every
quarter — people wanting posts in the army, the navy, the
public offices, and saying that if they can not find such posts
they must starve ! How do all the rest of mankind live ? If
I had not happened to be engaged in politics, and if my father
had not been connected, by veiy extraordinary circumstances,
with public men, we should never have dreamed of having
places. Why can not P be apprenticed to some hatter
or tailor? He may do well in such a business: he will do
detestably ill as a clerk in my office. He may come to make
good coats : he will never, I am sure, write good dispatches.
There is nothing truer than Poor Richard's saw, " We are
taxed twice as heavily by our pride as by the state." The
curse of England is the obstinate determination of the middle
classes to make their sons what they call gentlemen. So we
are overrun by clergymen without livings ; lawyers without
briefs ; physicians without patients ; authors without readers ;
clerks soliciting employment, who might have thriven, and
* Lord Holland, once upon a time, speaking to Macaulay of his grand-
father, said, " He had that temper which kind folks have been pleased to
say belongs to my family ; but ho shared the fault that belonged to that
school of statesmen, an utter disbelief iu public virtue."
296 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
been above the world, as bakers, watch-makers, or innkeepers.
The next time my father speaks to me about P , I will of-
fer to subscribe twenty guineas toward making a pastry-cook
of him. He had a sweet tooth when he was a child.
So you are reading Burnet ! Did you begin from the be-
ginning? What do you think of the old fellow? He was
always a great favorite of mine; honest, though careless; a
strong party man on the right side, yet with much kind feel-
ing toward his opponents, and even toward his personal ene-
mies. He is to me a most entertaining writer ; far superior
to Clarendon in the art of amusing, though of course far Clar-
endon's inferior in discernment, and in dignity and correctness
of style. Do you know, by-the-bye, Clarendon's life of him-
self ? I like it, the part after the Restoration at least, better
than his great History.
I am very quiet : rise at seven or half -past ; read Spanish
till ten; breakfast; walk to my office; stay there till four;
take a long walk ; dine toward seven ; and am in bed before
eleven. I am going through " Don Quixote" again, and admire
it more than ever. It is certainly the best novel in the world,
beyond all comparison. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, October 21st, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Grant is here at last, and we have had a
very long talk about matters both public and private. The
Government would support my appointment, but he expects
violent opposition from the Company. He mentioned my
name to the Chairs,* and they were furious. They know that
I have been against them through the whole course of the ne-
gotiations which resulted in the India Bill. They put their
opposition on the ground of my youth — a very flattering
objection to a man who this week completes his thirty-third
year. They spoke very highly of me in other respects ; but
they seemed quite obstinate.
* The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the East India Company vrere
at that time Mr. Campbell Marjoribauks and Mr. Wigram.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 297
The question now is whether their opposition will be sup-
ported by the other directors. If it should be so, I have ad-
vised Grant most strongly to withdraw my name, to put up
some other man, and then to fight the battle to the utmost.
We shall be suspected of jobbing if we proceed to extremities
on behalf of one of ourselves ; but we can do what we like, if
it is in favor of some person whom we can not be suspected
of supporting from interested motives. From the extreme
unreasonableness and pertinacity which are discernible in ev-
ery communication that we receive from the India House at
present, I am inclined to think that I have no chance of being
chosen by them, without a dispute in which I should not wish
the Government to engage for such a purpose. Lord Grey
says that I have a right to their support if I ask for it ; but
that, for the sake of his administration generally, he is very
adverse to my going. I do not think that I shall go. How-
ever, a few days will decide the matter.
I have heard from Napier. He praises my article on "Wai-
pole in terms absolutely extravagant. He says that it is the
best that I ever wrote, and, entre nous, I am not very far from
agreeing with him. I am impatient to have your opinion.
No flattery pleases me so much as domestic flattery. You
will have the number within the week. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Macvey No/pier, Esq.
London, October 21st, 1833.
DEAR NAPIEE, — I am glad to learn that you like my article.
I like it myself, which is not much my habit. Yery likely
the public, which has often been kinder to my performances
than I was, may on this, as on other occasions, differ from me
in opinion. If the paper has any merit, it owes it to the de-
lay of which you must, I am sure, have complained very bit-
terly in your heart. I was so thoroughly dissatisfied with the
article as it stood at first that I completely rewrote it ; altered
the whole arrangement ; left out ten or twelve pages in one
part ; and added twice as many in another. I never wrote
any thing so slowly as the first half, or so rapidly as the last
half.
298 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
You are in an error about Akenside, which I must clear up
for his credit, and for mine. You are confounding the " Ode
to Curio " and the " Epistle to Curio." The latter is general-
ly printed at the end of Akenside's works, and is, I think,
the best thing that he ever wrote. The " Ode " is worthless.
It is merely an abridgment of the " Epistle," executed in the
most unskillful way. Johnson says, in his "Life of Aken-
side,"* that no poet ever so much mistook his powers as Aken-
side when he took to lyric composition. " Having," I think
the words are, " written with great force and poignancy his
'Epistle to Curio,' he afterward transformed it into an ode
only disgraceful to its author."
"When I said that Chesterfieldf had lost by the publication of
his " Letters," I of course considered that he had much to lose ;
that he has left an immense reputation, founded on the testi-
mony of all his contemporaries of all parties, for wit, taste,
and eloquence ; that what remains of his Parliamentary ora-
tory is superior to any thing of that time that has come down
to us, except a little of Pitt's. The utmost that can be said of
the letters is that they are the letters of a cleverish man ; and
there are not many which are entitled even to that praise. I
think he would have stood higher if we had been left to judge
of his powers — as we judge of those of Chatham, Mansfield,
Charles Townshend, and many others — only by tradition, and
by fragments of speeches preserved in Parliamentary reports.
I said nothing about Lord Byron's criticism on Walpole, be-
cause I thought it, like most of his lordship's criticism, below
refutation. On the drama Lord Byron wrote more nonsense
* "Akenside was one of the fiercest and the most nncompromisiug of the
yonng patriots out of Parliament. When he found that the change of ad-
ministration had produced no change of system, he gave vent to his indig-
nation in the ' Epistle to Curio,' the best poem that he ever wrote ; a poem,
indeed, which seems to indicate that if he had left lyrical composition to
Gray and Collins, and had employed his powers in grave and elevated sat-
ire, he might have disputed the pre-eminence of Dryden." — Macaulay's Es-
say on Horace Walpole.
t "Lord Chesterfield stands much lower in the estimation of posterity
than he would have done if his " Letters " had never been published.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 299
than on any subject. He wanted to have restored the unities.
His practice proved as unsuccessful as his theory was absurd.
His admiration of " The Mysterious Mother " was of a piece
with his thinking Gifford and Rogers greater poets than
"Wordsworth and Coleridge. Ever yours truly,
T. B. MACAULAY.
London, October 28th, 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — I wish to have Malkin* as head of the
commission at Canton, and Grant seems now to be strongly
bent on the same plan. Malkin is a man of singular temper,
judgment, and firmness of nerve. Danger and responsibili-
ty, instead of agitating and confusing him, always bring out
whatever there is in him. This was the reason of his great
success at Cambridge. He made a figure there far beyond
his learning or his talents, though both his learning and his
talents are highly respectable. But the moment that he sat
down to be examined, which is just the situation in which all
other people, from natural flurry, do worse than at other times,
he began to do his very best. His intellect became clearer,
and his manner more quiet, than usual. He is the very man
to make up his mind in three minutes if the Viceroy of Can-
ton were in a rage, the mob bellowing round the doors of the
factory, and an English ship of war making preparations to
bombard the town.
Apropos of places, my father has been at me again about
P . Would you think it ? This lad has a hundred and
twenty pounds a year for life ! I could not believe my ears ;
but so it is ; and I, who have not a penny, with half a dozen
brothers and sisters as poor as myself, am to move heaven
and earth to push this boy, who, as he is the silliest, is also,
I think, the richest relation that I have in the world.
I am to dine on Thursday with the Fish-mongers' Company,
the first company for gourmands in the world. Their mag-
nificent hall near London Bridge is not yet built; but as re-
* Sir Benjamin Malkin, a college friend of Macaulay, was afterward a
judge in the Supreme Court at Calcutta.
300 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
spects eating and drinking I shall be no loser, for we are to
be entertained at the Albion Tavern. This is the first dinner-
party that I shall have been to for a long time. There is no-
body in town that I know except official men, and they have
left their wives and households in the country. I met Poodle
Byng, it is true, the day before yesterday in the street ; and
he begged me to make haste to Brooks's ; for Lord Essex was
there, he said, whipping up for a dinner-party, cursing and
swearing at all his friends for being out of town, and wishing
— what an honor! — that Macaulay was in London. I pre-
served all the dignity of a young lady in an affaire du cceur.
"I shall not run after my lord, I assure you. If he wants
me, he knows where he may hear of me." This nibble is the
nearest approach to a dinner-party that I have had.
Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, November 1st, 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — I have not much to add to what I told
you yesterday ; but every thing that I have to add looks one
way. Marjoribanks and Wigram have resigned. We have a
new chairman and deputy chairman, both very strongly in my
favor. Sharp, by whom I sat yesterday at the Fish-mongers'
dinner, told me that my old enemy, James Mill, had spoken to
him on the subject. Mill is, as you have heard, at the head
of one of the principal departments of the India House. The
late chairman consulted him about me ; hoping, I suppose, to
have his support against me. Mill said, very handsomely, that
he would advise the company to take me ; for, as public men
went, I was much above the average, and, if they rejected me,
he thought it very unlikely that they would get any body so
fit. This is all the news that I have for you. It is not much ;
but I wish to keep you as fully informed of what is going on
as I am myself.
Old Sharp told me that I was acting quite wisely, but that
he should never see me again ;* and he cried as he said it. I
encouraged him ; and told him that I hoped to be in England
* Mr. Sharp died in 1837, before Macaulay's return from India.
1832-'34.] LOED MACAULAY.. 301
again before the end of 1839, and that there was nothing im-
possible in our meeting again. He cheered up after a time ;
told me that he should correspond with me, and give me all
the secret history both of politics and of society ; and prom-
ised to select the best books, and send them regularly to me.
The Fish-mongers' dinner was very good, but not so pro-
fusely splendid as I had expected. There has been a change,
I find, and not before it was wanted. They had got at one
time to dining at ten guineas a head. They drank my health,
and I harangued them with immense applause. I talked all
the evening to Sharp. I told him what a dear sister I had,
and how readily she had agreed to go with me. I had told
Grant the same in the morning. Both of them extolled my
good fortune in having such a companion. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
London, November — , 1833.
DEAR HANNAH, — Things stand as they stood, except that
the report of my appointment is every day spreading more
widely, and that I am beset by advertising dealers begging
leave to make up a hundred cotton shirts for me, and fifty
muslin gowns for you, and by clerks out of place begging to
be my secretaries. I am not in very high spirits to-day, as I
have just received a letter from poor Ellis, to whom I had
not communicated my intentions till yesterday. He writes so
affectionately and so plaintively that he quite cuts me to the
heart. There are few, indeed, from whom I shall part with so
much pain ; and he, poor fellow, says that, next to his wife, I
am the person for whom he feels the most thorough attach-
ment, and in whom he places the most unlimited confidence.
On the llth of this month there is to be a dinner given to
Lushington by the electors of the Tower Hamlets. He has
persecuted me with importunities to attend and make a speech
for him, and my father has joined in the request. It is
enough, in these times, Heaven knows, for a man who repre-
sents, as I do, a town of a hundred and twenty thousand peo-
ple, to keep his own constituents in good humor ; and the
Spitalfields weavers and Whitechapel butchers are nothing to
302 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
me. But, ever since I succeeded in what every body allows
to have been the most hazardous attempt of the kind ever
made — I mean, in persuading an audience of manufacturers,
all Whigs or Radicals, that the immediate alteration of the
corn laws was impossible — I have been considered as a capital
physician for desperate cases in politics. However — to return
from that delightful theme, my own praises — Lushington,
who is not very popular with the rabble of the Tower Ham-
lets, thinks that an oration from me would give him a lift. I
could not refuse him directly, backed as he was by my father.
I only said that I would attend if I were in London on the
llth ; but I added that, situated as I was, I thought it very
probable that I should be out of town.
I shall go to-night to Miss Berry's soiree. I do not know
whether I told you that she resented my article on Horace
Walpole so much that Sir Stratford Canning advised me not
to go near her. She was Walpole's greatest favorite. His
"Reminiscences" are addressed to her in terms of the most
gallant eulogy. When he was dying, at past eighty, he asked
her to marry him, merely that he might make her a countess
and leave her his fortune. You know that in " Yivian Grey "
she is called Miss Otranto. I always expected that my ar-
ticle would put her into a passion, and I was not mistaken ;
but she has come round again, and sent me a most pressing
and kind invitation the other day.
I have been racketing lately, having dined twice with Rog-
ers and once with Grant. Lady Holland is in a most extraor-
dinary state. She came to Rogers's, with Allen, in so bad
a humor that we were all forced to rally and make common
cause against her. There was not a person at table to whom
she was not rude; and none of us were inclined to submit.
Rogers sneered ; Sydney made merciless sport of her ; Tom
Moore looked excessively impertinent ; Bobus put her down
with simple straightforward rudeness ; and I treated her with
what I meant to be the coldest civility. Allen flew into a
rage with us all, and especially with Sydney, whose guffaws,
as the Scotch say, were indeed tremendous. When she and
all the rest were gone, Rogers made Tom Moore and me sit
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 303
down with him for half an hour, and we coshered over the
events of the evening. Rogers said that he thought Allen's
firing-up in defense of his patroness the best thing that he had
seen in him. No sooner had Tom and I got into the street
than he broke forth : " That such an old stager as Rogers
should talk such nonsense, and give Allen credit for attach-
ment to any thing but his dinner ! Allen was bursting with
envy to see us so free, while he was conscious of his own
slavery."
Her ladyship has been the better for this discipline. She
has overwhelmed me ever since with attentions and invita-
tions. I have at last found out the cause of her ill-humor, or
at least of that portion of it of which I was the object. She
is in a rage at my article on Walpole, but at what part of it
I can not tell. I know that she is very intimate with the
Waldegraves, to whom the manuscripts belong, and for whose
benefit the letters were published. But my review was sure-
ly not calculated to injure the sale of the book. Lord Hol-
land told me, in an aside, that he quite agreed with me, but
that we had better not discuss the subject.
A note ; and, by my life, from my Lady Holland : " Dear
Mr. Macaulay, pray wrap yourself very warm, and come to
us on Wednesday." No, my good lady. I am engaged on
Wednesday to dine at the Albion Tavern with the Directors
of the East India Company — now my servants ; next week, I
hope, to be my masters. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaiday.
London, November 22d, 1833.
MY DEAE SISTEK, — The decision is postponed for a week ;
but there is no chance of an unfavorable result. The Chairs
have collected the opinions of their brethren ; and the result
is, that, of the twenty-four directors, only six or seven at the
most will vote against me.
I dined with the directors on Wednesday at the Albion
Tavern. We had a company of about sixty persons, and
many eminent military men among them. The very courte-
ous manner in which several of the directors begged to be
304: LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
introduced to me, and drank my health at dinner, led me to
think that the Chairs have not overstated the feeling of the
court. One of them, an old Indian and a great friend of our
uncle, the general, told me in plain words that he was glad to
hear that I was to be in their service. Another, whom I do
not even know by sight, pressed the chairman to propose my
health. The chairman with great judgment refused. It
would have been very awkward to have had to make a speech,
to them in the present circumstances.
Of course, my love, all your expenses, from the day of my
appointment, are my affair. My present plan, formed after
conversation with experienced East Indians, is not to burden
myself with an extravagant outfit. I shall take only what
will be necessary for the voyage. Plate, wine, coaches, furni-
ture, glass, china, can be bought in Calcutta as well as in Lon-
don. I shall not have money enough to fit myself out hand-
somely with such things here; and to fit myself out shabbi-
ly would be folly. I reckon that we can bring our whole ex-
pense for the passage within the £1200 allowed by the com-
pany. My calculation is that our cabins and board will cost
£250 apiece. The passage of our servants £50 apiece. That
makes up £600. My clothes and etceteras, as Mrs. Meeke*
observes, will, I am quite sure, come within £200. Yours
will, of course, be more. I will send you £300 to lay out as
you like ; not meaning to confine you to it, by any means ;
but you would probably prefer having a sum down to send-
ing in your milliner's bills to me. I reckon my servant's out-
fit at £50 ; your maid's at as much more. The whole will
be £1200.
One word about your maid. You really must choose with
great caution. Hitherto the company has required that all
ladies who take maid-servants with them from this country
to India should give security to send them back within two
years. The reason was, that no class of people misconducted
themselves so much in the East as female servants from this
country. They generally treat the natives with gross inso-
* Mrs. Meeke was bis favorite among bad novel-writers. See page 129.
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 305
lence ; an insolence natural enough to people accustomed to
stand in a subordinate relation to others when, for the first
time, they find a great population placed in a servile relation
toward them. Then, too, the state of society is such that they
are very likely to become mistresses of the wealthy Europeans,
and to flaunt about in magnificent palanquins, bringing dis-
credit on their country by the immorality of their lives and
the vulgarity of their manners. On these grounds the com-
pany has hitherto insisted upon their being sent back at the
expense of those who take them out. The late act will en-
able your servant to stay in India, if she chooses to stay. I
hope, therefore, that you will be careful in your selection.
You see how much depends upon it. The happiness and
concord of our native household, which will probably consist
of sixty or seventy people, may be destroyed by her, if she
should be ill-tempered and arrogant. If she should be weak
and vain, she will probably form connections that will ruin
her morals and her reputation. I am no preacher, as you very
well know ; but I have a strong sense of the responsibility
under which we shall both He with respect to a poor girl
brought by us into the midst of temptations of which she can
not be aware, and which have turned many heads that might
have been steady enough in a quiet nursery or kitchen in En-
gland.
To find a man and wife, both of whom would suit us,
would be very difficult ; and I think it right, also, to offer to
my clerk to keep him in my service. He is honest, intelli-
gent, and respectful ; and as he is rather inclined to consump-
tion, the change of climate would probably be useful to him.
I can not bear the thought of throwing any person who has
been about me for five years, and with whom I have no fault
to find, out of bread, while it is in my power to retain his
services. Ever yours, T. B. M.
«
London, December 5th, 1833.
DEAR LORD LANSDOWNE, — I delayed returning an answer to
your kind letter till this day, in order that I might be able to
send you definitive intelligence. Yesterday evening the di-
VOL. I.— 20
306 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.V.
rectors appointed me to a seat in the council of India. The
votes were nineteen for me, and three against me.
I feel that the sacrifice which I am about to make is great.
But the motives which urge me to make it are quite irresisti-
ble. Every day that I live I become less and less desirous of
great wealth. But every day makes me more sensible of the
importance of a competence. Without a competence it is not
very easy for a public man to be honest : it is almost impos-
sible for him to be thought so. I am so situated that I can
subsist only in two ways : by being in office, and by my pen.
Hitherto, literature has been merely my relaxation — the amuse-
ment of perhaps a month in the year. I have never consid-
ered it as the means of support. I have chosen my own top-
ics, taken my own time, and dictated my own terms. The
thought of becoming a book-seller's hack ; of writing to re-
lieve, not the fullness of the mind, but the emptiness of the
pocket ; of spurring a jaded fancy to reluctant exertion ; of
filling sheets with trash merely that the sheets may be filled ;
of bearing from publishers and editors what Dryden bore
from Tonson, and what, to my own knowledge, Mackintosh
bore from Lardner, is horrible to me. Yet thus it must be,
if I should quit office. Yet to hold office merely for the sake
of emolument would be more horrible still. The situation
in which I have been placed for some time back would have
broken the spirit of many men. It has rather tended to make
me the most mutinous and unmanageable of the followers of
the Government. I tendered my resignation twice during the
course of the last session. I certainly should not have done
so if I had been a man of fortune. You, whom malevolence
itself could never accuse of coveting office for the sake of pe-
cuniary gain, and whom your salary very poorly compensates
for the sacrifice of ease and of your tastes to the public serv-
ice, can not estimate rightly the feelings of a man who knows
that his circumstances lay him open to the suspicion of being
actuated in his public conduct by the lowest motives. Once
or twice, when I have been defending unpopular measures in
the House of Commons, that thought has disordered my ideas
and deprived me of my presence of mind.
1832-'34.] LOED MACAULAY. 307
If this were all, I should feel that, for the sake of my own
happiness and of my public utility, a few years would be well
spent in obtaining an independence. But this is not all. I
am not alone in the world. A family which I love most fond-
ly is dependent on me. Unless I would see my father left in
his old age to the charity of less near relations ; my youngest
brother unable to obtain a good professional education; my
sisters, who are more to me than any sisters ever were to a
brother, forced to turn governesses or humble companions, I
must do something, I must make some effort. An opportuni-
ty has offered itself. It is in my power to make the last days
of my father comfortable, to educate my brother, to provide
for my sisters, to procure a competence for myself. I may
hope, by the time I am thirty-nine or forty, to return to En-
gland with a fortune of thirty thousand pounds. To me that
would be affluence. I never wished for more.
As far as English politics are concerned, I lose, it is true, a
few years. But, if your kindness had not introduced me very
early to Parliament, if I had been left to climb up the regu-
lar path of my profession, and to rise by my own efforts — I
should have had very little chance of being in the House of
Commons at forty. If I have gained any distinction in the
eyes of my countrymen, if I have acquired any knowledge
of Parliamentary and official business, and any habitude for
the management of great affairs, I ought to consider these
things as clear gain.
Then, too, the years of my absence, though lost, as far as
English politics are concerned, will not, I hope, be wholly lost
as respects either my own mind or the happiness of my fel-
low-creatures. I can scarcely conceive a nobler field than
that which our Indian empire now presents to a statesman.
While some of my partial friends are blaming me for stoop-
ing to accept a share in the government of that empire, I am
afraid that I am aspiring too high for my qualifications. I
sometimes feel, I most unaffectedly declare, depressed and ap-
palled by the immense responsibility which I have undertaken.
You are one of the very few public men of our time who have
bestowed on Indian affairs the attention which they deserve;
308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
and you will therefore, I am sure, fully enter into my feel-
ings.
And now, dear Lord Lansdowne, let me thank you most
warmly for the kind feeling which has dictated your letter.
That letter is, indeed, but a very small part of what I ought
'to thank you for. That at an early age I have gained some
credit in public life ; that I have done some little service to
more than one good cause ; that I now have it in my power
to repair the ruined fortunes of my family, and to save those
who are dearest to me from the misery and humiliation of de-
pendence ; that I am almost certain, if I live, of obtaining a
competence by honorable means before I am past the full vig-
or of manhood — all this I owe to your kindness. I will say
no more. I will only entreat you to believe that neither now,
nor on any former occasion, have I ever said one thousandth
part of what I feel.
If it will not be inconvenient to you, I propose to go to Bo-
wood on Wednesday next. Labouchere will be my fellow-
traveler. On Saturday we must both return to town. Short
as my visit must be, I look forward to it with great pleas-
ure.
Believe me ever yours most faithfully and affectionately,
T. B. MACAULAY.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, December 5th, 1833.
MY DEAE SISTEK, — I am overwhelmed with business, clear-
ing off my work here, and preparing for my new functions.
Plans of ships, and letters from captains, pour in without in-
termission. I really am mobbed with gentlemen begging to
have the honor of taking me to India at my own time. The
fact is, that a member of council is a great catch, not merely
on account of the high price which he directly pays for ac-
commodation, but because other people are attracted by him.
Every father of a young writer or a young cadet likes to have
his son on board the same vessel with the great man, to dine
at the same table, and to have a chance of attracting his no-
tice. Every thing in India is given by the governor in coun-
1632-'34.] LOKD MACAULAY. 309
cil ; and, though I have no direct voice in the disposal of pa-
tronage, my indirect influence may be great.
Grant's kindness through all these negotiations has been
such as I really can not describe. He told me yesterday,
with tears in his eyes, that he did not know what the Board
would do without me. I attribute his feeling partly to Rob-
ert Grant's absence ; not that Robert ever did me ill offices
with him — far from it ; but Grant's is a mind that can not
stand alone. It is — begging your pardon for my want of gal-
lantry— a feminine mind. It turns, like ivy, to some support.
When Robert is near him, he clings to Robert. Robert being
away, he clings to me. This may be a weakness in a public
man, but I love him the better for it.
I have lately met Sir James Graham at dinner. He took
me aside, and talked to me on my appointment with a
warmth of kindness which, though we have been always on
good terms, surprised me. But the approach of a long sepa-
ration, like the approach of death, brings out all friendly feel-
ings with unusual strength. The Cabinet, he said, felt the
loss strongly. It was great at the India Board, but in the
House of Commons (he used the word over and over) irrepa-
rable. They all, however, he said, agreed that a man of honor
could not make politics a profession unless he had a compe-
tence of his own, without exposing himself to privation of
the severest kind. They felt that they had never had it in
their power to do all they wished to do for me. They had
no means of giving me a provision in England, and they could
not refuse me what I asked in India. He said very strongly
that they all thought that I judged quite wisely ; and added
that, if God heard his prayers and spared my health, I should
make a far greater figure in public life than if I had remained
during the next five or six years in England.
I picked up in a print-shop the other day some superb
views of the suburbs of Chowringhee, and the villas of the
Garden Reach. Selina professes that she is ready to die with
envy of the fine houses and verandas. I heartily wish we
were back again in a nice plain brick house, three windows in
front, in Cadogan Place or Russell Square, with twelve or fif-
310 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
teen hundred a year, and a spare bedroom (we, like Mrs. Nor-
ris,* must always have a spare bedroom) for Edward and Mar-
garet. Love to them both. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Macvey Napier ', Esq.
London, December 5th, 1833.
DEAR NAPIER, — You are probably not unprepared for what
I am about to tell you. Yesterday evening the Directors of
the East India Company elected me one of the members of
the Supreme Council. It will, therefore, be necessary that in
a few weeks, ten weeks at furthest, I should leave this coun-
try for a few years.
It would be mere affectation in me to pretend not to know
that my support is of some importance to the Edinburgh Re-
view. In the situation in which I shall now be placed, a con-
nection with the Review will be of some importance to me.
I know well how dangerous it is for a public man wholly to
withdraw himself from the public eye. During an absence
of six years, I run some risk of losing most of the distinction,
literary and political, which I have acquired. As a means of
keeping myself in the recollection of my countrymen during
my sojourn abroad, the Review will be invaluable to me ; nor
do I foresee that there will be the slightest difficulty in my
continuing to write for you at least as much as ever. I have
thought over my late articles, and I really can scarcely call to
mind a single sentence in any one of them which might not
have been written at Calcutta as easily as in London. Per-
haps in India I might not have the means of detecting two or
three of the false dates in Croker's Boswell ; but that would
have been all. Very little, if any, of the effect . of my most
popular articles is produced either by minute research into
rare books, or by allusions to mere topics of the day.
I think, therefore, that we might easily establish a com-
merce mutually beneficial. I shall wish to be supplied with
all the good books which come out in this part of the world.
Indeed, many books which in themselves are of little value,
* A leading personage in Miss Austen's "Mansfield Park."
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 311
and which, if I were in England, I should not think it worth
while to read, will be interesting to me in India ; just as the
commonest daubs and the rudest vessels at Pompeii attract
the minute attention of people who would not move their
eyes to see a modern sign-post or a modern kettle. Distance
of place, like distance of time, makes trifles valuable.
What I propose, then, is that you should pay me for the
articles which I may send you from India, not in money, but
in books. As to the amount I make no stipulations. You
know that I have never haggled about such matters. As to
the choice of books, the mode of transmission, and other mat-
ters, we shall have ample time to discuss them before my de-
parture. Let me know whether you are willing to make an
arrangement on this basis.
I have not forgotten Chatham in the midst of my avoca-
tions. I hope to send you an article on him early next week.
Ever yours sincerely, T. B. MACAULAY.
From the Right Hon. Francis Jeffrey to Macvey Napier, Esq.
24 Moray Place, Saturday Evening, December 7th.
MY DEAR NAPIER, — I am very much obliged to you for the
permission to read this. It is to me, I will confess, a solemn
and melancholy announcement. I ought not, perhaps, so to
consider it. But I can not help it. I was not prepared for
six years, and I must still hope that it will not be so much.
At my age, and with that climate for him, the chances of our
ever meeting again are terribly endangered by such a term.
He does not know the extent of the damage which his seces-
sion may be to the great cause of Liberal government. His
anticipations and offers about the Iteview are generous and
pleasing, and must be peculiarly gratifying to you. I think,
if you can, you should try to see him before he goes, and I
envy you the meeting. Ever very faithfully yours,
F. JEFFREY.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, December 21st, 1833.
MY DEAR SISTER, — Yesterday I dined at Boddington's.
