HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH IN THE ALBANY, N. Y. NEW YORK: CINCINNATI CHICAGO 03-24-215,4 INTRODUCTION I. LIFE OF MACAULAY THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY, undoubtedly the most popular prose writer of the nineteenth century, began life with all the advantages which may come from a refined, intelligent, and strictly moral ancestry, from a generous, winning disposition, and from the possession of extraordinary talents. He was born on the 25th of October, 1800, at Rothley Temple, the Leicestershire residence of his uncle-in-law, Mr. Thomas Babington. His father, Zachary Macaulay, was the son of a Highland Scotch minister of Dumbartonshire, and until late in life met with considerable success in business. In his early years he went to Jamaica and to Sierra Leone to serve as bookkeeper on certain estates. In Jamaica he was appointed manager, and his recognized ability and integrity won him the secretaryship of the Sierra Leone Company at a salary of five hundred pounds a year. In this service he acquired a moderate fortune; but his high, moral nature revolted against the evils of slavery which he saw about him and on his return in 1799 he became a leader in the antislavery movement, a supporter of the Society for the Abolition of Slavery, and editor of the chief organ of that society, the Christian Observer. He possessed the same extraordinary powers of work and strength of memory as afterward marked the activities of his son. The Macaulay home was frequented by serious and able men who were active in the proposed reform. The wife of Zachary Macaulay (née Selina Mills), a quaker by birth, and a pupil of the sisters of Hannah More, was a woman of considerable talent. From her the son probably inherited the wonderful buoyancy of disposition for which he was always distinguished. She was clear-sighted, sympathetic; and possessed more than ordinary wisdom. There are few family pictures so beautiful as that which history has painted of this mother guiding her five girls and four boys during their childhood years. Especially is her wisdom and self-poise manifest in the guidance of her precocious eldest son, Thomas. In the home the unselfish nature of this son was early revealed; and there too, almost in infancy his remarkable talents were displayed. Almost his first utterances evinced a quite unusual power to command a ready and an apt use of words. When he was but four years old a servant at the table of a neighbor had the misfortune to spill hot coffee on the lad's legs. On being asked a little afterwards by the hostess how he was feeling, he replied, "Thank you, madam, the agony is abated." At seven years of age he undertook the writing of a universal history which he carried on with some form and merit to the extent of a quire of paper. At eight he had memorized Scott's Marmion and was writing poetry which Hannah More called "quite extraordinary for such a baby." It is scarcely less remarkable that with such early maturity of talents should be united a rollicking good nature which gave life and cheer to the entire household. The young Macaulay's education was thorough and reasonably complete. The greater part of his childhood was spent at Clapham, near London, where he attended for a time the school of a Mr. Greaves. He disliked his school duties, preferring to remain at home and indulge his fondness for general reading. But his mother was firm in the matter of attendance at both sessions and was wont to reply to his request that he might remain at home in the afternoon, "No, Tom; if it rains cats and dogs, you shall go." When twelve years old he was sent, much against his wishes, to a private school at Shelford near Cambridge. This school, conducted by the Rev. Mr. Preston, was a good one and laid the foundation of his future |