Famous Reviews | Page 5

accepted the
responsibilities of his position as a clergyman with becoming industry.
Croker's veiled sarcasm in the Quarterly (printed below) was no more
bitter, or truthful, than similar utterances on any Whig.
* * * * *
We know little to-day of--
The sacred dramas of Miss Hannah More Where Moses and the little
muses snore,
but, in her own day, she was flattered in society and a real influence
among the serious-minded. She understood the poor and gave them
practical advice. Sydney Smith, of course, would be in sympathy with
her "good works," but could not resist his joke.
THOMAS BABINGTON LORD MACAULAY (1800-1859)
To quote one of his own favourite expressions, "every schoolboy
knows" the outlines of Macaulay's life and work. We have recited the
Lays, probably read some of the History, possibly even heard of his
eloquent and unmeasured attacks on those whose literary work incurred
his displeasure. We know that his memory was phenomenal, if his
statements were not always accurate. The biographers tell us further
that no one could be more simple in private life, or more devoted to his
own family: his nephews and nieces having no idea that their favourite
"Uncle Tom" was a great man. Criticism, of course, is by no means so
unanimous. Mr. Augustine Birrell has wittily remarked that his "style is
ineffectual for the purpose of telling the truth about anything"; and
James Thomson epitomised his political bias in a biting
paragraph:--"Macaulay, historiographer in chief to the Whigs, and the
great prophet of Whiggery which never had or will have a prophet,
vehemently judged that a man who could pass over from the celestial
Whigs to the infernal Tories must be a traitor false as Judas, an apostate
black as the Devil." Always a boy at heart, and singularly careless of
his appearance, Macaulay was so phenomenally successful in every
direction that envy may account for most personal criticism not
inspired by recognised opponents. Those who called him a bore were

most probably over-sensitive about their own inability to hold up
against arguments, or opinions, they longed to combat.
He was a student at Lincoln's Inn when the brilliant article on the
translation of a newly-found treatise by Milton on Christian Doctrine
appeared in the Edinburgh (1825), and inaugurated a new power in
English prose. Macaulay himself declared that it was "overloaded with
gaudy and ungraceful argument"; but it secured his literary reputation
and determined much of his career. He became an influence on the
Edinburgh, probably somewhat modifying its whole tone, and
generally identified with its reputation. "The son of a Saint," says
Christopher North, "who seems himself to be something of a reviewer,
is insidious as the serpent, but fangless, as the glow worm"; and the
Tory press were, naturally, up in arms against the champion critic of
their pet prodigies.
* * * * *
Southey received, as we must now admit, more than his fair share of
abuse from the Liberal press, for the comfortable conservatism of his
maturity; and Macaulay did not love the Laureate. We note that
_Blackwood's_ defended him with spirit, and Wilson's protracted, and
furious, attack on Macaulay for this particular review may be found in
the Nodes Ambrosianae, April, 1830.
Croker, in all probability, deserved much of the scorn here poured upon
his editorial labour (though it had merits which his critic deliberately
ignores); Wilson, again _(Noctes Ambrosianae,_ November, 1831),
examines, and professes to confute, almost every criticism in the
review. Croker himself found a convenient occasion for revenge in his
review of Macaulay's History printed below.
The interesting recognition of Gladstone awakes pleasanter sentiments;
especially when we notice the return compliment (in the same
Quarterly, but twenty-seven years later than Croker's attack) of the
statesman's generous tribute. "Macaulay," says Gladstone, "was
singularly free of vices ... one point only we reserve, a certain tinge of
occasional vindictiveness. Was he envious? Never. Was he servile? No.
Was he insolent? No.... Was he idle? The question is ridiculous. Was
he false? No; but true as steel and transparent as crystal. Was he vain?

We hold that he was not. At every point in the ugly list he stands the
trial."
* * * * *
ANONYMOUS
This earlier notice of Wordsworth is certainly in exact sympathy with
Jeffrey on the Excursion, and may very well have come from the same
pen. At any rate, it introduces the Edinburgh attitude towards the
Lakers.
The criticism of Maturin has all the tone of moral authority which
provoked many readers of the Review, and was, probably, in part
responsible for the less "measured" attitude adopted by the Quarterly.

LORD JEFFREY ON SOUTHEY'S "THALABA"
[From The Edinburgh Review, October, 1802]
_Thalaba, the Destroyer: A Metrical Romance_. By ROBERT
SOUTHEY. 2 vols. 12 mo. London.
Poetry has