"VVe had a very agreeable party : Duncannon, Charles Grant,
312 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
Sharp, Chantrey the sculptor, Bobus Smith, and James Mill.
Mill and I were extremely friendly, and I found him a very
pleasant companion, and a man of more general information
than I had imagined.
Bobus was very amusing. He is a great authority on In-
dian matters. He was during several years advocate general
in Bengal, and made all his large fortune there. I asked him
about the climate. Nothing, he said, could be pleasanter, ex-
cept in August and September. He never eat or drank so
much in his life. Indeed, his looks do credit to Bengal, for a
healthier man of his age I never saw. We talked about ex-
penses. "I can not conceive," he said, "how any body at
Calcutta can live on less than £3000 a year, or can contrive
to spend more than £4000." We talked of the insects and
snakes, and he said a thing which reminded me of his broth-
er Sydney, "Always, sir, manage to have at your table some
fleshy, blooming young writer or cadet, just come out ; that
the mosquitoes may stick to him, and leave the rest of the
company alone."
I have been with George Babington to the Asia. We saw
her to every disadvantage, all litter and confusion ; but she is
a fine ship, and our cabins will be very good. The captain I
like much. He is an agreeable, intelligent, polished man of
forty ; and very good - looking, considering what storms and
changes of climate he has gone through. He advised me
strongly to put little furniture into our cabins. I told him to
have yours made as neat as possible, without regard to ex-
pense. He has promised to have it furnished simply, but
prettily ; and when you see it, if any addition occurs to you, it
shall be made. I shall spare nothing to make a pretty little
boudoir for you. You can not think how my friends here
praise you. You are quite Sir James Graham's heroine.
To-day I breakfasted with Sharp, whose kindness is as warm
as possible. Indeed, all my friends seem to be in the most
amiable mood. I have twice as many invitations as I can ac-
cept, and I have been frequently begged to name my own
party. Empty as London is, I never was so much beset with
invitations. Sharp asked me about you. I told him how
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 313
much I regretted my never having had any opportunity of
showing you the best part of London society. He said that
he would take care that you should see what was best worth
seeing before your departure. He promises to give us a few
breakfast - parties and dinner-parties, where you will meet as
many as he can muster of the best set in town ; Rogers,
Luttrell, Rice, Tom Moore, Sydney Smith, Grant, and other
great wits and politicians. I am quite delighted at this ; both
because you will, I am sure, be amused and pleased at a time
when you ought to have your mind occupied, and because even
to have mixed a little in a circle so brilliant will be of advan-
tage to you in India. You have neglected, and very rightly
and sensibly, frivolous accomplishments ; you have not been
at places of fashionable diversion ; and it is, therefore, the
more desirable that you should appear among the dancing, pi-
ano-forte-playing, opera-going damsels at Calcutta as one who
has seen society better than any that they ever approached.
I hope that you will not disapprove of what I have done. I
accepted Sharp's offer for you eagerly. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, January 2d, 1834.
MY DEAR SISTEE, — I am busy with an article* for Napier.
I can not in the least tell at present whether I shall like it or
not. I proceed with great ease ; and in general I have found
that the success of my writings has been in proportion to the
ease with which they have been written.
I had a most extraordinary scene with Lady Holland. If
she had been as young and handsome as she was thirty years
ago, she would have turned my head. She was quite hyster-
ical about my going ; paid me such compliments as I can not
repeat ; cried ; raved ; called me dear, dear Macaulay. " You
are sacrificed to your family. I see it all. You are too good
to them. They are always making a tool of you ; last session
about the slaves ; and now sending you to India !" I always
do my best to keep my temper with Lady Holland, for three
* The first article on Lord Chatham.
314 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. v.
reasons : because she is a woman ; because she is very unhap-
py in her health, and in the circumstances of her position ; and
because she has a real kindness for me. But at last she said
something about you. This was too much, and I was begin-
ning to answer her in a voice trembling with anger, when she
broke out again : " I beg your pardon. Pray forgive me, dear
Macaulay. I was very impertinent. I know you will forgive
me. Nobody has such a temper as you. I have said so a
hundred tunes. I said so to Allen only this morning. I am
sure you will bear with my weakness. I shall never see you
again ;" and she cried, and I cooled ; for it would have been
to very little purpose to be angry with her. I hear that it is
not to me alone that she runs on in this way. She storms at
the ministers for letting me go. I was told that at one din-
ner she became so violent that even Lord Holland, whose tem-
per, whatever his wife may say, is much cooler than mine,
could not command himself, and broke out : " Don't talk such
nonsense, my lady. What, the devil ! Can we tell a gentle-
man who has a claim upon us that he must lose his only chance
of getting an independence in order that he may come and
talk to you in an evening ?"
Good-bye, and take care not to become so fond of your own
will as my lady. It is now my duty to omit no opportuni-
ty of giving you wholesome advice. I am henceforward your
sole guardian. I have bought Gisborne's " Duties of "Women,"
Moore's " Fables for the Female Sex," Mrs. King's " Female
Scripture Characters," and Fordyce's Sermons. With the
help of these books I hope to keep my responsibility in order
on our voyage, and in India. Ever yours, T. B. M.
To Hannah M. Macaulay.
London, January 4th, 1834.
MY DEAK SISTER, — I am now buying books; not trashy
books which will only bear one reading, but good books for a
library. I have my eye on all the book-stalls ; and I shall no
longer suffer you, when we walk together in London, to drag
me past them as you used to do. Pray make out a list of any
which you would like to have. The provision which I design
1832-'34.] LOED MACAULAY. 315
for the voyage is Richardson, Voltaire's works, Gibbon, Sis-
mondi's "History of the French," "Davila," "The Orlando"
in Italian, " Don Quixote " in Spanish, Homer in Greek, Hor-
ace in Latin. I must also have some books of jurisprudence,
and some to initiate me in Persian and Hindoostanee. Shall
I buy "Dunallan" for you? I believe that in your eyes it
would stand in the place of all the rest together. But, seri-
ously, let me know what you would like me to procure.
Ellis is making a little collection of Greek classics for me.
Sharpe has given me one or two very rare and pretty books,
which I much wanted. All the Edinburgh Reviews are being
bound, so that we shall have a complete set up to the forth-
coming number, which will contain an article of mine on
Chatham. And this reminds me that I must give over writ-
ing to you, and fall to my article. I rather think that it will
be a good one. Ever yours, T. B. M.
London, February 13th, 1834.
DEAR NAPIEK, — It is true that I have been severely tried
by ill-health during the last few weeks ; but I am now rapid-
ly recovering, and am assured by all my medical advisers that
a week of the sea will make me better than ever I was in my
life.
I have several subjects in my head. One is Mackintosh's
" History ;" I mean the fragment of the large work. Another
plan which I have is a very fine one, if it could be well ex-
ecuted. I think that the time is come when a fair estimate
may be formed of the intellectual and moral character of Yol-
taire. The extreme veneration with which he was regarded
during his life -time has passed away; the violent reaction
which followed has spent itself ; and the world can now, I
think, bear to hear the truth, and to see the man exhibited as
he was — a strange mixture of greatness and littleness, virtues
and vices. I have all his works, and shall take them in my
cabin on the voyage. But my library is not particularly rich
in those books which illustrate the literary history of his times.
I have Rousseau and Marmontel's " Memoirs," and Madame
du Demand's " Letters," and perhaps a few other works which
316 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
would be of use. But Grimm's " Correspondence," and sever-
al other volumes of memoirs and letters, would be necessary.
If you would make a small collection of the works which would
be most useful in this point of view, and send it after me as
soon as possible, I will do my best to draw a good Yoltaire.
I fear that the article must be enormously long — seventy pages,
perhaps; but you know that I do not run into unnecessary
lengths.
I may perhaps try my hand on Miss Austen's novels.
That is a subject on which I shall require no assistance from
books.
Whatever volumes you may send me ought to be half-
bound ; or the white ants will devour them before they have
been three days on shore. Besides the books which may be
necessary for the Review, I should like to have any work
of very striking merit which may appear during my absence.
The particular department of literature which interests me
most is history ; above all, English history. Any valuable
book on that subject I should wish to possess. Sharp, Miss
Berry, and some of my other friends, will perhaps, now and
then, suggest a book to you. But it is principally on your own
judgment that I must rely to keep me well supplied.
Yours most truly, T. B. MACAFLAY.
On the 4th of February Macaulay bid farewell to his elect-
ors, in an address which the Leeds Tories probably thought
too high-flown* for the occasion. But he had not yet done
* " If, now that I have ceased to be your servant, and ain only your sin-
cere and grateful friend, I may presume to offer you advice which must,
at least, be allowed to be disinterested, I would say to you : Act toward
your future representatives as you have acted toward me. Choose them,
as you chose me, without canvassing and without expense. Encourage
them, as you encouraged me, always to speak to you fearlessly and plain-
ly. Reject, as you have hitherto rejected, the wages of dishonor. Defy,
as yon have hitherto defied, the threats of petty tyrants. Never forget
that the worst and most degrading species of corruption is the corruption
which operates, not by hopes, but by fears. Cherish those noble and virt-
uous principles for which we have struggled and triumphed together —
the principles of liberty and toleration, of justice and order. Support, as
1832-'34.] LOED MACAULAY.
with the House of Commons. Parliament met on the first
Tuesday in the month ; and, on the "Wednesday, O'Connell,
who had already contrived to make two speeches since the
session began, rose for a third time to call attention to words
uttered during the recess by Mr. Hill, the member for Hull.
That gentleman, for want of something better to say to his
constituents, had told them that he happened to know " that
an Irish member, who spoke with great violence against every
part of the Coercion Bill, and voted against every clause of
it, went to ministers and said, ' Don't bate a single atom of
that bill, or it will be impossible for any man to live in Ire-
land.' " O'Connell called upon Lord Althorp, as the repre-
sentative of the Government, to say what truth there was in
this statement. Lord Althorp, taken by surprise, acted upon
the impulse of the moment, which in his case was a feeling of
reluctance to throw over poor Mr. Hill to be bullied by O'Con-
nell and his redoubtable tail. After explaining that no set
and deliberate communication of the nature mentioned had
been made to the ministers, his lordship went on to say that
he " should not act properly if he did not declare that he had
good reason to believe that some Irish members did, in pri-
vate conversation, use very different language" from what
they had employed in public.
It was chivalrously, but most unwisely, spoken. O'Connell
at once gave the cue by inquiring whether he himself was
among the members referred to, and Lord Althorp assured
him that such was not the case. The Speaker tried to inter-
fere ; but the matter had gone too far. One Irish representa-
tive after another jumped up to repeat the same question
with regard to his own case, and received the same answer.
At length Sheil rose, and asked whether he was one of the
you have steadily supported, the cause of good government ; and may all
the blessings which are the natural fruits of good government descend
upon you and be multiplied to you a hundred -fold! May your manu-
factures flourish; may your trade be extended; may your riches increase!
May the works of your skill, and the signs of your prosperity, meet me in
the farthest regions of the East, and give me fresh cause to be proud of tho
intelligence, the industry, and the spirit of my constituents !"
318 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. v.
members to whom the noble lord had alluded. Lord Althorp
replied: "Yes. The honorable and learned gentleman is
one." Sheil, " in the face of his country, and the presence of
his God," asserted that the individual who had given any such
information to the noble lord was guilty of a "gross and
scandalous calumny," and added that he understood the no-
ble lord to have made himself responsible for the imputation.
Then ensued one of those scenes in which the House of Com-
mons appears at its very worst. All the busy-bodies, as their
manner is, rushed to the front ; and hour after hour slipped
away in an unseemly, intricate, and apparently interminable
wrangle. Sheil was duly called upon to give an assurance
that the affair should not be carried beyond the walls of the
House. He refused to comply, and was committed to the
charge of the sergeant -at -arms. The Speaker then turned
to Lord Althorp, who promised, in Parliamentary language,
not to send a challenge. Upon this, as is graphically enough
described in the conventional terms of Hansard, " Mr. O'Con-
nell made some observation to the honorable member sitting
next him which was not heard in the body of the House.
Lord Althorp immediately rose, and amidst loud cheers, and
with considerable warmth, demanded to know what the hon-
orable and learned gentleman meant by his gesticulation ;"
and then, after an explanation from O'Connell, his lordship
went on to use phrases which very clearly signified that,
though he had no cause for sending a challenge, he had just
as little intention of declining one ; upon which he likewise
was made over to the sergeant. Before, however, honorable
members went to their dinners, they had the relief of learning
that their refractory colleagues had submitted to the Speaker's
authority, and had been discharged from custody.
There was only one way out of the difficulty. On the 10th
of February a committee of investigation was appointed, com-
posed of members who enjoyed a special reputation for dis-
cretion. iMr. Hill called his witnesses. The first had nothing
relevant to tell. Macaulay was the second ; and he forthwith
cut the matter short by declaring that, on principle, he refused
to disclose what had passed in private conversation : a senti-
1832-'34.] LORD MACAULAY. 319
ment which was actually cheered by the committee. One
sentence of common sense brought the absurd embroilment
to a rational conclusion. Mr. Hill saw his mistake ; begged
that no further evidence might be taken ; and, at the next sit-
ting of the House, withdrew his charge in unqualified terms
of self-abasement and remorse. Lord Althorp readily admit-
ted that he had acted " imprudently as a man, and still more
imprudently as a minister," and stated that he considered him-
self bound to accept Shell's denial ; but he could not manage
so to frame his remarks as to convey to his hearers the idea
that his opinion of that honorable gentleman had been raised
by the transaction. Sheil acknowledged the two apologies
with effusion proportioned to their respective value ; and so
ended an affair which, at the worst, had evoked a fresh proof
of that ingrained sincerity of character for the sake of which
his party would have followed Lord Althorp to the death.*
Gravesend, February 15th, 1834.
DEAE LOKD LANSDOWNE, — I had hoped that it would have
been in my power to shake hands with you once more before
my departure ; but this deplorably absurd affair in the House
of Commons has prevented me from calling on you. I lost
a whole day while the committee were deciding whether I
should or should not be forced to repeat all the foolish, shab-
by things that I had heard Sheil say at Brooks's.
I can not leave England without sending a few lines to you,
and yet they are needless. It is unnecessary for me to say
with what feelings I shall always remember our connection,
and with what interest I shall always learn tidings of you and
of your family.
Yours most sincerely, T. B. MACAULAY.
* In Macaulay's journal for June 3d, 1851, we read : "I went to break-
fast with the Bishop of Oxford, and there learned that Sheil was dead.
Poor fellow ! We talked about Sheil, and I related my adventure of Feb-
ruary, 1834. Odd that it should have been so little known, or so complete-
ly forgotten ! Every body thought me right, as I certainly was."
320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
CHAPTER VI.
1834-1838.
The Outward Voyage. — Arrival at Madras. — Macaulay is summoned to
join Lord William Bentinck in the Neilgherries. — His Journey Up-coun-
try.— His Native Servant. — Arcot. — Bangalore. — Seringapatam. — As-
cent of the Neilgherries. — First Sight of the Governor-general. — Letters
to Mr. Ellis and the Miss Macaulays. — A Summer on the Neilgherries. —
Native Christians. — Clarissa. — A Tragi-comedy. — Macaulay leaves the
Neilgherries, travels to Calcutta, and there sets up House. — Letters to
Mr. Napier and Mrs. Cropper. — Mr. Trevelyan. — Marriage of Hannah
Macaulay. — Death of Mrs. Cropper. — Macaulay's Work in India. — His
Minutes for Council. — Freedom of the Press. — Literary Gratitude. —
Second Minute on the Freedom of the Press. — The Black Act. — A Cal-
cutta Puhlic Meeting. — Macaulay's Defense of the Policy of the Indian
Government. — His Minute on Education. — He becomes President of the
Committee of Public Instruction. — His Industry in discharging the Func-
tions of that Post. — Specimens of his Official Writing. — Results of his
Labors. — He is appointed President of the Law Commission, and recom-
mends the Framing of a Criminal Code. — Appearance of the Code. —
Comments of Mr. Fitzjames Stephen. — Macaulay's Private Life in India.
— Oriental Delicacies. — Breakfast-parties. — Macaulay's Longing for En-
gland.— Calcutta and Dublin. — Departure from India. — Letters to Mr.
Ellis, Mr. Sharp, Mr. Napier, and Mr. Z. Macaulay.
FKOM the moment that a deputation of Falmouth Whigs,
headed by their mayor, came on board to wish Macaulay his
health in India and a happy return to England, nothing oc-
curred that broke the monotony of an easy and rapid voyage.
" The catching of a shark ; the shooting of an albatross ; a
sailor tumbling down the hatchway and breaking his head ; a
cadet getting drunk and swearing at the captain," are incidents
to which not even the highest literary power can impart the
charm of novelty in the eyes of the readers of a sea-faring na-
tion. The company on the quarter-deck was much on a level
with the average society of an East Indiaman. "Hannah will
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 321
give you the histories of all these good people at length, I dare
say, for she was extremely social : danced with the gentlemen
in the evenings, and read novels and sermons with the ladies
in the mornings. I contented myself with being very. civil
whenever I was with the other passengers, and took care to
be with them as little as I could. Except at meals, I hardly
exchanged a word with any human being. I never was left
for so long a time so completely to my own resources ; and
I am glad to say that I found them quite sufficient to keep
me cheerful and employed. During the whole voyage I read
with keen and increasing enjoyment. I devoured Greek, Lat-
in, Spanish, Italian, French, and English ; folios, quartos, octa-
vos, and duodecimos."
On the 10th of June the vessel lay to off Madras; and
Macaulay had his first introduction to the people for whom
he was appointed to legislate, in the person of a boatman who
pulled through the surf on his raft. "He came on board
with nothing on him but a pointed yellow cap, and walked
among us with a self-possession and civility which, coupled
with his color and his nakedness, nearly made me die of laugh-
ing." This gentleman was soon followed by more responsi-
ble messengers, who brought tidings the reverse of welcome.
Lord William Bentinck, who was then governor-general, was
detained by ill-health at Ootacamund, in the Neilgherry Hills ;
a place which, by name at least, is now as f amiliar to English-
men as Malvern ; but which in 1834 was known to Macaulay,
by vague report, as situated somewhere " in the mountains of
Malabar, beyond Mysore." The state of public business ren-
dered it necessary that the council should meet ; and, as the
governor-general had left one member of that body in Bengal
as his deputy, he was not able to make a quorum until his
new colleague arrived from England. A pressing summons
to attend his lordship in the Hills placed Macaulay in some
embarrassment on account of his sister, who could not with
safety commence her Eastern experiences by a journey of
four hundred miles up the country in the middle of June.
Happily the second letter which he opened proved to be from
Bishop Wilson ; who insisted that the son and daughter of so
YOL. I.— 21
LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
eminent an Evangelical as the editor of the Christian Ob-
server, themselves part of his old congregation in Bedford
Row, should begin their Indian life nowhere except under his
roof. Hannah, accordingly, continued her voyage, and made
her appearance in Calcutta circles with the Bishop's palace
as a home, and Lady William Bentinck as a kind, and soon an
affectionate, chaperon ; while her brother remained on shore
at Madras, somewhat consoled for the separation by finding
himself in a country where so much was to be seen, and
where, as far as the English residents were concerned, he was
regarded with a curiosity at least equal to his own.
During the first few weeks nothing came amiss to him.
" To be on land after three months at sea is of itself a great
change. But to be in such a land! The dark faces with
white turbans and flowing robes : the trees not our trees : the
very smell of the atmosphere that of a hot-house, and the ar-
chitecture as strange as the vegetation." Every feature in
that marvelous scene delighted him, both in itself and for the
sake of the innumerable associations and images which it con-
jured up in his active and well-stored mind. The salute of
fifteen guns that greeted him as he set his foot on the beach
reminded him that he was in a region where his countrymen
could exist only on the condition of their being warriors and
rulers. When on a visit of ceremony to a dispossessed rajah
or nabob, he pleased himself with the reflection that he was
face to face with a prince who in old days governed a province
as large as a first-class European kingdom, conceding to his
suzerain, the mogul, no tribute beyond " a little outward re-
spect such as the great Dukes of Burgundy used to pay to the
Kings of France; and who now enjoyed the splendid and
luxurious insignificance of an abdicated prince which fell to
the lot of Charles the Fifth, or Queen Christina of Sweden,"
with a court that preserved the forms of royalty, the right of
keeping as many badly armed and worse paid ragamuffins as
he could retain under his tawdry standard, and the privilege
of " occasionally sending letters of condolence and congratu-
lation to the King of England, in which he calls himself his
majesty's good brother and ally."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 323
Macaulay set forth on his journey within a week from his
landing, traveling by night, and resting while the sun was at
its hottest. He has recorded his first impressions of Hindoo-
stan in a series of journal letters addressed to his sister Mar-
garet. The fresh and vivid character of those impressions,
the genuine and multif orm interest excited in him by all that
met his ear or eye, explain the secret of the charm which en-
abled him in after-days to overcome the distaste for Indian
literature entertained by that personage who, for want of a
better, goes by the name of the general reader. Macaulay re-
versed in his own case the experience of those countless writ-
ers on Indian themes who have successively blunted their
pens against the passive indifference of the British public;
for his faithful but brilliant studies of the history of our East-
ern empire are to this day incomparably the most popular*
of his works. It may be possible, without injury to the fame
of the author, to present a few extracts from a correspond-
ence which is in some sort the raw material of productions
that have already secured their place among our national
classics.
"la the afternoon of the 17th of June I left Madras. My train consisted
of thirty-eight persons. I was in one palanquin, and my servant followed
in another. He is a half-caste. On the day on which we set out he told
me he was a Catholic; and added, crossing himself and turning up the
whites of his eyes, that he had recommended himself to the protection of
his patron saint, and that he was quite confident that we should perform
our journey in safety. I thought of Amhrose Llamela, Gil Bias's devout
* When published in a separate form, the articles on Lord Clive and
Warren Hastings have sold nearly twice as well as the articles on Lord
Chatham, nearly thrice as well as the article on Addison, and nearly five
times as well as the article on Byron. The great Sepoy mntiuy, while it
something more than doubled the sale of the essay on Warren Hastings, all
but trebled the sale of the essay on Lord Clive ; but, taking the last twen-
ty years together, there has been little to choose between the pair. The
steadiness and permanence of the favor with which they are regarded may
be estimated by the fact that, during the five years between 1870 and 1874,
as compared with the five years between 1865 and 1869, the demand for
them has been in the proportion of seven to three ; and, as compared with
the five years between 1860 and 1864, in the proportion of three to one.
324: LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
valet, \vho arranges a scheme for robbing his master of his portmanteau,
and, when he comes back from meeting his accomplices, pretends that he
has been to the cathedral to implore a blessing on their voyage. I did
him, however, a great injustice; for I have found him a very honest man,
who knows the native languages ; and who can dispute a charge, bully
a negligent bearer, arrange a bed, and make a curry. But he is so fond
of giving advice that I fear he will some day or other, as the Scotch say,
raise my corruption, and provoke me to send him about his business. His
name, which I never hear without laughing, is Peter Prim.
" Half my journey was by daylight, and all that I saw during that time
disappointed me grievously. It is amazing how small a part of the coun-
try is under cultivation. Two-thirds at least, as it seemed to me, was in
the state of Wandsworth Common, or, to use an illustration which you
will understand better, of Chatmoss. The people whom we met were as
few as in the Highlands of Scotland. But I have been told that in India
the villages generally lie at a distance from the roads, and that much of
the land, which when I passed through it looked like parched moor that
had never been cultivated, would after the rains be covered with rice."
After traversing this landscape for fifteen hours, he reached
the town of Arcot, which, under his handling, was to be cele-
brated far and wide as the cradle of our greatness in the East.
"I was most hospitably received by Captain Smith, who commanded
the garrison. After dinner the palanquins went forward with my serv-
ant, and the captain and I took a ride to see the lions of the neighborhood.
He mounted me on a very quiet Arab, and I had a pleasant excursion.
We passed through a garden which was attached to the residence of the
Nabob of the Carnatic, who anciently held his court at Arcot. The gar-
den has been suffered to run to waste, and is only the more beautiful
for having been neglected. Garden, indeed, is hardly a proper word. In
England it would rank as one of our noblest parks, from which it differs
principally in this, that most of the fine trees are fruit-trees. From this
we came to a mountain pass which reminded me strongly of Borradaile
near Derwentwater, and through this defile we struck into the road and
rejoined the bearers."
And so he went forward on his way, recalling at every
step the reminiscence of some place, or event, or person ;
and thereby doubling for himself, and perhaps for his corre-
spondent, the pleasure which the reality was capable of afford-
ing. If he put up at a collector's bungalow, he liked to think
that his host ruled more absolutely and over a larger popula-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 325
tion than " a Duke of Saxe-Weimar or a Duke of Lucca ;"
and when he came across a military man with a turn for read-
ing, he pronounced him, " as Dominie Sampson said of an-
other Indian colonel, ' a man of great erudition, considering
his imperfect opportunities.' "
On the 19th of June he crossed the frontier of Mysore,
reached Bangalore on the morning of the 20th, and rested
there for three days in the house of the commandant.
" On Monday, the 23d, I took leave of Colonel Ctibbon, who told me,
with a warmth which I was vain enough to think sincere, that he had not
passed- three such pleasant days for thirty years. I went on all night,
sleeping soundly in my palanquin. At five I was waked, and found that
a, carriage was waiting for me. I had told Colonel Cubbon that I very
much wished to see Seringapatain. He had written to the British author-
ities at the town of Mysore, and an officer had come from the Residency to
show me all that was to be seen. I must now digress into Indian politics ;
and let me tell you that, if you read the little that I shall say about them,
you will know more on the subject than half the members of the Cabinet."
After a few pages occupied by a sketch of the history of
Mysore during the preceding century, Macanlay proceeds :
" Seringapatam has always been a place of peculiar interest to me. It
was the scene of the greatest events of Indian history. It was the resi-
dence of the greatest of Indian princes. From a child I used to hear it
talked of every day. Our uncle Colin was imprisoned there for four years,
and he was afterward distinguished at the siege. I remembef that there
Avas, in a shop-window at Clapham, a daub of the taking of Seringapatam,
which, as a boy, I often used to stare at with the greatest interest. I was
delighted to have an opportunity of seeing the place; and, though my ex-
pectations were high, they were not disappointed.
"The town is depopulated; but the fortress, which was one of the
strongest in India, remains entire. A river almost as broad as the Thames
at Chelsea breaks into two branches, and surrounds the walls, above which
are seen the white minarets of a mosque. We entered, and found every
thing silent and desolate. The mosque, indeed, is still kept up, and de-
serves to be so ; but the palace of Tippoo has fallen into utter ruin. I
saw, however, with no small interest, the air-holes of the dungeon in which
the English prisoners were confined, and the water-gate leading down to
the river where the body of Tippoo was found still warm by the Duke of
Wellington, then Colonel Wellesley. The exact spot through which the
English soldiers fought their way against desperate disadvantages into
326 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
the fort is still perfectly discernible. But, though only thirty-five years
have elapsed since the fall of the city, the palace is in the condition of
Tintern Abbey and Melrose Abbey. The courts, which bear a great resem-
blance to those of the Oxford colleges, are completely overrun with weeds
and flowers. The Hall of Audience, once considered the finest in India,
still retains some very faint traces of its old magnificence. It is supported
on a great number of light and lofty wooden pillars, resting on pedestals
of black granite. These pillars were formerly covered with gilding, and
here and there the glitter may still be perceived. In a few more years not
the smallest trace of this superb chamber will remain. I am surprised
that more care was not taken by the English to preserve so splendid a
memorial of the greatness of him whom they had conquered. It was not
like Lord "Wellesley's general mode of proceeding ; and I soon saw a proof
of his taste and liberality. Tippoo raised a most sumptuous mausoleum
to his father, and attached to it a mosque which he endowed. The build-
ings are carefully maintained at the expense of our Government. You
walk up from the fort through a narrow path, bordered by flower-beds and
cypresses, to the front of the mausoleum, which is very beautiful, and in
general character closely resembles the most richly carved of our small
Gothic chapels. Within are three tombs, all covered with magnificent
palls embroidered in gold with verses from the Koran. In the centre lies
Hyder; on his right the mother of Tippoo; and Tippoo himself on the
left."
During his stay at Mysore, Macanlay had an interview with
the deposed rajah ; whose appearance, conversation, palace,
furniture, jewels, soldiers, elephants, courtiers, and idols he
depicts in a letter, intended for family perusal, with a minute-
ness that would qualify him for an Anglo-Indian Richardson.
