Misc Writings and Speeches, vol 1 | Page 6

own. The grave has now closed upon the
assailant as well as the assailed. On the other hand, it cannot but be
desirable that opinions which the author retained to the last, on
important questions in politics and morals, should be before the public.
Some of the poems now collected have already appeared in print;
others are supplied by the recollection of friends. The first two are
published on account of their having been composed in the author's
childhood. In the poems, as well as in the prose works, will be
occasionally found thoughts and expressions which have afterwards
been adopted in later productions.
No alteration whatever has been made from the form in which the
author left the several articles, with the exception of some changes in
punctuation, and the correction of one or two obvious misprints.
T.F.E. London, June 1860.

CONTENTS.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNIGHT'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
Fragments of a Roman Tale. (June 1823.)
On the Royal Society of Literature. (June 1823.)
Scenes from "Athenian Revels." (January 1824.)
Criticisms on the Principal Italian Writers. No. I. Dante. (January
1824.)
Criticisms on the Principal Italian Writers. No. II. Petrarch. (April
1824.)

Some account of the Great Lawsuit between the Parishes of St Dennis
and St George in the Water. (April 1824.)
A Conversation between Mr Abraham Cowley and Mr John Milton,
touching the Great Civil War. (August 1824.)
On the Athenian Orators. (August 1824.)
A Prophetic Account of a Grand National Epic Poem, to be entitled
"The Wellingtoniad," and to be Published A.D. 2824. (November
1824.)
On Mitford's History of Greece. (November 1824.)

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF LORD MACAULAY.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO KNIGHT'S QUARTERLY MAGAZINE.
FRAGMENTS OF A ROMAN TALE.
(June 1823.)
It was an hour after noon. Ligarius was returning from the Campus
Martius. He strolled through one of the streets which led to the Forum,
settling his gown, and calculating the odds on the gladiators who were
to fence at the approaching Saturnalia. While thus occupied, he
overtook Flaminius, who, with a heavy step and a melancholy face, was
sauntering in the same direction. The light-hearted young man plucked
him by the sleeve.
"Good-day, Flaminius. Are you to be of Catiline's party this evening?"
"Not I."
"Why so? Your little Tarentine girl will break her heart."
"No matter. Catiline has the best cooks and the finest wine in Rome.
There are charming women at his parties. But the twelve- line board
and the dice-box pay for all. The Gods confound me if I did not lose
two millions of sesterces last night. My villa at Tibur, and all the
statues that my father the praetor brought from Ephesus, must go to the
auctioneer. That is a high price, you will acknowledge, even for
Phoenicopters, Chian, and Callinice."
"High indeed, by Pollux."
"And that is not the worst. I saw several of the leading senators this
morning. Strange things are whispered in the higher political circles."
"The Gods confound the political circles. I have hated the name of
politician ever since Sylla's proscription, when I was within a moment
of having my throat cut by a politician, who took me for another

politician. While there is a cask of Falernian in Campania, or a girl in
the Suburra, I shall be too well employed to think on the subject."
"You will do well," said Flaminius gravely, "to bestow some little
consideration upon it at present. Otherwise, I fear, you will soon renew
your acquaintance with politicians, in a manner quite as unpleasant as
that to which you allude."
"Averting Gods! what do you mean?"
"I will tell you. There are rumours of conspiracy. The order of things
established by Lucius Sylla has excited the disgust of the people, and of
a large party of the nobles. Some violent convulsion is expected."
"What is that to me? I suppose that they will hardly proscribe the
vintners and gladiators, or pass a law compelling every citizen to take a
wife."
"You do not understand. Catiline is supposed to be the author of the
revolutionary schemes. You must have heard bold opinions at his table
repeatedly."
"I never listen to any opinions upon such subjects, bold or timid."
"Look to it. Your name has been mentioned."
"Mine! good Gods! I call Heaven to witness that I never so much as
mentioned Senate, Consul, or Comitia, in Catiline's house."
"Nobody suspects you of any participation in the inmost counsels of the
party. But our great men surmise that you are among those whom he
has bribed so high with beauty, or entangled so deeply in distress, that
they are no longer their own masters. I shall never set foot within his
threshold again. I have been solemnly warned by men who understand
public affairs; and I advise you to be cautious."
The friends had now