vw iMVV' W^WWm ywvv^ '^i VvW V v'^ HA^V^ niWUV Wri®, WWyWW l 'uJ'jJVM W W\jwUWi ^WW'C/Vy^^M ywv vtf W^wy glsigi tfD&jW « “ “M ste^#W |lp - M!tew \. tMmjM wMlsdM *vy Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/macaulayhistoriaOOmaca — BY MAULL AND POLYBLANK. MACAULAY; THE HISTORIAN, STATESMAN, AND ESSAYIST. &ncct)ote0 OF I1IS LIFE AND LITERARY LABOURS, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS EARLY AND UNKNOWN WRITINGS. WITH A PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT' (The only one 'known to lime been taken) BY MAULL AND POLYBLANK. Honfcon: JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. 18 C 0 . LONDON : PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND GREENING, GRAYSTOKE-PLAC’E, FETTER-LANE, E.C PREFACE. The present brochure professes to be nothing more than a sketch of the life of the late Lord Macaulay. On the sudden departure of a great and worthy man from amongst us, the public are naturally desirous of learning immediately the prominent events in his life, and of hearing any anecdotes, scraps of conversation, or opinions, which may have been treasured up. The com¬ piler has ever been an admirer of the deceased Peer, and dates his admiration from the reading, for the first time, his delightful Essays, whilst steaming down the Mississippi, The brilliancy VI PREFACE. of the style, heightened by the scenery on the journey, made the book the most charming reading in the world. These Essays, which, as the writer has just stated, are the most charming reading in the whole range of English literature, may be purchased of the Messrs. Longmans for a few shillings. Get them, reader, if you have them not already, and I guarantee you the finest intellectual repast you ever sat down to. Kensington , January 11, 1860. CONTENTS. CHAPTER 1. PAGE Great Men lately Deceased.—Macaulay.—His Illness.— His Death.1 CHAPTER II. Thomas Babington Macaulay.—His Birth.—Account of the Macaulay Family. — The Family sturdy Calvinists.— Zachary Macaulay.—Wilberforce.—Letter from Wilber- force.—^Zachary Macaulay an Abolitionist —Anecdote of Rogers.—Zachary Macaulay’s Family .... 8 CHAPTER III. Macaulay’s Early Life.—Success at College. — Joins the “Union” Debating Club.—First Speech in Public.— Chances for Success.—His Preference for Literature.— Jeffrey on Literature.—Macaulay’s Literary Sympathies 20 CHAPTER IV. Praed and Macaulay.—Macaulay’s Early Writings.—Knight’s “ Quarterly Magazine.”—Staff of young Writers.—Macau¬ lay’s Contributions.—Charles Knight in Trouble.—The Contributors’ “ Jollification.” — Macaulay and young Coleridge.—De Quincey.—Knight brings Bad News.— Macaulay’s Remedy.—Essay on History . . .28 CHAPTER V. ‘‘Milton.”—Macaulay and Jeffrey.—Literary Ability fore¬ shadowed.—Macaulay’s Opinion of “Milton.”—Extract from Essay on History.—Macaulay’s Poetical Squibs.— Moore’s Anecdote.—Macaulay’s Facetise.—Enters Parlia- ¥111 CONTENTS. PAGE ment.—Shiel’s Anecdote. — Jeffrey and Mackintosh.— Jeffrey’s Opinion of Macaulay . . 43 CHAPTER VI. Sydney Smith.—Reform Bill.—Macaulay’s Speech.—John Wilson Croker.—Replies to Macaulay.—Francis’s Descrip¬ tion of Macaulay.—Peculiar Habits.—Manner in the “ House.”—Style of Speaking.—Without Action—Helps the Abolitionists.—Elected for Leeds . . . .56 CHAPTER VII. Jeffrey’s Opinion of “ Mac.’s” Speech.—“Brilliancy.” —The Marvels of the East.—Sails for India.—Constructs a New Penal Code.—Opinions as to the Document. —Spoken of as the “Black Act.”—Effect of India on his Writings. — Essays written Abroad. — Returns to England ... 68 CHAPTER VIII. Elected for Edinburgh. — Favours Voting by Ballot.— Chosen Secretary at War.—The “ Bray of Exeter Hall.” —Extract from the Speech.—Rejected at Edinburgh.— The “ History ” first mentioned.—Re-elected at Edin¬ burgh.—Further Scotch Honours.—Excitement on his Re-appearance.—Raised to the Peerage.—Closing Scene. —Burial in the “Great Abbey.” . . . . .78 MACAULAY’S HISTORY OF ENGLAND—OPINIONS OF, AND ANECDOTES CONNECTED WITH IT. History of England.—Edinburgh Reviewer’s Critique.— Attractions of his Style. — Jacobitism fashionable.— “Fraser’s” Critique. — Lord Jeffrey’s Opinions. — The ‘•'Clergy” and the “Country Gentlemen.”—Alison’s Answer.—Macaulay’s “ New Zealander.’’—Macaulay at a Village Inn.