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INTRODUCTION

LIFE OF MACAULAY

MACAULAY in one of his letters quotes the Spectator as observing, "We never read an author with much zest, unless we are acquainted with his surroundings." Many writers seem forced to give us their "circumstances" in their writings. Macaulay does not. He was never limited by his environment. In all the volumes given to the public by this most versatile writer, we can scarcely find a hint of his own character and surroundings. It is in his private letters and diary only that he freely gives us his personal life. From these we may trace the growth of the man. Never was there a life more completely self-directed than Macaulay's, nor a success more surely earned.

A short biography can do little more than refer to the logical growth of his greatness: his enthusiastic literary work; the high character that gave him entrance to Parliament, the quick grasp of public questions, and the far-seeing, honorable stand that made

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him so powerful while there and led to his appointment in India; the unremitting application and clear strength of mind that made his criminal code for India a blessing to millions of people. Still less can it tell how, during the twenty years of his busy life as a leader in Parliament and in the midst of his endless administration of duties in India, he always found time to entertain his friends, to read the classics of many lands in the native tongues, and to write thousands of pages of essays, poetry, and history. This sketch aims merely at giving an impression of some of the characteristics of the man and an outline of the most important events of his career. One desiring to study more fully his admirable life and character will enjoy Macaulay's Life and Letters, a collection of his letters, extracts from his diary, and letters to him, edited by Otto Trevelyan, the son of his sister Hannah.

Thomas Babington Macaulay was born at Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, October 25, 1800. His greatgrandfather and grandfather were Scotch ministers. From them he seems to have inherited, among other honest opinions, their personal creed that they "had no notion of people being in earnest in good professions if their practice belied them." His father, Zachary Macaulay, was a quiet, stern man of very strong political convictions and absolutely disinter

ested adherence to them. A brief residence in Jamaica in his youth had acquainted him with the cruelties practised on the slaves there. After his return to England, through the columns of the Christian Observer, of which he was editor, he labored earnestly to force legislation to free the slaves of the West Indies. This brought him into close association with Wilberforce and other political reformers who were working for the same end. His home was a centre for consultation for the members of Parliament who lived on the Surrey side of London. Thus young Macaulay was admitted to the intimacy of politicians while he was still a child, and was made familiar with the workings of Parliament. His mother gave the boy the love and petting his affectionate nature craved, and she recognized the unusual activity of his mind. How could any mother be blind to the precocity of a child of three years who spent his happiest hours lying before the fire with a piece of bread and butter in his hand, reading from a book open before him on the rug; and who, when eight years old, had memorized all of Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel and Marmion, unconsciously, simply through the delight in reading them? Fortunately for him both his father and his mother had the wisdom to refrain from parading his accomplishments, and they insisted on a like treatment from their friends and the child's

tutors. There were eight other children, three brothers and five sisters. Thomas was the eldest, and the idol of all the rest. He was the sunshine of the family, they said, and when Tom was away there was never any fun at all, or anything worth doing.

Hannah More may be regarded as his first literary patron. She treated him as a child, but rewarded his poetic efforts by presenting to him his first books to start a library. His first hero was his uncle, General Colin Macaulay, who was retired from service in India. This nephew of ten evidently desired more fighting for his hero, for he hinted in verse:

"For many a battle shall be lost and won,
Ere yet thy glorious labors shall be done."

When Macaulay was about thirteen years old he was sent from home to a private school. At this time begins the long series of letters which serve to make up the real biography of his life. These first letters tell of his studies and his readings, and many of them disclose the intense homesickness of this home-loving boy. In one addressed to his mother he writes: "Everything I read or hear or see brings home 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. Tell me in your next, expressly, if you can, whether or no there is any like

lihood of my coming home before the holidays; if your approbation of my request depends upon my advancing in study I will work like a cart-horse."

In 1818 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. There his love of literature and his vivid interest in outside political affairs seem fairly balanced. He took many prizes, but lost many that others thought he deserved. The losses he seems to have taken philosophically, for in later years he wrote, "If a man brings away from Cambridge self-knowledge, accuracy of mind, and habits of strong intellectual exertion, he has gained more than if he had made a display and show of superficial scholarship; for, after all, what a man does at Cambridge is in itself nothing." He took his A.B. degree in 1822, and was elected to a fellowship in Trinity in 1824. Two changes had come to him while he was in college. When he entered, his father was in affluent circumstances. By mismanagement somewhere the business in which the money was invested failed. Thomas and his brother Henry ultimately paid off the father's debts, but upon Thomas fell the support of the family. While waiting for his fellowship he did some tutoring. When the fellowship came, its three hundred pounds a year, with about three hundred that he made by his writing, enabled the family to live happily, if not luxuriously. Of his assuming this charge his biog

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