if only it was decent, and a genuine undoubted poem of the people." He rambled about the back lanes of the City with his brother Charles, his private secretary; and meditated and elaborated some of the "Lays of Ancient Rome." In 1842 appeared his celebrated article on Warren Hastings, and with it an absurd mistake, in which Macaulay was made to throw ridicule on the "Vicar of Wakefield," instead of Goldsmith's "History of Greece." Even yet Macaulay did not foresee the lasting fame which his essays would bring him. He was opposed to republishing them, not believing they deserved it; and spurious editions from America became spread. "What the Yankees may do I cannot help; but I will not found my pretensions to the rank of a classic on my reviews. I will remain, according to the excellent precept in the Gospel, at the lower end of the table, where I am constantly accosted with Friend, go up higher,' and not push my way to the top at the risk of being compelled with shame to take the lowest room." In 1842 the "Lays of Ancient Rome were published, and enthusiastically received. In the same year Macaulay took an active part in moulding the Copyright Act. In 1843 his essays, so far as then written, were republished by Longmans, with many emendations and omissions of severe passages. Of this republication Sir George Trevelyan stated some years ago, that upwards of 120,000 copies had been sold in the United Kingdom alone by a single publisher. The yearly sale has continued to increase with the publication of cheaper editions. "The market for them in their native country is so steady, and apparently so inexhaustible, that it perceptibly falls and rises with the general prosperity of the nation." In 1843 Macaulay concerned himself deeply about Lord Ellenborough's wrong-headed actions as Governor-General of India, and after a fine oration from him, when a party victory was won by the Government to protect the Governor-General, and another one threatened for a second motion, Sir Robert Peel recalled Lord Ellenborough-another instance of the power which Macaulay's Indian experience had given him. About the middle of 1844 Macaulay was engaged on an article for the Edinburgh Review, upon "Burke and his Times," but finding his subject altogether too large for the allotted canvas, he saw fit to substitute a sketch of Lord Chatham's later years. He made considerable use of Horace Walpole's "Memoirs of George the Third's Reign," and of the diary of the first Lord Holland. Macaulay's honourable nature comes out strongly in his attitude towards rogues whose rank or circumstances form a sort of protecting wall about them. It was curious that on his way to Holland he should encounter a civil servant of the East India Company who had been dismissed for fraud. Macaulay resisted all advances on his part with a fine contempt which the rogue fully understood, and which, nevertheless, was so adroitly managed as not to wound the wife and daughter of the man, who were always present on the occasions. In the early part of 1845 Macaulay found but little time for writing general articles; what time he could spare from his duties to the House of Commons he devoted to his History. But for his doing this, he says, his History would have perished in embryo, like poor Mackintosh's. At this time the political world was in a ferment. There were the difficulties of Foreign policy, Irish policy, and, above all, the Corn Law question. 1 a As regards this last, Macaulay determined to support, heart and soul, the full repeal of the Corn Law, even though he should lose office by taking such a course. However, his party being unable to form a government, he never took the prominent part in the repeal movement that he might otherwise have done. Macaulay spoke only five times during the sessions of 1846 and 1847, but whenever he did so he withered his opponents by his fiery eloquence. After losing the election at Edinburgh-partly owing to his refusing to support local objects pecuniarily, partly owing to his support of the Establishmentwhich he felt bitterly, he retired into private life, refusing other seats, of which many were offered him. He now devoted himself to the completion of his History. He was most zealous in collecting his materials; and when they were obtained, he would think out and realise a graphic picture, which he never rested till he had committed to paper. When once the rough draft was complete, he gave himself a task of six foolscap sheets a morning. Some might have got over the ground more quickly, but Macaulay would give only of his best, and would pass nothing that had not gone through the severest tests. This, combined with the grandest power of visualising and of living in any time he wrote of, made a success almost unequalled. Within three days after the appearance of the History, it had an assured position. Letters of congratulation rained in from all quarters. Old political opponents joined in the general laudation. Lord Halifax said the whole country ought to be grateful to the author of such a book, which was singularly well-timed. Jeffrey wrote, "The mother who bore you, had she been alive, could scarcely have felt prouder or happier than I do at this outburst of your graver fame." Of all the letters of congratulation that Macaulay received, none gave him more pleasure than the praises of the book which came from Maria Edgeworth's pen-a pen that had in his early years contributed so much to his pleasure. Enormous editions of the work were sold both in England and abroad, and it was welcomed with enthusiasm on all hands. The success was great. The price Macaulay paid for it was great, for, in politics, few had more prizes within reach than this gifted author; yet he sacrificed all to literature. In February, 1848, Macaulay began the second part of his History. In November of the same year he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow; and