—Lord Jeffrey correcting Proofs . . .90 Anecdotes and Sayings of Lord Macaulay . 102 — 128 MACAULAY, THE HISTORIAN, STATESMAN, AND ESSAYIST: ANECDOTES OF HIS LIFE AND TIMES. INTRODUCTION. CHAPTER I. GREAT MEN LATELY DECEASED.—MACAULAY.—HIS ILLNESS.— HIS DEATH. A century hence* the literary student* seeking to know why the great History of England , begun in the reign of Queen Victoria* never advanced beyond the fourth volume, will* upon turning over what may then probably be a musty hie of the Times newspaper, learn the reason from such an obituary announcement as this:— Macaulay.-— On the 28th inst., at his residence, Holly Lodge, Campden Hill, the Right Honourable Lord Macaulay, aged 59. The Historian is gone, and the History which was to have “ placed before the English of the nine- B 2 GREAT MEN’ LATELY DECEASED. teenth century a true picture of the life of their ancestors” is left unfinished—a melancholy memo¬ rial of the splendid power, and at the same time the puny weakness, of man. The year which has just closed has exacted a mighty toll from mankind, and in future will acquire a mournful renown from the number of eminent workers in almost every department of intellectual labour who have, since its com¬ mencement, been carried to* the grave. Science has mourned over an irreparable loss in the death of Humboldt, though scarcely daring to repine at the fiat which released the grand old man from the cares of life, after a career prolonged far beyond the average span of human existence, yet infinitely less remarkable for its duration than for the priceless value of its fruits. Engineering has been called upon to pay a tribute of respect to the graves of two of its most illustrious orna- ments, each called away in the hour of his highest success. Poetry has wept over the tomb of Leigh Hunt, equally endeared to us by the genial spirit which breathed through the emanations of his MACAULAY. 3 playful fancy, and by the sturdy love of liberty which made him offer himself as a willing martyr in the cause of free thought and speech.” Philo¬ sophy and Criticism have already missed the powerful and brilliant pen of De Quincey,— the master of English prose.” Fiction has be¬ wailed the stroke which deprived her of Wash¬ ington Irving, though her regrets were soft¬ ened by the knowledge that he sank to his rest with a tranquillity which seemed an appropriate close to a life devoted to the embodiment of so many gentle and humanising creations. And His¬ tory has scarcely recovered from the first pang of poignant sorrow at the death of Hallam and Pres¬ cott, two of the most eminent of her modern apos¬ tles, when she is aroused to new grief by the de¬ cease of Lord Macaulay, suddenly snatched away in the full vigour of his intellectual power, and vanishing from the living world with the last shadows of the fading year.” The death of the great man has fallen like a thunderbolt amongst us. Indeed, it was but the other day that we were given to understand in the public journals, that two more volumes of the world-wide History were B 2 4 HIS SICKNESS. complete^ and would pass from the press during the coming literary season. Already had specula¬ tion hinted at the period down to which the fresh instalment would bring us in these splendid an¬ nals. Conjectures had been formed as to the characters that would be drawn, and the scenes that would be depicted in the reigns of Queen Anne and the first George. Politicians had made up their minds for fresh chapters in the history of parties, and critics were mending their pens for earnest work, when on the eve of a new year we learn that death has passed over our city, and snatched one of the great minds from amongst us. For many years, it is pretty generally known. Lord Macaulay’s health has not been good. Various causes have been assigned as the reason —his residence in India, which somewhat impaired a previously vigorous digestion, and brought on biliary symptoms; his sedentary habits and close application to literature, varied improperly only by public and political meetings, and dinners at the houses of the great, where his vast mind poured forth rich conversational streams for hours toge¬ ther, but which proved, unfortunately, rather an LEAVES THE ALBANY. 