men of his style, and of the remarkable power which he possessed, in common with Coleridge, of giving expression to the feeling of mysterious awe :—

"Then suddenly would come a dream of far different character-a tumultuous dream-commencing with a music such as now I often heard in sleep-music of preparation and of awakening suspense. The undulations of fast-gathering tumults were like the opening of the Coronation Anthem; and, like that, gave the feeling of a multitudinous movement, of infinite cavalcades filing off, and the tread of innumerable armies. The morning was come of a mighty day-a day of crisis and of ultimate hope for human nature, then suffering mysterious eclipse, and labouring in some dread extremity. Somewhere, but I knew not where -somehow, but I knew not how-by some beings, but I knew not by whom a battle, a strife, an agony, was travelling through all its stages, -was evolving itself, like the catastrophe of some mighty drama, with which my sympathy was the more insupportable from deepening confusion as to its local scene, its cause, its nature, and its undecipherable issue. I (as is usual in dreams where, of necessity, we make ourselves central to every movement) had the power, and yet had not the power, to decide it. I had the power, if I could raise myself to will it; and yet again had not the power, for the weight of twenty Atlantics was upon me, or the oppression of inexpiable guilt. ‘Deeper than ever plummet sounded' I lay inactive. Then, like a chorus, the passion deepened. Some greater interest was at stake, some mightier cause than ever yet the sword had pleaded or trumpet had proclaimed. Then came sudden alarms; hurryings to and fro; trepidations of innumerable fugitives, I knew not whether from the good cause or the bad; darkness and lights; tempest and human faces; and at last, with the sense that all was lost, female forms, and the features that were worth all the world to me, and but a moment allowed-clasped hands, with heartbreaking partings, and then-everlasting farewells! and, with a sigh such as the caves of hell sighed when the incestuous mother uttered the abhorred name of Death, the sound was reverberated -everlasting farewells! and again, and yet again reverberatedeverlasting farewells!

And I awoke in struggles, and cried aloud-'I will sleep no more.'

Though De Quincey tells us in his "Confessions" that he at length succeeded in abstaining from opium altogether, it appears that he was never able completely to emancipate himself from the fatal habit. Mrs. Gordon, in the life of her father, Professor Wilson, mentions that

on one occasion De Quincey stayed a whole year with them, and that, during this time, he daily indulged in doses of laudanum. It was no unfrequent sight, she tells us, to find him in his room lying upon the hearthrug, his head resting upon a book, plunged in profound slumber. For several hours he would lie in this state, until the torpor had passed away. The time when his conversational powers were most brilliant was towards the early morning hours; and more than once Professor Wilson arranged his supper-parties so that, sitting till three or four in the morning, he brought De Quincey to that point at which the charm of his conversation was at its height. And we are told that his conversational powers were truly wonderful.

De Quincey's friendship with Wilson dated from the time when he first took up his abode in Westmoreland, and it continued until the professor's death. After his marriage, he seems to have led an unsettled life. Leaving his wife and family at Grasmere he would spend long absences sometimes in London, sometimes in Edinburgh. His visit to Professor Wilson's, to which we have just referred, was quite unpremeditated. One stormy night he called at the house in Gloucester Place, Edinburgh, and, as the storm continued, he was pressed to stay all night. He consented; a room was prepared for him, and he prolonged his visit to the greater part of a year. He left Grasmere in 1829, and resided after that at Edinburgh and Glasgow chiefly. He died at Edinburgh on the 8th of December 1859, in his seventy-fifth year.

De Quincey's great literary talents have been chiefly devoted to magazine writing. Like Coleridge, and perhaps for the same reason, he more than once planned out great works, but seemed wanting in the energy to carry them out. Among the other serials to which he has contributed, besides the "London Magazine" in which the Confessions first appeared, may be mentioned "Blackwood," the "Encyclopædia Britannica," the "North British Review," "Tate's Magazine," and "Hogg's In