By the evening of the 24th of June he was once more on the
road ; and, about noon on the following day, he began to as-
cend the Neilgherries, through scenery which, for the benefit
of readers who had never seen the Pyrenees or the Italian
slopes of an Alpine pass, he likened to " the vegetation of
Windsor Forest or Blenheim spread over the mountains of
Cumberland." After reaching the summit of the table-land,
he passed through a wilderness where for eighteen miles to-
gether he met nothing more human than a monkey, until a
turn of the road disclosed the pleasant surprise of an amphi-
theatre of green hills encircling a small lake, whose banks
were dotted with red -tiled cottages surrounding a pretty
Gothic church. The whole station presented " very much the
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 327
look of a rising English watering-place. The largest house is
occupied by the governor-general. It is a spacious and hand-
some building of stone. To this I was carried, and immedi-
ately ushered into his lordship's presence. I found him sit-
ting by a fire in a carpeted library. He received me with the
greatest kindness, frankness, and hospitality. He is, as far as
I can yet judge, all that I have heard ; that is to say, rectitude,
openness, and good nature personified." Many months of close
friendship and common labors did but confirm Macaulay in
this first view of Lord William Bentinck. His estimate of that
singularly noble character survives in the closing sentence of
the essay on Lord Olive ; and is inscribed on the base of the
statue which, standing in front of the Town Hall, may be seen
far and wide over the great expanse of grass that serves as the
park, the parade-ground, and the race-course of Calcutta.
To Thomas Flower Ellis.
Ootacamund, July 1st, 1834.
DEAR ELLIS, — You need not get your map to see where
Ootacamund is, for it has not found its way into the maps.
It is a new discovery ; a place to which Europeans resort for
their health, or, as it is called by the Company's servants —
blessings on their learning! — a sanaterion. It lies at the
height of seven thousand feet above the sea.
While London is a perfect gridiron, here am I, at 13° north
from the equator, by a blazing wood-fire, with my windows
closed. My bed is heaped with blankets, and my black serv-
ants are coughing round me in all directions. One poor fel-
low in particular looks so miserably cold that, unless the sun
comes out, I am likely soon to see under my own roof the
spectacle which, according to Shakspeare, is so interesting to
the English* — a dead Indian.
I traveled the whole four hundred miles between this and
Madras on men's shoulders. I had an agreeable journey, on
the whole. I was honored by an interview with the Rajah of
Mysore, who insisted on showing me all his wardrobe, and his
* " The Tempest," act ii., scene 2.
328 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
picture-gallery. He has six or seven colored English prints
not much inferior to those which I have seen in the sanded
parlor of a country inn : " Going to Cover," " The Death of
the Fox," and so forth. But the bijou of his gallery, of which
he is as vain as the grand duke can be of the " Venus," or Lord
Carlisle of " The Three Maries," is a head of the Duke of "Wel-
lington, which has most certainly been on a sign-post in En-
gland.
Yet. after all, the rajah was by no means the greatest fool
whom I found at Mysore. I alighted at a bungalow apper-
taining to the British Residency. There I found an English-
man wrho, without any preface, accosted me thus : " Pray, Mr.
Macaulay, do not you think that Bonaparte was the Beast?"
" No, sir, I can not say that I do." " Sir, he was the Beast.
I can prove it. I have found the number 666 in his name.
Why, sir, if he was not the Beast, who was?" This was a
puzzling question, and I am not a little vain of my answer.
" Sir," said I, " the House of Commons is the Beast. There
are 658 members of the House ; and these, with their chief
officers — the three clerks, the sergeant and his deputy, the
chaplain, the door-keeper, and the librarian — make 666."
" "Well, sir, that is strange. But I can assure you that, if you
write Napoleon Bonaparte in Arabic, leaving out only two let-
ters, it will give 666." "And, pray, sir, what right have you
to leave out two letters ? And, as St. John was writing Greek
and to Greeks, is it not likely that he would use the Greek
rather than the Arabic notation ?" " But, sir," said this learn-
ed divine, " every body knows that the Greek letters were
never used to mark numbers." I answered with the meek-
est look and voice possible : " I do not think that every body
knows that. Indeed, I have reason to believe that a different
opinion — erroneous, no doubt — is universally embraced by all
the small minority who happen to know any Greek." So end-
ed the controversy. The man looked at me as if he thought
me a very wicked fellow ; and, I dare say, has by this time dis-
covered that, if you write my name in Tamul, leaving out T
in Thomas, B in Babington, and M in Macaulay, it will give
the number of this unfortunate Beast.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 329
I am very comfortable here. The governor-general is the
frankest and best-natured of men. The chief functionaries
who have attended him hither are clever people, but not ex-
actly on a par as to general attainments with the society to
which I belonged in London. I thought, however, even at
Madras, that I could have formed a very agreeable circle of
acquaintance ; and I am assured that at Calcutta I shall find
things far better. After all, the best rule in all parts of the
world, as in London itself, is to be independent of other men's
minds. My power of finding amusement without companions
was pretty well tried on my voyage. I read insatiably ; the " Il-
iad " and " Odyssey," Virgil, Horace, Caesar's " Commentaries,"
Bacon, " De Augmentis," Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Tasso, " Don
Quixote," Gibbon's uKome," Mill's " India," all the seventy vol-
umes of Voltaire, Sismondi's " History of France," and the seven
thick folios of the " Biographia Britannica." I found my Greek
and Latin in good condition enough. I liked the " Iliad" a lit-
tle less, and the " Odyssey " a great deal more, than formerly.
Horace charmed me more than ever ; Virgil not quite so much
as he used to do. The want of human character, the poverty of
his supernatural machinery, struck me very strongly. Can any
thing be so bad as the living bush which bleeds and talks, or
the Harpies who befoul ^Eneas's dinner ? It is as extravagant
as Ariosto, and as dull as Wilkie's " Epigoniad." The last six
books which Virgil had not fully corrected pleased me better
than the first six. I like him best on Italian ground. I like
his localities ; his national enthusiasm ; his frequent allusions
to his country, its history, its antiquities, and its greatness.
In this respect he often reminded me of Sir "Walter Scott,
with whom, in the general character of his mind, he had very
little affinity. The "Georgics" pleased me better; the "Ec-
logues" best — the second and tenth above all. But I think
that the finest lines in the Latin language are those five which
begin :
Sepibus in noslris parvam te roscida mala — *
I can not tell you how they struck me. I was amused to find
* Eclogue viii., 37.
330 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
that Yoltaire pronounces that passage to be the finest in Yir-
gil-
I liked the " Jerusalem " better than I used to do. I was
enraptured with Ariosto ; and I still think of Dante, as I
thought when I first read him, that he is a superior poet to
Milton ; that he runs neck and neck with Homer ; and that
none but Shakspeare has gone decidedly beyond him.
As soon as I reach Calcutta I intend to read Herodotus
again. By-the-bye, why do not you translate him? You
would do it excellently ; and a translation of Herodotus, well
executed, would rank with original compositions. A quarter
of an hour a day would finish the work in five years. The
notes might be made the most amusing in the world. I wish
you would think of it. At all events, I hope you will do
something which may interest more than seven or eight peo-
ple. Your talents are too great, and your leisure time too
small, to be wasted in inquiries so frivolous (I must call them)
as those in which you have of late been too much engaged —
whether the Cherokees are of the same race with the Chick-
asaws ; whether Yan Diemen's Land was peopled from New
Holland, or New Holland from Yan Diemen's Land ; what is
the precise mode of appointing a head-man in a village in
Timbuctoo. I would not give the worst page in Clarendon
or Fra Paolo for all that ever was or ever will be written
about the migrations of the Leleges and the laws of the Os-
cans.
I have already entered on my public functions, and I hope
to do some good. The very wigs of the judges in the Court
of King's Bench would stand on end if they knew how short
a chapter my Law of Evidence will form. I am not without
many advisers. A native of some fortune at Madras has sent
me a paper on legislation. " Your honor must know," says
this judicious person, " that the great evil is that men swear
falsely in this country. No judge knows wrhat to believe.
Surely, if your honor can make men to swear truly, your hon-
or's fame will be great, and the company will flourish. Now,
I know how men may be made to swear truly ; and I will tell
your honor, for your fame, and for the profit of the company.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 331
Let your honor cut off the great toe of the right foot of every
man who swears falsely, whereby your honor's fame will be
extended." Is not this an exquisite specimen of legislative
wisdom ?
I must stop. When I begin to write to England, my pen
runs as if it would run on forever.
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. M.
To Miss Fanny and Miss Selina Macaulay.
Ootacamund, August 10th, 1834.
MY DEAR SISTERS, — I sent last month a full account of my
journey hither, and of the place, to Margaret, as the most sta-
tionary of our family ; desiring her to let you all see what I
had written to her. I think that I shall continue to take the
same course. It is better to write one full and connected nar-
rative than a good many imperfect fragments.
Money matters seem likely to go on capitally. My ex-
penses, I find, will be smaller than I anticipated. The rate
of exchange, if you know what that means, is very favorable
indeed ; and, if I live, I shall get rich fast. I quite enjoy the
thought of appearing in the light of an old hunks who knows
on which side his bread is buttered ; a warm man ; a fellow
who will cut up well. This is not a character which the Mac-
aulays have been much in the habit of sustaining ; but I can
assure you that after next Christmas I expect to lay up on an
average about seven thousand pounds a year, while I remain
in India.
At Christmas I shall send home a thousand or twelve hun-
dred pounds for my father, and you all. I can not tell you
what a comfort it is to me to find that I shall be able to do
this. It reconciles me to all the pains — acute enough, some-
times, God knows — of banishment. In a few years, if I live
— probably in less than five years from the time at which you
will be reading this letter — we shall be again together in a
comfortable, though a modest, home ; certain of a good fire, a
good joint of meat, and a good glass of wine ; without owing
obligations to any body ; and perfectly indifferent, at least as
far as our pecuniary interest is concerned, to the changes of
332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
the political world. Rely on it, my dear girls, that there is no
chance of my going back with my heart cooled toward you.
I came hither principally to save my family, and I am not
likely while here to forget them. Ever yours,
T. B. M.
The months of July and August Macaulay spent on the
Neilgherries, in a climate equable as Madeira and invigorating
as Braemar ; where thickets of rhododendron fill the glades
and clothe the ridges ; and where the air is heavy with the
scent of rose-trees of a size more fitted for an orchard than a
flower-bed, and bushes of heliotrope thirty paces round. The
glories of the forests and of the gardens touched him in spite
of his profound botanical ignorance, and he dilates more than
once upon his " cottage buried in laburnums, or something
very like them, and geraniums which grow in the open air."
He had the more leisure for the natural beauties of the place,
as there was not much else to interest even a traveler fresh
from England.
" I have as yet seen little of the idolatry of India ; and that little,
though excessively absurd, is not characterized by atrocity or indecency.
There is nothing of the sort at Ootacamund. I have not, during the last
six weeks, witnessed a single circumstance from which you would have
inferred that this was a heathen country. The bulk of the natives here
are a colony from the plains below, who have come up hither to wait on
the European visitors, and who seem to trouble themselves very little
about caste or religion. The Todas, the aboriginal population of these
hills, are a very curious race. They had a grand funeral a little while
ago. I should have gone if it had not been a council day ; but I found
afterward that I had lost nothing. The whole ceremony consisted in sac-
rificing bullocks to the manes of the defunct. The roaring of the poor vic-
tims was horrible. The people stood talking and laughing till a particu-
lar signal was made, and immediately all the ladies lifted up their voices
and wept. I have not lived three-aud-thirty years in this world without
learning that a bullock roars when he is knocked down, and that a woman
can cry whenever she chooses.
" By all that I can learn, the Catholics are the most respectable portion
of the native Christians. As to Swartz's people in the Tanjore, they are a
perfect scandal to the religion which they profess. It would have been
thought something little short of blasphemy to say this a year ago ; but
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 333
now it is considered impious to say otherwise, for they have got into a vio-
lent quarrel with the missionaries and the bishop. The missionaries re-
fused to recognize the distinctions of caste in the administration of the
sacrament of the Lord's-supper, and the bishop supported them in the re-
fusal. I do not pretend to judge whether this was right or wrong. Swartz
and Bishop Heber conceived that the distinction of caste, however objec-
tionable politically, was still only a distinction of rank ; and that, as in
English churches the gentlefolks generally take the sacrament apart from
the poor of the parish, so the high-caste natives might be allowed to com-
municate apart from the pariahs.
" But, whoever was first in the wrong, the Christians of Taujore took
care to be most so. They called in the interposition of Government, and
sent up such petitions and memorials as I never saw before or since ; made
up of lies, invectives, bragging, cant, bad grammar of the most ludicrous
kind, and texts of Scripture quoted without the smallest application. I
remember one passage by heart, which is really only a fair specimen of the
whole : ' These missionaries, my lord, loving only filthy lucre, bid us to eat
Lordsupper with pariahs as lives ugly, handling dead men, drinking rack
and toddy, sweeping the streets, mean fellows altogether, base persons,
contrary to that which Saint Paul saith : I determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.'
" Was there ever a more appropriate quotation ? I believe that nobody
on either side of the controversy found out a text so much to the purpose
as one which I cited to the Council of India when we were discussing this
business : ' If this be a question of words, and names, and of your law, look
ye to it ; for I will be no judge of such matters.' But though, like Gallio,
I drove them and their petitions from my judgment-seat, I could not help
saying to one of the missionaries, who is here on the Hills, that I thought
it a pity to break up the Church of Tanjore on account of a matter which
such men as Swartz and Heber had not been inclined to regard as essen-
tial. ' Sir,' said the reverend gentleman, ' the sooner the Church of Tan-
jore is broken up, the better. You can form no notion of the worthless-
ness of the native Christians there.' I could not dispute this point with
him ; but neither could I help thinking, though I was too polite to say so,
that it was hardly worth the while of so many good men to come fifteen
thousand miles over sea and land in order to make proselytes, who, their
very instructors being judges, were more children of hell than before."
Unfortunately, Macaulay's stay on the Neilgherries coin-
cided with the monsoon. " The rain streamed down in floods.
It was very seldom that I could see a hundred yards in front
of me. During a month together I did not get two hoars'
walking." He began to be bored, for the first and last time
in his life : while his companions, who had not his resources,
33i LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP. vx.
were ready to hang themselves for very dullness. The ordi-
nary amusements with which, in the more settled parts of In-
dia, our countrymen beguile the rainy season, were wanting
in a settlement that had only lately been reclaimed from the
desert; in the immediate vicinity of which you still ran the
chance of being " trodden into the shape of half a crown by a
wild elephant, or eaten by the tigers, which prefer this situation
to the plains below for the same reason that takes so many
Europeans to India : they encounter an uncongenial climate
for the sake of what they can get." There were no books in
the place except those that Macaulay had brought with him ;
among which, most luckily, was " Clarissa Harlowe." Aided
by the rain outside, he soon talked his favorite romance into
general favor. The reader will consent to put up with one
or two slight inaccuracies in order to have the story told by
Thackeray.
" 1 spoke to him once about ' Clarissa.' ' Not read " Clarissa !" ' he cried
out. ' If you have once read " Clarissa," and are infected by it, you can't
leave it. When I was in India I passed one hot season in the Hills ; and
there \vere the governor-general, and the secretary of government, and the
coinmauder-in-chief, and their wives. I had " Clarissa " with me ; and as
soon as they began to read, the whole station was in a passion of excitement
about Miss Harlowe, and her misfortunes, and her scoundrelly Lovelace.
The governor's wife seized the book ; the secretary waited for it ; the chief-
justice could not read it for tears.' He acted the whole scene : he paced
np and down the Athenaeum library. I dare say he could have spoken
pages of the book : of that book, and of what countless piles of others !"
An old Scotch doctor, a Jacobin and a freethinker, who
could only be got to attend church by the positive orders of
the governor-general, cried over the last, volume* until he was
* Degenerate readers of our own day have actually been provided with
an abridgment of " Clarissa," itself as long as an ordinary novel. A wiser
course than buying the abridgment would be to commence the original at
the third volume. In the same way, if any one, after obtaining the out-
line of Lady Clementina's story from a more adventurous friend, will
read " Sir Charles Grandison," skipping all letters from Italians to Italians,
and about Italians, he will find that he has got hold of a delightful, and
not unmanageable, book.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 335
too ill to appear at dinner. The chief secretary — afterward,
as Sir "William Macnaghten, the hero and the victim of the
darkest episode in our Indian history — declared that reading
this copy of " Clarissa " under the inspiration of its owner's en-
thusiasm was nothing less than an epoch in his life. After
the lapse of thirty years, when Ootacamund had long enjoyed
the advantage of a book-club and a circulating library, the tra-
dition of Macaulay and his novel still lingered on with a te-
nacity most unusual in the ever-shifting society of an Indian
station.
"At length Lord William gave me leave of absence. My bearers -were
posted along the road ; my palanquins were packed ; and I was to start
next day ; when an event took place which may give you some insight
into the state of the laws, morals, and manners among the natives.
" My new servant, a Christian, but such a Christian as the missionaries
make in this part of the world, had been persecuted most unmercifully for
his religion by the servants of some other gentlemen on the Hills. At last
they contrived to excite against him (whether justly or unjustly, I am
quite unable to say) the jealousy of one of Lord William's under-cooks.
We had accordingly a most glorious tragi-comedy ; the part of Othello by
the cook aforesaid ; Desdemona by an ugly, impudent pariah girl, his wife ;
lago by Colonel Casement's servant; and Michael Cassio by my rascal.
The place of the handkerchief was supplied by a small piece of sugar-can-
dy which Desdemona was detected in the act of sucking, and which had
found its way from my canisters to her fingers. If I had any part in the
piece, it was, I am afraid, that of Roderigo, whom Shakspeare describes as
a ' foolish gentleman,' and who also appears to have had ' money in his
purse.'
"On the evening before my departure, my bungalow was besieged by a
mob of blackguards. The native judge came with them. After a most
prodigious quantity of jabbering, of which I could not understand one
word, I called the judge, who spoke tolerable English, into my room, and
learned from him the nature of the case. I was, and still am, in doubt as
to the truth of the charge. I have a very poor opinion of my man's mor-
als, and a very poor opinion also of the veracity of .his accusers. It was,
however, so very inconvenient for me to be just then deprived of my serv-
ant that I offered to settle the business at my own expense. Under ordi-
nary circumstances this would have been easy enough, for the Hindoos of
the lower castes have no delicacy on these subjects. The husband would
gladly have taken a few rupees, and walked away ; but the persecutors of
my servant interfered, and insisted that he should be brought to trial in
order that they might have the pleasure of smearing him with filth, giv-
336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
ing him a flogging, beating kettles before him, and carrying him round on
an ass with his face to the tail.
"As the matter could not be accommodated, I begged the judge to try
the case instantly; but the rabble insisted that the trial should not take
place for some days. I argued the matter with them very mildly, and told
them that I must go next day, and that if my servant were detained, guilty
or innocent, he must lose his situation. The gentle and reasoning tone of
my expostulations only made them impudent. They are, in truth, a race
so accustomed to be trampled on by the strong that they always consider
humanity as a sign of weakness. The judge told me that he never heard
a gentleman speak such sweet words to the people. But I was now at
an end of my sweet words. My blood was beginning to boil at the undis-
guised display of rancorous hatred and shameless injustice. I sat down,
and wrote a line to the commandant of the station, begging him to give
orders that the case might be tried that very evening. The court assem-
bled, and continued all night in violent contention. At last the judge pro-
nounced my servant not guilty. I did not then know, what I learned some
days after, that this respectable magistrate had received twenty rupees on
the occasion.
" The husbaud would now gladly have taken the money which he re-
fused the day before ; but I would not give him a farthing. The rascals
who had raised the disturbance were furious. My servant was to set out
at eleven in the morning, and I was to follow at two. He had scarcely left
the door when I heard a noise. I looked forth, and saw that the gang had
pulled him out of his palanquin, torn off his turban, stripped him almost
naked, and were, as it seemed, about to pull him to pieces. I snatched up
a sword-stick, and ran into the middle of them. It was all I could do to
force my way to him, and for a moment I thought my own person was in
danger as well as his. I supported the poor wretch in my arms ; for, like
most of his countrymen, he is a chicken-hearted fellow, and was almost
fainting away. My honest barber, a fine old soldier in the company's
service, ran off for assistance, and soon returned with some police officers.
I ordered the bearers to turn round, and proceeded instantly to the house
of the commandant. I was not long detained here. Nothing can be
well imagined more expeditious than the administration of justice in this
country, when the judge is a colonel, and the plaintiff a councilor. I told
my story in three words. In three minutes the rioters were inarched off
to prison, and my servant, with a sepoy to guard him, was fairly on his
road and out of danger."
Early next morning Macaulay began to descend the pass.
"After going down for about an hour we emerged from the clouds and
moisture, and the plain of Mysore lay before us — a vast ocean of foliage on
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 337
which the sun was shining gloriously. I am very little given to cant about
the beauties of nature, but I was almost moved to tears. I jumped off the
palanquin, and walked in front of it down the immense declivity. In two
hours we descended about three thousand feet. Every turning in the road
showed the boundless forest below in some new point of view. I was great-
ly struck with the resemblance which this prodigious jungle, as old as the
world, and planted by nature, bears to the fine works of the great English
landscape gardeners. It was exactly a Wentworth Park as large as Dev-
onshire. After reaching the foot of the hills, we traveled through a suc-
cession of scenes which might have been part of the Garden of Eden. Such
gigantic trees I never saw. In a quarter of an hour I passed hundreds, the
smallest of which would bear a comparison with any of those oaks which
are shown as prodigious in England. The grass, the weeds, and the wild
flowers grew as high as my head. The sun, almost a stranger to me, was
now shining brightly ; and, when late in the afternoon I again got out of
my palanquin and looked back, I saw the large mountain ridge from which
I had descended twenty miles behind me, still buried in the same mass of
fog aud rain in which I had been living for weeks.
" On Tuesday, the 16th, I went on board at Madras. I amused myself
on the voyage to Calcutta with learning Portuguese, and made myself al-
most as well acquainted with it as I care to be. I read The " Lusiad," and
am now reading it a second time. I own that I am disappointed in Camo-
ens ; but I have so often found my first impressions wrong on such subjects
that I still hope to be able to join my voice to that of the great body of
critics. I never read any famous foreign book which did not, in the first
perusal, fall short of my expectations, except Dante's poem, and "Don
Quixote," which were prodigiously superior to what I had imagined. Yet
in these cases I had not pitched my expectations low."
He had not much time for his Portuguese studies. The
run was unusually fast, and the ship only spent a week in the
Bay of Bengal, and forty-eight hours in the Hooghly. He
found his sister comfortably installed in Government House,
where he himself took up his quarters during the next six
weeks ; Lady William Bentinck having been prepared to wel-
come him as a guest by her husband's letters, more than one
of which ended with the words "e un miracolo." Toward
the middle of November, Macaulay began housekeeping for
himself ; living, as he always loved to live, rather more gen-
erously than the strict necessities of his position demanded.
His residence, then the best in Calcutta, has long since been
converted into the Bengal Club.
YOL. I.— 22
338 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
To Macvey Napier ', Esq.
Calcutta, December 10th, 1834.
DEAR NAPIER, — First to business. At length I send you
the article on Mackintosh ; an article which has the merit of
length, whatever it may be deficient in. As I wished to
transmit it to England in duplicate, if not in triplicate, I
thought it best to have two or three copies coarsely printed
here under the seal of strict secrecy. The printers at Edin-
burgh will, therefore, have no trouble in deciphering my man-
uscript, and the corrector of the press will find his work done
to his hands.
The disgraceful imbecility, and the still more disgraceful
malevolence, of the editor have, as you will see, moved my
indignation not a little. I hope that Longman's connection
with the Review will not prevent you from inserting what I
have said on this subject. Murray's copy writers are unspar-
ingly abused by Southey and Lockhart in the Quarterly • and
it would be hard indeed if we might not in the Edinburgh
strike hard at an assailant of Mackintosh.
I shall now begin another article. The subject I have not
yet fixed upon ; perhaps the romantic poetry of Italy, for
which there is an excellent opportunity, Panizzi's reprint of
Boiardo ; perhaps the little volume of Burnet's " Characters "
edited by Bishop Jebb. This reminds me that I have to ac-
knowledge the receipt of a box from Longman, containing this
little book ; and other books of much greater value, Grimm's
" Correspondence," Jacquemont's " Letters," and several for-
eign works on jurisprudence. All that you have yet sent
have been excellently chosen. I will mention, while I am on
this subject, a few books which I want, and which I am not
likely to pick up here : Daru's " Histoire de Yenise ;" St.
Real's " Conjuration de Yenise ;" Era Paolo's works ; Mon-
strelet's " Chronicle ;" and Coxe's book on the Pelhams. I
should also like to have a really good edition of Lucian.
My sister desires me to send you her kind regards. She
remembers her visit to Edinburgh, and your hospitality, with
the greatest pleasure. Calcutta is called, and not without
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 339
some reason, the City of Palaces ; but I have seen nothing in
the East like the view from the Castle Rock, nor expect to see
any thing like it till we stand there together again. Kindest
regards to Lord Jeffrey. Yours most truly,
T. B. MACAULAY.
To Mrs. Cropper.
Calcutta, December 7th, 1834.
DEAREST MARGARET, — I rather suppose that some late let-
ters from Nancy may have prepared you to learn what I am
now about to communicate. She is going to be married, and
with my fullest and warmest approbation. I can truly say
that, if I had to search India for a husband for her, I could
have found no man to whom I could with equal confidence
have intrusted her happiness. Trevelyan is about eight-and-
twenty. He was educated at the Charter-house, and then
went to Haileybury, and came out hither. In this country he
has distinguished himself beyond any man of his standing by
his great talent for business ; by his liberal and enlarged views
of policy ; and by literary merit, which, for his opportunities,
is considerable. He was at first placed at Delhi under Sir
Edward Colebrooke, a very powerful and a very popular man,
but extremely corrupt. This man tried to initiate Trevelyan
in his own infamous practices ; but the young fellow's spirit
was too noble for such things. When only twenty-one years
of age, he publicly accused Sir Edward, then almost at the head
of the service, of receiving bribes from the natives. A per-
fect storm was raised against the accuser. He was almost ev-
erywhere abused, and very generally cut. But, with a firm-
ness and ability scarcely ever seen in any man so young, he
brought his proofs forward, and, after an inquiry of some
weeks, fully made out his case. Sir Edward was dismissed in
disgrace, and is now living obscurely in England. The Gov-
ernment here, and the directors at home, applauded Trevelyan
in the highest terms ; and from that time he has been consid-
ered as a man likely to rise to the very top of the service.
Lord "William told him to ask for any thing that he wished
for. Trevelyan begged that something might be done for
340 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
his elder brother, who is in the company's army. Lord
William told him that he had richly earned that, or any thing
else, and gave Lieutenant Trevelyan a very good diplomatic
employment. Indeed Lord William, a man who makes no
favorites, has always given to Trevelyan the strongest marks,
not of a blind partiality, but of a thoroughly well-grounded
and discriminating esteem.
Not long ago Trevelyan was appointed by him to the un-
der secretaryship for foreign affairs, an office of a very impor-
tant and confidential nature. While holding the place, he was
commissioned to report to Government on the operation of
the internal transit duties of India. About a year ago his re-
port was completed. I shall send to England a copy or two
of it by the first safe conveyance, for nothing that I can say of
his abilities or of his public spirit will be half so satisfactory.
I have no hesitation in affirming that it is a perfect master-
piece in its kind. Accustomed as I have been to public af-
fairs, I never read an abler state paper ; and I do not believe
that there is, I will not say in India, but in England, another
man of twenty-seven who could have written it. Trevelyan
is a most stormy reformer. Lord William said to me before
any one had observed Trevelyan's attentions to Nancy, " That
man is almost always on the right side in every question ; and
it is well that he is so, for he gives a most confounded deal of
trouble when he happens to take the wrong one."* He is
quite at the head of that active party among the younger serv-
ants of the company who take the side of improvement. In
particular, he is the soul of every scheme for diffusing edu-
cation among the natives of this country. His reading has
been very confined ; but to the little that he has read he has
brought a mind as active and restless as Lord Brougham's, and
much more judicious and honest.
As to his person, he always looks like a gentleman, particu-
larly on horseback. He is very active and athletic, and is re-
* Macaulay used to apply to his future brother-in-law the remark which
Julius Caesar made with regard to his yonug friend Brutus : " Magui refert
hie quid velit. Quidqnid volet, valde volet."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 341
nowned as a great master in the most exciting and perilous of
field-sports, the spearing of wild boars. His face has a most
characteristic expression of ardor and impetuosity, which
makes his countenance very interesting to me. Birth is a
thing that I care nothing about ; but his family is one of the
oldest and best in England.
During the important years of his life, from twenty to
twenty-five, or thereabouts, Trevelyan was in a remote prov-
ince of India, where his whole time was divided between pub-
lic business and field-sports, and where he seldom saw a Eu-
ropean gentleman, and never a European lady. He has no
small talk. His mind is full of schemes of moral and political
improvement, and his zeal boils over in his talk. His topics,
even in courtship, are steam navigation, the education of the
natives, the equalization of the sugar duties, the substitution
of the Eoman for the Arabic alphabet in the Oriental lan-
guages.