in March, 1849, he gave his inaugural address, which took the form of a history of the university, then celebrating its fourth centenary. The freedom of the city was presented to him. In prospect of the ceremony, he says, "I felt like a man going to be hanged, and, as such a man generally does, plucked up courage to behave with decency." In July, Prince Albert pressed him to take the Cambridge Professorship of Modern History, which he declined. The latter half of August he spent in Ireland. After another fortnight in France he again resumed his History, which made rapid progress. In June he made a Scotch tour, especially to see Glencoe and Killiecrankie. Meanwhile, he was beset by applications for assistance from people he had never seen, and who had used him ill; and he acknowledges with regret that in nearly every case the vices or follies of the recipients frustrated his good intentions. About Christmas, 1851, unavailing efforts were again made to get Macaulay back into the Cabinet, but he was resolute. But he could not decline another honour which came to him unsolicited in 1852, namely, his election for Edinburgh, which had once so unkindly rejected him. But soon after appeared a shadow; he could not work so well as formerly, and his heart was discovered to be affected. He became very depressed, and felt certain that his succeeding volumes of history would be a failure. For some weeks he rested and recruited at Clifton, within a drive of Hannah More's old cottage. But he never was really well again. In the following winter he suffered severely from bronchitis. He was compelled to give up reading aloud-a sore deprivation, considering that he had always delighted his family and friends. thus, and had read great portions of his own writings aloud to his inner circle to gain their criticism or approval. His comfort was to work as zealously as he was able, and to exert his beneficence and wise counsel for others while life was left to him. In constant illness he maintained cheerfulness, patience, contentment, and industry to the last. In November, 1852, he nerved himself to give a promised address to his constituents in Edinburgh. It was a mixed historical and party speech, and was very successful. In 1853 his enhanced reputation was evident in the House of Commons; he won whenever he spoke. An especial instance was his speech in favour of the selection of candidates for the Indian Civil Service by competitive examination. His last speech in the House was upon a question of the Edinburgh Church Endowments, and his last words are well worth remembering: "Of the Church it may be said that it is worse than useless if it is unpopular; for it exists only to inspire affection and respect, and if it inspires feelings of a character opposite to respect and affection, it had better not exist at all. Most earnestly, therefore, I implore the House not to support an institution, which is useless unless it is beloved, by means which can only cause it to be hated." For the next two years he worked almost without interruption at his History. In the autumn of 1855 the final proofs of the second two volumes were read; and on December 17th they were published. What must be the feelings of the man who knows that before his book is ready twenty-five thousand copies are ordered, at a price beyond the reach of all but ardent booklovers? This was Macaulay's experience, and no other man's. No such edition of such a book had ever before been printed. No book ever had such a sale in the United States. Six rival translators were at the same time translating it into German. It was translated into every European language with a living literature. And for the first edition, before the accounts were made up, Mr. Longman handed the author a cheque on account for £20,000, the largest ever paid by a publishing house. The Institute of France elected him a member; the King of Prussia named him Knight of the Order of Merit; Oxford gave him the D.C.L.; and Edinburgh chose him President of the Philosophical Institution. Macaulay retired from Parliament early in 1856; and he removed from the Albany to a delightful house in Kensington, Holly Lodge. He rested for some time, and took some pleasant tours. In the autumn of 1857 he was elected High Steward of the Borough of Cambridge, but was not inaugurated till May, 1858. But he had already received, on August 28, 1857, the highly valued peerage, which has so seldom been conferred on a man especially for his literary works. He chose to be Baron Macaulay of Rothley; and as Lord Macaulay his name will ever live, although of his lifetime so small a part was passed under that title. Although working more slowly, none of his work is better worth reading than the portions he completed of the fifth volume of his History; but, to the heavy detriment of our generation, he did not live to write the history of a period for which no man ever had or can have better qualifications. A deep grief came to shadow his latter days, for the Governorship of Madras was offered to and accepted by his brother-in-law early in 1859, and a sad parting impended between Lord Macaulay and his beloved sister. It was felt that this would be their last parting; but it took place in another way. On the 28th of December, 1859, he managed to dictate a letter to a poor curate, enclosing £25; he signed it: it was his last signature. The same evening he told his butler he was very tired, and should go to bed early. The man suggested his lying on the sofa. He rose as if to move, sat down again, and quietly died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, on the 9th of January, 1860, in Poet's Corner. His tombstone, at Addison's feet, is inscribed: "His body is buried in peace, but his name liveth for evermore." A more beloved, honoured, esteemed, revered character, can scarcely be eamed in English history. G. T. B. |