5 excitement than a salutary change. These extremes of living, the shining in brilliant company, and the silent seclusion of the past-searching student, it is supposed gradually induced a complaint of the heart, the circulation of which for many years had been extremely languid, but which manifested no serious organic derangement until the year 1852, when his lordship experienced a painful illness, from the effects of which he never entirely re¬ covered. It was about this period that he removed his residence from the Albany, where he had pre¬ viously resided for many years, to Campden Hill, Kensington. The great house in Piccadilly will for ever be associated with the deceased Lord. Here a large portion of the first in¬ stalment of his History was written; and here Jeffrey returned the proof-sheets after he had kindly corrected and punctuated them. The reader will, perhaps, recollect, in connection with this removal, the idle reports circulated in some newspapers at the time, one of which stated that Piccadilly was too noisy for the great Historian to pursue successfully his literary labours; and 6 HIS ILLNESS. another, that the change was for the purpose of placing the Prince of Wales under his distin¬ guished tutorage. To Holly Lodge, however, he actually removed for health and repose; and there, until the day of his departure from amongst us, he has mainly resided. His health, I should remark, by this change, continued tolerably good up to within a fortnight ago, when lie had a second attack, from which, however, he rallied to such an extent that his medical men ceased to appre¬ hend danger. He continued to improve; and when Mr. T. F. Ellis, the Recorder of Leeds, who was a warm friend of the deceased noble lord, and one of his lordship’s executors, saw him on Friday, 23rd ult., he looked as well as usual; and at the Christmas party on the following Monday, at which his lordship entertained the various members of his family, he was only so far unlike himself as to be rather silent. As the Times remarks :—“ If Sydney Smith had been there then he would not have had to complain, as he once did, that he longed for some c brilliant flashes of silence.’ ” Diseases of the heart, however, are peculiarly deceptive. The friends, in departing from Kensington that HIS DEATH. 7 night, little thought that in less than forty-eight hours their great and noble entertainer would be no more for this world. A relapse seems subse¬ quently to have taken place, and on Wednesday evening, about eight o’clock, he died in a fainting fit, without the least pain. Lord Macaulay was never married, and the title he had so well won consequently dies with him. 8 CHAPTER II. THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY.—HIS BIRTH.—ACCOUNT OP THIS MACAULAY FAMILY. — THE FAMILY STURDY CALVINISTS. — ZACHARY MACAULAY.—WILBERFORCE.—LETTER FROM WILBER- FORCE.—ZACHARY MACAULAY AN ABOLITIONIST.—ANECDOTE OF ROGERS.—ZACHARY MACAULAY’S FAMILY. Thomas Babington Macaulay was born on the 25th of October, 1800, at Rothley Temple, in Leicestershire. The family originally belonged to the Highlands of Scotland, where the Rev. John Macaulay, M.A., grandfather to the Histo¬ rian, was a Presbyterian minister of the Kirk at Inverary. The brother of this worthy of the Scotch Church was the Rev. Kenneth Macaulay, the celebrated missionary to the Hebrides, from the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge. He wrote the c ‘ History of St. Kilda , containing a description of this remarkable island , the man¬ ners and customs of the inhabitants , the religious and pagan antiquities found there; with many other curious and interesting particulars , 1764.” ACCOUNT OF THE MACAULAY FAMILY. 