I saw the feeling growing from the first; for, though I
generally pay not the smallest attention to those matters, I
had far too deep an interest in Nancy's happiness not to
watch her behavior to every body who saw much of her. I
knew it, I believe, before she knew it herself ; and I could
most easily have prevented it by merely treating Trevelyan
with a little coldness, for he is a man whom the smallest
rebuff would completely discourage. But you will believe,
my dearest Margaret, that no thought of such base selfishness
ever passed through my mind. I would as soon have locked
my dear Nancy up in a nunnery as have put the smallest ob-
stacle in the way of her having a good husband. I there-
fore gave every facility and encouragement to both of them.
What I have myself felt, it is unnecessary to say. My part-
ing from you almost broke my heart. But when I parted
from you I had Nancy ; I had all my other relations ; I had
my friends ; I had my country. Now I have nothing except
the resources of my own mind, and the consciousness of hav-
ing acted not ungenerously. But I do not repine. Whatever
I suffer I have brought on myself. I have neglected the plain-
est lessons of reason and experience. I have staked my hap-
342 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.VI.
piness without calculating the chances of the dice. I have
hewn out broken cisterns ; I have leaned on a reed ; I have
built on the sand ; and I have fared accordingly. I must bear
my punishment as I can ; and, above all, I must take care that
the punishment does not extend beyond myself.
Nothing can be kinder than Nancy's conduct has been.
She proposes that we should form one family ; and Trevelyan
(though like most lovers, he would, I imagine, prefer having
his goddess to himself), consented with strong expressions of
pleasure. The arrangement is not so strange as it might seem
at home. The thing is often done here; and those quarrels
between servants, which would inevitably mar any such plan
in England, are not to be apprehended in an Indian establish-
ment. One advantage there will be in our living together of
a most incontestable sort — we shall both be able to save more
money. Trevelyan will soon be entitled to his furlough ; but
he proposes not to take it till I go home.
I shall write in a very different style from this to my father.
To him I shall represent the marriage as what it is in every
respect except its effect on my own dreams of happiness — a
most honorable and happy event ; prudent in a worldly point
of view ; and promising all the felicity which strong mutual
affection, excellent principles on both sides, good temper,
youth, health, and the general approbation of friends can af-
ford. As for myself, it is a tragical denouement of an absurd
plot. I remember quoting some nursery rhymes, years ago,
when you left me in London to join Nancy at Rothley Tem-
ple or Leamington, I forget which. Those foolish lines con-
tain the history of my life.
There were two birds that sat on a stone :
One flew away, and there was but one.
The other flew away, and then there was none ;
And the poor stone was left all alone.
Ever, my dearest Margaret, yours, T. B. MACAULAY.
A passage from a second letter to the same person deserves
to be quoted, as an instance of how a good man may be un-
able to read aright his own nature, and a wise man to forecast
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 343
his own future. " I feel a growing tendency to cynicism and
suspicion. My intellect remains ; and is likely, I sometimes
think, to absorb the whole man. I still retain (not only un-
diminished, but strengthened by the very events which have
deprived me of every thing else) my thirst for knowledge;
my passion for holding converse with the greatest minds of
all ages and nations ; my power of forgetting what surrounds
me, and of living with the past, the future, the distant, and
the unreal. Books are becoming every thing to me. If I
had at this moment my choice of life, I would bury myself in
one of those immense libraries that we saw together at the
universities, and never pass a waking hour without a book be-
fore me." So little was he aware that, during the years which
were to come, his thoughts and cares would be less than ever
for himself, and more for others ; and that his existence would
be passed amidst a bright atmosphere of affectionate domestic
happiness, which, until his own death came, no accident was
henceforward destined to overcloud.
But, before his life assumed the. equable and prosperous
tenor in which it continued to the end, one more trouble was
in store for him. Long before the last letters to his sister
Margaret had been written, the eyes which were to have read
them had been closed forever. The fate of so young a wife
and mother touched deeply all who had known her, and some
who knew her only by name.* When the melancholy news
arrived in India, the young couple were spending their honey-
moon in a lodge in the governor-general's part at Barrackpore.
They immediately returned to Calcutta, and, under the shad-
* Moultrie made Mrs. Cropper's death the subject of some verses on
which her relatives set a high value. He acknowledges his little poem to
be the tribute of one who had been a stranger to her whom it was written
to commemorate.
And yet methinks we are not strange: so many claims there be
Which seem to weave a viewless band between my soul and thee.
Sweet sister of my early friend, the kind, the single-hearted,
Than whose remembrance none more bright still gilds the days departed !
Beloved, with more than sister's love, by some whose love to me
Is now almost my brightest gem in this world's treasury.
344 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. VL
ow of a great sorrow,* began their sojourn in their brother's
house ; who, for his part, did what he might to drown his
grief in floods of official work.
The narrative of that work may well be the despair of
Macaulay's biographer. It would be inexcusable to slur over
what in many important respects was the most honorable
chapter of his life ; while, on the other hand, the task of in-
teresting Englishmen in the details of Indian administration
is an undertaking which has baffled every pen except his own.
In such a dilemma the safest course is to allow that pen to
tell the story for itself ; or, rather, so much of the story as, by
concentrating the attention of the reader upon matters akin to
those which are in frequent debate at home, may enable him
to judge whether Macaulay at the council-board and the bu-
reau was the equal of Macaulay in the senate and the library.
Examples of his minute-writing may with some confidence
be submitted to the criticism of those whose experience of
public business has taught them in what a minute should
differ from a dispatch, a memorial, a report, and a decision.
His method of applying general principles to the circum-
stances of a special case, and of illustrating those principles
with just so much literary ornament as would place his views
in a pictorial form before the minds of those whom it was his
business to convince, is strikingly exhibited in the series of
papers by means of which he reconciled his colleagues in the
Council, and his masters in Leadenhall Street, to the removal
of the modified censorship which existed in India previously
to the year 1835.
"It is difficult," he writes, "to conceive that any measures can be more
indefensible than those which I propose to repeal. It has always been the
practice of politic rulers to disguise their arbitrary measures under pop-
* "April 8th, Lichfield, Easter-Sunday. — After the service was ended, we
went over the cathedral. When I stood before the famous children by
Chantrey, I could think only of one thing ; that, when last I was there, in
1832, my dear sister Margaret was with me, and that she was greatly af-
fected. I could not command my tears, and was forced to leave our party
and walk about by myself." — Macaulay's Journal for the year 1849.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY.
ular forms and names. The conduct of the Indian Government with re-
spect to the Press has been altogether at variance with this trite and ob-
vious maxim. The newspapers have for years been allowed as ample a
measure of practical liberty as that which they enjoy in England. If any
inconveniences arise from the liberty of political discussion, to those in-
conveniences we are already subject. Yet while our policy is thus liberal
and indulgent, we are daily reproached and taunted with the bondage in
which we keep the Press. A strong feeling on this subject appears to ex-
ist throughout the European community here ; and the loud complaints
which have lately been uttered are likely to produce a considerable effect
on the English people, who will see at a glance that the law is oppressive,
and who will not know how completely it is inoperative.
"To impose strong restraints on political discussion is an intelligible
policy, and may possibly — though I greatly doubt itr— be in some coun-
tries a wise policy. But this is not the point at issue. The question bfe-
fore us is not whether the Press shall be free, but whether, being free, it
shall be called free. It is surely mere madness in a government to make
itself unpopular for nothing; to be indulgent, and yet to disguise its in-
dulgence under such outward forms as bring on it the reproach of tyran-
ny. Yet this is now our policy. We are exposed to all the dangers — dan-
gers, I conceive, greatly overrated — of a free Press ; and at the same time
we contrive to incur all the opprobrium of a censorship. It is universally
allowed that the licensing system, as at present administered, does not
keep any man who can buy a press from publishing the bitterest and most
sarcastic reflections on any public measure or any public functionary. Yet
the very words 'license to print' have a sound hateful to the ears of En-
glishmen in every part of the globe. It is unnecessary to inquire whether
this feeling be reasonable ; whether the petitioners who have so strongly
pressed this matter on our consideration would not have shown a better
judgment if they had been content with their practical liberty, and had
reserved their murmurs for practical grievances. The question for us is
not what they ought to do, but what we ought to do ; not whether it be
wise in them to complain when they suffer no injury, but whether it be
wise in us to incur odium unaccompanied by the smallest accession of se-
curity or of power.
" One argument only has been urged in defense of the present system.
It is admitted that the Press of Bengal has long been suffered to enjoy
practical liberty, and that nothing but an extreme emergency could jus-
tify the Government in curtailing that liberty. But, it is said, such an
emergency may arise, and the Government ought to retain in its hands the
power of adopting, in that event, the sharp, prompt, and decisive measures
which may be necessary for the preservation of the empire. But when we
consider with what vast powers, extending over all classes of people, Par-
liament has armed the governor-general in council, and, in extreme cases,
346 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
the governor-general alone, we shall probably be inclined to allow little
•weight to this argument. No government in the world is better provided
with the means of meeting extraordinary dangers by extraordinary pre-
cautions. Five persons, who may be brought together in half an hour,
whose deliberations are secret, who are not shackled by any of those forms
which elsewhere delay legislative measures, can, in a single sitting, make
a law for stopping every press in India. Possessing as we do the unques-
tionable power to interfere, whenever the safety of the state may require
it, with overwhelming rapidity and energy, we surely ought not, in quiet
times, to be constantly keeping the offensive form and ceremonial of des-
potism before the eyes of those whom, nevertheless, we permit to enjoy the
substance of freedom."
Eighteen months elapsed, during which the Calcutta Press
found occasion to attack Macaulay with a breadth and ferocity
of calumny such as few public men, in any age and country,
have ever endured, and none, perhaps, have ever forgiven.
There were, many mornings when it was impossible for him
to allow the newspapers to lie about his sister's drawing-room.
The editor of the periodical which called itself, and had a right
to call itself, the Friend of India, undertook to shame his
brethren by publishing a collection of their invectives ; but it
was very soon evident that no decent journal could venture to
foul its pages by reprinting the epithets and the anecdotes
which constituted the daily greeting of the literary men of
Calcutta to their fellow-craftsmen of the Edinburgh Review.
But Macaulay's cheery and robust common sense earned him
safe and sound through an ordeal which has broken down
sterner natures than his, and imbittered as stainless lives.
The allusions in his correspondence, all the more surely be-
cause they are brief and rare, indicate that the torrent of ob-
loquy to which he was exposed interfered neither with his
temper nor with his happiness ; and how little he allowed it
to disturb his judgment, or distort his public spirit, is proved
by the tone of a state paper, addressed to the Court of Direct-
ors in September, 1836, in which he eagerly vindicates the
freedom of the Calcutta Press, at a time when the writers of
that Press, on the days when they were pleased to be decent,
could find for him no milder appellations than those of cheat,
swindler, and charlatan.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 347
" I regret that on this, or on any subject, my opinion should differ from
that of the honorable court. But I still conscientiously think that we
acted wisely when we passed the law on the subject of the Press ; and I
am quite certain that we should act most unwisely if we were now to re-
peal that law.
" I must, in the first place, venture to express an opinion that the im-
portance of that question is greatly overrated by persons, even the best in-
formed and the most discerning, who are not actually on the spot. It is
most justly observed by the honorable court that many of the arguments
which may be urged in favor of a free Press at home do not apply to this
country. But it is, I conceive, no less true that scarcely any of those argu-
ments which have been employed in Europe to defend restrictions on the
Press apply to a press such as that of India.
" In Europe, and especially in England, the Press is an engine of tremen-
dous power, both for good and for evil. The most enlightened men, after
long experience both of its salutary and of its pernicious operation, have
come to the conclusion that the good, on the whole, preponderates. But
that there is no inconsiderable amount of evil to be set off against the good
has never been disputed by the warmest friend to freedom of discussion.
" In India the Press is comparatively a very feeble engine. It does far
less good, and far less harm, than in Europe. It sometimes renders useful
services to the public. It sometimes brings to the notice of the Govern-
ment evils the existence of which would otherwise have been unknown.
It operates, to some extent, as a salutary check on public functionaries.
It does something toward keeping the administration pure. On the other
hand, by misrepresenting public measures, and by flattering the prejudices
of those who support it, it sometimes produces a slight degree of excite-
ment in a very small portion of the community.
"How slight that excitement is, even when it reaches its greatest
height, and how little the Government has to fear from it, no person whose
observation has been confined to European societies will readily believe.
In this country the number of English residents is very small, and of that
small number a great proportion are engaged in the service of the state,
and are most deeply interested in the maintenance of existing institu-
tions. Even those English settlers who are not in the service of the Gov-
ernment have a strong interest in its stability. They are few : they are
thinly scattered among a vast population with whom they have neither
language, nor religion, nor morals, nor manners, nor color, in common :
they feel that any convulsion which should overthrow the existing order
of things would be ruinous to themselves. Particular acts of the Govern-
ment— especially acts which are mortifying to the pride of caste natural-
ly felt by an Englishman in India — are often angrily condemned by these
persons. But every indigo-planter in Tirhoot, and every shop-keeper in
Calcutta, is perfectly aware that the downfall of the Government would
34:8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
be attended with the destruction of his fortune, and with imminent hazard
to his life.
" Thus, among the English inhabitants of India, there are no fit subjects
for that species of excitement which the Press sometimes produces at
home. There is no class among them analogous to that vast body of En-
glish laborers and artisans whose minds are rendered irritable by frequent
distress and privation, and on whom, therefore, the sophistry and rhetoric
of bad men often produce a tremendous effect. The English papers here
might be infinitely more seditious than the most seditious that were ever
printed in London without doing harm to any thing but their own circu-
lation. The fire goes out for want of some combustible material on which
to seize. How little reason would there be to apprehend danger to order
and property in England from the most inflammatory writings, if those
writings were read only by ministers of state, commissioners of the cus-
toms and excise, judges and masters in chancery, upper clerks in Govern-
ment offices, officers in the army, bankers, landed proprietors, barristers,
and master-manufacturers ! The most timid politician would not antici-
pate the smallest evil from the most seditious libels, if the circulation of
those libels were confined to such a class of readers ; and it is to such a
class of readers that the circulation of the English newspapers in India is
almost entirely confined."
The motive for the scurrility with which Macaulay was as-
sailed by a handful of sorry scribblers was his advocacy of the
act, familiarly known as the Black Act, which withdrew from
British subjects resident in the provinces their so-called privi-
lege of bringing civil appeals before the Supreme Court at Cal-
cutta. Such appeals were thenceforward to be tried by the
Sudder Court, which was manned by the company's judges,
" all of them English gentlemen of liberal education : as free
as even the judges of the Supreme Court from any imputa-
tion of personal corruption, and selected by the Government
from a body which abounds in men as honorable and as in-
telligent as ever were employed in the service of any state."
The change embodied in the act was one of little practical
moment ; but it excited an opposition based upon arguments
and assertions of such a nature that the success or failure of
the proposed measure became a question of high and undeni-
able importance.
"In my opinion," writes Macaulay, " the chief reason for preferring the
Sudder Court is this — that it is the court which we have provided to ad-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 349
minister justice, in the last resort, to the great body of the people. If it is
not fit for that purpose, it ought to be made so. If it is fit to administer
justice to the great body of the people, why should we exempt a mere hand-
ful of settlers from its jurisdiction? There certainly is, I will not say the
reality, but the semblance, of partiality and tyranny in the distinction
made by the Charter Act of 1813. That distinction seems to indicate a
notion that the natives of India may well put up with something less than
justice, or that Englishmen in India have a title to something more than
justice. If we give our own countrymen an appeal to the King's Courts,
in cases in which all others are forced to be contented with the Company's
Courts, we do, in fact, cry down the Company's Courts. We proclaim to
the Indian people that there are two sorts of justice — a coarse one, which
we think good enough for them, and another of superior quality, which we
keep for ourselves. If we take pains to show that we distrust our highest
courts, how can we expect that the natives of the country will place confi-
dence in them ?
" The draft of the act was published, and was, as I fully expected, not.
unfavorably received by the British in the Mofussil.* Seven weeks have
elapsed since the notification took place. Time has been allowed for peti-
tions from the farthest corners of the territories subject to this presidency.
But I have heard of only one attempt in the Mofussil to get up a remon-
strance ; and the Mofussil newspapers which I have seen, though generally
disposed to cavil at all the acts of the Government, have spoken favorably
of this measure.
" In Calcutta the case has been somewhat different ; and this is a re-
markable fact. The British inhabitants of Calcutta are the only British-
born subjects in Bengal who will not be affected by the proposed act, and
they are the only British subjects in Bengal who have expressed the small-
est objection to it. The clamor, indeed, has proceeded from a very small
portion of the society of Calcutta. The objectors have not ventured to
call a public meeting, and their memorial has obtained very few signa-
tures; but they have attempted to make up by noise and virulence for
what has been wanting in strength. It may at first sight appear strange
that a law, which is not unwelcome to those who are to live under it, should
excite such acrimonious feelings among people who are wholly exempted
from its operation. But the explanation is simple. Though nobody who
resides at Calcutta will be sued in the Mofussil courts, many people who
reside at Calcutta have, or wish to have, practice in the Supreme Court.
Great exertions have accordingly been made, though with little success, to
excite a feeling against this measure among the English inhabitants of
Calcutta.
* The term "Mofussil" is used to denote the provinces of the Bengal
Presidency, as opposed to the capital.
350 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
The political phraseology of the English in India is the same with the
political phraseology of our countrymen at home ; but it is never to be
forgotten that the same words stand for very different things at London
and at Calcutta. We hear much about public opinion, the love of liberty,
the influence of the Press. But we must remember that public opinion
means the opinion of five hundred persons who have no interest, feeling, or
taste in common with the fifty millions among whom they live ; that the
love of liberty means the strong objection which the five hundred feel to
every measure which can prevent them from acting as they choose toward
the fifty millions ; that the Press is altogether supported by the five hun-
dred, and has no motive to plead the cause of the fifty millions.
" We know that India can not have a free government. But she may
have the next best thing — a firm and impartial despotism. The worst
state in which she can possibly be placed is that in which the memorialists
would place her. They call on us to recognize them as a privileged order
of freemen in the midst of slaves. It was for the purpose of averting this
great evil that Parliament, at the same time at which it suffered English-
men to settle in India, armed us with those large powers which, in my opin-
ion, we ill deserve to possess if we have not the spirit to use them now."
Macaulay had made two mistakes. He had yielded to the
temptation of imputing motives, a habit which the Spectator
newspaper has pronounced to be his one intellectual vice, fine-
ly adding that it is " the vice of rectitude ;" and he had done
worse still, for he had challenged his opponents to a course of
agitation. They responded to the call. After preparing the
way by a string of communications to the public journals, in
which their objections to the act were set forth at enormous
length, and with as much point and dignity as can be obtained
by a copious use of italics and capital letters, they called a
public meeting, the proceedings at which were almost too lu-
dicrous for description. " I have seen," said one of the speak-
ers, " at a Hindoo festival, & naked, disheveled figure, his face
painted with grotesque colors, and his long hair besmeared
with dirt and ashes. His tongue was pierced with an iron
bar, and his breast was scorched by the fire from the burning
altar which rested on his stomach. This revolting figure, cov-
ered with ashes, dirt, and bleeding voluntary wounds, may the
next moment ascend the S udder bench, and in a suit between
a Hindoo and an Englishman think it an act of sanctity to de-
cide against law in favor of the professor of the true faith."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 351
Another gentleman, Mr. Longueville Clarke, reminded " the
tyrant " that
There yawns the sack, and yonder rolls the sea.
" Mr. Macaulay may treat this as an idle threat ; but his
knowledge of history will supply him with many examples of
what has occurred when resistance has been provoked by mild-
er instances of despotism than the decimation of a people."
This pretty explicit recommendation to lynch a member of
council was received with rapturous applause.
At length arose a Captain Biden, who spoke as follows :
" Gentlemen, I come before you in the character of a British
seaman, and on that ground claim your attention for a few
moments. Gentlemen, there has been much talk during the
evening of laws, and regulations, and rights, and liberties;
but you all seem to have forgotten that this is the anniversary
of the glorious Battle of "Waterloo. I beg to propose, and I
call on the statue of Lord Cornwallis and yourselves to join
me in, three cheers for the Duke of Wellington and the Bat-
tle of Waterloo." The audience, who by this time were pretty
well convinced that no grievance which could possibly result
under the Black Act could equal the horrors of a crowd in the
Town -hall of Calcutta during the latter half of June, gladly
caught at the diversion, and made noise enough to satisfy even
the gallant orator. The business was brought to a hurried
close, and the meeting was adjourned till the following week.
But the luck of Macaulay's adversaries pursued them still.
One of the leading speakers at the adjourned meeting, him-
self a barrister, gave another barrister the lie, and a tumult
ensued which Captain Biden in vain endeavored to calm by
his favorite remedy. " The opinion at Madras, Bombay, and
Canton," said he (and in so saying he uttered the only sen-
tence of wisdom which either evening had produced), " is that
there is no public opinion at Calcutta but the lawyers. And
now — who has the presumption to call it a burlesque? — let's
give three cheers for the Battle of Waterloo, and then I'll pro-
pose an amendment which shall go into the whole question."
The chairman, who certainly had earned the vote of thanks
352 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
for "his very extraordinary patience" which Captain Biden
was appropriately selected to move, contrived to get resolu-
tions passed in favor of petitioning Parliament and the Home
Government against the obnoxious act.
The next few weeks were spent by the leaders of the move-
ment in squabbling over the preliminaries of duels that nev-
er came off, and applying for criminal informations for libel
against each other, which their beloved Supreme Court very
judiciously refused to grant ; but in the course of time the pe-
titions were signed, and an agent was selected who undertook
to convey them to England. On the 22d of March, 1838,
a committee of inquiry into the operation of the act was
moved for in the House of Commons ; but there was noth-
ing in the question which tempted honorable members to
lay aside their customary indifference with regard to Indian
controversies, and the motion fell through without a division.
The House allowed the Government to have its own way in
the matter ; and any possible hesitation on the part of the
ministers was borne down by the emphasis with which Mac-
aulay claimed their support. " I conceive," he wrote, " that
the act is good in itself, and that the time for passing it has
been well chosen. The strongest reason, however, for passing
it, is the nature of the opposition which it has experienced.
The organs of that opposition repeated every day that the En-
glish were the conquerors and the lords of the country ; the
dominant race ; the electors of the House of Commons, whose
power extends both over the company at home and over the
governor-general in council here. The constituents of the
British Legislature, they told us, were not to be bound by laws
made by any inferior authority. The firmness with which the
Government withstood the idle outcry of two or three hun-
dred people, about a matter with which they had nothing to
do, was designated as insolent defiance of public opinion. We
were enemies of freedom, because we would not suffer a small
white aristocracy to domineer over millions. How utterly at
variance these principles are with reason, with justice, with
the honor of the British Government, and with the dearest in-
terests of the Indian people, it is unnecessary for me to point
1834-'38.] LOED MACAULAY. 353
out. For myself, I can only say that if the Government is to
be conducted on such principles, I am utterly disqualified, by
all my feelings and opinions, from bearing any part in it, and
can not too soon resign my place to some person better fitted
to hold it."
It is fortunate for India that a man with the tastes and the
training of Macaulay came to her shores as one vested with
authority, and that he came at the moment when he did ; for
that moment was the very turning-point of her intellectual
progress. All educational action had been at a stand for
some time back, on account of an irreconcilable difference of
opinion in the Committee of Public Instruction ; which was
divided, five against five, on either side of a controversy, vital,
inevitable, admitting of neither postponement nor compro-
mise, and conducted by both parties with a pertinacity and a
warmth that was nothing but honorable to those concerned.
Half of the members were for maintaining and extending the
old scheme of encouraging Oriental learning by stipends paid
to students in Sanscrit, Persian, and Arabic ; and by liberal
grants for the publication of works in those languages. The
other half were in favor of teaching the elements of knowl-
edge in the vernacular tongues, and the higher branches in
English. On his arrival, Macaulay was appointed president
of the committee ; but he declined to take any active part in
its proceedings until the Government had finally pronounced
on the question at issue. Late in January, 1835, the advo-
cates of the two systems, than whom ten abler men could not
be found in the service, laid their opinions before the Supreme
Council ; and, on the 2d of February, Macaulay, as a member
of that council, produced a minute in which he adopted and
defended the views of the English section in the committee.
" How stands the case ? We have to educate a people who can not at
present be educated by means of their mother tongne. We must teach
them some foreign language. The claims of our own language it is hard-
ly necessary to recapitulate. It stands pre-eminent even among the lan-
guages of the West. It abounds with works of imagination not inferior
to the noblest which Greece has bequeathed to us ; with models of every
species of eloquence ; with historical compositions, which, considered mere-
VOL. I.— 23
354 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. VL
ly as narratives, have seldom been surpassed, and -which, considered as ve-
hicles of ethical and political instruction, have never been equaled ; with
just and lively representations of human life and human nature ; with the
most profound speculations on metaphysics, morals, government, jurispru-
dence, and trade ; with full and correct information respecting every ex-
perimental science which tends to preserve the health, to increase the com-
fort, or to expand the intellect of man. Whoever knows that language
has ready access to all the vast intellectual wealth which all the wisest
nations of the earth have created and hoarded in the course of ninety gen-
erations. It may safely be said that the literature now extant in that
language is of far greater value than all the literature which three hun-
dred years ago was extant in all the languages of the world together.
Nor is this all. In India, English is the language spoken by the ruling
class. It is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of govern-
ment. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the
seas of the East. It is the language of two great European communities
which are rising, the one in the south of Africa, the other in Australasia ;
communities which are every year becoming more important, and more
closely connected with our Indian empire. Whether we look at the in-
trinsic value of our literature, or at the particular situation of this coun-
try, we shall see the strongest reason to think that, of all foreign tongues,
the English tongue is that which would be the most useful to our native
subjects.
" The question now before us is simply whether, when it is in our power
to teach this language, we shall teach languages in which, by universal
confession, there are no books on any subject which deserve to be com-
pared to our own ; whether, when we can teach European science, we shall
teach systems which, by universal confession, whenever they differ from
those of Europe, differ for the worse; and whether, when we can patron-
ize sound philosophy and true history, we shall countenance, at the public
expense, medical doctrines which would disgrace an English farrier — as-
tronomy, which would move laughter in the girls at an English boarding-
school — history, abounding with kings thirty feet high, and reigns thirty
thousand years long — and geography, made up of seas of treacle and seas
of butter.
"We are not without experience to guide us. History furnishes several
analogous cases, and they all teach the same lesson. There are in modern
times, to go no further, two memorable instances of a great impulse given
to the mind of a whole society — of prejudice overthrown — of knowledge
diffused — of taste purified — of arts and sciences planted in countries which
had recently been ignorant and barbarous.
" The first instance to which I refer is the great revival of letters among
the Western nations at the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the
sixteenth century. At that time almost every thing that was worth read-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 355
ing was contained in the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Had our ancestors acted as tbe Committee of Public Instruction has hith-
erto acted ; had they neglected the language of Cicero and Tacitus ; had
they confined their attention to the old dialects of our own island ; had
they printed nothing and taught nothing at the universities but chronicles
in Anglo-Saxon and romances in Norman-French, would England have been
what she now is ? What the Greek and Latin were to the contemporaries
of More and Ascham, our tongue is to the people of India. The literature
of England is now more valuable than that of classical antiquity. I doubt
whether the Sanscrit literature be as valuable as that of our Saxon and
Norman progenitors. In some departments — in history, for example — I
am certain that it is much less so.
"Another instance may be said to be still before our eyes. Within the
last hundred and twenty years, a nation which had previously been in a
state as barbarous as that in which our ancestors were before the Crusades,
has gradually emerged from the ignorance in which it was sunk, and has
taken its place among civilized communities. I speak of Russia. There
is now in that country a large educated class, abounding with persons fit
to serve the state in the highest functions, and in no wise inferior to the
most accomplished men who adorn the best circles of Paris and London.
There is reason to hope that this vast empire, which in the time of our
grandfathers was probably behind the Punjab, may, in the time of our
grandchildren, be pressing close on France and Britain in the career of im-
provement. And how was this change effected? Not by flattering na-
tional prejudices; not by feeding the mind of the young Muscovite with
the old woman's stories which his rude fathers had believed ; not by fill-
ing his head with lying legends about St. Nicholas ; not by encouraging
him to study the great question, whether the world was or was not created
on the 13th of September ; not by calling him ' a learned native ' when he
has mastered all these points of knowledge ; but by teaching him those
foreign languages in which the greatest mass of information had been laid
up, and thus putting all that information within his reach. The languages
of Western Europe civilized Russia. I can not doubt that they will do
for the Hindoo what they have done for the Tartar."
