PREFACE. BELIEVING that these Essays should be read for their own sake, as pieces of literature, and that they can be understood and appreciated without a full knowledge of all allusions and references, I have avoided profuse annotation. Many of Macaulay's allusions are self-explanatory. Those which are not should be traced far enough to make them clear. To require a pupil to trace every allusion and to give the history of every man whom Macaulay mentions, would draw the attention from the immediate passage. I have thought best to give the number of the Spectator and other papers referred to, to save time for the teachers and pupils, however few, who may be interested to look them up. In addition to the sketch of Macaulay's life, based, of course, on Trevelyan's Life and Letters, I have thought best to print some of Macaulay's own letters; for they reflect his life better than anything else can. THE PHILLIPS EXETER ACADEMY, March, 1903. J. A. T. |