scholarship which, it must be admitted, was in some important senses remarkable. His attainment in Latin and Greek was complimentary to his industry and his talents; but more than this he indulged his thirst for European literature as may be known from his letters to his mother in one of which he seriously compares Boccaccio with Chaucer. Poetry and prose fiction were, throughout life, his best enjoyed forms of literature. Although not fond of school life in these years before his entrance into the University of Cambridge, yet he ranked well in most branches, acquired considerable sound knowledge through the aid of teachers, and widely extended his general learning by means of ready access to books which the school afforded.

In the fall of 1818 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge. He had already developed a violent dislike for mathematics, a fact which stood directly in his way to distinction, for a certain minimum of honors in that subject was required as conditional for competing for the Chancellor's medal. But he later won a prize for Latin declamation, two medals for English verse, and a Craven classical scholarship. "Not Cambridge studies but Cambridge society left a mark on his mind," says one of his biographers. Coming into contact with all of the best minds he developed his powers of conversation and debate; and his taste for politics, first cultivated by the discussions around his father's table at Clapham, was now strengthened and given a more definite bent. "He went up to Cambridge a Tory; Charles Austin soon made him a Whig, or something more." His change of political views was reported by informers with whom England was then infested, and he found it necessary to defend himself, in a letter, against the belief of his mother that he had become a "son of anarchy and confusion." The young collegian took his stand very judiciously with the progressive but not revolutionary branch of the Whigs. In 1824, his third and last trial, he won a Fellowship worth five hundred pounds a year for seven years, and in the same

year received the degree of Master of Arts. Macaulay gained much at Cambridge; but some have pointed out with strong reason on their side that his too early entrance into politics and partisan disputations prevented his rising in literature to the full measure of his powers and defeated the fulfilling of the highest promise given in his earliest compositions.

During his last year at Cambridge he had attracted some public attention. An eloquent speech before the Antislavery Society and some contributions in verse and prose published in Knight's Quarterly Magazine, won applause especially from the Whigs. These pieces are of value chiefly as a distinct measure of his early and native talents. The speech referred to announced his growing power as an orator, and in it the Whigs found much satisfaction.

In October, 1824, he wrote to his father, "When I see you in London I will mention to you a piece of secret history." It developed that the "secret history" was an invitation which he had received from Francis Jeffrey, Whig editor of the Edinburgh Review, to become a contributor. Macaulay accepted. In August, 1825, his Essay on Milton was published in the Review. Brilliant in thought, original in form and style, it not only won the loud applause of the Whigs, but surprised and delighted the whole English reading world. Thomas Babington Macaulay's name was on the lips of all; his reputation as the first of English essayists was promptly admitted and established. Some years ago a then venerable lecturer related to a college class of which the writer of this sketch was a member, his recollections of the effect of Macaulay's Milton when it first reached the hands of the boys at Yale College. He recalled the facts somewhat as follows: A student fell, by chance, to reading the Essay. He was quickly impressed by its brilliancy of thought and manner of expression. Calling the attention of others to the work, he proceeded to read aloud some of the first paragraphs. The enthusiasm. of these few boys was communicated to others until several

groups were formed, and the Essay was sent at appointed times from group to group to be read aloud. In this way the universal eagerness to become acquainted with the new writer was most readily satisfied. The glowing paragraphs had their effect. Said the lecturer, "The interest aroused by that Essay was beyond belief; it amounted to a sensation." The incident is worth preserving for it records the promptness with which young Macaulay won general recognition.

This was the beginning of a long series of contributions to the Edinburgh Review extending over a period of nearly twenty years and numbering about thirty essays. There was no systematic plan for this vast body of writing; but the essays have been grouped by subjects into four classes as follows: (a) English history, (b) Foreign history, (c) Controversial, (d) Critical and miscellaneous. They vary greatly in degree of excellence; but it may be said that the historical compositions X

are of most interest and general worth, though not always authentic and reliable in statements of fact. The Essays on Lord Clive and Warren Hastings form a somewhat complete history of the development of the British Empire in India. It may be safely said that no writer has yet equaled Macaulay in making this historical story attractive to readers.