This minute, which in its original shape is long enough for
an article in a quarterly review, and as business-like as a re-
port of a royal commission, set the question at rest at once
and forever. On the 7th of March, 1835, Lord William Ben-
tinck decided that " the great object of the British Govern-
ment ought to be the promotion of European literature and
science among the natives of India ;" two of the Orientalists
retired from the Committee of Public Instruction ; several
356 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. \i
new members, both English and native, were appointed ; and
Macaulay entered upon the functions of president with an en-
ergy and assiduity which in his case were an infallible proof
that his work was to his mind.
The post was no sinecure. It was an arduous task to plan,
found, and construct, in all its grades, the education of such a
country as India. The means at Macaulay's disposal were ut-
terly inadequate for the undertaking on which he was engaged.
Nothing resembling an organized staff was as yet in existence.
There were no inspectors of schools. There were no training
colleges for masters. There were no boards of experienced
managers. The machinery consisted of voluntary committees
acting on the spot, and corresponding directly with the super-
intending body at Calcutta. Macaulay rose to the occasion,
and threw himself into the routine of administration and con-
trol with zeal sustained by diligence and tempered by tact.
" We were hardly prepared," said a competent critic, " for the
amount of conciliation which he evinces in dealing with irri-
table colleagues and subordinates, and for the strong, sterling,
practical common sense with which he sweeps away rubbish,
or cuts the knots of local and departmental problems." The
value which a man sets upon the objects of his pursuit is gen-
erally in -proportion to the mastery which he exercises over
himself, and the patience and forbearance displayed in his
dealings with others. If we judge Macaulay by this standard,
it is plain that he cared a great deal more for providing our
Eastern empire with an educational outfit that would work
and wear than he ever cared for keeping his own seat in Par-
liament, or pushing his own fortunes in Downing Street.
Throughout his innumerable minutes, on all subjects, from
the broadest principles to the narrowest detail, he is every-
where free from crotchets and susceptibilities; and every-
where ready to humor any person who will make himself use-
ful, and to adopt any appliance which can be turned to ac-
count.
" I think it highly probable that Mr. Nicholls may be to blame, because
I have seldom known a quarrel in which both parties were not to blame.
But I see no evidence that he is so. Nor do I see any evidence which
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 357
tends to prove that Mr. Nicholls leads the Local Committee by the nose.
The Local Committee appear to have acted with perfect propriety, and I
can not consent to treat them in the manner recommended by Mr. Suther-
land. If we appoint the colouel to be a member of their body, we shall, in
effect, pass a most severe censure on their proceedings. I dislike the sug-
gestion of putting military men on the committee as a check on the civil-
ians. Hitherto we have never, to the best of my belief, been troubled by
any such idle jealousies. I would appoint the fittest men, without caring
to what branch of the service they belonged, or whether they belonged to
the service at all."*
Exception had been taken to an applicant for a mastership,
on the ground that he had been a preacher with a strong turn
for proselytizing.
" Mr. seems to be so little concerned about proselytizing, that he
does not even know how to spell the word ; a circumstance which, if I did
not suppose it to be a slip of the pen, I should think a more serious objec-
tion than the Reverend which formerly stood before his name. I am quite
content with his assurances."
In default of better, Macaulay- was always for employing
the tools which came to hand. A warm and consistent ad-
vocate of appointment by competitive examination, wherever
a field for competition existed, he was no pedantic slave to a
theory. In the dearth of school-masters, which is a feature in
every infant educational system, he refused to reject a candi-
date who " mistook Argos for Corinth," and backed the claims
of any aspirant of respectable character who could "read,
write, and work a sum."
" By all means accept the King of Oude's present, though, to be sure,
more detestable maps were never seen. One would think that the rev-
enues of Oude and the treasures of Saadut Ali might have borne the ex-
pense of producing something better than a map in which Sicily is joined
on to the toe of Italy, and in which so important an Eastern island as Java
does not appear at all."
* This and the following extracts are taken from a volume of Macau-
lay's Minutes, " now first collected from Records in the Department of Pub-
lic Instruction, by H. Woodrow, Esq., M.A., Inspector of Schools at Calcut-
ta, and formerly Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge." The collection was
published iu India.
358 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
"As to the corrupting influence of the zenana, of which Mr. Trevelyan
speaks, I may regret it ; but I own that I cau not help thinking that the
dissolution of the tie between parent and child is as great a moral evil as
can be found in any zenana. In whatever degree infant schools relax that
tie, they do mischief. For my own part, I would rather hear a boy of three
years old lisp all the bad words in the language, than that he should have
no feelings of family affection — that his character should be that which
must be expected in one who has had the misfortune of having a school-
master in place of a mother."
'" I do not see the reason for establishing any limit as to the age of
scholars. The phenomena are exactly the same which have always been
found to exist when a new mode of education has been rising into fashion.
No man of fifty now learus Greek with boys ; but in the sixteenth century
it was not at all unusual to see old doctors of divinity attending lectures
side by side with young students."
" With respect to making our college libraries circulating libraries, there
is much to be said on both sides. If a proper subscription is demanded
from those who have access to them, and if all that is raised by this sub-
scription is laid out in adding to the libraries, the students will be no
losers by the plan. Our libraries, the best of them at least, would be bet-
ter than any which would be readily accessible at an up-country station ;
and I do not know why we should grudge a youug officer the pleasure of
reading our copy of Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' or ' Marmontel's Mem-
oirs,' if he is willing to pay a few rupees for the privilege."
These utterances of cultured wisdom, or homely mother
wit, are sometimes expressed in phrases almost as amusing,
though not so characteristic, as those which Frederic the Great
used to scrawl on the margin of reports and dispatches for the
information of his secretaries.
"We are a little too indulgent to the whims of the people in our em-
ploy. We pay a large sum to send a master to a distant station. He dis-
likes the place. The collector is uncivil ; the surgeon quarrels with him ;
and he must be moved. The expenses of the journey have to be defrayed.
Another man is to be transferred from a place where he is comfortable and
useful. Our masters run from station to station at our cost, as vaporized
ladies at home run about from spa to spa. All situations have their dis-
comforts ; and there are times when we all wish that our lot had been cast
in some other line of life, or in some other place."
"With regard to a proposed coat of arms for Hooghly Col-
lege, he says :
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 359
" I do not see why the mummeries of European heraldry should be in-
troduced into any part of our Indian system. Heraldry is not a science
which has any eternal rules. It is a system of arbitrary canons, origina-
ting in pure caprice. Nothing can be more absurd and grotesque than ar-
morial bearings, considered in themselves. Certain recollections, certain
associations, make them interesting in many cases to an Englishman ; but
in those recollections and associations the natives of India do not par-
ticipate. A lion rampant, with a folio in his paw, with a man standing
on each side of him, with a telescope over his head, and with a Persian
motto under his feet, must seem to them either very mysterious or very
absurd."
In a discussion on the propriety of printing some books of
Oriental science, Macaulay writes :
" I should be sorry to say any thing disrespectful of that liberal and
generous enthusiasm for Oriental literature which appears in Mr. Suther-
land's minute ; but I own that I can not think that we ought to be guided
in the distribution of the small sum which the Government has allotted
for the purpose of education by considerations which seem a little roman-
tic. That the Saracens a thousand years ago cultivated mathematical sci-
ence is hardly, I think, a reason for our spending any money in transla-
ting English treatises on mathematics into Arabic. Mr. Sutherland would
probably think it very strange if we were to urge the destruction of the
Alexandrian Library as a reason against patronizing Arabic literature in
the nineteenth century. The undertaking may be, as Mr. Sutherland con-
ceives, a great national work. So is the breakwater at Madias. But un-
der the orders which we have received from the Government, we have just
as little to do with one as with the other."
Now and then a stroke aimed at Hooghly College hits
nearer home. That men of thirty should be bribed to con-
tinue their education into mature life "seems very absurd.
Moghal Jan has been paid to learn something during twelve
years. We are told that he is lazy and stupid ; but there are
hopes that in four years more he will have completed his
course of study. We have had quite enough of these lazy,
stupid school-boys of thirty."
" I must frankly own that I do not like the list of books. Grammars of
rhetoric and grammars of logic are among the most useless furniture of a
shelf. Give a boy 'Robinson Crusoe.' That is worth all the grammars
of rhetoric and logic in the world. We ought to procure such books as
are likely to give the children a taste for the literature of the West ; not
360 LIFE AND LETTERS OP [CHAP. n.
books filled with idle distinctions and definitions which every man who
has learned them makes haste to forget. Who ever reasoned better for
having been taught the difference between a syllogism and an enthy-
meme ? Who ever composed with greater spirit and elegance because he
could define an oxymoron or an aposiopesis ? I am not joking, but writ-
ing quite seriously, when I say that I would much rather order a hundred
copies of 'Jack the Giant-killer' for our schools than a hundred copies of
any grammar of rhetoric or logic that ever was written."
" Goldsmith's Histories of Greece and Rome are miserable performances,
and I do not at all like to lay out £50 on them, even after they have re-
ceived all Mr. Pinnock's improvements. I must own, too, that I think the
order for globes and other instruments unnecessarily large. To lay out
£324 at once on globes alone, useful as I acknowledge those articles to be,
seems exceedingly profuse, when we have only about £3000 a year for all
purposes of English education. One twelve-inch or eighteen-iuch globe
for each school is quite enough ; and we ought not, I thiuk, to order six-
teen such globes when we are about to establish only seven schools. Use-
ful as the telescopes, the theodolites, and the other scientific instruments
mentioned in the indent undoubtedly are, we must consider that four or
five such instruments run away with a year's salary of a school-master,
and that if we purchase them it will be necessary to defer the establish-
ment of schools."
At one of the colleges at Calcutta the distribution of prizes
was accompanied by some histrionic performances on the part
of the pupils.
" I have no partiality," writes Macaulay, " for such ceremonies. I think
it a very questionable thing whether, even at home, public spouting and
acting ought to form part of the system of a place of education. But in
this country such exhibitions are peculiarly out of place. I can conceive
nothing more grotesque than the scene from the ' Merchant of Venice,'
with Portia represented by a little black boy. Then, too, the subjects of
recitation were ill chosen. We are attempting to introduce a great na-
tion to a knowledge of the richest and noblest literature in the world.
The society of Calcutta assemble to see what progress we are making ; and
we produce as a sample a boy who repeats some blackguard doggerel of
George Colman's, about a fat gentleman who was put to bed over an oven,
and about a man-midwife who was called out of his bed by a drunken man
at night. Our disciple tries to hiccough, and tumbles and staggers about
in imitation of the tipsy English sailors whom he has seen at the punch-
houses. Really, if we can find nothing better worth reciting than this
trash, we had better give up English instruction altogether."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 361
"As to the list of prize books, I am not much better satisfied. It is ab-
solutely unintelligible to me why Pope's works, and my old friend Moore's
' Lalla Rookh,' should be selected from the whole mass of English poetry to
be prize books. I will engage to frame, currente calamo, a better list. Ba-
con's 'Essays,' Hume's ' England,' Gibbon's ' Rome,' Robertson's 'Charles V.,'
Robertson's ' Scotland,' Robertson's ' America,' Swift's ' Gulliver,' ' Robin-
sou Crusoe,' Shakspeare's works, ' Paradise Lost,' Milton's smaller poems,
'Arabian Nights,' Park's 'Travels,' Anson's 'Voyage,' the ' Vicar of Wake-
field,' Johnson's ' Lives,' ' Gil Bias,' Voltaire's ' Charles XII.,' Southey's
'Nelson,' Middleton's ' Life of Cicero.'
"This may serve as a specimen. These are books which will amuse
and interest those who obtain them. To give a boy ' Abercrombie on the
Intellectual Powers,' Dick's ' Moral Improvement,' Young's ' lutellectual
Philosophy,' Chalmers's ' Poetical Economy '! ! ! (in passing, I may be allow-
ed to ask what that means), is quite absurd. I would not give orders at
random for books about which we know nothing. We are under no neces-
sity of ordering at haphazard. We know ' Robinson Crusoe,' and ' Gul-
liver,' and the ' Arabian Nights,' and Anson's ' Voyage,' and many other
delightful works which interest even the very young, and which do not
lose their interest to the end of our lives. Why should we order blindfold
such books as Markham's ' New Children's Friend,' the ' Juvenile Scrap-
book,' the ' Child's Own Book,' Higgins's 'Earth,' Mudie's ' Sea,' and some-
body else's ' Fire and Air ?' — books which, I will be bound for it, none of
us ever opened.
" The list ought in all its parts to be thoroughly recast. If Sir Benja-
min Malkin will furuish the names of ten or twelve works of a scientific
kind which he thinks suited for prizes, the task will not be difficult ; and,
with his help, I will gladly undertake it. There is a marked distinction
between a prize book and a school book. A prize book ought to be a book
which a boy receives with pleasure, and turns over and over, not as a task,
but spontaneously. I have not forgotten my own school-boy feelings on
this subject. My pleasure at obtaining a prize was greatly enhanced by
the knowledge that my little library would receive a very agreeable addi-
tion. I never was better pleased than when at fourteen I was master of
Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' which I had long been wishing to read. If my
master had given me, instead of Boswell, a critical pronouncing dictionary,
or a geographical class-book, I should have been much less gratified by my
success."
The idea had been started of paying authors to write books
in the languages of the country. On this Macaulay remarks :
" To hire four or five people to make a literature is a course which nev-
er answered and never will answer, in any part of the world. Languages
grow. They can not be built. We are now following the slow but sure
362 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
course on which alone we can depend for a supply of good books iu tin-
vernacular languages of India. We are attempting to raise up a large class
of enlightened natives. I hope that, twenty years hence, there will be hun-
dreds, nay thousands, of natives familiar with the best models of composi-
tion, and well acquainted with Western science. Among them some per-
sons will be found who will have the inclination, and the ability, to exhibit
European knowledge in the vernacular dialects. This I believe to be the
only way in which we can raise up a good vernacular literature in this
country."
These hopeful anticipations have been more than fulfilled.
Twice twenty years have brought into existence, not hundreds
or thousands, but hundreds of thousands, of natives who can
appreciate European knowledge when laid before them in the
English language, and can reproduce it in their own. Taking
one year with another, upward of a thousand works of litera-
ture and science are published annually in Bengal alone, and
at least four times that number throughout the entire conti-
nent. Our colleges have more than six thousand students on
their books, and two hundred thousand boys are receiving a
liberal education in schools of the higher order. For the im-
provement of the mass of the people, nearly seven thousand
young men are in training as certificated masters. The
amount allotted in the budget to the item of Public Instruc-
tion has increased more than seventy-fold since 1835 ; and is
largely supplemented by the fees which parents of all classes
willingly contribute, when once they have been taught the
value of a commodity the demand for which is created by the
supply. During many years past the generosity of wealthy
natives has to a great extent been diverted from the idle ex-
travagance of pageants and festivals, to promote the intellect-
ual advancement of their fellow-countrymen. On several
different occasions, at a single stroke of the pen, our Indian
universities have been endowed with twice, three times, four
times the amount of the slender sum which Macaulay had at
his command. But none the less was he the master-engineer,
whose skill and foresight determined the direction of the chan-
nels along which this stream of public and private munificence
was to flow for the regeneration of our Eastern empire.
. It may add something to the merit of Macaulay's labors in
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 363
the cause of education that those labors were voluntary and
unpaid ; and voluntary and unpaid likewise was another serv-
ice which he rendered to India, not less durable than the first,
and hardly less important. A clause in the act of 1833 gave
rise to the appointment of a commission to inquire into the
jurisprudence and jurisdiction of our Eastern empire. Mac-
aulay, at his own instigation, was appointed president of that
commission. He had not been many months engaged in his
new duties before he submitted a proposal, by the adoption of
which his own industry, and the high talents of his colleagues,
Mr. Cameron and Sir John Macleod, might be turned to the
best account by being employed in framing a criminal code
for the whole Indian empire. " This code," writes Macau-
lay, " should not be a mere digest of existing usages and regu-
lations, but should comprise all the reforms which the commis-
sion may think desirable. It should be framed on two great
principles — the principle of suppressing crime with the small-
est possible amount of suffering, and the principle of ascer-
taining truth at the smallest possible cost of time and money.
The commissioners should be particularly charged to study
conciseness, as far as it is consistent with perspicuity. In gen-
eral, I believe, it will be found that perspicuous and concise
expressions are not only compatible, but identical."
The offer was eagerly accepted, and the commission fell to
work. The results of that work did not show themselves
quickly enough to satisfy the most practical and (to its credit
be it spoken) the most exacting of governments; and Mac-
aulay was under the necessity of explaining and excusing a
procrastination which was celerity itself as compared with any
codifying that had been done since the days of Justinian.
" Daring the last rainy season — a season, I believe, peculiarly unhealthy
— every member of the commission except myself was wholly incapaci-
tated for exertion. Mr. Anderson has been twice under the necessity
of leaving Calcutta, and has not, till very lately, been able to labor with
his accustomed activity. Mr. Macleod has been, till within the last week
or ten days, in so feeble a state that the smallest effort seriously disor-
dered him ; and his health is so delicate that, admirably qualified as he
is by very rare talents for the discharge of his functions, it would be im-
364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.VI.
prudent, in forming any prospective calculation, to reckon on much service
from him. Mr. Cameron, of the importance of whose assistance I need not
speak, has been during more than four months utterly unable to do any
work, and has at length been compelled to ask leave of absence, in order to
visit the Cape for the recovery of his health. Thus, as the governor-gen-
eral has stated, Mr. Millett and myself have, during a considerable time,
constituted the whole effective strength of the commission. Nor has Mr.
Millett been able to devote to the business of the commission his whole
undivided attention.
" I must say that, even if no allowance be made for the untoward occur-
rences which have retarded our progress, that progress can not be called
slow. People who have never considered the importance and difficulty of
the task in which we are employed are surprised to find that a code can not
be spoken off extempore, or written like an article in a magazine. I ana
not ashamed to acknowledge that there are several chapters in the code
on which I have been employed for months ; of which I have changed the
whole plan ten or twelve times ; which contain not a single word as it
originally stood ; and with which I am still very far indeed from being sat-
isfied. I certainly shall not hurry on my share of the work to gratify the
childish impatience of the ignorant. Their censure ought to be a matter
of perfect indifference to men engaged in a task, on the right performing
of which the welfare of millions may, during a long series of years, de-
pend. The cost of the commission is as nothing when compared with the
importance of such a work. The time during which the commission has
sat is as nothing compared with the time during which that work will
produce good, or evil, to India.
" Indeed, if we compare the progress of the ' Indian Code' with the prog-
ress of codes under circumstances far more favorable, we shall find little
reason to accuse the Law Commission of tardiness. Bonaparte had at his
command the services of experienced jurists to any extent to which he
chose to call for them ; yet his legislation proceeded at a far slower rate
than ours. The ' French Criminal Code ' was begun, under the Consulate,
in March, 1801 ; and yet the ' Code of Criminal Procedure ' was not com-
pleted till 1808, and the ' Penal Code ' not till 1810. The < Criminal Code
of Louisiana' was commenced in February, 1821. After it had been in
preparation during three years and a half, an accident happened to the pa-
pers which compelled Mr. Livingstone to request indulgence for another
year. Indeed, when I remember the slow progress of law reforms at home,
and when I consider that our code decides hundreds of questions, every one
of which, if stirred in England, would give occasion to voluminous contro-
versy and to many animated debates, I must acknowledge that I am inclined
to fear that we have been guilty rather of precipitation than of delay."
This minute was dated the 2d of January, 1837; and in
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 365
the course of the same year the code appeared, headed by an
introductory report in the shape of a letter to the governor-
general, and followed by an appendix containing eighteen
notes, each in itself an essay. The most readable of all di-
gests, its pages are alive with illustrations drawn from history,
from literature, and from the habits and occurrences of every-
day life. The offense of fabricating evidence is exemplified
by a case which may easily be recognized as that of Lady Mac-
oeth and the grooms ;* and the offense of voluntary culpable
homicide, by an imaginary incident of a pit covered with
sticks and turf, which irresistibly recalls a reminiscence of
" Jack the Giant-killer." The chapters on theft and trespass
establish the rights of book-owners as against book-stealers,
book-borrowers, and book-defacers,f with an affectionate pre-
cision which would have gladdened the heart of Charles Lamb
or Sir Walter Scott. In the chapter on manslaughter, the
judge is enjoined to treat with lenity an act done in the first
anger of a husband or father, provoked by the intolerable out-
rage of a certain kind of criminal assault. " Such an assault
produced the Sicilian Vespers. Such an assault called forth
the memorable blow of Wat Tyler." And, on the question
whether the severity of a hurt should be considered in appor-
tioning the punishment, we are reminded of " examples which
* "A, after -wounding a person with a knife, goes into the room where Z
is sleeping, smears Z's clothes with blood, and lays the knife under Z's pil-
low ; intending not only that suspicion may thereby be turned away from
himself, but also that Z may be convicted of voluntarily causing grievous
hurt. A is liable to punishment as a fabricator of false evidence."
t " A, being on friendly terms with Z, goes into Z's library, in Z's absence,
and takes a book without Z's express consent. Here, it is probable that A
may have conceived that he had Z's implied consent to use Z's books. If
this was A's impression, A has not committed theft."
"A takes up a book belonging to Z, and reads it, not having any right
over the book, and not having the consent of any person entitled to author-
ize A so to do. A trespasses."
"A, being exasperated at a passage in a book which is lying on the count-
er of Z, snatches it up and tears it to pieces. A has not committed theft,
as he has not acted fraudulently, though he may have committed criminal
trespass and mischief."
366 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
are universally known. Harley was laid up moie than twen-
ty days by the wound which he received from Guiscard ;"
while " the scratch which Damien gave to Louis the Fifteenth
was so slight that it was followed by no feverish symptoms."
Such a sanguine estimate of the diffusion of knowledge with
regard to the details of ancient crimes could proceed from no
pen but that of the writer who endowed school-boys with the
erudition of professors, and the talker who, when he poured
forth the stores of his memory, began each of his disquisitions
with the phrase " Don't you remember ?"
If it be asked whether or not the " Penal Code " fulfills the
ends for which it was framed, the answer may safely be left
to the gratitude of Indian civilians, the younger of whom car-
ry it about in their saddle-bags, and the older in their heads.
The value which it possesses in the eyes of a trained English
lawyer may be gathered from the testimony of Macaulay's
eminent successor, Mr. Fitzjames Stephen :
"In order to appreciate the importance of the 'Penal Code,' it must be
borne in mind what crime in India is. Here, in England, order is so thor-
oughly well established that the crime of the country is hardly more than
an annoyance. In India, if crime is allowed to get to a head, it is capable
of destroying the peace and prosperity of whole tracts of country. The
mass of the people in their common moods are gentle, submissive, and dis-
posed to be innocent ; but, for that very reason, bold and successful crim-
inals are dangerous in the extreme. In old days, when they joined in
gangs or organized bodies, they soon acquired political importance. Now,
in many parts of India, crime is quite as uncommon as in the least crimi-
nal parts of England ; and the old high-handed, systematized crime has
almost entirely disappeared. This great revolution (for it is nothing less)
in the state of society of a whole continent has been brought about by the
regular administration of a rational body of criminal law.
"The administration of criminal justice is intrusted to a very small
number of English magistrates, organized according to a carefully devised
system of appeal and supervision which represents the experience of a cent-
ury. This system is not unattended by evils ; but it is absolutely neces-
sary, to enable a few hundred civilians to govern a continent. Persons in
such a position must be provided with the plainest instructions as to the
nature of their duties. These instructions, in so far as the administration
of criminal justice is concerned, are contained in the ' Indian Penal Code'
and the ' Code of Criminal Procedure.' The ' Code of Crimiual Procedure '
1834-'38.] LOED MACAULAY. 367
contains 541 sections, and forms a pamphlet of 210 widely printed octavo
pages. The 'Penal Code' consists of 510 sections. Pocket editions of
these codes are published, which may be carried about as easily as a pock-
et Bible ; and I doubt whether, even in Scotland, you would find many
people who know their Bibles as Indian civilians know their codes."
After describing the confusion and complication of the
criminal law of our Indian empire before it was taken in hand
by the Commission of 1834, Mr. Stephen proceeds to say :
" Lord Macaulay's great work was far too daring and original to be ac-
cepted at once. It was a draft when he left India in 1838. His successors
made remarks on it for twenty-two years. Those years were filled with
wars and rumors of wars. The Afghan disasters and triumphs, the war
in Central India, the wars with the Sikhs, Lord Dalhousie's annexations,
threw law reform into the background, and produced a state of mind not
very favorable to it. Then came the Mutiny, which in its essence was the
breakdown of an old system ; the renunciation of an attempt to effect
an impossible compromise between the Asiatic and the European view of
things, legal, military, and administrative. The effect of the Mutiny on
the statute-book was unmistakable. The 'Code of Civil Procedure' was
enacted in 1859. The 'Penal Code' was enacted in 1860, and came into
operation on the 1st of January, 1862. The credit of passing the ' Penal
Code ' into law, and of giving to every part of it the improvements which
practical skill and technical knowledge could bestow, is due to Sir Barnes
Peacock, who held Lord Macaulay's place during the most anxious years
through which the Indian empire has passed. The draft and the revis-
ion are both eminently creditable to their authors ; and the result of their
successive efforts has been to reproduce in a concise and even beautiful
form the spirit of the law of England ; the most technical, the most clumsy,
and the most bewildering of all systems of criminal law, though I think, if
its principles are fully understood, it is the most rational. If any one
doubts this assertion, let him compare the 'Indian Penal Code' with such
a book as Mr. Greaves's edition of ' Russell on Crimes.' The one subject of
homicide, as treated by Mr. Greaves and Russell, is, I should think, twice
as long as the whole ' Penal Code ;' and it does not contain a tenth part of
the matter."
" The point which always has surprised me most in connection with the
' Penal Code ' is, that it proves that Lord Macaulay must have had a knowl-
edge of English criminal law which, considering how little he had prac-
ticed it,* may fairly be called extraordinary. He must have possessed the
* Macaulay's practice at the bar had been less than little, according to
368 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
gift of going at once to the very root of the matter, and of sifting the corn
from the chaff to a most unusual degree ; for his draft gives the substance
of the criminal law of England, down to its minute working details, in a
compass which by comparison with the original may be regarded as almost
absurdly small. The ' Indian Penal Code ' is to the English criminal law
what a manufactured article ready for use is to the materials out of which
it is made. It is to the French ' Code Pe~ual,' and, I may add, to the ' North
German Code' of 1871, what a finished picture is to a sketch. It is far
simpler, and much better expressed, than Livingston's ' Code for Louisi-
ana ;' and its practical success has been complete. The clearest proof of
this is that hardly any questions have arisen upon it which have had to be
determined by the courts ; and that few and slight amendments have had
to be made in it by the Legislature."
Without troubling himself unduly about the matter, Mac-
aulay was conscious that the world's estimate of his public
services would be injuriously affected by the popular notion,
which he has described as " so flattering to mediocrity," that a
great writer can not be a great administrator; and it is pos-
sible that this consciousness had something to do with the
heartiness and fervor which he threw into his defense of the
author of " Cato " against the charge of having been an ineffi-
cient secretary of state. There was much in common between
his own lot and that of the other famous essayist who had been
likewise a Whig statesman ; and this similarity in their fort-
unes may account in part for the indulgence, and almost ten-
derness, with which he reviewed the career and character of
Addison. Addison himself, at his villa in Chelsea, and still
more amidst the gilded slavery of Holland House, might have
envied the literary seclusion, ample for so rapid a reader, which
the usages of Indian life permitted Macaulay to enjoy. " I
have a very pretty garden," he writes, " not unlike our little
grass-plot at Clapham, but larger. It consists of a fine sheet
of turf, with a gravel walk round it, and flower-beds scattered
over it. It looks beautiful just now after the rains, and I
an account which he gave of it at a public dinner: " My own forensic expe-
rience, gentlemen, has been extremely small ; for my only recollection of an
achievement that way is that at quarter sessions I once convicted a boy of
stealing a parcel of cocks and hens."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 369
hear that jt keeps its verdure during a great part of the year.
A flight of steps leads down from my library into the gar-
den, and it is so well shaded that you may walk there till ten
o'clock in the morning."