9 Dr. Johnson, in his “ Tour to the Hebrides,” thus speaks of him:— ee At Nairn we may fix the verge of the High¬ lands, for here I first saw peat fires, and first heard the Erse language. We had no motive to stay longer than to* breakfast, and went forward to the house of Mr. Macaulay, the minister who published an account of St. Kilda, and by his direction visited Calder Castle, from which Mac¬ beth drew his second title. It has been formerly a place of great strength. The drawbridge is still to be seen, but the moat is now dry. The tower is very ancient. Its walls are of great thickness, arched on the top with stone, and sur¬ rounded with battlements. The rest of the house is later, though far from modern.” Zachary Macaulay, the son of the Reverend John, and the father of the noble Lord, the subject of this memoir, quitted the north of Scotland in early youth, to pursue a mercantile life in the south. From the rigorous training of a strictly Presbyterian family, and early religious associa- 10 STUKDY CALVINISTS. tions, he seems to have been a sturdy Calvinist; and a great portion of this religious education and Presbyterian origin were engrafted upon his dis¬ tinguished son, and are curiously distinguishable in his earlier writings. As has been remarked, especially in his Essays, there must be observed a singular familiarity, not simply with Scriptural phraseology, which might have been derived from any religious education, but with the pet phrases and formulas which are current among the Pres¬ byterian and metaphysical divines. Who has not wondered, when reading his Essays, at the facility with which a comparatively unheard-of character, mentioned, perhaps, but once in one of the last books of the Old Testament, is suddenly brought forward as a comparison, or an illustration; and how some friendly Concordance has suddenly to be called in to our assistance before the Biblical citation has been made clear? His unflinching steadiness as a statesman, his Wing principles in politics and thought, his noble and ardent main¬ tenance of freedom, are all partly referable, it has been said, to his Presbyterian origin, and to the free principles of which his father was ever the ZACHARY MACAULAY. 11 distinguished advocate, and which he saw taught in his daily walk, — exhibiting a character as staunch and single-minded as those old Puritans he was so fond of describing. Zachary Macaulay, when yet quite young, was sent to Jamaica, as a spot suitable for the training of a West India merchant, then a popular and lucrative calling with adventurous Scotchmen, and the profession he was destined to adopt. About the period of his visit slavery was at its height in these Western regions; and it was here that he first witnessed all the repulsive horrors of the system, which he afterwards helped to expose and partially to destroy. Animated with the philanthropic desire to alle¬ viate the sufferings of the negroes, he left Jamaica, we are told, and voluntarily exiled himself for many years to the pestilential climate of Sierra Leone, for the purpose of doing good amongst the ill-used blacks. His services, however, were not unrecog¬ nised by the Government, for he had not laboured long before he was made Governor of the colony. In this official capacity, backed by the authority of his appointment, he continued to assist 32 WILBERFORCE. in the amelioration of the African race, receiv¬ ing the friendly countenance and assistance of the greatest philanthropist of his time—William Wilberforce. There are many pleasing testimonies as to the high mental endowments, and great moral worth of Zachary Macaulay, in this good man’s ce Life and Correspondence.” In one place, writing to Mr. Thomas Babington (Lord Macaulay’s uncle), he says : “ I will by no means forget Macaulay. I think highly of his understanding. He appears to have a manly, collected mind.” His correspon¬ dence with Macaulay was frequent, and he ever manifested the utmost interest in his mission to the West African colony. But one letter will serve to show the intimacy that existed between them. W. WILBERFORCE, Esq., TO Z. MACAULAY, Esq. (governor of sierra leone.) “London, January 6, 1797. “ My dear Sir,—We have an expression, c an Iliad in a nutshell.’ To say that this might be properly affirmed of my letter would seem rather an extraordinary speech, but yet there is a sense in LETTER FROM WILBERFORCE. 