II. MACAULAY.

1800. Thomas Babington, son of Zachary Macaulay and Elisabeth (née Selina Mills), born, Oct. 25th, at the Manor House, Rothley Temple, near Leicester, the residence of his uncle, Mr. Babington.

1812. Sent to private school at Little Shelford, near Cambridge. The school removed in 1814 to Aspenden Hall, near Buntingford. He remains under charge of Mr. Preston, the headmaster, until 1818. About 1816 was his first appearance in print-an anonymous letter sent to his father's Christian Observer, in which he scandalised the readers of that journal by eulogising Fielding and Smollett.

1818. Goes into residence at Trinity College, Cambridge.

1821-3. Gains a Craven Scholarship, Prize for Latin Declamation, and two Chancellor's medals for English verse. Is 'plucked' for the Mathematical Tripos, and thus prevented from competing for the Chancellor's medals for Classics-then the highest test of scholarship.

1823-4. Writes for Charles Knight's Quarterly Magazine: two battlepieces in verse, Ivry and Naseby; the Conversation between Cowley and Milton; Criticisms on Italian writers (Dante, Petrarch), etc.

1824. His father fails in business. Macaulay takes pupils and determines to retrieve the loss, and to help his brothers and sisters. Elected Fellow of Trinity College. Is asked to write for the Edinburgh Review (founded 1802). Makes his first public speech before an Anti-slavery Meeting.

1825. His Essay on Milton excites a sensation in literary circles. 1826. Called to the bar, and joins the Northern circuit, but with no serious intention of adopting the law as his profession.

1827. Essay on Machiavelli.

1828. Is made a Commissioner of Bankruptcy under Wellington's administration-'a rare piece of luck' considering Macaulay's extreme anti-Toryism. He longs to be in Parliament, his heart and soul being filled' by the Repeal of the Test Act, the Emancipation of the Catholics, and other such questions. Essays on Hallam's Const. Hist. and Dryden.

1829. Essays on James Mill. The Catholic Emancipation Bill is proposed by the Duke, and becomes law.

1830. Offered by Lord Lansdowne a seat for the borough of Calne. Maiden speech in Parliament on Jewish Disabilities. Visits Paris. Essay on Montgomery's Poems.

1831. Invited to stand for Leeds. Essays on Boswell's Johnson and Byron.

1832. Speeches on the Reform Bill. Elected a Commissioner and then Secretary of the Board of Control. Member for Leeds in the Reformed Parliament.

1833. Essay on Horace Walpole. Elected Member of the Supreme Council of India.

1834. First Essay on Chatham.

Arrives in India, with his sister

Hannah, who soon after marries Mr. Trevelyan.

1835. President of Committee of Public Education (India). Essay on Mackintosh's Revolution.

1837. As President of Law Commission, drafts Penal Code. Papers on Education, Press, etc., and indefatigable study, especially of the Classics. Essay on Bacon.

1838. Returns to England. Essay on Temple.

Plots his History.

Tour in Italy. At Rome has the offer from Lord Melbourne of the Judge-Advocateship, which he declines.

1839. In London. Essay on Gladstone. M.P. for Edinburgh and Secretary of War.

1840 Essays on Clive and von Ranke. Settles in the 'Albany.'

1841-2. Essays on Warren Hastings and Frederic the Great. On dissolution of Parliament re-elected for Edinburgh. Lays of Ancient Rome.

1843. Essays republished. Essay on Addison. Trip to the Loire. 1844. In Holland.

Second Essay on Chatham.

1846. Paymaster-General of the Army. Re-elected as Member for Edinburgh.

1847. Parliament again dissolved. Macaulay defeated at Edinburgh, and retires into private life, devoting himself to his History. 1848. Elected Lord Rector of Glasgow University. First two volumes of History published.

1852. Re-elected for Edinburgh. Serious illness. Visit to Edinburgh. Speaks his last words in the House of Commons.

1854. Draws up Report on Competitive Examinations. Resides in cottage at Ditton Marsh. D.C.L. Oxford. [During later years was member of Academies of Munich, Turin, and Utrecht; received Orders of Merit etc.; was President of various Philosophical and other Institutions, Trustee of British Museum, Professor of Ancient Literature to the Royal Academy etc. etc.]

1855. Third and fourth volumes of History published-the 'whole weight of the edition is 56 tons.'

1856. Failing health.

Resigns his seat for Edinburgh.

Settles at Holly Lodge, Campden Hill, where he has his 'little paradise of shrubs and turf.

1857. High Steward of the Borough of Cambridge. Created Baron Macaulay of Rothley.

1858. Biography of Pitt in the Encycl. Brit. (Other lives by him are those of Bunyan, Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, and Atterbury.)

of year.

1859. Visits English Lakes and Scotland. Seriously ill towards end On Dec. 28 'musters strength to dictate a letter to a poor curate enclosing twenty-five pounds,' and a few hours later dies.