At the time when Macaulay was leaving the university and taking his first steps into the activities of a busy career, a time when the energies of so brilliant a man are certain to be taxed to the utmost limit by society, and, in his case by literature and politics, a heavy financial burden fell upon him. His father, overzealous perhaps in the work of reforming society, failed in business. The son promptly and cheerfully assumed the payment of heavy debts and the obligation of supporting the entire family. There is direct testimony to the fact that he was never more happy, witty, and gleeful than when facing this challenge of ill fortune. Within fifteen years he paid all obligations, made comfortable provision for the family in the meantime, and saved a competence besides.

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Honorable and useful as his domestic conduct was, his political activities were scarcely less creditable. He entered Parliament in 1830, where he ably supported the right of Jews to hold office, eloquently aided the Reform Bill of 1832 abolishing the so called "rotten boroughs," and bore a prominent part in the abolition of slavery from the British colonies. In 1834 he set sail for India to serve as member of the Supreme Council, a position which brought him ten thousand pounds a year. While there he served efficiently as chairman of the Board of Public Instruction, and as president of the Law Council whose duty it was to draft a Penal Code and a Code of Criminal Procedure. All of these responsibilities demanded long continued and exacting labor; but seldom has a man in public office shown greater capacity or readiness to discharge similar duties. His work was generally regarded as singularly efficient, and beneficial to the people of India.

Macaulay returned from India in 1838, became a member of Parliament for Edinburgh, and was called into the Cabinet as Secretary of War in 1839. At leisure hours, or rather at hours snatched from the activities of public and private business in 1840 he wrote the Essay on Lord Clive, and in the following year the Essay on Warren Hastings. Though engrossed in public affairs, he was, however, fresh from the scenes and people of whom he wrote. In 1839 he had visited Italy and in 1842 he published the Lays of Ancient Rome. In these he tried his skill in poetic composition, though with less success than in prose. The Lays express the spirit of patriotism and exalt personal worth in a manner truly impressive. They will long be sought out by schoolboys whose enthusiasm Horatius at the Bridge and the Battle of Ivry will not soon cease to enkindle.

Macaulay's cherished intention to write a history of England was not carried into execution till late in his life. Volumes I and II were published in 1848 and volumes III and IV in 1855. The fifth volume was not completed at the time of his

death, but was later given to the public. The writer's great powers in narration, his clear and attractive style, unite to make the pages of his History unequaled in brilliancy and popularity.

Besides the long continued testimony of national esteem in which the English people held him and which was shown by the popularity of his writings and the bestowal of public office without his asking, other honors quite as significant were his to enjoy. In 1840 he was made Lord Rector of Glasgow University, and Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1857,. the Queen made the historian a member of the House of Lords, and bestowed on him the title of Baron Macaulay of Rothley. The honor pleased him, but he was never able to take part in the deliberations of that body. In the same year he became a Foreign Member of the French Academy, and Member of the Prussian Order of Merit. In 1859 he was made High Steward of Cambridge.

On the 28th day of December, 1859, surrounded by his books and seated in his armchair at his home in Holly Lodge, Kensington, he peacefully died. On January 9th he was buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. His own words uttered reflectively about two months before his death, describe the tenor of his life. "My birthday, I am fifty-nine. Well, I have had a happy life. I do not know that anyone whom I have known close has had a happier. Some things I regret; but who is better off?"

II. STYLE OF THE ESSAYS

The Essays of Macaulay furnish an inviting opportunity for both favorable and adverse criticism. They have been widely praised and narrowly blamed. Their author did not think them worth republishing. He called them "periodical works." "Their natural life is only six weeks," he wrote to Macvey Napier in 1842. But when American publishers began bring