Here, book in hand, and in dressing-gown and slippers, he
would spend those two hours after sunrise which Anglo-In-
dian gentlemen devote to riding, and Anglo-Indian ladies to
sleeping off the arrears of the sultry night. Regularly, every
morning, his studies were broken in upon by the arrival of
his baby niece, who came to feed the crows with the toast
which accompanied his early cup of tea ; a ceremony during
which he had much ado to protect the child from the ad-
vances of a multitude of birds, each almost as big as her-
self, which hopped and fluttered round her as she stood on
the steps of the veranda. When the sun drove him indoors
(which happened sooner than he had promised himself, before
he had learned by experience what the hot season was), he
went to his bath and toilet, and then to breakfast ; " at which
we support nature under the exhausting effects of the climate
by means of plenty of eggs, mango-fish, snipe-pies, and fre-
quently a hot beefsteak. My cook is renowned through Cal-
cutta for his skill. He brought me attestations of a long
succession of gourmands, and among them one from Lord
Dalhousie,* who pronounced him decidedly the first artist in
Bengal. This great man, and his two assistants, I am to have
for thirty rupees a month. "While I am on the subject of the
cuisine, I may as well say all that I have to say about it at
once. The tropical fruits are wretched. The best of them
is inferior to our apricot or gooseberiy. When I was a child,
I had a notion of its being the most exquisite of treats to eat
plantains and yams, and to drink palm-wine. How I envied
my father for having enjoyed these luxuries! I have now
enjoyed them all, and I have found, like much greater men on
much more important occasions, that all is vanity. A plant-
ain is very like a rotten pear — so like, that I would lay twen-
* Lord Dalhousie, the father of the governor-general, was commauder-
iu-chief in ludia during the years 1830 and 1831.
VOL. I.— 24
370 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
ty to one that a person blindfolded would not discover the
difference. A yam is better. It is like an indifferent potato.
I tried palm - wine at a pretty village near Madras, where I
slept one night. I told Captain Barron that I had been curi-
ous to taste that liquor ever since I first saw, eight or nine
and twenty years ago, the picture of the negro climbing the
tree in Sierra Leone. The next morning I was roused by a
servant, with a large bowl of juice fresh from the tree. I
drank it, and found it very like ginger-beer in which the gin-
ger has been sparingly used."
Macaulay necessarily spent away from home the days on
which the Supreme Council, or the Law Commission, held
their meetings ; but the rest of his work, legal, literary, and
educational, he carried on in the quiet of his library. Now
and again, a morning was consumed in returning calls ; an ex-
penditure of time which it is needless to say that he sorely
grudged. " Happily the good people here are too busy to be
at home. Except the parsons, they are all usefully occupied
somewhere or other, so that I have only to leave cards ; but
the reverend gentlemen are always within doors in the heat of
the day, lying on their backs, regretting breakfast, longing for
tiffin, and crying out for lemonade." After lunch he sat with
Mrs. Trevelyan, translating Greek or reading French for her
benefit ; and Scribe's comedies and Saint Simon's " Memoirs "
beguiled the long, languid leisure of the Calcutta afternoon,
while the punka swung overhead, and the air came heavy
and scented through the moistened grass matting which
shrouded the windows. At the approach of sunset, with its
attendant breeze, he joined his sister in her drive along the
banks of the Hooghly ; and they returned by starlight, too
often to take part in a vast banquet of forty guests, dressed as
fashionably as people can dress at ninety degrees east from
Paris ; who, one and all, had far rather have been eating their
curry and drinking their bitter beer at home, in all the com-
fort of muslin and nankeen. Macaulay is vehement in his
dislike of " those great formal dinners, which unite all the
stiffness of a levee to all the disorder and discomfort of a two-
shilling ordinary. Nothing can be duller. Nobody speaks
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY.
except to the person next him. The conversation is the most
deplorable twaddle ; and, as I always sit next to the lady of
the highest rank, or, in other words, to the oldest, ugliest, and
proudest woman in the company, I am worse off than my
neighbors."
Nevertheless he was far too acute a judge of men to under-
value the special type of mind which is produced and fostered
by the influences of an Indian career. He was always ready
to admit that there is no better company in the world than a
young and rising civilian ; no one who has more to say that
is worth hearing, and who can say it in a manner better adapt-
ed to interest those who know good talk from bad. He de-
lighted in that freedom from pedantry, affectation, and pre-
tension which is one of the most agreeable characteristics of a
service to belong to which is in itself so effectual an education,
that a bore is a phenomenon notorious everywhere within a
hundred miles of the station which has the honor to possess
him, and a fool is quoted by name throughout all the three
presidencies. Macaulay writes to his sisters at home : " The
best way of seeing society here is to have very small parties.
There is a little circle of people whose friendship I value, and
in whose conversation I take pleasure : the chief-justice, Sir
Edward Ryan ; my old friend, Halkin ;* Cameron and Mac-
leod, the law commissioners ; Macnaghten, among the older
servants of the company, and Mangles, Colvin, and John
Peter Grant, among the younger. These, in my opinion, are
the flower of Calcutta society, and I often ask some of them
to a quiet dinner." On the Friday of every week these
chosen few met round Macaulay's breakfast-table to discuss
* It can not be said that all the claims made upon Macaulay's friend-
ship were acknowledged as readily as those of Sir Benjamin Malkin. " I
am dunned unmercifully by place-hunters. The oddest application that I
have received is from that rascal , who is somewhere in the interior.
He tells me that he is sure that prosperity has not changed me; that I am
still the same John Macaulay who was his dearest friend, his more than
brother ; and that he means to come up and live with me at Calcutta. If
he fulfills his intention, I will have him taken before the police-magis-
trates."
372 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. VL
the progress which the Law Commission had made in its la-
bors ; and each successive point which was started opened the
way to such a flood of talk, legal, historical, political, and per-
sonal, that the company would sit far on toward noon over
the empty tea-cups, until an uneasy sense of accumulating dis-
patch-boxes drove them, one by one, to their respective offices.
There are scattered passages in these letters which prove
that Macaulay's feelings during his protracted absence from
his native country were at times almost as keen as those
which racked the breast of Cicero when he was forced to ex-
change the triumphs of the foruin, and the cozy suppers with
his brother augurs, for his hateful place of banishment at
Thessalonica, or his hardly less hateful seat of government at
Tarsus. The complaints of the English statesman do not,
however, amount in volume to a fiftieth part of those reit-
erated outpourings of lachrymose eloquence with which the
Roman philosopher bewailed an expatriation that was hardly
one-third as long. " I have no words," writes Macaulay, very
much underestimating the wealth of his own vocabulary, " to
tell you how I pine for England, or how intensely bitter exile
has been to me, though I hope that I have borne it well. I
feel as if I had no other wish than to see my country again,
and die. Let me assure you that banishment is no light mat-
ter. No person can judge of it who has not experienced it.
A complete revolution in all the habits of life ; an estrange-
ment from almost every old friend and acquaintance ; fifteen
thousand miles of ocean between the exile and every thing
that he cares for; all this is, to me at least, very trying.
There is no temptation of wealth or power which would in-
duce me to go through it again. But many people do not
feel as I do. Indeed, the servants of the company rarely have
such a feeling ; and it is natural that they should not have
it, for they are sent out while still school-boys, and when they
know little of the world. The moment of emigration is to
them also the moment of emancipation ; and the pleasures of
liberty and affluence to a great degree compensate them for the
loss of their home. In a few years they become Orientalized
and, by the time that they are of my age, they would gen-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 373
erally prefer India, as a residence, to England. But it is a very
different matter when a man is transplanted at thirty-three."
Making, as always, the best of every thing, he was quite
ready to allow that he might have been placed in a still less
agreeable situation. In the following extract from a letter to
his friend, Mrs. Drummond, there is much which will come
home to those who are old enough to remember how vastly
the Dublin of 1837 differed, for the worse, from the Dublin
of 1875 : " It now seems likely that you may remain in Ire-
land for years. I can not conceive what has induced you to
submit to such an exile. I declare, for my own part, that,
little as I love Calcutta, I would rather stay here than be set-
tled in the Phoenix Park. The last residence which I would
choose would be a place with all the plagues, and none of the
attractions, of a capital ; a provincial city on fire with factions
political and religious, peopled by raving Orangemen and rav-
ing Repealers, and distracted by a contest between Protestant-
ism as fanatical as that of Knox, and Catholicism as fanatical
as that of Bonner. We have our share of. the miseries of life
in this country. We are annually baked four months, boiled
four more, and allowed the remaining four to become cool if
we can. At this moment the sun is blazing like a furnace.
The earth, soaked with oceans of rain, is steaming like a wet
blanket. Vegetation is rotting all round us. Insects and un-
dertakers are the only living creatures which seem to enjoy
the climate. But, though our atmosphere is hot, our factions
are lukewarm. A bad epigram in a newspaper, or a public
meeting attended by a tailor, a pastry-cook, a reporter, two or
three barristers, and eight or ten attorneys, are our most for-
midable annoyances. We have agitators in our own small
way, Tritons of the minnows, bearing the same sort of resem-
blance to O'Connell that a lizard bears to an alligator. There-
fore Calcutta for me, in preference to Dublin."
He had good reason for being grateful to Calcutta, and still
better for not showing his gratitude by prolonging his stay
there over a fourth summer and autumn. " That tremendous
crash of the great commercial houses which took place a few
years ago has produced a revolution in fashions. It ruined
374 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.VI.
one half of the English society in Bengal, and seriously in-
jured the other half. A large proportion of the most im-
portant functionaries here are deeply in debt, and, according-
ly, the mode of living is now exceedingly quiet and modest.
Those immense subscriptions, those, public tables, those costly
equipages and entertainments of which Heber, and others who
saw Calcutta a few years back, say so much, are never heard
of. Speaking for myself, it was a great piece of good fortune
that I came hither just at the time when the general distress
had forced every body to adopt a moderate way of living.
Owing very much to that circumstance (while keeping house,
I think, more handsomely than any other member of council),
I have saved what will enable me to do my part toward mak-
ing my family comfortable ; and I shall have a competency
for myself, small indeed, but quite sufficient to render me as
perfectly independent as if I were the possessor of Burleigh
or Chatsworth."*
" The rainy season of 1837 has been exceedingly unhealthy.
Our house has escaped as well as any ; yet Hannah is the
only one of us who has come off untouched. The baby has
been repeatedly unwell. Trevelyan has suffered a good deal,
and is kept right only by occasional trips in a steamer down
to the mouth of the Hooghly. I had a smart touch of fever,
which happily staid but an hour or two, and I took such vig-
orous measures that it never came again ; but I remained un-
nerved and exhausted for nearly a fortnight. This was my
first, and I hope my last, taste of Indian maladies. It is a
happy thing for us all that we are not to pass another year in
the reek of this deadly marsh." Macaulay wisely declined to
set the hope of making another lac of rupees against the risk,
to himself and others, of such a fate as subsequently befell
* Macaulay writes to Lord Mahon on the last day of December, 1836:
" In another year I hope to leave this country, with a fortune which you
would think ridiculously small, but which will make me as independent
as if I had all that Lord Westminster has above the ground, and Lord Dur-
ham below it. I have no intention of again taking part in politics; but
I can not tell what effect the sight of the old Hall and Abbey may produce
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 375
Lord Canning and Mr. James Wilson. He put the finishing
stroke to his various labors ; resigned his seat in the council,
and his presidentships of the Law Commission and the Com-
mittee of Public Instruction ; and, in company with the Trev-
elyans, sailed for England in the first fortnight of the year
1838.
To Mr. Thomas Flower Ellis.
Calcutta, December 15th, 1834.
DEAR ELLIS, — Many thanks for your letter. It is delight-
ful in this strange land to see the handwriting of such a friend.
We must keep up our spirits. We shall meet, I trust, in lit-
tle more than four years, with feelings of regard only strength-
ened by our separation. My spirits are not bad ; and they
ought not to be bad. I have health, affluence, consideration,
great power to do good ; functions which, while they are hon-
orable and useful, are not painfully burdensome ; leisure for
study, good books, an unclouded and active mind, warm affec-
tions, and a very dear sister. There will soon be a change in
my domestic arrangements. My sister is to be married next
week. Her lover, who is lover enough to be a knight of the
Round Table, is one of the most distinguished of our young
civilians. I have the very highest opinion of his talents both
for action and for discussion. Indeed, I should call him a
man of real genius. He is also, what is even more important,
a man of the utmost purity of honor, of a sweet temper, and
of strong principle. His public virtue has gone through very
severe trials, and has come out resplendent. Lord William,
in congratulating me the other day, said that he thought my
destined brother-in-law the ablest young man in the service.
His name is Trevelyan. He is a nephew of Sir John Trev-
elyan, a baronet — in Cornwall, I suppose, by the name ; for I
never took the trouble to ask.
He and my sister will live with me during my stay here.
I have a house about as large as Lord Dudley's in Park Lane,
or rather larger, so that I shall accommodate them without
the smallest difficulty. This arrangement is acceptable to me,
because it saves me from the misery of parting with my sister
in this strange land ; and is, I believe, equally gratifying to
376 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
Trevelyan, whose education, like that of other Indian serv-
ants, was huddled up hastily at home ; who has an insatiable
thirst for knowledge of every sort ; and who looks on me as
little less than an oracle of wisdom. He came to me the oth-
er morning to know whether I would advise him to keep up
his Greek, which he feared he had nearly lost. I gave him
Homer, and asked him to read a page ; and I found that, like
most boys of any talent who had been at the Charter-house,
he was very well grounded in that language. He read with
perfect rapture, and has marched off with the book, declaring
that he shall never be content till he has finished the whole.
This, you will think, is not a bad brother-in-law for a man to
pick up in 22 degrees of north latitude, and 100 degrees of
east longitude.
I read much, and particularly Greek ; and I find that I am,
in all essentials, still not a bad scholar,. I could, I think, with
a year's hard study, qualify myself to fight a good battle for a
Craven's scholarship. I read, however, not as I read at col-
lege, but like a man of the world. If I do not know a word,
I pass it by unless it is important to the sense. If I find, as I
have of late often found, a passage which refuses to give up
its meaning at the second reading, I let it alone. I have read
during the last fortnight, before breakfast, three books of He-
rodotus, and four plays of ^Eschylus. My admiration of .zEs-
chylus has been prodigiously increased by this reperusal. I
can not conceive how any person of the smallest pretension
to taste should doubt about his immeasurable superiority to
every poet of antiquity, Homer only excepted. Even Milton,
I think, must yield to him. It is quite unintelligible to me
that the ancient critics should have placed him so low. Hor-
ace's notice of him in the "Ars Poetica" is quite ridiculous.
There is, to be sure, the " magnum loqui ;" but the great topic
insisted on is the skill of ^Eschylus as a manager, as a prop-
erty-man ; the judicious way in which he boarded the stage ;
the masks, the buskins, and the dresses.* And, after all, the
* Post hnuc persona? pallaeqtie repertor honestae
JEschyltis et modicis instravit pulpita tiguis,
Et docoit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 377
"magnum loqui," though the most obvious characteristic of
^Eschylus, is by no means his highest or his best. Nor can I
explain this by saying that Horace had too tame and unim-
aginative a mind to appreciate ^Eschylus. Horace knew what
he could himself do, and, with admirable wisdom, he confined
himself to that ; but he seems to have had a perfectly clear
comprehension of the merit of those great masters whom
he never attempted to rival. He praised Pindar most en-
thusiastically. It seems incomprehensible to me that a
critic who admired Pindar should not admire ^Eschylus far
more.
Greek reminds me of Cambridge and of Thirlwall, and
of Wordsworth's unutterable baseness and dirtiness.* When,
you see Thirlwall, tell him that I congratulate him from the
bottom of my soul on having suffered in so good a cause ; and
that I would rather have been treated as he has been treat-
ed, on such an account, than have the mastership of Trinity.
There would be some chance for the Church, if we had more
Churchmen of the same breed, worthy successors of Leighton
and Tillotson.
From one Trinity fellow I pass to another. (This letter is
quite a study to a metaphysician who wishes to illustrate the
law of association.) We have no official tidings yet of Mai-
kin's appointment to the vacant seat on the bench at Calcutta.
I can not tell you how delighted I am at the prospect of hav-
ing him here. An honest, enlightened judge, without profes-
sional narrowness, is the very man whom we want, on public
grounds. And as to my private feelings, nothing could be
more agreeable to me than to have an old friend, and so es-
* The subjoined extract from the letter of a leading member of Trini-
ty College explains Macaulay's not unrighteous indignation : " Thirlwall
published a pamphlet in 1834, on the admission of Dissenters to the uni-
versity. The result was that he was either deprived of his assistant tu-
torship by the master, Wordsworth, or had to give it up. Whewell, also,
was supposed to have behaved badly in not standing up for him. Thirl-
wall left Cambridge soon afterward. I suppose that if he had remained
he would have been very possibly Wordsworth's successor in the master-
ship."
378 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
timable'a friend, brought so near to me in this distant coun-
try. Ever, dear Ellis, yours very affectionately,
T. B. MACATJLAY.
Calcutta, February 8th, 1835.
PEAK ELLIS, — The last month has been the most painful
that I ever went through. Indeed, I never knew before what
it was to be miserable. Early in January, letters from En-
gland brought me news of the death of my youngest sister.
What she was to me no words can express. I will not say
that she was dearer to me than any thing in the world, for
my sister who was with me was equally dear ; but she was as
dear to me as one human being can be to another. Even
now, when time has begun to do its healing office, I can not
write about her without being altogether unmanned. That I
have not utterly sunk under this blow I owe chiefly to litera-
ture. What a blessing it is to love books as I love them — to
be able to converse with the dead, and to live amidst the un-
real ! Many times during the last few weeks I have repeated
to myself those fine lines of old Hesiod :
et yap rig KCU irkvQoQ t\wv veoKrjdti Qvpia
aZtjTctt KpaSiijv ajeapj^tvoe, avrdp doiSos
fjLovffd(jJv GepaTTuv icXEta irportpw di
vpvrjffy, fiuKapde T£ &oi>e 01 "OXvfjnrov
aty' oye du<r<j>povtaiv iiri\r)9erai, ovSi rt
i ' ra\iu>c St iraperpaire Swpa Qedutv.*
I have gone back to Greek literature with a passion quite
astonishing to myself. I have never felt any thing like it.
I was enraptured with Italian during the six months which
I gave up to it ; and I was little less pleased with Spanish.
But when I went back to the Greek, I felt as if I had nev-
* "For if to one whose grief is fresh, as he sits silent with sorrow-
stricken heart, a minstrel, the henchman of the Muses, celebrates the men
of old and the gods who possess Olympus, straightway he forgets his mel-
ancholy, and remembers not at all his grief, beguiled by the blessed gift of
the goddesses of song." In Macaulay's Hesiod this passage is scored with
three lines in pencil.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 379
er known before what intellectual enjoyment was. Oh that
wonderful people! There is not one art, not one science,
about which we may not use the same expression which Lu-
cretius has employed about the victory over superstition, " Pri-
mum Graius homo — "
I think myself very fortunate in having been able to return
to these great masters while still in the full vigor of life, and
when my taste and judgment are mature. Most people read
all the Greek that they ever read before they are five-and-
twenty. They never find time for such studies afterward till
they are in the decline of life ; and then their knowledge of
the language is in a great measure lost, and can not easily be
recovered. Accordingly, almost all the ideas that people have
of Greek literature are ideas formed while they were still very
young. A young man, whatever his genius may be, is no
judge of such a writer as Thucydides. I had no high opinion
of him ten years ago. I have now been reading him with a
mind accustomed to historical researches and to political af-
fairs, and I am astonished at my own former blindness, and at
his greatness. I could not bear Euripides at college. I now
read my recantation. He has faults, undoubtedly. But what
a poet ! The " Medea," the "Alcestis," the " Troades," the
" Bacchse," are alone sufficient to place him in the very first
rank. Instead of depreciating him, as I have done, I may, for
aught I know, end by editing him.
I have read Pindar — with less pleasure than I feel in read-
ing the great Attic poets, but still with admiration. An idea
occurred to me which may very likely have been noticed by
a hundred people before. I was always puzzled to under-
stand the reason for the extremely abrupt transitions in those
" Odes " of Horace which are meant to be particularly fine.
The " justum et tenacem " is an instance. All at once you
find yourself in heaven, Heaven knows how. What the firm-
ness of just men in times of tyranny or of tumult has to do
with Juno's oration about Troy, it is hardly possible to con-
ceive. Then, again, how strangely the fight between the Gods
and the Giants is tacked on to the fine hymn to the Muses in
that noble ode, " Descende ccelo et die age tibia !" This al-
380 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
ways struck me as a great fault, and an inexplicable one ; for
it is peculiarly alien from the calm good sense and good taste
which distinguish Horace.
My explanation of it is this : The " Odes " of Pindar were
the acknowledged models of lyric poetry. Lyric poets imi-
tated his manner as closely as they could ; and nothing was
more remarkable in his compositions than the extreme vio-
lence and abruptness of the transitions. This in Pindar was
quite natural and defensible. He had to write an immense
number of poems on subjects extremely barren, and extreme-
ly monotonous. There could be little difference between one
boxing-match and another. Accordingly, he made all possible
haste to escape from the immediate subject, and to bring in,
by hook or by crook, some local description ; some old legend ;
something or other, in short, which might be more suscepti-
ble of poetical embellishment, and less utterly threadbare, than
the circumstances of a race or a wrestling-match. This was
not the practice of Pindar alone. There is an old story which
proves that Simonides did the same, and that sometimes the
hero of the day was nettled at finding how little was said
about him in the ode for which he was to pay. This abrupt-
ness of transition was, therefore, in the Greek lyric poets, a
fault rendered inevitable by the peculiarly barren and uni-
form nature of the subjects which they had to treat. But,
like many other faults of great masters, it appeared to their
imitators a beauty ; and a beauty almost essential to the grand-
er ode. Horace was perfectly at liberty to choose his own sub-
jects, and to treat them after his own fashion. But he con-
founded what was merely accidental in Pindar's manner with
what was essential ; and because Pindar, when he had to cele-
brate a foolish lad from ^Egina who had tripped up another's
heels at the Isthmus, made all possible haste to get away from
so paltry a topic to the ancient heroes of the race of ^Eacus,
Horace took it into his head that he ought always to begin as
far from the subject as possible, and then arrive at it by some
strange and sudden bound. This is my solution. At least I
can find no better. The most obscure passage — at least the
strangest passage — in all Horace may be explained by sup-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 381
posing that he was misled by Pindar's example : I mean that
odd parenthesis in the " Qualem Ministrum :"
quibus
Mos unde dedtictus per omne —
9
This passage,* taken by itself, always struck me as the harsh-
est, queerest, and most preposterous digression in the world.
But there are several things in Pindar very like it.
You must excuse all this, for I labor at present under a sup-
pression of Greek, and am likely to do so for at least three
years to come. Malkin may be some relief ; but I am quite
unable to guess whether he means to come to Calcutta. I am
in excellent bodily health, and I am recovering my mental
health; but I have been sorely tried. Money matters look
well. My new brother-in-law and I are brothers in more than
law. I am more comfortable than I expected to be in this
country ; and, as to the climate, I think it, beyond all compar-
ison, better than that of the House of Commons.
Yours affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
"Writing three days after the date of the foregoing let-
ter, Macaulay says to his old friend Mr. Sharp : " You see that
my mind is not in great danger of rusting. The danger is
that I may become a mere pedant. I feel a habit of quota-
tion growing on me ; but I resist that devil, for such it is, and
it flees from me. It is all that I can do to keep Greek and
Latin out of all my letters. Wise sayings of Euripides are
even now at my fingers' ends. If I did not maintain a con-
stant struggle against this propensity, my correspondence
would resemble the notes to the ' Pursuits of Literature.' It
is a dangerous thing for a man with a very strong memory to
read very much. I could give you three or four quotations
this moment in support of that proposition ; but I will bring
the vicious propensity under subjection, if I can."
* Orelli makes au observation much to the same effect in his note on
this passage iu his edition of 1850.
382 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP.VI.
Calcutta, May 29th, 1835,
DEAR ELLIS, — I am in great want of news. We know that
the Tories dissolved at the end of December, and we also know
that they were beaten toward the end of February.* As to
what passed in the interval, we are quite in the dark. I will
not plague you with comments on events which will have been
driven out of your mind by other events before this reaches
you, or with prophecies which may be falsified before you re-
ceive them. About the final issue I am certain. The lan-
guage of the first great reformer is that which I should use in
reply to the exultation of our Tories here, if there were any of
them who could understand it :
(«/3ou, irpoatvxov, 9wrrrf rbv Kparovvr ad '
ifjiol S' t\a<T(70j> Zrjvbf, 7) prjdev, p,s\fi.
SpaTd)' Kpardrut rovSe TOV fipaxvv \povov
Qk\ti' Capbv yap OVK dp&i 0£ot£.t
As for myself, I rejoice that I am out of the present storm.
" Suave mari magno ;" or, as your new premier, if he be still
premier, construes, " It is a source of melancholy satisfaction."
I may, indeed, feel the effects of the changes here, but more on
public than private grounds. A Tory governor-general is not
very likely to agree with me about the very important law re-
forms which I am about to bring before the council. But he
is not likely to treat me ill personally, or if he do,
d\X' ov TI xaipw, fjv TO£' opQwQy /3tXoc,t
* In November, 1834, the king called Sir Robert Peel to power, after hav-
ing, of his own accord, dismissed the Whig ministry. Parliament was dis-
solved, but the Tories did not succeed in obtaining a majority. After three
months of constant and angry fighting, Peel was driven from office in
April, 1835.
t "Worship thon, adore, and flatter the monarch of the hour. To me
Jove is of less account than nothing. Let him have his will, and his scep-
tre, for this brief season ; for he will not long be the ruler of the gods."
It is needless to say that poor William the Fourth was the Jove of the
Whig Prometheus.
t " It shall be to his cost, so long as this bow carries true."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 383
as Philoctetes says. In a few months I shall have enough to
enable me to live, after my very moderate fashion, in perfect
independence at home ; and whatever debts any governor-gen-
eral may choose to lay on me at Calcutta shall be paid off, he
may rely on it, with compound interest, at Westminster.
My time is divided between public business and books. - I
mix with society as little as I can. My spirits have not yet
recovered — I sometimes think that they will never wholly re-
cover— from the shock which they received five months ago.
I find that nothing soothes them so much as the contempla-
tion of those miracles of art which Athens has bequeathed to
us. I am really becoming, I hope not a pedant, but certainly
an enthusiast about classical literature. I have just finished a
second reading of Sophocles. I am now deep in Plato, and in-
tend to go right through all his works. His genius is above
praise. Even where he is most absurd, as, for example, in the
" Cratylus," he shows an acuteness and an expanse of intellect
which are quite a phenomenon by themselves. The character
of Socrates does not rise upon me. The more I read about
him, the less I wonder that they poisoned him. If he had
treated me as he is said to have treated Protagoras, Hippias,
and Gorgias, I could never have forgiven him.
Nothing has struck me so much in Plato's dialogues as the
raillery. At college, somehow or other, I did not understand
or appreciate it. I can not describe to you the way in which
it now tickles me. I often sink forward on my huge old
" Marsilius Ficinus " in a fit of laughter. I should say that
there never was a vein of ridicule so rich, and at the same
time so delicate. It is superior to Voltaire's ; nay, to Pascal's.
Perhaps there are one or two passages in Cervantes, and one
or two in Fielding, that might give a modern reader a notion
of it.
I have very nearly finished Livy. I never read him through
before. I admire him greatly, and would give a quarter's sal-
ary to recover the lost Decades. While I was reading the ear-
lier books I went again through Niebuhr ; and I am sorry to
say that, having always been a little skeptical about his mer-
its, I am now a confirmed unbeliever. I do not, of course, mean
384 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
that he has no merit. He was a man of immense learning
and of great ingenuity ; but his mind was utterly wanting in
the faculty by which a demonstrated truth is distinguished
from a plausible supposition. He is not content with suggest-
ing that an event may have happened. He is certain that it
happened, and calls on the reader to be certain too (though not
a trace of it exists in any record whatever), because it would
solve the phenomena so neatly. Just read over again, if you
have forgotten it, the conjectural restoration of the inscription
in page 126 of the second volume ; and then, on your honor
as a scholar and a man of sense, tell me whether in Bentley's
edition of Milton there is any thing which approaches to the
audacity of that emendation. Niebuhr requires you to believe
that some of the greatest men in Rome were burned alive in
the Circus ; that this event was commemorated by an inscrip-
tion on a monument, one-half of which is still in existence ;
but that no Roman historian knew any thing about it ; and
that all tradition of the event was lost, though the memory
of anterior events much less important has reached our time.
TVhen you ask for a reason, he tells you plainly that such a
thing can not be established by reason ; that he is sure of it ;
and that you must take his word. This sort of intellectual
despotism always moves me to mutiny, and generates a dis-
position to pull down the reputation of the dogmatist. Kie-
buhr's learning was immeasurably superior to mine; but I
think myself quite as good a judge of evidence as he was. I
might easily believe him if he told me that there were proofs
which I had nevef seen ; but, when he produces all his proofs,
I conceive that I am perfectly competent to pronounce on
their value.
