Modern English Books of Power | Page 5

was offered a
seat in the Supreme Council of India at Calcutta at $50,000 a year. He
lived in India four years, and it was mainly in these years that he did
the reading which afterward bore fruit in his History of England.
[Illustration: THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY AT THE AGE
OF FORTY-NINE--AFTER AN ENGRAVING BY W. HOLL, FROM
A DRAWING BY GEORGE RICHMOND, A.R.A.]
At thirty-nine Macaulay began his History of England, which continued
to absorb most of his time for the next twenty years. While he was
working on his history he published Lays of Ancient Rome, that had a
success scarcely inferior to that of Scott's Lady of the Lake or Byron's
Childe Harold. He also published his essays, which had a remarkable
sale. His history, the first two volumes of which appeared in 1848,
scored a success that astounded all the critics. When the third volume
appeared in 1855, no less than twenty-six thousand, five hundred
copies were sold in ten weeks, which broke all records of that day.
Macaulay received royalties of over $150,000 on history, a sum which
would have been trebled had he secured payment on editions issued in
the United States, where his works were more popular than in his own
country. His last years were crowded with honors. He accepted a
peerage two years before his death. When the end came he was given a
public funeral and a place in Westminster Abbey.
With Carlyle, Macaulay shares the honor of being the greatest of

English essayists. While he cannot compare with Carlyle in insight into
character and in splendor of imagination, he appeals to the wider
audience because of his attractive style, his wealth of ornament and
illustration and his great clearness. Carlyle's appeal is mainly to
students, but Macaulay appeals to all classes of readers.
Macaulay's style has been imitated by many hands, but no one has ever
worked such miracles as he wrought with apparent ease. In the first
place, his learning was so much a part of his mind that he drew on its
stores without effort. Scarcely a paragraph can be found in all his
essays which is not packed with allusions, yet all seem to illustrate his
subject so naturally that one never looks upon them as used to display
his remarkable knowledge.
Macaulay is a master of all the literary arts. Especially does he love to
use antithesis and to make his effects by violent contrasts. Add to this
the art of skilful climax, clever alliteration, happy illustration and great
narrative power and you have the chief features of Macaulay's style.
The reader is carried along on this flood of oratorical style, and so great
is the author's descriptive power that one actually beholds the scenes
and the personages which he depicts.
Of all his essays Macaulay shows his great powers most conspicuously
in those on Milton, Clive, Warren Hastings and Croker's edition of
Boswell's Johnson. In these he is always the advocate laboring to
convince his hearers; always the orator filled with that passion of
enthusiasm which makes one accept his words for the time, just as
one's mind is unconsciously swayed by the voice of an eloquent
speaker. It is this intense earnestness, this fierce desire to convince,
joined to this prodigal display of learning, which stamps Macaulay's
words on the brain of the receptive reader. Only when in cold blood we
analyze his essays do we escape from this literary hypnotism which he
exerts upon every reader.
The essays of Macaulay are full of meat and all are worth reading, but,
of course, every reader will differ in his estimate of them according to
his own tastes and sympathies. It is fine practice to take one of these
essays and look up the literary and historical allusions. No more

attractive work than this can be set before a reading club. It will give
rich returns in knowledge as well as in methods of literary study.
Macaulay's History is not read to-day as it was twenty years ago,
mainly because historical writing in these days has suffered a great
change, due to the growth of religious and political toleration.
Macaulay is a partisan and a bigot, but if one can discount much of his
bias and bitterness it will be found profitable to read portions of this
history. Macaulay's verse is not of a high order, but his Lays are full of
poetic fire, and they appeal to a wider audience than more finished
verse.
Of all the English writers of the last century Macaulay has preserved
the strongest hold on the reading public, and whatever changes time
may make in literary fashions, one may rest assured that Macaulay will
always retain his grip on readers of English blood.

SCOTT AND HIS WAVERLEY NOVELS
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