13 which it would not be without meaning. And when a friend, who is too much occupied to write long epistles, who is also debarred from the free use of his pen by a constitutional infirmity, sends to one who loves him, in a distant country, a few hasty lines, as an assurance of kind regard and affectionate remembrance, the sheet has a value which is not to be estimated by the bulk of its con¬ tents, or the distinct meaning of every separate proposition contained in them. cc To such a value this letter is entitled ; and it will not go beyond the truth in assuring you of my often thinking of you with affectionate interest and cordial approbation. There is something very striking to my mind in the idea of the many va¬ rious ways in which we are employed on earth, and of the identity of views and motives which may animate all the different modifications of employ¬ ment. You are doubtless in the line which Pro¬ vidence has pointed out to you—a most satisfactory consideration this, of which I am persuaded you feel the comfort. cc News, public or private, you will hear from others, therefore I will break in upon you no 14 ZACHAEAY MACAULAY AN ABOLITIONIST. longer, but hastily subscribe myself, with hearty affection, “ Your faithful friend, “W. WlLBEKFOKCE.”* When Zacharay Macaulay returned to England we are not informed, but upon revisiting this country he associated himself with the great men of the Anti-Slavery Party, including the names of Clarkson and Buxton, and others equally zealous in the work of manumission. He was shortly, also, installed as editor of the Christian Observer , the organ of the abolition party, and it is worthy of remark, and curious as foreshadowing the power of his son, that, when upon an occasion he wished the literary assistance of Wilberforce, the latter wrote back that the editor was too clever with his own pen to require the help of an outsider. About this time we are informed he married Selina, daughter of Mr. Thomas Mills, a book¬ seller in Bristol. His intimacy with his old friend Wilberforce was still as close as when he was abroad, and could * Wilberforce’s Correspondence, vol. i. ; p. 153. ANECDOTE OF Z. MACAULAY. 15 only communicate by letters which took months on their journey. Shortly after his return the philanthropist begged Macaulay to procure for him a copy of the last edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica as a present for a friend. The letter of acknowledgment, showing how the obliging friend rushed into the expense of a coach instead ; of taking the old-fashioned wagon, is very amus- ing:— TO ZACHARY MACAULAY, Esq. “ Near Bath, Sept. 30, 1803. “ My dear Sir,—While I must call you an ! extravagant fellow for employing the coach instead | of the wagon, which latter (the flying wagon, as it is humorously termed) is but three days on the wing, I am bound to thank you for your kind attention to my commission. It is observed by some writer, that there is in every man a certain vein or thread of shabbiness, which will sometimes show itself in opposition to the general strain of I the character. Will you say, that I furnish an illustration of this principle, when I am thus jealous of coach hire ? Be it as it may, the odd 16 THE “CLAPHAM SECT.’ shillings may be better employed than in clogging the wheels and increasing the load of the mail coach. Call it feeling for the horses, and so dignify my economy. However, I am sure you will not require any apology. I am interrupted and must break off. “Yours ever affectionately, “W. WlLBERFORCE.”* The peculiar religious local party with which Zachary Macaulay allied himself was held up to public scorn as “ The Clapham Sect.”f With * Wilberforce’s Correspondence, vol. ii., p. 287. + Jeffrey, in a letter to Mr. Empson (July, 1844), thus alludes to the elder Macaulay and other members of this sect. ‘I could not stop reading that admirable review of Stephens on the Clapham Worthies, which is all charmingly written, and many passages inimitably. The sketches of Gran¬ ville Sharpe, C. Simeon, and Lord Teignmouth, are, beyond comparison, superior to any of -’s elaborate portraits, or even any of Macaulay’s stronger pictures, in vivacity and force of colouring, as well as in that soft tone of angelic pity and indul¬ gence, which gives its character to the whole piece. The eulogies of H. Thornton and H. Martyn are rather overdone, I think; but Zac. Macaulay is excellent, and so are the slighter sketches of Will. Smith and the paternal Stephens. I hope they will give you as much pleasure as they have given me. They are so much in accordance, indeed, with all I love and admire in human writings, that I feel as if they had been intended for my especial gratification.”