As I turned over his leaves just now, I lighted on another
instance of what I can not but call ridiculous presumption.
He says that Martial committed a blunder in making the pe-
nultimate of Porsena short. Strange that so great a scholar
should not know that Horace had done so too !
Minacis aut Etrusca Porsense manus.
There is something extremely nauseous to me in a German
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 385
professor telling the world, on his own authority, and without
giving the smallest reason, that two of the best Latin poets
were ignorant of the quantity of a word which they must have
used in their exercises at school a hundred times.
As to the general capacity of Niebuhr for political specula-
tions, let him be judged by the preface to the second volume.
He there says, referring to the French Revolution of July,
1830, that " unless God send us some miraculous help, we have
to look forward to a period of destruction similar to that
which the Roman world experienced about the middle of the
third century." Now, when I see a man scribble such abject
nonsense about events which are passing under our eyes, what
confidence can I put in his judgment as to the connection of
causes and effects in times very imperfectly known to us ?
But I must bring my letter, or review, to a close. Remem-
ber me most kindly to your wife. Tell Frank that I mean to
be a better scholar than he when I come back, and that he
must work hard if he means to overtake me. Ever, dear Ellis,
Your affectionate friend, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, August 25tli, 1835.
DEAR ELLIS, — Cameron arrived here about a fortnight ago,
and we are most actively engaged in preparing a complete
criminal code for India. He and I agree excellently. Ryan,
the most liberal of judges, lends us his best assistance. I
heartily hope, and fully believe, that we shall put the whole
penal law, and the whole law of criminal procedure, into a
moderately sized volume. I begin to take a very warm in-
terest in this work. It is, indeed, one of the finest employ-
ments .of the intellect that it is easy to conceive. I ought,
however, to tell you that the more progress I make as a legis-
lator, the more intense my contempt for the mere technical
study of law becomes.
I am deep in the examination of the political theories of
the old philosophers. I have read Plato's "Republic," and
his " Laws ;" and I am now reading Aristotle's " Politics ;"
after which I shall go through Plato's two treatises again. I
every now and then read one of Plutarch's Lives on an idle
VOL. I.— 25
386 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
afternoon ; and in this way I have got through a dozen of
them. I like him prodigiously. He is inaccurate, to be sure,
and a romancer ; but he tells a story delightfully, and his il-
lustrations and sketches of character are as good as any thing
in ancient eloquence. I have never till now rated him fairly.
As to Latin, I am just finishing Lucan, who remains pretty
much where he was in my opinion ; and I am busily engaged
with Cicero, whose character, moral and intellectual, interests
me prodigiously. I think that I see the whole man through
and through. But this is too vast a subject for a letter. I
have gone through all Ovid's poems. I admire him; but I
was tired to death before I got to the end. I amused myself
one evening with turning over the " Metamorphoses," to see
if I could find any passage of ten lines which could, by pos-
sibility, -have been written by Virgil. Whether I was in ill
luck or no, I can not tell ; but I hunted for half an hour with-
out the smallest success. At last I chanced to light on a little
passage more Yirgilian, to my thinking, than Yirgil himself.
Tell me what you say to my criticism. It is part of Apollo's
speech to the laurel.
Semper habebuut
Te coma, te citharae, te nostrae, laure, pharetrae.
Tu ducibus Latiis aderis, cum Iseta triumphnm
Vox canet, et longas viseut Capitolia pompas.
Portions Angustis eadem fidissima custos
Ante fores stabis, mediamque tuebere quercnm.
As to other Latin writers, Sail list has gone sadly down in
my opinion. Csesar has risen wonderfully. I think him
fully entitled to Cicero's praise.* He has won the honor of
* la the dialogue " De Claris Oratoribus " Cicero makes Atticus say that
a consummate judge of style (who is evidently intended for Cicero him-
self) pronounces Caesar's Latin to be the most elegant, with one implied
exception, that had ever been heard in the Senate or the Fornm. Atticus
then goes on to detail at full length a compliment which Caesar had paid
to Cicero's powers of expression ; and Brutus declares with enthusiasm
that such praise, coming from such a quarter, is worth more than a Tri-
umph, as Triumphs were then given ; and inferior in value only to the
honors which were voted to the statesman who had baffled Catiline. The
whole passage is a model of self-glorification, exquisite in skill and finish.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 387
an excellent historian while attempting merely to give hints
for history. But what are they all to the great Athenian ?
I do assure you that there is no prose composition in the
world, not even the " De Corona," which I place so high as
the seventh book of Thucydides. It is the ne plus ultra of
human art. I was delighted to find in Gray's letters the oth-
er day this query to "Wharton : " The retreat from Syracuse —
Is it, or is it not, the finest thing you ever read in your life ?"
Did you ever read Athenseus through ? I never did ; but
I am meditating an attack on him. The multitude of quota-
tions looks very tempting ; and I never open him for a min-
ute without being paid for my trouble.
Yours very affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, December 30th, 1835.
DEAR ELLIS, — What the end of the Municipal Reform Bill
is to be I can not conjecture. Our latest English intelligence
is of the 15th of August. The Lords* were then busy in ren-
dering the only great service that I expect them ever to ren-
der to the nation ; that is to say, in hastening the day of reck-
oning. But I will not fill my paper with English politics.
I am in excellent health. So are my sister and brother-in-
law, and their little girl, whom I am always nursing ; and of
whom I am becoming fonder than a wise man, with half my
experience, would choose to be of any thing except himself.
I have but very lately begun to recover my spirits. The tre-
mendous blow which fell on me at the beginning of this year
has left marks behind it which I shall carry to my grave.
Literature has saved my life and my reason. Even now, I
dare not, in the intervals of business, remain alone for a min-
ute without a book in my hand. What my course of life
will be when I return to England is very doubtful. But I am
more than half determined to abandon politics, and to give
myself wholly to letters ; to undertake some great historical
* In the middle of August the Irish Tithe Bill went up to the House of
Lords, where it was destined to uudergo a mutilation which was fatal to
its existence.
388 LIFE ASD LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
work which may be at once the business and the amusement
of my life ; and to leave the pleasures of pestiferous rooms,
sleepless nights, aching heads, and diseased stomachs, to Roe-
buck and to Praed.
In England I might probably be of a very different opinion.
But, in the quiet of my own little grass-plot — when the moon,
at its rising, finds me with the " Philoctetes " or the "De
Finibus" in my hand — I often wonder what strange infat-
uation leads men who can do something better, to squander
their intellect, their health, their energy, on such objects as
those which most statesmen are engaged in pursuing. I com-
prehend perfectly how a man who can debate, but who would
make a very indifferent figure as a contributor to an annual
or a magazine — such a man as Stanley, for example — should
take the only line by which he can attain distinction. But
that a man before whom the two paths of literature and poli-
tics lie open, and who might hope for eminence in either,
should choose politics, and quit literature, seems to me mad-
ness. On the one side are health, leisure, peace of mind, the
search after truth, and all the enjoyments of friendship and
conversation. On the other side are almost certain ruin to the
constitution, constant labor, constant anxiety. Every friend-
ship which a man may have becomes precarious as soon as he
engages in politics. As to abuse, men soon become callous to
it ; but the discipline which makes them callous is very severe.
And for what is it that a man, who might, if he chose, rise
and lie down at his own hour, engage in any study, enjoy any
amusement, and visit any place, consents to make himself as
much a prisoner as if he were within the rules of the Fleet ;
to be tethered during eleven months of the year within the
circle of half a mile round Charing Cross ; to sit, or stand,
night after night for ten or twelve hours, inhaling a noisome
atmosphere, and listening to harangues of which nine-tenths
are far below the level of a leading article in a newspaper I
For what is it that he submits, day after day, to see the morn-
ing break over the Thames, and then totters home, with burst-
ing temples, to his bed ? Is it for fame ? Who would com-
pare the fame of Charles Townshend to that of Hume, that
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 389
of Lord North to that of Gibbon, that of Lord Chatham to
that of Johnson ? Who can look back on the life of Burke,
and not- regret that the years which he passed in ruining his
health and temper by political exertions were not passed in
the composition of some great and durable work ? Who can
read the letters to Atticus, and not feel that Cicero would
have been an infinitely happier and better man, and a not less
celebrated man, if he had left us fewer speeches, and more
Academic Questions and Tusculan Disputations? if he had
passed the time which he spent in brawling with Vatinius and
Clodius in producing a history of Eome superior even to that
of Livy ? But these, as I said, are meditations in a quiet gar-
den, situated far beyond the contagious influence of English
faction. What I might feel if I again saw Downing Street
and Palace Yard is another question. I tell you sincerely
my present feelings.
I have cast up my reading account, and brought it to the
end of the year 1835. It includes December, 1834; for I
came" into my house and unpacked my books at the end of
November, 1834. During the last thirteen months I have
read ^schylus twice ; Sophocles twice ; Euripides once ; Pin-
dar twice ; Callimachus ; Apollonius Rhodius ; Quintus Cala-
ber ; Theocritus twice ; Herodotus ; Thucydides ; almost all
Xenophon's works; almost all Plato; Aristotle's "Politics,"
and a good deal of his " Organon," besides dipping elsewhere
in him ; the whole of Plutarch's " Lives ;" about half of Lu-
cian ; two or three books of Athenaeus ; Plautus twice ; Ter-
ence twice ; Lucretius twice ; Catullus ; Tibullus ; Propertius ;
Lucan ; Statins ; Silius Italicus ; Livy ; Velleius Paterculus ;
Sallust ; Caesar ; and, lastly, Cicero. I have, indeed, still a lit-
tle of Cicero left ; but I shall finish him in a few days. I am
now deep in Aristophanes and Lucian. Of Aristophanes I
think as I always thought ; but Lucian has agreeably sur-
prised me. At school I read some of his " Dialogues of the
Dead " when I was thirteen ; and, to my shame, I never, to
the best of my belief, read a line of him since. I am charm-
ed with him. His style seems to me to be superior to that
of any extant writer who lived later than the age of Demos-
390 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. n.
thenes and Theophrastus. He has a most peculiar and deli-
cious vein of humor. It is not the humor of Aristophanes ;
it is not that of Plato ; and yet it is akin to both : not quite
equal, I admit, to either, but still exceedingly charming. I
hardly know where to find an instance of a writer, in the de-
cline of a literature, who has shown an invention so rich and
a taste so pure. But if I get on these matters I shall fill
sheet after sheet. They must wait till we take another long
walk, or another tavern dinner, together ; that is, till the sum-
mer of 1838.
I had a long story to tell you about a classical examination
here ; but I have not time. I can only say that some of the
competitors tried to read the Greek with the papers upside
down ; and that the great man of the examination, the Thirl-
wall of Calcutta, a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, trans-
lated the words of Theophrastus, oaag \fiTovpyiaz \t\tirovp-
7»jK£,* " how many times he has performed divine service."
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
That the enormous list of classical works recorded in the
foregoing letter was not only read through, but read with
care, is proved by the pencil-marks, single, double, and treble,
which meander down the margin of such passages as excited
the admiration of the student; and by the remarks, literary,
historical, and grammatical, with which the critic has inter-
spersed every volume, and sometimes every page. In the
case of a favorite writer, Macaulay frequently corrects the er-
rors of the press, and even the punctuation, as minutely as
if he were preparing the book for another edition. He read
Plautus,f Terence, and Aristophanes four times through at
Calcutta, and Euripides thrice. In his copy of Quintus Ca-
* " How many public services he had discharged at his own expense."
Macaulay used to say that a lady who dips into Mr. Grote's history, and
learns that Alcibiades won the heart of his fellow-citizens by the novelty
of his theories and the splendor of his liturgies, may get a very false no-
tion of that statesman's relations with the Athenian public.
t See the Appendix at the end of this volume.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 391
laber (a versifier who is less unknown by the title of Quintus
Smyrnaeus), appear the entries,
" September 22d, 1835.
Turned over, July 13th, 1837."
It may be doubted whether the " Pandects " would have attain-
ed the celebrity which they enjoy, if, in the course of the three
years during which Justinian's Law Commission was at work,
the president, Tribonian, had read Quintus Smyrnaeus twice.
Calcutta, May 30th, 1836.
DEAR ELLIS, — I have just received your letter dated De-
cember 28th. How time flies ! Another hot season has al-
most passed away, and we are daily expecting the beginning of
the rains. Cold season, hot season, and rainy season are all
much the same to me. I shall have been two years on In-
dian ground in less than a fortnight, and I have not taken ten
grains of solid, or a pint of liquid, medicine during the whole
of that time. If I judged only from my own sensations, I
should say that this climate is absurdly maligned; but the
yellow, spectral figures which surround me serve to correct
the conclusions which I should be inclined to draw from the
state of my own health.
One execrable effect the climate produces. It destroys all
the works of man with scarcely one exception. Steel rusts ;
razors lose their edge ; thread decays ; clothes fall to pieces ;
books molder away and drop out of their bindings; plaster
cracks ; timber rots ; matting is in shreds. The sun, the steam
of this vast alluvial tract, and the infinite armies of white ants,
make such havoc with buildings that a house requires a com-
plete repair every three years. Ours was in this situation
about three months ago ; and, if we had determined to brave
the rains without any precautions, we should, in all probabil-
ity, have had the roof down on our heads. Accordingly, we
were forced to migrate for six weeks from our stately apart-
ments and our flower-beds to a dungeon where we were sti-
fled with the stench of native cookery, and deafened by the
noise of native music. At last we have returned to our house.
392 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
We found it all snow-white and pea-green ; and we rejoice to
think that we shall not again be under the necessity of quit-
ting it till we quit it for a ship bound on a voyage to London.
"We have been for some months in the middle of what the
people here think a political storni.. To a person accustomed
to the hurricanes of English faction this sort of tempest in a
horse-pond is merely ridiculous. We have put the English
settlers up the country under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
company's courts in civil actions in which they are concerned
with natives. The English settlers are perfectly contented;
but the lawyers of the Supreme Court have set up a yelp
which they think terrible, and which has infinitely diverted
me. They have selected me as the object of their invectives,
and I am generally the theme of five or six columns of prose
and verse daily. I have not patience to read a tenth part of
what they put forth. The last ode in my praise which I pe-
rused began,
Soon we hope they will recall ye,
Tom Macaulay, Tom Macaulay.
The last prose which I read was a parallel between me and
Lord Strafford.
My mornings, from five to nine, are quite my own. I still
give them to ancient literature. I have read Aristophanes
twice through since Christmas ; and have also read Herodotus,
and Thucydides, again. I got into a way last year of reading
a Greek play every Sunday. I began on Sunday, the 18th of
October, with the " Prometheus," and next Sunday I shall fin-
ish with the " Cyclops " of Euripides. Euripides has made a
complete conquest of me. It has been unfortunate for him
that we have so many of his pieces. It has, on the other
hand, I suspect, been fortunate for Sophocles that so few of
his have come down to us. Almost every play of Sophocles
which is now extant was one of his masterpieces. There is
hardly one of them which is not mentioned with high praise
by some ancient writer. Yet one of them, the " Trachinise,"
is, to my thinking, very poor and insipid. Now, if we had
nineteen plays of Sophocles, of which twelve or thirteen should
be no better than the " Trachinise " — and if, on the other hand,
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 393
only seven pieces of Euripides had come down to us, and if
those seven had been the " Medea," the " Bacchae," the " Iphi-
genia in Aulis," the " Orestes," the " Phcenissae," the " Hip-
polytus," and the "Alcestis" — I am not sure that the rela-
tive position which the two poets now hold in our estimation
would not be greatly altered.
I have not done much in Latin. I have been employed in
turning over several third-rate and fourth-rate writers. After
finishing Cicero, I read through the works of both the Sene-
cas, father and son. There is a great deal in the " Controver-
sies " both of curious information and of judicious criticism.
As to the son, I can not bear him. His style affects me in
something the same way with that of Gibbon. But Lucius
Seneca's affectation is even more rank than Gibbon's. His
works are made up of mottoes. There is hardly a sentence
which might not be quoted ; but to read him straight forward
is like dining on nothing but anchovy sauce. I have read, as
one does read such stuff, Valerius Maximus, Annseus Floras,
Lucius Ampelius, and Aurelius Victor. I have also gone
through Phaedrus. I am now better employed. I am deep
in the "Annals " of Tacitus, and I am at the same time read-
ing Suetonius.
You are so rich in domestic comforts that I am inclined to
envy you. I am not, however, without my share. I am as
fond of my little niece as her father. I pass an hour or more
every day in nursing her, and teaching her to talk. She has
got as far as Ba, Pa, and Ma ; which, as she is not eight months
old, we consider as proofs of a genius little inferior to that of
Shakspeare or Sir Isaac Newton.
The municipal elections have put me in good spirits as to
English politics. I was rather inclined to despondency.
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, July 25th, 1836.
MY DEAK ELLIS, — I have heard from you again, and glad I
always am to hear from you. There are few things to which
I look forward with more pleasure than to our meeting. It
is really worth while to go into banishment for a few years
394 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
for the pleasure of going home again. Yet that home will in
some things be a different home — oh, how different a home ! —
from that to which I expected to return. But I will not stir
up the bitterness of sorrow which has at last subsided.
You take interest, I see, in my Greek and Latin studies. I
continue to pursue them steadily and actively. I am now
reading Demosthenes with interest and admiration indescriba-
ble. I am slowly, at odd minutes, getting through the stupid
trash of Diodorus. I have read through Seneca, and an af-
fected, empty scribbler he is. I have read Tacitus again, and,
by-the-bye, I will tell you a curious circumstance relating to
that matter. In my younger days I always thought the "An-
nals " a prodigiously superior work to the " History." I was
surprised to find that the "Annals " seemed cold and poor to
me on the last reading. I began to think that I had over-
rated Tacitus. But, when I began the " History," I was en-
chanted, and thought more highly of him than ever. I went
back to the "Annals," and liked them even better than the
"History." All at once the explanation of this occurred to
me. While I was reading the "Annals " I was reading Thu-
cydides. When I began the " History," I began the " Hellen-
ics." What made the "Annals " appear cold and poor to me
was the intense interest which Thucydides inspired. Indeed,
what coloring is there which would not look tame when placed
side by side with the magnificent light and the terrible shade
of Thucydides? Tacitus was a great man ; but he was not up
to the Sicilian expedition. When I finished Thucydides, and
took up Xenophon, the case was reversed. Tacitus had been
a foil to Thucydides. Xenophon was a foil to Tacitus.
I have read Pliny the Younger. Some of the " Epistles "
are interesting. Nothing more stupid than the " Panegyric "
was ever preached in the University church. I am reading
the "Augustan History," and Aulus Gellius. Aulus is a fa-
vorite of mine. I think him one of the best writers of his
class.
I read in the evenings a great deal of English, French, and
Italian, and a little Spanish. I have picked up Portuguese
enough to read Camoens with care, and I want no more. I
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 395
have adopted an opinion about the Italian historians quite
different from that which I formerly held, and which, I be-
lieve, is generally considered as orthodox. I place Fra Paolo
decidedly at the head of them, and next to him Davila, whom
I take to be the best modern military historian except Col-
onel Napier. Davila's battle of Ivry is worthy of Thucydides
himself. Next to Davila I put Guicciardini, and last of all
Machiavelli. But I do not think that you ever read much
Italian.
The English poetry of the day has very few attractions for
me. " Van Artevelde " is far the best specimen that I have late-
ly seen. I do not much like Talf ourd's " Ion," but I mean to
read it again. It contains pretty lines ; but, to my thinking,
it is neither fish nor flesh. There is too much, and too little,
of the antique about it. Nothing but the most strictly clas-
sical costume can reconcile me to a mythological plot ; and Ion
is a modern philanthropist, whose politics and morals have
been learned from the publications of the Society for the Dif-
fusion of Useful Knowledge.
I do not know whether the noise which the lawyers of the
Supreme Court have been raising against our legislative au-
thority has reached, or will reach, England. They held a pub-
lic meeting, which ended — or rather began, continued, and
ended — in a riot ; and ever since then the leading agitators
have been challenging each other, refusing each other's chal-
lenges, libeling each other, swearing the peace against each
other, and blackballing each other. Mr. Longueville Clarke,
who aspires to be the O'Connell of Calcutta, called another
lawyer a liar. The last - mentioned lawyer challenged Mr.
Longueville Clarke. Mr. Longueville Clarke refused to fight,
on the ground that his opponent had been guilty of hugging
attorneys. The Bengal Club accordingly blackballed Longue-
ville. This, and some other similar occurrences, have made
the opposition here thoroughly ridiculous and contemptible.
They will probably send a petition home; but, unless the
House of Commons has undergone a great change since 1833,
they have no chance there.
I have almost brought my letter to a close without mention-
396 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
ing the most important matter about which I had to write. I
dare say you have heard that my uncle, General Macaulay,
who died last February, has left me £10,000. This legacy,
together with what I shall have saved by the end of 1837,
will make me quite a rich man ; richer than I even wish to be
as a single man ; and every day renders it more unlikely that
I should marry.
We have had a very unhealthy season ; but sickness has
not come near our house. My sister, my brother-in-law, and
their little child, are as well as possible. As to me, I think
that, as Bonaparte said of himself after the Russian campaign,
" J'ai le diable au corps." Ever yours affectionately,
T. B. MACAULAY.
To Macvey Napier, Esq.
Calcutta, November 26th, 1836.
DEAK NAPIER, — At last I send you an article of intermina-
ble length about Lord Bacon. I hardly know whether it is
not too long for an article in a Review ; but the subject is
of such vast extent that I could easily have made the paper
twice as long as it is.
About the historical and political part there is no great
probability that we shall differ in opinion ; but what I have
said about Bacon's philosophy is widely at variance with what
Dugald Stewart and Mackintosh have said on the same sub-
ject. I have not your essay ; nor have I read it since I read
it at Cambridge, with very great pleasure, but without any
knowledge of the subject. I have at present only a very faint
and general recollection of its contents, and have in vain tried
to procure a copy of it here. I fear, however, that, differing
widely as I do from Stewart and Mackintosh, I shall hardly
agree with you. My opinion is formed, not at second hand,
like those of nine-tenths of the people who talk about Bacon,
but after several very attentive perusals of his greatest works,
and after a good deal of thought. If I am in the wrong, my
errors may set the minds of others at work, and may be the
means of bringing both them and me to a knowledge of the
truth. I never bestowed so much care on any thing that I
1834-'38.] LOED MACAULAY. 397
have written. There is not a sentence in the latter half of
the article which has not been repeatedly recast. I have no
expectation that the popularity of the article will bear any
proportion to the trouble which I have expended on it. But
the trouble has been so great a pleasure to me that I have
already been greatly overpaid. Pray look carefully to the
printing. .
In little more than a year I shall be embarking for En-
gland, and I have determined to employ the four months of
my voyage in mastering the German language. I should be
much obliged to you to send me out, as early as you can, so
that they may be certain to arrive in time, the best grammar,
and the best dictionary, that can be procured ; a German Bi-
ble ; Schiller's works ; Goethe's works ; and Mebuhr's " His-
tory," both in the original and in the translation. My way
of learning a language is always to begin with the Bible,
which I can read without a dictionary. After a few days
passed in this way, I am master of all the common particles,
the common rules of syntax, and a pretty large vocabulary.
Then I fall on some good classical work. It was in this way
that I learned both Spanish and Portuguese, and I shall try
the same course with German.
I have little or nothing to tell you about myself. My life
has flown away here with strange rapidity. It seems but yes-
terday that I left my country ; and I am writing to beg you
to hasten preparations for my return. I continue to enjoy
perfect health, and the little political squalls which I have had
to weather here are mere capfuls of wind to a man who has
gone through the great hurricanes of English faction.
I shall send another copy of the article on Bacon by another
ship. Yours very truly, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, November 28th, 1836.
DEAR KAPIEE, — There is an oversight in the article on Ba-
con which I shall be much jobliged to you to correct. I have
said that Bacon did not deal at all in idle rants " like those in
which Cicero and Mr. Shandy sought consolation for the loss
of Tullia and of Bobby." Nothing can, as a general remark,
398 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
be more true, but it escaped my recollection that two or three
of Mr. Shandy's consolatory sentences are quoted from Bacon's
" Essays." The illustration, therefore, is singularly unfortu-
nate. ^Pray alter it thus : " in which Cicero vainly sought con-
solation for the loss of Tullia." To be sure, it is idle to cor-
rect such trifles at a distance of fifteen thousand miles.
Yours ever, T. B. MACAULAY.
From Lord Jeffrey to Macvey Napier, Esq.
May 2d, 1837.
MY DEAR K., — What mortal could ever dream of cutting
out the least particle of this precious work, to make it fit bet-
ter into your jReview f It would be worse than paring down
the Pitt diamond to fit the old setting of a dowager's ring.
Since Bacon himself, I do not know that there has been any
thing so fine. The first five or six pages are in a lower tone,
but still magnificent, and not to be deprived of a word.
Still, I do not object to consider whether it might not be
best to serve up the rich repast in two courses; and on the
whole I incline to that partition. One hundred and twenty
pages might cloy even epicures, and would be sure to surfeit
the vulgar ; and the biography and philosophy are so entire-
ly distinct, and of not veiy unequal length, that the division
would not look like a fracture. FRANCIS JEFFREY.
In the end, the article appeared entire, occupying one hun-
dred and four pages of the Iteview ; and accompanied by an
apology for its length in the shape of one of those editorial
appeals to " the intelligent scholar," and " the best class of our
readers," which never fail of success.
The letters addressed to Zachary Macaulay are half filled
with anecdotes of the nursery ; pretty enough, but such as only
a grandfather could be expected to read. In other respects,
the correspondence is chiefly remarkable for the affectionate
ingenuity with which the son selects such topics as would in-
terest the father.
Calcutta, October 12th, 1836.
MY DEAR FATHER, — We were extremely gratified by receiv-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 399
ing, a few days ago, a letter from you which, on the whole,
gave a good account of your health and spirits. The day
after to-morrow is the first anniversary of your little grand-
daughter's birthday. The occasion is to be celebrated with
a sort of droll puppet-show, much in fashion among the na-
tives ; an exhibition much in the style of Punch in England,
but more dramatic and more showy. All the little boys and
girls from the houses of our friends are invited, and the party
will, I have no doubt, be a great deal more amusing than the
stupid dinners and routs with which the grown-up people here
kill the time.
In a few months — I hope, indeed, in a few weeks — we shall
send up the " Penal Code " to Government. We have got rid
of the punishment of death, except in the case of aggravated
treason and willful murder. We shall also get rid indirectly
of every thing that can properly be called slavery in India.
There will remain civil claims on particular people for par-
ticular services, which claims may be enforced by civil action ;
but no person will be entitled, on the plea of being the master
of another, to do any thing to that other which it would be an
offense to do to a free man.
Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find
it difficult — indeed, in some places impossible — to provide in-
struction for all who want it. At the single town of Hooghly
fourteen hundred boys are learning English. The effect of this
education on the Hindoos is prodigious. ~No Hindoo who has
received an English education ever remains sincerely attached
to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of
policy ; but many profess themselves pure Deists, and some
embrace Christianity. It is my firm belief that, if our plans
of education are followed up, there will not be a single idola-
ter among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence.
And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytize ;
without the smallest interference with religious liberty ; mere-
ly by the natural operation of knowledge and reflection. I
heartily rejoice in the prospect.
I have been a sincere mourner for Mill. He and I were on
the best terms, and his services at the India House were never
400 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. VL
so much needed as at this time. I had a most kind letter
from him a few weeks before I heard of his death. He has
a son just come out, to whom I have shown such little atten-
tions as are in my power.
Within half a year after the time when you read this we
shall be making arrangements for our return. The feelings
with which I look forward to that return I can not express.
Perhaps I should be wise to continue here longer, in order to
enjoy during a greater number of months the delusion — for I
know that it will prove a delusion — of this delightful hope.
I feel as if I never could be unhappy in my own country ; as
if to exist on English ground and among English people, see-
ing the old familiar sights and hearing the sound of my moth-
er tongue, would be enough for me. This can not be ; yet
some days of intense happiness I shall surely have ; and one
of those will be the day when I again see my dear father and
sisters. Ever yours most affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, November 30th, 1836.
DEAR ELLIS, — How the months run away ! Here is another
cold season : morning fogs, cloth coats, green pease, new pota-
toes, and all the accompaniments of a Bengal winter. As to
my private life, it has glided on, since I wrote to you last, in
the most peaceful monotony. If it were not for the books
which I read, and for the bodily and mental growth of my
dear little niece, I should have no mark to distinguish one part
of the year from another. Greek and Latin, breakfast, busi-
ness, an evening walk with a book, a drive after sunset, din-
ner, coffee, my bed — there you have the history of a day. My
classical studies go on vigorously. I have read Demosthenes
twice — I need not say with what delight and admiration. I
am now deep in Isocrates ; and from him I shall pass to Ly-
sias. I have finished Diodorus Siculus at last, after dawdling
over him at odd times ever since last March. He is a stupid,
credulous, prosing old ass ; yet I heartily wish that we had a
good deal more of him. I have read Arrian's expedition of
Alexander, together with Quintus Curtius. I have at stray
hours read Longus's " Romance " and Xenophon's " Ephesia-
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 401
ca," and I mean to go through Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius
in the same way. Longus is prodigiously absurd ; but there
is often an exquisite prettiness in the style. Xenophon's nov-
el* is the basest thing to be found in Greek. It was discov-
ered at Florence, little more than a hundred years ago, by an
English envoy. Nothing so detestable ever came from the
Minerva Press. I have read Theocritus again, and like him
better than ever.