structor." In 1844 he published a separate work entitled the Logic of Political Economy, an illustrative commentary on Ricardo's work, which is said to display a thorough mastery of the subject. In 1855, an American publishing firm collected the various essays and papers which De Quincey had published in various periodicals, and published them in a collected form. Shortly afterwards an edition was brought out in this country by Messrs. Hogg, edited by the author himself. In the preface to this edition De Quincey informs us that his multitudinous papers may be arranged in three classes: first, papers whose chief object is to interest and amuse; secondly, essays of a speculative, critical, or philosophical character; thirdly, papers belonging to the order of what may be called prose-poetry. Under any of these aspects De Quincey must rank high. His narratives and biographical sketches are delightful in language and brimful of humour; his essays are distinguished by originality and depth as well as subtlety of thought; while his phantasies, or prose-poetry, display a brilliant imagination and a splendid style of eloquence. A critic in the Quarterly Review" closes a highly favourable notice of him by declaring that "the exquisite finish of his style, with the scholastic rigour of his logic, form a combination which centuries may never reproduce, but which every generation should study as one of the marvels of English literature."

66

LORD MACAULAY.- 1800-1859.

THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY was born at Rothley Temple, in Leicestershire, Oct 25, 1800. His father, Zachary Macaulay, was descended from an old Scottish family, and was well known, in the early part of the present century, for the efforts which he made in conjunction with Wilberforce and other earnest men against the slave trade, and in favour of the emancipation of

:

the negroes. His mother belonged to a Quaker family of Bristol, where she had been educated by the sisters of Hannah More. Macaulay was born at the seat of his paternal uncle, Thomas Babington, after whom he was named his father resided at Clapham where Macaulay's early years were spent. While still a child he paid a visit to Hannah More, and in a letter to his parents she describes him as a "jewel of a boy," and the only fault she has to find with him is that he will read nothing but poetry.

At twelve he was placed under the charge of a clergyman residing in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, by whom he was well grounded in the classics; and in his nineteenth year he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. His career at the university was not quite so brilliant as his friends anticipated, but he twice carried off the chancellor's prize for English verse, was elected to the Craven Scholarship, and after taking his degree was made a Fellow of his college. Having adopted the law as a profession, he was called to the bar in Feb. 1826, and joined the northern circuit. In the meantime he had made some contributions to literature in the form of essays and poetry, which appeared in "Knight's Maga.zine." In 1825, about six months before his call to the bar, he sent his essay on Milton to the "Edinburgh Review." This contribution immediately attracted very great attention. It was not merely the vigour and vivacity of the style; the subject matter was equally remarkable. The essay was different from anything that had hitherto appeared; it was not a mere review of some particular book, it was an exhaustive disquisition on the history of a period. This paper was the first of a long series of brilliant essays which enriched the pages of the " Edinburgh" for a period of twenty years, and, as Macaulay's style became known, were regularly looked for by a large circle of readers.

The Whig party were anxious to avail themselves of the assistance of a young barrister of such literary merit, and through the influence of Lord Lansdowne he obtained a

seat in Parliament, in 1830, as member for Calne. The speeches which Macaulay delivered in Parliament were remarkable for abundant information, profound thought, and richness of illustration; but they were delivered with too great rapidity, and in tones deficient in variety and flexibility. Hence they were less impressive in the House than others of much less merit, and their effect upon the public who read them was greater than upon his auditors. In the debates upon the Reform Bill of 1832, he put forth all his strength, and the consequence was that in the general election that followed shortly afterwards, he was elected for the wealthy and populous borough of Leeds, which now for the first time sent representatives to Parliament. In the same year he was appointed Secretary to the Board of Control, and in his official capacity he made a speech, on the occasion of the Indian Charter being renewed, which for fullness of knowledge and eloquence will bear comparison, it has been said, with the most splendid orations of Burke.

One of the provisions of the government scheme was to digest and reform the laws of India. A commission was appointed for this purpose, and the post of president, with a seat in the Supreme Council of Calcutta, was offered to Macaulay, and accepted. He remained in India about two years and a half, and the Indian Criminal Code, which is now in force throughout British India, is one of the results of the commission over which he presided. During his residence in the east, Macaulay still continued his contributions to the "Edinburgh Review," several of his most celebrated essays, including that on Bacon, being sent from Calcutta. His mind was at the same time enriched with that knowledge of Indian life and of the working of the English rule in that country, which he afterwards displayed in his masterly essays on Clive and Warren Hastings.

In 1840, about two years after his return from India, he was elected Member of Parliament for Edinburgh, and he continued to represent the Scottish metropolis until 1846. During this period he held for a short time the