— Coclcburn's Life of Jeffrey. ANECDOTE OF ROGERS. 17 this party, I believe, through Dr. Price their minister, the father of Samuel Rogers was in some manner allied. Its mission, apart from sundry peculiar religious tenets, was humanity to man and beast, and its teachings are pleasingly exemplified in the statement made in the “ Recol¬ lections of the Table Talk of Samuel Roofers.” <£ I was taught,” says the poet, “ by my mother, from my earliest infancy, to be tenderly kind towards the meanest living thing; and, however people may laugh, I sometimes very carefully put a stray gnat or wasp out at the window.” The philanthropist, Zachary Macaulay, to the day of his death, continued his benevolent exertions to effect the suppression of the slave trade, winning for himself an enduring fame, and a monument along with his friend Wilberforce in Westminster Abbey.* * Gladstone, in speaking on the Slavery Question, in 1841, thus pays a tribute to this good man :—“ There is another name still more strangely associated with it. I can only speak from tradition of the struggle for the abolition of slavery ; but if I have not been misinformed, there was engaged in it a man who was the unseen ally of Mr. Wilberforce and the pillar of his strength—a man of profound benevolence, of acute under¬ standing, of indefatigable industry, and of that self-denying C 18 ZACHARY MACAULAY’S FAMILY. One of the sisters of this good man mar¬ ried Mr. Thomas Babington, a rich English merchant, often alluded to in the “ Life of Wilberforceand the son destined to become so famous in literature, and such an ornament to the peerage, was named after him. The family of the elder Macaulay have all been fortunate in life. Of a brother of Lord Macaulay we find a pleasing reminiscence in Cockburn’s “ Life of Lord Jeffrey,” who, in writing to Mrs. Kutherfurdfrom Torquay (April 29,1842), says: — “We know nobody here but a brother of Macaulay’s, who married a very sweet and beau¬ tiful daughter of Lord Denman’s, last December, and has been honeymooning with her here ever since. He has the robust spirits and stout and kind heart of his brother, though without any of his fine understanding, and, indeed, is chiefly re¬ markable for being alive, after a ten years’residence at Sierra Leone. They are very easy people to live with, and, besides the constant spectacle of hap- temper which is content to work in secret, to forego the recom¬ pense of present fame, and to seek its reward beyond the grave : the name of that man was Zachary Macaulay, and his son is a member of the existing Cabinet.” LORD MACAULAY’S BROTHER. 19 piness with which they delight me, have carried us to all their lovers’ walks, and whispering places in the ocean caves, and we have driven together to Dartmouth and Dawlish, and laid in the germs of many pleasant recollections.” A sister of the late noble lord married Sir Charles Trevelyan, the present Governor of Madras. 20 CHAPTER III. macaulat’s early life.—success at college.—joins the “union” DEBATING CLUB.— FIRST SPEECH IN PUBLIC.— CHANCES FOR SUCCESS.—HIS PREFERENCE FOR LITERATURE.— JEFFREY ON LITERATURE.—MACAULAY’S LITERARY SYMPATHIES. In early life the education of Thomas Babing- ton Macaulay was attended to at home, sur¬ rounded by the religious and moral influences just pointed out. The Bible was read aloud, and prayer was offered in the family circle, just as in Scotland. From this circumstance it has been stated, that although he could scarcely be called a Scotchman, yet his religious allusions were as distinctively Scotch as those of Sir Walter Scott himself; and yet, strange to say, in after life the two classes of men that he was most bitter upon were Scotchmen and Quakers. Previously to being sent to college, he was placed for a short time under the care of a Mr. Preston, at Shelford, LORD MACAULAY’S EARLY LIFE. 21 in Cambridgeshire. In 1818, however, the final step in his education was achieved, and he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. His career at the University, it is proverbially known, was very distinguished. In his first year, and when only nineteen years of age, he gained the Chancellor’s medal for a poem on !» ySJ V W ' “ '' , 'ii' ^ w 'uui (JiuL mi'Ma! ?Mm wm, j W&ft' VI VvVvV*V'vww k / v v..'-'