As to Latin, I made a heroic attempt on Pliny's " Natural
History ;" but I stuck after getting through about a quarter
of it. I have read Ammianus Marcellinus, the worst-written
book in ancient Latin. The style would disgrace a monk of
the tenth century ; but Marcellinus has many of the substan-
tial qualities of a good historian. I have gone through the
Augustan history, and much other trash relating to the lower
empire ; curious as illustrating the state of society, but utter-
ly worthless as composition. I have read Statius again, and
thought him as bad as ever. I really found only two lines
worthy of a great poet in all the " Thebais." They are these
(what do you think of my taste ?) :
Clamorem, bello qualis supremus apertis
Urbibus, aut pelago jam descendente carimi.
I am now busy with Quintilian and Lucan, both excellent
writers. The dream of Pompey, in the seventh book of the
" Pharsalia," is a very noble piece of writing. I hardly know
an instance in poetry of so great an effect produced by means
so simple. There is something irresistibly pathetic in the
lines :
Qualis erat poptili facies, clamorque faventuin
Olim cum juvenis —
* Xenophon the Ephesian lived in the third or fourth century of the
Christian era. At the end of his work Macaulay has written, " A most
stupid, worthless performance, below the lowest trash of an English circu-
lating library." Achilles Tatius he disposes of with the words " Detesta-
ble trash ;" and the "^Ethiopics " of Heliodorus, which he appears to have
finished on Easter-day, 1837, he pronounces " the best of the Greek ro-
mances, which is not saying much for it."
YOL. I.— 26
402 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
and something unspeakably solemn in the sudden turn which
follows :
Crastina dira quies —
There are two passages in Lucan which surpass in eloquence
any thing that I know in the Latin language. One is the
enumeration of Pompey's exploits :
Quod si tarn sacro dignaris nomine saxum —
The other is the character which Cato gives of Pompey,
Civis obit, inquit —
a pure gem of rhetoric, without one flaw, and, in my opinion,
not very far from historical truth.* When I consider that
Lucan died at twenty-six, I can not help ranking him among
the most extraordinary men that ever lived.
I am glad that you have so much business, and sorry that
you have so little leisure. In a few years you will be a baron
of the exchequer, and then we shall have ample time to talk
* The following remarks occur at the end of Macaulay's copy of the
" Pharsalia :"
"August 30th, 1835.
" When Lucan's age is considered, it is impossible not to allow that the
poem is a very extraordinary one : more extraordinary, perhaps, than if it
had been of a higher kind ; for it is more common for the imagination to
be in full vigor at an early time of life than for a young man to obtain a
complete mastery of political and philosophical rhetoric. I know no dec-
lamation in the world, not even Cicero's best, which equals some passages
in the ' Pharsalia.' As to what were meant for bold poetical flights — the
sea-fight at Marseilles, the Centurion who is covered with wounds, the
snakes in the Libyan desert — it is all as detestable as Gibber's ' Birthday
Odes.' The furious partiality of Lucan take,s away much of the pleasure
which his talents would otherwise afford. A poet who is, as has often
been said, less a poet than a historian, should to a certain degree conform
to the laws of history. The manner in which he represents the two par-
ties is not to be reconciled with the laws even of fiction. The senators are
demi-gods ; Pompey, a pure lover of his country ; Cato, the abstract idea of
virtue ; while Caesar, the finest gentleman, the most humane conqueror,
and the most popular politician that Rome ever produced, is a blood-thirsty
ogre. If Lucan had lived, he would probably have improved greatly.
Again, December 9th, 1836."
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 403
over our favorite classics. Then I will show you a most su-
perb emendation of Bentley's in Ampelius, and I will give
you unanswerable reasons for pronouncing that Gibbon was
mistaken in supposing that Quintus Curtius wrote under Gor-
dian.
Remember me most kindly to Mrs. Ellis. I hope that I
shall find Frank writing as good Alcaics as his father.
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
Calcutta, March 8th, 1837.
DEAR ELLIS, — I am at present very much worked, and have
been so for a long time past. Cameron, after being laid up
for some months, sailed at Christmas for the Cape, where I
hope his health will be repaired ; for this country can very ill
spare him. However, we have almost brought our great work
to a conclusion. In about a month we shall lay before the
Government a complete penal code for a hundred millions
of people, with a commentary explaining, and defending, the
provisions of the text. Whether it is well or ill done, Heaven
knows. I only know that it seems to me to be very ill done
when I look at it by itself ; and well done when I compare it
with " Livingstone's Code," with the " French Code," or with
the English statutes which have been passed for the purpose
of consolidating and amending the "Criminal Law." In
health I am as well as ever I was in my life. Time glides
fast. One day is so like another that, but for a habit which I
acquired soon after I reached India of penciling in my books
the date of my reading them, I should have hardly any way
of estimating the lapse of time. If I want to know when
an event took place, I call to mind which of Calderon's plays,
or of Plutarch's " Lives," I was reading on that day. I turn
to the book, find the date, and am generally astonished to
see that what seems removed from me by only two or three
months really happened nearly a year ago.
I intend to learn German on my voyage home, and I have
indented largely (to use our Indian official term) for the req-
uisite books. People tell me that it is a hard language ; but I
can not easily believe that there is a language which I can not
404 LIFE AND LETTERS OF [CHAP. vi.
master in four months, by working ten hours a day. I prom-
ise myself very great delight and information from German
literature ; and, over and above, I feel a sort of presentiment,
a kind of admonition of the Deity, which assures me that the
final cause of my existence — the end for which I was sent into
this vale of tears — was to make game of certain Germans.
The first thing to be done in obedience to this heavenly call
is to learn German; and then I may perhaps try, as Milton
says,
Frangere Saxonicas Britonum sub Marte phalanges.
Ever yours affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
The years which Macaulay spent in India formed a transi-
tion period between the time when he kept no journal at all
and the time when the daily portion of his journal was com-
pleted as regularly as the daily portion of his " History." Be-
tween 1834 and 1838, he contented himself with jotting down
any circumstance that struck his fancy in the book which he
happened to have in hand. The records of his Calcutta life,
written in half a dozen different languages, are scattered
throughout the whole range of classical literature from Hesiod
to Macrobius. At the end of the seventy - ninth Epistle of
Seneca we read : "April 14th, 1836. Hodie prsemia distribui
rote lv Tty juovorety SavffK/otrtKy vfavtoxofc."4*
On the last page of the "Birds" of Aristophanes: "Jan.
16th, 1836. ot TTjOttr/SfTc o« irapa TOV fiaatXlwt; TUV
On the first page of Theocritus : " March 20th, 1835. Lord
W. Bentinck sailed this morning."
On the last page of the " De Amicitia :" " March 5th, 1836.
Yesterday Lord Auckland arrived at Government House, and
was sworn in."
Beneath an idyl of Moschus, of all places in the world, Mac-
* " To-day I distributed the prizes to the students of the Sanscrit Col-
lege."
t " The embassadors from the King of Nepaul entered Calcutta yester-
day." It may be observed that Macaulay wrote Greek with or without
accents, according to the humor or hurry of the moment.
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 405
aulay notes the fact of Peel being First Lord of the Treasury ;
and he finds space, between two quotations in Athenaeus, to
commemorate a ministerial majority of 29 on the second read-
ing of the Irish Church Bill.
A somewhat nearer approach to a formal diary may be
found in his Catullus, which contains a catalogue of the En-
glish books that he read in the cold season of 1835-'36 ; as, for
instance, Gibbon's "Answer to Davis," November 6th and
7th ; Gibbon on Virgil's VI. ^Eneid, November 7th.; Whately's
"Logic," November 15th; Thirlwall's "Greece," November
22d ; Edinburgh Jteview, November 29th. And all this was
in addition to his Greek and Latin studies, to his official work,
to the French that he read with his sister, and the unrecorded
novels that he read to himself ; which last would alone have
afforded occupation for two ordinary men, unless this month
of November was different from every other month of his ex-
istence since the day that he left Mr. Preston's school-room.
There is something refreshing, amidst the long list of graver
treatises, to light upon a periodical entry of " YIiKviKtva" the
immortal work of a classic who has had more readers in a sin-
gle year than Statins and Seneca in all their eighteen centu-
ries together. Macaulay turned over with indifference, and
something of distaste, the earlier chapters of that modern
"Odyssey." The first touch which came home to him was
Jingle's " Handsome Englishman !" In that phrase he recog-
nized a master ; and, by the time that he landed in England,
he knew his " Pickwick " almost as intimately as his " Grandi-
son."
Calcutta, June 15th, 1837.
DEAR NAPIEK, — Your letter about my review of Mackin-
tosh miscarried, vexatiously enough. I should have been glad
to know what was thought of my performance among friends
and foes, for here we have no information on such subjects.
The literary correspondents of the Calcutta newspapers seem
to be penny-a-line men whose whole stock of literature comes
from the conversations in the Green Room.
My long article on Bacon has, no doubt, been in your hands
some time. I never, to the best of my recollection, proposed
406 LIFE AND LETTEES OF [CHAP.VI.
to review Hannah More's "life" or "Works." If I did, it
must have been in jest. She was exactly the very last person
in the world about whom I should choose to write a critique.
She was a very kind friend to me from childhood. Her no-
tice first called out my literary tastes. Her presents laid the
foundation of my library. She was to me what Ninon was
to Voltaire — begging her pardon for comparing her to a bad
woman, and yours for comparing myself to a great man. She
really was a second mother to me. I have a real affection
for her memory. I therefore could not possibly write about
her unless I wrote in her praise ; and all the praise which I
could give to her writings, even after straining my conscience
in her favor, would be far indeed from satisfying any of her
admirers.
I will try my hand on Temple, and on Lord Olive.
Shaftesbury I shall let alone. Indeed, his political life is so
much connected with Temple's that, without endless repeti-
tion, it would be impossible for me to furnish a separate ar-
ticle on each. Temple's " Life and "Works ;" the part which
he took in the controversy about the ancients and moderns ;
the Oxford confederacy against Bentley ; and the memorable
victory which Bentley obtained, will be good subjects. I am
in training for this part of the subject, as I have twice read
through the Phalaris controversy since I arrived in India.
I have been almost incessantly engaged in public business
since I sent off the paper on Bacon; but I expect to have
comparative leisure during the short remainder of my stay
here. The " Penal Code of India " is finished, and is in the
press. The illness of two of my colleagues threw the work
almost entirely on me. It is done, however ; and I am not
likely to be called upon for vigorous exertion during the rest
of my Indian career. Yours ever, T. B. MACAULAY.
If you should have assigned Temple or Clive to any body
else, pray do not be uneasy on that account. The pleasure of
writing pays itself.
Calcutta, December 18th, 1837.
DEAR ELLIS, — My last letter was on a deeply melancholy
subject — the death of our poor friend Malkin. I have felt
1834-'38.] LORD MACAULAY. 407
very much for his widow. The intensity of her affliction, and
the fortitude and good feeling which she showed as soon as the
first agony was over, have interested me greatly in her. Six
or seven of Malkin's most intimate friends here have joined
with Ryan and me in subscribing to put up a plain marble
tablet in the cathedral, for which I have written an inscrip-
tion.*
My departure is now near at hand. This is the last letter
which I shall write to you from India. Our passage is taken
in the Lord Jlimgerford, the most celebrated of the huge
floating hotels which run between London and Calcutta. She
is more renowned for the comfort and luxury of her internal
arrangements than for her speed. As we are to stop at the
Cape for a short time, I hardly expect to be with you till the
end of May or the beginning of June. I intend to make my-
self a good German scholar by the time of my arrival in En-
gland. I have already, at leisure moments, broken the ice.
I have read about half of the New Testament in Luther's
translation ; and am now getting rapidly, for a beginner,
through Schiller's " History of the Thirty Years' War." My
German library consists of all Goethe's works, all Schiller's
works, Mullens " History of Switzerland," some of Tieck,
some of Lessing, and other works of less fame. I hope to dis-
patch them all on my way home. I like Schiller's style ex-
ceedingly. His history contains a great deal of very just and
deep thought, conveyed in language so popular and agreeable
that dunces would think him superficial.
I lately took it into my head to obtain some knowledge of
the Fathers, and I read therefore a good deal of Athanasius,
which by no means raised him in my opinion. I procured
the magnificent edition of Chrysostom by Montfaucon from
a public library here, and turned over the eleven huge folios,
reading wherever the subject was of peculiar interest. As to
reading him through, the thing is impossible. These volumes
contain matter at least equal to the whole extant literature of
the best tunes of Greece, from Homer to Aristotle inclusive.
* This inscription appears in Lord Macaulay's " Miscellaneous Works."
408 LIFE AND LETTERS, ETC. [CHAP. vi.
There are certainly some very brilliant passages in his homi-
lies. It seems curious that, though the Greek literature be-
gan to flourish so much earlier than the Latin, it continued
to flourish so much later. Indeed, if you except the century
which elapsed between Cicero's first public appearance and
Livy's death, I am not sure that there was any time at which
Greece had not writers equal, or superior, to their Roman con-
temporaries. I am sure that no Latin writer of the age of
Lucian is to be named with Lucian ; that no Latin writer of
the age of Longinus is to be named with Longinus ; that no
Latin prose of the age of Chrysostom can be named with
Chrysostom's compositions. I have read Augustine's " Con-
fessions." The book is not without interest ; but he expresses
himself in the style of a field-preacher.
Our "Penal Code" is to be published next week. It has
cost me very intense labor ; and, whatever its faults may be,
it is certainly not a slovenly performance. Whether the work
proves useful to India or not, it has been of great use, I feel
and know, to my own mind. Ever yours affectionately,
T. B. MACAULAY.
APPENDIX.
A FEW extracts from the notes penciled in Macaulay's Greek and
Latin books may interest any one who is wise enough to have kept
up his classics, or young enough for it to be still his happy duty to
read them. The number of the dates scribbled at the conclusion of
each volume, and their proximity in point of time, are astonishing
when we reflect that every such memorandum implies a separate pe-
rusal.
" This day I finished Thucydides, after reading him with inexpressi-
ble interest and admiration. He is the greatest historian that ever
lived.— February 21th, 1835."
" I am still of the same mind. — May 30th, 1836."
At the end of Xenophon's "Anabasis " may be read the words :
"Decidedly his best work. — December 17<A, 1835."
"Most certainly. — February 24th, 1837."
" One of the very first works that antiquity has left us. Perfect in
its kind.— October 9th, 1837."
" I read Plautus four times at Calcutta.
"The first, in November and December, 1834.
"The second, in January and the beginning of February, 1835.
"The third, on the Sundays from the 24th of May to the 23d of
August, 1835.
"The fourth, on the Sundays beginning from the 1st of1 January,
1837.
"I have since read him in the Isle of Wight (1850), and in the
South of France (1858)."
410 APPENDIX.
" Finished the second reading of Lucretius this day, March 24th,
1835. It is a great pity that the poem is in an unfinished state. The
philosophy is for the most part utterly worthless ; but in energy, per-
spicuity, variety of illustration, knowledge of life and manners, talent
for description, sense of the beauty of the external world, and eleva-
tion and dignity of moral feeling, he had hardly ever an equal."
" Finished Catullus August 3d, 1835. An admirable poet. No Lat-
in writer is so Greek. The simplicity, the pathos, the perfect grace,
which I find in the great Athenian models are all in Catullus, and in
him alone of the Romans."
To the "Thebai's" of Statius are simply appended the dates "Oc-
tober 26th, 1835." " October 31st, 1 836." The expressions " Stuff !"
and " Trash !" occur frequently enough throughout the dreary pages
of the poem ; while evidence of the attention with which those pages
were studied is afforded by such observations as " Gray has translated
this passage;" "Racine took a hint here;" and "Nobly imitated —
indeed, far surpassed — by Chaucer."
" Finished Silius Italicus ; for which Heaven be praised ! Decem-
ber 24th, 1835. Pope must have read him before me. In the ' Tem-
ple of Fame,' and the ' Essay on Criticism,' are some touches plainly
suggested by Silius."
In the last page of Velleius Paterculus come the following com-
ments: "Vile flatterer! Yet, after all, he could hardly help it. But
how the strong, acute, cynical mind of Tiberius must have been re-
volted by adulation, the absence of which he would probably have
punished ! Velleius Paterculus seems to me a remarkably good epit-
omist. I hardly know any historical work of which the scale is so
small, and the subject so extensive. The Bishop of London admires
his style. I do not. There are sentences worthy of Tacitus; but
there is an immense quantity of rant, and far too much ejaculation
and interrogation for oratory, let alone history. — June 6th, 1835;
again, May 14th, 1836."
" I think Sallust inferior to both Livy and Tacitus in the talents of
an historian. There is a lecturing, declaiming tone about him which
would suit a teacher of rhetoric better than a statesman engaged in
APPENDIX.
recording great events. Still, he is a good writer ; and the view which
he here gives of the state of parties at Rome, and the frightful de-
moralization of the aristocracy, is full of interest. — June IQth, 1835;
May 6th, 1837."
" I do not think that there is better evidence of the genuineness
of any book in the world than of the first seven books of Caesar's
'Commentaries.' To doubt on that subject is the mere rage of
skepticism."
After Cassar's " De Bello Civili :" " He is an admirable writer, worth
ten of Sallust. His manner is the perfection of good sense and good
taste. He rises on me, also, as a man. He was on the right side, as
far as in such a miserable government there could be a right side.
He used his victory with glorious humanity. Pompey, whether he
inclined to it or not, must have established a reign of terror to gratify
the execrable aristocracy whose tool he had stooped to be."
To the " De Bello Alexandrino :" " This is not a bad history.
Hirtius is a very respectable writer. The Alexandrian affair is a curi-
ous episode in Caesar's life. No doubt the influence of Cleopatra was
the real cause of his strange conduct. He was not a man to play
Charles XII. at Bender, except when under the tyranny of some
strong passion. The ability with which he got out of scrapes is some
set-off against the rashness with which he got into them."
To the " De Bello Hispaniensi :" " This book must have been writ-
ten by some sturdy old centurion, who fought better than he com-
posed."
The odds and ends of Cesar's conversation, gathered far and wide
from classical literature into what is perhaps the most tantalizing
biographical fragment in the world, are characterized by Macaulay as
" Disjecta membra gigantis."
The three volumes of Macaulay's Ovid are enlivened, throughout,
with pencil-notes charming in their vivacity and versatility. At the
conclusion of the fifteenth and last book he writes : " There are some
very fine things in this poem ; and in ingenuity, and the art of doing
difficult things in expression and versification as if they were the easi-
412 APPENDIX.
est in the world, Ovid is quite incomparable. But, on the whole, I
am much disappointed. I like the romantic poets of Italy far better ;
not only Ariosto, but Boiardo, and even Forteguerri. The second
book of the ' Metamorphoses ' is by far the best. Next to that comes
the first half of the thirteenth.
"Finished at Calcutta April 28th, 1835."
"I like it better this second time of reading. — January 14th, 1837."
He was evidently surfeited by the " Heroides," and pleased by the
"Amores ;" though he read them both twice through with the strictest
impartiality. Of the "Ars Amatoria " he says : " Ovid's best. The
subject did not require the power, which he did not possess, of moving
the passions. The love, which he has reduced to a system, was little
more than the mere sexual appetite, heightened by the art of dress,
manner, and conversation. This was an excellent subject for a man
so witty and so heartless."
The " Fasti " were almost too much for him. " June 30th, 1835. —
It is odd that I should finish the ' Fasti ' on the very day with which
the ' Fasti ' terminate. I am cloyed with Ovid. Yet I can not but
admire him."
"Finished the 'Fasti' again.— February 2Gth, 1837."
After the "Tristia:" "A very melancholy set of poems. They
make me very sad, and the more so because I am myself an exile,
though in far happier circumstances, externally, than those of Ovid.
It is impossible not to feel contempt, mingled with a sort of pitying
kindness, for a man so clever, so accomplished, so weak-spirited and
timid, placed, unjustly as it should seem, in so painful a situation. It
is curious that the three most celebrated Roman writers who were
banished, and whose compositions written in exile have come down to
us — Cicero, Seneca, and Ovid — have all shown an impatience and pu-
sillanimity which lower their characters ;" and which, he might have
added, are strangely at variance with the proverbial manliness and
constancy of the Roman nature.
At the end of the last volume : " I have now gone through the
whole of Ovid's works, and heartily tired I am of him and them.
Yet he is a wonderfully clever man. But he has two insupportable
faults. The one is that he will always be clever; the other that he
APPENDIX. 413
never knows when to have done. He is rather a rhetorician than a
poet. There is little feeling in his poems ; even in those which were
written during his exile. The pathetic effect of his supplications and
lamentations is injured by the ingenious turns of expression, and by
the learned allusions, with which he sets off his sorrow."
" He seems to have been a very good fellow : rather too fond of
women ; a flatterer and a coward ; but kind and generous ; and free
from envy, though a man of letters, and though sufficiently vain of his
literary performances. The 'Art of Love,' which ruined poor Ovid, is,
in my opinion, decidedly his best work."
" I finished Livy, after reading him with the greatest delight, inter-
est, and admiration, May 31st, 1835 ; again, April 29th, 1837."
At the end of Livy's twenty-seventh book there appear the follow-
ing remarks ; which, in a letter to Mr. Ellis, Macaulay entitles " Histor-
ic Doubts touching the Battle of the Metaurus :" " I suspect that the
whole narrative is too highly colored, and that far too large a share of
the praise is allotted to Nero. Who was Nero? What did he ever
do before or after this great achievement? His conduct in Spain had
been that of an incapable driveler, and we hear of nothing to set off
against that conduct till he was made consul. And, after his first con-
sulship, why was he not re-elected ? All ordinary rules about succes-
sion to offices were suspended while Hannibal was in Italy. Fabius,
Fulvius, Marcellus, were elected consuls over and over. The youth of
Scipio did not keep him from holding the highest commands. Why
was Nero, who, if Livy can be trusted, was a far abler man than any
general whom Rome employed in that war — who outgeneraled Has-
drubal, who saved the republic from the most imminent danger — never
re-employed against the Carthaginians ?
"And then, how strange is the silence of the Latin writers anterior
to the Augustan age ! There does not exist, as far as I recollect, a sin-
gle allusion to Nero in all Cicero's works. But, when we come to the
time at which Tiberius was rising to the first importance in the State,
we find Nero represented as the most illustrious captain of his age.
' The earliest panegyric on him that I know is in Horace's fine ode,
'Qualem Ministrum.' That ode was written to the praise and glory
of Tiberius and Drasus — both Neros. Livy wrote when Tiberius was
partner with Augustus in the Empire ; Velleius Paterculus, when Ti-
APPENDIX.
berius was sovereign. They seem to me to have looked back into his-
tory for the purpose of finding some topic flattering to the house of
Nero ; and they found a victory — certainly a considerable victory —
gained in the consulship of a Nero, and by an army, part of which he
commanded. Accordingly, they ascribed to him all the glory of the
success. They represented him as having contrived the whole plan ;
as having executed it on his own responsibility ; as having completely
outwitted both the Carthaginian generals. Yet, after all, the Senate
would not let him enter Rome in triumph, but gave all the honor of
the victory to his colleague Livius; and I can not find in Polybius
any compliment whatsoever to Nero's generalship on this occasion.
" I dare say that, if the truth were known, it would be something of
this sort. The Senate ordered Nero to march, and to effect a junction
with Livius. The direction of the operations siibsequent to that junc-
tion probably lay with Livius ; as the province was especially his, and
as he was general of by far the larger force. In the action, Livy him-
self tells us that Livius was opposed to Hasdrubal, which was doubt-
less the most important post. The universal impression at the time
was that the glory of the day belonged to Livius. He alone triumphed
for the victory ; and no Roman writer, for many generations, ranked
Nero with Fabius or Marcellus. But, when the house of Nero ac-
quired supreme power, men of letters employed all their talents in ex-
tolling the only Nero of whom it was possible to make a great man ;
and they have described his conduct in such a way that he appears to
have been a greater man than Scipio, and fully a match for Hannibal."
At the end of each drama of the Greek tragedians Macaulay wrote
with a pencil (and, unfortunately, not a very good pencil) a little crit-
ical essay, from three to twenty lines in length.
"The first part of the Ajax is prodigiously fine. I do not know
that the agonies of wounded honor have ever been so sublimely rep-
resented. Basil, in one of Miss Baillie's best plays, is a faint shadow
of this grand creation of Sophocles. But the interest of the piece
dies with Ajax. In the debates which follow, Sophocles does not suc-
ceed as well as Euripides would have done. The odes, too, are not
very good."
" I have been less pleased with this perusal of the ' (Edipus Tyran-
nus ' than I was when I read it in January ; perhaps because I then
APPENDIX. 415
read it all at one sitting. The construction seems to me less perfect
than I formerly thought it. But nothing can exceed the skill with
which the discovery is managed. The agony of (Edipus is so unut-
terably grand ; and the tender sorrow, in which his mind at last re-
poses after his daughters have been brought to him, is as moving as
any thing in the Greek drama."
" The ' Philoctetes' is a most noble play ; conspicuous even among
the works of Sophocles for the grace and majesty of effect produced
by the most simple means. There is more character in it than in
any play in the Greek language ; two or three of Euripides's best ex-
cepted."
" The first half of the ' Eumcnides ' is equal to any thing in poetry.
The close is also very fine."
"The 'Seven against Thebes' is a noble poem; full of dramatic
improprieties; but all on fire with the finest poetical spirit. — October
25th, 1835 (my birthday).
fiitl Qvvai rbv airavra vucq. \6yov'
TO ft, i-irii (ftavy^
fifjvai KiWfv, oQevirfp VIKII,
SfVTtpOV, <!>£ Ta\lOTO.,"*
" The ' Agamemnon ' is indeed very fine. From the king's entrance
into the house to the appearance on the stage of ^Egistheus, it is be-
yond all praise. I shall turn it over again next week."
To the " Prometheus " are appended the words, " One of the great-
est of human compositions."
" The ' Orestes ' is one of the very finest plays in the Greek lan-
guage. Among those of Euripides, I should place it next to the
' Medea ' and the ' Bacchae.'f It has some very real faults ; but it pos-
* " The happiest destiny is never to have been born; and the next best, by far,
is to return, as swiftly as may be, to the bourn whence we came." The wound
caused by his sister Margaret's death was then ten months old.
t Macaulay ranked the plays of Euripides thus: The "Medea;" the "Bac-
chae;" the "Orestes;" the "Iphigenia in Aulis;" the "Alcestis;" the "Phoe-
nissae;" the "Troades;" the " Hippolytus."
416 APPENDIX.
sesses that strong human interest which neither ^Eschylus nor Sopho-
cles— poets in many respects far superior to Euripides — ever gave to
their dramas. ' Orestes ' and ' Electra ' keep a very strong hold on our
sympathy. The friendship of Pylades is more amiably represented
here than anywhere else. Menelaus keeps the character which the
Athenian dramatists have agreed to give him. The sick -chamber
scene, and the scene after the trial, are two of the finest things in
ancient poetry. When Milton designated Euripides 'sad Electra's
poet,' he was thinking of the ' Orestes,' I suppose, and not of the
4 Electra.' Schlegel says (and he is perfectly right) that the ' Electra '
is Euripides's worst play. It is quite detestable."
" I can hardly account for the contempt which, at school and col-
lege, I felt for Euripides. I own that I like him now better than
Sophocles. The ' Alcestis ' has faults enough ; but there are scenes
in it of surpassing beauty and tenderness. The choruses, too, are very
fine. Fox thought it the best of Euripides's plays. I can not like it
so well as the ' Medea.' The odious baseness of Admetus, in accept-
ing the sacrifice of his wife, is a greater drawback than even the ab-
surd machinery. Thomson avoided this very happily in his imitation,
by making Eleanora suck the poison while Edward is sleeping."
"The 'Bacchae' is a most glorious play. I doubt whether it be
not superior to the ' Medea.' It is often very obscure ; and I am not
sure that I fully understand its general scope. But, as a piece of lan-
guage, it is hardly equaled in the world. And, whether it was intend-
ed to encourage or to discourage fanaticism, the picture of fanatical
excitement which it exhibits has never been rivaled."
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
74
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